Developmental Psychology - Ch.1 - Understanding Human Development: Approaches and Theories

Five Ethical Principles

(1) beneficence and nonmaleficence, (2) responsibility, (3) integrity, (4) justice, and (5) respect for autonomy

open-ended interview

A research method in which a researcher asks a participant questions using a flexible, conversational style and may vary the order of questions, probe, and ask follow-up questions based on the participant's responses. Open-ended interviews permit participants to explain their thoughts thoroughly and in their own way. However, the flexibility of open-ended interviews poses a challenge: When questions are phrased differently for each person, responses may not capture real differences in how people think about a given topic and instead may reflect differences in how the questions were posed and followed up by the interviewer.

Research in Human Development

By conducting multiple studies over time, developmental scientists refine their theories about lifespan human development and determine new questions to ask. Developmental science also finds significant influences in contexts.

Cognitive-developmental theory

Cognitive-developmental theory and information processing theorists view cognition—thought—as essential in understanding people's functioning across the lifespan.

cross-cultural research

Early studies of culture and human development took the form of cross-cultural research, comparing individuals and groups from different cultures to examine how these universal processes worked in different contexts.

self-report measures

Interviews and questionnaires are known as self-report measures because the person under study answers questions about his or her experiences, attitudes, opinions, beliefs, and behavior.

1.1. Outline five principles of the lifespan developmental perspective.

Lifespan human development can be described by several principles. As discussed in the following sections, development is (1) multidimensional, (2) multidirectional, (3) plastic, (4) influenced by multiple contexts, and (5) multidisciplinary.

Responsibility

Scientists act responsibly by adhering to professional standards of conduct, clarifying their obligations and roles to others, and avoiding conflicts of interest. In this way, scientists recognize that they are responsible to people, communities, and society.

Development Is Multidisciplinary

The contributions of many disciplines are needed to understand how people grow, think, and interact with their world. Developmental psychologists must combine insights from the disciplines of medicine, psychology, and neuroscience.

Behaviorists

Theorists who study behaviorism examine only behavior that can be observed and believe that all behavior is influenced by the physical and social environment. For example, John Watson (1925) was an early founder of behaviorism.

Beneficence and Nonmaleficence

To do good and not to do harm - Researchers must protect and help the individuals, families, and communities with which they work • Maximize the benefits • Minimize the potential harms

discontinuous

characterized by abrupt change

Developmental Research Designs

cross-sectional, longitudinal, sequential

Ethical Issues in Research

ethics—the determination of right and wrong

cognitive theorists

examine the role of thought on behavior.

hypotheses

or proposed explanations for a given phenomenon, that can be tested by research. This testing seeks to find flaws in the hypothesis—not to "prove" that it is flawless.

dependent variable

the behavior under study

Developmental scientists' explanations of how people grow and change over their lives are influenced by their perspectives on three basic issues, or fundamental questions, about human development:

1. Do people remain largely the same over time or do they change dramatically? 2. What role do people play in their own development—how much are they influenced by their surroundings, and how much do they influence their surroundings? 3. To what extent is development a function of inborn genetic endowments, as compared with the environment in which individuals live?

applied developmental science

A field that studies lifespan interactions between individuals and the contexts in which they live and applies research findings to real-world settings, such as to influence social policy and create interventions. studying individuals within the contexts in which they live. This approach promotes the ability to understand the diverse range of patterns development takes throughout the life course.

The Scientific Method

A series of steps followed to solve problems including collecting data, formulating a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis, and stating conclusions. 1. Identify the research question or problem to be studied, and formulate the hypothesis, or proposed explanation, to be tested. 2. Gather information to address the research question. 3. Use statistical analysis to summarize the information gathered, and determine whether the hypothesis is refuted, or shown to be false. 4. Interpret the summarized information, consider the findings in light of prior research studies, and share findings with the scientific community and the world at large.

Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura (1925-) agreed that the physical and social environments are important, but he also advocated for the role of thought and emotion as contributors to development. According to Bandura's social learning theory, people actively process information—they think and they feel emotion—and their thoughts and feelings influence their behavior. The physical and social environment influences our behavior through their influence on our thoughts and emotions. For example, the teenager who breaks his curfew and is met by worried parents may experience remorse, feeling bad about his actions, which may then make him less likely to come home late in the future. In this way, our thoughts and emotions about the consequences of our behavior influence our future behavior. We do not need to experience punishment or reinforcement in order to change our behavior (Bandura, 2001). We can learn by thinking about the potential consequences of our actions.

assent

Although children cannot provide informed consent, researchers respect their growing capacities for decision making in ways that are appropriate to their age by seeking assent, children's agreement to participate. With increasing cognitive and social development, children are better able to understand the nature of science and engage meaningfully in decisions about research participation (providing counseling information to adolescents whose parents have divorced). seeking assent helps children learn how to make decisions and participate in decision making as they are able. Assent provides minors with opportunities to gain decision-making experience within safe contexts.

Experimental Research

An experiment is a procedure that uses control to determine causal relationships among variables or factors. Specifically, one or more variables thought to influence a behavior of interest are varied while other variables are held constant. By doing so, researchers can examine how the changing variable influences the behavior under study. If the behavior changes as the variable changes, scientists can conclude that the variable caused the change in the behavior. only through experimental research are scientists able to determine the causes for behavior Let us take a closer look at the components of an experiment. Conducting an experiment requires choosing at least one dependent variable, the behavior under study (e.g., hitting and throwing), and one independent variable, the factor proposed to change the behavior under study (e.g., type of cartoon). The independent variable is manipulated or varied systematically by the researcher during the experiment (e.g., varied between many aggressive acts or few aggressive acts). The dependent variable is expected to change as a result of varying the independent variable, and how it changes is thought to depend on how the independent variable is manipulated. In an experiment, the independent variable is administered to one or more experimental groups, or test groups whose experiences are manipulated by varying the independent variable. The control group is treated in every way like the experimental group but does not receive the independent variable in order to compare the effect of the manipulation. Random assignment, whereby each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to the experimental or control group, is essential for ensuring that the groups are equal in all preexisting characteristics (such as age, ethnicity, and gender). Random assignment makes it less likely that any observed differences in the outcomes of the experimental and control groups are not due to preexisting differences between the groups.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

As the first scientist to systematically examine children's thinking and reasoning, Swiss scholar Jean Piaget (1896-1980) believed that in order to understand children we must understand how they think because thinking influences all of behavior. He believed that children's drive to explore and understand the world around them propels them through four stages of cognitive development.

Operant Conditioning

B. F. Skinner's (1905-1990) theory of operant conditioning: Behavior becomes more or less probable depending on its consequences. According to Skinner, a behavior followed by a rewarding or pleasant outcome, called reinforcement, will be more likely to recur, but one followed by an aversive or unpleasant outcome, called punishment, will be less likely to recur. Operant conditioning is a very important concept because it explains much of human behavior, including how we learn skills and habits.

Methods of Data Collection

Data collection methods are summarized in Table 1.6.

Sometimes, ethical issues arise in conducting a research study.

For example, suppose that during the course of research a researcher learns that a participant is in jeopardy, whether engaging in health-compromising behaviors (such as cigarette smoking, unsafe driving, or exhibiting unhealthy behavior), contemplating suicide, or engaging in illegal or harmful activities (such as drug addiction, theft, or violence). Is a researcher responsible for helping the participant? Current ethical guidelines offer incomplete answers to questions of researchers' responsibilities to help participants in such situations. The SRCD (2007) code of ethics suggests that researchers must help children in jeopardy by discussing the information with parents and guardians or with experts who may offer insight. Moreover, researchers may be faced with a conflict if they believe that helping the participant and dropping him or her from the research study may compromise the scientific integrity of the research, which may be especially likely if many participants are dropped. Fortunately, serious ethical issues do not arise in most studies, but scientists should remain vigilant so that problems can be addressed should they arise.

Freud's Psychosexual Theory

Freud believed we progress through a series of psychosexual stages, periods in which unconscious drives are focused on different parts of the body, making stimulation to those parts a source of pleasure. How parents direct and gratify their children's basic drives influences their personality development. Freud explained that the task for parents is to strike a balance between over- and under-gratifying a child's needs at each stage in order to help the child develop a healthy personality with the capacity for mature relationships throughout life. Freud made many contributions to psychology, psychiatry, and Western thought. Many of his insights have stood up well to the test of time, but not his Psychosexual Theory - one reason being that it cannot be directly tested. Also, Freud did not study children; his theory grew from his work with female psychotherapy patients. Because of its heavy emphasis on infant sexuality, Freud's psychosexual stage framework, and especially the phallic stage, is not widely accepted.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

In the United States and most other developed countries, the conduct of research is a regulated activity. Each college, university, hospital, and organization that conducts research has an institutional review board (IRB) that examines all plans for conducting a study before it can begin. Before a study can be conducted, the IRB examines the proposed research study in light of professional ethical codes as well as those articulated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2009). Do the study's benefits for advancing knowledge and improving conditions of life outweigh the potential costs in terms of time, money, and possible harm on the part of participants? IRBs act to protect participants by ensuring that the study has scientific merit and that risks of participating in research do not outweigh the potential benefits.

Development is multidimensional

It entails changes in many areas of development, including the physical, the cognitive, and the psychosocial. Each of these areas of development overlap and interact.

Development is Plastic

It is malleable or changeable; has capacity for change; allows people to modify their traits and capacities throughout life.

Albert Bandura's observational learning

One of Bandura's most enduring ideas about development is that people learn through observing and imitating models. People learn by watching others. This finding suggests that children who observe violence rewarded, such as a child successfully grabbing another child's toy, may imitate what they see and use aggressive means to take other children's toys. People also learn by observing the consequences of others' actions. A child observer might be less likely to imitate a child who takes another child's toy if the aggressor is scolded by a teacher and placed in time out. Observational learning, learning by watching and imitating others around us, is one of the most powerful ways in which we learn.

Piaget's Cognitive-Developmental Theory

Piaget founded the cognitive-developmental perspective on child development, which views children and adults as active explorers of their world, learning by interacting with the world around them, and organizing what they learn into cognitive schemas—or concepts, ideas, and ways of interacting on the world. In this way, people contribute to their own cognitive development because they are biologically driven to interact with others and through these interactions they construct and refine their own cognitive schemas. Piaget proposed that children's drive to explore and understand the world propels them through four stages of cognitive development. With each advancing stage, people create and use more sophisticated cognitive schemas so that they think, reason, and understand their world in more complex ways. Individuals move from understanding the world through their senses and motor skills, to a thought-based understanding, to viewing the world in logical but concrete terms, to viewing it in complex and abstract forms. Each stage corresponds to a different period in life. Piaget's cognitive-developmental theory transformed the field of developmental psychology and remains one of the most widely cited developmental theories. It was the first to consider how infants and children think and to view people as active contributors to their development. Considered to be a discontinuous stage-like process.

In summary, there are many theories of human development that offer complementary and contrasting views of how individuals change over our lifetimes.

Psychoanalytic theories emphasize personality change—how unconscious forces shape people (Freud) and how sociocultural forces influence ego development (Erikson). Behaviorist and social learning theories point to the physical and social environment as a shaper of development and behavior, as well as the role of observation and imitation in learning. Other theories emphasize cognitive development. Piaget's cognitive-developmental theory explains how individuals construct their own knowledge structures through interaction with the world whereas Vygotsky emphasizes the role of sociocultural context in influencing thought. Information processing theories examine the ways in which attention, processing speed, and strategy lead to advances in thinking and problem-solving ability. Finally, Bronfenbrenner's bioecological theory takes a comprehensive look at the many contextual systems in which people live and how people and their contexts interact. Table 1.5 provides an at-a-glance comparison of theories of human development.

Random assignment

Random assignment, whereby each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to the experimental or control group, is essential for ensuring that the groups are equal in all preexisting characteristics (such as age, ethnicity, and gender). Random assignment makes it less likely that any observed differences in the outcomes of the experimental and control groups are not due to preexisting differences between the groups.

Responsibilities to Society

Researchers are responsible not only to their participants but to society at large. In reporting results, researchers should be mindful of the social and political implications of their work. Researchers must consider how their findings will be portrayed in the media and attempt to foresee ways in which their results may be misinterpreted. This is a difficult task, but it is very important for researchers to be prepared to address questions raised as well as correct misinterpretations of research.

Lev Vygotsky Sociocultural Theory (1896-1934)

Russian scholar who offered a different perspective on development that emphasized the importance of culture in development. Vygotsky 's (1978) sociocultural theory examines how culture is transmitted from one generation to the next through social interaction. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory holds important implications for understanding cognitive development. Like Piaget, Vygotsky emphasized that children are active in their development by engaging with the world around them. Vygotsky, however, also viewed cognitive development as a social process that relies on interactions with adults, more mature peers, and other members of society. Children engage their social world, and the social world shapes development by transmitting culturally relevant ways of thinking and acting. In other words, Vygotsky emphasizes the role of the sociocultural context in influencing cognitive development. He argued that acquiring language is a particularly important milestone for children because it enables them to think in new ways and have more sophisticated dialogues with others in their culture, advancing their learning about culturally valued perspectives and activities. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory is an important addition to the field of lifespan human development because it is the first theory to emphasize the role of the cultural context in influencing people's development throughout life.

Respect for Autonomy

Scientists have a special obligation to respect participants' autonomy—the ability to make and implement decisions. Scientists show respect for the individuals and families with whom they work by providing them with information about the research study, answering questions, helping them to make their own decisions about whether to participate in the study, and accepting their decisions. Respecting people's autonomy also means protecting those who are not capable of making judgments and asserting themselves. For example, some adults, such as those who have suffered traumatic brain injuries, may be unable to make and carry out decisions about whether to participate in research because of cognitive and social deficits. Scientists who work with patients who may be unable to make such judgments must carefully assess each patient's capacity and devise ways of protecting those who are not competent, such as by approaching the individual who is responsible for making legal decisions on the part of the patient.

Sociocultural Systems Theory

Sociocultural systems theories emphasize the role of the sociocultural context in development. The origins of sociocultural systems theory lie with two theorists, Lev Vygotsky and Urie Bronfenbrenner.

Self-report measure challenges

Sometimes people give socially desirable answers, meaning that they respond in ways they would like themselves to be perceived or believe researchers desire. Self-report data may not always reflect people's true attitudes and behavior. Some argue that we are not always fully aware of our feelings and therefore cannot always provide useful insight into our own thoughts and behavior with the use of self-report measures

Responsibilities to Participants

Sometimes researchers' desires to answer questions, learn, and solve problems by conducting research conflict with the need to protect participants in the research. How should the scientist balance his or her research needs with the needs of participants? Scientists work to balance the benefits of research against the possible harm that can occur to participants—the mental, emotional, and physical risks.

Integrity

The principle of integrity requires that scientists be accurate, honest, and truthful in their work and make every effort to keep their promises to the people and communities with which they work.

Justice

The principle of justice means that the benefits and risks of participation in research must be spread equitably across individuals and groups. Scientists must take care to ensure that all people have access to and benefit from the contributions of research.

cultural research

There is a growing trend favoring cultural research, which examines how culture itself influences development, over cross-cultural research, which simply examines differences across cultures. From a cultural research perspective, culture influences our development because it contributes to the context in which we are embedded, transmitting values, attitudes, and beliefs that shape our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors. The shift toward cultural research permits the examination of the multiple cultures that exist within a society. For example, American culture is not homogenous; many subcultures exist, defined by factors such as ethnicity (e.g., African American, Asian American), religion (e.g., Christian, Muslim), geography (e.g., southern, midwestern), and others, as well as combinations of these factors. Instead of looking for universal similarities in development, cultural research in human development aims to document diversity and understand how the historical and cultural context in which we live influences development throughout our lifetime.

Individuals Are Active in Development

To say that individuals are active in their development means that they interact with and influence the world around them, create the experiences that lead to developmental change, and thereby influence how they change over the lifespan. Alternatively, if individuals take a passive role in their development, they are shaped by, but do not influence, the world around them. The prevailing view among developmental scientists is that people are active contributors to their own development. By engaging the world around them; thinking; being curious; and interacting with people, objects, and the world around them, individuals of all ages are "manufacturers of their own development", meaning that they take an active role in shaping who they become and how they change during their lifetimes.

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

a Russian physiologist, discovered classical conditioning when he noticed that dogs naturally salivate when they taste food, but they also salivate in response to various sights and sounds that occur before they taste food, such as their bowl clattering or their owner opening the food cupboard, or a tone like in Pavlov's tests.

Information Processing Theory

a perspective that views thinking as information processing and posits that the mind works in ways similar to a computer because information enters, is manipulated, stored, recalled, and used to solve problems. Unlike the theories we have discussed thus far, information processing theory is not one theory that is attributed to an individual theorist. Instead, there are many information processing theories, and each emphasizes a different aspect of thinking. Some theories focus on how people perceive, focus on, and take in information. Others examine how people store information, create memories, and remember information. Still others examine problem solving—how people approach and solve problems in school, the workplace, and everyday life. According to information processing theorists, we are born with the ability to process information. Our mind itself, with its processes of noticing, taking in, manipulating, storing, and retrieving information does not show the radical changes that are associated with stage theories. Instead, from an information processing perspective, development is continuous and entails changes in the efficiency and speed with which we think. Maturation of the brain and nervous system contributes to changes in our information processing abilities— our tendency to become more efficient at processing information over the childhood years and to slow over the adult years.

evolutionary developmental theory

a theory that applies principles of evolution and scientific knowledge about the interactive influence of genetic and environmental mechanisms to understand the changes people undergo throughout their lifetime According to evolutionary developmental theory, genetic programs and biological predispositions interact with the physical and social environment to influence development and Darwinian natural selection determines what genes and traits are passed on to the next generation In 1859 Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution, explaining that all species adapt and evolve over time. Specifically, traits that permit a species to adapt, thrive, and mate tend to be passed to succeeding generations because they improve the likelihood of the individual and species' survival. Early theorists applied the concepts of evolution to behavior. Specifically, ethological theory, a precursor to evolutionary developmental theory, is the scientific study of the evolutionary basis of behavior and its survival value According to Bowlby (1969), humans also display biologically preprogrammed behaviors that have survival value and promote development. For example, caregivers naturally respond to infants' cues. Crying, smiling, and grasping are inborn ways that infants get attention from caregivers, obtain physical contact, and ensure they will be safe and cared for. Many infant behaviors have adaptive significance because they meet infants' needs and promote the formation of bonds with caregivers that ensure that the caregivers will feel a strong desire and obligation to care for them (Bowlby, 1973). In this way, inborn biological drives and behaviors work together with experience to influence adaptation and ultimately an individual's survival. From an evolutionary development perspective, genes and context interact in an ever-changing way so that it is impossible to isolate the contributions of each to development While all of our traits and characteristics are influenced by genes, contextual factors influence the expression of genetic instructions Contextual factors such as gravity, light, temperature, and moisture influence how genes are expressed and therefore how individuals develop According to evolutionary developmental theory, genetic programs and biological predispositions interact with the physical and social environment to influence development and Darwinian natural selection determines what genes and traits are passed on to the next generation People are viewed as active in their development, influencing their contexts (through their genetic characteristics and by choosing and interacting within settings), responding to the demands for adaptation posed by their contexts, and constantly interacting with and adapting to the world around them. The relevance of both biological and contextual factors to human development is indisputable and most developmental scientists appreciate the contributions of evolutionary developmental theory The ways in which biology and context interact and their influence on development changes over the course of the lifetime, as we will discuss throughout this book.

Questionnaires

also called surveys, are sets of questions, typically multiple choice, that scientists compile and use to collect data from large samples of people. Questionnaires are popular data collection methods because they are easy to use and enable scientists to collect information from a large number of people quickly and inexpensively. They can easily be administered anonymously, protecting participants' privacy by not including any identifying information on the survey.

informed consent

an ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate Ethical codes of conduct require that researchers obtain informed consent from each participant—their informed, rational, and voluntary agreement to participate. Consent must be informed, made with knowledge of the scope of the research, the potential for harm (if any), and the possible benefits of participating. Consent must be rational, meaning it must be made by a person capable of making a reasoned decision. Parents provide parental permission for their minor children to participate because researchers (and lawmakers) assume that minors are not able to meet the rational criteria of informed consent. Finally, participation must be voluntary, meaning that the decision to participate must be made freely and without coercion—individuals must understand that they are free to decide not to participate in the research study and that they will not be penalized in any way if they refuse.

continuous

characterized by slow and gradual change

Sequential research designs

combine the best features of cross-sectional and longitudinal research by assessing multiple cohorts over time, enabling scientists to make comparisons that disentangle the effects of cohort and age The sequential design provides information about age, cohort, and age-related change. The cross-sectional data (comparisons of 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th graders from a given year) permit comparisons among age groups. The longitudinal data (annual follow-up of 6th graders through 12th graders) permits age-related change. The sequential component helps scientists separate cohort effects from age-related change. The sequential design is complex, but it permits human development researchers to disentangle the effects of age and cohort and answer questions about developmental change.

cross-sectional research

comparing groups of people at different ages, at one time Cross-sectional research gathers information from people of several ages at one time, permitting age comparisons, but not conclusions about development because participants differ not only in terms of age but cohort. Recall that a cohort is a group of people of the same age who are exposed to similar historical events as well as cultural and societal influences. Cross-sectional research is an important source of information about age differences, but it cannot provide information about age change.

Psychoanalytic Theories

describe development and behavior as a result of the interplay of inner drives, memories, and conflicts of which we are unaware and cannot control. These inner forces influence our behavior throughout our lives. Freud and Erikson are two key psychoanalytic theorists whose theories remain influential today.

Cohort

generation of people born at the same time

Socioemotional Development

includes changes in personality, emotions, views of oneself, social skills, and interpersonal relationships with family and friends.

Albert Bandura's reciprocal determinism

individuals and the environment interact and influence each other. In contrast with behaviorist theorists, Bandura viewed individuals as active in their development rather than passively molded by their physical and social environment. Individuals can influence and change their physical and social surroundings. Specifically, development is a result of interactions between the individual's characteristics, his or her behavior, and the physical and social environment. In a classic study conducted by Albert Bandura, children who observed an adult playing with a bobo doll toy roughly imitated those behaviors, suggesting that children learn through observation.

Classical Conditioning

is a form of learning in which the person or animal comes to associate environmental stimuli with physiological responses. Many fears as well as emotional associations are the result of classical conditioning. For example, some children may fear a trip to the doctor's office because they associate the doctor's office with the discomfort they felt upon receiving a vaccination shot. Classical conditioning applies to physiological and emotional responses only, yet it is a cornerstone of psychological theory.

Theory

is a way of organizing a set of observations or facts into a comprehensive explanation of how something works. Effective theories generate specific hypotheses. A good theory is one that is falsifiable, or capable of generating hypotheses that can be tested and, potentially, refuted.

Behaviorist theory

is also known as learning theory because it emphasizes how people and animals learn new behaviors as a function of their environment. As discussed in the following sections, classical conditioning and operant conditioning are two forms of behaviorist learning; social learning integrates elements of behaviorist theory and information processing theories.

Development

is both continuous and discontinuous (before, we thought it was one or the other, not both). Most developmental scientists agree that some aspects of lifespan development are best described as continuous and others as discontinuous.

Development is Multidirectional

meaning that it consists of both gains and losses, growth and decline, throughout the lifespan. (ex. stepping reflex as infant) New direction in your life.

Observational Measures

methods that scientists use to collect and organize information based on watching and monitoring people's behavior Developmental scientists employ two types of observational measures: naturalistic observation and structured observation.

Nature-Nurture Issue

most developmental scientists now agree that both nature and nurture are important contributors to development across the lifespan.

naturalistic observation

observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation Scientists who use naturalistic observation observe and record behavior in natural, real-world settings Naturalistic observation is challenging because one must first decide on an operational definition of the behavior of interest. Naturalistic observation permits researchers to observe behaviors in real-world settings and to observe patterns, such as whether a particular event or behavior typically precedes another. Such observations can help researchers determine which behaviors are important to study in the first place. Naturalistic observation is a useful way of studying events and behaviors that are common.

longitudinal research

one group of participants is studied at many points in time Longitudinal research provides information about age change because it follows people over time However, longitudinal research studies only one cohort —one generation—and is thereby prone to cohort effects. Because only one cohort is assessed, it is not possible to determine if the observed changes are age-related changes or changes that are unique to the cohorts examined.

Structured interviews

pose the same set of questions to each participant in the same way and therefore are less flexible than open-ended interviews interviews in which all applicants are asked the same set of standardized questions Because all participants receive the same set of questions, differences in responses are more likely to reflect true differences among participants and not merely differences in the manner of interviewing.

Urie Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Systems Theory

poses that development is a result of the ongoing interactions among biological, cognitive, and psychological changes within the person and his or her changing context. Bronfenbrenner proposed that individuals are all embedded in, or surrounded by, a series of contexts: home, school, neighborhood, culture, and society. The bioecological systems theory offers a comprehensive perspective on the role of context as an influence on development. Contexts are organized into a series of systems in which individuals are embedded and that interact with one another and the person to influence development. At the center of the bioecological model is the individual. The developing person's genetic, psychological, socioemotional, and personality traits interact, influencing each other. The individual is embedded in the innermost level of context, the microsystem, which includes the immediate physical and social environment surrounding the person, such as family, peers, and school. The next level, the mesosystem, refers to the relations and interactions among microsystems, or connections among contexts. For example, experiences in the home (one microsystem) influence those at school (another microsystem); parents who encourage and provide support for reading will influence the child's experiences in the classroom. Like the microsystem, the mesosystem has a direct influence on the individual because he or she is a participant in it. An important contribution of bioecological theory is the role of the exosystem, which consists of other settings in which the individual is not a participant but that nevertheless influence him or her. For example, a parent's work setting is one in which the child does not participate, yet the work setting has an indirect influence on the child because it affects the parent's mood. The availability of funding for schools, another exosystem factor, indirectly affects children by influencing the availability of classroom resources. The exosystem is an important contribution to our understanding of development because the effects of outside factors trickle down and indirectly affect children and adults. The macrosystem is the larger sociocultural context in which the microsystem, mesosystem, and exosystem are embedded. It includes cultural values, legal and political practices, and other elements of the society at large. The macrosystem indirectly influences the child because it affects each of the other contextual levels. For example, cultural beliefs about the value of education (macrosystem) influence funding decisions made at national and local levels (exosystem), as well as what happens in the classroom and in the home (mesosystem and microsystem). A final element of the bioecological system is the chronosystem, which refers to time: The bioecological system changes over time. As people grow and change, they take on and let go of various roles. For example, graduating college, getting married, and becoming a parent involve changes in roles and shifts in microsystems. These shifts in contexts, called ecological transitions, occur throughout life. The complexity of the bioecological model is both a strength and weakness of the theory (Dixon & Lerner, 1999). Human development is complex, and only when we consider the multiple interacting influences within the individual and context will we gain insight into the processes and outcomes of developmental change. However, we can never measure and account for all of the potential influences on development at once. Therefore, it is difficult to devise research studies to test the validity of the bioecological model. Despite this, bioecological theory remains an important contribution toward explaining developmental change across the lifespan.

Physical Development

refers to body maturation and growth, including body size, proportion, appearance, health, and perceptual abilities.

Cognitive Development

refers to the maturation of thought processes and the tools that we use to obtain knowledge, become aware of the world around us, and solve problems.

Development Is Influenced by Multiple Contexts

refers to where and when a person develops. Context includes aspects of the physical and social environment such as family, neighborhood, country, culture, and historical time period. Context also includes intangible factors—characteristics that are not visible to the naked eye, such as values, customs, and ideals. Culture is a particularly important context that influences us.

Correlational Research

research that seeks to identify whether an association or relationship between two factors exists permits researchers to examine relations among measured characteristics, behaviors, and events Correlational research cannot answer this question because it simply describes relationships that exist among variables; it does not enable us to make conclusions about the causes of those relationships.

independent variable

the factor proposed to change the behavior under study

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

the father of the psychoanalytic perspective, believed that much of our behavior is driven by unconscious impulses.

Structured observations

the investigator sets up a laboratory situation that evokes the behavior of interest so that every participant has an equal opportunity to display the response entail observing and recording behaviors displayed in a controlled environment, a situation constructed by the experimenter (book). the laboratory environment permits researchers to exert more control on the situation than is possible in natural settings In addition to cataloguing observable behaviors, some researchers use technology to measure biological functions such as heart rate, brain waves, and blood pressure. One challenge to conducting structured observations is that people do not always behave in laboratory settings as they do in real life.

participant reactivity

the reaction or response participants have when they know they are being observed or measured Sometimes the presence of an observer causes the person to behave in unnatural ways or ways that are not typical for him or her. This is known as participant reactivity, and it poses a challenge to gathering data by naturalistic observation.

Research Methodology

the system of methods a researcher uses to gather data on a particular question In addition to determining the research question and deciding what information to collect, scientists must choose a research methodology, or technique, for conducting the research study. In the simplest sense, scientists have two basic choices: (1) identify correlational patterns in the data or (2) identify causal processes indicating that a given event or condition caused a given outcome.

John Watson (1925)

was an early founder of behaviorism. By controlling an infant's physical and social environment, Watson believed that he could control the child's destiny.

Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Theory (1902-1994)

was influenced by Freud, but he placed less emphasis on instinctual drives as motivators of development and instead focused on the role of the social world, society, and culture in shaping development. Erikson posed a lifespan theory of development in which individuals progress through eight stages of psychosocial development that include changes in how they understand and interact with others, as well as changes in how they understand themselves and their roles as members of society. Each stage presents a unique developmental task, which Erikson referred to as a crisis or conflict that must be resolved. How well individuals address the crisis determines their ability to deal with the demands made by the next stage of development. Regardless of their success in resolving a crisis of a given stage, individuals are driven by biological maturation and social expectations to the next psychosocial stage. No crisis is ever fully resolved, and unresolved crises are revisited throughout life. It is never too late to resolve a crisis. However, resolving a crisis from a previous stage may become more challenging over time as people focus on current demands and the current psychosocial stage. Erikson's psychosocial theory is well regarded as one of the first lifespan views of development. He took a positive view of development and included the role of society and culture by basing his theory on a broad range of cases, including larger and more diverse samples than did Freud.