Developmental Psychology and Research Methods Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering human development domains, contexts, research designs, and theory evaluation criteria from the lecture notes.

Biosocial Domain

A domain of development covering all growth and change that occurs in the body, where genetic health and nutrition exert an effect.

Cognitive Domain

A domain of development that includes all mental processes used, such as perception, imagination, judgement, and language.

Psychosocial Domain

A domain of development focusing on the development of temperament, social skills, and emotions.

Plasticity

The capacity to change over time, where development builds on what came before.

Nature and Nurture

The concept that development is the result of the interaction between biology (nature) and environmental influences (nurture).

Multidirectional

The characteristic of development where every aspect of life is dynamic rather than static, moving up, down, remaining stable, or being erratic.

Dynamic System

A system connected to the environment and other developments.

Cohort Group

A group of same-aged individuals who experience the same things together.

Social Constructions

Ideas that are built on shared perception.

Socioeconomic Context

A context of development defined by education, income, and neighborhoods.

Cultural Context

A dynamic set of values, assumptions, and customs that influence development.

Multicultural Timing Differences

Universal development patterns that differ across cultures in terms of timing, such as children in Uganda learning to walk earlier than other groups.

Correlational Studies

A research strategy that involves relating two or more things together; it never reveals causation.

Representative Sample

A small subset of a population that reflects the key characteristics of the entire group.

Naturalistic Observation

A direct, unfiltered measurement strategy that involves directly watching behavior naturally, though people may act differently when watched.

Self Report Strategy

An approach such as giving a survey to evaluate behavior, which quickly provides data but contains biases.

Observer Report

An evaluation completed by a knowledgeable person, such as a parent or teacher, providing a structured look at behavior but subject to the observer's own biases.

Experiment

A research method involving randomly assigning people to different treatments to rule out competing biases and determine if something causes something else.

Cross Sectional Study

A research method comparing different age groups at the same time on measures of interest to measure group differences rather than individual differences.

Longitudinal Studies

Research testing the same individuals over the years as they age, requiring a tremendous amount of work, effort, and expense.

Cross Sequential Research

A research methodology studying many groups of people of different ages, combining cross-sectional and longitudinal designs.

Meta Analysis

A research method involving collapsing the results of every study to prove a finding is overall positive.

Quantitative Research

Research conducted using groups of people and statistical tests.

Qualitative Research

Research conducting in-depth interviews instead of numerical comparisons.

Theories

Ideas that help explain and predict things, forming the basis of hypotheses tested by research studies.

Parsimonious

A criterion for evaluating theories based on whether the theory is simple to understand.

Broad Theory

A theory evaluation criterion assessing whether a theory explains a lot of information.

Generative Theory

A theory evaluation criterion assessing whether a theory contributes to the production of more ideas and research.