PSYC 335 Lecture 1: Childhood Development Pt1
19 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
• Deprivation in Romania
o dictator decided parents must have as many children as possible
o bc was banned
o resulted in an increase in orphans and slower cognitive development due to neglect and lack
of nurturing environment
Historical Foundation of Study in Child Development
• 4th C
o Plato (infants are a blank slate "table massa"), Aristotle
• 1600/1700
o Locke & Rousseau
• 18th/19th C
o Social Reform Movements
• 19th C
o Darwin (studied his own child and came u with "baby biography"), Freud (psychosexual
theory) & Watson (behaviouralist/ thought the environment was the main contributor of
shaping a child)
Theme 1: Nature & Nurture
• Schizophrenia
o family and twin studies
• Epigenetic Studies
o Methylation: a biochemical process that reduces expression of a variety of genes that is
involved in regulating reactions to stress
o Cherry blossom study
▪ the fear of cherry blossom scent was passed onto the mice's offspring
Theme 2: The Active Child
• attention paterns
• use of language
• play
