- PYC2602 Notes - Summary Child and
Adolescent Development 111
Child and Adolescent Development 111 (University of South
Africa)
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CHAPTER 1
STUDYING A CHILD’S
WORLD
THE STUDY OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT: BASIC
CONCEPTS
THE STUDY OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT: THEN AND NOW
• Child Development → Scientific study of processes of change &
stability
in human children.
• Quantative change → Change in number/amount
→ eg height, size of vocabulary, frequency of
communication
→ tends to be continuous
• Qualitative change → Change in kind, structure & organization
→ Discontinuous
→ Marked by the emergence of new
phenomena that cannot be easily
anticipated
on the basis of earlier functioning.
→ eg change from non-verbal to verbal communication
• Constancy → Most people show underlying stability in certain
aspects
EARLY APPROACHES
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• Baby Biographies → Forerunners of scientific study
→ Journals recording the development of a single child
→ Speculative nature
• Darwin → 1st emphasized developmental nature of infant behavior
→ Gave baby biographies scientific respectability
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DOMAINS OF DEVELOPMENT
• Physical Development → Growth of body & brain
→ Development of sensory capacity & motor skills
→ Health
• Cognitive Development → Change & stability in mental abilities
eg learning, memory, language,
thinking, moral reasoning,
creativity.
• Psychosocial Development → Change & stability in personality,
emotions &
social relationships.
All these influence each other
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INFLUENCES ON DEVELOPMENT
HEREDITY, ENVIRONMENT & MATURATION
• Heredity → Inborn traits inherited from biological parents
• Environment → World outside self, beginning in the womb
→ The learning that comes from experience
Includes socialization: The child’s induction into the value
system of a culture
• Maturation → Unfolding of a typical,
universal, natural sequence of physical
changes & behavior patterns.
(including a readiness to master new abilities)
→ Maturational processes act in concert with heredity & the
environment
CONTEXTS OF DEVELOPMENT
• Human beings are social → Develop in a social & historical context
• Immediate context → Family
→ Neighborhood
→ Community
→ Society
p13
Family
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