PSY 234 Exam 1

Biblical times

Discipline and punish; gender roles; kids "born evil"

Ancient Greece

Supervise and teach; education is important; taught kids what is right after they were bad

Ancient Rome

Patriarchy and replenish; fathers had control over families; replenish the earth with more kids

Medieval times

Infant to adult, no in between; debate if kids are born evil or innocent

Renaissance-Tudor

Formalized schools, emphasis on education; stratified class systems; kids are untrustworthy and forgetful

New World (America)

Puritans-- instruction and discipline; Quakers-- age of reason (kids don't know right from wrong)

The Republic

-Two sides of the coin of how to treat kids, but they should still be loved
-Temperament; Parents began to seek advice
-regional behaviors

Children of science

Began actually studying kids and parenting styles

Embryology

Developmental psych grew out of this, study of the growth of embryos

Preformism

Everything is formed early, change is only in size. Homunculus: already formed tiny human

Biogenetic laws

-Ontogeny: embryo>> infancy>> onward; what does this growth look like?
-Phylogeny: evolutionary development of a species across time
-Recapitulation: they mimic each other; how we look as an infant is what we looked like early in evolution

William Preyer

Observation method

Alfred Binet

We can measure memory and intelligence

G. Stanley Hall

Questionnaire method

Middle and Modern era contributions

Middle period:
-specific areas developing
-Longitudinal methods
Modern era:
-Attachment theory (socioemotional development)
-Info processing approach (addition of computers)

Self-report method

The person we're studying reports info about themself
ex: recording how many times a day they do a specific behavior

Others' report method

Typically parents, teachers, and peers report info about the subject(s) we are studying
ex: peer report with class nomination

Naturalistic observation

The researcher goes to where the participant naturally is and doesn't change anything about the environment
ex: going to a playground to see what playstyles are present

Contrived observation

The researcher changes or controls something in the environment that wouldn't normally happen and then observes the results
ex: experiments in a lab/clinical setting

Issues in collecting data

Consent: for adolescents, both parental consent and child assent
School-based: approval process

Descriptive research design

Sets up for future studies, or does basic population measures
-Looks at one variable

Correlational research design

Something on a scaled variable nature being related to another factor
-More than one dimension

Experimental research design

Some variable that the researcher controls (measuring dependent and independent variables)

Goal of a time-span design

To find age or developmental effects
-How does this factor differ between age groups?

Cohort effects

A difference in the groups surveyed rather than the age

Time of measurement effects

Something happened between the times of measurement, and that event contributed to the difference, rather than the age

Developmental/age effects

Occurs among all cohorts independently of time period, showing that it is because of the age and development

Cross-sectional time span design

Measures groups of different ages at the same point in time
-Pros: Very quick to collect data
-Cons: Cohort effects, no info about individual development

Longitudinal time span design

Takes one cohort and measures them at multiple points in time
-Pros: Shows individual development, less cohort effects
-Cons: Long time to gather data, time of measurement effects, attrition (loss of participants over time), testing effects (do they remember the last test they took)

Sequential time span design

Combines cross-sectional and longitudinal; multiple cohorts of different age groups measured over time
-Can pick apart cohort and time of measurement effects b/c there are multiple groups followed over time

Twin studies in developmental research

Monozygotic (identical twins) and dizygotic (fraternal, 50% of genes) looked at
-Heavily biological factors to see the effects of genes vs. the environment

Qualitative research methods

-Ethnography: focuses on a particular culture-- what are the customs, traditions, etc.
-Case study: in-depth study of one person or small group; looks at rare phenomenon

Views of the state of nature

-Hobbes/Christianity: innately evil
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau: innately good
-John Locke: can't say there's a state of nature; blank slate

Passive vs. active debate

Passive: determinism, predestined, no individual influence
Active: free will, we make our own choices

Continuous vs. discontinuous debate

Continuous: development is slow until it peaks
Discontinuous: steps or stages or development

Quantitative vs. qualitative debate

What do the developmental changes look like? Are they something that can be counted or numerically measured (quantitative)? Or is it the type or kind of something changing (qualitative)?

Universal vs. particularistic debate

Are the developmental changes occurring the same for everyone (universal)? Or are there individualistic factors that apply to certain groups?

Nature vs. nurture debate

What is the impact of biological/genetic components on development vs. more social/environmental aspects (nurture)?

Parents vs. peers debate

New 6th debate?
Larger peer influence, lesser parental influence

Psychoanalytic theory

-Emphasis on social aspects/crises that influence us rather than sexual unconscious influences (Freud)
-Lifespan perspective, smaller time periods
-Psychosocial crises that impacts the next stage of development
-Identity development

Behaviorism

-Passive role in development, fully learning from the direction of the environment
-Behavior comes from "training" during development

Social cognitive theory

Bandura's theory: learning via imitating others' behaviors
Observational learning: our environment impacts how/what we learn

Ecological theory

Bronfenbrenner's theory: relationship depends on individual and environmental systems interacting

Systems of Bronfenbrenner's theory

-Microsystem: very close to individual (family, friends, school)
-Mesosystem: things within microsystem influence one another (where we live >> where we go to school)
-Exosystem: things on a week/month basis (your parents' jobs)
-Macrosystem: global or national level (cultures, laws)
-Chronosystem: changes across time impacting other systems (moving away, graduation, parents' divorce)

Ethological theory

Biology/evolution and environment set things up
-Survival of self

Evolutionary theory

-Very long process of evolution
-Natural selection, adaptations

Puberty

Going through biological changes to allow for sexual reproduction

What initiates puberty?

Endocrine system secretes and sends out hormones throughout the body

Hypothalamus

GnRH releasing hormone; body fat trigger

Pituitary gland

Follicle stimulating hormone; triggers start of menstruation

Gonads

Sex hormones
-Males: testes and adrenal glands (androgens)
-Females: ovaries (estrogens)

Feedback loop + set point

Feedback loop for hormones that tells the body how much is in circulation; set point shows what levels of hormones the body sees on average

Pineal gland

Melatonin shift-- adolescents stay up later and sleep in more (policy implication for starting school later!)

Growth spurt

-Overall height
-Muscle growth for boys
-Body fat for girls

Primary sex characteristics

Directly related to being able to sexually reproduce
ex: menstruation, testes/sperm growth

Secondary sex characteristics

A result of puberty, doesn't directly impact reproduction
ex: breast growth, facial hair

Other pubertal changes

-Growth of the heart (more for boys)
-Growth within lung capacity (more for boys)
-Athletic ability

Pubertal timing

-Early maturation: better effects for boys; negative effects for girls
-Late maturation: neither good or bad for boys; positive for girls

Parental relations observation study

-Physical contact decreased over time through adolescence for boys and girls
-Verbal aspect increased in beginning of adolescence then stayed the same with girls; increased in middle school then decreased in high school for boys

Menarche and semenarche

Girls more likely to think negatively of menarche, but are more open to talking about it
Boys don't talk about semenarche very much

Traditional puberty rituals

Asante: celebration ceremony for first menstruation
Mikveh (Orthodox Jews): cleansing pool after first menstruation

Amhara (Ethiopia): boys have whipping content to leave scars
Samoan culture: boys get intricate tattoos

Reaction range

Your genes set up a range of when something is going to happen or what the outcome is
Wide range means environment has a great impact

Genotype environmental correlations

Cannot separate genes and environment; they have direct and indirect influence on development
-Passive: parents pass on genes and create an environment from those genes; goes down
-Evocative: an individual's genes directly impacts their behavior and then influences other people; stays the same
-Active: genes predispose behaviors, and an individual then seeks out environments that fall into these predispositions; goes up

Historical accounts of adolescence

-Plato and Aristotle: infancy (1-7), childhood (7-14), adolescence (14-21)
-1500-1800: "apprenticeship"; adult= married or owning land
-1700-1890: "social blight"; YMCA
-1890-1920: "adolescence emerges"; industrial revolution>> child labor and education laws

Social construction perspective

Adolescence was "invented"
-Impacted by industrial revolution and protectionism

Elongation of adolescence

-Secular trend: nutrition, high-fat diets
-Ending later: more schooling, delaying marriage

Piagetian principles

-Constructivism: more active than passive; interactions with environment teaches other interactions
-Schemes: physical and mental; a unit/aspect of knowledge. ex: good or bad football team
-Adaptation: assimilation>> try to fit new things into our existing schemas; accommodation>> taking into account different characteristics; equilibrium>> the goal

Concrete and formal operational stages

Concrete operational: problem-solving abilities with TRIAL AND ERROR; only think of things that are concrete
Formal operational: problem-solving with HYPOTHETICAL DEDUCTIVE REASONING; thinking of abstract/idealistic things

Criticisms of Piaget's theory

-some abilities develop earlier
-stages are not as "stagelike" and rigid
-training: can teach a child to learn things earlier than the stage they're at

Adolescent egocentrism

-Imaginary audience always watching them
-Personal fable (special and unique)

Vygotsky's sociocultural theory

WHAT and HOW we learn is going to depend on the culture
-Emphasis on social interaction