HDFS 3010 Ch 1: Child Development Introduction

• Studying Infants and Children, Prenatal through Middle Childhood, Ninth Edition by Laura E. Berk, is being conducted in HDFS 3010-EA2, Spring 2025, starting January 16th
• Chapter 1 covers history, theory, and research strategies

Introduction to Child Development

• Child development involves studying constancy and change from conception through adolescence
• Developmental science is an interdisciplinary field that encompasses all changes throughout the lifespan, from conception through adulthood
• The field of child development is scientific, applied, and interdisciplinary

Domains of Development

• Physical domain involves changes in body size, proportions, appearance, functioning of body systems, perceptual and motor capacities, and physical health
• Cognitive domain involves intellectual abilities like attention, memory, problem-solving, creativity, imagination, and language
• Emotional and social domain (or socio-emotional) involves emotional communication, self-understanding, knowledge of others, interpersonal skills, relationships, and moral reasoning and behavior
• The three domains of child development are integrated holistically to shape a living, growing child
• Each domain influences and is influenced by the other domains
• (e.g., child's motor capacities, such as reaching, siting, crawling, walking (physical development), contribute to infant's understanding of their surroundings (cognitive development)

Periods of Development

• Prenatal: conception to birth
• Infancy and toddlerhood: birth to 2 years
• Early childhood: 2 to 6 years
• Middle childhood: 6 to 11 years
• The three domains of development vary across these periods

Basic Issues in Child Development

• Theory is an orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains, and predicts a child's behavior
• It provides a framework for observing children and improves their welfare and treatment via understanding
• Its continued existence depends on scientific verification
• Theories in child development address three basic issues:
• Continuous or discontinuous development
• One course of development or many
• The roles of genetic and environmental factors (nature vs. nurture)

Continuous vs. Discontinuous Development

• Continuous development is a process of gradually adding more of the same types of skills
• Discontinuous development involves new ways of understanding and responding to the world which emerge at specific times
• Theories that accept discontinuous development believe that development takes place in stages

One Course vs. Many of Development

• Stage theorists assume that children everywhere follow the same sequence of development, regardless of personal and environmental circumstances
• Other theorists contend children develop up in different contexts, meaning the course of development varies
• Mutually influential relations shape development between the child and their context
• Cultural diversity in development are increasingly focused on by Researchers

Contexts of Development

• A unique combination of personal and environmental circumstances that can lead to different paths of change

Relative influence of nature and nurture

• The nature-nurture controversy debates the relative influence of genetic and environmental factors on child development
• Nature is hereditary information received from parents at conception and genetic predispositions
• Nurture is a set of complex physical and social forces that influence biological makeup and psychological experiences, before and after birth, as well as effects of the environment in general

Theories of Development

• A theory's viewpoint on nature vs. nurture affects how it explains individual differences in children
• Behavior can stem from genetic predisposition (nature) or the family environment (nurture)

Stability and Plasticity

• Stability involves heredity and early experiences establishing lifelong persistence of individual characteristics, so that behaviors such as anxiety remain later in life.
• Powerful negative events in early life impact development
• Plasticity is when development is open to change in response to influential experiences, suggesting that anxious children may improve in a supportive family environment
• Early experiences shape a child;s future

Biology and Environment

• Resilience is the ability to adapt effectively in the face of adversity and threats
• Biological and environmental factors that foster resilience include:
• Personal characteristics, such as genetics, high intelligence, easy-going temperament, and physiological responses to stress
• Warm parental relationships
• Social support outside the family (e.g., peers, teachers, relatives)
• Community resources and good opportunities
• Community resources and opportunities

Extra Credit Opportunity

• Babies documentary to watch, and discuss key points from to earn extra credit