Chapter 1: The Science of Human Development Flashcards
What is developmental psychology?
scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives
What is meant by Lifespan Perspective?
study of change
What areas are included in Biosocial Development?
brain, body, diet, and others that determine change
What areas are included in Cognitive Development?
thoughts, language, education
What areas are included in Psychosocial Development?
emotions, temperament, social skills
Define Human development:
refers to the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development of humans throughout the lifespan.
Compare and contrast quantitative and qualitative changes.
Quantitative: change with numbers
Qualitative: change in structure or organization
What are the different levels of analysis we can study development from (hint, the first one is physical)?
biological, cognitive, and sociocultural.
What is the difference between descriptive and explanatory research?
Explanatory = explain “why”
Descriptive = describe what behaviors
What is the scientific method and what are its steps?
Begin with curiosity; on the basis of theory, prior research, or personal observation, pose a question
Develop a hypothesis; shape the question into a hypothesis, a specific prediction that can be tested
Test the hypothesis.
Draw conclusion
Report results
In psychological measurement, what is meant by “population”?
entire group of people whom a scientist wants to learn about
In psychological measurement, what is meant by “sample”?
small representation of a “population”
Describe the 2 Criteria for Good Research (Reliability, Validity).
Reliability: repeatability of a scale or test
Validity: am I measuring what I think I am measuring?
What is an Experiment?
Procedure with manipulation in certain variables while also having controls in others.
What is an Independent Variable? Give Examples.
variable that is changed,
ex) the music types for children in womb
What is a Dependent Variable? Give Examples.
does not change, what is being measured,
ex) IQ level of children at age 8
What is an Experimental Group?
anyone who gets a treatment
What is a Control Group?
doesn’t get treatment, placebo group or inert
What does “Random Assignment” mean?
involves using chance to make sure that all participants have an equal likelihood of being assigned to a group
You should be able to apply the terms to a research design: Independent Variable, Dependent Variable, Experimental Group, Control Group, and Random Assignment.
What are some advantages of doing research on animals?
less variables (more control), shorter lifespan
What is meant by “experimental methods” and what are some advantages to doing experimental research?
is an investigation in which the independent variable is manipulated (or changed) in order to cause a change in the dependent variable.
prove cause and effect
What does Correlational Research measure?
explore relationships between variables.
What is a Positive Correlation? Give Examples.
two variable covary in the same direction, one goes up the other goes up
when two variables go in the SAME direction. For example, domestic violence and bowling. When bowling goes up, so does domestic violence. When domestic violence decreases, so does bowling.
What is a Negative Correlation? Give examples.
two variables that covary in opposite direction, one goes up the other goes down
Numerically, how are strong and weak correlations defined?
perfect is 1
Strong is 0.7 - 0.9
weak is 0.1 - 0.3
What are the advantages of correlational research?
Correlational research allows researchers to collect much more data than experiments.
Furthermore, because correlational research usually takes place outside of the lab, the results tend to be more applicable to everyday life.
What are the disadvantages of correlational research?
only uncovers a relationship; it cannot provide a conclusive reason for why there’s a relationship
What is an Observational study? Give examples.
watching subjects
comparing subjects against a control group, in cases where the researcher has no control over the experiment.
Darwin and Jane Goodall
How might we conduct a study using Interviews and Questionnaires?
best way to find information is normally face to face
What is meant by a Case Study?
in-depth look at a single individual, stroke victims
Advantage- cheap and easy, allows us to study things that we can’t legally manipulate
Disadvantage- correlation does not equal cause
What is meant by Cross-Sectional Design? What are some advantages and disadvantages of this design?
A cross-sectional study is one type of study in which people of different ages are examined at the same time(s). This is usually done with cohorts, so that researchers can examine how people of different ages perform, behave, or respond to a particular function.
For example, a researcher may give one type of test to children in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades, to examine the differences in performance across these age groups.
ex child tv watching pattern from 6 to 8, get a group of 6 years and test and a group of 8 year olds and test them
Advantage- quick, easy, no attrition- moved away , no practice effect- taking something once and then taking it a second time
Disadvantage- selection bias- don’t know if your pool of 6 year olds is the same as your pool of 8 year olds, cohort effect
What is meant by Longitudinal Design? What are some advantages and disadvantages of this design?
people are study and restudied over a period of time (as opposed to studied across different experimental conditions as is the case with a repeated measures study).
The longitudinal study design is good for looking at the effects or changes over a long period of time, usually as people age. For example, a psychologist may study the effects of counseling for children of divorce as they age. The children may get counseling for one year and then the researcher measures the children on different things (e.g., coping, stress, anxiety, etc.) once a year for the next 10 years and compare them to children who did not receive the counseling, but were measured in the same way and times. This would allow the researcher to see if the counseling had any effects as the children aged compared to those who did not receive counseling.
group of 6 tested and then same group tested at 8
Advantage- no selection bias, allows us to see developmental change in an individual
Disadvantage- practice effects and attrition, cohort effect- lived through different things
What is meant by Sequential Design? What are some advantages and disadvantages of this design?
combination of cross and longitudinal
Ex) 10 infants that were seen at 6 months- 10 months and then 10 infants at 6,7,8,9, and 10 months
Selection bias in CS then they should be better or worse than
If group A equals group B than no practice effect
Describe Sampling Bias. Give examples.
errors that can occur in research studies by not properly selecting participants for the study
Describe Placebo Effects. Give an example of what we might use this for.
substance that is not known to have any pharmacological effects that is made to look like an active (“real”) drug. Sometimes the act of taking a pill produces an effect if the person believes the pill is active.
What are Social Desirability Effects? Give an example.
peoples tendency to give socially desirable answers, doctors ask if we smoke and drink and we lie because we don’t want the doctors how much we smoke or drink
What is Experimenter Bias? How might this affect research?
experimenters expectations can affect the results
Define Confounding Variable. Give an example.
any variable that affects the results of your experiment that you did not control for
ex) sampling bias and selection bias
Describe the ethics guidelines psychologists must follow in their research.
Know everyone has to sign an informed consent form- if a child is of mental ability then they have to sign the form, children and parents must sign
Have to be truthful, not deceiving
Have to protect from harm and discomfort
Confidential
Have to debrief you
Compare and contrast the views of John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau on child development.
John Locke- 17th century, children are born tabula rasa, blank slates- they are capable of anything. Deals with experience
Jean-Jacques Rousseau- 18th century children were noble savages with an innate plan for orderly growth , children are inherently good
Describe the Organismic vs. Mechanistic child debate. How would Locke and Rousseau argue in this debate?
Organismic- children drive their own development and actively seek out new experiences ex) children wanting to play a new sport- Rousseau
Mechanistic- children are passively shaped by their contexts- Locke
Describe the Continuity vs. Discontinuity in the development debate. How would Locke and Rousseau argue in this debate?
Continuity- development is gradual ex) acorn turn to tree- Locke
Discontinues- discontinuous, discrete things occur at different times- great leaps followed
Describe the Nature vs. Nurture debate. How would Locke and Rousseau argue in this debate?
Nature- our genes is what drives our development- Rousseau
Nurture- our environment is going to be most important in determining our development- Locke
