Chapter 1 Flashcards
Study of Human Development does what?
Seeks to under stand how and why people change and how they stay the same as they grow older
In understanding change, we seek all types of change. What types?
growth, radical transformations, improvement, and decline
Linear change
the process in which change occurs in a gradual, regular and predictable sequence. This is least likely to occur. Development speeds up, slows down depending on which aspect of development we are examining
E.G. Body weight
increases very quickly in the early prenatal days, then reverses in the first few postnatal days, then speeds up, slows down and slows even more until puberty which it increases rapidly then stops.
Dynamic Systems
A process of continual change within a person or group, in which each change is connected systematically to every other development in each individual and every society.
Who is the leader in the ecological model approach?
Urie Bronfenbrenner
The Ecological Model
Even seemingly distant forces of international politics and traditional heritage have an impact on each developing person.
What are the Ecological Model systems?
1- Microsystems – intimate 2- Mesosystems – interfacing 3- Exosystems – community 4- Macrosystems – culture5- Chronosystem - time
Microsystem
the setting in which the child lives – their most immediate surrounding. For example their home, childcare, school
Mesosystem
the interrelationships among the components of the microsystem e.g. parents interact with caregivers
Exosystem
settings that influence a child’s development but do not have direct interactions with the child e.g. the parents workplace and colleagues
Macrosystem
surrounds the first three systems and represents patterns of a particular culture or subculture.
Chronosystem
term for the time-based dimension of his model. All dimensions change overtime.
Domains of Human Development
Biosocial Development
Cognitive Development
Psychosocial Development
Biosocial Development
Includes physical growth, genes, nutrition, health, motor skills. Social and cultural factors affect biological growth
Cognitive Development
Mental processes that a person uses to obtain knowledge or think about environment. Includes perception, imagination, memory and language
Psychosocial Development
Development of emotions, temperament and social skills. Family, friends, community and culture and the larger society are central. i.e. appropriate sex roles in family
Contexts of Development
Cohort
Culture
Social Construction
Cohort
changes in culture, society, technology
Experimental vs non-experimental
Has control group vs has no control group
Psychological Research Methods
ObservationSurveyCase StudyExperiment
Applied vs. Basic Research
Applied research has clear, practical applications (i.e. research on therapies for drug addicts has clear purpose)Basic research explores questions that you may be curious about, but not intended to be immediately used (i.e. studying kissing change with age)
Hypothesis
Expresses a relationship between two variables.
Variable
A variable is anything that can vary among participants in a study.
Independent Variable
Whatever is being manipulated in the experiment (hopefully the independent variable brings about change)i.e. dependent: how much fidgeting you doindependent: temperature
Dependent Variable
Whatever is being measured in the experiment. It is dependent on the independent variable.i.e. dependent: how much fidgeting you doindependent: temperature
Operational Definitions
Explain what you mean in your hypothesis. How will the variables be measured in real life terms. How you operationalize the variables will tell us if the study is valid and reliable.Lets say your hypothesis is that chocolate causes violent behavior.
•What do you mean by chocolate?
•What do you mean by violent behavior?
Sampling
The sample must be representative of the population you want to study. Must be generalizable to entire population
Random Assignment
Once you have a random sample, randomly assigning them into two groups helps control for confounding variables.
Confounding Variables
The object of an experiment is to prove that A causes B. A confounding variable is anything that could cause change in B, that is not Ai.e.esting puppies - separation from mom1 group = puppy with puppy friend, friend constantly rips out feeding tube, so the puppy had to be put to sleep in order to put it back in2 group = only puppyconclusion is bias, because the first group had to deal with pain
Hawthorne Effect
But even the control group may experience changes. Just the fact that you know you are in an experiment can cause change.
Experimenter Bias
Another confounding variable. Not a conscious act.i.e. testing which hair color is smarter, and because you want it to be brunnettes because you’re a brunnette, you will give the students who are brunnettes better marks
Other Confounding Variables
Placebo effectOrder Effects (what order you do tests in)
Correlational Method
Correlation expresses a relationship between two variables. Does not show causation.
Types of Correlation
Positive Correlation:The variables go in the same direction, up
Negative Correlation:The variables go in the same direction, but downwards
Correlation Coefficient
A number that measures the strength of a relationship. Range is from -1 to +1. The relationship gets weaker the closer you get to zero.
Most common type of study in psychology?
Survey Method
What does survey method measure?
Correlation
Naturalistic Observation
Watch subjects in their natural environment. Do not manipulate the environment. The good is that there no Hawthorne effect. The bad is that we can never really show cause and effect.
Case Studies
A detailed picture of one or a few subjects. Tells us a great story but is just descriptive research. Does not even give us correlation data.
Ethical Guidelines for Research
Internal Review Board
Provincial and Federal regulations
Both for humans and animals
Key Issues in Research Methods?
Representativeness
Reliability
Validity
Ethics
For animal research you need?
Clear purpose and legally acquired, treated in a humane way
What do you need for human research?
Informed consent and you must defrief
Social construction
idea that is built on shared perceptions rather than on objective reality i.e. age-related terms such as childhood, adolescence, yuppie and senior citizen
Culture
a system of shared beliefs, norms and behaviors
Ethnic group
people whose ancestors were born in the same region and who often share the same language, culture (but not always) and religion
What is a marker for ethnicity?
Physical appearance
Race
a group of people who are regarded by themselves or by others as distinct from other groups on the basis of physical appearance (typically skin color)
Socioeconomic status (SES)
is a person’s position in society as determined by income, occupation, education and place of residence aka social class
Critical period
a time when a particular type of developmental growth must happen for normal development to occur i.e. when you’re in the womb and you grow your limbs… its too late after that
Sensitive period
a time when a certain type of development is most likely, although it may still happen later with more difficulty i.e. language learning
i.e. accent free speech USUALLY has to be learned before puberty
Cohort
people born within the same historical period who therefore move through life together, experiencing the same events
Plasticity
he idea that abilities, personality, and other human characteristics can change over time
Woman with Rubella gave birth case study
Woman who had rubella (German measles) gave birth to a baby who was skinny, cried a lot, blind and dying. Eye was destroyed by a cataract. He had malformed thumbs, ankles, feet, spine and brain. The interaction of nature and nurture allowed David to be actually way smart and learn 4 languages, as well as skip a grade
Experiment
method to determine cause and effect. Researchers control the participants and the interventions, which makes it easier to understand what causes what
Scientists are obliged to promote what in studies?
Truthfulness
What does it mean to cook data?
Tweak study results to match hypothesis
Types of change
Linear change, E.G. Body weight, Dynamic Systems
What is meant by historic context in child development
Everything changes all the time. And since everything is different now, so is the way we raise and educate our children. For example technology
