Lecture 1 - Introduction

Question 1

What is the narrow conception of development?

Answer 1

Development is sequential, unidirectional, has an end state, irreversible, qualitative, independent of culture (biological growth), universal

Question 2

What is the difference between the narrow conception and the extended conception of development?

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

What is the definition of developmental psychology?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

What is the aim of developmental psychology?

Answer 4

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

Question 5

What does developmental psychology focus on?

Answer 5

Normative development (everyone has in common) + individual differences

Question 6

What do we do when we study normative development?

Answer 6

When studying normative development, we link important changes to a certain age

Question 7

Why do changes only correlate with age?

Answer 7

Biological age is never responsible for changes, and thus does not explain changes

Question 8

What is the difference between variability and change?

Answer 8

Variability = short-term changes that can be reversible
Change = enduring
Variability can predict change

Question 9

What is a cross-sectional design?

Answer 9

Investigate individuals of different ages at one point in time. Measure differences

Question 10

What is a longitudinal design?

Answer 10

Same individual across different points in time. Measure change

Question 11

What is a cohort?

Answer 11

Any group that shares having experienced the same cultural environment and historical events (e.g., same year of birth)

Question 12

What is a cohort effect?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Why are cohort effects a problem for cross-sectional studies?

Answer 13

Age effects confound with cohort effects, no info on individual trajectories, limited generalizability to other times of measurement

Question 14

What are the advantages and disadvantages of cross-sectional designs?

Answer 14

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

Question 15

What are the advantages and disadvantages of longitudinal designs?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Why should we combine cross-sectional and longitudinal designs?

Answer 16

Cohort comparison, cross-sectional comparison, longitudinal comparison

Question 17

What are the research challenges we may encounter?

Answer 17

Differences between age groups in: 
Speech reception and production 
Sensomotoricabilities 
Suggestibility 
Attention span/Fatigue 
Subjective meaning of concepts  
Proportion of undiagnosed clinical impairment

Question 18

What should be done against these challenges?

Answer 18

Adjust methods to abilities of individual

Question 19

What are habituation and dishabituation?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

How to measure a response by an infant?

Answer 20

Sucking preference
Head turn preference
Paired visual preference

Question 21

What are age stereotype threats of aging research?

Answer 21

Memory and reading ability

Question 22

What are the principles of developmental psychology?

Answer 22

Development is... 
Lifelong 
Multidimensional and multidisciplinary 
Multidirectional 
Gains and losses 
Plastic 
Embedded in history 
Contextualized

Question 23

Why is development multidirectional?

Answer 23

Development is not a universal process leading in one direction (more “mature” functioning) > Different capacities show different patterns of change over time

Question 24

Explain the gain-loss dynamic of development.

Answer 24

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)

Question 25

Explain the historical embeddedness of development.

Answer 25

Course of age-related development is strongly shaped by the prevailing socio-cultural conditions of a historical period → cohort effects

Question 26

What are the 3 assumptions of cultural and biological factors in life development?

Answer 26

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.