Life Span Development Midterm

Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt​

-18 mos. - 3 years of age​ -Developing a sense of personal control over physical skills​ -Toilet training​ -gain sense of independence of environment from controlling bodily processes/function -Failing results in feelings of shame and doubt​

Generativity vs. Stagnation​

-40 to 65 years of age​ -Producing meaningfully for ones family ​ -Contributing to society​ -Failure results in feelings of unproductiveness ​ ​-goal is to provide and produce meaningful things for your family and community​ -these are the years where you're trying to be productive​ -failure leads to stagnation where you feel you wasted a lot of time and havent really accomplished anything​

Interaction of Heredity and Environment​

-Best way to study in humans ​ -Theres been many twins that have been separated at birth​ -best is identical twins that were separated at birth

Age and Cohort Effects

-Cohort effects: refers to people born at around the same time and subjected to similar experiences​ -Millennials: the generation born after 1980 that is the first to come of age and enter emerging adulthood in the new millennium​ -Two characteristics of millennials: their ethnic diversity and their connection to technology​

Genetic Inheritance ​

-Genotype: the genetic material relating to and received from both parents​ -genotype: the total makeup that you get from your parents -Phenotype: the expression of the trait and what is actually seen​ -phenotype: whats actually seen/expressed from that total genetic makeup -Sex - XX or XY​

Milestones

-Milestones can be cognitive: as we will see when we talk about Piaget's idea of object permanence ​ -Milestones can be physical: taking your first steps​ -Milestones can be social: getting married​ -Some milestones are age dependent: beginning school, learning to drive​ -Some milestones are cohort dependent: retirement ​

Topical Areas in Lifespan Development​

-Physical development​ -Cognitive development​ -Personality development​ -Social development​

Importance of Theory​

-Theory = tentative explanation of why and under what circumstances a particular phenomenon occurs​ -Synthesizes old and new knowledge/information​ -Ideally it'd allow you to be able to predict or explain something meaningful​ -Guides future research ​ -takes all stuff that's already known about a phenomenon and you're trying to say why this new study will add to the body of knowledge​

Lifespan Psychology is Concerned with Personality and Social Development

-What is the best method of disciplining children?​ -When does a sense of gender develop?​ -What are the influences on choice of a romantic partner?​ -How long do the effects of parental divorce last?​

Nature versus Nurture

-its always a combination of nature and nurture​ -its an interdependence on nature and nurture​ -ex. Intelligence and nature vs nurture

Sampling... 21st century problem

Michigan democrat primary​ -clinton up average of 21% points over Bernie Sanders​ -Sanders wins by 1.5%​ -How?​ -bc bernies supporters were college students, they mostly had cell phones and when you do random digit dialing you only call landlines so they're more likely to get older traditional democrats on the phone compared to progressive younger democrats​ -they over sampled for people who were likely to vote for clinton​

Research in Lifespan Psychology​

Psychology is Science​ -Science is defined by its method, not by its content​ -Psychology often takes ordinary, everyday behavior as it subject matter -- but examines it with standard (rigorous) scientific methods​ -hard to do science bc its subjects are humans

Replication of research​

Replication​ -an ultimate test of a study's external validity​ -repeating the study to see if you get the same results​ -a lot of classic studies havent replicated well if at all​ -this is an ongoing problem​ -meta-analysis - a type of statistical analysis that examines multiple studies​ -can look at many studies and see if they're finding similar things related to the same topics​

Systems Theory Perspective - Ecological Theory Example ​

Student Deciding to go to School​ -Microsystem - what options available at local colleges? What support is offered, Can you afford a different option?​ -Mesosystem - Will my boss help me with a schedule that will allow me to attend? Does family support my decision?​ -Exosystem - Is the state government going to keep raising tuition making it more difficult to attend?​ -Macrosystem - Cultural norms and values regarding the importance of getting an education. The economic outlook.​ -Chronosystem - How old am I?​

Identity vs. Identity Confusion

-12 to 20 years of age​ -Establishing an identity, separate from your parents​ -Failing results in identity crisis, not able to figure what to do​ -trying to find out ur unique abilities and characteristics and how do you use them to your best advantage over the course of your life to develop your unique identity​ -people who dont accomplish this experience identity confusion and arent sure who they are and become subject to peer influence​ -may hinder their ability to develop a solid personal identity for themselves​ -origin for term identity crisis

Intimacy vs. Isolation​

-20's to 40 or so​ -Establishing meaningful, intimate relationships​ -Failure may result in life long loneliness​ ​ -failure can cause inability to have intimate contact with people

Earliest Development ​

-25,000 Genes​ -23 pairs of chromosomes ​ -23rd pair determines sex​ -our diplote number is 46 we get one of each from each parent​ -results in one human cell​

Initiative vs. Guilt

-3 to 6 years of age​ -Need to begin exerting control and power over environment ​ -Disapproval results at seeking too much control/power​ -Guilt can result​ ​-this is a time when kids want to be involved and show they are capable of doing basic things and exerting basic levels of control over their immediate environments​ -"i can do it" "let me help"​ -help kids develop a basic sense of competency vs a sense of guilt (when they try to engage in these types of activities and fail or are put down for their attempts to try)

Industry vs. Inferiority

-6 to 12 years of age​ -Children gaining competence in new domains​ -Failure results in feelings of inferiority ​ -kids are attentive to new activities that they want to gain competence and mastery over​ -ex. Some kids desire to excel in academics or music or athletics​ -gaining competency in the domains that are important to the kid at this stage are important​ -not being able to gain some competency in these domains results in feelings of inferiority

Ego Integrity vs. Despair​

-65+ -Feeling generally satisfied with one's life and what was achieved​ -Failure at this stage results in regret and despair over wasted time and missed opportunities​ -concerned with looking back on the life you already led bc by 65 most of your life has passed by​ -wanting a sense that they did meaningful things in their life​ -failure if you regret not doing many of the things you wish you had done but now its too late to accomplish those things anymore​

Behaviorism​

-A dominant perspective in psychology for more than 60 years​ -behaviorism is responsible for psych in universities because it established psych as a scientific field of study in a uni setting because its able to look at psych questions in a more objective fashion -Keys to understanding development are the environmental stimuli that influence behavior​m -if you understand the reinforcements present in an environment then you can understand why it is that people behave in the way they do -all behavior is externally directed and we make ourselves believe that we have some internal control over our behavior when in fact we may not be aware of the environmental influence on our behaviors -Operant conditioning - behavior results from the reinforcements of rewards and punishments​ -Classical conditioning - behavior results from conditioned associations​

Chromosomes ​

-A threadlike structure found in the nucleus of most living cells​ -A chromosome is a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism​ -made up of the DNA that are the instructions for all bodily processes and structures in the body​ -Carries genetic information in the form of genes -The number of chromosomes in an organism is generally unrelated to the complexity ​ -tomatoes have 24 chromosomes while humans have 46​ -diploid = total number of chromosomes together

Designer Babies?​

-Advances have made it possible to identify and screen for a variety of issues prior to implantation ​ ​-raises questions​ -is it better to let nature take its course or should we take control of the developing fetus in order to maximize its potential​ -For example - Embryo 78 - male​ -No serious early onset diseases, but a carrier for PKU (a metabolic malfunction that can cause behavioural and mental disorders. Carriers just have one copy of the gene, so don't get the condition themselves).​ -Higher than average risk of type 2 diabetes and colon cancer.​ -Lower than average risk of asthma and autism.​ -Dark eyes, light brown hair, male pattern baldness.​ -40% chance of coming in the top half in SAT tests.​

The Humanistic Perspective​

-Carl Rogers is a founding father of humanistic perspective -Focuses on the positive aspects of being human (e.g., goodness, creativity, free will)​ -People are motivated to maximize their potential​ -people want to achieve all they can and are motivated towards becoming the best that they can be -Description of what it means to be a human being in terms of meaningful experience, such as values, language, and emotions​ -he didn't deal with development in terms of different developmental stages but he did have things to say about the environment that's best suited for raising a well adjusted kid​ -he did say that authoritative parenting is best ​ -it has clear expectations placed on the child, high standards for what they're expected to achieve, and consequences of not obtaining standard is understood​ -Warmth and connection style of parenting​ -placing conditions of worth on a child is restrictive on their development​ -tells kid that as long as you do what I expect of you, I will value you and love you as a person (coming from the parent)​ -ex. Saying if ur not a doctor I will be disappointed in you​ -doing this is damaging to a child bc it doesn't allow them to embrace who they are or experience their humanness completely bc they are bound by expectations of others in order to be valued as a human being​

Historical View of Children​

-Children through history often view as small adults​ -Developmental periods and needs were often not recognized​ -life was nearly as long back then so there wasn't attention given to developmental periods​ -they werent viewed as in a developmental period but instead as small adults who needed to start contributing to the well being of their family (working in factories or farms)​ -Children expected to contribute from an early age​ -they needed to contribute to family much earlier than they do now -they were exploited in negative ways​

Dimensions of Correlations ​

-Correlation Coefficient​: from -1 to +1 -negative: as one variable goes up the other goes down​ -increase in car milage results in a decrease in car value​ -positive: as one goes up the other goes up​ -alcohol and smoking​ -no relationship: height and IQ​ -as they get closer to zero they are getting weaker as getting closer to +/- 1 the assocaiton getting stronger​

Ethical Issues in Research​

-Cover stories​ -Welfare vs. information​ -Vivid events ​ -Generally must obtain informed consent​ -Deception = misleading participants about the true purpose of a study or the events that transpire​ -Debriefing = explaining to participants (at the end) the true purpose of the research​ -Privacy must be maintained ​ -Research with minors even more challenging -research often informs things like public policy so if the research is bad then they will be bad too​ -they use cover stories to deceive participants on the real purpose of the study​ -have to be sensitive that questions your asking may be hard to respond to

Research Designs​

-Cross sectional designs - an observation at one point in time​ -Can compare and describe differences in the sample​ -Longitudinal designs - observes the same group of people at multiple time points​ -Often used in developmental research​

The Observational Method​

-Describing social behavior​ -What is group/behavior like?​ -​Qualitative

Basic Genetics ​

-Dominant traits: the trait expressed when competing traits are present​ -Recessive traits: a trait within an organism that is present, but not expressed​ -Homozygous inheritance: inheriting from both parents, similar genes for a given trait ​ -homozygous: inheriting both dominant or recessive versions of a trait -Heterozygous inheritance: inheriting from both parents, different genes for a given trait ​ ​ -heterozygous: get a dominant from one parent and recessive from other parent

DNA​

-Double helix shaped building blocks of life​ -The substance that genes are comprised of​ -Blueprint for the type and function of every cell in the body​ -packaged in your chromosomes in the cell nucleus​ -this is the instructions for how to continue your life and make sex cells​

Why askinag about which one is right, may be wrong...​

-Each perspective is based on its own premises and focuses on different aspects of development depending on what its focus is​ -when talking about piaget ur talking about cog development, when talking about frued its about personality development​ -Psychodynamic approach emphasizes emotions, motivational conflicts, and unconscious determinants of behavior.​ -Behavioral perspectives emphasize overt behavior, paying far more attention to what people do than to what goes on inside their heads, which is deemed largely irrelevant. ​ -Cognitive and humanistic perspectives take quite the opposite tack, looking more at what people think than at what they do. ​ -Evolutionary perspective focuses on how inherited biological factors underlie development.​ -depending on which researchers youre talking about, theres a different area of development that its concerned with​ ​-Same developmental phenomenon can be examined from a number of perspectives simultaneously and theres no necessarily a right or wrong way to do it, all offer some explanation and something to our overall understanding of lifespan development​

Correlations: self-esteem and depression​

-Example: I want to study depression and self esteem​ -I believe that violent low self esteem CAUSES higher levels of depression​ -I find in my study that, in fact, people who have lower self esteem are more depressed​ -This is a negative correlation​ -but what if depression causes lower self esteem or what if some other variable causes both lower self esteem and depression​ -what if a bad event causes low self esteem and depression

Piaget​

-Extremely influential in developmental psychology​ -Believed that cognitive development occurred in stages​ -Believed cognition was qualitatively different at each stage​ -Constructionist view of how kids gain knowledge​ -kids learn about the world by interacting in the world

Determining Sex​

-Females contribute x chromosome​ -Males contribute x or y chromosome​ -males determine the sex bc females only contribute the X chromosome -XX become female​ -XY become males​ -X linked disorders - color blindness, hemophilia much more common in men​ -x linked disorders are more common in men bc they only have one X chromosome​ -in females their 2 Xs; one can compensate for having a bad one

Genetic Counseling​

-Helps people identify and deal with issues related to possible genetic transmission of disease​ -Prenatal testing: helps identify health issues in an unborn child​ -parents can find out if their fetus is healthy thru genetic counseling and getting prenatal testing​ -decisions can be made about what to do with pregnancy if there is risk based on family history -Amniocentesis: done between 15th and 20th weeks, examines amniotic fluid, which contains fetal cells​ -safest, but have to wait til 15-20th week​ -Chorionic villus sampling: 8 to 11 weeks, samples the placental cells; can identify abnormalities -transverse limb deficiencies: small percent have fetus that develop as having limbs that arent completely formed​ -small risk of miscarriage​ -advantage: can be done earlier on in pregnancy​ ​ -Ultrasound and sonograms: uses sound waves to create visual images of fetus ​ -can see if its boy or girl and if limbs are developing properly​

Steps of Research​

-Hypothesis what is the question​ -Research strategy correlational, experimental, observational​ -What are the variables - independent versus dependent​ -independent variables are the ones being manipulated and the dependent ones are the ones ur interested in measuring -Research setting Internet, field study, laboratory study​ -internet is good especially for correlational (surveys) -Longitudinal versus cross-sectional​ -Data analysis - is data quantitative or qualitative in nature​ -Writing and publishing ​

Relationship Between Genetics and IQ​

-Intelligence is highly researched ​ -Strong genetic component​ -Generally, a linear association between genetic relatedness and IQ similarity​ -weak correlation between foster parents and kids Iqs​ -identical twins in same environment are almost identical in terms of IQ scores​ -when raised apart theres only a 15% decrease in how correlated they twins are in IQ​ -you can have people with the same genetic makeup and put them in different environments and it can contribute to the overall maximization of IQ​

Multiple Births​

-Less than 3% of human births are twins​ Two types: -Monozygotic - one egg that splits in two​ -one egg fertilized by one sperm that has the same gentic material in both of the eggs that split apart from each other​ -same genetic makeup that results in two organisms (identical twins)​ -Dizygotic - two separate eggs fertilized by two different sperm -females release two eggs in one cycle and they are both fertilized by two different sperm​ -two unique eggs being fertilized by two unique sperms resulting in two organisms that are about as similar as any siblings (fraternal twins)​ -not more similar in terms of genetic makeup but may be more similar due to growing up at the same time in same environment​​ -multiple births are on the rise due to fertility drugs being increasingly used to help conceive a child

Sociocultural Theory​

-Lev Vygotsky​ ​ -Believed cognitive development is the result of social interactions between members of a culture​ -he believed kids learn best when they learn in the context of their social environment from other people of the same culture who have more insight or are operating at a higher level -Different cultures will differ in cognitive development trajectories based on differences in interactions within their culture​ ​ -different cultures will differ in the sorts of cognitive development trajectories based on the sorts of differences that are present when youre talking about different cultures​ -people from different cultures understand the world in different ways

Longitudinal versus Cross Sectional​

-Longitudinal designs measure same participants at multiple time points​ -Cross sectional design effects that result from comparing different - incomparable - cohorts ​ -Longitudinal studies often used in developmental research​ -when looking at the cross sectional data, younger people are way better than reasoning ability than older people and the ability falls off really fast​ -if you only had a cross sectional study, you would come to the conclusion that younger people are far superior than old people in terms of reasoning ability and that ability declines really quickly​ -with longitudinal and collecting data every 7 years, when looking at the same people over time the ability doesnt decline dramatically like in the other study​ -ex. Of cohort effect: people today compared to people 50 years ago get more education and complexity of interactions in society requires more reasoning ability than it did in the past, so its not surprising that young people are better now bc they have to be​ -reasoning ability goes up then gently declines​

Assessing the Behavioral Perspective​: Attraction and Limitations

-Made psychology seem more scientific​ -made it seem more scientific compared to Freud's idea of psychology which was more subjective and more easily measured scientifically -Believed keys to understanding development is observable behavior resulting from reinforcement​ -Could not explain learning of complex, non-consistently reinforced behaviors like language acquisition​ -having the ability to learn language is something that doesn't have to be reinforced all the time, we just naturally inquire it ​ -it doesn't account for our ability to delay gratification in service of longer term goals; things that arents reinforced in the moment but we have a belief that they will be reinforced later on​ -Social-cognitive theory recognized the importance of mental activity ​

Cell Division​: Meiosis and Mitosis

-Mitosis: the process of cell reproduction where a cell nucleus divides and creates a new cell with identical DNA (2n)​ -mitosis: a cell nucleus divides and creates an identical new cell​ -basic cell division that takes place with every body organ and tissue; they have the potential to recreate an identical copy for the purpose of replacing cells with the identical DNA of the cell its replacing -Most cell division is by way of mitosis​ -Meiosis: results in haploid sex cells that are not identical (n)​ -meiosis: for sex reproduction that results in haploid sex cells that arent identical​ -Sex cells = gametes ​(sperm and egg) -The final outcome of meiosis is the production of four haploid daughter cells or gametes that are different from each other​ -so that's how genetic info is arranged so that when an egg and sell come together theres a lot of assortment in terms of the possibility of the genetic material that the new life is getting​ -haploid: only 23 chromosomes not 46 -it goes thru a series of stages​ -Distinct cells that contribute the genetic material when egg and sperm fuse​

Cognitive Neuroscience Approach​

-Neuroscience approach seeks to identify brain areas associated with specific tasks like problem solving​ -Looks at cognitive development through the lens of brain processes ​ ​-they can exam brain activity while they engage in tasks and see which part of the brain are engaged when doing those tasks​

Studying Nature vs. Nurture​

-Non-human animal studies​ -Producing animals similar in specific traits relatively easy​ -Immerse in different environments​ -Differences can be reasonably attributed to the environment ​ ​-looking at animals ​ -you can reproduce them to make them similar genetically and put them in different environments and see how the environment affects them​ -manipulate environment and holding genetics constant​

The Cognitive Perspective​

-Piaget proposed that cognitive development takes place in stages that are qualitatively different (different in kind)​ -information processing view of cognitive development: more of a linear cogitive development (previous stage is the foundation for the next to gain more info)

The Correlational Method​

-Relationship between variables​ -there are questions that can really only be studied using correlation due to ethics​ -forced to gather survey data

Validity and Reliability ​

-Reliability: the degree to which you can produce the same finding or phenomenon consistently​ -reliability: if you have a survey measure that you give to people under similar conditions but you get different results that would suggest that ur measure isnt reliable​ -ex. IQ given to similar people, in similar way, then u should get similar results for that person -Internal validity: degree to which the dependent variable influenced by the independent variable -internal validity: the degree to which youre actually measuring what you want​ -if I want to study intelligence are the questions im asking actually related to intelligence​ ​ -External validity: degree to which a finding generalizes beyond those individuals directly studied​ ​ -external validity: does your data allow you to say something about a larger population that you didn't directly study​ -this can be hard​ -cant assume that uci students can generalize to orange county citizens​

Correlational Studies​

-Remember: Correlations​ -Do not prove causality​ -Do provide important information​ -ex. The closer the genetic link between two people, the more highly associated is their intelligence.​ -ex. The more parents speak to their young children, the more extensive are the children's vocabularies. ​ -ex. The better the nutrition that infants receive, the fewer the cognitive and social problems they experience later -Correlation Coefficient​ -Strength and direction of relationship between two factors represented by mathematical score that ranges from +1.0 to -1.0​

Influences on Development

-Role of culture, Ethnicity, SES​ -culture forms everything about the way you understand the world beginning at a young age​ -you understand the way your culture functions and it becomes the way you see the world​ -growing up in a particular culture contributes to your development in many ways (language, foods, living situations, family obligation expectations)​ -SES is important for development​ -coming from an upper middle class background comes with advantages that lower class don't get​ -SES is made up by occupational status, income level, and education level -Role of the time you live in: Cohorts​ -history graded influences: particular events that have a strong effect on the way people develop after experiencing it​ -ex. Woman growing up in the great depression (high unemployment and food insecurity) even tho she was middle class she still said you have to eat all the food you take because she grew up knowing that ur next meal isnt a sure thing​ -she views resources different than how people view them now due to her experience of the great depression​ -history graded influences can result in cohort effects where groups of people who experience a similar event in a similar way and time can develop similar patterns of behavior​ -ex. People who lived thru the great depression have a similar way of looking at the world and viewing resources differently (waste was intolerable bc you couldn't depend on those resources always being available) -Age graded influences: biological or environmental influences present for particular age groups -ex. puberty is something that happens around about the same time for most people​ -child bearing years is an example​ -retirement or engaging in different activity levels​ -age graded influences can affect how people react to a variety of environmental situations​ -Non-normative life events: specific, unusual events that can influence development​ -can impact the behaviors we engage in going forward​ -it will have serious lasting consequences for development

Milestones and Culture

-Some milestones are culturally dependent​ -Coming of age rituals ​ -Bar Mitzvah ​ -Quinceañera ​ -Graduating high school ​

Correlational Research ​

-Studies the relationships among various variables of interest​ -Does not make claims about the direction of the relationship​ -it will say variables are related but not which variable is causing the other​ -cant know which is causing which or if it is something else causing both variables to change (one that you havent measured)​

Multifactorial Transmission​

-Temperament​: Refers to emotional and motivational tendencies evident in early life​ -Tendency toward positive versus negative mood and emotional expression​ -Ability to be quickly soothed​ -behavior arises from a combo of environment and genetics​ -temperament is something you can identify early on​ -the enviornment also plays a role -Behavior is not due to either the environment or genes​ -Behavior is the result of an interaction between genes and the environment​ -Some children are highly reactive can result in a shy child to reduce stimulation ​ -Early opportunities for interaction with others may remedy shyness for many kids

Assessing the Psychodynamic Perspective ​

-The concept of the unconscious was an important advance in psychology​ -Sexist:​ Freud's theory was thought to be sexist toward women (e.g., "penis envy", underdeveloped superego)​ -his theories are believed to be sexist because he proposed that women looked at the male sex organ as the superior one and that's why they get penis envy and women can never fully get over their casteration anxiety because they never had a penis in the beginning so they develop a less strict sense of morality or an underdeveloped superego​ -Description rather than prediction:​ Subjective description, solely by Freud, and "after the fact" on a relatively small sample of patients, including himself!​ -His patients were mostly females from upper classes​ -he often reasoned from a conclusion​ -he already had beliefs about why things happened the way they did and then when he saw things in his clinical practice that could be taken as evidence of that belief he viewed it as he already believed it to be -Unverifiable concepts​: Not clear that development proceeds in the stages that Freud identified​ -Most importantly he believed development was essentially complete by adolescence ​ -freud's theories were not tested scientifically, but were ideas of what he was seeing in his clinical practice and werent subject to scientific methodology that could have established some of the concepts he proposed in a scientifically valid fashion -hard to scientifically measure -Erikson - his whole lifespan approaches has received much attention ​ ​-for eriskon its hard to propose a universal set of stages that people all go through in a similar fashion​ -stage theories need to be taken with a grain of salt; they're more of a general framework of how the life may play out ​ -its not the normal way of development for everybody and theres ton of variation in developmental trajectories so you can say people universally experience 8 stages of development

Random Assignment​

-The key to understanding the experimental method​ -Must occur for a study to be considered truly experimental​ -it allows you to say that everything about the two groups that youre studying are equal and any differences between the two groups are distributed among the two groups​

The Experimental Method​

-The method in which the experimenter systematically orchestrates the event so that people experience it in one way or another​ -manipulate one variable and hold everything else the same and try to understand if that variable causes an outcome change​ -The only way to determine causal relationships​ -independent variable: variable you manipulate -ex. IV given to patient -dependent variable: variable you measure for outcome of interest -ex. Patient in hospital -pre-post design -measure them before and after treatment to see difference​

Psychological Disorders: ​Role of Genetics and the Environment​

-Theres a genetic contribution to psychological disorders​ -Theres about a 50% chance that if one fraternal twin develops schizo then the other will too​ -Events can trigger the disorder

Nature/Nurture and Personality​

-Theres a significant contribution from genes and the rest of the contribution is from the environment​ -many personality traits have genetic contributions​

So many perspectives, which is correct?

-They all contribute to our understanding of development across the lifespan​ -None explain all aspects of lifespan development​

Social-Cognitive Learning Theory​

-This theory filled in the gaps that behaviorism didn't sufficiently address (didn't do a good job in explaining that humans are not like rats and pigeons that we process things in more complex ways and are able to do more sophisticated things in ways that other animals aren't able to do in same degree) -Development is influenced by what is observed​ -We learn from what we see in our enviornment​ -"Fearless Peer" - children with a fear of dogs more likely to play with dog after seeing a fearless peer play with the dog ​ -filled in the gaps that behaviorism didn't sufficiently address (didn't do a good job in explaining that humans are not like rats and pigeons that we process things in more complex ways and are able to do more sophisticated things in ways that other animals aren't able to do in same degree) -Must notice and remember behavior to be modeled

Polygenic Traits ​

-Traits that are produced by more than one gene​ -Most characteristics, traits, and even genetic transmission of disease predisposition are the result of polygenic traits​ -Example of polygenic trait expressed in the phenotype: Skin color -multiple genes in transmission of disorders -Example of polygenic influenced diseases autism, diabetes, schizophrenia ​

Why is Studying the Life Span Important?

-Valuable insights into parenting and teaching methods​ -informs education and the best strategies to use when trying to teach children in a way that maximizes their potential to learn​ -Important implications for public policy, such as child labor laws, elder care​ -its important that research is done in an ethical and scientific fashion because if you present things that are biased or not representative of actual scientific research it can have implications for policies that impact all of our lives​ -Personal understanding of how developmental events help shape the direction of your life​

correlation or causation

-Very high positive correlation between spending on science, space, and tech and suicides -this is a chance correlation​ -its not causation

Lay Theories versus Scientific Theories of Development

-We all come to develop "theories" about our, and others development​ -Lay theories arent scientifically validated but they are general cultural understandings of the way things are​ -ex. You cant teach a dog new tricks is a lay theory about what happens when you get older​ -lay theories don't have to be tested​ -Scientific theories are broad, organized explanations about development phenomena that have been subjected to rigorous scientific methods and been validated scientifically​ -Requires the systematic testing of assumptions related to development -one important thing to understand about scientific theories related to lifespan development Is that none of the theories were gonna talk about explain everything when it comes to lifespan development but they all offer a piece of an explanation related to lifespan development

Lifespan Psychology is Concerned with Physical Development

-What determines sex?​ -What are the consequences of premature births?​ -What are the benefits of breast feeding?​ -What factors are associated with obesity?​ -What are the internal and external signs of aging?​

Lifespan Psychology is Concerned with Cognitive Development

-When are the earliest memories formed?​ -How do musical skills/talents influence other cognitive tasks?​ -What are the cognitive benefits of speaking multiple languages?​ -How are creativity and intelligence related?​

Dominant versus Recessive Traits​

-When two competing traits are present only one will be expressed​ -Dominant trait: the trait version expressed in the phenotype when 2 competing traits are present​ ​-Recessive Trait: the trait version within an organism but not expressed in the phenotype ​ -eye color is controlled by about 14-16 genes but theres two main ones​ -one parent has two recessives for blue eyes and the other parent has recessive blue and dominant brown​ -bc brown is the dominant version, whenever you get that dominant version there will be brown eyes showing up in the phenotype

Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

-a normative crisis model -this is a stage theory that goes across entire lifespan -In contrast to Freud, described developmental challenges that occur across the lifespan​ -Trust versus mistrust -​ Ego integrity versus despair​

The Contextual Perspective - Considers multiple factors​

-all these factors are interacting all the time -Personality: enduring traits and characteristics influence well-being​ -can influence well being and the way your are interacting with your environments as you are growing up​ -Social/cultural: influence diet, interactions with others, family dynamics​ -influence diet, the way you view interactions with others and who is acceptable to interact with, family dynamics​ -Psychological: emotional reactivity, stress and coping responses -psychological influences emotional responsiveness, how well you cope with stress​ -Cognitive: how you think about aging and experiences​ -cognitive influences how you think about the world around you, aging, and experiences​ -Physical: exercise, diet, etc.​ -physical influences exercise, diet, etc. which contributes to well being and course of development​

The Framework: The Scientific Method​

-beings with observing something interesting, thinking about how you can test that and think of interesting questions, formulate hypotheses, develop testable predictions, gather data to test predictions, develop general theories that add something to the ​ -gets done over and over again

trust vs mistrust

-birth to about 18 months -Hurdle: being provided with responsive care giving​ -Having basic needs met so a sense of trust develops -the developmental hurdle is developing a basic sense of trust in the environment around you​ -this develops by having your basic needs met by primary caregivers​ -if you don't have someone who reliably attends to your needs when you need them then you may develop a basic mistrust for the world and see it as an inherently unresponsive place that doesn't care about you

Classical Conditioning in Childhood ​

-classical conditioning in childhood can result from a variety of learned associations that kids make over the course of being in particular environments​ -ex. If you grow up in a dysfunctional family with a hostile father and every time he comes home and the door doesn't slam you think it will be a good evening but if it does slam you know they will be yelled at​ -they learned an association that previously wasn't there; it was a neutral stimulus prior to learning the association (it was just a door making a loud noise when closed) but over the course of time that stimulus becomes conditioned so that its now associated with your dads hostile temperament and you know that if it slams you will be yelled at​ -ex. Doctors office is neutral stimulus and a shot is a unconditioned stimulus but with experience the doctors office is now associated with fear of getting shot​

Major Issues in Lifespan Development

-continous vs discontinous change? -critical and sensitive periods? -lifespan approach vs focus on particular periods as most important for development? -nature vs nurture?

Limits of correlational model​

-correlation doesn't equal causation​ -3 possible causal pathways​ -any # of 3rd variables could explain the relationship with the other two variables​

Correlational methods​

-correlational research often uses surveys​ -benefits and weaknesses​ -experimental is still golden standard bc it allows you to conclude causal​ -able to collect lots of data​ -examine behaviors that are hard to observe​ -good for doing research on unethical studies​ -people may not always report accurately​ -internet data collection​ -fast, easy, non expensive​

Critical versus Sensitive Periods​

-critical period: specific times in development when a particular event has critical consequences for the development of a particular ability or skill in the developing child​ -ex. If the visual cortex is deprived of stimuli over the course of early development then it never becomes fully functional in terms of ur ability to see at a level if you weren't deprived​ -For critical periods, absence of specific environmental influences results in irreversible consequences​ -sensitive period: where theres an optimal period for the development of particular capacities ​ -but if you don't get the stimulation at that sensitive period you can still go on to acquire the ability it just may not come as easily or you may not be as predisposed to learning it maximally​ -ex. Language learning has a sensitive period up until 7yo where you're able to learn a second language with ease but past this period our ability to acquire a second language becomes harder but not impossible (our capacity to learn language becomes diminished over the course of time and its optimized for this sensitive period that occurs during the first years of life)​

Structured Observations

-ex: Strange Situation​: Mary Ainsworth's investigation of attachment styles -Some behaviors difficult to observe in natural setting​ -Researchers can help facilitate a setting that elicits desired behaviors​

Single Gene Traits​

-few traits that result from single gene​ -ability to curl tongue, widows peak, cleft chin, hitchhikers thumb

Experimental example​

-hypothesis = the research question/prediction​ -often times real life events influence research questions​ -kitty genovese: how come ppl heard her scream & nobody called 911​ ​-when and under what circumstances do people help when help is required?​

Ethics in Research​

-in 2014 there was an outbreak of measles at disney​ -the cause was that someone who wasn't vaccinated came into contact with someone who had it (proximal cause of outbreak)​ -​Jenny McCarthy (and other influential people) warned that measles vaccine may be dangerous -they got this from bad research -Paper by Andrew Wakefield (1998) suggested MMR vaccine associated with increased incidence of Autism​ -Widely reported by the media​ -Fraudulent data was reported - full retraction by The Lancet in 2010​ -Belief persists that vaccine is dangerous​ -Distal cause: people failing to vaccinate children based on faulty - but emotional information​ -the data was mostly made up​ -the study was funded by people who wanted to make new vaccination for it and so they obvi wanted to find that there was danger in the current one​ -makes researchers inclined to make the data consistent with what the drug company wants​ -vaccinations and autism symptoms occur around same time of age (12 months)​ -Has become a legal issue​ -States have - or are considering making vaccines mandatory​

Genetic X Environmental Interactions​

-intelligence: Genes and environment always interacting​ -Reaction range - range of genetic possibility, determined by environment -range of potentiality that can result from the genetic inheritance you have and the environmental factors that are present in the context in your genetic makeup -identical twin seeds ​ -planted in fertile soil (middle class, good access to education, no family dysfunction) which makes it likely that the genetic potential that that twin has is going to be maximized by the quality of the soil that that twin has been planted in​ -being in that fertile soil gives the child the ability to maximize the genetic potential for intelligence​ -planted in poor soil (low class, family dysfunction, bad neighborhood, bad schools) causes drags on the child's ability to maximize their genetic potential​ -wouldn't be surprising that they grow up worse than the twin in fertile soil

General Survey Issues​

-leading questions: "most doctors report that exercise is good for you, do you agree?"​ -its basically telling you to just agree with that statement (hard to disagree since its doctors)​ -question order: "how religious are you?" Followed by "how many sexual partners have you had last year?"​ -will cause them to not respond accurately because they feel guilty​ -double-barreled questions: "please rate your satisfaction with the amount and kind of care you received"​ -its asking two questions and only giving you one option​

Realism and validity​

-mundane realism: how much is the experiment like everyday experience​ -psychological realism: how much does the experiment arouse the psychological processes of interest​ -cover stories: can increase psychological realism if you give them a good reason of why you're doing what youre doing ​ -milgram study: didn't have mundane realism (not going to be the case that you will shock someone in a life threatening state), but it engaged the psychological processes that the researchers were interested in studying (what is the role of obedience in inflicting pain on other people)​

Misleading statistical claims​

-need to be aware when examining research studies and info released to the public bc stats can be manipulated that they might try to get you to think of things in particular ways and use misleading statistical representations​ -just looking at this pic (left) you can think that planned parenthood really is just giving abortions and not other services​ -argument made for defunding PP, that they are only providing abortions now​ -this is misleading bc its not representative of the actual numbers shown​ -theres actually no increase in abortions over corse of time while theres slight decrease in other services but they are still used waaaay more than abortions and it could be due to people being able to afford services on their own due to the affordable care act​

Transmission of Genetic Disorders​

-parents can be carriers of disease where they don't have it themselves​ -if parents have recessive versions of the disease then about 25% of offspring will get it -In this case - 50% of offspring will be carriers ​ -25% will be unaffected​ -25% will inherit disorder with reception of 2 recessive genes -Rr and Rr = 25% chance offspring will get rr and get the disease ​ -Example: PKU inability to metabolize amino acid phenylalanine​ -PKU can cause intellectual difficulties, seizures, etc.​ -have to have diet with low amino acid phenylalanine bc they cant metabolize it​ -Most traits involve more than one gene​

Freud's Psychosexual Stages

-periods of development: -these periods of development occur during the early years of life and have a sexual focus in a sense that they are centered on different erogenous zones that are the centers of gratification at different points along the developmental trajectory​ -these areas of gratification, if not satisfied properly over the course of early development, can cause problems for personality development later on -can have implications for adult personality -Oral (Birth to 1½ yrs)​ -Gratification is centered around the mouth (e.g., breast-feeding, sucking, biting)​ -satisfied by putting things in their mouth first by breast/bottle feeding but also generally by putting other things in their mouth​ -kids with not enough gratification at this time might develop a fixation that could result in things like cigarette smoking, absent mindedly eating, etc.​ -Anal (1½ to 3 yrs)​ -Gratification is centered around the pleasure of defecation; toilet-training is issue for resolution and development​ -gratification is centered around going to the bathroom​ -kids who get the proper amount of gratification develop normally and gain a sense of autonomy and control over their environment ​ -not enough gratification by learning how to control bowels may result in an anal retentive personality in which they are controlling, demanding, and very rigid in the way they look at the world -Phalic (3-6) -kids learn about genitals and gratification is centered in the genitals and touching themselves and masterbation and an interest of the genitalia of other people​ -resolution of this stage of development happens when theres identification with the same sex parent​ -for boys they have the oedipus complex where they have an attraction and affection for their mom and desire the mother as the sexual object and believe that the dad understands this and fear that the dad will casterate them and this continues until they identify with the father by way of reconnecting with him when the kid comes to the recognition that its not realistic to perceive the mom as being an object of sexual desire and internalize the values and characteristics of the father and at this point a basic sense of morality begins to develop ​ -Strong superego results in this resolution​ -electra complex: girls discover that their mom (who had been the object of their sexual attention) didn't give them a penis they get mad and hostile towards the mom and their orient their sexual attraction towards the dad; this is resolved when the girl can attract a male of her own (getting a penis of her own) or ultimately having a male child​ -they have a gradual realization that these desires are self-defeating believing that the dad was a viable sex object comes to identifying strongly with the mom and internalizing the values and behaviors of the mom -Latency (6 to puberty)​ -Sexual urges are repressed and transformed into socially acceptable activities, such as schoolwork and peer activities​ -latency period gets away from the sexual ideas and instead suggests that the kid focuses on being accepted in social networks, school, athletics, etc. away from sexual gratification and sexual urges are repressed​ -Genital (puberty - adulthood)​ -Successful resolution and development into a mature sexual relationship​ -at this stage you should be able to develop mature sexual relationships with people if you got through the other stages successfully​ -he believed that most people don't get through these stages successfully but instead that most kids were probably molested early on in life and that's the origin of psychic trauma​ -Fixation - occurs when a person become "stuck" at a particular stage -He believed that not successfully resolving any of these stages could result in getting stuck or fixated on a certain stage resulting in particular behavioral pathologies that are connected to that stage of development and that those fixations are most likely to emerge under high stress situations​

Systems Theory Perspective - Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory​

-series of different systems that interact in complex ways that influence the way people develop -Microsystem: the context in which children live and interact with the people and institutions closest to them ​ -systems u interact with on a regular basis​ -school, family, church​ -Mesosystem: interrelations among the components of the microsystem ​ -the interrelation among different components of the microsystem that can interact​ -ex. parents going to school meeting (interaction of components within ur microsystem)​ -Exosystem: the collection of settings that impinge on a child's development but in which the child does not play a direct role ​ -elements of a system that are not directly involved with the individual but still influences them​ -ex. Parents were laid off so now instead of having to be w a baby sitter they come home to their parents (which changes the interactions the kid has even though being laid off didn't affect them directly)​ -Macrosystem: the system that surrounds the microsystem, mesosystem, and exosystem, representing the values, ideologies, and laws of the society or culture ​ -system around you that represents societal norms, values, and the cultural elements that are influential to people generally​ -Chronosystem: the time-based dimension that can alter the operation of all other systems in Bronfenbrenner's model -a time based system that says that particular things occur at particular points in time or there are different consequences for people at different ages​

Information Processing Perspective ​

-suggests that our brain works the way a computer does​ -encoding info, storing it, and having the ability to retrieve it​ -cognition advances by a way of quantitative changes in the info we've learned and changes in the brain that occur over time ​ -as we continue to mature our brain becomes capable of more sophisticated cognitive processing ​ -new knowledge builds on prior knowledge that we had

Genetic Disorders​

-these diseases can happen from random mutation -Down syndrome: results from an extra chromosome, most frequent cause of mental retardation​ -Klinefelter's syndrome: about 1 in 400 men, extra "X" chromosome​ -klinefelters when they have an additional X chromosomes in males (XXY)​ -gain breast tissue, more feminine characteristics​ ​-Sickle cell anemia: 10% of African Americans are carriers and about 1 in 400 have this disease of the red blood cells​ -sickle cell anemia: not limited to blacks but are most likely to get it bc of its relationship w problem of malaria​ -believed that the defect in the red blood cells develop as a way to combat malaria​ -its sort of an adaptation

Longevity and religious attendance​

-this shows the relationship between frequency of attending church and life expectancy in years​ -theres a positive correlation​ -could conclude that its bc god loves those who go to church more​ -but theres also a lot of other benefits since it is a social network​ -people who go to church engage in more moderate behaviors, less likely to drink and smoke in excess, have a good social network, more optimistic​

New frontiers in social psych​

Cultural psychology​: -examines the influence of culture on psychological processes​ -seeks to identify human universals and culture specific ways of responding​ -ex: theory of mind: you have the ability to infer the mental state of another person (you recognize that they think differently than you)​ -usually fully formed at 4yo, so researchers would want to look at cultures that are different in many factors and see if it emerges in the same way (if different in all other aspects but TOM is similar then its probably universal​ Social neuroscience​: -technological advances have made it possible to examine brain differences​ -researchers look for patterns of activity in specific brain regions during tasks​ -EEG places electrodes on your head to examine electrical activity of brain under different circumstances​ -fMRI looks at blood flow patterns in brain to see where activity is when doing different tasks​

Correlations ​

Example: I want to study aggression and television viewing​ -I believe that violent TV content CAUSES greater aggression​ -I find in my study that, in fact, people who watch more violent TV are more aggressive​ -could be another variable causing both variables (low SES in this case)

Personality perspective on development

Freud's Psychosexual stages of development; Personality Structure​ -Freud had a developmental theory in which kids go through a series of stages Erikson's Psychosocial Theory ​

Darley & Latane (1969)​ Study

Impetus was the kitty genovese case​ -three groups (random assignment)​ -group size manipulated— IV​ -helping behavior measured—DV​ METHOD: Bystander Effect​: -regardless of group size there is only 1 participant​ -deception — told that they were there to discuss problems of college students in a candid way​ -at some point a "victim" begins having a seizure​ -the real study question of interest is whether participants call for help or not​ -cover story: what participants are told operational definitions​ -helping behavior: outcome of interest​ -in this case: coming to get the researchers when victim begins having a seizure​ -hypothesis: helping behavior would vary based on number of people believed to be present​ -had groups of 2, 4, or 6 ​ -that was the independent variable: whether or not the participants believed they were in a group with just the "victim" or with other people in groups​ RESULTS: -people alone with the victim where more likely to help​ -with 2 other people = helped at 60%​ -with 4 other people = helped at 31%​ -bystander effect: when theres more people around they think that other people with intervene and help the person, but if theres only one or two people then they will do the helping themselves​

Lifespan Development Psychology​

The field of study that examines patterns of growth, change, and stability in behavior that occur throughout the entire life span​ -Psychology in the context of specific periods of time​ -Particular researchers often become experts in one developmental period​ -Some development proceeds very similarly across gender, culture, ethnicity​ -Some developmental periods take very different trajectories depending on a variety of variables​ -Development is not set in stone, deterministic...​ Some developmental events standout​

Sampling​

Why the sample matters...​ -representativeness: sample should be representative of the population you want to study​ -random sampling​ -literary digest magazine accurately predicted the outcome for every presidential election since 50s ​ -they predicted in 1936 that alf landon would win but he didn't and they did a random digit dial survey of who they'd vote for​ -this was during the great depression so many had to give up their phones due to money; republicans had more money so its more likely that they still had their phones so they got more republicans in the study​ -they predicted wrong bc they didn't accurately sample the population ​

You need to consider Your Sample ​

Why the sample matters...​ ​A study found: -98% dissatisfied with marriage​ -75% had extra-marital affair​ -BUT Only 4% responded​ to survey sent out Second study found: -Same survey done with random sample found 93% satisfied with marriage​ -you can only say something meaningful about your data if it is representative about the population you want to study​ -the problem with her data reported is that only 4% of the people who received the survey responded to it​ -you dont know anything about that 96% so you don't really have anything meaningful to say ​ -they redid this study in washington newspost and found 93% of people indicated that they were satisfied​ -so with a representative sample the findings were completely different​

Is development continuous or does it occur in steps?​ ​

how does development unfold?​ -continuous development: unfold over the course of time​ -a tree just becomes a bigger tree overtime but its not fundamentally changing in its treeness its just growing to be bigger​ -discontinuous development: a caterpillar goes through significantly different stages of development where at the end of that period its something very different than what it started as​ -each stage is different than the stage prior to it and the transition to the new stage is going to be different than the stage you were just in

Freud's Structure of Personality​

there are 3 levels of consciousness related to the ways people process info​ -we could be acutely aware of things (conscious) -Preconscious: Just​ under awareness;​ easily known -able to be known if someone draws our attention to them but were just not thinking about them at the moment -Unconscious: Well​ below awareness;​ Difficult to know ​but very influential -the driving force behind a lot of our behavior but its so unconscious to us that we really didn't have access to it (don't have ability to understand our own behaviors because it was driven by forces outside of our conscious awareness)​ -much of what drives personality is at the unconscious level and it needs to stay there because if a lot of our unconscious urges and desires (mostly directed towards sex and aggression) became present in our conscious minds it would be overwhelmingly anxiety provoking and cause us psychic distress​ -he believed that things that happen in the ID are filtered so by the time they get to the ego they are expressed in a different more acceptable form to the conscious self -ego: reality principle (part of personality that works with the things were dealing with in the moment)​ -were always dealing with the influences of the ID and superego​ -at birth all we really are is an ID​ -ID: Functions on 'pleasure principle'​; Immediate gratification of needs to reduce tension & discomfort regardless of consequences -immediate needs and desires for gratification and don't care about others (its all about satisfying ones own needs)​ -babies cry signals needs or discomfort that needs to be addressed​ -first part of the personality to emerge but it continues throughout life but changes once we become more linguistic and are able to label our ID desires​ -superego: Functions on 'idealistic principle'​ -Our moral guide/conscience​ -Influenced by internalizing our parents' values & the voice of society​ -Works against the Id by inflicting guilt​ -Begins developing when child begins identifying with same sex parent​ -doesn't develop until phallic period of development ​ -its our moral component of personality​ -emerges when you have identification with same sex parent and you begin to internalize their values and morals​ -it becomes an internal guidance about the ways were supposed to behave in society, the proper and acceptable forms of behavior that we all understand when were older​ -the superego can diminish the demands of the ID by inflicting guilt upon it