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HDEV 6th Edition Rathus
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rathus/
Chapter 1
History, Theories, and Methods
Chapter Overview
This chapter provides the general introduction to the field of developmental psychology. It
begins with a definition of child development and a discussion of the purposes and goals of
theory and research in the field of developmental psychology. A brief survey of the pioneers in
the field of developmental psychology, including John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, G.
Stanley Hall, Alfred Binet, William Perry, and Gisella Labouvie-Vief, is followed by a
description and evaluation of each of the major perspectives on child development—
psychoanalytic, learning (behavioral and social cognitive theories), cognitive, biological,
ecological, and sociocultural. Next, the nature-nurture, continuity-discontinuity, and active–
passive controversies in the field of development are overviewed. Finally, research methods are
described (naturalistic-observation, case study, correlation, experimental research, longitudinal
research, cross-sectional studies, and cross-sequential research), including a presentation of the
general idea behind the scientific method, ways of gathering information in child developmental
science, the correlational method (and its limitations), and how to approach and design
experiments. The chapter ends with an overview of the special methods needed to assess
development over time, specifically longitudinal versus cross-sectional research and the ways in
which the cross-sequential research design handles the advantages and disadvantages of each, as
well as a discussion of the ethical issues in research with children.
Chapter Learning Objectives
Having read the chapter, students should be able to achieve the objectives given below.
Explain what child development is
Describe why it is important to study child development
Discuss the history of child development
Compare the different developmental views across time
Compare the different major theories of child development
Analyze the major controversies in the study of child development