How Children Develop 6th Canadian Edition PDF

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The header is followed by the text reading, ‘You have 2 assignments due in the next 7 days.’ Below the text is a list of assignments displaying the chapter number, title of the chapter, and the due date. The bottom section lists the unassigned chapters displaying the chapter number, title of the chapter, and date. How Children DEVELOP CANADIAN SIXTH EDITION How Children DEVELOP CANADIAN SIXTH EDITION Robert Siegler Teachers College, Columbia University Jenny R. Saffran University of Wisconsin–Madison Susan Graham University of Calgary Elizabeth T. Gershoff The University of Texas at Austin Nancy Eisenberg Arizona State University and Campbell Leaper University of California, Santa Cruz Author of Chapter 15: Gender Development This is dedicated to the ones we love Senior Vice President, Content Strategy: Charles Linsmeier Program Director, Social Sciences: Shani Fisher Executive Program Manager for Psychology: Daniel DeBonis Development Editor: Andrew Sylvester Assistant Editor: Anna Munroe Executive Marketing Manager: Katherine Nurre Marketing Assistant: Chelsea Simens Associate Media Editor: Stephanie Matamoros Director, Content Management Enhancement: Tracey Kuehn Senior Managing Editor: Lisa Kinne Senior Content Project Manager: Vivien Weiss Senior Workflow Project Manager: Paul Rohloff Photo and Video Researcher/Permissions Editor: Jennifer Atkins Executive Permissions Editor: Cecilia Varas Senior Media Project Manager: Eve Conte Director of Design, Content Management: Diana Blume Design Services Manager: Natasha Wolfe Interior Text Designer: Victoria Tomaselli Art Manager: Matthew McAdams Cover Design: John Callahan Production Supervisor: Robert Cherry Composition: Lumina Datamatics, Inc. Cover Art: Jeannine Fallert/Illustration Source Library of Congress Control Number: 2019954721 ISBN-13: 978-1-319-26967-8 (ePub) Copyright © 2020, 2017, 2014, 2011 by Worth Publishers All rights reserved. 1 2 3 4 5 6 24 23 22 21 20 19 Worth Publishers One New York Plaza Suite 4600 New York, New York 10004-1562 www.macmillanlearning.com About the Authors ROBERT SIEGLER is the Schiff Foundations Professor of Psychology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. His research focuses on how children learn mathematics. He is author of the cognitive development textbook Children’s Thinking and has written or edited several additional books on child development. His books have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, German, Spanish, French, Greek, Hebrew, and Portuguese. He has presented keynote addresses at the conventions of the Cognitive Development Society, the Japanese Psychological Association, the German Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the Conference on Human Development. He also has served as Associate Editor of the journal Developmental Psychology, co-edited the cognitive development volume of the 1998 and 2006 editions of the Handbook of Child Psychology, and served on the National Mathematics Advisory Panel from 2006 to 2008. Dr. Siegler received the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in 2005, was elected to the National Academy of Education in 2010, was named Director of the Siegler Center for Innovative Learning at Beijing Normal University in 2012, and was elected to the Society of Experimental Psychologists in 2016. JENNY R. SAFFRAN is the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor and College of Letters & Science Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and is an investigator at the Waisman Center. Her research is focused on learning in infancy and early childhood, with a particular emphasis on language. Dr. Saffran’s research has been continually funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for over 20 years. She has received numerous awards for her research and teaching, including the Boyd McCandless Award from the American Psychological Association for early career contributions to developmental psychology and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the National Science Foundation. In 2015, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. SUSAN GRAHAM is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary and the Director of the Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute. She is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science. She has received a number of awards for her research and mentorship, including a Canada Research Chair, the Killam Annual Professor Award, and the Izzak Walton Killam Award for Graduate Supervision and Mentoring. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Cognition and Development. After completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Manitoba, she moved to Concordia University to complete her graduate studies. She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1996. Her research program focuses on language and cognitive development during the infancy and preschool years and has been continuously funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. ELIZABETH T. GERSHOFF is the Amy Johnson McLaughlin Centennial Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences and Associate Director of the Population Research Center, both at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on how parental and school discipline affect child and youth development and on how parent education and early childhood education programs, such as the federal Head Start program, can improve the lives of at-risk children. Dr. Gershoff has been awarded numerous federal grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute for Mental Health, and the National Science Foundation to support her research. She was lead author of the volume Societal Contexts of Child Development, which won the 2014 Society for Research on Adolescence Social Policy Award for Best Edited Book, and of a new book, Ending the Physical Punishment of Children: A Guide for Clinicians and Practitioners. She was an Associate Editor at the journal Developmental Psychology and is President-Elect of the Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice, which is Division 37 of the American Psychological Association. She is an internationally recognized expert on the effects of physical punishment on children, and her research on the topic has been recognized with a Lifetime Legacy Achievement Award from the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago and the Nicholas Hobbs Award from Division 37 of the American Psychological Association. NANCY EISENBERG is Regents’ Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University. Her research interests include social, emotional, and moral development, as well as socialization influences, especially in the areas of self-regulation and adjustment. She has published numerous empirical studies, as well as books and chapters on these topics. She has also been editor of Psychological Bulletin and the Handbook of Child Psychology and was the founding editor of the Society for Research in Child Development journal Child Development Perspectives. Dr. Eisenberg has been a recipient of Research Scientist Development Awards and a Research Scientist Award from the National Institutes of Health (NICHD and NIMH). She has served as President of the Western Psychological Association and of Division 7 of the American Psychological Association and is president-elect of the Association for Psychological Science. She is the 2007 recipient of the Ernest R. Hilgard Award for a Career Contribution to General Psychology, Division 1, American Psychological Association; the 2008 recipient of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award; the 2009 recipient of the G. Stanley Hall Award for Distinguished Contribution to Developmental Psychology, Division 7, American Psychological Association; and the 2011 recipient of the William James Fellow Award for Career Contributions in the Basic Science of Psychology from the Association for Psychological Science. Brief Contents Preface 1 An Introduction to Child Development 2 Prenatal Development and the Newborn Period 3 Biology and Behaviour 4 Theories of Cognitive Development 5 Perception, Action, and Learning in Infancy 6 Development of Language and Symbol Use 7 Conceptual Development 8 Intelligence and Academic Achievement 9 Theories of Social Development 10 Emotional Development 11 Attachment to Others and Development of the Self 12 The Family 13 Peer Relationships 14 Moral Development 15 Gender Development 16 Conclusions Glossary References Name Index Subject Index Contents Preface CHAPTER 1 An Introduction to Child Development Reasons to Learn About Child Development Raising Children Choosing Social Policies BOX 1.1 A Closer Look: The Romanian Adoption Study Understanding Human Nature Historical Foundations of the Study of Child Development Early Philosophers’ Views of Children’s Development Social Reform Movements Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Enduring Themes in Child Development 1. Nature and Nurture: How Do Nature and Nurture Together Shape Development? 2. The Active Child: How Do Children Shape Their Own Development? 3. Continuity/Discontinuity: In What Ways Is Development Continuous, and in What Ways Is It Discontinuous? 4. Mechanisms of Change: How Does Change Occur? 5. The Sociocultural Context: How Does the Sociocultural Context Influence Development? 6. Individual Differences: How Do Children Become So Different from One Another? 7. Research and Children’s Welfare: How Can Research Promote Children’s Well-Being? Methods for Studying Child Development The Scientific Method BOX 1.2 Individual Differences: Can Children Learn to Be More Intelligent? Contexts for Gathering Data About Children Correlation and Causation Research Designs for Examining Children’s Development Ethical Issues in Child-Development Research CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 2 Prenatal Development and the Newborn Period Prenatal Development BOX 2.1 A Closer Look: Beng Beginnings Conception BOX 2.2 Individual Differences: Do Girls Outnumber Boys? Developmental Processes Early Development An Illustrated Summary of Prenatal Development Fetal Experience and Behaviour Fetal Learning Hazards to Prenatal Development Teratogens BOX 2.3 Applications: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Maternal Factors The Birth Experience Diversity of Childbirth Practices The Newborn Infant State of Arousal Negative Outcomes at Birth CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 3 Biology and Behaviour Nature and Nurture Genetic and Environmental Forces BOX 3.1 Applications: Genetic Testing Behaviour Genetics Quantitative Genetics Research Designs Heritability Molecular Genetics Research Designs BOX 3.2 Individual Differences: Genetically Transmitted Developmental Disorders Environmental Effects Brain Development The Neuron The Cortex Developmental Processes BOX 3.3 A Closer Look: Mapping the Mind The Importance of Experience The Body: Physical Growth and Development Growth and Maturation Nutritional Behaviour BOX 3.4 A Closer Look: Poverty and Health Disparities Vaccines CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 4 Theories of Cognitive Development Piaget’s Theory View of Children’s Nature Central Developmental Issues BOX 4.1 Applications: Educational Applications of Piaget’s Theory Piaget’s Legacy Information-Processing Theories View of Children’s Nature Central Developmental Issues The Development of Problem Solving BOX 4.2 Applications: Educational Applications of Information-Processing Theories Core-Knowledge Theories View of Children’s Nature Central Developmental Issue: Nativism Versus Constructivism BOX 4.3 Applications: Educational Applications of Core- Knowledge Theories Sociocultural Theories View of Children’s Nature: Vygotsky’s Theory Central Developmental Issues BOX 4.4 Applications: Educational Applications of Sociocultural Theories Dynamic-Systems Theories View of Children’s Nature Central Developmental Issues BOX 4.5 Applications: Educational Applications of Dynamic-Systems Theories CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 5 Perception, Action, and Learning in Infancy Perception Vision BOX 5.1 A Closer Look: Infants’ Face Perception Auditory Perception BOX 5.2 A Closer Look: Picture Perception Taste and Smell Touch Intermodal Perception Motor Development Reflexes Motor Milestones Modern Views of Motor Development The Expanding World of the Infant BOX 5.3 A Closer Look: “The Case of the Disappearing Reflex” BOX 5.4 A Closer Look: “Gangway—I’m Coming Down” Learning and Memory Habituation Statistical Learning Classical Conditioning Instrumental Conditioning Observational Learning/Imitation Rational Learning Active Learning Memory CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 6 Development of Language and Symbol Use Language Development The Components of Language What Is Required for Language? BOX 6.1 Applications: Two Languages Are Better Than One The Process of Language Acquisition Speech Perception Word Segmentation Preparation for Production First Words BOX 6.2 Individual Differences: Language Development and Socioeconomic Status BOX 6.3 Applications: iBabies: Technology and Language Learning Putting Words Together Conversational Skills Later Development Theoretical Issues in Language Development Chomsky and the Nativist View Ongoing Debates in Language Development BOX 6.4 A Closer Look: “I Just Can’t Talk Without My Hands”: What Gestures Tell Us About Language BOX 6.5 Individual Differences: Developmental Language Disorders Nonlinguistic Symbols and Development Using Symbols as Information Drawing and Writing CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 7 Conceptual Development Understanding Who or What Dividing Objects into Categories Understanding Oneself and Other People BOX 7.1 Individual Differences: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) Knowledge of Living Things BOX 7.2 Individual Differences: Imaginary Companions Understanding Why, Where, When, and How Many Causality BOX 7.3 A Closer Look: Magical Thinking and Fantasy Space BOX 7.4 Individual Differences: Development of Spatial Concepts in Blind and Visually Impaired People Time Number Relations Among Understanding of Space, Time, and Number CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 8 Intelligence and Academic Achievement What Is Intelligence? Intelligence as a Single Trait Intelligence as a Few Basic Abilities Intelligence as Numerous Cognitive Processes A Proposed Resolution Measuring Intelligence The Contents of Intelligence Tests The Intelligence Quotient (IQ) Continuity of IQ Scores IQ Scores as Predictors of Important Outcomes Other Predictors of Success Genes, Environment, and the Development of Intelligence Qualities of the Child Influence of the Immediate Environment Influence of Society BOX 8.1 Applications: Highly Successful Early Interventions: Better Beginnings, Better Futures (BBBF) and the Carolina Abecedarian Project Alternative Perspectives on Intelligence Gardner’s Theory Sternberg’s Theory Acquisition of Academic Skills: Reading, Writing, and Mathematics Reading BOX 8.2 Individual Differences: Dyslexia Writing Mathematics BOX 8.3 Applications: Mathematics Disabilities CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 9 Theories of Social Development Psychoanalytic Theories Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development Current Perspectives Learning Theories Watson’s Behaviourism Skinner’s Operant Conditioning Social-Learning Theory Current Perspectives BOX 9.1 A Closer Look: Bandura and Bobo Theories of Social Cognition Selman’s Stage Theory of Role Taking Dodge’s Information-Processing Theory of Social Problem Solving Dweck’s Theory of Self-Attributions and Achievement Motivation Current Perspectives BOX 9.2 A Closer Look: Developmental Social Neuroscience Ecological Theories Ethological and Evolutionary Theories The Bioecological Model BOX 9.3 Individual Differences: Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Current Perspectives CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 10 Emotional Development The Development of Emotions Theories on the Nature and Emergence of Emotion The Emergence of Emotions BOX 10.1 A Closer Look: Basic Emotional Expressions in Infants Understanding Emotions Identifying the Emotions of Others Understanding Real and False Emotions BOX 10.2 A Closer Look: Emotional Intelligence Emotion Regulation The Development of Emotion Regulation The Relation of Emotion Regulation to Social Competence and Adjustment The Role of Family in Emotional Development Parents’ Expression of Emotion Parents’ Socialization of Children’s Emotional Responses Temperament Measuring Temperament Determinants of Temperament How Temperament Fits with Environment Mental Health, Stress, and Internalizing Mental Disorders Stress BOX 10.3 Applications: Toxic Stress and Adverse Childhood Experiences Internalizing Mental Disorders BOX 10.4 Individual Differences: Gender Differences in Adolescent Depression CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 11 Attachment to Others and Development of the Self The Caregiver–Child Attachment Relationship Attachment Theory Measurement of Attachment Security BOX 11.1 A Closer Look: Does Childcare Interfere with Attachment? Sources of Individual Differences in Attachment Styles BOX 11.2 Applications: Interventions to Improve Attachment Attachment and Social-Emotional Development The Self Self-Concept BOX 11.3 Individual Differences: Development of Self- Awareness Amongst Autistic Children Self-Esteem BOX 11.4 A Closer Look: Is Too Much Praise Bad for Self- Esteem? Identity CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 12 The Family Family Structure Changes in Family Structure in Canada BOX 12.1 Individual Differences: Teenagers as Parents Same-Sex Parents Divorced Parents Stepparents Family Dynamics Parenting BOX 12.2 Applications: Should Parents Spank Their Children? Differences in Mothers’ and Fathers’ Interactions with Their Children The Child’s Influence on Parenting Sibling Relationships Child Maltreatment Risks for Maltreatment Consequences of Maltreatment Box 12.3 Applications: Preventing Child Maltreatment Family Socioeconomic Context Cultural Contexts Economic Contexts BOX 12.4 A Closer Look: Homelessness Parents’ Work Contexts Childcare Contexts BOX 12.5 Applications: Family-Leave Policies CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 13 Peer Relationships Play Box 13.1 Individual Differences: The Development of Children’s Social Play Friendships Children’s Choice of Friends BOX 13.2 Individual Differences: Culture and Children’s Peer Experience Developmental Changes in Friendship The Role of Technology in Friendships Effects of Friendships on Psychological Functioning and Behaviour BOX 13.3 A Closer Look: Cyberbullying Gender Differences in the Functions of Friendships Status in the Peer Group Measurement of Peer Status BOX 13.4 Applications: Fostering Children’s Peer Acceptance Cross-Cultural Similarities and Differences in Factors Related to Peer Status The Role of Parents in Children’s Peer Relationships Relations Between Attachment and Competence with Peers BOX 13.5 A Closer Look: Parents’ Strategies for Shaping Peer Relationships Quality of Ongoing Parent–Child Interactions and Peer Relationships CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 14 Moral Development Moral Judgment Piaget’s Theory of Moral Judgment Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Reasoning Social Domain Theory of Moral Development The Development of Conscience Prosocial Behaviour The Development of Prosocial Behaviour The Origins of Individual Differences in Prosocial Behaviour BOX 14.1 A Closer Look: Cultural Contributions to Children’s Prosocial Tendencies BOX 14.2 Applications: School-Based Interventions for Promoting Prosocial Behaviour Antisocial Behaviour The Development of Antisocial Behaviours BOX 14.3 A Closer Look: Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder The Origins of Aggression and Antisocial Behaviour Interventions for Aggressive and Antisocial Children BOX 14.4 Applications: Positive Youth Development and Service Learning CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 15 Gender Development Sex and Gender Box 15.1 A Closer Look: Challenges to the Gender Binary Comparisons of Girls and Boys Theoretical Approaches to Gender Development Biological Influences Cognitive and Motivational Influences BOX 15.2 Applications: Where Are Spongesally Squarepants and Curious Jane? Cultural Influences Milestones in Gender Development Infancy and Toddlerhood Preschool Years Middle Childhood Adolescence Patterns of Gender Development Physical Growth: Prenatal Development Through Adolescence Cognitive Abilities and Academic Achievement Interpersonal Goals and Communication Aggressive Behaviour BOX 15.3 Applications: Sexual Harassment and Dating Violence CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 16 Conclusions Theme 1: Nature and Nurture: All Interactions, All the Time Nature and Nurture Begin Interacting Before Birth Infants’ Nature Elicits Nurture Timing Matters Nature Does Not Reveal Itself All at Once Everything Influences Everything Theme 2: Children Play Active Roles in Their Own Development Self-Initiated Activity Active Interpretation of Experience Self-Regulation Eliciting Reactions from Other People Theme 3: Development Is Both Continuous and Discontinuous Continuity/Discontinuity of Individual Differences Continuity/Discontinuity of Overall Development: The Question of Stages Theme 4: Mechanisms of Developmental Change Biological Change Mechanisms Behavioural Change Mechanisms Cognitive Change Mechanisms Change Mechanisms Work Together Theme 5: The Sociocultural Context Shapes Development Growing Up in Societies with Different Practices and Values Growing Up in Different Times and Places Growing Up in Different Circumstances Within a Society Theme 6: Individual Differences Breadth of Individual Differences at a Given Time Stability Over Time Predicting Future Individual Differences on Other Dimensions Determinants of Individual Differences Theme 7: Child-Development Research Can Improve Children’s Lives Implications for Parenting Implications for Education Implications for Helping Children at Risk Improving Social Policy Glossary References Name Index Subject Index Preface This is an exciting time in the field of child development. Recent years have brought new theories, new ways of thinking, new areas of research, and innumerable new findings. We originally wrote How Children Develop to describe this ever-improving body of knowledge of children and their development and to convey our excitement about the progress that is being made in understanding the developmental process. We are pleased to continue this endeavour with the publication of the Canadian sixth edition of How Children Develop. As teachers of child development courses, we appreciate the challenge that instructors face in trying to present these advances and discoveries—as well as the major older ideas and findings—in a one-semester course. Therefore, rather than aim at encyclopedic coverage, we focus on identifying the most important developmental phenomena and describing them in sufficient depth to make them meaningful and memorable to students. In short, our goal has been to write a textbook that makes the child development course coherent and enjoyable for students and teachers alike. Classic Themes The basic premise of the book is that all areas of child development are unified by a small set of enduring themes. These themes can be stated in the form of questions that child-development research tries to answer: 1. How do nature and nurture together shape development? 2. How do children shape their own development? 3. In what ways is development continuous, and in what ways is it discontinuous? 4. How does change occur? 5. How does the sociocultural context influence development? 6. How do children become so different from one another? 7. How can research promote children’s well-being? These seven themes provide the core structure of the book. They are introduced and illustrated in Chapter 1; highlighted repeatedly, where relevant, in the subsequent 14 content chapters; and utilized in the final chapter as a framework for integrating findings relevant to each theme from all areas of development. The continuing coverage of these themes allows us to tell a story that has a beginning (the introduction of the themes), a middle (discussion of specific findings relevant to them), and an ending (the overview of what students have learned about the themes). We believe that this thematic emphasis and structure will not only help students understand enduring questions about child development but will also leave them with a greater sense of satisfaction and completion at the end of the course. Contemporary Perspective The goal of providing a thoroughly contemporary perspective on how children develop has influenced the organization of our book as well as its contents. Whole new areas and perspectives have emerged that barely existed when most of today’s child-development textbooks were originally written. The organization of How Children Develop is designed to present these new topics and approaches in the context of the field as it currently stands, rather than trying to shoehorn them into organizations that once fit the field but no longer do. Consider the case of Piaget’s theory and current research relevant to it. Piaget’s theory often is presented in its own chapter, most of which describes the theory in full detail and the rest of which offers contemporary research that demonstrates problems with the theory. This approach often leaves students wondering why so much time was spent on Piaget’s theory if modern research shows it to be wrong in so many ways. The fact is that the line of research that began more than 50 years ago as an effort to challenge Piaget’s theory has emerged since then as a vital area in its own right—the area of conceptual development. Research in conceptual development provides extensive information on children’s understanding of such fascinating topics as human beings, plants and animals, and the physical universe. As with other research areas, most studies in this field are aimed primarily at uncovering evidence relevant to current claims, not those of Piaget. We adapted to this changing intellectual landscape in two ways. First, our chapter “Theories of Cognitive Development” (Chapter 4) describes the fundamental aspects of Piaget’s theory in depth and honours his legacy by focusing on the aspects of his work that have proven to be the most enduring. Second, a first-of-its-kind chapter called “Conceptual Development” (Chapter 7) addresses the types of issues that inspired Piaget’s theory but concentrates on modern perspectives and findings regarding those issues. This approach allows us to tell students about the numerous intriguing proposals and observations that are being made in this field, without the artificiality of classifying the findings as “pro-Piagetian” or “anti- Piagetian.” The opportunity to create a textbook based on current understanding also led us to assign prominent positions to such rapidly emerging areas as epigenetics, behavioural genetics, brain development, prenatal learning, infant cognition, acquisition of academic skills, emotional development, prosocial behaviour, and friendship patterns. All these areas have seen major breakthroughs in recent years, and their growing prominence has led to even greater emphasis on them in this edition. Getting Right to the Point Our desire to offer a contemporary, streamlined approach led to other departures from the traditional organization. It is our experience that today’s students take child-development courses for a variety of practical reasons and are eager to learn about children. Traditionally, however, they have had to wait two or three or even four chapters—on the history of the field, on major theories, on research methods, on genetics—before actually getting to the study of children. We wanted to build on their initial motivation from the start. Rather than beginning the book, then, with an extensive examination of the history of the field, we include in Chapter 1 a brief overview of the social and intellectual context in which the scientific study of children arose and provide historical background wherever it is pertinent in subsequent chapters. Rather than have an early chapter of “blockbuster” theories that covers all the major cognitive and social theories at once (at a point far removed from the content chapters to which the theories apply), we present a chapter on cognitive developmental theories just before the chapters that focus on specific aspects of cognitive development, and we similarly present a chapter on social developmental theories just before the chapters that focus on specific aspects of social development. Likewise, rather than have a separate chapter on genetics, we include basic aspects of genetics as part of Chapter 3, “Biology and Behaviour,” and then discuss the contributions of genetics to some of the differences amongst individuals throughout the book. When we originally chose this organization, we hoped that it would allow us, from the first weeks of the course, to kindle students’ enthusiasm for finding out how children develop. Judging by the overwhelmingly positive response we have received from students and instructors alike, it has. Features The most important feature of this book is the exposition, which we have tried to make as clear and compelling as possible. As in previous editions, we have given extra attention to making it accessible to a broad range of students. To further enhance the appeal and accessibility of the text, we have retained three types of discussion boxes that explore topics of special interest: “Applications” boxes focus on how child development research can be used to promote children’s well-being. Amongst the applications that are summed up in these boxes are genetic testing, which probes the depths of an individual’s genetic makeup; board-game procedures for improving preschoolers’ understanding of numbers; the Better Beginnings, Better Futures program; interventions to reduce child abuse; programs, such as PATHS, for helping rejected children gain acceptance from their peers; and Positive Youth Development and Service Learning Programs, which seek to reduce problem behaviours and increase positive behaviours. “Individual Differences” boxes focus on populations that differ from the norm with regard to the specific topic under consideration, or on variations amongst children in the general population. Some of these boxes highlight developmental problems such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, specific language impairment, visual impairments, and conduct disorder, whereas others focus on differences in the development of children that centre on attachment status, gender, socioeconomic status, and cultural differences. “A Closer Look” boxes examine important and interesting research in greater depth than would otherwise be possible: the areas examined range from brain-mapping techniques to explorations of gender nonbinary identity to the developmental impact of homelessness and disparities between poverty and health. In place of the brief section summaries used in previous editions, we cap each major section with a thought-provoking Review Question. These prompts serve the dual purpose of encouraging deeper thinking about the material and of forcing the student to pause before diving ahead in the chapter. We have also retained a number of other features intended to improve students’ learning. These features include boldfacing key terms and supplying definitions both within the immediate text and in marginal glossaries; extensive, bulleted Summaries at the end of each chapter; Test Yourself quizzes for students to quickly test their comprehension and understanding of the material in preparation for exams or simply as a way to review; and Critical Thinking Questions intended to promote deeper consideration of essential topics. The Canadian Edition Our goal in writing this Canadian edition was to create a textbook that retains the essential and updated coverage of the American edition, but would also engage Canadian students by situating the content in Canadian and international contexts, highlighting the remarkable scientific accomplishments of Canadian developmental scientists, drawing on Canadian issues, and including current Canadian data and statistics whenever possible. We integrate discussion of research conducted with Canadian children and families throughout the chapters, highlighting the research conducted at universities across Canada. Finally, we have included photographs and figures that reflect the Canadian context and Canadian research. To illustrate how we have incorporated a Canadian perspective, we highlight below some of the specific information included across different chapters. Please note that this is by no means an exhaustive list of the Canadian content incorporated in each chapter! Chapter 1 We have included recent statistics about the prevalence of spanking in Canada, recent developments in practices regarding legal interviews of and testimony from children in Canada, and recent rates of child poverty in Canada. We also incorporate findings from the study of children who were adopted from Romanian orphanages to families in Canada. We include a description of the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans, which governs research involving human subjects in Canada. Chapter 2 We incorporate Canadian statistics about maternal smoking, the use of alcohol and drugs during pregnancy, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the rate of teenage pregnancies, infant mortality rates (including comparison of rates across some provinces and territories, with a focus on the north), newborns with low birth weight, and multiple births. We also discuss recent developments related to environmental pollutants affecting Inuit communities and the Grassy Narrows and White Dog First Nations people. We present research from studies conducted in Alberta investigating the effects of maternal prenatal depression on children’s brain structure. We present data on hospitalization rates for First Nation and Inuit infants compared to non-Indigenous infants in a discussion of structural racism. Chapter 3 We discuss recent research from the University of Toronto on genetic mutations that may lead to autism, findings from the Quebec Newborn Twin Study, information about mandated daily physical activity in schools, and McMaster University’s Early Development Inventory and other interventions to address issues related to the effects of poverty on children’s health and well- being. Chapter 5 We highlight research by Canadian researchers including Kang Lee, who looked at other-race effect (ORE) in children; Sarah Laurence, Daphne Maurer, and Catherine Mondloch, who study face perception of infants; Laurel Trainor, Sandra Trehub, and Glen Schellenberg, who study infants’ responses to music; and Diane Poulin-Dubois, who researches infants’ observational learning and imitation. Chapter 6 We cite research from McGill University that provides insight into language and the brain, comparing brain activation in the left hemisphere for hearing speakers of English and deaf signers of American Sign Language (ASL) and Langue des Signes Québécoise (LSQ). We also describe research from Canadian researchers such as Laurel Trainor (McMaster University), Janet Werker (University of British Columbia), Diane Poulin-Dubois (Concordia University), and Geoff Hall (University of British Columbia), whose research has shaped our understanding of language development. The discussion of bilingualism includes details specific to the Canadian context. Chapter 7 We present a multi-country study from J. Bradley Wigger about the prevalence of imaginary companions, as well as research from the Angus Reid Institute on beliefs in fantasy and the supernatural. Chapter 8 We describe results of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures program in Ontario and of the Aboriginal Head Start Program in Urban and Northern Communities, as well as Canadian studies on gifted children and the development of reading abilities. We also discuss Canadian research on how reading at home affects the development of reading skills, as well as a recent Canadian study on children’s use of invented spelling. Chapter 9 We present data on the prevalence of ADHD diagnoses among Canadian children. We discuss screen time rates among children in Alberta, and present recommendations from the Canadian Pediatric Society. We also discuss social media trends among Canadian adolescents. Chapter 10 We discuss the Roots of Empathy program, originally developed in Toronto, which aims to encourage prosocial behaviour and decrease aggressive behaviour, and the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative, which works to develop practices and policy related to mental health. We present a new study conducted in Alberta exploring the inter- generational effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). We present findings on access to mental health care across Canada, and we offer data on the prevalence of mood disorders among Canadian children. Chapter 11 We highlight Canadian research on paternal and maternal attachment, bicultural integration and ethnic identity, and sexual-minority adolescents, including a discussion of the impact of Gay Straight Alliances in Canadian schools. Chapter 12 This chapter has been heavily revised to present recent changes to the Canadian family structure, including statistics related to lone parents, first-time parents, adolescent parents, grandparents raising children, same-sex parents, teen parents, and divorced and stepparent families, with supporting graphs detailing various family structures by child’s age and province. We discuss child maltreatment in the context of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s description of various forms of abuse, and present recent data from Ontario on rates of abuse. Within the discussion of the economic context, we present data and research on child poverty and homelessness in Canada. We reference research on Canadian family-leave policies and the effects and availability of childcare, including a detailed presentation of the Alberta Child Care Accreditation Standards. Chapter 13 This chapter includes discussion of Canadian research on peer relations, including studies by researchers such as Hildy Ross, Bill Bukowski, François Poulin, Sara Pedersen, Frank Vitaro, Shelley Hymel, Robert Coplan, and Wendy Craig. We include statistics from Canadian studies on time spent with friends, adolescents’ use of technology, bullying, and cyberbullying. Chapter 14 This chapter includes Canadian studies on the relationship between cultural and socioeconomic differences and morality, temperament and prosocial behaviour, aggression, the connection between socioeconomic status and antisocial behaviour, and the prevalence of Oppositional Defiance Disorder. We discuss community service projects in Ontario and other provinces. This chapter opens with a discussion of the tragic murder of Canadian soldier Captain Nathan Cirillo. Chapter 15 This chapter highlights Canadian research on academic achievement, including degree attainment by women in STEM- related fields, gender bias in observed aggressive behaviour, and sexual harassment and physical aggression in dating relationships. New and Expanded Coverage In every edition, we endeavour to address new developments in the field and bring in fresh examples drawn from current events. In addition to the Canadian focus just described, we have expanded our coverage of a number of research areas that have become increasingly important in recent years for both the students of child development and the instructors who teach it. We have sought in this Canadian sixth edition to balance the inclusion of this new material with judicious cuts and consolidation of coverage. We have worked to remove outdated and less relevant material, eliminate overlapping coverage across chapters, and present core concepts in a more concise manner. The result is a leaner, more visually appealing text that delivers the same wealth of coverage found in prior editions, but in a manner that we hope you, and more importantly your students, will find more manageable and digestible. In the following paragraphs, we outline some of the most significant highlights of the Canadian sixth edition. We hope you find it to be useful and appealing. Chapter 1 Updated presentation of long-term consequences and later findings in Box 1.1: The Romanian Adoption Study. Updates and revisions made throughout the presentation section on Enduring Themes in Child Development, notably in Theme 2: The Active Child (expanded discussion of play), Theme 4: Mechanisms of Change (additional examples and recent research added), and Theme 5: The Sociocultural Context (updated discussion of SES). Chapter 2 Exposition updated and tightened throughout, most notably in the discussions of conception, early and prenatal development, teratogens, infant sleep, and crying. Updated the subsection on Fetal Experience, including a new discussion of prenatal visual preferences and of phylogenetic continuity. Updates to the discussion of Drugs and Maternal Factors in the section on Teratogens, including a significant revision of the section on Maternal Emotional State. Updated and revised subsection on Intervention Programs included in the section on Negative Outcomes at Birth. Chapter 3 Significant reorganization and update to the discussion of heredity in the section on Parents’ Genotype–Child’s Genotype. Updated (and reduced length of) Box 3.1: Genetic Testing, with new content covering non-invasive prenatal testing. Expanded and updated discussion of methylation, including a new figure, and epigenetic effects. In the section on Behavioural Genetics, revised and updated the discussion of Heritability, particularly the discussion of misconceptions, and expanded and updated the discussion of molecular genetics research design with new coverage of candidate gene studies. In the section on Brain Development, added new figures and expanded discussions of arborization, neurogenesis, and synapse production and elimination. New subsection on Vaccines added to section on Physical Growth and Development. Chapter 4 Opening section discussing Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development has been shortened for a more concise presentation. Presentation of Sociocultural Theories has been restructured and shortened. New research added to the discussion of executive functioning in the section on Information-Processing Theories. Chapter 5 Section on Cognition has been eliminated, with topics distributed to other sections in the chapter (as well as to Chapter 7). Section on Learning has been retitled Learning and Memory, and a corresponding subsection on Memory has been added. Expanded and updated discussion of Taste and Smell. New Table 5.1 charting Infant Reflexes has been added to this section. Chapter 6 All Boxes shortened and updated with current research. Section on Components of Language has been revised to be more concise. Chapter 7 Expanded discussion of causal understanding now includes a discussion of object knowledge (adapted from material previously found in Chapter 5). Expanded discussion of Naïve Psychology in Infancy, with additional material previously found in Chapter 5, now adapted and updated for this section. Chapter 8 Updated discussion of the impact of technology, such as video games, on fluid intelligence. Updated discussion of the effects of poverty on measures of intelligence and academic achievement, including a new figure showing current poverty rates across several countries. Discussion of intervention programs updated to reflect recent findings. Revamped and shortened presentation of Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences and Sternberg’s theory of successful intelligence. Updates throughout the section on Acquisition of Academic Skills, including new coverage of the simple view of reading and new research on math achievement and math anxiety. Chapter 9 Each section covering a major theoretical approach has been streamlined for a more concise presentation. Updated discussion of Parental Leave, including a new figure plotting the length of maternity leave in a sampling of countries. Subsection SES and development has been cut from the chapter, and the subsection on child maltreatment has been moved from this chapter to Chapter 12, to allow for an expanded and updated subsection on Children and the Media. Chapter 10 Coverage has been streamlined and updated throughout, most notably to the sections on Understanding Emotions and Emotion Regulation. New research added throughout the sections on the Emergence of Emotions. Relocation and restructuring of the sections on the Role of Family and on Temperament, for better flow through the chapter. Chapter 11 Coverage has been streamlined and updated throughout, particularly in the coverage of Attachment Theory in the opening section and in the section on The Self. New research included in the discussions of parenting and attachment styles and on genetic influences on attachment styles. Significant revisions and updates throughout the discussion of Identity, including new research added on acculturation in the context of children of immigrants, and new survey data related to sexual-minority youth. Chapter 12 Substantial updates to the section on Family Structure. Section on Child Maltreatment added to this chapter, expanding and updating material previously found in Chapter 9. Box 12.3: Preventing Child Abuse, previously included in Chapter 9, has been updated and reworked to focus on strategies recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Substantial revisions and updates to Box 12.5: Family Leave Policies. Chapter 13 Significant streamlining of material throughout chapter to make for a more concise presentation. New major section on Play opens the chapter, with a new Box 13.1: The Development of Children’s Social Play. Box 13.2: Culture and Children’s Peer Experience has been substantially revised. Subsection on Cyberbullying has been thoroughly updated. Chapter 14 Discussion of Piaget’s Theory of Moral Judgment and Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Reasoning have been reworked for a more concise treatment. Heavily revised coverage of Social Domain Theory of moral development, including the introduction of several new key terms. New research added to the discussion of Cultural and Socioeconomic Differences in moral reasoning, including a series of new figures based on a study done on charitable giving. Updated and streamlined section on Prosocial Behaviours for a more concise presentation; discussion of Hamlin’s helper/hinderer study added from Chapter 5. Updated and streamlined section on Antisocial and Aggressive Behaviours, including the addition of a new subsection on Interventions for Aggressive and Antisocial Children. Chapter 15 Extensive updating and restructuring throughout the chapter, including a focus on issues and research related to transgender and gender-nonbinary populations, where applicable. New opening section on Sex and Gender, including the introduction of several new key terms; discussion of major gender differences across several dimensions, including new Box 15.1: Challenges to the Gender Binary; Table 15.1: Summary of Average Gender Differences has also been moved from later in the chapter to this opening section. Section on Theoretical Approaches to Gender Development has been updated and restructured, with a new discussion of Integrative Theoretical Approaches, including a new figure diagramming the gender self-socialization model. Revised and updated section on Milestones in Gender Development, including a new discussion of ambivalent sexism in the discussion of development during adolescence. Final section Patterns of Gender Development has been updated and reorganized with a new subsection on STEM-Related Skills. Supplements How Children Develop, Canadian Sixth Edition, features a wide array of multimedia tools that are designed for the individual needs of students and teachers. For more information about any of the items listed below, please visit the online catalog at www.macmillanlearning.com. LaunchPad with LearningCurve Quizzing Description The title bar reads, LaunchPad, Macmillan Learning, followed by the student’s name, Help drop-down menu, and a Feedback button. The window is divided into two vertical panels: on the left is the Menu panel listing various options including eBook, Gradebook, Calendar, Resources, Welcome Center, Instructor Console, and Preview as Student. The right panel is divided into two horizontal sections. The top section has a header with text, ‘Siegler et al., How children Develop 6e Canadian Edition,’ followed by a search bar and search icon. The header is followed by text reading, ‘You have 2 assignments due in the next 7 days.’ Below the text is a list of assignments displaying the chapter number, title of the chapter, and the due date. The bottom section lists the unassigned chapters displaying the chapter number, title of the chapter, and a date. A comprehensive web resource for teaching and learning psychology LaunchPad combines Macmillan Learning’s award-winning media with an innovative platform for easy navigation. For students, it is the ultimate online study guide with rich interactive tutorials, videos, e- book, and the LearningCurve adaptive quizzing system. For instructors, LaunchPad is a full course space where class documents can be posted, quizzes are easily assigned and graded, and students’ progress can be assessed and recorded. Whether you are looking for the most effective study tools or a robust platform for an online course, LaunchPad is a powerful way to enhance your class. LaunchPad for How Children Develop, Canadian Sixth Edition, can be previewed and purchased at launchpadworks.com. How Children Develop, Canadian Sixth Edition, and LaunchPad can be ordered together with ISBN-10: 1-319-34650-2 / ISBN-13: 978-1-319- 34650-8. LaunchPad for How Children Develop, Canadian Sixth Edition, includes the following resources: The LearningCurve quizzing system was designed based on the latest findings from learning and memory research. It combines adaptive question selection, immediate and valuable feedback, and a game-like interface to engage students in a learning experience that is unique to them. Each LearningCurve quiz is fully integrated with other resources in LaunchPad through the Personalized Study Plan, so students will be able to review with Worth’s extensive library of videos and activities. And state-of- the-art question analysis reports allow instructors to track the progress of individual students, as well as their class as a whole. Description The title bar reads, LearningCurve, on the left and has a button on the extreme left reading, End Student Preview. The title bar is followed by text reading, ‘3. Biology and Behaviour.’ Below the heading, on the left, is the ‘Target score progress’ scale; the scale reads, ‘You have: 225 points, Target: 750,’ followed by a button reading ‘LearningCurve tips for success.’ The right panel displays the personalized plan. The text on the top reads, ‘Your personalized study plan’; it is followed by data reading, ‘Genetic and Environmental Forces: 100 percentage accuracy,’ ‘Behaviour Genetics: 69 percentage accuracy. Below the genetics is a list of study plan suggestions. An interactive e-book allows students to highlight, bookmark, and make their own notes, just as they would with a printed textbook. Digital enhancements include full-text search and in- text glossary definitions. Student Video Activities include more than 100 engaging video modules that instructors can easily assign for student assessment. Videos cover classic experiments, current news footage, and cutting-edge research, all of which are sure to spark discussion and encourage critical thinking. Deep integration is available between LaunchPad products and most learning management systems, including Blackboard, Brightspace by D2L, Canvas, and Moodle. These deep integrations offer educators single sign-on and gradebook sync, now with auto refresh. These best-in-class integrations offer deep linking to all Macmillan digital content at the chapter and asset levels, giving professors maximum flexibility within their LMS. Presentation and Faculty Support Presentation Slides Presentation slides are available in two formats that can be used as they are or can be customized. One set includes all the textbook’s illustrations and tables. The second set consists of lecture slides that focus on key themes and terms in the book and include text illustrations and tables. Both of these prebuilt PowerPoint presentations are available through LaunchPad at launchpadworks.com. Presentation Videos Worth’s video clips for developmental psychology span the full range of topics for the child development course. With hundreds of clips to choose from, this premium collection includes research and news footage on topics ranging from prenatal development to the experience of child soldiers to empathy in adolescence. These clips are made available to instructors for lecturing in the classroom and also through LaunchPad. Instructor’s Resource Manual Written by Lynne Baker-Ward of North Carolina State University, and revised by Barinder Bhavra, this innovative Instructor’s Resource Manual includes handouts for student projects, reading lists of journal articles, course-planning suggestions, and supplementary readings, in addition to lecture guides, chapter overviews, and learning objectives. The Instructor’s Resource Manual can be downloaded in LaunchPad at launchpadworks.com. Macmillan Community Macmillan Community is an online forum where teachers can find and share favourite teaching ideas and materials, including videos, animations, images, PowerPoint slides, news stories, articles, web links, and lecture activities. It is also the home of Worth’s abundant social media content, including tweets, blog posts, webinars, and more! Browse the site and share your favourite materials for teaching psychology at https://community.macmillan.com. Assessment Test Bank The Test Bank for How Children Develop by Kyle Danielson of the University of Toronto, Scarborough, features more than 100 multiple- choice and essay questions for each chapter. Each question is keyed to the textbook by topic, type, and level of difficulty. The Test Bank is available through LaunchPad at launchpadworks.com. Acknowledgments So many people have contributed (directly and indirectly) to this textbook that it is impossible to know where to start or where to stop in thanking them. All of us have been given exceptional support by our spouses and significant others—Jerry Harris, Xiaodong Lin, Seth Pollak, John Gerlach, and Andrew Gershoff—and by our children— Benjamin Clore; Michael Harris; Todd, Beth, and Aaron Siegler; Avianna McGhee; Eli and Nell Pollak; Sam and Madeline Gerlach; and Noah and Ella Gershoff—as well as by our parents, relatives, friends, and other loved ones. Our advisors in college and graduate school, Richard Aslin, Ann Brown, Les Cohen, Ted Dix, Harry Hake, George Holden, Robert Liebert, Jim Morgan, Paul Mussen, Elissa Newport, Jim Pate, and Diane Poulin-Dubois, helped to launch our careers and taught us how to recognize and appreciate good research. We also have all benefited from collaborators who shared our quest for understanding child development and from a great many exceptionally helpful and generous colleagues, including Larry Aber, Karen Adolph, Martha Alibali, Renee Baillargeon, Sharon Carver, Craig Chambers, Zhe Chen, Robert Crosnoe, Suzanne Curtin, Richard Fabes, Cindy Fisher, Susan Gelman, Geoff Hall, Aletha Huston, Andrew Grogan-Kaylor, Melanie Jones, David Klahr, Patrick Lemaire, Casey Lew-Williams, Angeline Lillard, Liz Nilsen, John Opfer, Penny Pexman, Elizabeth Planalp, Karl Rosengren, Kristin Shutts, Tracy Spinrad, David Uttal, Carlos Valiente, and Erica Wojcik. We owe special thanks to our assistants, Sheri Towe and Theresa Treasure, who helped in innumerable ways in preparing the book, and to Shanting Chen and Kathleen Holloway for their thorough work reviewing the video library that accompanies this edition. We would also like to thank the many reviewers who contributed to this and previous editions. For the Canadian edition, we thank Alba Agostino, Ryerson University; Daniel Ansari, University of Western Ontario; Christina Besner, Champlain College Lennoxville; Ann Bigelow, St. Francis Xavier University; Tanya Broesch, Simon Fraser University; Tina Bonnett, Fanshawe College; Carie M. Buchanan, St. Thomas More College–University of Sakatchewan; Arloene Burak, University of Victoria; Jeremy Carpendale, Simon Fraser University; Kyle Danielson, University of British Columbia; Kelly Dean Schwartz, University of Calgary; Cass Foursha-Stevenson, Mount Royal University; Kathleen Hughes, University of Calgary; Jacqueline Kampman, Thompson Rivers University; Padmapriya Kandhadai, University of British Columbia; Elizabeth Kelley, Queen’s University; Cheryl Kier, Athabasca University; Tru Kwong, Mount Royal University; Danielle Labossière, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland; Linda Langevin, Medicine Hat College; Vivian Li, University of British Columbia; Tina Malti, University of Toronto; Anna Matejka, University of Toronto Mississauga; Lillian May, University of British Columbia; Nancy Ogden, Mount Royal University; Gene Ouellette, Mount Allison University; Angelina Paolozza, University of Toronto; Alissa Pencer, Dalhousie University; Jocelyn Proulx, University of Manitoba; Danielle Quigley, Douglas College; Valerie San Juan, University of Calgary; Daniel Séguin, Mount Saint Vincent University; Veronica Smith, University of Alberta; Christina Starmans, University of Toronto; Alexandra Twyman, University of Western Ontario; Tara Vongpaisal, MacEwan University; Kelly Warren, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland; Janet F. Werker, University of British Columbia; Sandra Wiebe, University of Alberta; Lynne Zarbatany, University of Western Ontario. For the American edition: Daisuke Akiba, Queens College, City University of New York; Kimberly Alkins, Queens College, City University of New York; Hiram Allen, College of New Rochelle; Dina Anselmi, Trinity College; Lynne Baker-Ward, North Carolina State University; Hilary Barth, Wesleyan University; Christie Bartholomew, Kent State University; Christopher Beevers, University of Texas at Austin; Martha Bell, Virginia Tech; Cynthia Berg, University of Utah; Rebecca Bigler, University of Texas at Austin; Margaret Borkowski, Saginaw Valley State University; Lyn Boulter, Catawba College; Renia Brown-Cobb, Virginia State University; Eric Buhs, University of Nebraska–Lincoln; G. Leonard Burns, Washington State University; Allison Butler, Bryant University; Wendy Carlson, Shenandoah University; Erik W. Cheries, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Mel Joseph Ciena, University of San Francisco; Kristi Cordell-McNulty, Angelo State University; Myra Cox, Harold Washington College; Maria Crisafi, Columbia University; Kimberly Cuevas, University of Connecticut; Emily Davidson, Texas A&M University–Main Campus; Peggy DeCooke, The State University of New York at Purchase; Ed de St. Aubin, Marquette University; Marissa Diener, University of Utah; Julie Earles, Wilkes Honors College, Florida Atlantic University; Sharon Eaves, Shawnee State University; Jessica Espinosa, Miami Dade College; Guadalupe Espinoza, California State University, Fullerton; Elisa Esposito, Widener University; Urminda Firlan, Grand Rapids Community College; Dorothy Fragaszy, University of Georgia; Jeffery Gagne, University of Texas–Arlington; Jennifer Ganger, University of Pittsburgh; Alice Ganzel, Cornell College; Catherine Gaze, Elmhurst College; Janet Gebelt, Westfield State University; Peter Gerhardstein, Binghamton University; Melissa Ghera, St. John Fisher College; Helana Girgis, Hartwick College; Susan Graham, University of Calgary; Andrea Greenhoot, University of Kansas; Jessica Greenlee, Virginia Commonwealth University; Shelia Greenlee, Christopher Newport University; Frederick Grote, Western Washington University; John Gruszkos, Reynolds University; Hanna Gustafsson, University of North Carolina; Alma Guyse, Midland College; Louise Hainline, Brooklyn College; Lauren Harris, Michigan State University; Sybil Hart, Texas Tech University; Karen Hartlep, California State University–Bakersfield; Patricia Hawley, University of Kansas–Main; Joan Henley, Arkansas State University; Susan Hespos, Northwestern University; Doris Hiatt, Monmouth University; Aline Hitti, University of San Francisco; Susan Holt, Central Connecticut State University; Wendy Jung, Tulane University; Lana Karasik, The College of Staten Island; Lisa Huffman, Ball State University; Kathryn Kipp, University of Georgia; Rosemary Krawczyk, Minnesota State University; Amber Kreischer, University of Texas at Austin; Raymond Krukovsky, Union County College; Tara Kuther, Western Connecticut State University; Martin Lampert, Holy Names University; Richard Lanthier, George Washington University; Elida Laski, Boston College; Kathryn Lemery, Arizona State University; Barbara Licht, Florida State University; Jeffrey Liew, Texas A&M University; Angeline Lillard, University of Virginia; Lori Markson, Washington University in St. Louis; Marsha J. McCartney, University of Kansas; Wayne McMillin, Northwestern State University; Martha Mendez-Baldwin, Manhattan College; Scott Miller, University of Florida; Keith Nelson, Pennsylvania State University–Main Campus; Paul Nicodemus, Austin Peay State University; Tracy Nishida, Arizona State University; Katherine O’Doherty, Vanderbilt University; Christin Ogle, American University; John Opfer, The Ohio State University; Beverly Pead, Springfield Technical Community College; Ann Repp, University of Texas at Austin; Nicole Rivera, North Central College; Shannon Ross-Sheehy, University of Tennessee; Sarah Sanborn, Clemson University; Leigh A. Shaw, Weber State University; Jennifer Simonds, Westminster College; Rebekah Smith, University of Texas– San Antonio; Tara Stoppa, Eastern University; Mark Strauss, University of Pittsburgh–Main; Spencer Thompson, University of Texas–Permian Basin; Marisel Torres-Crespo, Hood College; Lisa Travis, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign; Roger Webb, University of Arkansas–Little Rock; Keri Weed, University of South Carolina–Aiken; Sherri Widen, Boston College; Fei Xu, The University of California, Berkeley. We would especially like to thank Campbell Leaper, University of California, Santa Cruz, for his major contributions to the revision of our chapter on gender development (Chapter 15). We are indebted to Campbell for bringing to the Canadian sixth edition his expertise and keen insight in this important area. Thanks are particularly due to our friends and collaborators at Worth Publishers. As Executive Program Manager for Psychology, Daniel DeBonis provided exceptional support and any number of excellent suggestions. We would also like to thank Marge Byers, who nurtured our first edition from its inception and helped us to realize our vision. Peter Deane, our development editor for the first four editions, is in a class by himself in both skill and dedication. Peter’s creative thinking and firm understanding of the field enhanced the content of the book in innumerable ways. We are deeply grateful to him. Special thanks go to the development editor for the latest two editions, Andrew Sylvester, who provided consistently outstanding help throughout the process, as well as to assistant editor Anna Munroe, senior content project manager Vivien Weiss, director of content management enhancement Tracey Kuehn, art manager Matthew McAdams, cover designer John Callahan, interior designer Victoria Tomaselli, design manager Natasha Wolfe, executive permissions editor Cecilia Varas, photo researcher Jennifer Atkins, senior workflow project manager Paul Rohloff, and compositor Lumina Datamatics, and Subramaniam Vengatakrishnan and Prasanna Kalyanaram in particular, for their excellent work. They have helped create a book that we hope you will find a pleasure to look at as well as to read. Executive marketing manager Katherine Nurre provided outstanding promotional materials to inform professors about the book. Associate media editor Stephanie Matamoros managed the superb package of ancillary material. We also want to thank the Canadian marketing and sales teams led by Jen Cawsey. The enthusiasm and support provided by Jen, as well as Kasia Bulgarski, Jennifer Mills, Kiyo Monteith, Kate Nicoll, Robbie Patterson, Jordan Scholefield, and Katy Turenne, are greatly appreciated! CHAPTER 1 An Introduction to Child Development Water Baby and the Moon Reasons to Learn About Child Development Historical Foundations of the Study of Child Development Enduring Themes in Child Development Methods for Studying Child Development THEMES NATURE AND NURTURE THE ACTIVE CHILD CONTINUITY/DISCONTINUITY MECHANISMS OF CHANGE THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES RESEARCH AND CHILDREN’S WELFARE In 1955, a group of child-development researchers began a unique study. Their goal, like that of many developmental researchers, was to find out how biological and environmental factors influence children’s intellectual, social, and emotional growth. What made their study unique was that they examined these diverse aspects of development for all 698 children born that year on the Hawaiian island of Kauai and continued studying the children’s development for 40 years. With the parents’ consent, the research team, headed by Emmy Werner, collected many types of data about the children. To learn about possible complications during the prenatal period and birth, they examined physicians’ records. To learn about family interactions and the children’s behaviour at home, they arranged for nurses and social workers to observe the families and to interview the children’s mothers when the children were 1 year old and again when they were 10 years old. The researchers also interviewed teachers about the children’s academic performance and classroom behaviour during the elementary school years and examined police, family court, and social service records that involved the children, either as victims or perpetrators. Finally, the researchers administered standardized intelligence and personality tests to the participants when they were 10 and 18 years old and interviewed them at ages 18, 32, and 40 to find out how they saw their own development (Werner, 2005). Results from this study illustrated some of the many ways in which biological and environmental factors combine to produce child development. For example, children who experienced prenatal or birth complications were more likely than others to develop physical handicaps, mental illness, and learning difficulties. But whether they developed such problems—and if so, to what degree—depended a great deal on their home environment. Parents’ income, education, and mental health, together with the quality of the relationship between the parents, especially influenced children’s development. By age 2, toddlers who had experienced severe prenatal or birth problems but who lived in harmonious middle-income families were nearly as advanced in language and motor skills as were children who had not experienced early problems. By the time the children were 10-year-olds, prenatal and birth problems were consistently related to psychological difficulties only if the children also grew up in poor rearing conditions. What of children who faced both biological and environmental challenges—prenatal or birth complications and adverse family circumstances? The majority of these children developed serious learning or behaviour problems by age 10. By age 18, most had acquired a police record, had experienced mental health problems, or had become an unmarried parent. However, one-third of such at- risk children showed impressive resilience, growing up into young adults who, in the words of Werner, “loved well, worked well, and played well” (1989, p. 108D). Michael was one such resilient child. Born prematurely, with low birth weight, to teenage parents, he spent the first 3 weeks of his life in a hospital, separated from his mother. By his 8th birthday, Michael’s parents were divorced, his mother had deserted the family, and he and his three brothers and sisters were being raised by their father, with the help of their elderly grandparents. Yet by age 18, Michael was successful in school, had high self-esteem, was popular with his peers, and was a caring young man with a positive attitude toward life. The fact that there are many children like Michael— children who show great resilience in the face of adversity—is among the most heartening findings of research on child development. This family has lived in a one-room tent for approximately 2 years. Will these children be resilient enough to overcome their disadvantaged environment? The answer will depend in large part on how many risk factors they face, their personal characteristics, and the nature of the parenting they receive. Reading this chapter will increase your understanding of these and other basic questions about child development. It will also introduce you to some historical perspectives on these fundamental questions, as well as to the perspectives and methods that modern researchers use to address them. But first, we would like you to consider a basic question for those taking this course: Why study child development? Reasons to Learn About Child Development For us, as both parents and researchers, the sheer enjoyment of watching children and trying to understand them is reason enough for studying child development. What could be more fascinating than the development of a child? But there are also practical and intellectual reasons for studying child development. Understanding how children develop can improve child rearing, promote the adoption of wiser social policies regarding children’s welfare, and answer basic questions about human nature. We examine each of these reasons in the following sections. Raising Children Trying to be a good parent raises endless questions. If I drink wine occasionally while I’m pregnant, will it harm my baby even before she’s born? Once she’s born, is it okay to take her outside in the cold weather? Should I raise my son at home for his first few years, or would going to day care be better for his development? My daughter is 3 years old and not speaking yet—should I worry, and is there some way to help her? Should I try to teach my 5-year-old to read early, or will she learn when she’s ready? How can I help my kindergartner deal with her anger? My teenager seems lonely and says that no one likes him; how can I help? Child-development research can help answer such questions. For example, one problem that confronts almost all parents is how to help their children control their anger. One tempting reaction is to spank children who express anger in inappropriate ways, such as fighting, name-calling, and talking back. In Canada, about 25% of parents report spanking their children (Fréchette & Romano, 2015; Perron et al., 2014). Research shows, however, that spanking makes problem behaviours worse, and the effects are long-lasting. One large-scale study showed that the more often parents spanked their kindergartners, the more often the same children argued, fought, and acted inappropriately at school when they were 3rd-graders. This relation has held true for children from various backgrounds, and it has held true above and beyond the effects of other relevant factors, such as parents’ income and education (Gershoff et al., 2012). Fortunately, research suggests several effective alternatives to spanking (Denham, 1998, 2006). One is expressing sympathy: when parents respond to their children’s anger with sympathy, the children are better able to cope with the situation causing the distress. Another effective approach is helping angry children find positive alternatives to expressing their feelings. For example, encouraging them to do something they enjoy helps them cope with their hostility. These strategies and similar ones, such as time-outs, can also be used effectively by others who contribute to raising children, such as day- care personnel and teachers. One demonstration of this was provided by a special curriculum devised for helping preschoolers (3- and 4- year-olds) who were angry and out of control (Denham & Burton, 1996). This curriculum encourages preschool teachers to help children recognize their own and other children’s emotions, as well as to teach children techniques for controlling their anger and peaceably resolving conflicts with other children. One approach that children were taught for coping with anger was the “turtle technique.” When children felt themselves becoming angry, they were to move away from other children and retreat into their “turtle shell,” where they could think through the situation until they were ready to emerge from the shell. Posters like this are used in the turtle technique to remind children of ways to control anger. The curriculum was quite successful. Children who participated in it became more skillful in recognizing and regulating anger when they experienced it. For example, one boy, who had regularly gotten into fights when angry, told the teacher after a dispute with another child, “See, I used my words, not my hands” (Denham, 1998, p. 219). The benefits of this program can be long term. In one test, positive effects were still evident as long as 4 or 5 years after children completed the curriculum (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). As this example suggests, knowledge of child-development research can be helpful to everyone involved in the care of children. Choosing Social Policies Another reason to learn about child development is to be able to make informed decisions about the wide variety of social-policy questions that affect children in general. For example, does playing violent video games increase aggressive behaviour? How much trust should judges and juries place in preschoolers’ testimony in child- abuse cases? Should children who struggle in school be held back, or should they be promoted to the next grade so that they can be with children of the same age? Consider the issue of whether playing violent video games makes children and adolescents more aggressive. This issue has been hotly contested by politicians, advocacy groups, and researchers, with some arguing that such games are sufficiently harmful that their sale to minors should be forbidden. The Entertainment Software Association of Canada is responsible for rating video games in terms of age-appropriateness, content, and interactive features, and most retailers in Canada, using this rating system, require age verification for the purchase of games rated M (mature) (Entertainment Software Rating Board, n.d.). To provide a thorough evaluation of the evidence, Ferguson (2015; also see Furuya-Kanamori & Doi, 2016) reviewed findings from 101 studies conducted on the topic. He used a statistical technique known as meta-analysis, a method for combining the results from independent studies to reach conclusions based on all of them. This meta-analysis indicated that the effect of playing violent video games on children’s and adolescents’ aggression was minimal. Minimal is not the same as nonexistent—playing violent video games did appear to increase aggressive behaviour by a small amount—but the meta- analysis contradicted claims that violent video games are a major cause of children’s and adolescents’ aggression. Such quantitative analyses of the impact of various activities on children’s behaviour are useful evidence in deciding whether the benefits of preventing potentially harmful activities outweigh the costs of impinging on people’s freedom to do what they want. meta-analysis a method for combining the results from independent studies to reach conclusions based on all of them Another issue of social policy in which child-development research has played an important role concerns how much trust to put in preschoolers’ courtroom testimony. Research suggests that tens of thousands of children testify in legal cases in Canada about crimes they either experienced or witnessed (Cunningham & Stevens, 2011). Many of these children are very young: in 2012, about 40% of children who were victims of sexual offences in Canada were 11 years of age or younger (Statistics Canada, 2014). Many of these children face the prospect of testifying in court. The stakes are extremely high in such cases. If juries believe children who falsely testify that they were abused, innocent people may spend years in jail. If juries do not believe children who accurately report abuse, the perpetrators will go free and probably abuse other children. What can be done to promote reliable testimony from young children and to avoid leading them to report experiences that never occurred? Psychological research has helped answer such questions. In one experiment, researchers tested whether biased questioning affects the accuracy of young children’s memory for events involving touching one’s own and other people’s bodies. The researchers began by having 3- to 6-year-olds play a game, similar to “Simon Says,” in which the children were told to touch various parts of their body and those of other children. A month later, a social worker was sent to interview the children about their experiences during the game (Ceci & Bruck, 1998). Before the social worker conducted the interviews, she was given a description of each child’s experiences. However, unknown to her, the description she heard included inaccuracies. The social worker was given instructions much like those in a court case: “Find out what the child remembers.” In courtrooms such as this one, asking questions that will help children to testify accurately is of the utmost importance. As it turned out, the version of events that the social worker had heard often influenced her questions to children. If, for example, children’s accounts of an event contradicted what the social worker believed to be the case, she tended to question the children repeatedly about the event (“Are you sure you touched his foot? Is it possible you touched some other part of his body?”). In response to the social worker’s questions, children often changed their responses, with 34% of 3- and 4-year-olds eventually corroborating at least one of the social workers’ incorrect beliefs. Children were led to “remember” not only plausible events that never happened but also implausible ones that the social worker had been told about. For instance, some children “recalled” their knee being licked and a marble being inserted in their ear. Studies of this type have yielded a number of conclusions regarding children’s testimony in legal proceedings. One important finding is that when 3- to 5-year-olds are not asked leading questions, their testimony is usually accurate as far as it goes, though they leave out a great deal of information (Bruck, Ceci, & Principe, 2006; Howe & Courage, 1997). However, when prompted by leading questions, young children’s testimony is often inaccurate, especially when the leading questions are asked repeatedly. The younger the children are, the more their recall tends to reflect the biases of the interviewer’s questions (Otgaar et al., 2018). In addition, realistic props, such as anatomically correct dolls and drawings, which are often used in judicial cases in the hopes of improving recall of sexual abuse, turn out not to improve recall of events that occurred but to actually increase the number of inaccurate claims, perhaps by blurring the line between fantasy and reality (Poole, Bruck, & Pipe, 2011). Research on child eyewitness testimony has had a large practical effect: In various jurisdictions in Canada, multidisciplinary guidelines have been developed to assist police, child welfare workers, physicians, and other professionals in interviewing children and preparing them for court (see the Canadian Child Abuse Association for examples of these guidelines). Training programs have been developed by researchers at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Regina to improve how police and social workers conduct investigative interviews with children (Price & Roberts, 2011). In addition to helping courts obtain more accurate testimony from young children, such research-based conclusions illustrate how knowledge of child development can inform social policies more generally. Understanding Human Nature A third reason to study child development is to better understand human nature. Many of the most intriguing questions regarding human nature focus on infancy and childhood. For example, does learning start only after children are born, or can it occur in the womb? Can later upbringing in a loving home overcome the detrimental effects of early rearing in a loveless institutional setting? Do children vary in personality and intellect from the day they are born, or are they similar at birth, with differences arising only because they have different experiences? Studying infants and young children offers an opportunity to learn what people are like before they are affected by the innumerable influences of family and society. One major group of contemporary philosophers and psychologists, known as nativists, argues that evolution has created many remarkable capabilities that are present even in early infancy, particularly in areas of special importance, such as understanding basic properties of physical objects, plants and animals, and other people. Another major group of philosophers and psychologists, known as empiricists, has argued that infants possess general learning mechanisms that allow them to learn a great deal quite quickly, but that infants and young children lack the specialized capabilities that nativists attribute to them. Until recently, people could only speculate about questions regarding human nature. Now, however, developmental scientists have methods that enable us to observe, describe, and explain the process of development, and thus to deepen our understanding of how we become who we are. Box 1.1 provides one fascinating example of the questions that these methods can address. BOX 1.1 A CLOSER LOOK The Romanian Adoption Study A particularly poignant illustration of the way in which scientific research can increase understanding of human nature comes from studies of how children’s ability to overcome the effects of early maltreatment is affected by its timing, that is, by when in the child’s life the maltreatment begins and ends. This research examines children whose early life was spent in horribly inadequate orphanages in Romania in the late 1980s and early 1990s (McCall et al., 2011; Nelson et al., 2007; Rutter, O’Connor, & The English and Romanian Adoptees Study Team, 2004). Children in these orphanages had almost no contact with any caregiver. For reasons that remain unknown, the brutal Communist dictatorship of that era demanded that staff workers not interact with the children, even when giving them their bottles. Staff members provided the infants with so little physical contact that the crown of many infants’ heads became flattened from the babies’ lying on their backs for 18 to 20 hours per day. Shortly after the collapse of Communist rule in Romania, a number of these children were adopted by families around the world, including Canada and Great Britain. When these children arrived in their adoptive homes, most were severely malnourished, with more than half being in the lowest 3% of children their age in terms of height, weight, and head circumference. Most also showed varying degrees of intellectual disability and were socially immature. The parents who adopted them knew of their deprived backgrounds and were highly motivated to provide loving homes that would help the children recover from the damaging effects of their early mistreatment. To evaluate the long-term effects of their early deprivation, the physical, intellectual, and social development of about 150 of the Romanian-born children adopted into homes in Great Britain were examined at age 6 years. To provide a basis of comparison, the researchers also followed the development of a group of British-born children who had been adopted into loving British families before they were 6 months of age. Simply put, the question was whether human nature is sufficiently flexible that the Romanian-born children could overcome the extreme deprivation of their early experience. By age 6 years, the physical development of the Romanian-born children had improved considerably, both in absolute terms and in relation to the British-born comparison group. However, the Romanian children’s early experience of deprivation continued to influence their physical development, with the extent of negative effects depending on how long the children had been institutionalized. Romanian-born children who were adopted by British families before age 6 months, and who had therefore spent the smallest portion of their early lives in the orphanages, weighed about the same as British-born children when both were 6- year-olds. However, Romanian-born children adopted between the ages of 6 and 24 months, and who therefore had spent more of their early lives in the orphanages, weighed less; and those adopted between the ages of 24 and 42 months weighed even less (Rutter et al., 2004). Intellectual development at age 6 years showed a similar pattern. The Romanian- born children who had been adopted before age 6 months demonstrated levels of intellectual competence comparable with those of the British-born group. Those who had been adopted between ages 6 and 24 months did somewhat less well, and those adopted between ages 24 and 42 months did even more poorly (Rutter et al., 2004). The intellectual deficits of the Romanian children adopted after age 6 months were just as great when the children were retested at age 11, indicating that the negative effects of the early deprivation persisted for many years after they were adopted into the loving homes (Beckett et al., 2006; Kreppner et al., 2007). However, by the time the children had become young adults (22- to 25-year- olds), their intellect was in the normal range (Sonuga-Barke et al., 2017). The early experience in the orphanages had even more prolonged damaging effects on the children’s social development (Kreppner et al., 2007). Almost 20% of the Romanian-born children who were adopted after age 6 months showed extremely abnormal social behaviour at age 6 years, such as not looking at their parents in anxiety-provoking situations and willingly going off with strangers (versus 3% of the British-born comparison group who did so). Even in early adulthood, many had difficulty controlling their emotions and forming friendships (Rutter et al., 2009). Unlike with intellectual development, these negative effects on social and emotional development persisted into adulthood (Sonuga-Barke et al., 2017), with children from the Romanian orphanages having far greater rates of using mental health services than those in the control group (43% versus 10%). In contrast to the differences in intellectual development, which diminished over time, the differences in mental health problems increased between ages 15 and 23 years. This atypical social development was accompanied by abnormal brain activity. Brain scans obtained when the children were 8 years old showed that those adopted after living for a substantial period in the orphanages had unusually low levels of neural activity in the amygdala, a brain area involved in emotional reactions (Chugani et al., 2001). Subsequent studies have identified similar brain abnormalities among children who spent their early lives in poor-quality orphanages in Russia and East Asia (Nelson et al., 2011; Tottenham et al., 2010). amygdala an area of the brain that is involved in emotional reactions These findings reflect a basic principle of child development that is relevant to many aspects of human nature: The timing of experiences influences their effects. In the present case, children were sufficiently flexible to overcome the effects of living in the Romanian institutions if the deprivation ended by age 6 months; living in the institutions until older ages, however, had effects that were rarely overcome completely, even when children spent many subsequent years in loving and stimulating environments. The adoptive families clearly made a huge positive difference in their children’s lives, but the later the age of adoption, the greater the long-term harmful effects of early deprivation. This infant is one of the children adopted from a Romanian orphanage in the 1990s. How successfully he was likely to develop depended not only on the quality of caregiving he received in his adoptive home but also on the amount of time he spent in the orphanage and the age at which he was adopted. REVIEW QUESTIONS In addition to the examples discussed in this section, can you think of other situations where a better understanding of child development may benefit society? What reasons do you have for studying child development? Historical Foundations of the Study of Child Development From ancient Greece to the early years of the twentieth century, a number of profound thinkers observed and wrote about children. Their goals were like those of contemporary researchers: to help people become better parents, to improve children’s well-being, and to understand human nature. Unlike contemporary researchers, however, these early philosophers usually based their conclusions on general beliefs and informal observations of only a few children. Beginning in the early twentieth century, when the benefits of using the scientific method had become evident in medicine and many other areas, psychologists began to apply the scientific method to analyzing human behaviour. Still, the issues the early thinkers raised are sufficiently important, and their insights sufficiently deep, that their views continue to influence contemporary thinking about child development. Early Philosophers’ Views of Children’s Development The classic Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle, who lived in the fourth century B. C., proposed some of the earliest recorded and most influential ideas about children’s development. They were particularly interested in how children are influenced by their nature and by the nurture they receive. Both philosophers believed that the long-term welfare of society depended on the proper raising of children. Careful upbringing was essential because children’s basic nature would otherwise lead to their becoming rebellious and unruly. Plato viewed the rearing of boys as a particular challenge: Now of all wild things, a boy is the most difficult to handle. Just because he more than any other has a fount of intelligence in him which has not yet “run clear,” he is the craftiest, most mischievous, and unruliest of brutes. (The Laws, bk. 7, 1961, p. 1379) Consistent with this view, Plato emphasized self-control and discipline as the most important goals of education (Borstelmann, 1983). Aristotle agreed with Plato that discipline was necessary, but he was more concerned with fitting child rearing to the needs of the individual child. In his words: It would seem … that a study of individual character is the best way of making education perfect, for then each [child] has a better chance of receiving the treatment that suits him. (Nicomachean Ethics, bk. 10, chap. 9, p. 1180) Plato and Aristotle differed considerably in their views of how children acquire knowledge. Plato believed that children have innate knowledge. For example, he believed that children are born with a concept of “animal” that, from birth onward, automatically allows them to recognize that dogs, cats, and other creatures they encounter are animals. In contrast, Aristotle believed that all knowledge comes from experience and that the mind of an infant is like a blackboard on which nothing has yet been written. Roughly 2000 years later, the English philosopher John Locke (1632– 1704) and the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) refocused attention on the question of how parents and society in general can best promote children’s development. Locke, like Aristotle, viewed the child as a tabula rasa, or blank slate, whose development largely reflects the nurture provided by the child’s parents and the broader society. He believed that the most important goal of child rearing is the growth of character. To build children’s character, parents need to set good examples of honesty, stability, and gentleness. They also need to avoid indulging the child, especially early in life. However, once discipline and reason have been instilled, Locke believed that authority should be relaxed as fast as their age, discretion, and good behavior could allow it…. The sooner you treat him as a man, the sooner he will begin to be one. (Cited in Borstelmann, 1983, p. 20) In contrast to Locke’s advocating discipline before freedom, Rousseau believed that parents and society should give childr

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