Unit 1 Flashcards
developmental psychology
The study of change and stability throughout the lifespan.
What are the 2 major goals for developmental psychology?
- to better understand human nature
- to improve the lives of children and their families
prenatal
conception to birth
infancy
birth - 3 years
early childhood
3 - 6 years
middle childhood
6 - 11 years
adolescence
11 - 18/19
early/maturing adulthood
19/20 - 25
adulthood
25 years +
What are the 3 main areas of development
- physical
- social and emotional
- cognitive
What did Plato believe in relation to the nature vs nurture debate?
Argued that at birth our body “traps the mind” and that knowledge is already determined at birth
What did Aristotle believe in relation to the nature vs nurture debate?
Stressed the importance of experience, argued that development occurs due to the experiences we go through
What did Locke believe in relation to the nature vs nurture debate?
Argued that humans are born a “blank-slate” and that experiences shape our story, beliefs and feelings
What did Rousseau believe in relation to the nature vs nurture debate?
Argued that even at birth, we have a sense of right and wrong and that we develop according to a “plan”
Nature
biological endowment/our genes
nurture
physical and social environment
What is the current view on the nature vs nurture debate?
Both interplay with each other to influence development - epigenetics
Developmental change occurs 2 ways
continuously (gradually) and/or discontinuously (through different stages) – the stage theories of development are discontinuous.
3 mechanisms for developmental change?
- biological processes
- experiences
- timing of experiences
4 ways of gathering data
- self/other reports
- naturalistic observation
- structured observation
- physiological measures
self/other report
surveys, questionnaires, interviews, standardized tests
Naturalistic observation
Observing behaviour of interest in its natural setting. 2 measures that are often employed are time sampling and event sampling.
time sampling
When researchers record all behaviours during predetermined time period (i.e., recording behaviour every 5 minutes)
event sampling
When researchers record particular behaviours every time the event of interest occurs but do not record other unnecessary behaviours.
structured observation
Research sets up a situation to evoke the behaviour of interest.
physiological measures
heart rate, blood pressure, pupil dilation, use of neuro-imaging
EEG/ERP
measure the electrical activity in the brain
MRI/fMRI
Measures blood flow in the brain using magnetic fields
NIRS
measures blood flow in the brain using shinning lights
What are some key advantages of self/other reposts
- can probe inner experiences, motivations and emotions
- easy to administer
What are some key advantages of naturalistic observation
- reflect real-world behaviour
- can be affordable
Structured observation
- Useful for rare behaviour
- same situation for everyone - more control/equivalence
physiological measures
- access biological underpinnings
- does not require language/behaviour
reliability
consistency, repeatability of measures
validity
measures what the researcher things it’s measuring (accuracy). Are we getting at what we want to get at?
Internal validity
whether conditions internal to the design of the study allow for accurate measurements
external validity
whether the findings generalize beyond the study/original assessment
correlational designs
examine the relationship between variables (i.e., relationship between diet and aggressive behaviour)
correlation coefficients
measures the association between 2 variables (direction - either positive or negative, strength - 0 to +/- 1)
experimental designs
Are able to examine and determine cause-effect relationships. researchers manipulate the IV to try and elicit a response in the DV.
longitudinal designs
When some participants are measured repeatedly across time and at different ages takes a long time and a lot of money
cross-sectional designs
Use different groups of participants at different ages but measured at the same time different behaviours across different ages
sequential designs
control for the difficulties with cross-sectional and longitudinal designs by following multiple samples of different ages over time rare, time consuming and expensive
Microgenetic designs
Track development over a short period of time, over closely spaced sessions. Generally used to look at training effects or the learning of a skill (i.e., researchers would observe the skill every week/5 days a week etc)
What are 4 individual differences observed across development?
- genetic differences
- different experiences/environments
- different responses to experiences/environments
- different choices of experiences/environments
Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model
Looks at how much context matters to development. Every individual is influenced by factors within different layers of society (microsystems, mesosystems, exosystems, macrosystems)
Name disadvantages of naturalistic observation
- hard to observe rare behaviour
- provides little insight into why behaviour occurs
- difficult to control
- observer bias
name disadvantages of structured observation
- not natural behaviours
- provides little information about inner experiences
- observer bias
- a scary environment for children (might be unwilling to participate)
- ethical concerns (instilling fear in children)
name disadvantages of self/other reports
- cannot guarantee accuracy
- may be biassed responses
- younger children are unable to fill out questionnaires
- children might be shy
- children tend to have memory difficulties and can be easily influenced.
name disadvantages of physiological measures
- can be expensive
- can be hard to interpret results
- child might have a hard time staying still
- machines can be loud and scary
- only participants are kids who are willing to participate (generalizable?)
Name challenges that may occur in researching development (challenge of the “population”)
- ethics (avoiding physical or psychological harm)
- cooperation (children may be unwilling to participate)
- selection (kids who are willing or whose parents signed them up - might affect the generalizability of results)
Name challenges that may occur in researching development (challenges in studying “changes with age”)
- measure equivalence (measures recorded need to be equivalent across ages)
- understanding what causes change (controlling for possible confounding variables/moderating variables)