developmnetal psychology ch1

What is developmental psychology?

A type of psychology, which deals with behavioural changes within persons across the lifespan and differences/similarities among people.

What does developmental psychology deal with?

1. Behavioural changes within persons across the lifespan.

2. Differences among persons.

3. Similarities among persons.

4. Explaining the nature of changes.

What are the basic periods of life we distinguish?

1. Prenatal period

2. Infancy

3. Preschool period

4. Middle childhood

5. Adolescence

6. Emerging adulthood

7. Early adulthood

8. Middle adulthood

9. Late adulthood

Prenatal period

Conception to birth

Infancy

First 2 years of life (first month is neonatal or newborn period)

Preschool period

2-5 years (some describe children 1-3 years as toddlers, beginning of walking)

Middle school

6 to about 10 years (or until the onset of puberty)

Adolescence

Approximately 10-18 years (or from puberty to independence)

Emerging adulthood

18-25 or even 29 years - transitional period

Early adulthood

25-40 years - established adult roles

Middle adulthood

40-65 years

Late adulthood

65 years and older, but there are more categories based on functioning

Two phases of old age:

1. Young old: 60/65-80 years: still relatively healthy and active, but varies by individual

2. Old-old: 80 years on: Increased risk for physical and cognitive problems, also varies by individual

What develops when?

Biological age is never responsible for and thus doesn’t explain changes.

Changes can only be correlated with age - vehicle of change.

The scale of development:

Variability = short term changes that are more or less reversible

Change = more or less enduring, variability can predict change

Variability vs change on a graph

How can we investigate development?

1. Cross-sectional designs: individuals of different ages measured at the same point in time → How we measure differences.

2. Longitudinal designs: same individuals in different points → How we measure change.

What are the challenges for cross-sectional design?

Age effects confounded with cohort effects.

Cohort effects - differences in developmentally relevant variables that arise from non-age related facts to which all people from the cohort were exposed to.

What are the challenges for longitudinal designs?

Time of measurement effect confounded with age-related effects.

Time of measurement effects - effects of historical events and trends occurring when the data is being collected on observed results.

Cross-sectional designs: Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages: Economic in time, rather cheap, shows similarities and differences between age group

Disadvantages: No information on individual trajectories, cohort effects confound, limited generalisability to other times of measurement

Longitudinal designs: Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages: True assessment of intraindividual change, assessment of stability and change of developmental characteristics

Disadvantages: Time of measurement effects/test-retest/attrition bias, limited generalisability to other cohorts, long duration, high costs

Combining cross-sectional and longitudinal designs

Sequence models

Assessment methods

• Self-report vs report by proxy → Interview, Questionnaire, Diary

• Behavioural observation (naturalistic vs structured)

• Standardised Tests/Test batteries (comparison to norms)

• Physiology (EEG, heart rate, eye tracking, sucking duration)

Research designs

• Case study

• Correlational design

• Experimental design

Research challenges

In age groups like elders and children some measurements may differ from young adults:

• Speech reception and production

• Sensorimotor abilities

• Suggestibility

• Attention span/Fatigue

• Subjective meaning of concepts

• Proportion of undiagnosed clinical impairment

How can we adjust methods to abilities of individual?

• Age-adjusted task material

• Oral responses instead of written

• Non verbal task material

• Structured observation, physiological methods or report by proxy

• Is the selectivity of sample representative

• Response bias: Social desirability, accuracy-speed trade-off, stereotypes

Infant research:

1. Orientation response

2. Habituation: slow, changed, or stopped response to repeated presentation of the same stimulus

3. Dishabituation: Increase in response to a new stimulus or habituated stimulus after introducing a deviant

How to measurement a response by an infant?

• Sucking preference

• Head turn preference

• Paired visual preference

Assumption: If an infant does those, it is interested. If not, it’s not.

How does age stereotype threat influence results?

Study design:

Same study material, but different instructions. Two conditions:

1. Reading ability

2. Memory ability

Affects older people, as they think that their memory is bad and perform worse.

Principles of lifespan psychology - Development is…

1. Lifelong: Throughout the whole life, not only during childhood or infancy.

2. Multidisciplinary: Human development has to be seen in a multidisciplinary way → Biologists, Neuroscientists, Historians, Economists etc.

3. Multidirectionality: Development is not a universal process leading in one direction, not only more mature functioning, but different features beginning to appear at different times.

4. Gain-loss dynamic: Development always consists of the joint occurrence of growth and decline

5. Plasticity and constraints: Vulnerable individuals are the most vulnerable in aversive environments and may benefit in positive.

6. Historical embeddedness: Development is strongly shaped by sociocultural conditions and history - cohort and time of measurement effects

7. Contextual development influences: Basic determinants - biological and environmental interactions + normative age graded/normative history graded/non-normative → interaction

Multidirectionality:

Gains and losses

Plasticity and constraints

Contextual development influences: Influences on Development

Development is shaped by biological, environmental, and their interaction. These determinants influence development through:

• Normative Age-graded influences (e.g., puberty, schooling)

• Normative History-graded influences (e.g., wars, pandemics)

• Non-normative influences (e.g., accidents, unique personal events

  These influences interact over ontogenetic time (individual lifespan).