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Lecture 1 Introduction to Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology = scientific study of changes/continuities in organism bw its initial
conception and death
Child development = study field accounting for gradual evolution of child’s cognitive, social,
and other capacities by describing changes in observed behaviours and uncovering
processes/strategies that underlie these changes

Basic research vs. applied research

Basic research = understand development for sake of science ex. do kids have inborn attraction
to human faces, does SES predict memory span in young kids, etc.
Applied research = has clear practical application to have an intervention or use in early
screening ex. is lack of interest in human faces in early devo a predictor of autism, can free meals
improve school performance in low SES kids
Understand basic research ! understand fundamental Qs and methodologies in child devo !
ability to ID interesting aspects of devo + critically evaluate research findings ! application of
knowledge to practical areas

Major themes in child devo

Nature vs. nurture = all or specific aspects dependent on environment
Continuity vs. discontinuity = gradual development vs. stage like development
Individual traits vs. situational/contextual influences = internal vs. external

Nature vs. Nurture

Nature = innate, biological unfolding of a genetic plan, environmental input irrelevant,
emphasized by nativists like Plato and Jean-Jaques Rousseau
Plato believed experience isn’t source of human knowledge bc sources are fallible; must come
from internal knowledge = child born with all knowledge need; do not learn but remember
Cave allegory = slaves facing wall with fire behind them casting shadows; shadow people appear
to be reality to the slaves but are not " Senses/experience cannot provide truth because they can
be wrong = knowledge sources must be innate
JJR thought kids enter world w extensive innate knowledge + sense of justice/morality that
unfolds naturally over child development
" NARP = nature + nativist + Rousseau + Plato = infants possess innate world knowledge

 
 
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Nurture = all/specific development is driven by environmental input, emphasized by empiricists

like Aristotle and John Locke
Aristotle believed knowledge is based on perceptual experience; intellect must first be in senses
Children don’t have extensive knowledge; kids minds are blank slates written on by experience
Locke thought human knowledge was based on perceptual experience; kids minds are tabula rasa
= blank slate; all kids are equal and differ based on experiences; begin journey lightly packedL
" LEA = Locke + empiricist + Aristotle = infants depend on experience to gain knowledge

More N vs. N debate

Wild Boy of Aveyron: taken in by nativist JeanMarc Itard who thought boy didn’t have
experience to learn language; nativist townspeople thought boy was crazy
Boy never learned language but did learn manners + develop attachments; no language because
no language input during critical period
Practical applications during industrial revolution = nativists pro-child labour because they don’t
need experience; empiricists say otherwise
G Stanley Hall founded developmental psychology inspired by Darwin’s evolution theory; said
children developed according to a more/less automatic unfolding maturational plan = scientific
method in 20th century
Donald Hebb = Q: nature or nurture A: length or width #savage

Continuity vs. Discontinuity

Continuous = incremental over time, each new event builds on previous experiences,
development is smooth + gradual accumulation of abilities, quantitative changes
Discontinuous = stage like, series of discrete steps in which behaviour is reorganized into new
set of behaviours, abrupt changes in ability, qualitative changes

Individual vs. Situational/Contextual Influences

Individual traits = internal agents of change, ex. kid’s aggression = chooses to be aggressive on
playground
Situational/contextual traits = external agents of change ex. kid born into environment that
promotes aggression (gang violence) that creates personality trait in child

 
 
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Developmental theory = organized set of ideas to explain development, generate testable

hypotheses to explain development; most theories take eclectic approach
Biological
1. Maturational = Gessell: child development reflect specific + prearranged scheme within
body and development is natural unfolding of biological plan; problem = no account for
environmental influence
2. Ethological = Lorenz: evolutionary significance, behaviour must have adaptive/survival
value; many types of learning can only take place in critical period
Appropriately stimulating environment is necessary to elicit evolved behaviour patterns ex. baby
chicks are biologically programmed to imprint + follow first moving object they see
" MELG = Maturational Ethological-Lorenz Gessell

Structural-Organismic Perspective
Development is stage-like + determined primarily by how child resolves conflict at those stages
1. Psychodynamic = Freud said development proceeds in discrete stages determined by
biologically based drives shaped by encounters w environment and interactions bw 3 personality
components (id = desires, ego = reality, superego = moderator)
Changes in organization/interaction of id, ego, and superego involved 5 psychosexual stages:
oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital
Erikson said kids develop through accomplishing tasks involving interaction w environment
Infancy = trust/mistrust, early childhood = autonomy/shame, play age = initiative/guilt, school
age = industry/inferiority, adolescence = identity/confusion, early adulthood =
intimacy/isolation, adulthood = generativity/stagnation, old age = integrity/despair
2. Piagetian = Piaget had theory of cognitive development: kid actively seeks new info +
incorporates it into knowledge base through assimilation + accommodation
Sensorimotor stage = 0-2y, preoperational = 2-7y, concrete operational 7-12y, and formal
operational = 12+ years
" PEFP = Psychodynamic-Freud-Erikson Piagetian

Learning
Development determined primarily by kid’s environment + is generally continuous
1. Behaviourism = theories should be based on observed behaviour (stimulus-response)

 
 
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Pavlov = classical conditioning focuses on innate responses like salivating; pairing

unconditioned + neural stimuli = unconditioned response; when neutral stimulus becomes a
conditioned stimulus it elicits a conditioned response
Skinner = operant conditioning = behaviour depends on consequences via reinforcement
(positive = increases frequency of desired behaviour; negative = reduces frequency of undesired
behaviour) or punishment (positive = apply stimulus; negative = remove stimulus)
Watson = fear conditioning Little Albert, associating rat with loud noise so fear rat + other
animals
2. Cognitive social learning theory = Bandura emphasize imitation of social models in Bobo
doll experiment: kids watched aggressive adult play with doll and imitated aggression when
exposed to doll
3. Information processing = theoretical inspired by thinking of brain like a computer
(continuous development w input and output)
Focuses on info flow through kid’s cognitive system + specific operation child performs bw
input and stimulus phases
Quantitative increase in perception/attention/memory/problem solving w age; maturation +
learning opportunity affect information processing skills so both early/later experiences are
important

Contextual
How changes in social/cultural environment affect child’s development
1. Socio-cultural = Vygotsky said development evolves out of kid’s interaction w more skilled
others in social environment, emphasizing role of parents/caregiver and how society/parents
actively teach you skills – not imitation
" CVS = Contextual Vygotsky Socio-cultural

Scientific method = using objective + replicable methods to gather data to test a hypothesis
Identify a question, form a hypothesis, select method to collect data

Methodologies
Direct observation = researchers go into natural world settings or bring participants into lab to
observe behaviours
Strengths = easy to use w infants who can’t give verbal response + findings likely to reflect
natural behaviour (high ecological validity) bc done over long time + not artificial

 
 
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Flaws = (1) Behaviours are infrequent during study period, (2) Socially undesirable behaviours
will not be done in front of you, (3) Several things happening at once make it hard to pinpoint
cause of observed behaviour, (4) Participant reactivity: knowing you’re being observed changes
behaviours; minimize participants getting used to being observed in time + being unobtrusive,
(5) Observer bias = tendency of researchers to be influenced in judgements by knowledge of
hypothesis; minimize: coding by multiple independent experiments or observers unaware of goal

Structured observation = researchers structure situation so behaviours are more likely to occur,
maximized likelihood of observing event, experimenter cues behaviour + observes responses in
controlled setting

Correlational method = permits investigators to establish strength of/relations bw variables

Strength = allows study of things that cannot be experimented (if unethical)
Flaw = no causation because could be 3rd variable/parent interaction at play

Experimental method = control variables/treatments and randomly assign participants to

treatments to determine cause/effect; IV = manipulated, DV = expected to change, experimental
group = exposed to treatment, control group = not exposed to treatment

Field experiment = deliberately change IRL setting + measure outcome of manipulation

Experimental Designs
Case study = investigators study individuals
Cross sectional method = comparing groups of individuals at different age levels at
approximately the same time; cohort/generational effects = different cohorts may have different
experiences
Longitudinal method = study same people repeatedly at various times in their lives
Converging operations = variety of research techniques used to investigate/converge upon
particular results; used by most researchers