PSYC 2110 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Tabula Rasa, Psychodynamics, Heredity
2 Oct 2017
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Document Summary
Nearly 400 years ago, english philosopher john locke claimed that the human infant is born tabula rasa- as a blank slate. locke believed that experience molds the infant, child, adolescent, and adult into a unique individual. Locke"s view was challenged by french philosopher jean- jacques rousseau, who believed that newborns were endowed with an innate sense of justice and morality that unfolds naturally as children grow. Development is influenced by both heredity and environment. It is the study of how behavior and abilities change across the lifespan. Developmental psychology has 2 goals: describe changes in behavior, explain changes in behavior. Theory- in child development, a theory is an organized set of ideas designed to explain and make predictions about development. Also, any organized set of ideas designed to explain and make predictions about development/natural phenomena: for example, suppose your friends have a baby daughter who cries often. You could imagine several explanations for her crying.
