Intro, Theories, Research Designs

Lifespan Growth & Development - Exam 1 (2/24/26)

Nature:

The influence of genetic inheritance and biological factors on a person’s behavior, personality, and development.

Nurture:

The influence of environmental factors—such as family, culture, education, and life experiences—on a person’s behavior, personality, and development.

Multidirectional:

A concept of development stating that growth involves both gains and losses, and different aspects of development can increase while others decline at the same time.

Multicontextual:

A concept of development stating that a person’s growth is influenced by many different contexts, including family, culture, socioeconomic status, historical time, and community.

Normative Experience:

Usual or expected experience that most people in a particular group have, which contributes to typical patterns of development.

Non-Normative Experience:

Unusual or unexpected life events that are not typical for most people and can strongly influence an individual’s development.

Plasticity:

The ability of the brain and behavior to change and adapt in response to experience, learning, or environmental influences.

Socioeconomic status:

A measure of a person’s or family’s social and economic position, often based on income, education, and occupation, which can influence development, behavior, and life opportunities.

SES Influence Development:

Shapes access to resources, cognitive growth, emotional well-being, social opportunities, and long-term outcomes.

Cohort:

a group of people who share a common characteristic or experience within a defined period.

Erikson Psychosocial Stage - Infancy:

0-1 years old

Trust vs Mistrust

Erikson Psychosocial Stage - Early Childhood

1-3 years old

Autonomy vs Shame & Doubt

Erikson Psychosocial Stage - Preschool

3-6 years old

Initiative vs Guilt

Erikson Psychosocial Stage - School Age

6-12 years old

Industry vs Inferiority

Erikson Psychosocial Stage - Adolescence

12-18 years old

Identity vs Role confusion

Erikson Psychosocial Stage - Young Adulthood

18-40 years old

Intimacy vs Isolation

Erikson Psychosocial Stage - Middle Adulthood

40-65 years old

Generativity vs Stagnation

Erikson Psychosocial Stage - Late Adulthood

65 years old - Death

Integrity vs Despair

Sociocultural Theory of Development:

Emphasizes the importance of culture and interaction in the development of cognitive abilities.

Zone Of Proximal Development:

the range of tasks that a child cannot do alone but can accomplish with help from a more knowledgeable person.

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development - Sensorimotor

0-2 years old

Object permanence develops

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development - Preoperational

2-7 years old

Theory of mind

Language

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development - Concrete Operational

7-11 years old

Logical thinking (conservational)

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development - Formal Operational

11-Adulthood

Abstract thinking

Behaviorism:

A psychological approach that focuses on observable behavior rather than internal thoughts or feelings.

Bandura’s Social Learning Theory - Explain children’s learning/social development? 

Children learn behaviors, attitudes, and social skills by observing others and by modeling/imitation

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory - Microsystem

Immediate environment the child interacts w/ directly

Family, school, Peers, Neighborhood

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory - Mesosystem

Interaction of the microsystem

Parent-teacher interactions, Family-friend relationships

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory - Exosystem

Indirect environment that affects the child

Parents’ workplace, community services, mass media

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory - Macrosystem

Broader culture, social, economic context

Laws, cultural values, societal norm

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory - Chronosystem

Changes over time that influences development

Divorce, moving to new city, historical events.

Butterfly Effect:

a concept from chaos theory that suggests small changes or events can have large, unpredictable consequences over time.

The story of 13-year-old Genie is an example of a way that we can learn about the consequences of deprivation (and possibly trauma) upon development.

Her story is an example of: 

Case Study

If I go to several Starbucks coffee shops in Houston and distribute 10,000 surveys about childhood experiences and attempt to publish the results in the Houston Chronicle, claiming that this is “Texas’ Upbringing”,

Is there anything wrong with my methods?

Sampling Bias - You went to Starbucks in Houston, which customers tends to be younger and be more affluent, as well as be heavily bias towards those who visit Starbucks.

Convenient Sampling - You only went to Starbucks coffee chain and not random coffee shops

Naturalistic Observations:

A research method where a researcher observes subjects in their normal environment without interference or manipulation to see how people/animals behave naturally.

Naturalistic Observation Limitations

Limitations include having no control over variables, Observer bias, reactivity, and replicating the same result. 

Clinical Interview:

Flexible, Open-ended questions

Can be followed up

individual experiences

Structured Interview:

Fixed set questions

No follow up

Standardized, comparable data

Hawthorne Effect

The phenomenon where people change their behavior because they know they are being observed.

Hawthorn Effect - Why would it be a problem for researchers if they were attempting to study children’s use of table manners by attending family dinners?

Children may use better table manners than they normally would because they know they are being watched. This makes the results inaccurate and not a true reflection of their everyday behavior.

Which one of these is the strongest correlation?

-.40

 Let’s assume that a correlation of -.79 between self-esteem and delinquency in adolescence exists. This statistic tells us: 

The lower an adolescent’s self-esteem, the more likely he or she is to be delinquent.

“Correlation does not equal “__________” What does this mean?

Causation

Independent Variable:

The variable that is manipulates or changes in an experiment to see its effect on another variable.

Ex: The Rx

Dependent Variable:

The variable that is measured or observed in an experiment, it changes in response to the independent variable. (Outcome)

Ex: The BP

If I am conducting a placebo-controlled study of the effect of sleep deprivation on test performance.

what are the: IV & DV? 

Placebo / Sleep Deprivation

Do people who drink diet sodas score higher on psychology tests compared to those who do not drink diet sodas?

What are the: IV & DV?

Drinking/ Not drinking Diet Soda / Score on Psychology Test

Blind Study:

The participants do not know which group they are in

Double Blind Study:

Both the participants and researchers interacting with them don’t know who is in which group.

Longitudinal Design:

A research method in psychology where the same participants are studied repeatedly over a long period of time, which could be months, years, or even decades.

Cross-Sectional Design:

A research method in psychology where different groups of people are studied at one single point in time.

Let’s say that NYU wanted to study academic outcomes of students who were in their freshman year during the attacks of 9/11. If they followed this group of individuals over a period of 15 years, asking them to complete interviews/surveys periodically during this time frame, what kind of research design are they using? 

Longitudinal Design

Measures of Central Tendency

Mean

Measures of Central Tendency

Median

Measures of Central Tendency

Mode

Mean:

The Average

Median:

The Middle

Mode:

The value that appears most often

When would you Not want to use the MEAN as your primary measure of central tendency? 

It is sensitive to any outliers in the data, it's not reliable for skewed data, The data is nominal, the data is ordinal