PSYC 315 Lecture 1:
Document Summary
Seven themes in child development: nature and nurture, the active child, continuity/discontinuity, mechanisms of change, the sociocultural context, individual differences, research and children"s welfares. We are pre-wired or pre-disposed with certain constraints on learning. We can learn to be afraid of spiders but not flowers; good reason to be afraid of spiders. We are predisposed through our nature to be afraid of things easier than others: nature and nurture are constantly interacting. Transactional model: nature and nurture continually interact throughout development, influences are bidirectional. e. g. child"s temperament influences how others (i. e, influences are bidirectional. e. g. child"s temperament influences how others (i. e. parents) react. An easy baby elicits warm and positive parents: direct vs. Direct: e. g. fearful/inhibited leads to social withdrawal. Less direct: e. g. fearful/inhibited leads to social withdrawal which leads to poor social understanding. Biological children get a double whammy ; biological children grown in the same house as parents, same influence of genes and environment of household.
