AP Psychology - Unit 3.1 Themes and Methods in Developmental Psychology

Developmental Psychology

• branch of psychology that focuses on how people grow and change throughout their lives

• observes changes in behavior, thinking, and feelings throughout an individual’s lifespan

Chronological Order

focuses on how people develop in a sequence as they age

research is centered around the different life stages a person will go through;

• infancy

• childhood

• adolescence

• adulthood

Thematic Issues

• focuses on specific themes and topics that span across a person’s lifetime

• the different themes focus on different questions/issues that persist in an individual’s life instead of the particular age of the individual

Nature vs. Nurture

“ are an individual’s traits a result of their heredity or environment?”

• heredity (nature) = the predisposed characteristics that influence a person’s physical, mental, and behavioral processes

• environment (nurture) = the external factors or experiences that shape an individual

modern research suggests that people’s characteristics are formed by the interaction between nature and nurture

Continuous vs. Discontinuous

“is physical, mental, and/or behavioral development a gradual, continuous process or a series of distinct stages?”

• psychologists who emphasize the importance of experience and learning generally see development as a continuous process

• psychologists who emphasize the significance of biological maturation see development as a discontinuous process

people who see development as a discontinuous process believe that everyone goes through the same stages in the same order, but not necessarily at the same rate

Stability and Change

“do our earlier personality traits persist through life or do we become different persons as we age?”

• innate reactivity (temperament) and self-regulation show an overall consistency

• social attitudes are inclined to change, especially during the late adolescent years

Twin Studies

an effective way to study nature-nurture

• identical twins have the same genotype

• fraternal twins have an average of 50% of their genes in common

Adoption Studies

an effective way to study nature-nurture

• similarities with biological family support nature

• similarities with the adoptive family support nurture

Cross-Sectional Research

involves studying and comparing different groups of people at different ages all at the same time

benefits;

• gathers data quickly

• less expensive

downsides;

• can’t demonstrate any relationship between variables

• can’t show change over time

• susceptible to the cohort effect

Cohort

a group of individuals who share common characteristics, typically sharing the same experience

Cohort Effect

the influence of a shared historical context on the attitudes, behaviors, and development of a generation

• can impact the results of studies as cultural factors can cause variation instead of the differences between the age groups

Longitudinal Research

involves studying, following, and retesting the same group of people over a long period of time

benefits;

• gives insight into changes and patterns that occur over an extended period of time

• shows cause-and-effect relationships

downsides;

• costly to run

• requires a lot of resources and time

• can suffer from patient attrition

Patient Attrition

the gradual reduction of the number of participants in a research study

Epigenetics

• the study of how changes in a person’s appearance or gene expression can be caused by environmental mechanisms or their behavior.