Chapter 2 (Dev Psych)

• Research in Lifespan Development


  • Quantitative Research
  • Qualitative Research
• Quantitative Research - Scientific Method

  1. Identifying a problem

  2. Formulating hypotheses

  3. Collecting data

  4. Analyzing the data

  5. Forming tentative conclusions

  6. Disseminating findings
• Qualitative Research


  More open-ended and exploratory, researchers gather and examine data to see what hypotheses may emerge
• Sample


  Group of participants chosen to represent the entire population under study
• Random Selection


  Selection of a sample in such a way that each person in a population has an equal and independent chance of being chosen
• Major Methods of Data Collection

  • Self-Report (Diary, Interview, or Questionnaire)
  • Naturalistic Observation
  • Laboratory Observation
  • Behavioral and Performance Measure
• Self-Report


  • Participants are asked about some aspect of their lives; questioning may be highly structure or more flexible
  • Can provide firsthand information about a person's life, attitudes, or opinions
  • Participant may not remember information accurately or may distort responses in a socially desirable way; how question is asked or by whom may affect answer
• Naturalistic Observation


  • People are observed in their normal setting, with no attempt to manipulate behavior
  • Provides description of behavior; does not subject people to unnatural settings that may distort behavior
  • Lack of control, observable bias
• Laboratory Observation


  • Participants are observed in the laboratory, with no attempt to manipulate behavior
  • Provide good descriptions; offers greater control than naturalistic observation
  • Observer bias; controlled situation can be artificial
• Behavioral and Performance Measure

  • Participants are tested on abilities, skills, knowledge, competencies, or physical responses
  • Provides objectively measurable information; avoid subjective distortions
  • Cannot measure attitudes or other nonbehavioral phenomena; results may be affected by extraneous variables
• Research Design


  A plan for conducting a scientific investigation: what questions are to be answered, how participants are to be selected, how data are to be collected and interpreted, and how valid conclusions can be drawn
• Basic Research Designs


  • Case Studies
  • Ethnographic Studies
  • Correlational Studies
  • Experiments
• Case Studies


  • Study of a single subject, such as an individual or family
  • Flexibility; provides detailed picture of one person's behavior and development; can generate hypothesis
  • May not generalize to others; conclusions not directly testable; cannot establish cause and effect
• Ethnographic Studies


  • In-depth study of a culture or subculture
  • Can help overcome culturally based biases in theory and research; can test universality of developmental phenomena
  • Subject to observer bias
• Correlational Studies


  • Attempt to find positive or negative relationship between variables
  • Enables prediction of one variable on basis of another; can suggest hypotheses about causal relationships
  • Cannot establish cause and effect
• Experiments


  • Controlled procedure in which an experimenter controls the independent variable to determine its effect on the dependent variable; may be conducted in the laboratory or field
  • Establishes cause-and-effect relationships; is highly controlled and can be repeated
  • Findings may not be generalizational outside of the laboratory
• Developmental Research Designs


  • Cross-Sectional Study
  • Longitudinal Study
  • Sequential
• Cross-Sectional Study


  • Study designed to assess age-related differences, in which people of different ages are assessed on one occasion
  • Can show similarities and differences among age groups; speedy, and economical
  • Cannot establish age effects; masks individual differences; can be confounded by cohort effects
• Longitudinal Study


  • Researchers study the same person or group of people more than once, sometimes years apart
  • Can show age-related change or continuity; avoids confounding age with cohort effects
  • Is time-consuming, expensive; presents problems of attrition, bias in sample, and effects of repeated testing
• Sequential


  • Data are collected on successive cross-sectional or longitudinal samples
  • Can avoid drawbacks of both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs
  • Requires large amount of time and effort and analysis of very complex data
• Theoretical Perspectives of Development

  • Psychoanalytic
  • Learning
  • Cognitive
  • Contextual
  • Evolutionary/Sociobiological
• Psychoanalytic Perspective


  Views development as shaped by unconscious forces that motivate human behavior
• Psychoanalysis


  Seeks to give patients insight into unconscious emotional conflicts by asking questions designed to summon up long-buried memories
• Freud's Hypothetical Parts of Personality

  • Id
  • Ego
  • Superego
• Id


  Operates under the pleasure principle or the drive to seek immediate satisfaction of the needs and desires
• Ego


  Represents reason and operates under reality principle
• Superego


  Includes the conscience and incorporates socially approved "shoulds"
• Freud's Psychosexual Stages


  • Oral (Birth to 12-18 months)
  • Anal (12-18 months to 3 years)
  • Phallic (3 to 6 years)
  • Latency (6 years to puberty)
  • Genital (Puberty through adulthood)
• Oral Stage


  Baby's chief source of pleasure involves mouth-oriented activities (sucking and feeding)
• Anal Stage


  Child derives sensual gratification from withholding and expelling feces. Zone of gratification is anal region, and toilet training is important activity
• Phallic Stage


  Child becomes attached to parent of the other sex and later identifies with same-sex parent. Superego develops. Zone of gratification shifts to genital region
• Latency Stage


  Time of relative calm between more turbulent stages. A period of relative emotional calm and intellectual and social exploration. They redirect their sexual energies into other pursuits, such as schoolwork, relationships, and hobbies
• Genital Stage


  Reemergence of sexual impulses of phallic stage, channeled into mature adult sexuality. The sexual urges repressed during latency now resurface to flow in socially approved channels, which Freud defined as heterosexual relations with persons outside the family of origin
• Erik Erikson


  German-born psychoanalyst who modified and extended Freudian theory by emphasizing the influence of society on the developing personality
• Erikson's Psychosocial Stages


  • Basic Trust vs. Mistrust (Birth to 12-18 months)
  • Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt (12-18 months to 3 years)
  • Initiative vs. Guilt (3 to 6 years)
  • Industry vs. Inferiority (6 to 12 years)
  • Identity vs. Role Confusion (12 to 18 years)
  • Intimacy vs. Isolation (18 to 40 years)
  • Generativity vs. Stagnation (40 to 65 years)
  • Integrity vs. Despair (65 years to death)
• Basic Trust vs. Mistrust

  Baby develops sense of whether world is a good and safe place. Virtue: Hope
• Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt


  Child develops a balance of independence and self-sufficiency over shame and doubt. Virtue: Will
• Initiative vs. Guilt


  Child develops initiative when trying out new activities and is not overly burdened by guilt. Virtue: Purpose
• Hallic stage


  Channeled into mature adult sexuality
• Latency


  Sexual urges repressed