Chapter 1 Intro Flashcards
Who was the most influential at baby biographies whom used his own son for recording early development ?
Charles Darwin
What are baby biographies ?
Collected data about development of children. Past investigators observed their own children & published their data
Were the baby biographies successful ? Why or why not ?
No, because of the confounding data collected, it isn’t comparable, but a good start in the right direction
What is a theory ?
A set of concepts & propositions designed to organize, describe, & explain an existing set of observation
What are the characteristics of a “good theory” ?
Parsimonious, Falsifiable, & Heuristic value ( hypothesis )
What is Parsimonious ?
Uses few explanatory principles to explain a broad set of observations
Explain falsifiable ?
Capable of making predictions about future events to prove theory is supported or disconfirmed
What is heuristic ?
Where you build on existing knowledge by continuing to stimulate new research & discoveries
How do continuity theorist view HD ?
As a process of small steps without sudden changes
Discontinuity theorists …?
Road to maturity is a series of abrupt changes which are to elevate the child to new & more advanced level of functioning
What are other aspects of continuity & discontinuity issues ?
Whether developmental changes are Quantitative or qualitative in nature
Explain Quantitative ..
Changes in degree. Example: gradually growing taller
Qualitative changes are?
Changes in kind. Changes that make an individual fundamentally different in some way than before. Example: tadpole to a frog
Explain the Scientific Method ?
A guide of attempts to understand attitude or value about the pursuit of knowledge & let the observations (DATA) decide their thinking
What does Reliability mean ?
A measure is reliable if it yields consistent information over time and across observers