CFS 153 Unit 9
What are the advantages of the violation of expectations method?
It allows the scientist to control the environment and also allows them to observe very young infants that cannot speak
Why is training necessary for scientific observers?
Is necessary because it helps make sure that the scientist observe in the most reliable and objective way to make sure that the results are not tainted in any way
What advantages does structured observation have over naturalistic observation?
It is more time efficient and it allows for the variable of interest ro be isolated from many other variables that might have an effect on the outcome.
What the Baltimore Study cross-sectional, longitudinal, or a time-trend? How can you tell?
It was longitudinal because there was extensive meetings that spanned long periods of time
Why do scientists make literal recordings when possible?
Literal recordings can be viewed many times and by many different people and this can help make sure that the observations are reliable
What was the focus of observation in Ainsworth's Baltimore study?
interactions between the mother and baby (infant crying and maternal responsiveness to the cry, episodes of close bodily contact, face to face encounters, separation and reunion behaviors, and examples of infant cooperation or disobedience)
What are the two primary advantages of observational measures?
it is more objective than self-report & observational measures can be used when self-report measurement would be impossible because the subject lacks the cognitive capacity or language skills to provide a self-report.
What are the two main limitations of observational measures?
it is vulnerable to reactivity and observer bias & observations cannot provide information about people's internal state of mind.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of naturalistic observation?
The advantage of naturalistic observation is that it represents exactly what happens naturally. The primary disadvantage of naturalistic observation, however, is that it is not standardized, and so variables cannot be isolated.
What is the key factor to the establishment of secure attachment?
The sensitivity of main caregivers in terms of picking up and responding to children's cues
what is the primary advantage and the primary disadvantage of participant observation?
The subjectivity of participant observation is both its primary advantage and its primary limitation. It is an advantage because this observation is deeply contextualized. This is an advantage if the scientist's goal is to develop a nuanced understanding of a complex subjective phenomenon. However, this can be a limitation because it is inextricably connected to the subjectivity of the scientist.
What does Dr. Pronovost's research tell us about racial and ethnic stereotypes?
The way that people talk about social groups can profoundly impact the way children look and think about these groups
What are the disadvantages of the violation of expectations method?
There can be a higher rate of attrition due to parent involvement or child disinterest
How do ambivalent-resistently attached babies act during the reunions in the Strange Situation?
They did less initial exploration and were upset at separation but were difficult to sooth once the mothers came back in.
inter-rater reliability
When two coders assign the same codes to the target event, they achieve this which is consistency in codes between multiple coders. Observational measures generally require evidence that inter-rater reliability has been established on the research team as part of the effort to combat observer bias.
Naturalistic observation
an observational measure in which the scientist directly observe behavior of the subject in a natural environment with no efforts to shape that environment or elicit specific behaviors.
Participant observation
an observational strategy in which the scientist becomes a member of a social group in order to observe the behavior of the group from a somewhat subjective position. This method is used when the focus of the observation is broad and is deeply culturally embedded.
At what age do babies start to recognize themselves in the mirror?
at about 18 months
Structured observation
observation of behavior in an environment that has been shaped by the scientist so as to elicit specific behavior.
How is structured observation different from naturalistic observation?
structured observations do allow for variables to be isolated and for an environment that has been shaped by the scientist
What motivates a subject to display reactivity during observation?
the awareness of being observed
What, essentially, are the codes used to analyze observations?
the codes are what get reported as the results of the study.
Strange Situation
procedure used to measure attachment relationships in late infancy. Strange Situation procedures are conducted in a laboratory setting and are tightly controlled to be nearly identical for all subjects. The procedure is highly structured, with eight distinct episodes, all of which are subject to strict time limits.
How does the violation of expectations method provide insight into what an infant is thinking?
provides insight into what pre-verbal infants think should be happening, and so it offers insight into their cognitive processes.
The Marshmallow Test is a structured observation designed to measure what?
A children's ability to react to impulsivity and to wait in order to gain a better reward
What did Ainsworth learn about how the mother's response to crying relates to future crying for and other outcomes?
Ainsworth found that mothers who responded quickly and with the emotion to the crying of their children before the age of six months, had children that cried significantly less by the time they were 1, and they were more compliant and reached cognitive milestones much sooner.
violation-of-expectations method
Another classic example of structured observation in which very young children (usually pre-verbal infants) are shown a visual stimulus and scientists measure how long they look at the stimulus. When the stimulus violates their expectation, they look longer at the unexpected thing.
What did Dr. Pronovost learn about how children learn about social groups?
Children learn about social groups very rapidly
What are the major events in the structured observation of the Strange Situation?
EXPLORATION, SEPERATION, REUNION
What are two strategies scientists use to reduce reactivity in observational research?
For naturalistic observations, The subject must simply have a chance to acclimate to the observation, and then their behavior returns to normal. For structured observations, reduce the obtrusiveness of the observation.
Using a violation-of-expectations design, what can we conclude about object permanence in very young infants?
A child even as young as two months can understand that an object can exist even if it's not within their visual perimeter
Running records / field notes
The observing scientist writes down his or her observations, noting bits that seem relevant to the research question. Scientists have to be trained to make notes like this, trained to observe behaviors without inferences, trained to zero in on clues that are pertinent to the issue at hand, and trained to notice their own personal feelings that the scene triggers
ecologically valid
advantage of naturalistic observation that represents exactly what happens naturally. It is not contrived at all.
How is naturalistic observation different from participant observation?
nothing is done to change it. Only natural behaviors are observed while in participant observations the scientist becomes a member of a social group in order to observe the behavior of the group
blind the observer
to make the observer unaware of the subject's status in the study. If the observer is unaware of other information about the subject, then the tendency for he or she to "see" only what is expected is diminished, because the observer will not know what to expect
What is a strength and a limitation of structured observations?
Their primary advantage is that they are administered in a totally standardized fashion. The disadvantage is that the observation is often not natural at all. What happens in the observation might not tell us anything meaningful about the lived experience of the child being studied.
How do securely attached babies act during the reunions in the Strange Situation observation?
They tended to go to their mother to be picked up and were soothed quickly. They then went on to explore some more.
How do avoidantly attached babies act during the reunions in the Strange Situation?
They were not as upset at separation and were slow to initiate contact at reunion.
How do disorganized babies act during the reunions in the Strange Situation?
They were utterly overwhelmed by the experience. They were not able to make organized responses to the experience
Why are observational methods used very often when studying children?
This technique is often used because children are not always capable of self reporting behaviors due to limitations cognitively and language skills
How did Ainsworth keep a record of observations in the Baltimore study?
she took field notes/running records
What are the three strategies that scientists use to reduce observer bias in observational research?
1. The first is that coding standards must be explicit. This means that the coding standards must be clear, and furthermore, it means that training of coders is an essential part of the process. 2. The second strategy is that observational measurement typically uses multiple coders. There is typically a process whereby more than one coder evaluates the same observation and the two compare results for consistency. 3. The third strategy used to reduce observer bias is to blind the observer, to make the observer unaware of the subject's status in the study.
Coding
A behavior, enacted and observed in time and space, needs to be reduced to its component parts for meaningful analysis. This is the process of coding an observation. Codes are, essentially, operational definitions of the behavior of interest. Sometimes, the coding is quantitative.
Visual cliff studies find that new crawlers do what at the edge of a visual cliff? What about more experienced crawlers?
New crawlers will walk right over the edge of the visual cliff but more experienced crawlers refuse to cross the visual cliff
Karen Adolph doesn't think babies are afraid of heights. How does she explain the results of visual cliff experiments?
She believes that babies are simply trying to explore their environments and the connections between what they're around and what their bodies are capable of doing.
What did Ainsworth learn from her Uganda study, a study that utilized naturalistic observation?
She was able to identify a number of attachment behaviors, She discovered that during the first year children go through a number of phases of development of attachment, she also began to understand how parents will behaviors can affect whether a child has a secure, anxious, or insecure attachment
Why is reactivity a problem for observational research?
The subject reacts to the observation itself, and so the behavior of interest is altered meaningfully.
In the violation of expectations method, what does "looking time" tell us about what the baby is thinking?
The longer a child looks at something the more unexpected what the child is looking at is. In other words, a child looks at things that they don't understand to get a better understanding
Literal recording
When possible, conversations are audio-taped and transcribed into a written transcript. Behaviors are filmed. Physical state is documented through photographs.
Hawthorn Effect
a change in behavior that is the product of simply being observed.
Observer bias
a general name for various distortions of data that can occur as a result of the scientist's subjectivity.
Reactivity
the change of behavior that comes from a subject being aware that he or she is being observed. The subject reacts to the observation itself, and so the behavior of interest is altered meaningfully. This is a big risk.
