Developmental psychology 1

Question 1

What is development psychology

Answer 1

The study of how we can change over our lifespans

Question 2

Child development

Answer 2

Consistencies and changes in children’s abilities and development from birth to adolescence

Question 3

When is adult development

Answer 3

Post-adolescence

Question 4

The study of developmental psychology has applied relevance where?

Answer 4

Education, health, social care, child-rearing, etc.

Question 5

what is Interdisciplinary inquiry?

Answer 5

Interdisciplinary inquiry is when developmental science draws together bio-behavioural, social and psychological disciplines

Question 6

Domains of development

Answer 6

Physical, cognitive, social and emotional development

Question 7

Physical development

Answer 7

Refers to changes in:
- Body size, proportions and appearance
- Functioning of body systems
- Perceptual and motor development
- Physical health

Question 8

Cognitive development

Answer 8

Refers to changes in:
- Intellectual abilities, including attention, memory, academic and everyday knowledge
- Problem-solving
- Imagination and creativity
- Language

Question 9

Social and emotional development

Answer 9

Refers to changes in:
- Understanding of self and others
- Social competence
- Emotion understanding and regulation
- Intimate relationships (parent-child, sibling, friendships)
- Moral reasoning and behaviour

Question 10

Periods of child development (Piaget)

Answer 10

• Pre-natal: conception to birth
• Infancy and toddlerhood: birth to 2 years
• Middle childhood: 7-11 years old
• Adolescence: 11-18 years old

Question 11

Main 3 questions for developmental psychology

Answer 11

• Normative development vs. individual differences
• Continuous development vs. discontinuous development
• Nature vs. nurture

Question 12

Normative development

Answer 12

• Species-normal development changes over time
• Focus on similarities→ E.g. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Question 13

Individual differences

Answer 13

• Differences observed between children at a given age/time/place
• Focus on individual differences→ Temperament differences

Question 14

Continuous

Answer 14

• Theories emphasising mechanisms of continuous change assume that development is cumulative.
  
  • Development involves quantitative change
  • E.g. Information processing theories

Question 15

Discontinuous

Answer 15

• Theories incorporating ‘stages’ of development assume that development is discontinuous
  
  • Development involves qualitative changes→ E.g. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Question 16

Common developmental curves

Answer 16

• Continuous increase
• Continuous decrease
• Stage like

Question 17

Continuous increase

Answer 17

E.g.

• Height & weight
• Vocabulary size
• Memory capacity

Question 18

Continuous decrease

Answer 18

E.g.

• Hours of sleep needed
• Learning a new language (e.g. Johnson & Newport, 1991)
• Late life decline in hearing

Question 19

Stage-like

Answer 19

• Qualitative or discontinuous
• E.g.
  
  • Cognitive development according to Piaget (1954)
  • Moral development according to Kohlberg (1981)

Question 20

Nature vs. Nurture

Answer 20

Nature = biological underpinnings of behaviour, ‘instincts’, innate behaviours/traits

• Genetic influences

Nurture = environment, culture, context, family influences

• Environmental influences

Question 21

Nature vs. Nurture 2

Answer 21

• Can work at the level of normative development, as well as explaining individual differences
• Almost all psychologists believe that both nature and nurture are important, but different theorists may prioritise one over the other

Question 22

Observational research (2 types)

Answer 22

Naturalistic

• In the ‘field’ or natural environment where behaviour happens

Structured

• Laboratory situations set up to evoke behaviour of interest
• All participants have an equal chance to display behaviour

Question 23

Collecting systematic observations

Answer 23

Event sampling & Time sampling

Question 24

Event sampling

Answer 24

Observer records all instances of a particular behaviour during a specific time period

Question 25

Time sampling

Answer 25

Observer records whether certain behaviours occur during a sample of short time intervals

Question 26

Limitations of observational research

Answer 26

Observer influence & Observer bias

Question 27

Observer influence

Answer 27

- Participants may react in unnatural ways - Can be minimised → Observer familiar to children → Use a video camera

Question 28

Observer bias

Answer 28

Observers record what they expect rather than what really happens

Question 29

Interview methods

Answer 29

- Interviews with child - Interviews with parents/caregivers

Question 30

Interview limitations (Interviews with child)

Answer 30

- Developmental language level may limit understanding and/or ability to respond - Accuracy of child’s expressions/recall - Responses may be influenced by the desire to please

Question 31

Interview limitations (Interviews with parents/caregivers )

Answer 31

- Responses may be influenced by the desire to achieve/avoid diagnosis for their child (depending on the situation - Distortions in recall and/or judgment/interpretation

Question 32

what is a clinical/case study method and some examples

Answer 32

a method that brings together a wide range of information on one child - observations - parent/caregiver interviews - test scores - psychophysiological measures

Question 33

give examples of experiments outside the lab:

Answer 33

- field experiments - natural experiments

Question 34

what are field experiments?

Answer 34

they are experiments that use rare opportunities for random assignment in natural settings i.e. observing children in the playground

Question 35

what are natural experiments?

Answer 35

- usually quasi-experiments - compares differences in treatment that already exists - groups chosen to match characteristics as much as possible i.e. observing children playing at state vs. private school

Question 36

Lab Experiments: How do we know what infants know? Methodologies?

Answer 36

Novelty preference & operant conditioning

Question 37

what is novelty preference & its methods?

Answer 37

novelty preference refers to the fact that infants are more likely to pay attention to new objects or people than those they've seen before - preferential looking paradigms - habituation paradigms

Question 38

what is operant conditioning & methods?

Answer 38

a method of learning that uses rewards and punishment to modify behaviour - eye movements - psychophysiological measures (e.g. heart rate) - neuroimaging

Question 39

operant conditioning: reinforcer

Answer 39

increases the probability of the behaviour occuring again - presenting desirable stimulus - removing unpleasant stimulus

Question 40

operant conditioning: punishment

Answer 40

reduces the probability of behaviour occuring again - presenting an unpleasant stimulus - removing desirable stimulus

Question 41

operant conditioning: what did Collier (1999) experiment on and discover?

Answer 41

- Collier (1999) attached a baby's ankle to a mobile by a ribbon & they soon learnt to kick vigorously - memory of how to activate mobile context-dependent in 3-6-month-olds