Box 3.1 The child's search for meaning in stories
The idea that perception involves 'meaning-making' was an impor- tant element of Eleanor Gibson's thinking and research. This idea is well demonstrated in the process by which children learn to read.
Various theories have been proposed to account for children's lan- guage acquisition. One challenge faced by the various theories is their ability to explain the very rapid growth in word learning such that, by six years of age, an English-speaking child will have a vocabulary of approximately 6000 words (Anglin, 1993). It appears that direct teaching cannot easily account for such a rapid rate of word acquisi- tion, so attention has been given to the means by which children learn words incidentally from their environment. Reading storybooks to children has been researched to understand whether children learn from this. Reviews of research (e.g. Bus et at., 1995) suggest there is a positive correlation between storybook reading and vocabulary devel- opment. It has also been established that the style of storybook read- ing is associated with a child's word acquisition such that a more interactive adult storybook reading style using open-ended questions and praise can positively influence language development. Research by Senechal (1997) indicates that pre-school children make more gains in vocabulary after repeated readings of a storybook than after a single reading. Repeated exposure to the storyline and pictures appeared to facilitate their memory search for novel labels. Senechal (1997) also found that asking labelling questions during repeated readings of a book was a very powerful means for encouraging the acquisition of expressive language.
Having outlined a number of influences shaping an organicist approach to the study of human development, we now turn to a number of prom- inent early theories that highlighted the 'stage-like' aspect of development, beginning with the work of Stanley Hall.
The bible is being slowly revealed as man's greatest text book in psychology - dealing with him as a whole, his body, mind, and will, in all the larger relations to nature, society - which has been misappreci- ated simply because it is so deeply divine.
(Hall, 1985: 247-8) After moving to Clark University in Massachusetts, Hall focused on the use of questionnaires to gather data regarding a number of matters:
instincts and attitudes; child development, including children's activities and feelings; emotions and will; the moral and religious development of children; individual differences; school processes and practice; and church processes and practice.
Hall is probably best known for his writings regarding adolescent devel- opment. Influenced by the writings of Charles Darwin, Hall developed a social-biological framework to explain human development. An important idea was that of 'recapitulation'. Here, Hall drew upon the work of Haeckel (1834-1919), who argued that an embryo's ontogenetic progres- sion mirrored phylogenetic history - the evolution of its species.
As an aside, it is interesting to note that the British philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) also adopted the idea of evolution, advocating the idea that there takes place in the universe a continuous redistribution of matter and motion. Evolution occurs when the integration of matter and motion are predominant, and devolution when the opposite occurs.
Spencer had interpreted Darwin's theory to mean survival of the strongest individuals, although Darwin argued for species, not individual, survival.
Spencer's 'social Darwinism' has been interpreted as an argument for the justification of the use of force in the struggle for existence, but this was not the underlying feature of Darwin's theory. Hall's interpretation of Darwin's theory differed from that of Spencer: he argued that during childhood and until adolescence the child repeats through play and fear the evolution of human society. Environmental factors come to have a greater influence at adolescence (Hall, 1904).
In an account of Hall's contribution to psychology, White (1992) noted that it was in 1891 that Hall initiated his child development research at Clark University. His publication in 1891, entitled The Content of Children's Minds on Entering School, established a tradition for measuring and observ- ing children, and summarizing the findings in terms of averages for differ- ent age levels. Normative descriptive investigations were used to highlight similarities and differences in development. White noted that Hall's two- volume Adolescence: its psychology and its relations to physiology, anthropology, sociology, sex, crime religion and education (1904) is largely unread today. The volumes are most often noted for popularizing views on three issues:
recapitulation; the idea that adolescence is a time of 'storm and stress' (Sturm und Drang); and the claim for the twentieth century's invention of 'adolescence'.
The term adolescence is derived from the Latin adolescere, which means 'to grow up' or 'to grow to maturity'. Demos and Demos (1969: 273) argued that 'the concept of adolescence, as generally understood and applied, did not exist before the last two decades of the nineteenth century', indicating that it was Hall's writing that promoted this view. The change, storm and stress in adolescence, as seen by Hall, are characterized by
lack of emotional steadiness, violent impulses, unreasonable conduct, lack of enthusiasm and sympathy ... previous selfhood is broken up ... and a new individual is in the process of being born. All is solvent, plastic, peculiarly susceptible to external influences.
(Hall, 1904: 26) However, examination of some early writings indicates that, in fact, the idea commonly attributed to Hall that adolescence is a time of change is not at all new. Early writers noted in particular the impetuosity of youth.
The eighth-century BC Greek poet Hesiod's opinion would not be out of place today:
I can see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words ... When I was a boy, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint.
(Hesiod, eighth century BC) Aristotle (quoted in Demos and Demos, 1969: 633) noted that:
The young are in character prone to desire and ready to carry any desire they may have formed into action. Of bodily desires it is the sexual to which they are most disposed to give way, and in regard to sexual desire they exercise no self restraint. They are changeful too and fickle in their desires, which are transitory as they are vehement:
for their wishes are keen without being permanent. ... They are pas- sionate, irascible, and apt to be carried away by their impulses.
Novelists have been particularly adept at picking up on the 'storm and stress' of adolescence, and such references certainly predate Hall. Violate and Wiley (1990) reviewed the images of adolescence in English literature through the ages from Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400) to Charles Dickens (1812-1870). They concluded that, in the main, literary works portray adolescence as 'a time of turbulence, excess and passion, which is con- sonant with Hall's (1904) depictions' (Violato and Wiley, 1990: 263). For example, in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Romeo and Juliet, youth is depicted as a time of excess, passion and sensuality.
In Romeo and Juliet the exuberant Romeo kills Tybalt during some
irresponsible swordplay. The impetuous, passionate nature of youth is shown in the betrothal of Romeo and Juliet in one night, and in their respective suicides upon believing each other dead. A more contemporary point of view regarding the heightened sensitivity of adolescents is vividly portrayed in the fiction writing of Sue Townsend in The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged
The spot on my chin is getting bigger. It's my mother's fault for not having known about vitamins. I pointed out to my mother that I hadn't had my vitamin C today. She said 'Go buy an orange'. So typical! Nigel came around today. He hasn't got a single spot yet. My grandma came by today. She squeezed my pimple. It has made it worse. I will go to the doctors on Saturday if the spot is still there. I can't live like this with everybody staring.
(Townsend, 1982) Galambos and Leadbeater (2000), in a review of trends in adolescent research, have noted that current views of adolescence continue to think of it in terms of 'risks and opportunities'. They identify 'challenges' in terms of adolescents' engagement in risky behaviours, and issues with poverty, homelessness and unemployment.
Despite the popular conception of adolescence as a period of storm and stress, other points of view are also found among psychological researchers. The Australian writers Connell, Stroobant, Sinclair, Connell and Rogers (1975) argue on the basis of their research that adolescence is not an especially stormy period, and that for many individuals it is a fairly undramatic and uneventful time. Others have suggested that current concerns with the problems of adolescence are culturally biased, and are largely a reflection of particular circumstances within North American society. Box 3.2 discusses how theories of adolescence vary in relation to prevailing economic conditions.
White (1992) has emphasized the very significant contribution Hall made to child development, although it is apparent that his work is largely not referred to today in relation to developmental theory.