DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEWER

1 The Life-Span Perspective

1.2 The Nature of Development
1.3 Theories of Development
1.4 Research on Life-Spean Development

Topic: The Life-Span Perspective

1. The Importance of Studying Life-Span Development
2. Characteristics of the Life-Span Perspective
3. Some Contemporary Concerns
The Importance of Studying Life-Span Development
• You will discover that the study of life-span development is intriguing and filled with
information about who we are, how we came to be this way, and where our future will take
us.
• In exploring development, we will examine the life span from the point of conception until
the time when life (or at least life as we know it) ends.
• You will see yourself as an infant, as a child, and as an adolescent, and be stimulated to
think about how those years influenced the kind of individual you are today.
• And you will see yourself as a young adult, as a middle-aged adult, and as an adult in old
age, and be motivated to think about how your experiences today will influence your
development through the remainder of your adult year.
• Human development is a lifelong process and studying it over the entire life span can
provide insights into how individuals change and develop over time.
Characteristics of the Life-Span Perspective:
• The life-span perspective recognizes the importance of studying development across the
entire life span, from conception to death.
• The life-span perspective acknowledges the influence of biological, psychological, and
sociocultural factors on development.
• The life-span perspective emphasizes the importance of context in development, including
historical and cultural context, as well as the individual's environment and experiences.

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 Three types of influences that can affect human development:
1. Biological Influences: These are factors related to the genetic and physiological makeup of
an individual. Biological influences include genetics, hormones, and brain development,
which can impact physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development.
2. Psychological Influences: These are factors related to the mental and emotional processes
that influence an individual's behavior and development. Psychological influences include
cognition, motivation, personality, and emotions.
3. Sociocultural Influences: These are factors related to the social and cultural context in
which an individual develops. Sociocultural influences include family, peers, schools,
neighborhoods, and cultural norms, which can impact development in various domains.
Socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and gender are also considered sociocultural factors
that can influence development.

A. Life-Expectancy

• maximum life span of 122 years - has not changed since the beginning of recorded history.
• What has changed is life expectancy—the average number of years that a person born in a particular
year can expect to live.
• 20th century - United States increased by 32 years (sanitation, nutrition, and medicine)
• 2016 – US life expectancy – 79 years
• For the first time in U.S. history, there are more people over 60 years of age than under 15 years of
age. In less than a century, more years were added to human life expectancy than in all the prior
millennia.
•
B. Life-Span Perspective

• Life-span Perspective - views development as lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic,

multidisciplinary, and contextual, and as a process that involves growth, maintenance, and
regulation of loss.
• Baltes’ View - development is constructed through biological, sociocultural, and individual factors
working together.

Development Is Lifelong - early adulthood is not the endpoint of development; rather, no age period
dominates development.
Development Is Multidimensional - No matter what your age might be, your body, mind, emotions, and
relationships are changing and affecting each other. Development has biological, cognitive, and
socioemotional dimensions. (Attention, memory, abstract thinking, speed of processing information, social
intelligence – cognitive dimensions)
Development Is Multidirectional - Throughout life, some dimensions or components of a dimension
expand, and others shrink.

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Development Is Plastic - Plasticity means the capacity for change.
Developmental Science Is Multidisciplinary - Psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists,
neuroscientists, and medical researchers all share an interest in unlocking the mysteries of development
through the life span.
Development Is Contextual - All development occurs within a context or setting. Contexts include
families, schools, peer groups, churches, cities, neighborhoods, university laboratories, countries, and so
on. Each of these settings is influenced by historical, economic, social, and cultural factors.

3 TYPES OF INFLUENCES
1. Normative Age-Graded Influences – similar for individuals in a particular age group. (Biological
processes such as puberty and menopause, socio-cultural factors, and environmental processes such as
beginning formal education and retiring from the workforce
2. Normative History-Graded Influences - are common to people of a particular generation because of
historical circumstances (World War II, EDSA Revolution, FB, TikTok, K-pop)
3. Nonnormative Life Events - are unusual occurrences that have a major impact on the lives of individual
people. (Death of a parent, teen pregnancy, winning the lottery.
Development Involves Growth, Maintenance, and Regulation of Loss - Baltes and his colleagues (2006)
assert that the mastery of life often involves conflicts and competition among three goals of human
development: growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss.
Development Is a Co-construction of Biology, Culture, and the Individual - Development is a co-
construction of biological, cultural, and individual factors working together.

SOME CONTEMPORARY CONCERNS

1. Health and well-being - Health professionals today recognize the powerful influences of lifestyles and
psychological states on health and well-being
2. Parenting and Education - child care, the effects of divorce, parenting styles, child maltreatment,
intergenerational relationships, early childhood education, links between childhood poverty and education,
bilingual education, recent efforts to improve lifelong learning, and many other issues related to parenting
and education.
3. Sociocultural Contexts and Diversity - To analyze this context, four concepts are especially useful:
culture, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender.
4. Social Policy - government’s course of action designed to promote the welfare of its citizens.
5. Technology - overwhelming increase in the use of technology at all points in human development.

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 • The life-span perspective considers the importance of individual differences and diversity
in development, such as differences in culture, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status.
• The life-span perspective considers the impact of globalization and technological changes
on development.
• The life-span perspective acknowledges the importance of studying aging and how it
impacts individuals and society.

Topic: The Nature of Development

1. Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Processes
2. Periods of Development
3. The Significance of Age
4. Developmental Issues
Biological, Cognitive, and Socioemotional Processes
• Development is a dynamic process that involves biological, cognitive, and socioemotional
processes interacting with each other.
• Biological processes involve changes in an individual's physical characteristics, such as growth and
maturation, changes in the body's organs and systems, and changes in the brain and nervous system.
• Cognitive processes involve changes in an individual's intellectual abilities, including perception,
attention, memory, language, and problem-solving.
• Socioemotional processes involve changes in an individual's emotions, personality, and
relationships with others, including social and cultural norms, and how these change across the
lifespan.
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience - explores links between development, cognitive processes,
and the brain.
Developmental Social Neuroscience - examines connections between socioemotional processes,
development, and the brain.

Periods of Development
(Prenatal period, infancy and toddlerhood, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, young
adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood)
The prenatal period is the time from conception to birth. It involves tremendous growth— from a single
cell to an organism complete with brain and behavioral capabilities—and takes place in approximately a 9-
month period. Infancy is the developmental period from birth to 18 or 24 months.
Infancy is a time of extreme dependence upon adults. During this period, many psychological activities—
language, symbolic thought, sensorimotor coordination, and social learning, for example— are just
beginning. The term toddler is often used to describe a child from about 1 ½ to 3 years of age. Toddlers are
in a transitional period between infancy and the next period, early childhood.

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Early childhood is the developmental period from 3 through 5 years of age. This period is sometimes called
the “preschool years.” During this time, young children learn to become more self-sufficient and to care for
themselves, develop school readiness skills (following instructions, identifying letters), and spend many
hours playing with peers. First grade typically marks the end of early childhood.
Middle and late childhood is the developmental period from about 6 to 10 or 11 years of age, approximately
corresponding to the elementary school years. During this period, children master the fundamental skills of
reading, writing, and arithmetic, and they are formally exposed to the larger world and its culture.
Achievement becomes a more central theme of the child’s world, and self-control increases. Adolescence
is the developmental period of transition from childhood to early adulthood, entered at approximately 10 to
12 years of age and ending at 18 to 21 years of age.
Adolescence begins with rapid physical changes—dramatic gains in height and weight, changes in body
contour, and the development of sexual characteristics such as enlargement of the breasts, growth of pubic
and facial hair, and deepening of the voice. At this point in development, the pursuit of independence and
an identity are preeminent. Thought is more logical, abstract, and idealistic. More time is spent outside the
family. There has been a substantial increase in interest in the transition between adolescence and early
adulthood, a transition that can be a long one as individuals develop more effective skills to become full
members of society. Recently, the transition from adolescence to adulthood has been referred to as emerging
adulthood, the period from approximately 18 to 25 years of age (Arnett, 2015, 2016a, b). Experimentation
and exploration characterize the emerging adult. At this point in their development, many individuals are
still exploring which career path they want to follow, what they want their identity to be, and which lifestyle
they want to adopt (for example, single, cohabiting, or married) (Jensen, 2018; Padilla-Walker & Nelson,
2017).
Early adulthood is the developmental period that begins in the early twenties and lasts through the thirties.
It is a time of establishing personal and economic independence, advancing in a career, and for many,
selecting a mate, learning to live with that person in an intimate way, starting a family, and rearing children.
Middle adulthood is the developmental period from approximately 40 to about 60 years of age. It is a time
of expanding personal and social involvement and responsibility; of assisting the next generation in
becoming competent, mature individuals; and of reaching and maintaining satisfaction in a career.
Late adulthood is the developmental period that begins during the sixties or seventies and lasts until death.
It is a time of life review, retirement, and adjustment to new social roles and diminishing strength and
health. Late adulthood has the longest span of any period of development, and as noted earlier, the number
of people in this age group has been increasing dramatically.
Four Ages - Life-span developmentalists who focus on adult development and aging increasingly
describe life-span development in terms of four “ages”.
First age: Childhood and adolescence
Second age: Prime adulthood, ages 20 through 59
Third age: Approximately 60 to 79 years of age
Fourth age: Approximately 80 years and older.
The major emphasis in this conceptualization is on the third and fourth ages, especially the increasing
evidence that individuals in the third age are healthier and can lead more active, productive lives than their
predecessors in earlier generations

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 Three Developmental Patterns of Aging
K. Warner Schaie, described three different developmental patterns that provide a portrait of how aging can
encompass individual variations:
Normal Aging - characterizes most individuals, for whom psychological functioning often peaks in early
middle age, remains relatively stable until the late fifties to early sixties, and then shows a modest decline
through the early eighties. However, marked decline can occur as individuals approach death.
Pathological Aging - characterizes individuals who show greater than average decline as they age through
the adult years. In early old age, they may have mild cognitive impairment, develop Alzheimer disease later
on, or have a chronic disease that impairs their daily functioning.
Successful Aging - characterizes individuals whose positive physical, cognitive, and socioemotional
development is maintained longer, declining later in old age than is the case for most people. For too long,
only the declines that occur in late adulthood were highlighted, but recently there has been increased interest
in the concept of successful aging.
The Significance of Age
Age and Happiness
Yes - Consider also a U.S. study of approximately 28,000 individuals from 18 to 88 that revealed happiness
increased with age (Yang, 2008) ◦ Despite facing higher incidences of physical problems and losses, older
adults are more content with what they have in their lives, have better relationships with the people who
matter to them, are less pressured to achieve, have more time for leisurely pursuits, and have many years
of experience resulting in wisdom that may help them adapt better to their circumstances than younger
adults do.
No - Researchers have also found that baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) tend to report
being less happy than individuals born earlier— possibly because they are not lowering their aspirations
and idealistic hopes as they age, as did earlier generations.

• Some studies indicate that the lowest levels of life satisfaction occur in middle age, especially from
45 to 54 years of age.
• Respondents in research studies conducted in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, as well
as in South American countries, reported a decrease in life satisfaction with advancing age.
CONCEPTIONS OF AGE - Age has been conceptualized not just as chronological age but also as
biological age, psychological age, and so.
CHRONOLOGICAL AGE is the number of years that have elapsed since birth.
BIOLOGICAL AGE is a person’s age in terms of biological health. Determining biological age involves
knowing the functional capacities of a person’s vital organs. One person’s vital capacities may be better or
worse than those of other people of comparable age.
PSYCHOLOGICAL AGE is an individual’s adaptive capacities compared with those of other individuals
of the same chronological age. Thus, older adults who continue to learn, are flexible, are motivated, have
positive personality traits, control their emotions, and think clearly are engaging in more adaptive behaviors
than their chronological age-mates who do not continue to learn, are rigid, are unmotivated, do not control
their emotions, and do not think clearly.

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SOCIAL AGE refers to connectedness with others and the social roles individuals adopt. Individuals who
have better social relationships with others are happier and more likely to live longer than individuals who
are lonely (Carstensen & others, 2015; Reed & Carstensen, 2015)
• Age is an important factor in development, as individuals experience changes in their physical,
cognitive, and socioemotional abilities and roles as they age.
• The book discusses different ways in which age is conceptualized, including chronological age,
biological age, psychological age, and social age.

DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES
1. Nature and Nurture - involves the extent to which development is influenced by nature and by nurture.

• There has been a dramatic increase in the number of studies that reflect the epigenetic view, which
states that development reflects an ongoing, bidirectional interchange between genes and the
environment. These studies involve specific DNA sequences.
• The epigenetic mechanisms involve the actual molecular modification of the DNA strand as a result
of environmental inputs in ways that alter gene functioning
2. Stability and Change - involves the degree to which early traits and characteristics persist through life or
change.
3. Continuity and Discontinuity - focuses on the degree to which development involves either gradual,
cumulative change (continuity) or distinct stages (discontinuity). (quantitative, continuous change vs
qualitative, discontinuous change.

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 Topic: Theories of Development
• Psychoanalytic Theories
• Cognitive Theories
• Behavioral Social Cognitive Theories
• Ethological Theory
• Ecological Theory
• An Eclectic Theoretical Orientation

Psychoanalytic and Cognitive Theories

Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory

personality development occurs through a series of psychosexual stages, which are periods of development
during which the child focuses on erogenous zones of the body.
Five Psychosexual Stages:
1. Oral stage (0-1 years): During this stage, the primary source of pleasure and satisfaction is the
mouth. Infants explore their environment through their mouths, through activities such as sucking,
biting, and chewing. According to Freud, unresolved conflicts during this stage can lead to oral
fixation, such as nail-biting, thumb-sucking, overeating, or smoking.
2. Anal stage (1-3 years): During this stage, the primary source of pleasure and satisfaction is the
anus. Toddlers learn to control their bodily functions, such as bowel and bladder movements.
According to Freud, conflicts during this stage can lead to fixation on control, such as being overly
neat and organized or being messy and disorganized.
3. Phallic stage (3-6 years): During this stage, the primary source of pleasure and satisfaction is the
genitals. Children become aware of their own and others' genitals and develop an interest in gender
roles and sexual differences. Freud believed that boys experience the Oedipus complex, in which
they desire their mother and see their father as a rival, while girls experience the Electra complex,
in which they desire their father and see their mother as a rival.
4. Latency stage (6-12 years): During this stage, there is a period of relative calm in psychosexual
development. Children focus on developing social and intellectual skills and relationships with
peers, rather than on sexual impulses.
5. Genital stage (puberty and beyond): During this stage, the primary source of pleasure and
satisfaction is the genitals, but in a mature and adult way. Adolescents and adults develop intimate
relationships with others, express their sexuality in socially acceptable ways, and focus on
achieving their life goals.
According to Freud, unresolved conflicts during any of the psychosexual stages can lead to fixation, which
can manifest in personality traits and behavior patterns later in life.

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Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development by Erik Erikson
The eight stages of psychosocial development were proposed by Erik Erikson, a prominent developmental
psychologist. Each stage represents a period of life during which individuals must confront and resolve a
particular psychosocial crisis in order to develop into a healthy and well-adjusted adult. Here is a brief
explanation of each stage:
1. Trust vs. Mistrust (infancy): During this stage, infants must learn to trust that their caregivers will
meet their basic needs for food, comfort, and safety. If their needs are not consistently met, they
may develop a sense of mistrust and insecurity.
2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (toddlerhood): During this stage, young children begin to assert
their independence and autonomy. If caregivers are supportive of their efforts, children develop a
sense of autonomy and self-confidence. However, if caregivers are overly critical or restrictive,
children may develop feelings of shame and doubt.
3. Initiative vs. Guilt (early childhood): During this stage, children begin to take initiative in their play
and social interactions. If they are encouraged and supported in their efforts, children develop a
sense of purpose and initiative. However, if they are criticized or punished for their efforts, children
may develop feelings of guilt and self-doubt.
4. Industry vs. Inferiority (middle childhood): During this stage, children begin to compare
themselves to their peers and develop a sense of competence and mastery. If they are successful in
their efforts, they develop a sense of industry and self-esteem. However, if they are not successful,
they may develop feelings of inferiority and incompetence.
5. Identity vs. Role Confusion (adolescence): During this stage, adolescents explore their identity and
develop a sense of self. If they are able to successfully integrate their experiences and develop a
coherent identity, they develop a sense of identity and direction. However, if they are unable to do
so, they may experience role confusion and uncertainty about their future.
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation (young adulthood): During this stage, young adults develop intimate
relationships with others. If they are able to form healthy and fulfilling relationships, they develop
a sense of intimacy and connection. However, if they are unable to do so, they may experience
feelings of isolation and loneliness.
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle adulthood): During this stage, adults focus on contributing to
the next generation through work, parenting, and other activities. If they are successful in their
efforts, they develop a sense of generativity and purpose. However, if they feel unproductive or
unfulfilled, they may experience feelings of stagnation and dissatisfaction.
8. Integrity vs. Despair (late adulthood): During this stage, older adults reflect on their lives and
accomplishments. If they feel a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment, they develop a sense of
integrity and acceptance of death. However, if they feel regret or dissatisfaction, they may
experience feelings of despair and hopelessness.

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Jean Piaget Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development
Swiss developmental psychologist who proposed a theory of cognitive development that consists of four
stages. These stages represent distinct periods of growth and learning that individuals go through as they
develop from infancy to adolescence.
Two processes underlie this cognitive construction of the world: organization and adaptation.

• Organization - we separate important ideas from less important ideas, and we connect one idea to
another.
• Adaptation - adjusting to new environmental demands.

1. Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years): During this stage, infants learn about the world through their
senses and actions. They develop object permanence, the understanding that objects continue to
exist even when they are out of sight. They also learn about cause-and-effect relationships through
simple actions, such as shaking a rattle to make noise.
2. Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years): During this stage, children begin to develop symbolic thinking
and language skills. They are able to represent objects and ideas in their minds through mental
symbols, such as pretend play. However, they still struggle with logical reasoning and
understanding other people’s perspectives.
3. Concrete operational stage (7 to 11 years): During this stage, children become more skilled at
logical reasoning and understanding cause and effect relationships. They develop the ability to
classify objects into groups based on their shared characteristics and understand basic mathematical
concepts, such as addition and subtraction.
4. Formal operational stage (11 years and up): During this stage, individuals develop the ability to
think abstractly and hypothetically. They are able to reason logically about complex ideas and
develop their own theories about the world. They also develop the ability to think critically and
reflect on their own thoughts and beliefs.
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Cognitive Theory

• Vygotsky's sociocultural cognitive theory emphasizes the role of social and cultural factors in
cognitive development.
• Language plays a crucial role in cognitive development, allowing individuals to communicate and
share information with others.
• Through conversations and interactions with more knowledgeable others, children are able to learn
new concepts and ways of thinking.
• Children actively construct their knowledge.
• Vygotsky’s theory is a sociocultural cognitive theory that emphasizes how culture and social
interaction guide cognitive development.

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The Information-Processing Theory

• emphasizes that individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it.
• individuals develop a gradually increasing capacity for processing information, which allows them
to acquire increasingly complex knowledge and skills.
• Robert Siegler (2006 - 2017) a leading expert on children’s information processing, states that
thinking is information processing. In other words, when individuals perceive, encode, represent,
store, and retrieve information, they are thinking.
• Siegler emphasize micro genetic method to obtain detailed information about processing
mechanisms as they are occurring from moment to moment.
• A number of micro genetic studies have focused on a specific aspect of academic learning, such as
how children learn whole number arithmetic, fractions, and other areas of math.
• Micro genetic studies also have been used to discover how children learn a particular concept in
science or a key component of learning to read.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) focuses on creating machines capable of performing activities that
require intelligence when they are done by people.
And a new field titled developmental robotics is emerging that examines various developmental topics and
issues using robots, such as motor development, perceptual development, information processing, and
language development.
Evaluating Cognitive Theories
Contribution - positive view of development and an emphasis on the active construction of understanding.
Criticisms - skepticism about the pureness of Piaget’s stages and too little attention to individual variation.

Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories

Skinner’s Operant Conditioning - A behavior followed by a rewarding stimulus is more likely to recur,
whereas a behavior followed by a punishing stimulus is less likely to recur.
Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory -behavior, environment, and cognition are the key factors in
development.
People acquire a wide range of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings through observing others’ behavior and
that these observations play a central role in lifespan development.

Evaluating Behavioral and Social Cognitive Theories

Contribution - emphasis on scientific research and environmental determinants of behavior.
Criticisms - too little emphasis on cognition in Skinner’s theory and inadequate attention paid to
developmental changes.

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Ethological Theory
Ethology stresses that behavior is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution, and is characterized
by critical or sensitive periods.

• Konrad Lorenz (1965) studied the behavior of graylag geese, which will follow their mothers as
soon as they hatch.
• Imprinting needs to take place at a certain, very early time in the life of the animal, or else it will
not take place. This point in time is called a critical period.
• John Bowlby stressed that attachment to a caregiver over the first year of life has important
consequences throughout the life span.
Positive Attachment - the individual will likely develop positively in childhood and adulthood.
Negative Attachment and Insecure - life-span development will likely not be optimal.
Evaluating Ethological Theory
Contribution - focus on the biological and evolutionary basis of development, and the use of careful
observations in naturalistic settings.
Criticism - too much emphasis on biological foundations and a belief that the critical and sensitive period
concepts might be too rigid.

Ecological Theory
Uri Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory - holds that development reflects the influence of several
environmental systems. The theory identifies five environmental systems: microsystem, mesosystem,
ecosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.

• microsystem is the setting in which the individual lives (family, peers, school, neighborhood) ◦
mesosystem involves relations between microsystems or connections between contexts.
• ecosystem consists of links between a social setting in which the individual does not have an active
role and the individual’s immediate context (mother’s promotion – conflict with the husband –
change patters of interaction with the child).
• macrosystem involves the culture in which individuals live.
• chronosystem consists of the patterning of environmental events and transitions over the life course,
as well as sociohistorical circumstances (divorce).
Evaluating Ecological Theory
Contributions - systematic examination of macro and micro dimensions of environmental systems, and
attention to connections between environmental systems. A further contribution of Bronfenbrenner’s theory
is an emphasis on a range of social contexts beyond the family, such as neighborhood, religion, school, and
workplace, as influential in children’s development.
Criticisms - inadequate attention to biological factors, as well as too little emphasis on cognitive factors.

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 An Eclectic Theoretical Orientation

• Psychoanalytic theory best explains the unconscious mind. ◦ Erikson’s theory best describes the
changes that occur during adult development.
• Piaget’s, Vygotsky’s, and the information-processing views provide the most complete description
of cognitive development.
• The behavioral and social cognitive and ecological theories have been the most adept at examining
the environmental determinants of development.
• The ethological theories have highlighted biology’s role and the importance of sensitive periods in
development.
• Eclectic Theoretical Orientation does not follow any one theoretical approach but rather selects
from each theory whatever is considered its best features.

Topic: Research on Life-Span Development

• Methods for Collecting Data
• Research Designs
• Time Span Research
• Conducting Ethical Research
• Minimizing Bias Methods for Collecting Data
Observation - For observations to be effective, they must be systematic. We must have some idea of what
we are looking for. We have to know whom we are observing, when and where we will observe, how the
observations will be made, and how they will be recorded
Survey and Interview - One problem with surveys and interviews is the tendency of participants to answer
questions in a way that they think is socially acceptable or desirable rather than to say what they truly think
or fee.
Standardized Test - uniform procedures for administration and scoring, can determine individual
differences. One criticism of standardized tests is that they assume a person’s behavior is consistent and
stable, yet personality and intelligence—two primary targets of standardized testing—can vary with the
situation.
Case study - in-depth look at a single individua which provides information about one person’s experiences;
it may focus on nearly any aspect of the subject’s life that helps the researcher understand the person’s
mind, behavior, or other attributes.
Physiological measures – Researchers are increasingly using physiological measures when they study
development at different points in the life span (Bell & others, 2018). Hormone levels are increasingly used
in developmental research.

• Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) - in which electromagnetic waves are used to
construct images of a person’s brain tissue and biochemical activity ◦
• Electroencephalography (EEG) is a physiological measure that has been used for many decades
to monitor overall electrical activity in the brain.
• Heart rate, eye movement, genes.

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 Research Designs
Descriptive Research - which aims to observe and record behavior.
Correlational Research - describe the strength of the relationship between two or more events or
characteristics (correlational coefficient: −1.00 to +1.00.
Experimental Research - the experiment has demonstrated cause and effect. The cause is the factor that was
manipulated. The effect is the behavior that changed because of the manipulation (IV vs DV, Experimental
group vs Control group)
Time - Span of Research
Cross-Sectional Approach - research strategy that simultaneously compares individuals of different ages.
A typical cross-sectional study might include three groups of children: 5-year-olds, 8-year-olds, and 11-
year-olds.
Advantage: researcher does not have to wait for the individuals to grow up or become older.
Disadvantages: It gives no information about how individuals change or about the stability of their
characteristics. It can obscure the increases and decreases of development—the hills and valleys of growth
and development.
Longitudinal Approach - research strategy in which the same individuals are studied over a period, usually
several years or more.
Advantage: provide a wealth of information about vital issues such as stability and change in development
and the influence of early experience on later development
Disadvantages: The longer the study lasts, the more participants drop out— they move, get sick, lose
interest, and so forth. Those individuals who remain in a longitudinal study over a few years may be more
responsible and conformity oriented.
Cohort Effects - are due to a person’s time of birth, era, or generation but not to actual age.
Conducting Ethical Research
Informed Consent - All participants must know what their research participation will involve and what risks
might develop. Even after informed consent is given, participants must retain the right to withdraw from
the study at any time and for any reason.
Confidentiality - Researchers are responsible for keeping all the data they gather on individuals completely
confidential and, when possible, completely anonymous.
Debriefing - After the study has been completed, participants should be informed of its purpose and the
methods that were used.
Deception - deception will not harm the participants and that the participants will be debriefed (told the
complete nature of the study) as soon as possible after the study is completed.

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 Minimizing Bias

• Gender Bias
• Cultural and Ethnic Bias

OTHER TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Culture The behavior patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a group that are passed on from generation
to generation.
Cross-Cultural Studies Comparison of one culture with one or more other cultures. These provide
information about the degree to which development is similar, or universal, across cultures, and the degree
to which it is culture specific.
Ethnicity A characteristic based on cultural heritage, nationality characteristics, race, religion, and
language.
Socioeconomic Status (SES) Refers to the grouping of people with similar occupational, educational, and
economic characteristics.
Gender The characteristics of people as males or females.
Social Policy A national government’s course of action designed to promote the welfare of its citizens.
Scientific Method An approach that can be used to obtain accurate information. It includes the following
steps: (1) conceptualize the problem, (2) collect data, (3) draw conclusions, and (4) revise research
conclusions and theory.
Theory An interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps to explain phenomena and facilitate predictions.
Laboratory A controlled setting in which many of the complex factors of the “real world” are removed.
Naturalistic observation Studies that involve observing behavior in real-world settings.

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