Ch. 2 Dev. Psych as a Science and Practice Flashcards
Psychology
study of human behavior and through processes
Developmental Psychology
changes over time to human behavior and thought processes
(human development occurs in 4 main ways…….)
Chronological
age may signify an approximate stage of development
(human development occurs in 4 main ways…….)
Biological
physical development
(human development occurs in 4 main ways…….)
Social
the ways in which a person interacts with others
(human development occurs in 4 main ways…….)
Psychological
various mental activities hat change over time
ex: memory, self-esteem, etc.
The Scientific Method
- observing a phenomena or behavior
- thinking up/finding a theory consistent with the phenomena of behavior
- formulating a hypothesis
- testing your hypothesis
- evaluate the results
Causal Relationships
the scientific method can establish cause and effect relationships between variables
Variable
anything that is likely or able to change
may fluctuate for even the same individual
Independent Variable
the predictor variable
the thing manipulated
Dependent Variable
the outcome variable
depends on the independent variable
Research Design
not all research designs can establish cause and effect relationships
Case Study
single subject design
in depth look at one individual or a small group
descriptive data
cannot generalize to the general population
Associational Design
Correlational
relationships between at least two variables
not manipulating anything
looking @ strength and direction
Strength
does the occurrence of one variable consistently predict the occurrence of the other variable
