Human Dev

elopment an
Research M d
ethodology
Ps
ych 201 (Dev
e lopmental P
sychology)
Human Development
0 Scientific study of age-related changes in
behavior, thinking, emotion, and personality
Philosophical
Roots of Human
Development
 4th Century St. Augustine of Hippo (Original Sin)
• All humans are born with selfish nature;
• To reduce the influence of this inborn tendency toward selfishness, humans
should be taught to speak spiritual rebirth and submit themselves to spiritual
training

17th Century John Locke (The Blank Slate)

• Empiricism which means the mind of a child is a blank slate;
• Humans possess no innate tendencies & that all differences among humans are
attributable to experience;
• Adults can mold children into whatever they want to be

18th Century Jean Jacques Rousseau (Innate Goodness)

• All humans are naturally good and seek out experiences that help the, grow and
seek out experiences that help them grow;
• Children need only nurturing and protection to reach their full potential.
Scientific
Roots of Human
Development
Charles Darwin
• Suggested that the wide variety of life-forms that exist on earth evolved gradually;
• Proposed to keep detailed records of their own children’s early development (baby
biographies) in the hope of finding evidence to support the theory of evolution

G. Stanley Hall
• Used questionnaires and interviews to study large numbers of children;
• Had the first scientific study of child development; he thought that developmentalists should
identify norms – average ages at which developmental milestones are reached, which will be
used to track development of individual children.

Arnold Gesell
• Suggested the existence of maturation – the gradual unfolding of a genetically programmed
sequential pattern of change;
• His findings became the basis for many norm-referenced tests used today to determine
whether individual children are developing at a rate similar to others
 The Lifespan Perspective
0 The perspective or idea that important changes occur
throughout the entire human lifespan/ every period of
development.
0 Understanding change in each developmental stage is
necessary to fully explain human development.
0 Emphasizes on three key elements: 1Plasticity,
2
Interdisciplinary Research, 3Multicontextual nature of
Development
Ageism
0 also spelled agism, is stereotyping and discrimination
against individuals or groups on the basis of their age.
0 coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe
discrimination against seniors, and patterned on sexism
and racism
The Domains and Periods of
Development
0 Physical Domain – changes in the size, shape,
and characteristics of the body
0 Cognitive Domain – changes in thinking
memory, problem solving, and other intellectual
skills
0 Social Domain – change in the variables that are
associated with the relationship of an individual
to others and individual’s belief about his/herself
 Prenatal Period

Periods of Development • Conception until birth

Infancy

• Birth until a child begins to use language to communicate

Early childhood

• 2 yrs old to 6 yrs old

Middle childhood

• 6 yrs old to 12 yrs old

Adolescence

• 12 to 18 yrs old

Early adulthood

• 18 to 40 yrs old

Middle adulthood

• Occur around 40 years old

Late adulthood

• Begins at age 60 yrs old until the end of life

Key Issues in the Study of Human Development
Key Issues in the Study of Human Development
 How do the three kinds of age-related
Three Kinds of Change change differ?
Normative Age-graded Changes
0 changes that are common to every member of a species;
0 Age-related events are considered normative if they occur with great frequency
and are similar with respect to duration and timing for the majority of the
population within a culture.

Normative History-graded Changes

0 changes that occur in most members of a cohort as a result of factors at work
during a specific, well-defined historical period (wars and epidemics)
0 history-graded events are normative in that they are experienced by the majority
of the population during a given time.
0 the majority of a cohort (individuals all born the same year) experience the event
in similar ways.

Non-normative Changes
0 changes that result from unique, unshared events
0 significant, unexpected and unpredictable events, for a particular individual, which
do not follow the predictable developmental pattern of life-cycle.
Social Clock
0 Set of age norms defining a sequence of life experiences
that is considered normal in a given culture and that all
individuals in that culture are expected to follow.
Critical period
0 Specific period in development when an organism is
especially sensitive to the presence (or absence) of some
particular kind of experience.
For baby ducks, the first 15 hours or
so after hatching is a critical period
for the development of a following
response.

Newly hatched ducklings will follow

any duck or any other moving
object that happens to be around
them at the critical tune. If nothing
is moving at that critical point, they
don’t develop any following
response at all.
Sensitive period
0 Span of months or years during which a child may be
particularly responsive to specific forms of experience or
particularly influenced by their absence.

The period from 6 to 12 months of

age may be a sensitive period for
the formation of parent-infant
attachment.

Those who are deprived of touch

have trouble forming attachment
when they are older.
Atypical development
0 As known as abnormal behavior,
psychopathology, maladaptive
development
0 Deviation from typical or normal
developmental pathway in a
direction that is harmful.
Vulnerabilities + Protective Factors
0 Parents who use poor discipline
techniques and poor monitoring are
more likely to have non-compliant
children.
0 The combination of a highly
vulnerable child and a poor or
unsupportive environment produces
by far the most negative outcomes.
Goals of researchers who study human
development to use scientific method:
To describe
0 state what happens

To explain
0 tell why particular events happen (rely on theories)

To predict
0 researchers test hypothesis

To influence
0 findings can be used to help and implement research
Descriptive Methods:
0 Naturalistic Observation
0 Case Study
0 Laboratory Observation
0 Surveys
0 Correlations
Experimental Methods:

0 Cross-sectional designs
0 Longitudinal designs
0 Sequential designs
0 Cross-cultural research
Method Description Limitations
Naturalistic Observation Observation of behavior in natural settings Observer bias

Case studies In-depth study of one or a few individuals using Subject to

observation, interviews, or psychological testing misinterpretation

Surveys Interviews, questionnaires used to gather Social desirability

information quickly

Correlational studies Determination of mathematical relationships Cannot demonstrate

between two variables cause and effect

Experiments Random assignment of participants to control and Many variables

experimental groups; manipulation of independent cannot be studied in
(causal) variable experiments
Cross-sectional designs Participants of different ages studied at one time Ignores individual
differences
Longitudinal designs Participants in one group studied several times Time-consuming;
findings may apply
only to the group
that’s studied
Sequential designs Study that combines both longitudinal and cross- Different Attrition
sectional components rates
Cross-cultural research Research that either describes culture as a variable Difficult to construct
tests and methods
across culture
Research Ethics
0 Protection from harm
0 Informed Consent
0 Confidentiality
0 Knowledge of results
0 Deception