Intro to Developmental Psych Flashcards
Why study child development?
Studying development can
provide unique insights into the evolution of the species
(How did we come to be where we are, Individually and as a species?)
What term is used to describe the evolution of the species?
Phylogeny
Define Phylogeny
The evolution of the species
What term is used to describe the evolution of individual organisms?
Ontogeny
Define Ontogeny
The evolution of individual organisms
What is the process of recapitulating in development?
When organisms repeat evolutionary structural changes during the embryonic development
What are the practical reasons for studying developmental psychology?
Helps us promote wise social policies related to child welfare and raising children
What is the Plato vs Aristotle debate?
Nature vs Nurture
What did Plato emphasise about child development and learning?
The children must learn self-control and discipline before they are able to learn other skills
What did Aristotle emphasise about child development and learning?
That each child has different, individual needs and experiences
The process of raising children differs for each child
Between Plato vs Aristotle, who is a nativist (nature) and who is an empiricist (nurture)?
Plato = Nativist (nature)
Aristotle = Empiricist (nurture)
Who believed that our knowledge is innate and has existed since birth? (Plato or Aristotle)
Plato
Who believed that our knowledge is learned and comes from experience? (Plato or Aristotle)
Aristotle
Who is the other philosopher in the 1700s that agreed with Aristotle’s belief of “knowledge is nurture”?
John Locke
Who believed children were born as “blank slates” or “tabula rasa”?
John Locke
What did John Locke mainly believe in when it comes to “knowledge is learnt”?
- That children are born as a blank slate
- That the most important goal of raising a child is character growth/development
What is John Locke’s pov about giving the child freedom as they grow?
Caretakers must give children more and more freedom (gradually) as they grow older
Too much freedom at an early age can cause the child to mature more quickly
Too little freedom at a late age can cause the child to not develop their own character
Which philosopher in the 1700s argued against John Locke’s proposal of giving children more and more (gradual) freedom as they grow older?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
What did Jean-Jacques Rousseau propose about giving children freedom?
That parents and society should give the child maximum freedom from the beginning
What were the 2 most prominent theories that converged in the 19th century to form research-based approaches in developmental psychology?
1) Social reform movements
2) Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution
How did Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution influence developmental psychology?
The theory inspired research in child development in order to gain insights into the nature of the species
How did the Social Reform Movements influence developmental psychology?
The movements provided some of the
earliest descriptions of the adverse effects that
harsh environments can have on child development
How do you study developmental psychology?
The scientific method is an approach to
testing beliefs which involve:
1) Choosing a question
2) Formulating hypotheses
3) Testing those hypotheses
4) Forming conclusions
What are the 3 main ways to collect data about children when studying development?
1) Interviews
2) Naturalistic observations
3) Experiments
What is the term used when you collect data on children by watching them interact with the environment by themselves (without interfering)?
Naturalistic Observation
What is the term used when you collect data on children by asking them questions and opinions on certain things?
Interviews
What is the term used when you collect data on children by bringing the children into a lab and having them go through different testing conditions?
Experiment
How is naturalistic observation conducted?
Observers position themselves without disturbing/obstructing the children and observe how they behave in that particular setting
What are the advantages of naturalistic observation?
1) Good ecological validity (results can be applied to the real world)
2) Can be used to study a range of behaviours
What are the disadvantages of naturalistic observation?
1) It is hard to control extraneous variables
2) It can only identify correlational relationships and not causal relationships
3) Time-consuming and takes a lot of effort to observe because many behaviours only occasionally occur every day
4) Poor internal validity
How are interviews conducted?
Experimenter asks questions to the participants and they collect the participant’s answers to those questions
What are the 2 types of interviews?
1) Structured interview
2) Clinical interview
How do you conduct a structured interview?
You set pre-determined questions and give the questions to the participants
When is a structured interview useful?
When you collect self reports on the same topics from everyone
How do you conduct a clinical interview?
You give participants a few pre-determined questions but if the participants have something else to say/elaborate on, they are given the freedom to do so
When is a clinical interview useful?
When you want to collect in-depth information about an individual
What are the advantages of interviews?
- Allows full focus on the individual’s behavioural pattern
- Follow-up questions can clarify an earlier response (clinical interviews)
What are the disadvantages of interviews?
- Can be difficult to generalise results beyond the individual case
- Can be difficult to generate a causal argument
- Can sometimes be inaccurate because children can give playful, non-serious/truthful answers when asked questions
What are the advantages of conducting experiments to collect data on children’s behaviour?
- Can directly test relationships between variables
- Experimental control is
relatively easy - Good internal validity
What are the disadvantages of conducting experiments to collect data on children’s behaviour?
- Poor ecological validity = It uses an “artificial” technique to test for behaviour
- Sometimes are not possible to conduct experiments due to ethical issues (or
practical issues)
How can the problems of general experiments (e.g. ecological validity) be overcome?
Through conducting naturalistic experiments
What are naturalistic experiments?
When data are collected in everyday settings
such as the home or in a special playroom at the testing lab