Lecture 1 Goals and Methods

Question 1

What are the the goals of developmental science

Answer 1

1. Describing
2. Explaining
3. Applying

Question 2

What is the first goal of developmental science

Answer 2

• describing
• it is to understand the nature (abrupt vs slow) and variation of developmental changes across childhood in children

for example
- when do babies start babbling, producing words, reaching full vocab
- what does a one-year-old do compared to a certain age
- most theoretical works is based on descriptive work and describe what children were doing.

Question 3

Whats describing developmental

Answer 3

• to understand developmental changes across childhood, the nature of these changes ( abrupt vs slow) and variation in skills in children
• like when do babies start babbling, producing words, reaching full vocab
• what does a one-year-old do compared to a certain age
• Major theoretical works is based on descriptive work and describe what children were doing.

Question 4

what are quantitative changes

Answer 4

• gradual changes in the amount, frequency, or degree of behaviours

Question 5

what are qualitative changes

Answer 5

a progression through a sequence of distinct changes
- like the frog’s growth is characterized by
unique stages. When the frog egg hatches, it is a tadpole that swims, feeds on algae, you cant meaurer frogs chnages by quantitives
- another exmaple of qualitative changes is puberty

Question 6

What are some over all differences amongst children in development.

Answer 6

1) individual differences
2) apox age when skills emerge
3) course of change over time

Question 7

what are some individual differences

Answer 7

• age of onset
• rate of changes
• the form skills

Question 8

Whats age of onset? Provide some examples

Answer 8

• The approximate age when skills emerge
• like first words, first steps, first signs of puberty ( 11 or 12 yr)

Question 9

whats rate of change? provide an example

Answer 9

• course of change overtime, like vocabulary development

Question 10

what is of form of skills and provide some examples

Answer 10

• what behaviours look like in children with diverse experiences
• example; Counting: although people assume this skill to be universal, the
  Pirahã people appear to lack number concepts

Question 11

whats apox age when skills emerge

Answer 11

First words, first steps, first signs of puberty

Question 12

whats course of change over time

Answer 12

example,
vocaulary development

Question 13

Can we predict future development based on present
development?

Answer 13

its a matter of stability vs. Plasticity

Question 14

What is stability?

Answer 14

Wheter children who are relatively high or low on certain characteristics or behaviour at a particular point in time are also relativley low or high at other times

Question 15

give an example of stability

Answer 15

children with difficulties regulating their emotions in infancy display difficulties regulating emotions years later

Question 16

What is plasticity?

Answer 16

The impressive capacity of humans to adapt to changing environments and experiences

Question 17

example of plasticity

Answer 17

adoption studies reveal remarkable malleability in child development:
- children who were adopted out of impoverished environments caught up to their peers who had never been in impoverished environments

Question 18

are there any limits to plasticity?

Answer 18

• yes, like the case of children living in orphanages who werent adopted till after 18 months of age and continued to experince behavioral problems that were difficult to reverse for many years

Question 19

what is the second goal of development psychology

Answer 19

Explaining Development

Question 20

Whats explaining development

Answer 20

to identify factors that contribute to developmental change in children as a group to individual differences

Question 21

what is nature

Answer 21

childs biological makeup, the genes inherited from parents.
- includes:
- biological characteristics like arms legs
- unique characteristics like physical appearence such as eye colour, height, hair colour etc)
-personality like extraversion, agreeableness and openness

Question 22

what is nurture

Answer 22

range of environmental contexts and experiences that influence development
- like: family, childcare, school, neighbourhood and culture

Question 23

what is a Developmental Cascades?

Answer 23

The idea that change of one
kind can have positive or
negative cascading ( like a waterfall flowing) effects,
setting other kinds of changes
in motion, both immediately
and at later ages

Question 24

what are cascades within time?

Answer 24

concurrent influences that occur across diff domains and or between the developing child and the child’s environment and experiences

for example: language skills and emotional regulation
- Infant temperament and parental sensitivity

Question 25

what are cascades overtime?

Answer 25

changes at one period in development result in changes at a later period in the same or different domain - for example, children who experience low-quality parenting early may experience academic probles later, as well as limits to future education choices

Question 26

what is the third goal of developmental science?

Answer 26

- applying

Question 27

what are two applications of developmental science

Answer 27

1. development science has social and practical implications - for example prevention and intervention programs, educational curricula, parenting supports, local and national investmenst ( developmental science informs local, state, and federal policies and initiatives that affect families and children. Maternity and paternity leave policies, child and family welfare laws, health care initiatives, programs such as Head Start (which provide quality childcare and support to poor families), and even laws about the legal ages for smoking and drinking present noteworthy examples of areas that are grounded in the findings of developmental science.) 2. developmental science can inform design, implementation and evaluation of prgrams and polices - book reading programs ( Book reading has the potential to expose infants and toddlers to a greater variety of words than children would otherwise encounter during other activities. Exposure to new words, in turn, facilitates growth in vocabulary that sets children on a path toward academic success)

Question 28

What are two things you should know regarding research in development science

Answer 28

1. How to conduct research 2. Ensuring scientific rigour and integrity

Question 29

whats discovery based science?

Answer 29

science based on discovering and understanding what children do and what development looks like without assuming examples of discovery based science include Piagets constructivist theory of development and bowlbys theory of attachnment

Question 30

what is a sample

Answer 30

participants in a study

Question 31

the amount of people in a sample is called

Answer 31

sample size

Question 32

whats sample demographics

Answer 32

age, gender, education level, employment status, annual household income, marital and family status, housing, business etc

Question 33

whats generlizability

Answer 33

how do research findings from one sample extend to a population at large

Question 34

if the sample is larger then the ----- the chance that findings are generalizable

Answer 34

if the sample is larger then the greater the chance that findings are generalizable

Question 35

what is convenience sampling

Answer 35

recruiting participants in a study based on how easy b it is to get them ( like example a student will ask their classmates to complete their survey)

Question 36

will there be any biases in samples of convenience?

Answer 36

yes, there may be bias findings and it may differ from the larger population

Question 37

whats are "WEIRD" populations in developmental psychology

Answer 37

- WEIRD stands for Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic

Question 38

why is having "WEIRD" participant populations in research a problem?

Answer 38

- increase evidence that numerous findings in development, even ones presumed to be "universal" are, in fact , tied to specific cultural contexts - our understanding of human development is limited

Question 39

list the four types of research methods

Answer 39

1. Interviews 2. Written surveys 3. Observations 4. Psychological Assessments

Question 40

provide an example and list the pro + con of interviews

Answer 40

example: - structured vs unstructured interviews pros: - data from participants on their behaviour - researched can get info on infrequent behaviours/events that cant be observed in a single study session cons: - participants can be biased - participant scan disclose information to hide negative behaviors or feelings

Question 41

provide an example and list the pro + con of written surveys

Answer 41

example: - paper, online pros: - participant scan respond without talking to researcher, this can lower soical desirability effects cons: - need literacy skills, therefore young children or people with low education may be disinclined

Question 42

provide an example and list the pro + con of observations

Answer 42

example: - naturalistic observation, structured observations, direct assesments pros: - researchers can directly observe/asses behaviours of interest cons: - can be costly time-wise, participants behaviour may be influnces by researchers pressence

Question 43

provide an example and list the pro + con of psycholgical assesments

Answer 43

example: - brain activation, heart rate, blood pressure, eye movements, measures of hormones pros: - can assess how participants react and respond to diff stimuli and diff situations phsysiologgical - offers a diff lens cons: - can be costly in required tech and training - some methods cannot be used with young children - can be hard to factor causation, sometimes people have hormones based on time of day etc

Question 44

what are study designs

Answer 44

specific plan for conductings a study that allows the researcher to test a study hypothesis

Question 45

what are the 6 types of study designs?

Answer 45

1) correlational studies 2) experiments 3) longitudinal studies 4) cross-sectional study 5) cohort sequential study 6) microgenetic design

Question 46

what are correlational studies

Answer 46

test associations between two or more variables with no manipulation of variables

Question 47

example of correlations study

Answer 47

finding a relationship between # of hours playing violent games and children's aggressive behaviours

Question 48

whats a confounding variable

Answer 48

a third variable that may relate to both dependents and independent variables

Question 49

what are experiment sand what varibles does it include

Answer 49

a research method testing a hypothesis about a cause and effect relationship between two or more variables a) independent variable -- manipulated b) dependent variable -- measures example: violent video games

Question 50

whats a longitudal study

Answer 50

follows the same particpants over time

Question 51

whats a cross sectional study

Answer 51

tests diff groups of participants at diff ages

Question 52

whats a cohort sequential study

Answer 52

tests different groups of participants, but then follows them across time

Question 53

microgenetic design

Answer 53

frequent assessments over a small period of time

Question 54

How do you ensure scientific rigour and integrity

Answer 54

1. by reliability, validity and replicability 2. Ethical considerations

Question 55

what are the two common types of reliability?

Answer 55

1. Inter-rater reliability 2. test-retest Reliability

Question 56

whats inter rater reliabilty

Answer 56

the extent to which diff observers reach the same results

Question 57

whats test retest reliability

Answer 57

participant receives same or similar score when testes at diff times and under similar conditions

Question 58

what are the 4 diff types of validity?

Answer 58

1. face validity 2. concurrent validity 3. predictive validity 4. external validity

Question 59

whats face validty

Answer 59

the purpose of the meausre is clear to people who look it over

Question 60

what concurrent validity

Answer 60

reflects degree to which a measure corresponds to another measure that tests the same phenomenon at the same point in time

Question 61

what is predictive validity

Answer 61

reflects the degree to which a measure predicts a criterion to be measured at a future point

Question 62

what is external validity

Answer 62

refers to the extent to which a measure can be applied across diff settings or diff groups of people

Question 63

what are 9 SRCD ethical principles

Answer 63

1. confidentiality 2. full disclosure no deception 3. informed consent 4. informing/debreifing participants 5. mutual responsiilty 6. non-harmful procedures 7. anonymity 8. clear agreement 9. voluntary participation, righ to withdraw