Developmental Research Methods Flashcards
Why are twin studies important to developmental psychology?
allows us to tease apart the effect of nature vs. nurture
Identical twins share ____% of their DNA and ____% of their environment
100%, 100%
Fraternal twins share ____% of their DNA and ____% of their environment
50%, 100%
If identical twins and fraternal twins who share the same environment experience equal depression rates, then this can be attributed to:
nurture
If identical twins and fraternal twins who share the same environment experience inequal depression rates, then this can be attributed to:
nature
Why are the Jim Twins an interesting case study?
both were raised in completely different environments but experienced many parallels in their life
Why are the “three identical strangers” an interesting case study?
all three triplets were raised in completely different environments but had many of the exact same mannerisms
What is the normative development approach?
looking at changes of groups (how most people are alike)
What is the individual differences approach?
looking at individual variations in development (how people differ from each other)
What is a longitudinal design?
- a group of participants is studied repeatedly at different ages
- commons developmental patterns and individual differences
What are the flaws of longitudinal designs?
- participants may move away or drop out
- participants may behave unnaturally
- cohort effects
What is a cohort effect?
particular influences on one group that may make research results inapplicable to other groups
i.e. Covid-19
What is a cross-sectional design?
- different aged groups are studied at the same point in time
- group differences are assumed to be the result of developmental changes
What are the flaws of cross-sectional designs?
- individual changes cannot be detected
- cohort effects
True or False:
Longitudinal-sequental designs are less efficient than longitudinal and cross-sectional designs.
False
What is a longitudinal-sequental design?
- combines the longitudinal and cross-sectional methods by studying two or more age groups over time
- detects cohort effects by comparing same-age results for participants born in different years
What is the preferential looking paradigm?
Given two objects to look at, infants will look more at the interesting one
What does the preferential looking paradigm observe in infants?
visual acuity
What is the conclusion made by the preferential looking paradigm?
if an infant has no visual acuity, it will have no preference for a specific image
What is habituation?
- if you show something to an infant enough, they will become bored
- if an infant is shown something different and they can detect the difference, they should be more interested in the new object
What does habituation observe in infants?
cognitive representation
How is “interest” measured in habituation?
heart rate
high heart rate = high interest
What is the violation of expectancy?
young infants express surprise and will look longer at events or objects that violate their expectancy
What does violation of expectancy observe in infants?
object permanence
