Comparing Theories of Child Development

by Thomas, R. Murray

• ISBN13: 9780534355791
• ISBN10: 053435579X
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-07-16
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

Explaining the nature of theories in the field of child development (including why theories are useful and why there are multiple theories), Thomas' highly respected book covers the widest range of theories of any text currently available. Thomas suggests a variety of ways to compare theories to help guide the search of child development theorists who may be dissatisfied with existing explanations of how a child grows up.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	XV
PART ONE STANDARDS OF COMPARISON Ways of analyzing likenesses and differences among theories	1	(52)
CHAPTER ONE THEORIES, MODELS, PARADIGMS, AND SUCH	3	(26)
The Difference Your Choice of Theory Can Make	5	(7)
The Word Theory and Other Terms	12	(5)
Good Theory, Bad Theory	17	(10)
Conclusion	27	(1)
For Further Reading	27	(2)
CHAPTER TWO THE CONTENTS OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORIES	29	(24)
Content Characteristics	29	(21)
Conclusion	50	(1)
For Further Reading	50	(3)
PART TWO SOURCES OF THEORIES A search for the wellsprings of child development theories	53	(56)
CHAPTER THREE CULTURAL ORIGINS OF SCIENTIFIC THEORIES	57	(21)
Refining Descriptive Data	57	(3)
Introducing Alternative Perspectives	60	(3)
Systematizing Information	63	(6)
Refining Definitions	69	(1)
Improving Quantification	70	(3)
Extending Commonsense Insights	73	(1)
Replacing Dubious Explanations	74	(1)
Interpreting Puzzling Observations	74	(1)
Avoiding Troublesome Issues	75	(1)
Responding to Existing Theories	76	(1)
For Further Reading	76	(2)
CHAPTER FOUR COMMONSENSE ATTRIBUTION THEORY	78	(23)
The Causes of Human Action	79	(1)
Talk about Children: Grist for Commonsense Psychology's Mill	80	(1)
Applying an Attribution Theory	81	(8)
The Development of People's Commonsense Theory	89	(1)
Implications of the Theory for the Treatment of Children	89	(1)
Children's Interpretations of Their Own Behavior	90	(1)
Privilege and Responsibility	91	(2)
Practical Applications	93	(1)
Naive Psychology: An Assessment	93	(6)
For Further Reading	99	(2)
PERSPECTIVE A Distinguishing Normal from Abnormal Development	101	(8)
PART THREE THE PSYCHOANALYTIC TRADITION A search for developmental causes and cures of neuroses	109	(68)
CHAPTER FIVE SIGMUND FREUD'S PSYCHOANALYSIS	111	(33)
Levels of Consciousness	112	(2)
The Psychic Apparatus	114	(5)
The Psychosexual Stages of Development	119	(8)
Two Facets of Development	127	(6)
Anna Freud's Psychoanalysis of Children	133	(2)
Practical Applications	135	(1)
Freudian Theory: An Assessment	136	(6)
For Further Reading	142	(2)
CHAPTER SIX ERIKSON'S VARIATION ON FREUD'S THEME	144	(19)
Ego Identity and the Healthy Personality	145	(1)
The Epigenetic Principle	145	(1)
The Grid of Psychosocial Stages	146	(13)
Practical Applications	159	(1)
Erikson's Version of Psychoanalysis: An Assessment	160	(2)
For Further Reading	162	(1)
PERSPECTIVES B Identifying States of Consciousness	163	(14)
PART FOUR BEHAVIORISM AND SOCIAL LEARNING MODELS A search for the way principles of learning and social contexts explain development	177	(66)
CHAPTER SEVEN SKINNER'S OPERANT CONDITIONING	181	(26)
The Nature of Operant Conditioning	181	(4)
Conditioned Reinforcement and Chaining	185	(2)
The Scope of Skinner's Theory	187	(2)
Heredity versus Environment	189	(1)
The Stages of Child Rearing	190	(5)
Bijou and Baer's Additions to Radical Behaviorism	195	(3)
Enhanced Behaviorism	198	(3)
Practical Applications	201	(2)
Skinner's Operant Conditioning: An Assessment	203	(3)
For Further Reading	206	(1)
CHAPTER EIGHT SOCIAL COGNITION THEORY AND CONTEXTUALISM	207	(26)
Bandura's Conception of Social Learning or Social Cognition	207	(14)
Practical Applications of Bandura's Model	221	(1)
Bandura's Social Cognition Theory: An Assessment	222	(2)
The Nature of Contextualism	224	(8)
For Further Reading	232	(1)
Perspective C Judging the Appropriateness of Research Methods	233	(10)
PART FIVE THE GROWTH OF THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE A search for patterns of development in children's cognitive and verbal skills and for the mechanisms that bring these patterns about	243	(86)
CHAPTER NINE PIAGET'S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT THEORY	245	(42)
Piaget's Clinical Method	246	(1)
Piaget's Conception of Knowledge	247	(2)
The Mechanisms of Development	249	(6)
Levels and Stages of Development	255	(13)
Four Concepts: A Closer Look	268	(5)
Educational Applications of the Theory	273	(7)
Piaget's Theory: An Assessment	280	(5)
For Further Reading	285	(2)
CHAPTER TEN VYGOTSKY AND THE SOVIET TRADITION	287	(26)
Key Influences on Vygotsky's Theory	289	(7)
The Development of Thought and Language	296	(8)
Key Generalizations about Development	304	(2)
Central Concerns in Soviet Developmental Theory: 1920s-1980s	306	(1)
Practical Applications	307	(2)
Vygotsky's Theory: An Assessment	309	(3)
For Further Reading	312	(1)
PERSPECTIVE D Estimating the Future of Stage Theories	313	(16)
PART SIX COMPUTER ANALOGUES AND THE SELF A search for the way children gain skill in processing information and for how a child's innermost self develops	329	(70)
CHAPTER ELEVEN INFORMATION-PROCESSING THEORIES	331	(33)
Classical Components of the Information-Processing System	332	(15)
Modes of Investigation	347	(1)
Modifications of Classical Theory	348	(8)
Continuing Debates	356	(3)
Practical Applications	359	(1)
Information-Processing Theories: An Assessment	360	(3)
For Further Reading	363	(1)
CHAPTER TWELVE CONCEPTIONS OF THE SELF: HUMANISTIC AND OTHERWISE	364	(27)
Defining the Self	364	(1)
The Humanistic Persuasion	365	(12)
Practical Applications	377	(2)
Humanistic Theory: An Assessment	379	(5)
Other Conceptions of the Self	384	(5)
For Further Reading	389	(2)
PERSPECTIVE E Speaking of Cause	391	(8)
PART SEVEN ENVIRONMENTS, GENETIC PLANS, AND THE BIOLOGICAL CHILD A search for patterns of environmental influence and for the biological sources of development	399	(72)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN ECOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY	402	(17)
Backgrounds of Ecological Psychology	403	(2)
Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory	405	(8)
Practical Applications	413	(1)
Ecological Theory: An Assessment	414	(4)
For Further Reading	418	(1)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN ETHOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY	419	(20)
A Foundation of Neo-Darwinism	420	(2)
Ethology's Place in the Study of Children	422	(1)
Relevant Propositions from Ethology	422	(8)
Fruitful Research Methods	430	(3)
Practical Applications and Research Challenges	433	(2)
Ethological Theory: An Assessment	435	(3)
For Further Reading	438	(1)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN A BIO-ELECTROCHEMICAL MODEL	439	(26)
Level 1: The Unitary Child	442	(2)
Level 2: The Organic Child	444	(4)
Level 3: The Cellular Child	448	(5)
Level 4: The Molecular Child	453	(3)
Level 5: The Elemental/Atomic Child	456	(3)
Level 6: The Subatomic-Particle Child	459	(2)
The Bio-Electrochemical Model: An Assessment	461	(3)
For Further Reading	464	(1)
PERSPECTIVE F Faith and Conviction	465	(6)
PART EIGHT THEORY CENTERED IN VALUES: MORAL DEVELOPMENT A search for the ways children's and youths' moral reasoning and moral behavior evolve	471	(62)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN KOHLBERG'S MORAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL	475	(17)
The Theory's Focus	476	(1)
Kohlberg's Research Methods	477	(1)
The Levels and Stages of Moral Growth	478	(2)
The Interaction of Nature and Nurture	480	(3)
The Three Characteristics of the Stages	483	(2)
Practical Applications: Fashioning a Program of Moral Education	485	(2)
Kohlberg's Theory: An Assessment	487	(4)
For Further Reading	491	(1)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN AN INTEGRATED THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT	492	(21)
Problems with Existing Theories	492	(1)
Foundational Definitions and Assumptions	493	(1)
Principal Features of the Model	494	(1)
Foundational Components	494	(2)
The Nature of Long-Term Memory	496	(8)
The Nature of Environments	504	(3)
Working Memory	507	(1)
Stages of Moral Development	508	(1)
An Integrated Moral Development Theory: An Assessment	509	(4)
PERSPECTIVE G Charting Trends of the Times	513	(20)
PART NINE THE CONTINUING QUEST A never-ending search for more accurate development models	533	(40)
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN RECENT ENTRIES	535	(34)
Connectionism	535	(2)
Dynamic Systems Theory	537	(5)
Sociohistorical Life-Course Theory	542	(6)
An Evolutionary-Psychology View of Birth Order	548	(2)
Ethnographies--Positivist, Postpositivist, Postmodern	550	(10)
Child Development under Disadvantaged Social Conditions	560	(4)
Peer Abuse Theory	564	(4)
For Further Reading	568	(1)
PERSPECTIVE H Depicting Theories in the Guise of Metaphors	569	(4)
REFERENCES	573	(24)
NAME INDEX	597
SUBJECT INDEX