When students have studied the material in the
chapter, they will be able to answer the following: - Introduction
- What are the basic characteristics of development?
- What are your own assumptions about the nature
of development and the factors that contribute to it?
- How might an understanding of basic principles
of development be useful to parents and teachers?
- Basic developmental concepts
- Explain and give examples of behavioral reorganization, normative development,
and individual development.
- A framework for understanding development
- How do genetic potentials, developmental history,
and environmental conditions interact to produce developmental changes?
- Explain how Darwin's, Locke’s, and Rousseau’s
views are relevant to child development.
- Theoretical perspectives on development
- Explain the major functions of scientific theories
and how their validity can be tested.
- Compare and contrast the major characteristics
of the six theories of human development discussed in this chapter (Piaget’s
theory, information-processing theory, sociocultural theory, psychoanalytic
theory, social learning theory, and adaptational theory).
- Major issues in development
- Explain the issues in the continuity vs. discontinuity
and the stability vs. change questions.
- Research methods for studying development
- Explain the differences between experiments,
natural experiments, naturalistic observation, and survey research, and summarize
the advantages and disadvantages of each.
- Explain the research methods used to study behavior
over time, and summarize the advantages and disadvantages of each.
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