Lecture 1 Goals and Methods Flashcards
What are the the goals of developmental science
- Describing
- Explaining
- Applying
What is the first goal of developmental science
- describing
- it is to understand the nature (abrupt vs slow) and variation of developmental changes across childhood in children
for example
- when do babies start babbling, producing words, reaching full vocab
- what does a one-year-old do compared to a certain age
- most theoretical works is based on descriptive work and describe what children were doing.
Whats describing developmental
- to understand developmental changes across childhood, the nature of these changes ( abrupt vs slow) and variation in skills in children
- like when do babies start babbling, producing words, reaching full vocab
- what does a one-year-old do compared to a certain age
- Major theoretical works is based on descriptive work and describe what children were doing.
what are quantitative changes
- gradual changes in the amount, frequency, or degree of behaviours
what are qualitative changes
a progression through a sequence of distinct changes
- like the frog’s growth is characterized by
unique stages. When the frog egg hatches, it is a tadpole that swims, feeds on algae, you cant meaurer frogs chnages by quantitives
- another exmaple of qualitative changes is puberty
What are some over all differences amongst children in development.
1) individual differences
2) apox age when skills emerge
3) course of change over time
what are some individual differences
- age of onset
- rate of changes
- the form skills
Whats age of onset? Provide some examples
- The approximate age when skills emerge
- like first words, first steps, first signs of puberty ( 11 or 12 yr)
whats rate of change? provide an example
- course of change overtime, like vocabulary development
what is of form of skills and provide some examples
- what behaviours look like in children with diverse experiences
- example; Counting: although people assume this skill to be universal, the
Pirahã people appear to lack number concepts
whats apox age when skills emerge
First words, first steps, first signs of puberty
whats course of change over time
example,
vocaulary development
Can we predict future development based on present
development?
its a matter of stability vs. Plasticity
What is stability?
Wheter children who are relatively high or low on certain characteristics or behaviour at a particular point in time are also relativley low or high at other times
give an example of stability
children with difficulties regulating their emotions in infancy display difficulties regulating emotions years later
What is plasticity?
The impressive capacity of humans to adapt to changing environments and experiences
example of plasticity
adoption studies reveal remarkable malleability in child development:
- children who were adopted out of impoverished environments caught up to their peers who had never been in impoverished environments
are there any limits to plasticity?
- yes, like the case of children living in orphanages who werent adopted till after 18 months of age and continued to experince behavioral problems that were difficult to reverse for many years
what is the second goal of development psychology
Explaining Development
Whats explaining development
to identify factors that contribute to developmental change in children as a group to individual differences
what is nature
childs biological makeup, the genes inherited from parents.
- includes:
- biological characteristics like arms legs
- unique characteristics like physical appearence such as eye colour, height, hair colour etc)
-personality like extraversion, agreeableness and openness
what is nurture
range of environmental contexts and experiences that influence development
- like: family, childcare, school, neighbourhood and culture
what is a Developmental Cascades?
The idea that change of one
kind can have positive or
negative cascading ( like a waterfall flowing) effects,
setting other kinds of changes
in motion, both immediately
and at later ages
what are cascades within time?
concurrent influences that occur across diff domains and or between the developing child and the child’s environment and experiences
for example: language skills and emotional regulation
- Infant temperament and parental sensitivity
what are cascades overtime?
changes at one period in development result in changes at a later period in the same or different domain
- for example, children who experience low-quality parenting early may experience academic probles later, as well as limits to future education choices
what is the third goal of developmental science?
- applying
what are two applications of developmental science
- development science has social and practical implications
- for example prevention and intervention programs, educational curricula, parenting supports, local and national investmenst
( developmental science informs local, state, and federal policies and initiatives that affect families and children. Maternity
and paternity leave policies, child and family welfare laws, health care initiatives, programs such as Head Start (which provide quality
childcare and support to poor families), and even laws about the legal ages for smoking and drinking present noteworthy examples of
areas that are grounded in the findings of developmental science.) - developmental science can inform design, implementation and evaluation of prgrams and polices
- book reading programs ( Book reading has the potential to expose
infants and toddlers to a greater variety of words than children would otherwise encounter during other activities. Exposure to new
words, in turn, facilitates growth in vocabulary that sets children on a path toward academic success)
What are two things you should know regarding research in development science
- How to conduct research
- Ensuring scientific rigour and integrity
whats discovery based science?
science based on discovering and understanding what children do and what development looks like without assuming
examples of discovery based science include Piagets constructivist theory of development and bowlbys theory of attachnment
what is a sample
participants in a study
the amount of people in a sample is called
sample size
whats sample demographics
age, gender, education level, employment status, annual household income, marital and family status, housing, business etc
whats generlizability
how do research findings from one sample extend to a population at large
if the sample is larger then the —– the chance that findings are generalizable
if the sample is larger then the greater the chance that findings are generalizable
what is convenience sampling
recruiting participants in a study based on how easy b it is to get them ( like example a student will ask their classmates to complete their survey)
will there be any biases in samples of convenience?
yes, there may be bias findings and it may differ from the larger population
whats are “WEIRD” populations in developmental psychology
- WEIRD stands for
Western
Educated
Industrialized
Rich
Democratic
why is having “WEIRD” participant populations in research a problem?
- increase evidence that numerous findings in development, even ones presumed to be “universal” are, in fact , tied to specific cultural contexts
- our understanding of human development is limited
list the four types of research methods
- Interviews
- Written surveys
- Observations
- Psychological Assessments
provide an example and list the pro + con of interviews
example:
- structured vs unstructured interviews
pros:
- data from participants on their behaviour
- researched can get info on infrequent behaviours/events that cant be observed in a single study session
cons:
- participants can be biased
- participant scan disclose information to hide negative behaviors or feelings
provide an example and list the pro + con of written surveys
example:
- paper, online
pros:
- participant scan respond without talking to researcher, this can lower soical desirability effects
cons:
- need literacy skills, therefore young children or people with low education may be disinclined
provide an example and list the pro + con of observations
example:
- naturalistic observation, structured observations, direct assesments
pros:
- researchers can directly observe/asses behaviours of interest
cons:
- can be costly time-wise, participants behaviour may be influnces by researchers pressence
provide an example and list the pro + con of psycholgical assesments
example:
- brain activation, heart rate, blood pressure, eye movements, measures of hormones
pros:
- can assess how participants react and respond to diff stimuli and diff situations phsysiologgical
- offers a diff lens
cons:
- can be costly in required tech and training
- some methods cannot be used with young children
- can be hard to factor causation, sometimes people have hormones based on time of day etc
what are study designs
specific plan for conductings a study that allows the researcher to test a study hypothesis
what are the 6 types of study designs?
1) correlational studies
2) experiments
3) longitudinal studies
4) cross-sectional study
5) cohort sequential study
6) microgenetic design
what are correlational studies
test associations between two or more variables with no manipulation of variables
example of correlations study
finding a relationship between # of hours playing violent games and children’s aggressive behaviours
whats a confounding variable
a third variable that may relate to both dependents and independent variables
what are experiment sand what varibles does it include
a research method testing a hypothesis about a cause and effect relationship between two or more variables
a) independent variable – manipulated
b) dependent variable – measures
example: violent video games
whats a longitudal study
follows the same particpants over time
whats a cross sectional study
tests diff groups of participants at diff ages
whats a cohort sequential study
tests different groups of participants, but then follows them across time
microgenetic design
frequent assessments over a small period of time
How do you ensure scientific rigour and integrity
- by reliability, validity and replicability
- Ethical considerations
what are the two common types of reliability?
- Inter-rater reliability
- test-retest Reliability
whats inter rater reliabilty
the extent to which diff observers reach the same results
whats test retest reliability
participant receives same or similar score when testes at diff times and under similar conditions
what are the 4 diff types of validity?
- face validity
- concurrent validity
- predictive validity
- external validity
whats face validty
the purpose of the meausre is clear to people who look it over
what concurrent validity
reflects degree to which a measure corresponds to another measure that tests the same phenomenon at the same point in time
what is predictive validity
reflects the degree to which a measure predicts a criterion to be measured at a future point
what is external validity
refers to the extent to which a measure can be applied across diff settings or diff groups of people
what are 9 SRCD ethical principles
- confidentiality
- full disclosure no deception
- informed consent
- informing/debreifing participants
- mutual responsiilty
- non-harmful procedures
- anonymity
- clear agreement
- voluntary participation, righ to withdraw
