1. Development involves systematic changes and continuities that occur between conception and death.
a. The systematic changes and continuities of interest to those who study human development fall into three broad domains:
i. Biological/Physical development—growth of body, physiological change
ii. Cognitive development—changes and continuities in perception, language, learning, memory, problem solving, and other mental process
iii. Psychosocial development—changes and carryover personal and interpersonal aspects of development, i.e., motives, emotions, personality traits, familial and societal roles
2. Growth—physical changes that occurs from conception to maturity
3. Biological aging—deterioration of organisms (including humans) that leads inevitably to their death
4. Aging—as developmental scientists define it, involves more than biological aging, it refers to a range of physical, cognitive, and psychological changes, positive and negative, in the maturing organism
5. Developmental change involves gains, losses, neutral changes, and continuities in each phase of the life span, and aging is part of it
B. Conceptualizing the Life Span
1. Emerging adulthood is a recent addition to the life span.
2. Culture impacts the recognized periods of the life span.
a. Each socially defined age group in a society—called an age grade—is assigned different statuses, roles, privileges, and responsibilities.
b. A rite of passage is a ritual that marks a person’s “passage” from one status to another, most often the transition from childhood to adulthood.
c. Age norms are society’s way of telling people how to act their age.
d. The social clock is a person’s sense of when things should be done and when they are ahead of or behind the schedule dictated by age norms.
C. Subcultural differences impact development.
1.Ethnicity is people’s classification or affiliation with a group based on common heritage or traditions.
2. Socioeconomic status (SES) is one’s standing in society based on occupational prestige, education, and income.
3. Poverty can be damaging to human development. In the United States, one in every five children, and one in every three children of color, lives in poverty.
4. Poverty is associated with lower academic achievement, poorer mental health and well-being, and increased stress.
D. Historical Changes: Meaning of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood change with historic period.
1. In Western society, during the 17th century, children came to be viewed as distinct from adults.
2. In medieval times, children were expected to grow up as fast as possible.
3. Adolescence was recognized as a separate period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
4. The need for an educated workforce and compulsory schooling helped to lead to adolescence being viewed as a distinct period of life.
5. Emerging adulthood become defined in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
6. Middle age emerged as a distinctive stage of life in the 20th century.
7. Old age also became a unique time period in the 20th century; period of retirement.
E. Developmentalists try to predict the future.
1. In early 21st century, life expectancy is 79 years, compared to 47 in 1900.
2. By 2030, 20% of U.S. population will be 65 and older.
3. Gerontology is the study of aging and old age.
F. The life-span perspective views development as lifelong.
1. Development is lifelong and multidirectional, involves gains and losses, is plastic, is shaped by the historical-cultural context, is multiply influenced, and is multidisciplinary.
II. What Theories Have Guided the Science of Life-Span Development? (p. 10)
1. Baby biographies—Scholars observe the growth and development of their own children.
2. G. Stanley Hall is the founder of developmental psychology and termed adolescence “storm and stress.”
A. The Nature of Theories
1. A theory is a set of ideas to describe and explain a certain phenomenon.
B. The Issues Theories of Development Address
1. Nature–Nurture
a. Maturation (nature)—biological unfolding of plan contained in genes (hereditary material from parents)
b. Environment (nurture) —external physical and social conditions, stimuli, and events
2. Continuity–discontinuity—focuses on whether the changes people undergo over the life span are gradual or abrupt and quantitative or qualitative
a. Continuity theorists: Developmental changes are gradual and quantitative.
b. Discontinuity theorists: Changes are abrupt and qualitative as in developmental stages.
3. Universality-context specificity focuses on the extent to which developmental changes are common to all humans (universal) or are different across cultures, subcultures, or other contexts (context specific).
C. Influential Developmental Theories
1. Evolutionary theory looks to the evolution of the human species for explanations of why humans are as they are and develop as they do.
2. Psychoanalytic theory focused on the development and dynamics of the personality. Here, people are driven by motives and emotional conflicts, unaware of these motives and conflicts, and are shaped by their earliest experiences in the family.
3. Erikson’s psychosocial theory included less emphasis on sexual urges and on the unconscious, irrational, and selfish id and more emphasis on social influences, rational ego, and on development after adolescence when compared to Freud’s theory.
4. The social cognitive theory viewed humans are cognitive beings whose active processing of information plays a critical role in their learning, behavior, and development.
a. Observational learning is learning by observing the behavior of other people.
5. Piaget viewed intelligence as a process that helps an organism adapt to its environment. In his view children are not born with innate ideas about reality and are not filled with information by adults.
6. Systems theories propose that changes over the life span arise from ongoing transactions in which a changing organism and a changing environment affect one another. With this view, development can take several paths depending on the complex interplay of multiple influences.
a. Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model viewed the developing person is embedded in a series of environmental systems: (1) microsystem, (2) mesosystem, (3) exosystem, (4) macrosystem, and (5) chronosystem.
III. How Is Development Studied?? (p. 17)
A. The goals of studying development are:
1. Describing development: normal development and individual difference or variations in development
2. Predicting development
3. Explaining development
4. Optimizing development
B. The Scientific Method
1. Scientific method—a method and an attitude of systematic observation (or data)
a. Believe the data, which is the findings of the research.
2. Theory—set of concepts and propositions intended to describe and explain certain phenomena
3. Hypotheses—specific predictions generated from theories
C. Sample Selection
1. Research sample—a group of individuals being studied
2. Population—a well-defined group from which sample is drawn and about which researchers want to draw conclusions
3. Random sample—a sample formed by identifying all members of a larger population, by random means, selecting a portion of the population to be studied
a. Random sampling from population increases confidence in the representative nature of the sample and makes generalization possible.
YOUR CLASS IS NOT A RANDOM SAMPLE
Random samples must be created so that:
Each member of the population has an equal chance of being in the sample.
Special procedures are required to achieve a truly random sample
D. Data Collection: Three major methods of collection are verbal reports, behavioral observations, and physiological measures.
1. Verbal Reports
a. Often standardized interviews, questionnaires, surveys, ability and achievement tests, and personality scales
b. Cannot be used on infants, those who cannot read, the cognitively impaired, or the elderly
c. Age differences may lead individuals to comprehend or interpret questions differently, which can affect the results
d. Respondents may falsely present themselves in positive manner
2. Behavioral Observations
a. Naturalistic observation—behaviors observed in everyday life
i. Greatest advantage is it is the only technique that can reveal what children and adults do in everyday life.
ii. Three limitations: some behaviors occur too infrequently and unexpectedly to observe; difficult to pinpoint cause of behavior; presence of observer may influence behavior.
iii. An example would be if I were watching a class of 3rd graders through a one-way mirror without them realizing it.
b. Structured observation—researcher creates conditions to elicit a behavior.
i. Can study behaviors that rarely occur in natural settings
ii. Concern about if participants will behave naturally and concern about ability to generalize to natural settings
3. Physiological Measures
a. Assess physiological responses (e.g., hormone levels, heart rate, or other indicators of arousal) to assess emotions
b. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)—brain-scanning technique using magnetic forces and measuring blood flow
i. Can determine which part of brain involved in cognitive activity
c. Difficult to fake
d. Sometimes unclear as to what is being assessed
e. Multiple approaches used to study behavior; three approaches to studying anger and aggression)
E. The Case Study, Experimental, and Correlational Methods
1. The Case Study
a. In-depth examination of an individual (or small group)
b. Multiple sources of information (e.g., observation, interview, testing)
c. Useful in studying people with rare conditions
d. Can be a good source of hypotheses
e. Conclusions cannot be generalized
2. The Experimental Method
a. Independent variable—manipulated by experimenter
b. Dependent variable—behavior affected by independent variable
c. Three critical features of any true experiment:
i. Random assignment to experimental conditions ensures treatment groups are like each other
ii. Quasi-experiment—nonrandom assignment to treatment groups
iii. Manipulation of independent variable needed to establish cause
iv. Experimental control—hold factors constant
d. Experiments: strength
i. Can be used to determine cause
ii. In fact, ONLY experiments, when properly conducted, can assess cause and effect.
Deloach et al. (2010) found that only words taught to infants by their parents exceeded chance levels. Other methods did not (p. 21)
3. The correlational method (generally involves determining whether two or more variables are related in a systematic way)
a. Correlation coefficient assesses extent that individuals’ scores on one variable are systematically related to scores on another
b. Involves calculation of correlation coefficient
i. Correlation coefficient (r) score (extent to which scores on one variable are associated with scores on another variable) with ranges from +1.0 to −1.0
ii. High positive (+) correlation indicates the variables vary together in same direction (e.g., +0.9)
iii. High negative (−) correlation indicates the variables vary together in opposite direction (e.g., -0.9)
iv. Correlation near 0 indicates no relationship between variables
v. Direction of causality may be reversed (e.g., slow language development could cause video viewing)
vi. Third variable may cause observed association (e.g., lack of parent motivation for interaction causing video usage and delayed language development)
vii. Ambiguity means that a correlation cannot be used to establish cause
Correlational Studies
Require at least two measurements from each participant
Measure relatedness of variables but NOT causation
Correlation coefficients range from +1.00 to -1.00
The plus or minus sign indicates the direction of the correlation
Cheerleaders show positive (left side of graphic, A and B are both high or both low) or negative (right side of graphic, A is high and B is low, or A is low and B is high).
Some bicycles are cheap and they are usually heavy. Others are very expensive (>$5000) and they are very light. Why is this an inverse correlation?
c. Numerous studies, including both experimental and correlational studies, with convergent findings best way to establish cause–effect relationships
d. Meta-analysis—study in which results from multiple studies is synthesized
i. Meta-analysis results indicate that watching violent programs is related to roughhousing and more serious violent displays.
F. Developmental Research Designs
1. Cross-Sectional Designs
a. Cross-sectional designs study different age groups (cohorts) measured at the same time
i. Cohort is a group of individuals born at the same time (either the same year or within a span of years).
b. Cross-sectional design—provides information about age differences
c. Age and cohort effects and limitations to cross-sectional designs
i. Age effect—relationship between age and a particular aspect of development
ii. Cohort effect—effect of being born in one particular historical context
iii. Age and cohort effects are confounded or entangled.
iv. Cross-sectional designs observe an individual at only one point, so they do not measure development of the individual
2. Longitudinal design—studies same group (cohort) measured repeatedly over time
a. Longitudinal design provides information on age changes versus age differences and the direction or path of change
b. Limitations of longitudinal designs
i. Time of measurement effects—historical events and trends’ effects on development
ii. In longitudinal designs, time of measurement effects and age effects are confounded.
iii. Unsure if change is due to aging or the result of sociocultural effects
iv. Method is costly and time-consuming
v. Measures may become dated
vi. Loss of participants leads to smaller, less representative sample
vii. Participants can be affected by repeated testing
c. Although both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs have weaknesses, they are both valuable research tools
3. Sequential Designs: The Best of Both Worlds
a. Sequential designs combine cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches
b. Advantages of sequential designs
i. Can identify age-related trends regardless of cohort
ii. Can identify cohort effects
iii. Can identify time of measurement effects
c. Limitations of sequential design
i. Method complex and extremely costly
IV. Conducting culturally sensitive researchh (p. 30)
A. Baltes’s life-span perspective emphasizes that development is shaped by its cultural context.
1. Most developmental research is WEIRD: people living in societies that are Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic
a. Ethnocentrism can impact research.
B. Protect the Rights of Research Participants
1. Research ethics—standards of research conduct that researchers are ethically bound to honor
C. Informed Consent
1. Informed about all aspects of research that might affect participation
2. Those studying “vulnerable” populations must obtain assent or agreement from participant and someone who can decide on their behalf
3. Age, mental impairments, and culture should be considered when obtaining informed consent
4. Researchers are LIMITED to what they can do to participants. Informed consent is NOT EQUAL to consent
D. Debriefing
1. Tell participants about the study afterward if they are not told everything in advance or are deceived
2. Explain the true purpose of the study
3. Obligation to make sure that participants do not leave feeling upset
E. Protection from Harm
1. Researcher may not harm participant physically or psychologically.
2. Investigators must try to anticipate and prepare to deal with any harm.
3. If harm likely, then another way of answering the question should be explored.
4. Federal regulations provide extra protection from harm to children.
F. Confidentiality
1. Keep collected information confidential.
2. Participants must give explicit permission to have information about them shared (except in rare cases, this is required by law).
