to intervene in development (giving a child speech

Developmental therapy)

Psychology Development is messy. Its complex and multifaceted

and shaped by interacting arcs of influence. Thus,
development is best understood with input from a
Chapter 1: variety of theoretical and research orientations and is
The Study of Human Development most appropriately studied using multiple disciplines.
Human Development
- scientific study of the systematic process of change Domains of Development (Aspects of Self)
and stability in people.  Physical Development
- developmentalists look at ways in which people - growth of body, brain, including patterns of change in
change from conception through maturity as well as sensory capacities, motor skills, and health.
characteristics that remain fairly stable.
- an understanding of adult development can help  Cognitive Development
people understand and deal with life transitions - patterns of change in mental abilities, such as learning,
attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and
Life-span Development creativity.
- “tomb to womb”, compromising the entire human life
span from conception to death  Psychosocial Development
- concept of human development as a lifelong process, - pattern of change in emotions, personality, and social
which can be studied scientifically relationships
- growth and development are more obvious during
these times given the rapid pace of change Domains are interrelated; each aspect of development
- development includes more than infancy and affects the others.
childhood
- develop can be either: Puberty (dramatic physical changes and hormonal
A.) Positive - e.g, toilet training and enrolling in a changes affect the developing sense of self). Older
college course after retirement adults (physical changes in the brain may lead to
B.)Negative - e.g, wetting the bed after a traumatic intellectual and personality deterioration).
event or isolating yourself after retirement
Cognitive advances and declines are related to physical
Events such as the timing of parenthood, maternal and psychosocial development.
employment, and marital satisfaction are now also
studied as part of developmental psychology. Memory development reflects gains otr losses in
physical connections in the brain.
Goals of Developmental Psychology
1. Describe Motivation and self-confidence are important
- Development is necessary to focus both on typical contributors to school success, whereas negative
patterns of change (normative development) and emotions such as anxiety can impair performance.
individual variations in patterns of change (idiographic
development). Period of Lifespan
- develomentalists observe large groups of children and Social Construction
establish norms, or averages, for behavior at various - a concept or practice that may appear natural and
ages (children saying their first word or how large their obvious to those who accept it, but that in reality is an
vocabulary is. invention of a particular culture or society.

2. Explain Major developments in eight periods of human

- explain the changes they have observed in relation to development.
normative processes ad individual differences
- often easier to describe development than to explain Influences of Development
how it occurs 1. Individual Differences
- how children acquire language and why some children - differences in characteristics, influences, or
learn to speak later than usual developmental outcomes
- each person has a unique developmental trajectory, an
3. Predict individual path to follow.
- predict future behavior, such as the likelihood that a - one challenge in developmental psychology: to identify
child will have serious speech problems the universal influences on development, and then apply
those understanding individual differences in
4. Intervene developmental trajectories
- understanding of how language develops may be sued
Heredity, Environment, and Maturation Ethnic and cultural patterns affect development by their
Heredity influence.
- influences on development primarily originated
- inborn traits or characteristics inherited from the Race
biological parents - historically and popularly viewed as an identifiable
biological category, is more accurately defined as a
Environment social construct.
- where influences come largely - as a social category remains a factor in research
- the world outside the self, beginning in the womb, and because it makes a difference
the learning that comes from the experiences - term race, historically and popularly viewed as an
- totality of nonhereditary, or experiential influences on identifiable biological category, is more accurately
development defined as social construct

Intelligence is strongly influenced by heredity, parental Categories of culture, race, ans ethnicity are fluid
stimulation, education, peer influence, and other “continuously shaped and redefined by social and
variables also affect it. political forces”

Maturation Geographical dispersion and intermarrriage together

- unfolding of a natural sequence of physical and with adaption to varying local conditions have produced
behavioral changes a great heterogeneity of physical and cultural
- individual differences in innate characteristics and life characteristics within populations
experience play a greater role
- maturation continues to influence certain biological Ethnic gloss - (black or Hispanic) an over
processes, such as brain development. generalization that obscures or blurs such variations

We need to look at the inherited characteristics that give Historical context - how certain experiences, tied to
each person a start in life, We also need to consider the time and place, affect the course of people’s lives.
many environmental factors that affect development. Today, the historical context is an important part of the
study of development.
We need to consider how heredity and environment
interact. We need to understand which developments are Normative and Nonnormative Influences
primarily maturational and which are not. Normative influences: biological/environmental events
that affect many or most people in a society in similar
Context of Development ways and events that touch only certain individuals.
Nuclear Family
- normative family unit in the US and other Western Normative age-graded influences - highly similar for
societies people in a particular age group. The timing of
- two-generational kinship, economic, and household biological events is fairly predictable within a normal
unit consisting of one or two parents and their biological range. (ex: people don’t experience puberty at age
children, adopted children, or stepchildren. 35/menopause at 12)

Extended Family Normative history-graded influences - significant

- traditional family form; where they have daily contact events (WWII or Great Depression) that shape the
with kin behavior and attitudes of a historical generation - a
- multigenerational kinship network of parents, children, group of people who experience the event at a formative
and other relatives, sometimes living together in an time in their lives
extended-family household
- developmental process and developmental outcomes Cohort - a group of people born at about the same time.
A historical generation may contain more than one
Culture cohort, but cohorts are part of a historical generation
- a society’s or group’s total way of life, including only if they experience major, shaping historical events
customs, traditions, beliefs, values, language, and at a formative point in their lives.
physical products-all learned behavior, passed on from
parents to children Nonnormative influences: are unusual events that have
- culture is constantly changing, often through contact a major impact on individual lives because they disturb
with other cultures the expected sequence of the life cycle
- Ex: a typical time of life (death of a parent when a
Ethnic Group child is young) or a typical event (surviving a plane
- a group united by ancestry, race, religion, language, or crash)
national origins, which contribute to a sense of shared - Some of these influences are largely beyond a person’s
identity. control and may present rare opportunities/severe
challenges that the person perceives as turning points
- People sometimes help create their own nonnormative - Influenced by both biological and culture, but the
life events-and participate actively in their own balance between these influences’ changes
development
5. Development involves changing resource
Timing of Influences: Critical or sensitive Periods allocations
Konrad Lorenz - Austrian zoologist, showed that newly - Resources may be used for growth, for
hatched ducklings will instinctively follow the first maintenance/recovery/for dealing with loss when
moving object they see, whether it is a member of their maintenance and recovery are not possible
species or not.
6. Development shows plasticity
Imprinting - automatic and irreversible; the result of - Many abilities such as memory, strength, and
predisposition toward learning: the readiness of an endurance can be improved significantly with training
organism’s nervous system to acquire a certain and practice, even in late life
information during a brief critical period in early life - Children has plasticity limits that depend in part on the
various influence of development
Criticial period - specific time when a given event/its - Task of developmental research: to discover to what
absence, has a specific impact of development extent particular kinds of development can be modified
- If necessary, events do not occur during a critical at various ages
period of maturation, normal development will not
occur; and the resulting abnormal patterns may be 7. Development is influenced by the historical and
irreversible. cultural context
- Length of this period is not fixed - Each person develops within multiple context-
- Is controversial, because many aspects of development, circumstances/conditions define in part by maturation
even in physical domain, have been found to show: and in part by time and place
- Plasticity - modified performance

Sensitive periods - time in development when a person

Chapter 2: Theory and Research
Theory - coherent set of logically related concepts that
is particularly open to certain kinds of behavior
seek to organize, explain, and predict data
experiences
- Plasticity are individual differences in plasticity
Hypotheses- possible explanations for phenomena, used
responses to environmental events as well
to predict the outcome of research
- Difficult temperaments and highly reactive children:
- Theories can be disproved but never proved, and they
more profoundly affected by childhood experiences,
can change to incorporate new things
whether positive or negative, than other children
- Characteristics generally assumed to be negative-such
Developmental science cannot be completely objective.
as difficult or reactive temperament-can be adaptive
Theories and research about human behavior are
(positive) where the environment is supportive of
products of human individuals, whose inquiries and
development
interpretations are inevitably influenced by their own
values and experience.
The Life-span Developmental Approach
Widely accepted conceptual framework for the study of
The way theorists explain development depends in part
life-span development:
on their assumptions about two basic issues:
1. Development is lifelong
1) Whether people are active or reactive in their own
- Lifelong process of change
development
- Each period of life span is affected by what happened
2) Whether development is continuous or occurs in
before and will affect what is to come
stages
- Each period has unique characteristics and value. No
3) Whether development is more influenced by heredity
period is more/less important than any other
or by environment
2. Development is multidimensional
ISSUE 1: IS DEVELOPMENT ACTIVE OR
- Occurs along multiple interacting dimensions-
REACTIVE?
biological, psychological, and social-each of which may
John Locke held that a young child is a tabula rasa – a
develop a varying rate
“blank slate” upon which the society writes. How the
child developed, in either positive or negative ways,
3. Development is multidirectional
depended entirely on experiences.
- Children grow mostly in one direction. Then the
balance gradually shifts. Adolescents typically gain in
Jean Jacques Rousseau believed that children are born
physical abilities, but their facility in learning a new
“noble savages” who develop according to their own
language declines
positive natural tendencies if not corrupted by society.
4. Relative influences of biology and culture shift
Reactive development – conceptualizes the developing
over the lifespan
child as a hungry sponge that soaks up experiences and
is shaped by this input over time
- Stages build upon each other. Stages cannot be
Active development – argue that people create skipped, and development only proceeds in a positive
experiences for themselves and are motivated to learn direction
about the world around them. Things aren’t just - It is believed that these processes are universal and
happening to them; they are involved in making their account for the development of all humans everywhere,
world what it is although the particular timing may vary a bit

Mechanistic Model THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

- People are like machines that react to environmental Theories can generally be characterized as either
input mechanistic or organismic, and as describing change as
- Machines do not operate of their own will; they react either continuous or discontinuous, even if those beliefs
automatically to physical forces or inputs are not directly stated. But all developmental theories
- Human behavior is much the same; it results from the have implicit assumptions that underlie their approach.
operation of biological parts in response to external or These assumptions influence the questions researchers
internal stimuli ask, the methods they use, and the way they interpret
- Mechanistic researchers want to identify the factors data.
that make people behave as they do
- Environmental influences are looked as factors in - It is important to recognize the theoretical perspective
explaining behavior on which it is based

Organismic Model Five major perspectives underlie much influential theory

- Sees people as active, growing organisms that set their and research on human development:
own development in motion. Their initiate events; they 1) Psychoanalytic – focuses on unconscious emotions
do not just react. This the driving force for change is and drives
internal. Environmental influences do not cause 2) Learning – studies observable behaviors
development, though they can speed or slow it 3) Cognitive – analyzes thought processes
- Human behavior as an organic whole, it cannot be 4) Contextual – emphasizes the impact of the historical,
predicted by breaking it down into simple responses to social, and cultural context
environmental stimulation 5) Evolutionary/sociobiological – considers
- Theorist study why some students drink too much, look evolutionary and biological underpinnings of behaviors
at what kinds of situations they choose to participate in,
and with whom. Do they choose friends who prefer to PSYCHOANALYTIC
party or study? Sigmund Freud – the originator of the psychoanalytic
- Organicists describe development after birth as a perspective and believed in reactive development, as
progressive sequence of stages, moving toward full well as qualitative changes over time
maturation - He proposed that humans were born with a series of
innate, biological based drives such as hunger, sex, and
ISSUE 2: IS DEVELOPMENT CONTINUOUS OR aggression
DISCONTINUOUS? - He thought people were motivated to satisfy their urges
Mechanist theorists see development as continuous: as and that much of development involved learning how to
occurring in small incremental stages. Development is do so in socially acceptable ways
always governed by the same processes and involves - He also believed that early experiences shaped later
gradual refinement and extension of early skills into functioning, and he drew attention to childhood as an
later abilities, allowing one to make predictions about important precursor to adult behavior. He also promoted
future characteristics on the basis of part performance. the idea that there was a vast, hidden reserve to our
psyche, and what we consciously know about and
Quantitative change – changes in number/amount, such experience is only the small tip of the iceberg of who we
as in height, weight, size of vocabulary, or frequency of are
communication (ex: measuring fundamentally the same
thing over time, even if there might be more or less of it) Psychosexual development – believed that people are
born with biological drives that must be redirected to
Organismic theorists see development as discontinuous; make it possible to live in society
as marked by the emergence of new phenomena that
could not be easily predicted on the basis of past Three hypothetical parts of the personality:
functioning. Development at different points in life span 1) Id (pleasure principle) – the drive to seek immediate
is, in this view, fundamentally different in nature. satisfaction of their needs and desires
2) Ego (reality principle) – represents reason, develops
Organismic theorists are proponents of stage theories in gradually during the first years or so of life; its aim is to
which development is seen as occurring in a series of find realistic ways to gratify the id that are acceptable to
distinct stages. What is going on is fundamentally the superego, which develops about age 5 or 6
different from previous stages. 3) Superego – includes conscience and incorporates
socially approved “should” and “should nots” into the early experience did not take into account other, and
child’s value system. It is highly demanding; it its later, influences personality—including the influences of
standards are not met; a child may feel guilty and society and culture, which many heirs to the Freudian
anxious. The ego mediates between the impulses of the tradition, such as Erik Erikson, stress
id and the demands of the superego
Erik Erikson: Psychosocial Development
He proposed that personality forms through unconscious He extended Freudian theory by emphasizing the
childhood conflicts between the inborn urges of the id influence of society on the developing personality.
and the requirements of civilized life. Erikson also was a pioneer in taking a life-span
perspective. (Both theorists believed in qualitative
Psychosexual development – an unvarying sequence of change)
stages of childhood personality development in which
gratification shifts from the mouth to the anus and then Psychosocial development – eight-stage theory. The
to the genitals socially and culturally influenced process of
development of the ego/ the self
Freud considered the first three stages to be crucial for - Each stage involves what he originally called a crisis in
personality development. According to him, if children personality – a major psychological challenge that is
receive too little or too much gratification in any of these particularly important at that time and will remain an
stages, they are at risk of fixation – an arrest in issue to some degree throughout the rest of life. These
development that can show up in adult personality issues must be satisfactorily resolved for healthy ego
- Babies whose needs are not met during the oral stage, development
when feeding is the main source of pleasure, may grow - Each stage requires balancing a positive and a negative
up to become nailbiters or smokers tendency. The positive quality should dominate, but
- When a toddler had too-strict toilet training may be some degree of the negative quality is needed as well for
fixated at the anal stage, and be obsessively clean, optimal development
rigidly tied to schedules and routines/defiantly messy - People need to trust the world and the people in it.
- Phallic stage of early childhood. Boys develop sexual However, they also need some mistrust to protect
attachment to their mothers, and girls to their fathers, themselves from danger
and they have aggressive urges toward the same-sex - Successful resolution of each crisis put the person in a
parent, whom they regard as a rival (Oedipus complex particularly good position to address the next crisis, a
and Electra complex) process that occurs iteratively across the life span
- Latency stage of middle childhood, a period of
relative emotional calm and intellectual and social His theory is important because of its emphasis on social
exploration. They redirect their sexual energies into and cultural influences and on development beyond
other pursuits, such as schoolwork, relationships, and adolescence.
hobbies
- Genital stage, final stage that lasts throughout LEARNING
adulthood. The sexual urges repressed during latency Learning perspective – view of human development
now resurface to flow in socially approved channels, that holds those changes in behavior results from
which Freud defined as heterosexual relations with experience or from adaption of the environment
persons outside the family of origin - Learning theorists seek to discover objective laws that
govern changes in observable behavior and see
Freud’s theory made historic contributions and inspired development as continuous
a whole generation of followers, some of whom took - They have helped to make the study of human
psychoanalytic theory in new directions. Many of development more scientific. This term is defined
Freud’s ideas now are widely considered obsolete or are precisely, and their focus on observable behaviors means
impossible to investigate scientifically. Psychoanalysts that the theories can be tested in the laboratory
today reject his narrow emphasis on sexual and
aggressive drives to the exclusion of other motives. Two important learning theories:
- He made us aware of the importance of unconscious 1) Behaviorism – a mechanistic theory that describes
thoughts, feelings, and motivations; the role of observed behavior as a predictable response to
childhood experiences in forming personality; the experience
ambivalence of emotional responses, the role of mental - Behaviorists consider development as reactive and
representations of the self and others in the continuous
establishment of intimate relationships; and the path of - They hold that human beings at all ages learn about the
normal development from an immature, dependent state world the same way other organisms do: by reacting to
to a mature, interdependent state conditions or aspects of their environment that they find
- He based his theories about normal development not pleasing, painful/threatening
on a population of average children, but on a clientele of - Behavioral research focuses on associative learning
Victorian upper-middle-class adults, mostly women, in that has two kinds: classical conditioning and operant
therapy conditioning
- His concentration on the influences of sexual urges and
Classical Conditioning – Ivan Pavlov: dogs learned to reflects a greater emphasis on cognitive processes as
salivate at the sound of a bell that rang at feeding time central to development. Cognitive processes are at work
- A response to a stimulus is evoked after repeated as people observe models, learn chunks of behavior, and
association with a stimulus that normally elicits the mentally put the chunks together into complex new
response behavior patterns
- John Watson: “Little Albert experiment” – the
study, although unethical, demonstrated that fear could Through feedback on their behavior, children gradually
be conditioned form standards for judging their actions and become
- Classical conditioning occurs throughout life. Fear more selective in choosing models who demonstrate
responses to objects like a car or a dog may be the result those standards. They also begin to develop a sense of
of an accident or a bad experience self-efficacy – the confidence that they have what it
takes to succeed
Operant Conditioning – the individual learns from the
consequences of “operating” on the environment; COGNITIVE
involves involuntary behavior and involves the Cognitive perspective – focuses on thought processes
consequences rather than the predictors of behavior and the behavior that reflects those processes. This
perspective encompasses both organismic and
- B.F Skinner: argued that an organism (animal/human) mechanistically influenced theories
will tend to repeat a response that has been reinforced by - Information-processing approach and neoPiagetian
desirable consequences and will suppress a response that theories, which combine elements of information-
has been punished processing theory and Piagetian theory
- Reinforcement – process by which a behavior is
strengthened, increasing the likelihood that the behavior Jean Piaget’s Cognitive-Stage Theory
will be repeated Cognitive theory – was a forerunner of today’s
- Punishment – a behavior is weakened, decreasing the “cognitive revolution” with its emphasis on mental
likelihood of repetition processes. Piaget viewed development organismicallly,
- Reinforcement is most effective when it immediately as the product of children’s efforts to understand and act
follows a behavior. If a response is no longer reinforced, on their world
it will eventually be extinguished, and returns to its - He also believed that development was discontinuous,
original (baseline) level so his theory describes development as occurring in
- Behavior modification therapy – a form of operant stages
conditioning used to eliminate undesirable behavior, - His clinical method combined observation with
such as temper tantrums, or to instill desirable behavior, flexible questioning. By asking children questions, he
such as putting away toys after play realized that children of the same age made similar types
o This is particularly effective among children with of error in logic
special needs, such as those with mental or emotional - He also suggested that cognitive development begins
disabilities with an inborn ability to adapt to the environment

However, Skinnerian psychology is limited in Cognitive growth occurs through three interrelated
application because it does not adequately address processes: organization, adaption, and equilibration
individual differences, cultural and social influences, or 1) Organization – the tendency to create categories,
biologically influenced behavioral patterns. such as birds, by observing the characteristics that
individual members of a category, such as sparrows and
2) Social Learning (social cognitive) Theory cardinals, have in common
- Albert Bandura suggests that the impetus for Schemes – ways of organizing information about the
development is bidirectional. He called this concept world that govern the way the child thinks and behaves
reciprocal determinism – the person acts on the world in a particular situation
as the world acts on the person
- Classical social learning theory maintains that people 2) Adaption – how children handle new information in
learn to appropriate social behavior chiefly by observing light to what they already know. It occurs through two
and imitating models—that is, by watching other people complimentary processes:
- Observational learning/modeling – people tend to
choose models who are prestigious, who control Assimilation – taking in information and incorporating
resources, or who are rewarded for what they do—those it into existing cognitive structures
whose behavior is perceived as valued in their culture Accommodation – adjusting one’s cognitive structures
(active process) to fit the new information
- Imitation of models is a key element in how children
learn a language, deal with aggression, develop a moral 3) Equilibration – the tendency to seek a stable balance
sense, and learn gender-appropriate behavior. among cognitive elements; achieved through a balance
Observational learning can occur even if a person does between assimilation and accommodation
not imitate the observed behavior - Children want what they understand of the world to
- Updated social cognitive theory: the change of name match what they observe around them
- Disequilibrium can be thought of as uncomfortable child can do it alone
motivation state, and it pushes children into
accommodation Vygotsky’s theory has an important implication for
education and for cognitive testing. Tests that focus on a
Assimilation and accommodation work together to child’s potential for learning provide a valuable
produce equilibrium. Throughout life, the quest for alternative to standard intelligence tests that assess what
equilibrium is the driving force behind cognitive growth. the child has already learned
- Piaget described cognitive development as occurring in - His ideas have successfully been implemented in
four universal, qualitatively different stages. From preschool children’s curricula and show great promise
infancy through adolescence, mental operations evolve for promoting the development of selfregulation, which
from learning based on simple sensory and motor affects later academic achievement
activity to logical abstract thought
- He showed that children’s minds are not miniature Information-processing approach
adult minds. Knowing how children think make it easier - Approach to the study of cognitive development by
for parents and teachers to understand and teach them observing and analyzing the mental processes involved
- His theory has provided rough benchmarks for what to in perceiving and handling information
expect of children at various ages and has helped - Seeks to explain cognitive development by analyzing
educators curricula appropriate to varying levels of the processes involved in making sense of incoming
development information and performing tasks effectively: such as
- Cross-cultural research indicates that performance on processes as attention, memory, planning strategies,
formal reasoning tasks is as much a function of culture decision making and goal setting
as it is of development; people from industrialized - This is not a single theory but a framework that
societies who have participate in a formal education supports a wide range of theories and research
system shows better performance on those tasks - Some information-processing theorists compare the
- His focus on formal logical as the climax of cognitive brain to a computer: there are certain inputs (such as
development is too narrow. It does not account for the sensory impressions) and certain outputs (such as
emergence of such mature abilities as practical problem behaviors). Theorists are interested in what happens in
solving, wisdom, and the capacity to deal with the middle
ambiguous situations - Information processing researchers use observational
data to infer what goes on between a stimulus and a
Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory response
Sociocultural theory – how contextual factors affect - Researchers have developed computational models or
children’s development; stresses children’s active flowcharts that analyze the specific steps people go
engagement with their environment through in gathering, storing, retrieving, and using
- He saw cognitive growth as a collaborative process. information
People learn through social interaction. They acquire - Theorists see people as active thinkers about their
cognitive skills as part of their induction into a way of world. They view development as continuous and
life. Shared activities help children internalize their incremental. They note age-related increases in the
society’s modes of thinking and behaving speed, complexity, and efficiency of mental processing
- He also placed special emphasis on language, not and in the amount and variety of material that can be
merely as an expression of knowledge and thought but stored in memory
as an essential tool for learning and thinking about the
world The information processing approach has practical
applications. By assessing certain aspects of infant
According to him, adults or more advanced peers must information processing, researchers are able to estimate
help direct and organize a child’s learning before the an infant’s later intelligence.
child can master and internalize it.
- It enables parents and teachers to help children learn
Zone of proximal development (ZPD) – the gap by making them more aware of their mental processes
between what they are already able to do by themselves and of strategies to enhance them.
and what they can accomplish with assistance - Psychologists often use information processing models
- Sensitive and effective instruction, should be aimed at to test, diagnose, and treat learning problems
the ZPD and increase in complexity as the child’s
abilities improve CONTEXTUAL
- Responsibility for directing learning gradually shifts to Contextual perspective – development can be
the child, such as when an adult teaches a child to float: understood only in its social context. Contextualists see
the adults first support the child in water and then let’s the individual, not as separate entity interacting with the
go gradually as the child’s body relaxes into a horizontal environment, but as an inseparable part of it
position - View of human development that sees individuals as
inseparable from the social context
Scaffolding – the temporary support that parents,
teachers, or others give a child in doing a task until the Bioecological theory – identifies five levels of
environmental influence, ranging from very intimate to with more adaptive characteristics pass on their traits to
very broad future generations at higher levels than individuals who
- Bronfenbrenner’s approach to understanding processes are less adaptively fit
and contexts of human development that identifies five - Adaptive characteristics, ultimately coded in their
levels of environmental influence genes, are selected to be passed on, and the less adapted
1) Microsystem – the everyday environment of home, ones die out. Over vast spans of time, these small,
school, work/neighborhood, including face to face incremental changes add up and result in the evolution
relationships with spouse children, parents, friends, of new species
classmates, teachers, employers/colleagues
o How does a new baby affect the parent’s lives? How Evolved mechanisms – are behaviors that developed to
do male professor’s attitudes affect a young woman’s solve problems in adapting to an earlier environment
performance in college? - Ex: sudden aversion to certain foods during pregnancy
may originally have evolved to protect the vulnerable
2) Mesosystem – interlocking of various microsystems. fetus from toxic substances. Such evolved mechanisms
It may include linkages between home and school (such may survive even though they no longer serve a useful
as parentteacher conferences) or between the family and purpose or they may evolve further in response to
the peer group (such as relationships that develop among changing environmental conditions
families of children in a neighborhood play group) - Although most evolved mechanisms are tailored to a
specific problem, others, such as human intelligence, are
3) Exosystem – consists of interaction between a viewed as having evolved to help other people face a
microsystem and an outside system or institution. wide range of problems
Though the effects are indirect, they can still have a
profound impact on a child Ethology – the study of the adaptive behaviors of
animal species in natural contexts. The assumption is
4) Macrosystem – consists of overarching cultural that such behaviors evolved through natural selection.
patterns, such as dominant beliefs, ideologies and - Ethologists generally compare animals of different
economic and political systems species and seek to identify which behaviors are
universal and which are specific to a particular species
5) Chromosystem – the dimension of time: change or or modifiable by experience
constancy in the person and the environment. Time - Proximity-seeking – “staying close to mommy”
marches on, as it does, changes occur. These can include o This was first studied by Konrad Lorenz in
changes in family composition, place of residence, or newborn ducklings, who imprint on and follow the first
parents’ employment, as well as larger events such as moving object they see until they are old enough to
ideology, political system, and economic cycles survive on their own. Other animals also engage in
similar behavior, and over time it became clear to
According to Bronfenbrenner, a person is not merely an researchers that this innate tendency was an important
outcome of development but is also a shaper of it. adaptive behavior
People affect their development through their biological
and psychological characteristics, talents and skills, Why discuss animal research in human development
disabilities, and temperament. text?
- Humans have also been subject to the forces of
Bioecological approach helps us to see the variety of evolution and thus are likely to also have innate adaptive
influences on development. The contextual perspective behaviors. One of the most important theories in
also reminds us that findings about the development of developmental psychology was strongly influenced by
people in one culture or in one group within a culture the ethological approach
(such as white, middle-class Americans) may not apply - John Bowlby drew upon this knowledge of proximity-
equally to people in other societies or cultural groups. seeking behavior in animals of different species as he
formed his ideas about attachments in humans. He
EVOLUTIONARY/SOCIOBIOLOGICAL viewed infants’ attachment to a caregiver as a
Evolutionary/sociobiological perspective – focuses on mechanism that evolved to protect them from predators
evolutionary and biological bases of behavior.
Influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution, it draws in Evolutionary psychology – application of Darwinian
findings of anthropology, ecology, genetics, ethology, principles of natural selection and survival of the fittest
and evolutionary psychology to explain the adaptive, or to individual behavior
survival, value of behavior for an individual or species - Ethologists focus on cross-species comparisons,
whereas evolutionary psychology focuses on humans
According to Darwin, species have developed through and apply Darwinian principles to human behavior
the related processes of survival of the fittest and natural - They believe that just as we have a heart specialized as
selection. Individuals with heritable traits fitted (better a pump, lungs specialized for air exchange, and thumbs
adapted) to their environments survive and reproduce specialized for grasping, we also have aspects of human
more than those that are less fitted (less well adapted) psychology specialized for solving adaptive problems
- Through differential reproduction success, individuals - People unconsciously strive to perpetuate their genetic
legacy. They do so by seeking to maximize their chances measurable, numerical data that can answer questions
of having offspring who will survive to reproduce and such as “how much?” or “how many” and that is
pass down their characteristics amenable to statistical analysis
- Ex: fear and anxiety children feel before surgery by
It is important to note that an evolutionary perspective asking them to answer questions, using a numerical
does not reduce human behavior to the effects of genes scale, about how fearful or anxious they are. These data
seeking to reproduce themselves despite arguing that could then be compared to data for children not facing
ultimately the transmission of genes is what drives many surgery to determine whether a statistically significant
evolved behaviors. differences exists between the two groups
- Evolutionary psychologists place great weight on the
environment to which humans must adapt and the Scientific method – systems of established principles
flexibility of the human mind and processes of scientific inquiry, which includes
identifying a problem to be studied, formulating a
A Shifting Balance hypothesis to be tested by research, collecting data,
One of the strengths of the scientific method is that as analyzing the data, forming tentative conclusions, and
new data emerges, and as our understanding evolves, disseminating findings
theories shift and change.
Usual steps of scientific method:
- Freud, Erikson, and Piaget, favored organismic/stage, 1) Identification of a problem to be studied, often on the
approaches. The mechanistic view gained support during basis of a theory or of previous research
the 1960s with the popularity of learning theories. Today 2) Formulation of hypotheses to be tested by research
much attention is focused on the biological and 3) Collection of data
evolutionary bases of behavior 4) Statistical analysis of the data to determine whether
they support the hypothesis
Instead of looking for broad stages, developmental 5) Formation of tentative conclusions
scientists seek to discover what specific kinds of 6) Dissemination of findings so other observers can
behavior show continuity and what processes are check, learn from, analyze, repeat and build on the
involved in each. Rather than abrupt changes, a close results
examination of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
– reveals gradual, sometimes almost imperceptible, Qualitative research – focuses on the how and why of
advances that add up to a qualitative shift behavior. It more commonly involves nonnumerical
- Most infants do not learn to walk overnight, but rather (verbal or pictorial) descriptions of participants’
by a series of tentative movements that gradually subjective understanding, feelings, or beliefs about their
become more self-assured experiences
- Even when observable behavior seems to change
suddenly, the biological or neurological processes that - Qualitative researchers might study the same subjects’
underlie that behavioral change may be continuous areas as quantitative researchers, but their perspective
- Influences are bidirectional: people change their world informs both how they collect data and how they
even as it changes them interpret it
o If qualitative researchers were to study children’s
Theories of human development grow out of, and are emotional state prior to surgery, they might do so with
tested by research. Research questions and methods unstructured interviews or by asking children to draw
often reflect a researcher’s particular theoretical their perceptions of the upcoming events
orientation. - Goal: to understand the “story” of the event
- It is more flexible and informal, and these researchers
In trying to understand how a child develops a sense of might be more interested in gathering and exploring
right and wrong: large amounts of data to see what hypotheses emerge
- A behaviorist would examine the way the parents than in running statistical analyses on numerical data
respond to the child’s behavior: what kinds of behavior
they punish or praise The selection of quantitative or qualitative methods may
- A social learning theorist would focus on imitation of depend on the purpose of the study, how much is already
moral examples, possibly in stories or in movies known about the topic, and the researcher’s theoretical
- An information-processing researcher might do a task orientation.
analysis to identify the steps a child goes through in - Quantitative research often is done in controlled
determining the range of moral options available and laboratory settings; qualitative research typically is
then in deciding which options to pursue conducted in everyday settings, such as the home or
- An evolutionary psychologist might be interested in school
universal aspects of moral development that serves - Quantitative investigators seek to remain detached
adaptive purposes and in how they affect social behavior from study participants so as not to influence the results;
qualitative investigators may get to know participants to
RESEARCH METHODS better understand why they think, feel and act as they
Quantitative research – deals with objectively do, and it is assumed they are interpreting the results
through the lens of their own experiences and same set of questions
characteristics
Open-ended interview – more flexible; the interviewer
SAMPLING can vary the topics and order of questions and ask
Sample – group of participants chosen to represent follow-up questions based on the responses. To reach
entire population under study more people and to protect their privacy, researchers
- Sample should adequately represent the population sometimes distribute a printed or online questionnaire,
under study—that is, tis hold show relevant which participants fill out and return
characteristics in the same proportions as in the entire
population. Otherwise, the results cannot properly be By questioning a large number of people, investigators
generalized, or applied to the population as the whole can get a broad picture—at least of what the respondents
say they believe or do or did.
Random selection – selection of a sample in such a way - People willing to participate in interviews or fill out
that each person in a population has an equal and questionnaires may not accurately represent the
independent chance of being chosen population as a whole
- Results of random selection is a random sample. A - Heavy reliance on self-reports may be unwise because
random sample, especially a larger one, is likely to people may not have thought about what they feel and
represent the population well. Unfortunately, a random think or honestly may not know. They may forget when
sample of a large population is often difficult to obtain. and how events took place or may consciously or
Instead, many studies use samples selected for unconsciously distort their replies to fit what is
convenience or accessibility considered socially desirable
- The findings of such studies may not apply to the
population as a whole How questions is asked, and by whom, can affect the
answer. When questioned about potentially risky or
In qualitative research, samples tend to be focused rather socially disapproved behavior, such as sexual habits and
than random. Participants may be chosen for their drug use, respondents, may be more candid in
availability to communicate the nature of a certain responding to a computerized survey than to a paper-and
experience, such as how it feels to go through puberty or pencil survey
menopause. A carefully selected qualitative sample may
have a fair degree of generalizability. Naturalistic and Laboratory Observation
Naturalistic observation – researchers look at people in
FORMS OF DATA COLLECTION real-life settings. The researchers do not try to alter
Common ways of gathering data includes self-reports behavior or the environment; they simply record what
(verbal or visual reports by study participants), they see
observation of participants in laboratory or natural
settings, and behavioral or performance measures. Laboratory observation – researchers observe and
- Researchers may use one or more of these data record behavior in a controlled environment, such as a
collection techniques in any research design. Qualitative laboratory
research tends to rely on self-reports, often in the form
of indepth, open-ended interviews or visual techniques By observing all participants under the same conditions,
(such as asking participants to draw their impressions of investigators can more clearly identify any differences in
an experience), and on observation in natural settings. behavior not attributable to the environment.
Quantitative research typically uses standardized,
structured methods involving numerical measurements Both kinds of observation can provide valuable
of behavior or performance descriptions of behavior, but they have limitations:
• They do not explain why people behave as they do,
Self-reports: Diaries, Visual Techniques, Interviews though the observers may suggest interpretations
and Questionnaires • An observer’s presence can later behavior. When
- Simplest form of self-report is a diary or log people know they are being watched, they may act
- in studying young children, parental self-reports— differently
diaries, journals, interviews, or questionnaires—are • There is a risk of observer’s bias: the researcher’s
commonly used, often together with other methods, such tendency to interpret data to fit expectations or to
as videotaping or recording emphasize some aspects and minimize others

Visual representation techniques—asking participants to Behavioral and Performance Measures

draw or paint to provide maps or graphs that illuminate For qualitative research, investigators typically use more
their experience—can avoid reliance on verbal skills. objects measures of behavior or performance instead of,
or in addition to, self-reports or observation. Tests and
Telephone interview – researchers ask questions about other behavioral and neuropsychological measures may
attitudes, opinions or behavior be sued to assess abilities, skills, knowledge,
competencies, or psychological responses, such as heart
Structured interview – each participant is asked the rate and brain activity.
- Although these measures are less subjective than self- Furthermore, case studies cannot explain behavior with
reports or personal observation, such factors as fatigue certainty or make strong causal statements because there
and self-confidence can affect results is no way to test their conclusions

Such tests (intelligence tests, compare performance with Ethnographic studies

that of other test-takers) can be meaningful and useful - Seek to describe the pattern of relationships, customs,
only if they are both valid (the tests measure the abilities beliefs, technology, arts and traditions that make up a
they claim to measure) and reliable (the results are society’s way of life
reasonably consistent from one time to another). To - A case study of culture; ethnographic research can be
avoid bias, tests must be standardized, that is, given and qualitative, quantitative or both
scored by the same methods and criteria for all test- - Participation observation – uses a combination of
takers. methods, including informal, unstructured interviewing
- When measuring a characteristic such as intelligence, it o This is a form of naturalistic observation in which
is important to define exactly what is to be measured in researchers live or participate in the societies or smaller
a way that other researchers will understand so that they groups they observer, as anthropologists often do for
can repeat the experiment and comment on the results long periods of time
- Ethnographers’ involvement in the events or societies
Operational definition – a definition stated solely in they are observing, their findings are especially open to
terms of the operations used to measure a phenomenon observer bias. On the positive side, ethnographic
- Some people may disagree with this definition, but no research can help overcome cultural biases in theory and
one can reasonably claim that it is not clear research
- Ethnography demonstrates the error of assuming that
Cognitive neuroscience – linking our understanding of principles developed from research in Western cultures
cognitive functioning with what happens in the brain are universally applicable

EVALUATING QUANTITATIVE AND Correlational studies

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH - Seeks to determine whether a correlation, or statistical
- Quantitative research based on the scientific method, relationship, exists between variables, phenomena that
qualitative research has both strengths and limitations change or vary among people or can be varied for
- Qualitative research can examine a question in great purpose of research
depth and detail, and the research framework can readily - Correlations are expressed in terms of direction
be revised in the light of new data. Findings of (positive or negative) and magnitude (degree)
qualitative research can be a rich source of insights into - Two variables that are correlated positively increase or
attitudes and behaviors decrease together. Studies show a positive/direct,
- Qualitative research tends to be less rigorous and more correlation between televised violence and aggression
subject to bias than quantitative research. Because o Children who watch more violent television tend to
samples are often small and usually not random, results fight more than children who watch less violent
are less generalizable and replicable than the results of television tend to fight more than children who watch
quantitative research. The large volume of data makes less violent television. Two variables have a
analysis and interpretation time-consuming, and the negative/inverse, correlation if, as one increases, the
quality of the findings and conclusions depend greatly other decreases
on the skills of the researcher o Less education, the more dementia
- Qualitative data may be analyzed quantitatively - Perfect correlations are rare. The closer a correlation
- Quantitative data may be illuminated by qualitative comes to +1.0 or -1.0, the stronger the relationship,
research either positive or negative. A correlation of zero means
that the variable in relation to another
BASIC RESEARCH DESIGNS o On the basis of the positive correlation between
Case studies watching tv violence and aggression, we can predict that
- Study of an individual children who watch violent shows are more likely to
- Case studies also may use behavioral or physiological gent into fights than children who do not watch such
measures and biographical, autobiographical, or shows. The greater the magnitude of the correlation
documentary materials between the two variables, the greater the ability to
- These are particularly useful when studying something predict from the other
relatively rare, when it simply is not possible to find a
large enough group of people with the characteristic in Although strong correlation suggests possible cause and
question to conduct a traditional laboratory study effect relationships, these are merely hypotheses and
- This offers useful, in-depth information. They can need to be examined and tested critically. We cannot be
explore sources of behavior and can test treatments, and sure from a positive correlation between televised
they suggest directions for further research violence and aggressiveness that watching televised
- It has short comings. In using case studies, we learn violence causes aggression; we can conclude only that
much about the development of a single person, but not the two variables are related.
how the information applies to people in general. - It is possible that the causation goes the other way:
aggressive behavior may lead children to watch more better performance)
violent programs. Or a third variable – perhaps an inborn - The tight control of laboratory study allows researchers
predisposition toward aggressiveness or a violent living to be more certain that their independent variable caused
environment – may cause a child both to watch violent change in their dependent variable; however, because of
programs and to act aggressively the artificiality of the laboratory experience, the results
- We cannot be sure that schooling protects against may be less generalizable to real life. People may not act
dementia; it may be that other variables, such as as they typically would
socioeconomic status, might explain both lower levels of
schooling and higher levels of dementia Field experiment
- Only way to show with certainty that one variable - Controlled study conducted in an everyday setting,
cause another is through experimentation—a method such as a home or school. Variables can still be
that, when studying human beings, is not always manipulated, so causal claims can still be investigated
possible for practical or ethical reasons - Because the experiments occur in the real world, there
is more confidence that the behaviors that are seen are
Experiments – rigorously controlled, replicable generalizable to natural behaviors. However, researchers
procedure in which the researcher manipulates variables have less control over events that may occur—the real
to assess the effect of one on the other \ world is often messy, and things we do not always go as
- Scientific experiments must be conducted and reported planned
in such a way that another experimenter can replicate
them, that is, repeat them in exactly the same way with Natural experiment
different participants to verify the results and - Also called a quasi-experiment, may provide a way of
conclusions studying certain events. A natural experiment compares
people who have been accidentally “assigned” to
Groups and variables separate groups by circumstances of life— one group
Experimental group – group receiving the treatment were exposed, and another group were not
under study - A natural experiment is actually a correlational study
- Phenomenon the researcher wants to study; the effect because controlled manipulation of variables and
of the treatment will be measured one or more times to random assignment to treatment groups are not possible
find out what changes, if any, it caused
Controlled experiments have two important advantages
Control group – group of people, similar to those in the over other research designs: they can establish cause-
experimental group, who do not receive the treatment and-effect relationships, and they permit replication.
under study However, such experiments can be too artificial and too
- To ensure objectivity, some experiments, particularly in narrowly focused. In recent decades, many researchers
medical research, use double-blind procedure, in which have concentrated less on laboratory experimentation or
neither participants nor experimenters know who is have supplemented it with a wider array of methods
receiving the treatment and who is instead receiving an
inert placebo DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGNS
Primary goals of developmental research is to study
Independent variable – condition over which the change over time, and developmental psychologists have
experimenter has direct control developed a variety of methods to do so.

Dependent variable – the condition that may or may Cross-sectional study – designed to assess agerelated
not change as a result of changes in the independent differences, in which people of different ages are
variable assessed on one occasion
- Children of different ages are assessed at one point in
- In an experiment, a researcher manipulates the time. The children are matched on other important
independent variable to see how changes in it will affect characteristics and their ages are varied
the dependent variable. The hypothesis for a study state - The research concluded that girls’ preference for the
how a researcher thinks the independent variable affects color pink was learned over time, and they theorized that
the dependent variable it was related to the acquisition of knowledge about
gender
Random assignment – assignment of participants in an - Problem with this type of study is that we cannot know
experiment to groups in such a way that each person has whether the 5 yr. olds preference for certain colors when
an equal chance of being placed in any group they were under the age of 2 years was the same as that
of the current babies in the study. We cannot be certain
Laboratory, field and natural experiments that this is a developmental change rather than merely a
Laboratory experiment difference in formative experiences for the two age
- Best for determining cause and effect; it generally groups
consists of asking participants to visit a laboratory where
they are subjects to conditions manipulated by the Longitudinal study – designed to assess to age changes
experimenter (ex: attentional training for babies for in a sample over time
- Only way to know whether change occurs with age is deception, protection of participants from harm and loss
to conduct a longitudinal study of particular person or of dignity, guarantee of privacy and confidentiality, the
group right to decline or withdraw from an experiment any
- Researchers study the same person or group of people time, and the responsibility of investigators to correct
over time, sometimes years apart any undesirable effects, such as anxiety or shame.
- Oakland Growth Study was a groundbreaking
longitudinal study of the physical, intellectual, and In resolving ethical dilemmas, researchers should be
social development; the societal disruption of the Great guided by three principles.
Depression seemed to negatively affect family processes 1) Beneficence – obligation to maximize potential
and child development benefits to participants and to minimize potential harm
- Care must be taken in the interpretation of longitudinal 2) Respect – for participants’ autonomy and protection
research of those who are unable to exercise their own judgement
3) Justice – the inclusion of diverse groups together
Both designs have strengths and weaknesses. with sensitivity to any special impact the research may
- Cross-sectional design is fast and also makes it a more have on them
economical choice. It does not need to consider attrition
(people dropping out of the study) or repeated testing Society for Research in Child Development has
(can produce practice effects) developed standards for age-appropriate treatment of
- Cross-sectional design uses group averages, so children in research, covering such principles as
individual differences and trajectories may be obscured avoidance of physical or psychological harm, obtaining
- The results can be affected by differing experiences of the child’s assent as well as a parent’s or guardian’s
people born at different times, as previously explained informed consent, and responsibility to follow up on any
information that could jeopardize the child’s well-being.
Longitudinal research shows a different and
complementary set of strengths and weaknesses.
Researchers can track individual patterns of continuity
and change. This makes longitudinal studies more time-
consuming and expensive than cross-sectional studies.
- Repeated testing of participants can result in practice
effects
- Attrition can be problematic in longitudinal research as
well because it tends to be nonrandom, which can
introduce a positive bias to the study. Those who stay
with the study tends to have more chaotic lives and
worse overall outcomes
- Practical issues, such as turnover in research personnel,
loss of funding, or the development of new measures or
methodologies, can introduce potential problems with
data collection

Sequential study – design that combines crosssectional

and longitudinal techniques
Sequential designs track people of different ages (like
cross-sectional designs) over time (like longitudinal
designs). The combination of crosssectional and
longitudinal designs allows researchers to separate age-
related changes from cohort effects, and provides a more
complete picture of development than would be possible
with either designs alone.
- Major drawbacks of sequential studies relate to time,
effort, and complexity. It requires a large number of
participants and collection and analysis of huge amounts
of data over a period of years. Interpreting these findings
and conclusions can demand a high degree of
sophistication.

ETHICS OF RESEARCH
Institutional review boards at colleges, universities, and
other institutions review proposed research from ethical
standpoint. Guidelines of the APA cover such issues as
informed consent (consent freely given with full
knowledge of what the research entails), avoidance of