Ch 1. History, Theory, and Research Strategies Flashcards
Developmental Science
a field of study devoted to understanding what remains constant and what changes throughout the lifespan.
How has Developmental Science been applied?
Ex. With the beginning of public education in the early twentieth century, Developmental Science offered knowledge about what and how to teach children of different ages.
Ex. With the interest of the medical profession in improving people’s health, Developmental Science offered an understanding of physical development, nutrition, and disease.
Interdisciplinary
from many fields of study (eg. Biology, Anthropology, Sociology)
Theory
KEYWORDS: An orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains, and predicts behavior.
For example, a good theory of infant–caregiver attachment would:
(1) describe the behaviors of babies of 6 to 8 months of age as they seek the affection and comfort of a familiar adult,
(2) explain how and why infants develop this strong desire to bond with a caregiver, and
(3) predict the consequences of this emotional bond for future relationships.
Why are theories important?
KEYWORDS: Provides ORGANIZING framework and a FOUNDATION for action.
1) They provide ORGANIZING frameworks for our observations of people. In other words, they give meaning to what we see.
2) Theories verified by research provide a FOUNDATION for practical action, allowing us to improve the welfare and treatment of children and adults.
How do theories differ from opinion or belief?
Unlike opinion or belief, A theory’s continued existence depends on scientific verification.
Why does the study of development provide no ultimate truth?
Keywords: DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS lead to different answers.
Investigators have DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS of what they see, so the same date can create multiple conclusion, and therefore prevents a clear ‘truth’ or ‘law’ of development.
What does it mean – Nature Vs. Nurture?
KEYWORDS:
NATURE = Heredity = STABLE
NURTURE = Environment = PLASTICITY
Are genetic or environmental factors more important?
By NATURE, we mean the hereditary information we receive from our parents at the moment of conception. Theorists that emphasize STABILITY – that individuals who are high or low in a characteristic (eg. verbal ability, coordination) will remain so at later ages – typically stress the importance of heredity.
By NURTURE, we mean the complex forces of the physical and social world that influence our biological makeup and psychological experiences before and after birth. Theorists who emphasize early experiences as establishing a lifelong pattern of behavior tend to regard the environment as important. They also site PLASTICITY – the ever-forming of new behaviors over the course of a lifetime. Although all theories grant roles to both nature and nurture, they vary in emphasis.
What is the difference between Continuous and Discontinuous Development?
KEYWORDS:
CONTINUOUS = Smooth = Children and adults think alike, differ only by a matter of complexity.
DISCONTINUOUS = Stages = Children think differently from adults. Change comes in leaps.
CONTINUOUS Development says that infants respond to the world the same as adults do, albeit with less complexity, and that their development is simply a gradual increase in complexity of the skills that were with us since birth. (Think of a smooth line representing growth in complexity).
DISCONTINUOUS Development says that infants and adults have a completely different way of looking at the wold and so development comes with new ways of understanding the world around them.(Think of a set of steps with each step representing a new way of thinking) This is known as a ‘STAGE THEORY” because development happens in distinct STAGES.
Stage Development
Keyword: DISCONTINUOUS
DISCONTINUOUS Development that says that development happens in DEFINABLE STAGES (Think of a set of steps with each step representing a new way of thinking) Change is fairly sudden rather than gradual and ongoing.
What does context have to do with development?
Keywords: CONTEXT = ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES = NURTURE
Context’ is the SURROUNDING and INFLUENCES of the person that affect their development – like heredity, home, school, nutrition, relationships, etc. Different contexts are powerful influences that can cause a person’s development to vary from others living within different contexts.
Plasticity
KEYWORDS: Constant CHANGE through Life
This refers to the development as being open to change in response to influential experiences throughout life.
Stability Vs. Plasticity
The STABILITY of Nature (Hereditary Influences from birth on) Vs. The PLASTICITY of Nurture (Environmental Influences varying throughout life)
What is the “Lifespan Perspective”?
KEYWORDS: Development occurs throughout the lifetime
Unlike some theories that assume development stops at adolescence, the Lifespan Perspective says gains in functioning continue throughout a person’s lifetime. It says that development is:
1) lifelong
2) Multi-dimensional (blend of biological, psychological, and social forces) and Multi-directional (Development can result in both growth and decline)
3) Highly Plastic
4) Affected by multiple interacting forces
Seems to weigh heavy on the side of NURTURE but certainly recognizes the powerful impact of NATURE
Includes both CONTINUOUS and DISCONTINUOUS development.
Looks at Physical, Cognitive (thinking), and Emotional/social influences and sees development as having many potential pathways and outcomes depending on the branching possibilities of these three aspects and the ways they interact.
Both CONTINUOUS and DISCONTINUOUS, BOTH NATURE and NURTURE
Age-Graded Influences
KEYWORDS: Age-related development is PREDICTABLE, like walking around your first birthday.
Events that are strongly related to age and therefore fairly predictable in when they occur and how long they last are called age graded influences.
For example, most individuals walk shortly after their first birthday, acquire their native language during the preschool years, reach puberty around age 12 to 14.
This is a NORMATIVE influence.
History Graded Influences
KEYWORDS: Historical events profoundly affect development.
Development is also profoundly affected by forces unique to a particular historical era. Examples include epidemics, wars, and periods of economic prosperity or depression; technological advances like the introduction of television, computers, the Internet, smartphones, and tablets.
This is a NORMATIVE influence.
Resiliency
KEYWORDS: The ability to adapt effectively in the face of threats.
The ability to adapt effectively in the face of threats to development Four Factors offer greater resiliency:
1) having an easygoing temperament, able to inhibit negative emotions and impulses
2) a warm parental relationship with at least one parent
3) social support outside the immediate family – caring teachers and law-abiding social groups
4) Community support – camps, schools, sports leagues, interest groups
Cohort
KEYWORDS: A group of people born around the same time…
…that tend to be alike in ways (due to this common historical-graded influence) that set them apart from people born at other times.
Normative Influences
Keywords: NORMATIVE = NORMAL (or usual, typical, average)
Normative Influences are events that are typical or average because they affect large numbers of people in a similar way.
(includes Age-graded and History-graded influences)
Nonnormative Influences
Keywords: NONNORMATIVE = NOT NORMAL (or not typical)
Nonnormal Influences are events that are irregular. They happen to just one person or to a few people and do not follow a predictable timetable.
Over the past decades, the incidents of NONNORMATIVE influences have become much MORE powerful as the historical ‘norms’ of society have been shattered, allowing anyone to do pretty much anything they wish regardless of gender, age, etc.
People go to school in late adulthood. People get married much later. Social freedom is available at a much younger age. etc. As a result, normative (or normal) influences have become much LESS powerful over the years.
Normative Approach (Hall and Gessell)
KEYWORDS: Measures what is NORMAL (or Typical) DEVELOPMENT and compares against that.
MEASURES the behavior of large numbers of individuals, and age-related averages are computed to represent TYPICAL development. Note that ‘typical’ development, and thus the standard by which all other behavior is measured, is determined simply by how ‘most’ people behave in a particular situation, right or wrong.
Stanford-Binet
First IQ test, which aimed to customize education for a wide range of students. This is a NORMATIVE approach to development (MEASURE what is TYPICAL)
Psychoanalytic perspective (Sigmund Freud, founder of the psychoanalytic movement, and Erik Erikson)
KEYWORDS: Looks at how people deal with conflicts between biological drives (ID) and social expectations (SuperEgo)
Says people move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. How these conflicts are resolved determines the person’s ability to learn, to get along with others, and to cope with anxiety.
DISCONTINUOUS, BOTH NATURE and NURTURE
Strength: Emphasizes an individual’s unique life history as worthy of understanding (Uses ‘Clinical’ or ‘Case Study’ Methods)
Weakness: Most of these ideas are too vague to be tested.
Psychosexual Theory (Freud)
KEYWORDS: Emphasizes that how parents manage their child’s sexual and aggressive drives in the first few years is crucial for healthy personality development.
Says the mind consists of 3 Parts:
ID – the source of basic biological needs and desires (the primitive mind)
SuperEgo – part of the mind that adheres to the norms and laws of society
Ego – Rational conscious part of the mind that works to balance the primal nature of the ID with the contemporary rules of the SuperEgo.
Psychosocial Theory (Erikson)
KEYWORDS: More important role for Ego, Added Adult Developmental Stages to Freud’s theory
Added to Freud’s theory by suggesting that in addition to mediating between id impulses and superego demands, the ego makes a positive contribution to development, acquiring attitudes and skills that make the individual an active, contributing member of society. He also added three ‘adult’ stages to Freud’s ‘Five Stages’ of development, pushing the theories closer to a Lifespan perspective. Unlike Freud, Erikson pointed out that normal development must be understood in relation to each culture’s life situation.
Behaviorism Theory
Keywords: OBSERVABLE BEHAVIOR
Focuses on Directly observable events and behavior.
Pavlov observed that two neutral stimuli (in this case, food and a bell) could become associated in such a way that the presence of one (a bell) could produce a behavioral reaction (salivating) typically associated with the presence of the other (food) – also known as Classical Conditioning.
CONTINUOS, Emphasis on NATURE
Strength: Applied behavior analysis consists of careful observations of individual behavior and related environmental events, followed by systematic changes in those events based on procedures of conditioning and modeling. The goal is to eliminate undesirable behaviors and increase desirable responses.
Weakness: behaviorism and social learning theory offer too narrow a view of important environmental influences, which extend beyond immediate reinforcement, punishment, and modeled behaviors to people’s rich physical and social worlds.