Unit 1: Goals, Theories and Methods Flashcards
describing development
A first goal of developmental psychology is to understand developmental changes across childhood, the nature of these changes (e.g., abrupt vs. slow), and variation in skills in children
E.g., What do infants look like. When do they start talking/walking. How do peer relationships look like to infants/children/adolescents.
quantitative change
gradual changes in the amount, frequency, or degree of behaviour
ex: fish gradually grow into their adult size
qualitative changes
a progression through a sequence of distinct changes in thoughts and actions
ex: frogs start as tadpoles then distinctly develop into frogs
developmental onset
the approximate age when skills emerge
rate of change
the course of change over time.
ex: some children show fast growth in the number of words in their vocabularies, whereas other children show solwer development
the form of skills
What do behaviors look like in children with diverse experiences?
E.g., In terms of counting, although people assume this skill to be universal, the Pirahã people appear to lack number concepts. Children from this culture never develop number concepts beyond small quantities.
developmental stability
can we predict future development based on present development
stability
whether children who are relatively low or high on a certain characteristic or behaviour at a particular point in time are also relatively low or high at other times
plasticity
the impressive capacity of humans to adapt to changing environments and experiences
Explaining Development
to identify factors that contribute to developmental change in children as a group and to individual differences
nature
a child’s biological endowment, or the genes inherited from parents
nurture
the range of environmental contexts and experiences that influence development
cascades
the idea that change of one kind can have positive or negative cascading effects, setting other kinds of changes in motion, both immediately and at later ages
E.g., children who have delays in verbal communication can struggle with emotional regulation as they can’t communicate their needs
cascades within time
Concurrent influences that occur across different domains and/or between the developing child and the child’s environment and experiences
Example: language skills emotional regulation
Example: infant’s temperament parental sensitivity
cascades over tine
Changes at one period in development result in changes at a later period in the same or a different domain
Example: Children who experience low-quality parenting early may experience academic problems later, as well as limits to future educational choices
applying developmental science
Developmental science has social and practical implications: Findings have implications for prevention and intervention programs, educational curricula, parenting supports, and local and national investments.
hypothesis driven research
Developmental researchers begin with a question involving a specific idea about what they expect to find
hypothesis
an assumption or proposed explanation
the scientific method
discovery based science
Science based on discovering and understanding what children do and what development looks like without presuppositions
E.g., Piaget’s constructivist theory of development by closely observing his own children and Bowlby’s theory of attachment by observing infant behavior when their parents leave
sample
participants in a study
generalizability
how do research findings from one sample extend to a population at large
The larger the sample, the greater the chance that findings are generalizable
convenience sampling
Recruiting participants in a study based on how easy it is to get them (e.g., students in a professor’s class)
Samples of convenience may bias findings and may differ significantly from the larger population
WEIRD
western
educated
industrialized
rich
demographic
