PSYC 250 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Michael Tomasello, Lev Vygotsky, Impulsivity

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 250
• Professor: Tanya Broesch

Document Summary

Is this present in everyone: developmental theories leads to a better understanding of children: theories drive empirical research, which requires refining theories and developing our knowledge. Each perspective brings forth new themes and ideas used to understand development. Piaget - nature/ nurture, active child, continuity/ discontinuity. Information processing- nature/ nurture, how change occurs: social-cultural - nature/ nurture, active child, how change occurs. Fundamental assumption about children is that they"re mentally and physically active from birth, and their activity influences their own development (active child) Constructivist: children construct knowledge for themselves in response to experience - important that they generate hypothesis, perform experiments and draw conclusions. Second assumption is that children learn many important lessons on their own, Maturing brain and body, ability to learn from experience and tendency to rather than by instruction by parents or by peers. Third assumption is children are intrinsically motivated to learn, and don"t need rewards.