3.1 Themes and Methods in Developmental Psychology

What does developmental psychology study?

Physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development throughout the lifespan

What do cross-sectional studies do?

Compare people of different ages at the same point in time

What do longitudinal studies do?

Follow and retest same people over time

What are developmental psychologists especially interested in?

How people become who they are and how they continue to change across the lifespan

Three core themes of developmental psychology:

Nature and nurture, continuity and stages, and stability and change

Research strategies used in developmental psychology:

Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies

What does nature and nurture ask?

How genetic inheritance interacts with life experiences

What is genetic inheritance also called?

Nature

What are life experiences also called?

Nurture

What do genes provide?

Blueprint for shared human traits and individual differences

What shape how genetic potential is expressed?

Families, peers, culture, broader social contexts

According to the nature and nurture theme, what does development emerge from?

Interaction of biological, psychological, and social-cultural forces

According to the nature and nurture theme, does nature or nurture stand alone?

No

What does the continuity and stages theme ask?

Whether development is gradual and continuous or unfolds in abrupt stages

Metaphor for continuous development:

Riding escalator

Metaphor for stages development:

Climbing ladder rungs

What do researchers who emphasize learning and experience often view development as?

Smooth, cumulative process

What do researchers who emphasize biological maturation propose about development?

It is made up of sequences of predisposed stages

Examples of stages theories:

Piaget’s cognitive stages and Erikson’s psychosocial stages

What do the predisposed stages during maturation align roughly with?

Brain growth spurts in childhood and puberty

Does real life always fit perfectly into rigid age-linked steps?

No

What does the stability and change theme focus on?

Which traits persist across life and which transform as people age

Which characteristics does evidence show strong stability for?

Temperament and emotionality

Inhibited toddlers tend to become more reserved adults or out-of-control children showing higher risk for later problem behaviors

Which concept is demonstrated above?

Stability in development

Areas where there is substantial change during development:

Social attitudes , coping styles, and personality traits

What do many individuals become from adolescence into childhood?

More conscientious, emotionally stable, agreeable, and self-confident

A study tests 20‑, 40‑, and 60‑year‑olds on the same cognitive task to infer age-related differences.

Which concept is demonstrated above?

Cross-sectional study

What are cross-sectional studies efficient for?

Mapping age trends and quickly contrasting developmental outcomes across ages

What can cross-sectional studies not do?

Track how any one individual changes over time

Why can’t cross-sectional studies track how any one individual changes over time?

Differences may reflect generational effects as well as age

What are generational effects also called?

Cohort effects

What do longitudinal forces allow researchers to see?

How early traits relate to later outcomes

Examples of later outcomes of early traits:

Career success or relationship quality

What do longitudinal studies provide rich evidence about?

Stability and change across lifespan

Cons of longitudinal studies:

Time-consuming and resource-intensive