introduction into development al psychology and its research methods
What do we gain by taking a developmental perspective?
Insight into the emergence and manifestation of psychological phenomena.
Understanding of consistent and changing patterns across the life span.
Knowledge about the specific times when changes occur.
Better understanding of normative and non-normative development.
What is developmental psychology concerned with?
Description, explanation, and prediction of age-related changes.
Explanation of how variables work together to shape development.
Multidisciplinary approaches, including sociology and neuroscience.
What are the major developmental areas of debate?
Is development continuous or discontinuous?
Are changes universal or person-specific?
Are children inherently good or bad?
Are there critical or sensitive periods in development?
How do we characterize development?
Continuity and discontinuity.
Stability and instability.
Quantitative and qualitative changes.
What factors explain development?
Nature - Hereditary causes.
Nurture - Environmental influences.
Development as the interaction between heredity and environment.
Epigenetics - Experience influencing gene expression.
Behaviour genetics - separating environmental and genetic influences to explain variation.
What are some goals of understanding development or change?
Describe
Explain
Predict
Influence
Which experimental designs are used to explore developmental change?
Cross-sectional designs.
Longitudinal designs.
Sequential (cohort) designs.
What are the advantages of cross-sectional designs?
Quick and economical.
Demonstrate age differences and indicate developmental trends.
What are the advantages of longitudinal designs?
Measure individual change and stability.
Explore the dynamic nature of change.
Consider change within and between individuals.
What are some disadvantages of longitudinal designs?
Costly and time-consuming.
Require large data sets.
Attrition and biases.
Equivalence of methods over time.
What do microgenetic measures involve?
Dense data collection over short periods.
Examining changes as they occur.
Providing valuable information about developmental processes.
What are the characteristics of sequential (cohort) designs?
Combine cross-sectional and longitudinal designs.
Examine age-related change across multiple cohorts.
Discriminate true developmental trends from cohort effects.
What are some challenges for developmental research?
Developing reliable and valid measures.
Dealing with attrition in studies.
Ensuring equivalence of methods over time.
What methodologies are used in developmental research?
Observational studies using video recordings.
Eye movement methodology for studying attention.
fMRI for neural activity imaging.
EEG and ERP for measuring brain activity.
What does the multi-level systems model of development include?
Genetic activity.
Environment.
Neural activity.
Behaviour.
What are the implications of the Romanian adoptees study for developmental sensitive periods?
Outcome is most optimal if adopted before 6 months.
50% of children adopted after 6 months show problems.
Evidence supports a developmental sensitive period.
What concepts summarize key developmental psychology insights?
What concepts summarize key developmental psychology insights?
Quantitative and qualitative changes.
Interaction of nature and nurture.
What are the methods of measuring change in developmental psychology?
Describe.
Explain.
Predict.
Influence.
During which specific periods in development are organisms particularly susceptible to experience, and why is this the case?
Periods of brain maturation and plasticity.
Times when language development is critical.
Stages when the brain becomes increasingly specialized.
Based on the study of Romanian adoptees who were severely deprived in institutional care, what findings were observed regarding their development?
The outcome is most optimal if children were adopted before 6 months.
About 50% of children adopted after 6 months show developmental problems.
The duration of deprivation after 6 months has little effect on development.
There is possible evidence for a developmental sensitive period.