week 1

Question 1

name: key themes (3)

Answer 1

1. continuity - is development cont’d or discont’d
2. nature vs nurture - do genes or envrt dictate dev.
3. active child - children themselves influence their dev.

Question 2

explain: galton and nativism

Answer 2

• believed intelligence was entirely hereditary
• forced sterilization of “unfit”
• selectively breed humans
• eugenics

Question 3

explain: watson, skinner, and empiricism

Answer 3

• believed only envrt. shaped dev.
• behaviorist principles
  ⤷ conditioning
  ⤷ rewards and punishments
• nothing is predetermined, everything can be shaped

Question 4

name: major theories

Answer 4

1. biological perspective
   ⤷ dev. dep. on biology
2. psychodynamic perspective
   ⤷ dev. driven by social challenges
   ⤷ freud and erikson
3. learning perspective
   ⤷ classical/operant conditioning, rewards/punishments
   ⤷ beha. driven by paired assoc. of stim. and resp.
4. cognitive perspective
   ⤷ info. processing + intellectual capacity
5. contextual perspective
   ⤷ dev. driven by interactions and context
   ⤷ vygotsky

Question 5

name: steps of scientific method

Answer 5

1. observation
2. form hypo.
3. test hypo.
4. gather data
5. draw and conclusion (interpret data)

**if unsure about conclusion step, repeat/gather more data

Question 6

question: what questions do we need to keep in mind about critical thinking?

Answer 6

• is observation unbiased?
• does hypo. let us learn what we want?
• is data collected in unbiased way?
• does evi. support conclusion?

Question 7

name: types of observations (2)

Answer 7

1. naturalistic
   ⤷ in child’s natural envrt.
2. structured
   ⤷ lab setting

Question 8

question: pros and cons of naturalistic observations?

Answer 8

PROS
- provides insight into beha. in child’s natural context
⤷ bc don’t always act the same at diff. places

CONS
- can’t guarantee variable of interest will happen
- presence of researcher can impact beha.

Question 9

question: cons of structed observations?

Answer 9

PROS
- can evaluate specific variable of interest

CONS
- not in usual context

Question 10

describe: emoter + baby exp.

Answer 10

• baby shown how to use toys
• baby mimics adult
• emoter comes and is confrontational to teaching adult in front of baby
• baby no longer mimics adult

RESULT:
- shows baby is not part of interaction but still reacts
- context matters

Question 11

define: correlational studies

Answer 11

• evaluate relations between2+ naturally existing var.

Question 12

question: what does an r of 1, 0, and -1 mean?

Answer 12

1 = strong +ive correlation
0 = no correlation
-1 = strong -ive correlation

Question 13

define: longitudinal design

Answer 13

• measure beha. of same indiv. at diff. ages

Question 14

define: cross-sectional design

Answer 14

• measure beha. of diff. indiv. at diff. ages

Question 15

question: pros and cons of longitudinal design?

Answer 15

PROS
- variables are unique to each indiv. and stay consistent across all measurements

CONS
- practice effects
- selective attrition
- cohort effect

Question 16

question: pros and cons of cross-sectional design?

Answer 16

PROS
- efficient (time and money)
- if sample = large, indiv. differences would cancel each other out

CONS
- lack of continuity in sample
⤷ diff. age and diff. indiv.
- cohort effect

Question 17

define: cohort effect

Answer 17

• variation in charac. over time among a group of ppl who share a common experience
• ex. age group

Question 18

define: selective attrition

Answer 18

• tendency of some participants to drop of studies

Question 19

question: is longitudinal or cross-sectional design better?

Answer 19

• both = longitudinal sequential design
• diff. groups of children tested longitudinally at diff. ages
• has continuity
• less prone of selective attrition and cohort effects

Question 20

question: which design addresses individual differences?

Answer 20

• only longitudinal design