AP Psychology Myers' 4th Edition Unit 3.1 Themes and Methods in Developmental Psychology

3.1 -1 Explain three themes that have engaged developmental psychologists and two methods they typically use to study human development over time.

Developmental Psychology: they study of how we change physically, socially, and cognitively through our lives
Cross-sectional studies: research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time
- Ex: an epidemiologist interested in studying the prevalence of a disease among a population utilized cross-sectional studies to gather people with the disease of different ages
Longitudinal studies: research that studies and retests the same group of people over time
- Ex: the Harvard Study of Adult Development has been collecting data on a group of Boston men for over 80 years

The 3 Themes in Development Psychology

Nature vs Nurture	Continuity and Stages	Stability and Change
how does our nature influence our development vs our nurture	what stages of development are continuous (like an escalator) vs abrupt (like a staircase)?	what traits remain and how do we change with age?

“We are not formed by either nature or nurture, but by the interaction between them.”

AP Psych Textbook

Stage Theories:

Jean Piaget - cognitive development

Erik Erikson - psychosocial development

temperament expresses stability
- Ex: the happiest smilers in highschool photos tended to have longer lasting marriages
whereas social attitude express change
End of history illusion: when people recognize they have changed a lot but presume they will change little in the future

3.1 -1 Explain three themes that have engaged developmental psychologists and two methods they typically use to study human development over time.