Developmental Psychology

Question 1

What is the Developmental Area in psychology?

Answer 1

The developmental area in psychology assumes that behaviour changes over our lifetime, focussing on cognitive processes- how our thinking changes as we get older; social processes such as gender development and personal development such as the emotional self. These changes may be the result of inherited factors, including events that occur as a result of maturation or lifetime experiences which includes interactions with other people.

Question 2

What is reciprocal determinism?

Answer 2

The idea that as we interact with our environment, we change the environment while simultaneously it changes us.

Question 3

What was the aim of Bandura’s study?

Answer 3

To demonstrate that learning can occur through simple observation of a model and that imitated behaviour can be observed in the absence of that model.

Question 4

What is a model in Bandura’s study?

Answer 4

Person/s who perform specific behaviours as directed by the experimenter, which may or may not be imitated by participants in the study.

Question 5

What is vicarious learning?

Answer 5

Learning through vicarious reinforcement, is our tendency to repeat or duplicate behaviours for which others are being rewarded.

Question 6

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 6

Any action that produces pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated. Any action that produces unpleasant consequences is less likely to be repeated.

Question 7

What research design did Bandura use?

Answer 7

Laboratory experiment with matched participants design and observational techniques.

Question 8

What were participants matched for in Bandura’s study?

Answer 8

Aggressiveness

Question 9

What sampling method did Bandura use?

Answer 9

Opportunity sampling, from Stanford University

Question 10

What was a strength of Bandura’s study?

Answer 10

Participants were all children so he could easily show how easily youngsters imitate adult models.

Question 11

What was a weakness of Bandura’s sample?

Answer 11

Children are more impressionable so its hard to generalise to the rest of the population.

Question 12

What materials were used in Bandura’s study?

Answer 12

3ft Bobo doll
Aggressive toys e.g. mallet, dart gun
Non-aggressive toys e.g. tea set, toy cars, dolls

Question 13

How many participants took part in Bandura’s study?

Answer 13

72 children
36 boys & 36 girls

Question 14

What was the mean age of the participants in Bandura’s study?

Answer 14

52 months/ 4.5 years old

Question 15

How many conditions were there in Bandura’s study?

Answer 15

3 conditions: aggressive, non-aggressive and a control condition

Question 16

What gender model had a greater influence over participants in Bandura’s study?

Answer 16

Male model

Question 17

Which gender of the children imitated more aggressive behaviour?

Answer 17

Boys imitated more physical aggression but there was no significant difference in terms of verbal aggression.

Question 18

When did the imitative behaviour occur in Bandura’s study?

Answer 18

In the absence of the model.

Question 19

What are some ethical issues in Bandura’s study?

Answer 19

Informed consent, participants were children
Confidentiality, participants were filmed and these videos are available on YouTube

Question 20

What was a problem of using a bobo doll for Bandura’s study?

Answer 20

The Bobo doll ‘invited’ children to play aggressively as how else would children play with the doll.

Question 21

Where does Bandura fall on the nature/nurture debate?

Answer 21

Nurture, children’s behaviour was caused by the situation

Question 22

Where does Bandura fall on the situational/dispositional debate?

Answer 22

Situational, children’s behaviour was caused by the situation

Question 23

Where does Bandura fall on the free will/determinism debate?

Answer 23

Deterministic, children’s behaviour is shaped by models not free will.

Question 24

Is Bandura’s study useful?

Answer 24

Is useful, can be applied to reducing aggressiveness in children.

Question 25

Is Bandura’s study scientific?

Answer 25

Is scientific, standardised procedures and used a control group.

Question 26

What type of data did Bandura collect?

Answer 26

Quantitative and Qualitative

Question 27

What was the aim of Chaney’s study?

Answer 27

A pilot study to establish whether a specially designed ‘Funhaler’ would increase medical compliance in a group of young children with asthma who were prescribed regular inhaler therapy.

Question 28

What is a funhaler?

Answer 28

A paediatric small volume inhaler that makes it easier for young children to take their asthma based medication

Question 29

What sampling method did Chaney use?

Answer 29

Opportunity sampling

Question 30

How many participants did Chaney use?

Answer 30

32 asthmatic children, 22 male and 10 female

Question 31

What was the mean age of participants used in Chaney’s study?

Answer 31

3.2 years old

Question 32

What is a positive of Chaney’s sample?

Answer 32

Easy to collect due to using an opportunity sample.

Question 33

What is a negative of Chaney’s sample?

Answer 33

Risk of recruitment effects, parents who agreed to be in the study may have more compliant children as those with more difficult children may have declined, leaving a more positive group of families.

Question 34

What research design did Chaney use?

Answer 34

Field experiment with repeated measures design.

Question 35

What self-report methods were used in Chaney’s study?

Answer 35

Phone call interview and two questionnaires used at the start and end of the study.

Question 36

How many children used the funhaler compared to the conventional spacer?

Answer 36

22/27 children used the funhaler (81%) compared to 16/27 children who used the conventional spacer (59%)

Question 37

How many children inhaled four or more breaths using the funhaler compared to the conventional spacer?

Answer 37

24/30 children used the funhaler (80%) effectively compared to 15/30 children who used the conventional spacer effectively (50%)

Question 38

How many parents said they were always successful in medicating their child with the funhaler compared to the conventional spacer?

Answer 38

22/30 parents (73%) medicated their child correctly using the funhaler compared to 3/30 parents for the conventional spacer.

Question 39

How many children were unwilling to breathe through the conventional spacer compared to the funhaler?

Answer 39

19 children (61%) refused to breathe through the convetional spacer compared to 2 children (7%) for the funhaler.

Question 40

What were some ethical issues in Chaney’s study?

Answer 40

Informed consent, participants were children
Psychological harm, children may feel embarrassed about using a spacer and having their personal feelings recorded

Question 41

What type of data did Chaney collect?

Answer 41

Quantitative data

Question 42

Where does Chaney fall on the nature/nurture debate?

Answer 42

Nurture, reinforcement in our environment and models affect our behaviour.

Question 43

Where does Chaney fall on the free will/determinism debate?

Answer 43

Deterministic, the children’s behaviour was altered by reinforcements.

Question 44

Is Chaney’s study useful?

Answer 44

Is useful, can be used in medication for asthma for children and reducing asthma attacks.

Question 45

Is Chaney’s study scientific?

Answer 45

Is scientific, field experiment with controlled procedures.