Lecture 1 - Introduction Flashcards
What is the narrow conception of development?
Development is sequential, unidirectional, has an end state, irreversible, qualitative, independent of culture (biological growth), universal
What is the difference between the narrow conception and the extended conception of development?
According to the extended conception, development is not necessarily based on stages, doesn’t always have an end sate with a higher value, it’s qualitative and quantitative, interindividual different, affected by culture and biology, plastic.
What is the definition of developmental psychology?
Developmental psychology deals with behavioral changes within persons across the entire lifespan, and with differences between and similarities among people in the nature of these changes
What is the aim of developmental psychology?
Its aim is to describe these intraindividual changes and interindividual differences + explain how they come about + find ways to modify them in an optimum way
What does developmental psychology focus on?
Normative development (everyone has in common) + individual differences
What do we do when we study normative development?
When studying normative development, we link important changes to a certain age
Why do changes only correlate with age?
Biological age is never responsible for changes, and thus does not explain changes
What is the difference between variability and change?
Variability = short-term changes that can be reversible
Change = enduring
Variability can predict change
What is a cross-sectional design?
Investigate individuals of different ages at one point in time. Measure differences
What is a longitudinal design?
Same individual across different points in time. Measure change
What is a cohort?
Any group that shares having experienced the same cultural environment and historical events (e.g., same year of birth)
What is a cohort effect?
Differences in developmentally relevant variables that arise from (non-age-related) factors to which each birth cohort is exposed > observed results caused by cohort characteristics
Why are cohort effects a problem for cross-sectional studies?
Age effects confound with cohort effects, no info on individual trajectories, limited generalizability to other times of measurement
What are the advantages and disadvantages of cross-sectional designs?
Advantages: economic in time, cheap, shows similarities/differences between age groups
Disadvantages: age effects confound with cohort effects, no info on individual trajectories, limited generalizability to other times of measurement
What are the advantages and disadvantages of longitudinal designs?
Advantages: true assessment of intraindividual change, assessment of stability and change of developmental characteristics
Disadvantages: age effects confounded with time-of-measurement effects / retest effects / attrition effects, limited generalizability to other cohorts, long duration, high cost
Why should we combine cross-sectional and longitudinal designs?
Cohort comparison, cross-sectional comparison, longitudinal comparison
What are the research challenges we may encounter?
Differences between age groups in: Speech reception and production Sensomotoricabilities Suggestibility Attention span/Fatigue Subjective meaning of concepts Proportion of undiagnosed clinical impairment
What should be done against these challenges?
Adjust methods to abilities of individual
What are habituation and dishabituation?
Habituation - slow, changed, or stopped response to repeated presentation of the same stimulus
Dishabituation - increase in responding to a new stimulus or habituated stimulus after introducing a deviant
How to measure a response by an infant?
Sucking preference
Head turn preference
Paired visual preference
What are age stereotype threats of aging research?
Memory and reading ability
What are the principles of developmental psychology?
Development is... Lifelong Multidimensional and multidisciplinary Multidirectional Gains and losses Plastic Embedded in history Contextualized
Why is development multidirectional?
Development is not a universal process leading in one direction (more “mature” functioning) > Different capacities show different patterns of change over time
Explain the gain-loss dynamic of development.
Changes across the lifespan, leading to age-related changes in resource allocation to growth, maintenance, and loss regulation.
Development always consists of the joint occurrence of gain (growth) and loss (decline)
Explain the historical embeddedness of development.
Course of age-related development is strongly shaped by the prevailing socio-cultural conditions of a historical period → cohort effects
What are the 3 assumptions of cultural and biological factors in life development?
Biological plasticity decreases with age
More cultures to extend stages of life
Efficacy of culture decreases with age
> More biologically-based performance and functions change differently across the lifespan than more culturally-based performance or functions.
