Reasons to Learn About Child
Development
● It improves child rearing, promotes adoption of wiser social policies about children’s
welfare, answers basic questions about human nature
Raising Children
Anger
● 80% of parents of kindergarten children reported spanking their child on occasion when
they fought, name-called and talked back to express their anger.
● This made matters worse no matter the race or culture.
● The effects of spanking on the child’s behaviour held above other relevant factors like
parent’s income and education.
Spanking Alternatives
● Express Sympathy
○ This leads to children being better able to cope with the distressing situation.
● Positive Alternatives to Expressing Feelings
○ Ex. Encourage them to do something they enjoy to cope with hostile and
frustrated feelings.
● Use the Turtle Technique
○ This technique is used to help angry 3- and 4-year-olds.
○ It also helps children recognize their own and other children’s emotions (children
would “go into their shell” when they were mad and came back to their peers
when they were calm).
● Children who did this were better at recognizing and regulating anger, even after 4-5
years.
, Choosing Social Policies
Studies let us make informed decisions about social-policy questions that affect children.
○ ex. Do violent video games make children and adolescents more aggressive?
■ meta-analysis (a statistical technique that combines results from
independent studies) was used to reach conclusions).
■ It showed that the effect of playing violent video games on
children’s and adolescent’s aggression was minimal & this is not a
major cause of children’s and adolescent’s aggression.
■ These analyses let us weigh whether the benefits of removing something
that may be harmful outweighs taking away someone’s freedom of
choice.
● Understanding Human Nature
○ nativists → group of contemporary philosophers and psychologists
■ argue evolution has created many capabilities in early infancy especially
particularly the understanding of basic properties of physical objects,
plants, animals, and other people.
○ empiricists → infants possess general learning mechanisms but they do not
have the specialized capabilities nativists believe them to.
Romanian Adoption Study
● Research examines children whose early lives were spent in horrible conditions in
Romanian orphanages.
, ● The goal of this study was to evaluable the long-term effects of the children’s deprivation
at such a young age (physical, intellectual and social).
● When the children left the orphanage, they were below 6 months old. Most were
severely malnourished, showed varying degrees of intellectual disability, and were
socially immature.
● At 6 years old, the early experience in the orphanages had prolonged damaging effects
on children’s social development and followed them into early adulthood. Differences in
intellectual development diminished over time.
● The findings showed that the timing of experiences influence their effects, and the
later the age of adoption, the greater the long-term harmful effects of early
deprivation.
Historical Foundations of the Study of
Child Development
Early Philosophers Views of Children’s Development
● Plato & Aristotle (4th century BC) believed long-term welfare of society depended on
proper raising of children.
● Plato thought boys were the most difficult to handle so he emphasized self-control and
discipline.
● Aristotle agreed with Plato but he cared more about accommodating the different needs
of each individual child.
● Plato believed children have innate knowledge and Aristotle believed all knowledge
comes from experience.
● English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) & French philosopher Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (1712-1778) focused on how parents and society can best promote children’s
development.
○ Locke believed children were born as a blank slate (concept of tabula rasa) &
their development was largely influenced by the nurture provided by parents and
society.
■ He believed parents need to set good examples of honesty, stability, and
gentleness and instill discipline and reason so they mature.
○ Rousseau on the other hand believed parents and society should give children
maximum freedom.
■ He claimed children learn primarily from their own spontaneous
interactions & shouldn’t receive formal education until they are 12 (old
enough to judge validity of teachings in his eyes).
Social Reform Movements
● Child psychology was important in social reform movements that were focused on
improving children’s lives by changing the conditions in which they lived.
○ Children as young as 5-6 years old worked up to 12 hours a day in factories or
mines in dangerous circumstances.
Development
● It improves child rearing, promotes adoption of wiser social policies about children’s
welfare, answers basic questions about human nature
Raising Children
Anger
● 80% of parents of kindergarten children reported spanking their child on occasion when
they fought, name-called and talked back to express their anger.
● This made matters worse no matter the race or culture.
● The effects of spanking on the child’s behaviour held above other relevant factors like
parent’s income and education.
Spanking Alternatives
● Express Sympathy
○ This leads to children being better able to cope with the distressing situation.
● Positive Alternatives to Expressing Feelings
○ Ex. Encourage them to do something they enjoy to cope with hostile and
frustrated feelings.
● Use the Turtle Technique
○ This technique is used to help angry 3- and 4-year-olds.
○ It also helps children recognize their own and other children’s emotions (children
would “go into their shell” when they were mad and came back to their peers
when they were calm).
● Children who did this were better at recognizing and regulating anger, even after 4-5
years.
, Choosing Social Policies
Studies let us make informed decisions about social-policy questions that affect children.
○ ex. Do violent video games make children and adolescents more aggressive?
■ meta-analysis (a statistical technique that combines results from
independent studies) was used to reach conclusions).
■ It showed that the effect of playing violent video games on
children’s and adolescent’s aggression was minimal & this is not a
major cause of children’s and adolescent’s aggression.
■ These analyses let us weigh whether the benefits of removing something
that may be harmful outweighs taking away someone’s freedom of
choice.
● Understanding Human Nature
○ nativists → group of contemporary philosophers and psychologists
■ argue evolution has created many capabilities in early infancy especially
particularly the understanding of basic properties of physical objects,
plants, animals, and other people.
○ empiricists → infants possess general learning mechanisms but they do not
have the specialized capabilities nativists believe them to.
Romanian Adoption Study
● Research examines children whose early lives were spent in horrible conditions in
Romanian orphanages.
, ● The goal of this study was to evaluable the long-term effects of the children’s deprivation
at such a young age (physical, intellectual and social).
● When the children left the orphanage, they were below 6 months old. Most were
severely malnourished, showed varying degrees of intellectual disability, and were
socially immature.
● At 6 years old, the early experience in the orphanages had prolonged damaging effects
on children’s social development and followed them into early adulthood. Differences in
intellectual development diminished over time.
● The findings showed that the timing of experiences influence their effects, and the
later the age of adoption, the greater the long-term harmful effects of early
deprivation.
Historical Foundations of the Study of
Child Development
Early Philosophers Views of Children’s Development
● Plato & Aristotle (4th century BC) believed long-term welfare of society depended on
proper raising of children.
● Plato thought boys were the most difficult to handle so he emphasized self-control and
discipline.
● Aristotle agreed with Plato but he cared more about accommodating the different needs
of each individual child.
● Plato believed children have innate knowledge and Aristotle believed all knowledge
comes from experience.
● English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) & French philosopher Jean-Jacques
Rousseau (1712-1778) focused on how parents and society can best promote children’s
development.
○ Locke believed children were born as a blank slate (concept of tabula rasa) &
their development was largely influenced by the nurture provided by parents and
society.
■ He believed parents need to set good examples of honesty, stability, and
gentleness and instill discipline and reason so they mature.
○ Rousseau on the other hand believed parents and society should give children
maximum freedom.
■ He claimed children learn primarily from their own spontaneous
interactions & shouldn’t receive formal education until they are 12 (old
enough to judge validity of teachings in his eyes).
Social Reform Movements
● Child psychology was important in social reform movements that were focused on
improving children’s lives by changing the conditions in which they lived.
○ Children as young as 5-6 years old worked up to 12 hours a day in factories or
mines in dangerous circumstances.
