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Introduction to Developmental Psychology

1. Developmental Psychology 101

1.1. What does developmental psychology do?

  • What can that tell us about how we develop? The changes in you on your way here.
  • Methods to study development
  • Theories of development
  • Biological and physical development
    • Mental/cognitive development
    • Emotional development and the self

1.2. Why study child development?

We are trying to understand:

  • How did we come to be where we are?
  • Individually and as a species?

Practical reasons:

  • Raising children
  • Social policies

1.3. How to study development

2. Historical and philosophical understanding of children

2.1. Plato vs. Aristotle (4th century BCE): Nativist vs. Empiricist

Plato (nativist):
Children has its inborn rationality, and use it for self-control.

  • Emphasized self-control and discipline
  • Believed that children are born with innate knowledge

Aristotle (empiricist):
Children shape themselves by experiences, therefore have various need.

  • Was concerned with fitting child-rearing to the needs of the individual child
  • Believed that knowledge comes from experience

2.2. Later philosophers (1700s): Nature vs. Nurture

Respect nature: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the French philosopher, argued that parents and society should give the child maximum freedom from the beginning.

Emphasize nurture: Like Aristotle, the English philosopher John Locke saw the child as a tabula rasa (blank slate) and advocated first instilling discipline, then gradually increasing the child’s freedom.

2.3. 20th Century: Science

A significant construction of modern childhood

  • Compulsory education
  • Child labour legislation reduced families' reliance on children as workforce

Developmental psychology matured in the \(20^{\text {th }}\) century as a science.