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John Locke
-1632-1704
-British philosopher, "behaviorism" (systematic approach to understanding human and animal behavior)
-Viewed the child as a "blank slate" (tabula rasa in Latin), meaning at the beginning of their lives they were neutral. Infants were neither inherently good or evil.
- Believed in the use of imaginative literature and fine arts
-Believed development was continuous
-Wrote the book "Some Thoughts Concerning Education" discussing the separation between childhood and adulthood -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
-1712-1788
-Believed in romantic naturalism, allowing nature to guide children's growth
-Believed children were not blank slates, but instead have their own individual modes of thinking and feeling
-Believed development occurred according to a biological timeline
-Believed in teaching children material that is appropriate to their age
-Although he never used the term "noble savages" Rousseau believed that in a state of nature men are essentially animals and become human by following social laws -
Charles Darwin
-1809-1882
-Naturalist
-Created the Theory of Evolution discussing natural selection and survival of the fittest
-Wrote "A Biological Sketch of an Infant" which resulted in one of England's first psychological studies on an infant
-Motivated others in England to carry out studies on child development
-Found similar pre-natal development patterns in a variety of species -
G. Stanley Hall
-1846-1924
-Linked together genetic psychology and education
-Best known for his theory of recapitulation which explains that each person goes through changes in both the psychic and somatic senses which follow the evolution scale of the mind and body.
-Felt that development was genetically determined.
-Influenced by Darwin. -
Sigmund Freud
-1856-1939
-Possessed an interactionist view, meaning both nature and nurture work together to develop the whole child.
-Suggested development during the first few years of life are critical.
-The first few years of life were broken into stages (Psychosexual Stages), Oral Stage (birth-1 year), Anal Stage (1-3 years), Pahllic Stage (3-5 years)
-Freud did not create these stages by directly observing children.
-Freud thought there to be three parts of the personality, id, ego, and superego. -
Alfred Binet
-1857-1911
-Known for his contributions to intelligence
-Helped to develop the Binet-Simon Scale with the help of Theodore Simon (also called the Stanford-Binet test).This test was formed to measure intelligence of children from age 3 to 12.
-Binet believed that children had a different form of intelligence than adults. -
James Mark Baldwin
-1861-1934
-Believed development occurred in stages. Baldwin studied infant behavior in depth, his interest began with the birth of his first daughter.
-Introduced experimental method into the study of infant behavior.
-Developed a biosocial theory that argued that all organisms are characterized by a dynamo-genic tendency to relate to stimuli by acting on them.
-Believed nature and nurture were equally important.
-Felt that the child and environment both influenced on another. -
John Watson
-1878-1958
-Founder of behaviorism, which believes that human and animal behavior can be explained in terms of conditioning.
-Built on Pavlov's work of conditioning dogs.
-Worked on classical conditioning as it applied to children.
-Focused on observable behaviors, rather then the inter-workings of the mind.
-Believed more in nature rather then nurture. -
Jean Piaget
-1896-1980
-Created a cognitive developmental theory. This theory has 3 basic components 1. Schemas (building blocks of knowledge) 2. Adaptation processes that enable the transition from one state to another. 3. Stages of development (sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete-operational, formal operational) -
Albert Bandura
-1925-present
-Created the Social Learning Theory which states, that people learn from one another via observation, imitation, and modeling. This theory is thought to be the bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories.
-Puts an emphasis on modeling.
