chapter 1 Flashcards
continuity vs. discontinuity
the debate over whether or not the way we develop is just a straight line, or if it is drastically changes many times by certain things that happen to us
eg: can we tell if a person is going to be a nice person when they grow up based on how they act as a child or can things that happen to them change how nice they are, so that we cant predict it
universal vs. context-specific development issue
debate over whether we all follow one path of development or whether we are all different (to what extent are we all part of the same theme, or is it really really different)
what is the biopsychological framework?
the idea that development results from interacting forces
what are the 4 interacting forces of the biopsychosocial framework?
biological
psychological
sociocultural
life-cycle
biopsychological framework: biological forces
all genetic and health-related factors that affect development
biopsychological framework: psychological forces
all internal perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and personality factors that affect development (so basically all the stuff in your brain and the way that you think that could affect your development)
biopsychological framework: sociocultural factors
all interpersonal, societal, cultural, and ethnic factors that affect development (so the way that society, and our place in society shapes us)
biopsychological framework: life-cycle
differences in how the same event may affect people of different ages
neuroscience: define and methods
the study of the brain and the nervous system (especially brain-behaviour relationships)
- so how the brain interacts with other things to cause the behaviours that we exhibit
- methods: molecular analysis of brain cells, CT, and PET scans,fMRIs
what is a developmental theory? and what are the developmental theories that are relevant today. (5)
it is an organized set of ideas that explains development
- psychodynamic theory
- learning theory
- cognitive-developmental theory
- ecological and systems theory
- theories involving the life-span perspective
psychodynamic theory
the theory that human behaviour is said to be guided by motives and drives that we are not often conscious of
sigmund freud and psychodynamic theory
he said that personality develops when a child desires something but there is conflict between that and what society demands
psychosocial theory and the epigenetic principle (is a psychodynamic theory)
-was proposed by erik erikson
-the idea that personality develops from the interaction of maturation and societal demands ( stages of maturation and the conflict in each stage)
epigenetic principle: the view that each psychosocial stage has its own period of importance in a persons life
what are the 8 stages of psychosocial development?
- basic trust vs. mistrust (birth-1 yr) (can i trust the world?)
- autonomy v. shame& doubt (1-3) (is it ok to move around and explore?)
- initiative v. guilt (3-6) (is it ok for me to do, move and act?take initiative?)
- industry v. inferiority (6-adolescence) (can i make it in the world of people and things? hard work and wanting what our friends have)
- identity v. identity confusion (12-20) (who am i and what can i be?)
- intimacy v. isolation (20-40) (can i/ do i want to love?)
- generativity v. stagnation (40-65) (can i make my life count? will i do stuff to help society, or will i be selfish and feel bad about it)
- integrity v. despair (65+) (is it ok to have been me? will you be ok with your life or have regrets)
learning theory
emphasizes the role of experience
- this takes the nurture rather than nature approach
- (major learning theories are behaviourism and social learning theory)
behaviourism (a learning theory)
john watson said that we enter the world as blank slates, basically means that we are all the same in the beggining so we can do whatever we want given the right circumstances
behaviourism: operant conditioning
studied by b.f. skinner
- says that the consequences of a behaviour determines whether or not we do that again
- the two basic principles are rienforcment and punishment
behaviourism: operant conditioning: rienforcement
consequence that increases the likelihood that a behaviour will be repeated in the future
- positive reinforcement: add reward to encourage after behaviour
- negative reinforcement: remove something bad to encourage behaviour
behaviourism: operant conditioning: punishment
consequence that decreases the likelihood that you will do something again
- positive punishment: add negative stimulus (spanking)
- negative punishment: remove something presant
social learning theory
-the idea that we learn through imitation (by watching those around us)
social cognitive theory is a learning theory
social cognitive theory (a social learning theory)
albert bandara’s idea was that thinking and direct reinforcement and punishment were very important to shaping behaviour
-there was the idea that we were likely to immitate someone’s behaviour if: the person was rewarded for their behaviour, and if they are someone we look up to (we believe taht if we see someone do it then we can do it too)
cognitive-developmental theory (and the 3 major approaches to studying it)
this theory focuses on how the way we think changes over time
3 major approaches: piaget’s theory, information processing theory, sociocultural approach
jean piaget (sociocultural approach)
- founded the field of cognitive development
- saw children as little scientists in the way that they experiment with things to gain knowledge
Piaget’s theory: four stages of cognitive development
- sensorimotor stage (birth-2)
- preoperational stage (2-6)
- concrete operational stage (7-12)
- formal operational stage (12-and beyond)
Piaget’s theory: four stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor stage (birth-2)
- knowledge is based on senses and motor actions
- there is no object permanence until the end of the stage
- they only know what is immediatly in front of them, or what is going on in the moment
Piaget’s theory: four stages of cognitive development: pre operational stage (2-6)
- there is now object permanence
- there is a display of egocentrism (they only can think of themselves)
- they learn to understand symbols (words and numbers)
Piaget’s theory: four stages of cognitive development: concrete opperational stage (7-12)
- there is declining egocentrism (they are aware of others)
- can reason logically, but only in concrete terms (still not hypothetical reasoning)
Piaget’s theory: four stages of cognitive development: formal operational stage (12+)
can think abstactly, such as math problems
can also think of hypothetical situations
information processing theory
the view that human cognition consists of mental hardware and software (its like a computer in the way that changes in thinking are due to different “parts in the system”)
vygotsky’s theory: sociocultural theory (information processing theory)
idea that children’s thoughts are influenced by the sociocultural context in which they are raised
-learning occurs between minds, rather than within a mind
ecological systems theory
they idea that human development cannot be separated from the environment in which the development occurs
brofenbrenners systems (4)(ecological systems theory)
he showed the persons environment as 4 interactive levels: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem
brofenbrenners systems: microsystem
the people and objects that are most closely placed in a persons everyday environment
bronfenbrenner’s systems: mesosystem
the interrelations among different microsystems
bronfenbrenner’s systems: exosystem
social settings that influence one’s development even though one does not experience them firsthand
bronfenbrenner’s systems: macrosystem
the cultural and subcultural settings where all the other systems (microsystems, mesosystems, and exosystems) go on
competence-environmental press theory
the idea that development is optimized if the demands are neither too difficult nor too easy for your ability level
- competence refers to your abilities
- environmental press refers to the demands of your environment
what do life-span perspective, selective optimization with compensation, and life-course perspective have in common?
they all became popualr when poeple realized that your development didnt stop once you became an adult
life-span perspective
view that development is determined by biological, psychological and social factors, and that all stages of life are related (past present and future)
paul bates and the 4 key features of life span perspective
- multidirectionality
- placticity
- historical context
- multiple causation
paul bates and the 4 key features of life span perspective: multidirectionality
development involves many directions, both growing and declining
paul bates and the 4 key features of life span perspective: plasticity
your capacity is not carved in stone, depending on the opportunities taht we are given we may be changed
paul bates and the 4 key features of life span perspective: historical context
the era in which we grow up has an influence on how we develop
paul bates and the 4 key features of life span perspective: multiple causation
how we develop results from all things (biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycle forces)
nature vs. nurture
the debate about which shapes who you are more: genetic factors, or environmental factors
selective optimization with compensation (SOC)
selection: our selection can be elective or loss based
optimization: involves maximizing our abilities in selected activities
compensation: involves finding alternatives when abilities cannot be optimized
so we choose goals that we want to optimize and if we dont have the abilities we compensate
life-course perspective
describes the ways that different generations experience things in their own historical context (biological, psychological, and sociocultural things)
-there are 3 major dimensions that underline this
what are the 3 main dimensions of the life-course perspectives
- the timing of life events in relation to external historical events (the age of marriage as educational demands have changed)
- the synchronization of individual transitions with the other people in your family ( so when you have different obligations to your life that conflict with theirs)
- the impact of the way that earlier life events were effected by historical events, on your current events
systematic observation
involves watching people and carefully recording what they say or do
-there are 2 different kinds, naturalistic observation, and structured observation
systematic observation: naturalistic observation
form of systematic observation where you see a person react spontaneously to a real life situation
systematic observation:structured observations
a manufactured setting that will probably get the result that they want so that they can observe that result
what are self reports ( in relation to development research)
peoples answers to questions that relate to what they are tryign to learn about
- they can be asked in an interview or as a questionaire
- used for things that cant really be observed (feelings, or opinions)
physiological ways to measure in development research
- measures of brain activity
- heart rate to infer stress, or interest
- cortisol levels to infer stress
reliability in relation to developmental research
a test is reliable when the scores are consistent from one testing time to another
validity in relation to davelopment research
a test is valid when it measures what it is supposed to, a test can be reliable, but not valid, however an unreliable test cannot be valid cause it isnt measuring ANYTHING properly
representative sampling: population
the broader group of people that are the focus of the research
representative sampling: sample
subset of a population
3 general designs for research
correlational studies
- experimental studies
- qualitative studies
correlation studies
study looking at teh relations between two or more things as they exist in the natural world
- nothing is manipulated, simply observed to see if and how they relate
- correlation does not imply causation (being good at math and being tall, just means that older people are good at math, not that height causes math knowledge)
correlation coefficient
- a positive correlation means that if one variable increases then so does the other
- a negative correlation is when one increases and the other decreases
- the strength of the correlation is measured by how close to one the absolute value is
experimental studies
manipulating things that the researcher thinks might cause a particular behaviour, and observing that
-it is necessary to control the environment and make sure everything else stays constant when doing this study to avoid confounding variables
experimental study: independent variable
the factor that is manipulated
experimental study: dependent variable
the behaviour that is observed after the independent variable is observed
experimental study: random assignment
used to choose which level of the independent variable participants recieve
eg. who gets an experimental drug and who gets placebo
qualitative studies
where the researchers look, in-depth, at experiences and processes, usually at a small group of people
- doesnt rely on numbers
- usually used to study unique individuals or populations
designs for studying development
these are studies that focus on age as an important variable, comparing age, and studying change as it occurs
designs for studying development: longitudinal studies
a design where a group is studied many ways (experimental, qualitative, etc)
- so that you can study the effects of experience on later development
disadvantages: cost, time, practice effects
designs for studying development: cross sectional studies
research design in which people of different ages are compared at one point in time (like a snapshot of two things rather than a long time recording of one)
- less cost than longitudinal
- can be done all at once, even if comparing ages that are years apart
disadvantages: cannot test for stability of a trait, cannot test for effects of experience, there can be cohort effects (where one group has a different past than the other)
sequential studies
complex research design consisting of multiple cross-sectional or longitudinal designs
- so followinng more than one group over a period of time
- can control negative effects of both
- dissadvantages: very expensive and time consuming
integrating findings from different studies
a meta-analysis involves finding many studies published over a long period of time, then use the meta-analysis to compare all the results
conducting research ethically
- there is a panel of experts, and community representative judge of ethics that determine whether the study is ethical before it can be conducted
- in canada there is the tri-council policy statement (all research must uphold: respect for persons, concern for welfare, justice)
what has developmental research influenced?
laws against child abuse
- child labour laws
- minimum ages for drinking
- screening for older drivers renewing their drivers lisence
