Developmental Area Flashcards
Applications
One application of the principles of the area is
Through the developmental area studies we learn that children’s behaviours are strongly influenced by adults (models) around them. If you expose a child to an adult being aggressive they are likely to imitate this behaviour.
This information is useful to parents, teachers and child psychologists.
Understanding that aggressive behaviour is learnt this way means that these people can put in restrictions e.g. not allowing children to watch TV/Films or play video games with violence in. It also provides explanation to child Psychologist as to why problematic behaviour in kids may occur, the fact aggression is learnt suggests it can be unlearnt e.g. observing non-aggressive models.
The developmental area suggests behaviours change over a life span and can be affected by nature and nurture. This application shows how nurture can be manipulated / controlled to ensure negative changes to behaviours do not occur.
One application of the principles of the area is
Through the developmental area studies we learn that we can manipulate behaviour of children with the use of positive reinforcement. Incentives can be used to increase the likelihood that behaviours such as the taking of medication will occur.
This information is useful to parents, medical professionals and pharmaceutical companies.
If the above are trying to increase the consumption of medication by children it could be advised that they use an incentive when administering the treatment, this could come in many forms e.g. flavouring the medication to be one children like a strawberry flavour.
The developmental area suggests behaviours change over a life span and can be affected by nature and nurture. This application shows how nurture can be used to increase positive behaviours in children.
Assumptions
- People’s cognitions, motivations and behaviour change with age.
What happens in the mind of a child is not entirely the same as what happens in the mind of an adult.
Adults are able to think before they act, to rely on logic and experience to make decisions and to use judgement.
These are qualities children will eventually grow towards.
- Human development is an interaction between the influences of nature and nurture.
How much behaviour is innate and how much is learned?
Some of our behaviour is moulded by reinforcement. We do things that bring about pleasant consequences (rewards) such as praise.
Strengths
Point; One strength of the developmental area is that it recognizes that behaviour changes over our lifespan.
Explain; This adds to our understanding of the interaction between nature and nurture helping to identify important influences on children’s behaviour as they develop.
Demonstrate this with evidence from this area of Psychology:
Chaney
Point; Another strength of the developmental area is that it has practical applications.
Explain; Findings from research can be used to help us positively influence children’s behaviour.
Demonstrate this with evidence from this area of Psychology:
Bandura
Weaknesses
Point; One weakness of the developmental area is that the research may break ethical guidelines.
Explain; As children are often used as participants it may be difficult to gain consent and protect children from harm.
Demonstrate with evidence from this area of psychology:
Lee
Point; Another weakness of the developmental area is that the research often uses a longitudinal design.
Explain; Over time subject attrition may occur, leaving a smaller or bias sample, causing a reduction in population validity.
Demonstrate this with evidence from this area of Psychology:
Chaney’s study was done over a period of 2 weeks (when the participants used the Funhaler), if this study was done for a longer period it is inevitable that some participants would drop out making the sample even smaller than its original 32 asthmatic children and therefore reducing who the results could be generalized to.
Principles
The developmental area looks at the idea that people change throughout a life span, from the minute they are conceived till they die the body and its physical abilities, thought processes, emotions and behaviours change.
It considers the fact that behaviour can be influenced by both nature and nurture. This means that some behaviours are linked to changes in our biology such as hormones (nature) but that we also should consider the impact of the environment and experiences people have (nurture).
