Developmental Psychology

CC12 Unit 1(For Semester V course)

1. Definition
2. What is life span approach
3. Principles
4. A brief history
5. Age and period
6. Biopsychosocial perspective
7. Research design

Definitions

Development is not an empirical term (Reese & overton,1970) although on occasion it is used as though it were (Kaplan
,1983)
Developmental psychology is theoretical data collection exercise because this perspective makes no judgments as to
what is better or preferable
Lifespan developmental psychology is a discipline concerned with description, modification(optimization), explanation
of within individual change and stability from birth or possibly from conception to death and/ or between individual
differences and similarities and within individual change (Baltes, Reese & Lippsitt,1980)
Development is better thought of as a process than as a state. Kaplan (1983) defines development as movement in
the direction of perfection, although he acknowledged that what we mean by perfection is neither transparent nor
easy to articulate.

What is Life span Approach

Beginning with Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and Jean Piaget (1896-1980) the early focus of developmental psychology
was child development or maturation of children. Later researchers who study human development expanded their
focus to include study of physical , motor, cognitive, intellectual, emotional , personality, social and moral change
that occur throughout all stages of the life span.
Lifespan Psychology is a metatheoretical framework that was first proposed by Baltes ,(1997) encompassing growth ,
stability and decline from conception to the end of life.
Lifespan psychology alone cannot explicate the architecture of human development. Biology, Demography,
Neuroscience as well as economics, educational science and philosophy are also needed – just to mention a few.
Gains and losses co-exist in human development.
Lifespan psychology posits the dialectics of gains and losses ( Riegel,1976) Which means any gain at any age , entails
a loss and vise versa ( Baltes, 1987)
Some highly debated issues in lifespan development psychology :a) continuity versus discontinuity b) Nature vs
nurture c)Active versus passive d)stability versus change
Development and aging are used synonymously to define selective age-related change in adaptive capacity. Adaptive
capacity encompasses psychological functions (self-regulations, working memory) as well as structures (such as
personality traits and knowledge systems).

Principles

Development is lifelong. Lifespan theorists believe that development is life-long, and change is apparent across the
lifespan.
Development is multidirectional. Humans change in many directions. We may show gains in some areas of
development, while showing losses in other areas
Development is multidimensional. We change across three general domains/dimensions; physical, cognitive, and
psychosocial.
Development is multidisciplinary. Human development is such a vast topic of study that it requires the theories,
research methods, and knowledge base of many academic disciplines.
Development is characterized by plasticity. Plasticity is all about our ability to change and that many of our
characteristics are malleable
Development is multicontextual : Baltes (1987) identified three specific contextual influences- Normative age-graded
influences, Normative history-graded influences, Non-normative life influences.

History

In its earliest days, developmental psychology was closely linked with mainstream psychology. Indeed, two of the
founding fathers of the American Psychological Association (APA) , G. Stanley Hall and M. M. Baldwin, were renowned
developmentalists. Then, for a long while, many developmentalists operated outside the central concerns of the
mainstream of psychology.
th
On 100 anniversary of the founding of the APA provided a unique opportunity for developmentalists to take stock
of the progress of the field..
Darwin, Hall, Baldwin, Binet, Dewey, Freud, Spitz, Piaget, Watson, Gesell, McGraw, Vygotsky, Stem, Werner, Bayley,
Bowlby, Ainsworth, Sears, Bandura, and E. J. Gibson are prominent developmental scientists provide a series of
reflections on the future of the field.

What is age and period in developmental psychology

AGE
 Biological age : How quickly the body is aging
 Psychological age: Psychologically adaptive capacity compared to others of our chronological age
 Social age: Based on the social norms of our culture and the expectations our culture has for people of
our age group
PERIOD
 Critical period: A period during which a particular leaning occurs
 Imprinting: A biological predisposition for a behaviour that is triggered by or linked to a specific
environmental stimulus
 Sensitive period: A time of heightened ability to learn

Stages of life (Freud, Erikson)

Stages of Cognitive development : Piaget

Reference : Lally, M & Valentine,S (2019)Lifespan Development : a Psychological perspective (2nd ed)

Biopsychosocial Perspective

Biological

Bio-
psychosocial
perspective

social Psychological

The interaction of biological, psychological, and social aspects of

developmental psychology forms the essence of the holistic biopsychosocial
perspective.
The biopsychosocial perspective attributes
complex phenomena or events to multiple causes.
In contrast to the biopsychosocial perspective
is the reductionistic perspective, which reduces complex phenomenon or events to a single cause.

Growth, Maturation and learning : Interrelationship

Crow & Crow (1962) Growth refers to structural and physiological changes and development is concerned with
growth as well as those changes in behavior which results from environmental stimulation .Growth proceeds from
top to bottom following Cephalocaudal principle.
Proximodistal development occurs from the centre or core of the body in an outward direction. Head region starts
growth first followed by which other organs starts developing. Child gains control of the head first and then the arms,
legs. Growth and development is sequential. Growth is measurable and observable( quantitative) .Growth may or
may not bring development.
Maturation is unfolding of individuals inherent traits. Phylogenetic functions( common to the human race) such as
creeping, sitting, walking- Learning in the form of training is of little advantage here, though controlling the
environment to reduce opportunities for practice may retard development. Maturation provides raw materials for
learning and determines more general patterns and sequence of behaviour. Maturation sets limits beyond which
development can not progress even with most favorable learning methods and strongest motivation from learner’s
part. Developmental readiness is required.
Learning is development comes from experience and effort from individuals parts.Ontogenetic functions (specific to
the individual) such as writing, driving , swimming – learning I the form of training. variation in learning occurs due to
individual difference in personality , attitude interest etc.

Developmental directions: cephalocaudal and Proximodistal

Research Design

Research design is a strategy or blueprint for deciding how to collect and analyze information. Research design dictates
which methods are used and how. Developmental research designs are techniques used particularly in life span
development research. To describe development and change , age is important because age, cohort , gender and social
class impact development.

Types of research design

Cross sectional design and longitudinal design

The majority of developmental studies use cross-sectional designs because they are less time-consuming
and less expensive than other developmental designs. Cross-sectional research designs are used to
examine behavior in participants of different ages who are tested at the same point in time.
Longitudinal research involves beginning with a group of people who may be of the same age and
background (cohort) and measuring them repeatedly over a long period of time. One of the benefits of this
type of research is that people can be followed through time and be compared with themselves when they
were younger; therefore changes with age over time are measured.
Sequential research design
Sequential research designs include elements of both longitudinal and cross-sectional research designs.
Similar to longitudinal designs, sequential research features participants who are followed over time; similar
to cross-sectional designs, sequential research includes participants of different ages. This research design
is also distinct from those that have been discussed previously in that individuals of different ages are enrolled
into a study at various points in time to examine age-related changes, development within the same
individuals as they age, and to account for the possibility of cohort and/or time of measurement effects. In
1965, K. Warner Schaie[1] (a leading theorist and researcher on intelligence and aging), described particular
sequential designs: cross-sequential, cohort sequential, and time-sequential. The differences between them
depended on which variables were focused on for analyses of the data (data could be viewed in terms of
multiple cross-sectional designs or multiple longitudinal designs or multiple cohort designs). Ideally, by
comparing results from the different types of analyses, the effects of age, cohort, and time in history could be
separated out.
Difference between cohort sequential and time sequential deign shown here.( Data collection procedure )

Microgenetic Designs
Microgenetic designs aim to capture changes as they occur and attempt to understand mechanisms involved in
any observed changes. They often focus on a key transition point or dramatic shift in the behavior of interest.
Researchers usually begin observations before this transition point, and make observations until shortly after
the transition has stabilized.
Advantages of Microgenetic Methods
One advantage of a microgenetic method is that it may lead to insights about the processes that lead to change. A
second advantage is that it allows researchers to examine in detail transitions that occur infrequently.

Disadvantages of Microgenetic Methods

Microgenetic studies are susceptible to repeated testing since participants are observed frequently in a short period
of time. Furthermore, because the large numbers of observations, many studies that use a microgenetic design often
have a small number of participants and this can influence the representativeness of the sample. Furthermore, small
sample sizes can make it difficult to use certain statistical techniques that are common in psychology.

Based on experimental conditions

All research involves comparison IV is manipulable researcher must assign participants to conditions that embody the
desired levels of the factor. . If the independent variable is a nonmanipulable subject characteristic such as age, then
the researcher must select participants who already possess different levels of the characteristic. The statistical tests
appropriate for within-subject comparisons are somewhat different from those appropriate for between-subject
comparisons. within-subject tests are often more powerful than between-subject tests—that is, more likely to reveal
a significant difference if a difference does in fact exist. This greater power stems from the reduction in unwanted
variance afforded by the within subject design.

Within subject design

This approach is referred to as repeated measures because participants are repeatedly measured across each
condition. The advantage to this approach is that it can be used with smaller sample sizes with little or no error variance
concerning individual differences between conditions (i.e., the same participants exist in each condition). Some
disadvantages to this approach are the threats to internal validity, which are primarily maturation and history, and the
biggest issue is sequencing effects (i.e., order and carryover effects). More specifically, performance in one treatment
condition affects the performance in a second treatment condition. If possible, it is recommended to randomize the
order of the treatments (also known as counterbalancing) to control for sequencing effects.

Between Subject design

Comparison of effect of two or more groups on single / multiple variables. It allows random assignments to different
conditions. Comparison of different treatments.With a minimum of two groups, the participants in each group will
only be exposed to one condition (one level of the independent variable), with no crossover between conditions.

Limitations of experimental designs in developmental research

Limitations of the Experimental Design in Developmental Psychology It is difficult to use an experimental approach in
developmental psychology, for several reasons. The first, as indicated earlier, is the inability to assign participants to
the variable of interest. Developmental psychologists cannot manipulate many of the variables they study—such as
age, gender, abusive family background, or ethnicity. These variables come with the individual along with many other
variables that can confuse us when interpreting their effects on the dependent variable. Second, many of the questions
we ask involve the effects of stressful or dangerous experiences, such as tobacco or alcohol use, medical procedures,
or the withholding of treatments thought to be beneficial. Manipulations of these variables would be unethical, if not
impossible. Third, some argue that how people behave or perform in an experimental lab setting is not how they
actually behave in a “real-world” setting. Fourth, planning, designing, conducting, and evaluating a true experimental
design is very time-consuming and costly, as you can imagine from reflecting on the actual small-group lab experiment.
Additional Challenges to Consider in Developmental Designs
Research designs that are used to help developmental scientists understand change over time can be difficult to
employ. There are three additional challenges in developmental designs: determining the cause of any observed
changes, determining whether the measures used at different times or for different ages are equivalent, and
determining the appropriate sample interval.

Determining the Underlying Cause of Change

An important goal of studying change overtime is to determine factors that play important roles in causing those
changes. However, changes can be due to age, maturation, learning, specific experiences, and cohort effects. These
effects do not always occur independently and can also interact.

Finding Equivalent Measures

From a perspective of creating a well-designed experiment, it would be ideal to use a single assessment to measure
a behaviour of individuals of different ages. Yet practically, a particular assessment that works best for toddlers may
not work so well for young teenagers. A solution to this problem would be to test measures across different ages to
find those that provide a reasonable assessment across all different ages.

Determining the Appropriate Sampling Interval

This final issue that confronts researchers examining change over time challenges researchers to determine how
frequently they should obtain samples over time. The risk of inadequate sampling is that patterns of change may be
mischaracterized or missed altogether. Adolph and Robinson (2011) advocate for frequent sampling, though the
appropriateness of their technique involving daily summaries depend on the particular behaviour of interest and the
resources that you have available.

Ethics

Decisions about whether research is ethical are made using established ethical codes developed by scientific
organizations, such as the American Psychological Association, and federal governments. In the United States, the
Department of Health and Human Services provides the guidelines for ethical standards in research. The following are
the American Psychological Association code of ethics when using humans in research (APA, 2016). • No Harm: The
most direct ethical concern of the scientist is to prevent harm to the research participants. • Informed Consent:
Researchers must obtain informed consent, which explains as much as possible about the true nature of the study,
particularly everything that might be Table 1.6 Time Span Research Designs Advantages and Disadvantages Source 33
expected to influence willingness to participate. Participants can withdraw their consent to participate at any point.
Infants and young children cannot verbally indicate their willingness to participate, much less understand the balance
of potential risks and benefits. As such, researchers are oftentimes required to obtain written informed consent from
the parent or legal guardian of the child participant. Further, this adult is almost always present as the study is
conducted. Children are not asked to indicate whether they would like to be involved in a study until they are
approximately seven years old. Because infants and young children also cannot easily indicate if they would like to
discontinue their participation in a study, researchers must be sensitive to changes in the state of the participant, such
as determining whether a child is too tired or upset to continue, as well as to what the parent desires. In some cases,
parents might want to discontinue their involvement in the research. As in adult studies, researchers must always
strive to protect the rights and wellbeing of the minor participants and their parents when conducting developmental
research. • Confidentiality: Researchers must also protect the privacy of the research participants’ responses by not
using names or other information that could identify the participants. • Deception: Deception occurs whenever
research participants are not completely and fully informed about the nature of the research project before
participating in it. Deception may occur when the researcher tells the participants that a study is about one thing when
in fact it is about something else, or when participants are not told about the hypothesis. • Debriefing: At the end of
a study debriefing, which is a procedure designed to fully explain the purposes and procedures of the research and
remove any harmful aftereffects of participation, must occur.