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Is development a series of gradual steps that modify behavior bit by bit, or does it proceed in leaps and bounds? In Chapter 2 and throughout the rest of the book, you will learn about some theories in the field of child development that describe development as a series of stages children move through, similar to the “leaps” described above. In these theories, each stage has characteristics that distinguish it from the stages that come before and after. Other theories, however, describe processes that change development in small increments.

Description

Figure 1.1 Quantitative change and qualitative change.

One way to describe these two views of development is that continuous development represents quantitative change and discontinuous change represents qualitative change. Quantitative changes are changes in the amount or quantity of what you are measuring. For instance, as children grow they get taller (they add inches to their height), they learn more new words (the size of their vocabulary increases), and they acquire more factual knowledge (the amount of information in their knowledge base grows). However, some aspects of development are not just the accumulation of more inches or words. Instead, they are qualitative changes that alter the overall quality of a process or function, and the result is something altogether different. Walking is qualitatively different from crawling, and thinking about abstract concepts such as justice or fairness is qualitatively different from knowing something more concrete, such as the capitals of all 50 states. Typically, stage theories describe development in terms of qualitative or discontinuous change, while incremental theories describe development as occurring through quantitative or continuous changes. These two types of theories may look at the same aspect of development but describe the way it happens very differently. Both types of theories are described in Chapter 2.

Quantitative changes: Changes in the amount or quantity of what you are measuring.

Qualitative changes: Changes in the overall nature of what you are examining.

Stage theories: Theories of development in which each stage in life is seen as qualitatively different from the ones that come before and after.

Incremental theories: Theories in which development is a result of continuous quantitative changes.