Developmental Psychology Test 1 (ch. 1-6)
Clinical, or case study, method
A full picture of one individual's psychological functioning, obtained by combining interviews, observations, and test scores. Provides rich, descriptive insights into factors that affect development. May be biased by researchers' theoretical preferences. Findings can't be applied to individual other than participant.
Infant Stages of Arousal
Regular sleep: infant is at full rest and shows little or
Period of the Zygote (weeks and major events)
Week 1: zygote forms blastocyst Week 2: blastocyst attachment. Formation of the amnion, chorion, yolk sac, placenta, and umbilical cord begin.
Second Trimester
Weeks 13-24 (12"): Fetus continues to enlarge rapidly. In the middle of this period, fetal movements can be felt by mother. Vernix and lanugo keep skin from chapping in amniotic fluid. Most of brain's neurons present by 24 wks. Eyes sensitive to light, fetus reacts to sound.
Third Trimester
Weeks 25-28 (20"): fetus has a chance of survival if born during this time. Size increases. Lungs mature. Rapid brain development causes sensory and behavioral capacities to expand. In middle of this period, layer of fat is added under skin. Antibodies are transmitted from mother to fetus to protect against disease. Most fetuses rotate into an upside-down position in prep for birth.
Period of the Embryo
Weeks 3-4 (0.25": Primitive brain and spinal cord appear. Heart, muscles, ribs, backbone, and digestive tract begin to develop. Weeks 5-8 (1"): Many external body structures (face, arms, legs, fingers, toes) and internal organs form. Sense of touch begins to develop. Embryo can move.
Period of the Fetus
Weeks 9-12 (3"): Rapid increase in size begins. Nervous system, organs, and muscles become organized and connected, and new behavioral capacities (kicking, thumb sucking, etc) appear. External genitals well formed - fetus's sex evident.
psychoanalytic perspective - Erikson's Psychosocial Theory
In addition to mediating between id impulses and superego demands, the ego makes a positive contribution to development, acquiring attitudes and skills at each stage that make the individual an active, contributing member of society Normal development must be understood in relation to each culture's life situation Stages: basic trust versus mistrust (oral, birth-1 yr), autonomy versus shame and doubt (anal, 1-3 yrs), Initiative versus guilt (phallic, 3-6 yrs), Industry versus inferiority (latency, 6-11 yrs), Identity versus role confusion (Genital, adolescence), Intimacy versus isolation (early adulthood), Generativity versus stagnation (middle adutlhood), Integrity versus despair (late adulthood)
Ecological systems theory (table 1.5)
Not specified whether continuous or discontinuous. Many possible courses: biological dispositions join with environmental forces at multiple levels to mold development in unique ways. Both nature and nurture: the individual's characteristics and the reactions of other affect each other in a biderectional fashion. BOTH EARLY AND LATER EXPERIENCES are important.
adoption studies
compares adopted children to both their adoptive and biological parents
twin studies
compares identical and fraternal twins
nonnormative influences
events that are irregular happen to just one person or a few people and do not follow a predictable timetable
age-graded influences
events that are strongly related to age and therefore fairly predictable in when they occur and how long they last eg) getting a drivers license
Active genetic-environmental correlation
niche-picking: as children get older they actively choose environments that complement their heredity. eg) well coordinated child with good muscle tone spends more time at after school sports. Musically talented child joints school orchestra.
Behaviorism
Behaviorism: directly observable events - stimuli and responses - are the appropriate focus of study Watson - inspired by Pavlov Frequency of a behavior can be increased by following it with a wide variety of reinforcers, or it can be decreased through punishment such as disapproval or withdrawal of privileges
Ethology and evolutionary developmental psychology (table 1.5)
Both continuous and discontinuous: Children and adults gradually develop a wider range of adaptive behaviors. Sensitive periods occur in which qualitatively distinct capacities emerge fairly suddenly. One course: adaptive behaviors and sensitive periods apply to all members of a species. Both nature and nurture: Evolution and heredity influence behavior, and learning lends greater flexibility and adaptiveness to it. In sensitive periods, EARLY EXPERIENCES set the course of later development.
Vygotsky's sociocultural theory (table 1.5)
Both continuous and discontinuous: Language development and schooling lead to stagewise changes. Dialogues with more expert members of society also lead to continuous changes that vary from culture to culture. Many possible courses: Socially mediated changes in thought and behavior vary form culture to culture. Both nature and nurture: Heredity, brain growth, and dialogues with more expert members of society jointly contribute to development. Both early and later experiences are important.
Lifespan perspective (table 1.5)
Both continuous and discontinuous: continuous gains and declines and discontinuous, stagewise emergence of new skills. Many possible courses: development is influenced by multiple, interacting biological, psychological, and social forces, many of which vary from person to person, leading to diverse pathways of change. Both nature and nurture: development is multidimensional, affected by an intricate blend of heredity and environmental factors. Emphasizes plasticity at all ages. BOTH EARLY AND LATER EXPERIENCES are important.
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Brings together researchers from psychology, biology, neuroscience, and medicine to study the relationship between changes in the brain and the developing person's cognitive processing behavior patterns.
Piaget's Cognitive-Developmental Theory
Children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their worlds. Structures of the mind develop to better fit with, or represent, the external world. As the brain develops and children's experiences expand, they move through four broad stages, each characterized by qualitatively distinct ways of thinking. Stages: Sensorimotor (birth-2 yrs), preoperational (2-7 yrs), concrete operational (7-11 yrs), formal operational (11 on)
Evocative genetic-environmental correlation
Children evoke responses that are influenced by the child's heredity, and these responses strengthen the child's original style.
Information Processing (table 1.5)
Continuous: children and adults change gradually in perception, attention, memory, and problem solving skills. One course: changes studied characterize most or all children and adults. Both nature and nurture: Children and adults are active, sense-making beings who modify their thinking as the brain grows and they confront new environmental demands. BOTH EARLY AD LATER EXPERIENCES are important.
Behaviorism and social learning theory (table 1.5)
Continuous: development involves an increase in learned behaviors. Many possible courses: behaviors reinforced and modeled may vary from person to person. Emphasis on nurture: Development is the result of conditioning and modeling. BOTH EARLY AND LATER EXPERIENCES are important.
Psychoanalytic perspective (Table 1.5)
Discontinuous: Psychosexual and psychosocial development takes place in states. One course: stages are assumed to be universal. Both nature and nurture: innate impulses are channeled and controlled through child-rearing experiences. EARLY EXPERIENCES set the course of later development.
Piaget's cognitive-developmental theory (table 1.5)
Discontinuous: cognitive development takes place in stages. One course: stages are assumed to be universal. Both nature and nurture: development occurs as the brain grows and children exercise their innate drive to discover reality in a generally stimulating environment. BOTH EARLY AND LATER EXPERIENCES are important
psychoanalytic perspective - Freud's Psychosexual Theory
Emphasizes that how parents manage their child's sexual and aggressive drives in the first few years is crucial for healthy personality development Stages: oral (birth - 1 yr), anal (1-3 yrs), phallic (3-6 yrs), latency (6-11 yrs), genital (adolescence)
Ethology and Evolutionary Developmental Psychology
Ethology: concerned with the adaptive, or survival, value of behavior and its evolutionary history. Sensitive Period: a time that is optimal for certain capacities to emerge and in which the individual is especially responsive to environmental influences. Development can occur later, but it is harder to induce. Evolutionary developmental Psychology: seeks to understand the adaptive value of a specieswide cognitive, emotional, and social competencies as those competencies change with age.
Clinical interview
Flexible interviewing procedure in which the investigator obtains a compete account of the the participant's thoughts. Comes as close as possible to the way participants think in everyday life. Great breadth and depth of info can be obtained in short time. May not result in accurate reporting of info. Comparing responses difficult.
Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory
Focuses on how culture - the values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a social group - is transmitted to the next generation Social Interaction - in particular, cooperative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society - is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a community's culture.
Sequential Studies
Investigator conducts several similar cross-sectional or longitudinal studies (sequences) at varying times. When design includes longitudinal sequences, permits both longitudinal and cross-sectional comparisons. Permits tracking of age related changes. May have the same problems as longitudinal and cross-sectional strategies, but design helps identify difficulties.
Correlational Research Design
Investigator obtains information on the participants without altering their experiences. Permits study of relationships between variables. Does not permit inferences about cause and effect relationships.
Cross-sectional Studies
Investigator studies groups of participants differing in age at the same point in time. More efficient than longitudinal design. Not plagued by dropout and practice effects. Does not permit study of individual development trends. Age difference may be distorted because of cohort effects.
Longitudinal Study
Investigator studies the same group of participants repeatedly at different ages. Permits study of common patterns and individual differences in development and relationships between early and later events and behaviors. Age-related changes may be distorted because of participant dropout, practice effects, and cohort effects.
Structured observation
Observation of a behavior in a laboratory, where conditions are the same for all participants. Grants each participant an equal opportunity to display the behavior of interest. May not yield observations typical of participants' behavior in everyday life.
Naturalistic observation
Observation of behavior in natural contexts. Reflects participants' everyday lives. Cannot control conditions under which participants are observed.
Passive genetic-environmental correlation
Parents provide environments influenced on their own heredity - child has no control over it. eg) parents who are good athletes emphasize outdoor activities and enroll their children in sports - besides being exposed to an athletic environment, the children may have inherited their parents' athleticism. As a result they are likely to become good athletes for both genetic and environmental reasons.
Ethnography
Participant observation of a culture or distinct social group by making extensive field notes the researcher tries to capture the culture's unique values and social processes. Provides a more complete description than can be derived from a single observational visit, interview, or questionnaire. May be biased by researchers' values and theoretical preferences. Findings can't be applied to individuals and settings other than the ones studied.
psychoanalytic perspective
People more through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. How these conflicts are resolved determines a person's ability to learn, to get along with others, and to cope with anxiety
Structured interview, questionnaires, and tests
Self-report instruments in which each participant is asked the same questions in the same way. Permits comparisons of the participants' responses and efficient data collection. Does not yield the same depth of information as a clinical interview. Responses still subject to inaccurate reporting.
Social Learning Theory
Study how children and adults acquire new responses. Bandura: emphasizes modeling, also known as imitation or observational learning, as a powerful source of development. Theory places strong emphasis on how we think about ourselves and other people (social-cognition). Children gradually become more selective in what they imitate - develop personal standards for behavior and a sense of self-efficacy (belief in self). Behavior modification: consists of procedures that combine conditioning and modeling to eliminate undesirable behaviors and increase desirable responses.
Information Processing
The human mind might also be viewed as a symbol-manipulating system through which information flows. From the time information is presented to the senses ans an input until it emerges as a behavioral response at output, information is actively coded, transformed, and organized. The thought processes studied - perception, attention, memory, planning, categorization of info, and comprehension of written and spoken prose - are regarded as similar at all ages but present to a lesser or greater extent.
Experimental Research Design
Through random assignment of participants to treatment conditions, the investigator manipulates an independent variable and examines its effect on a dependent variable. Can be conducted in the lab or the natural environment. Permits inference about cause and effect relationships. When conducted in lab, findings may not generalize to the real world. In the field, control over treatment is usually weaker. In natural or quasi experiments, lack of random assignment reduces precision.
Ecological Systems Theory
Views the person as developing within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment. Microsystem: innermost level of environment consisting of activities and interaction patterns in the person's immediate settings Mesosystem: second level, encompasses connections between microsystems Exosystem: consists of social settings that do not contain the developing person but nevertheless affect experiences in immediate settings. Macrosystem: consists of cultural values, laws, customs, resources Chronosystem: time
discontinuous development
a process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the world emerge at specific times development takes place in stages
continuous development
a process of gradually augmenting the same types of skills that were there to begin with
lifespan perspective
development is: 1) lifelong 2) multidimensional (affected by blend of biological, psychological and social forces) and multidirectional (at every period, development is a joint expression of growth and decline) 3) highly plastic 4) affected by multiple interacting forces
history-graded influences
forces unique to a historical era eg) epidemics, wars, technological advances explain why people born around the same time (cohorts) tend to be alike in ways that set them apart from people born in other times
the normative approach
measures of behavior are taken on large numbers of individuals, and age-related averages are computed to represent typical development
genetic-environmental correlation
our genes influence the environments to which we are exposed
