Unit 1

• 5 perspectives of developmental psych: multidirectional, multicontextual, multicultural, multidisciplinary, plasticity
• Multidirectional dev: Continuity(slow and gradual change) vs discontinuity (irregular and unstable change)

  • Critical period: mostly prenatal, must happen to ensure normal development or certain time when an abnormality in dev might happen
  • Sensitive period: prenatal - 5 years, something has the greatest impact
• Multicontexual dev:

  • social: everyone who influences each individual immediately/over time and directly/indirectly;
  • ecological: Urie's bioecological system
  • historical: Birth cohort (all ppl born within a few years of another)
  • socioeconomics
• Bioecological model:

  • Microecosystems: immediate surroundings (family/peers)
  • Exosystems: local institutions (school/ church)
  • Macrosystems: larger socail settings (culture/politics)
  • Affected by mesosystems (connections btw systems) and chronosystems (history)
• Multicultural dev:

  • sociocultural factors: race, ethnicity, class, gender
  • difference equal deficit aka bias in research
  • differences between and within groups
  • SES
  • Intersectionality
• Multidisciplinary dev:

  • Biological/physical: biology, neuroscience, medicine
  • Cognitive: psych, linguistics, education
  • Psychosocial: economics, sociology, history
• Plasticity in dev:

  • Plasticity: the brain and body's ability to be shaped and molded over time.. most plastic when kids are young
  • Dynamic systems approach: dev is ongoing btwn physical, cognitive, and social; dev is not static and is affected by diff systems
• Start of scientific method:

  • Basic: understand a phenomena and refine theory, more descriptive on what happens
  • Applied: solving problems, improving things in immediate world
• Hypothesis: prediction stated in a way that permits testing; isn't proven, but supported
• 3 basic types of research design: scientific observation, experiment, survey
• Scientific observation: requires researcher to systemically and objectively record behavior

  • need careful definition/operationalization: defining a concept in a way that allows it to be measures
  • Measures reliability (consistent results)
  • Internal consistency (correlation among items aka alpha test)
  • Test retest reliability (similar response over short time)
  • Interrater reliability (two observers seeing same results)
  • Measures validity (accurately measures what it's supposed to); construct validity (correlation with other measures)
• Sampling:

  • Population: everyone in the category interested in studying .. but not as convenient
  • Sample: ideally representative of entire population
  • Connivence sample
  • Random subject sample
• Types of scientific observations:

  • Naturalistic observations: observe in natural setting without intervention; doesn't allow for control over factors of interest and not practical for low base rate behaviors
  • Ethnography: researcher integrates with community; possible researcher influence
  • Structured observation: can be in lab or other controlled settings where participants are assigned a certain task; external validity is an issue
• Experiment: tries to establish a causal relationship; manipulates independent to examine effect on dependent; comapres experimental to control group which shows causal rel. if there's a difference in pretest and posttest

  • Pro: internal validity
  • con: external validity
  • can be improved through random assignment and single or double blinding
• Survey research: collects information from a large number of people (usually); can be in interviews or questionnaires

  • Pros/cons: lacks ability to manipulate variables, sampling, self report, validity
• Types of survey:

  • Self report: details about ones own life
  • National survey: nationally representative sample; good for questions abt specific behaviors, not good for process behind behaviors
• More ways to categorize research:

  • Cross sectional: compares different ages at same time point (5 yr old vs 10 yr old)
  • Longitudinal: follows same group over time and repeatedly assesses (5 yr olds annually to see changes)
  • Cross sequential: follows several groups of different ages over time (5 yr olds every year, but also adds new group of 5 yr olds annually)
• Pros of studies

  • Cross sectional: convenient, quick, inexpensive
  • Longitudinal: changes overtime, stronger support for causal relationships
  • Cross sequential: allows for disentangling effect of age and historical context
• Cons of studies:

  • Cross sectional: can't answer questions about change and process of development; differences can be due to cohort and not development
  • Longitudinal: takes longer time, more resources, time investment, participant burden/fatigue, and attrition bias
  • Cross sequential: more resource intensive compared to longitudinal
• Correlation studies: can NOT prove causality

  • correlation coefficient: r, ranges from +1.0 to -1.0
  • Positive correlation (r>0): when one increases the other will increase
  • Negative correlation (r<0): when one increases the other will decrease
  • No correlation (r=0): two variables are unrelated to one another
• • Quantitative research: numerical data like ranks or scales; best compares children in different contextual context and cultures; easier to replicate, interpret, and verify
  • Qualitative research: descriptions of conditions; best captures individual lives, reports info without being quantified
• Other methods of research studies:

  • Case studies: used individual or small groups to derive broader principles (ex: diaries)
  • Psychophysiological: not subject to bias
  • EEG, CAT, fMRI, eye-tracking, heart rate, cortisol levels
• Interpreting results:

  • Can NOT generalize results demo sample to populations
  • Most results are averages and won't apply to every individual
  • Statistical significance: results not found by chance
  • Practical significance: relies on effect size; how large the difference btwn groups that are being compared (0.2=small, 0.5=moderate, 0.8= large)
  • replication helps build confidence in results
• Meta analysis: combines results of many studies to come to an overall conclusion

  • small samples can be added together
  • widely accepted as standardized and less biased way to weigh the evidence
  • Limitations
  • variations across studies
  • publication bias
• Why can't we always use experiments:

  • Logistics
  • Ethics
• Ethical guidelines:

  • APA has ethical standards
  • Universities have IRBs that review research
  • SRCD has issues:
  • Beneficence and nonmaleficence: children are vulnerable, protection from physical and psychological harm
  • Informed consent: usually from parents, right to withdraw
  • Confidentiality: participant privacy must be maintained; exceptions exist (abuse)
• Theories: broad and organized explanations and predictions; frameworks
• • Grand theories:
  • Psychodynamic (Freud, Erikson)
  • Behaviorism (Pavlov, Watson)
  • Cognitive (Piaget, Information processing)
  • Newer theories:
  • Sociocultural (Vygotsky)
  • Biological (evolutionary, ethological, epigenetic)
• Psychodynamic: behavior motivated by inner forces (drives) of which the person has little awareness(unconscious) or control

  • Freud's Psychosexual theory: unconscious inner forces act to determine personality and behavior; stages focus on specific body parts; emphasis on early experience
  • Erikson's psychosocial theory: 8 fixed universal stages, focused on the ego, each stage presents a crisis/conflict related to social experience typical at that age; how the resolve each crisis affects behavior later on development, growth and change are lifelong (no crisis is ever fully resolved)
• Freudian stages (focus on sexual urges):

  • Infancy (0-1.5): Oral, feeding (cope with not always getting needs met)
  • Toddlerhood (1.5-3): Anal, potty training (balance pleasure and control)
  • Early childhood (3-6): Phallic, genital stimulation (boys), envy (girls), (adjusted to gender roles)
  • Middle childhood (6-12): Latency (sexual urges quiet -> focus on school)
  • Adolescence (12+): Genital, sexual stimulation (continues through adulthood and balance)
• Erkison's conflicts (focus on family, community, culture)

  • Infancy (0-1.5): Trust (satisfying basic needs) vs Mistrust
  • Toddlerhood (1.5-3): Autonomy (self sufficiency) vs Shame and Doubt
  • Early childhood (3-6): Initiative (trying adult-like activities) vs Guilt
  • Middle childhood (6-12): Industry (practicing/ mastering skills) vs inferiority
  • Adolescence (12+): Identity vs Role confusion
  • Early adulthood: Intimacy (seeking love) vs Isolation
  • Middle adulthood: Generativity ( contributions via work) vs Stagnation
  • Late adulthood: Ego Integrity (meaningfulness) vs Despair
• Behavioral Perspective: development is affected by observable behavior and outside stimuli in the environment

  • Watson- tabula rasa (blank slate)
  • viewed as quantitative (happens gradually) vs qualitative (stages)
  • learning is life long
• Sociocultural theories:

  • Central tenets of sociocultural theories: human development results from the reciprocal interaction between developing person and their surrounding society
  • most human beliefs are social constructions, so they need to be taught
  • culture is integral to a person's development
• Vygotsky's sociocultural theory: development is a reciprocal transaction (bwtn child and environment); as children play and cooperate with others they learn what is important to their society and advance cognitively in their world

  • Zone of Proximal Development: concepts that a learner is close to acquiring, but cannot master without help
  • Apprenticeship thinking: children guided by capable adult/peer
  • Guided participation: process of teaching skills, values, habits
  • Scaffolding: degree of assistance provided to children in ZPD
  • Cultural artifacts use to teach
• Biological perspectives: psychological and behavioral development begin with roots in our brain, genes, and innate instincts

  • Evolutionary: Darwin's natural selection -> selective adaptation
  • Ethological: biological makeup affecting behavior, critical periods, ducks
  • Epigenetic: environment shaping how genes are expressed
• Genotype: genes that are present at a particular location on the chromosome; a specific set of genes inherited from parent
• Phenotype: what we see when we look at a person's bodily traits and characteristics; observable and measurable genetic expressions
• Sperm and ovum: each contribute 23 chromosomes to total zygote (23 pairs, 46 total)
• Genes: small section of chromosome that's made up of sequences of DNA... carries instruction that tell your cells how to work and grow
• After fertilization, duplication, and division of cell;

  • early cell duplication -> stem cells
  • after this, differentiation takes place (specialization of cells)