Developmental Psychology

Developmental Psychology
What is Developmental Psychology?
 Developmental Psychology
• Scientific Method
– Observation
– Experiment
– Survey
– Cross-Sectional
– Longitudinal
– Cross-Sequential
 Developmental Psychology
Problems Of Science
• Correlation and Causation
• Quantity and Quality
• Ethics
Studying the Life Span: Five
Characteristics
• The study of human development is
the science that seeks to understand
– how and why all kinds of people change
over time
– how and why they remain the same
– the generalities and the specifics
• Focus is on all kinds of people
- age, socioeconomic status, gender,
ethnicity, sexuality, background, culture,
and nationality
 Studying the Life Span:
Five Characteristics, cont.
• Change from conception to death—
the five characteristics
– A Life-Span Perspective
• multidirectional—nonlinear progression (1)
• multicontextual—a number of contexts (2)
• multicultural—many cultural settings (3)
• multidisciplinary—many academic disciplines
contribute data (4)
• plasticity—change through the life span (5)
 Multidirectional (1)
• Each aspect of life is multidirectional
– physical health, intellectual growth, and
social interaction
– up, down, stable or erratic
• Dynamic Systems
– process of continual change within a
person or group, in which each change is
connected systematically to every other
development in each individual and every
society
 Physical Growth
• Growth in height and weight is not linear
• Fluctuations in body weight are
affected by many other changes
– appetite, nutrition, family, stress, exercise,
culture, food supply, and climate
– historical changes can have powerful
effects
• “obesity epidemic” in the U.S. today
 Effects, Large and Small
• Butterfly effect—the idea that a small
action or event may set off a series of
changes culminating in a major event
• Opposite Idea
– a large change may have little or no effect
• Family Dynamics
– influence vulnerability or resiliency
– strong bond with loving caregiver can
protect against adversity of many kinds
 Multicontextual (2)

• Humans develop in many contexts

that influence development
– physical and family
– focus on three facets of social
context
• historical, socioeconomic, and cultural
Three Broad Contexts Within the Social
Context
 Historical Context

• Historical context involves cohorts,

social constructions
– impact of historical context varies with
age
The Socioeconomic Context

• Socioeconomic includes
– socioeconomic status (ses),
• education, income, neighborhood,
occupation of household head
Families and Neighborhoods
• Economics
– poverty
• Collective Efficacy—neighbors that
create a functioning, informal
network of people who show concern
for each other and their block
• Supportive Family Relationships
– quality of parenting
– family support best predictor of health
 The Cultural Context

• Cultural—set of values, assumptions,

and customs as well as physical
objects such as clothing, housing, etc.
– includes all decisions people make
– is dynamic, supportive
 Multicultural (3)

• Two examples of various practices

provide insights into culture—(1) Too
Rich to Marry? And (2) The Children’s
House
 Too Rich to Marry?
• Worldwide, the richer the man, the
more likely he is to marry
• Is a woman a less desirable mate if
she earns more income and therefore
would be less dependent on the male?
– higher income for women
• reduced marriage prospects in Japan
• increased marriage prospects slightly in U.S.
• increased marriage prospects significantly in
Sweden
• findings reflective of a country’s gender
 The Children’s House
• Kibbutz Sleeping Arrangements
– different sleeping practices, with some
children sleeping in Children’s House,
while others slept at home
– children who slept away ended up having
negative consequences
• difficulty talking about, relating to family
members
Ethnicity, Race, and Income
• Ethnic group—collection of people
who share certain attributes, almost
always including ancestral heritage
and often including national origin,
religion, customs, and language
• People can belong to more than one
culture
 Ethnicity, Race, and Income, cont.

• Race—a social construction by which

biological traits are used to
differentiate people whose ancestors
came from various regions of the
world
– a distorted concept
• SES variations tend to follow ethnic
variations
 Ethnicity, Race, and Income, cont.

• The Person Within the System

– divergent directions, contextual
influences, cohort effect
 Multidisciplinary (4)

• Body, Mind, and Spirit

• Three domains
– biosocial
– cognitive
– Psychosocial
• Combination of Nature vs. Nurture
 Plasticity (5)
• Plasticity—capacity to change
• Characteristics can be molded into
different forms and shapes or a
durability can be maintained
• Provides hope and realism
– change is possible
– people must build on what came before
(raw materials = genes, families,
cultures, experiences)
 The Person Within the
Context
• Person is guided in divergent
directions by many contextual
influences
• No one is “average”— each person
unique
– each person has unique genes and
experiences
– Paul Baltes (Founder of lifespan
developmental study)
 Developmental Study as a
Science
• Based on objective evidence
(objective)
• Laden with personal implications and
applications (subjective)
 Scientific Method

• Scientific method—general way to

seek evidence to answer question,
involving four basic steps and
sometimes a fifth.
1. formulate a research question
2. develop a hypothesis
hypothesis—a specific prediction that is
stated in such a way it can be tested and
either confirmed or refuted
 Scientific Method, cont.
3. test the hypothesis
4. draw conclusions
5. make findings available
• replication—the repetition of a scientific study using
the same procedures on another group of participants
to verify or refute the original study’s conclusion
 Research Methods

• Four Methods of Testing

Hypotheses
– observations
– experiments
– surveys
– case studies
 Observation

• Scientific observation—observing and

recording (unbiased) in a systematic
way what people do
– Limitation: it does not indicate what
causes behavior we observe
 Observation, cont.

• Correlation and Causation

– Naturalistic observation provides no
definitive answers about causes
– Correlation exists between two variables
if one variable is more (or less) likely to
occur when the other occurs
– correlation indicates a connection, but
does not specify reason (cause) for it
 The Experiment
• Experiment—investigation designed
to untangle cause from effect
– independent variable—imposed
treatment or special condition
– dependent variable—specific behavior
being studied
– experimental group—participants who
are given particular treatment
– comparison (control) group—participants
who are not given special treatment but
are similar to experimental group in
How to Conduct an Experiment
 The Survey

• Survey—information collected from

personal interview, questionnaire, etc.
 The Case Study

• Case study—intensive study of

one individual or situation
Studying Changes over Time

• Developmental research must be able

to deal with changes that continue
over time
– research design allows researchers to
include time, or age, as a factor
– three basic designs:
• cross-sectional, longitudinal, cross-sequential
 Cross-sectional Research

• Cross-sectional research-research
that studies groups differing in age
but sharing other important
characteristics (education, SES,
ethnicity)
 Longitudinal Research

• Longitudinal research—research that

studies individuals over a long period;
valuable developmental information
from longitudinal studies includes
– adjustment to divorce
– role of fathers in child development
– prevention of teenage delinquency
 Cross-Sequential Research

• Cross-sequential research—research
that studies several groups of people
of different ages, then follows those
groups longitudinally
 The Ecological-Systems
Approach: A Synthesis

• Ecological-systems approach—
research that takes into
consideration the relationship
between the individual and the
environment
– Uri Bronfrenbrenner
 Ethics and Science

• General principles of code of ethics

– never harm participants either physically
or psychologically
– explain purposes and procedures of
study
– secure informed consent
– keep data on participants private
– allow participants to stop at any time
 Implications of Research

• Deliberate or accidental deception?

• Misinterpretation?
• Replicable?
 What Should We Study?
• Are scientists studying issues that
are crucial to human development?
– human sexual urges and actions to
prevent STDs, pregnancy, and sexual
abuse and to cure infertility
– stress, poverty, and prejudice
– children’s anger
– retirement
 Further Reading
• Chapters 1 & 2 Berger