Goals, Theories, Methods

Chapter 1: Goals and theories; methods & Chapter 1: Methods

What are the 3 goals of developmental science?

Describe development

Explain development

Apply

Qualitative change with example

A gradual change over time

Ex: Coral reef fish

Quantitative change with example

A series of distinct stages

Ex: Frog

Is the distinction between Qualitative change and Quantitative change clear cut?

Nope.

• Reading, writing: quantitative?

• Motor skills: qualitative?

What are 3 other variables that can describe individual differences in development?

• Age onsets

• Rates of change: people develop at different speeds

• Forms of skill: people are taught different skills depending on their culture

Developmental Stability

Whether children who are low or high on a certain characteristic (at a particular point in time) are also low or high at other times

Developmental Plasticity

The impressive capacity of humans to adapt to changing environments and experiences

Can Nature and Nurture be used to explain development?

Yes

Nature

Biological endowment and genes

Nurture

Environmental influences

• social and physical

What is the either-or debate in nature and nurture?

Debates how nature and nurture interact

• used to be centred on which one is more powerful & that only one is responsible

What did the children adopted from inadequate orphanages in Russia show about child development?

Human nature is sufficiently flexible, but the timing of experiences is also important

• First 6 months

What are developmental cascades?

Change of one kind can have positive or negative cascading effects on other kinds of changes, immediately or later (A “whole child”)

What are the two types of Developmental Cascades?

1. Cascades within time

2. Cascades over time

Cascades within time with example

Simultaneous influences across domains or between the developing child and environment/experiences.

Ex: language and emotional expression

Ex: temperament and parental control

Cascades over time with example

Changes at one period result in changes at a later period in the same or different domain

Ex: early parenting quality and later academic/emotional development

Applying developmental sciences: Raising children

Knowledge and information to help parents and teachers in rearing and educating children

Applying developmental sciences: Helping Children.

+how long does it last?

Knowledge to help children manage anger and other negative emotions

• Last for at least 2 years

Applying developmental science: Policies

Knowledge permits informed decisions about social-policy questions that affect children

History: Plato vs Aristotle in the Nature-Nurture debate

Plato: Innate knowledge. Self control, and discipline

Aristotle: Knowledge comes from experience. Fitting to the needs of the individual child

What is Thomas Hobbes’ original sin theory?

Children are inherently bad and passive creatures

• Competitive passions that must be controlled with self discipline

What is Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Innate Purity theory?

Children are inherently good and actively involved in development

What is John Locke’s blank slate theory?

Children are entirely and passively shaped by experience

Who is Stanley Hall? What did he do?

• The founder of developmental psychology

• He did questionnaire and large-scale scientific investigation

Theoretical Orientation: What are the 4 foundational orientations?

1. Evolutionary - Charles Darwin

2. Psychodynamic - Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson

3. Behaviourism - John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner

4. Constructivism - Jean Piaget

What are the 6 contemporary theories?

1. Nativism - Elizabeth Spelke

2. Social learning - Albert Badura

3. Information processing - Robert Kail

4. Developmental systems - Linda Smith, Esther Thelen

5. Bio-ecological - Urie Bronfenbrenner

6. Sociocultural - Lev Vygotsky

Evolutionary theory - Charles Darwin

Behaviours come from innate biological tendencies that ensure human survival

• Natural selection, survival of the fittest

Psychodynamic theory - Sigmund Freud

Psychosexual stage theory

Personality: ID, ego, superego

Psychodynamic theory: Erik Erikson

8 stages of psychosocial development (this vs this)

Behaviourism: John Watson

Classical conditioning

Learning - B.F. Skinner

Operant conditioning (positive/negative reinforcement/punishment)

Constructivism - Jean Piaget

Theory of cognitive development

• children actively construct their understanding of the world through 4 stages

Contemporary theories: Nativist

Humans are born with innate cognitive capacites

Social Learning

Builds on operant conditioning

• Observation learning

Information processing (what is the analogy)

The computer analogy

Developmental systems

A complex system with many factors that’s always changing

Bioecological

Effects of multiple layers of environment internal and external to the child

Sociocultural

Social and cultural context of development

Niche: Customs, Settings, caretaker psychology

What are the two main types of research?

1. Hypothesis-driven

2. Discovery-based

Brief description of discovery-based research

Understanding child development without any presuppositions

What are the 4 parts in the scientific method for hyothesis-driven research?

Question

Hypothesis

Study

Data analysis

What are 5 basic methods of data collection?

1. Interview

2. Questionnaire

3. Naturalistic

4. Structured observations

5. Physiological assessment

What are the two techniques in experimental design?

• Experimental control

  • Control or manipulate specific experiences encountered by children

• Random assignment

What are the 4 Quasi-experimental designs?

• Cross-sectional design

• Longitudinal design

• Cohort sequential design

• Microgenetic design

Longitudinal VS Cross-sectional

Longitudinal = same people observed at different ages

Cross sectional = Subjects of different ages observed at the same point in time

Mediator and Attrition

Mediator: Variable that explains how the IV and DV are related

Attrition: People drop out of studies over time which distorts the results

How is Cohort-sequential a mix of longitudinal and cross-sectional?

It observes people of different age groups over time

Microgenetic studies

Closely spaced observation of children to track processes that make the developmental changes