Class 1 Notes - Jean Varghese PDF

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PSYC2110: CLASS 1

MAY 11TH, 2020

History, Theory, and Research Strategies Developmental Psychology 

Systematic continuities & changes between conception and death; both positive or negative in abilities

Why Study Development?  

Philosophical Considerations: Insight into universal human nature Practical Considerations: Collecting info on how to better the lives of children o Protect & advance; shape policies; increase chances for success o Teachers, parents… o What are the expectations cognitively at different ages?

The Goals of Developmental Research     

Describe development: Changes in physical, cognitive, & social Explain development: Uncover processing for how & why changes occur; mechanisms Predict development: What somebody will be like at a certain point depending on past or current characteristics Optimize development: Utilize proper optimizing of development Intervene when development moves away from optimal paths: Enhance quality of children’s lives; prevention OR correction

Domains of Development   

Physical Development: Functioning of body systems, body size & proportions, general health, sexual capacities, and motor capacities Cognitive Development: Intellectual abilities Social & Personality Development: Emotional communication, self-understanding, understanding others’ personal sills & relationships, and moral reasoning & behaviour o All influence each other; develop at the same time

Periods of Development

Periods of Development Prenatal Infancy & Toddlerhood Early Childhood Middle Childhood Adolescence Emerging Adulthood Basic Issues  

Conception  birth Birth  2 years 2  6 years 6  11 years 11  18 years 18  mid/late 20s

Theories differ in terms of how they explain development Theories can be grouped on the basis of where they stand with respect to the basic issues

The Nature/Nurture Issue  Development is a product of both; what is the interaction like between

Nature Biological predispositions

Nurture Environmental influences

PSYC2110: CLASS 1

MAY 11TH, 2020

Active/Passive 

Active Passive Used to be known that passive was Children actively Children are passive more prominent, but research has contribute to their own recipients of environment shown that it’s more-so active development influences o Based on the child’s temperament, they’ll elicit different kinds of responses to people within their environment, and said environment will have an impact on their development

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Even a young baby will contribute to their own development in some way

The Continuous/Discontinuous Issue 

The characterization of developmental change

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Continuity Development is additive & gradual Development is quantitative Gradual accumulation of a behaviour skill or knowledge in an orderly fashion

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Discontinuity Development is a series of discrete stages Development is qualitative Abrupt or discreet fashion of development; denoted by stages

One Course of Development or Many? 

Does everyone follow the same developmental sequence? What is the role of context in development? o Some aspects of development that are universal (e.g. motor or language milestones) o Cultural practices can have an impact on when certain skills or abilities will emerge

Historical Foundations Early Civilizations (2000 BC - 100 AD)    

Mixture of beliefs & practices Evidence of parental devotion (physical affection, toys, games) Killing of deformed or illegitimate infants 100 AD = first steps to protect children through legal reforms

The Renaissance (1300 - 1500) 

Emergence of written philosophies of childrearing

PSYC2110: CLASS 1

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MAY 11TH, 2020

Art: Infants & children begins to look and behave differently o Middle Ages depict children are more adult-like, whereas the Renaissance actually looks more like an infant-- shows the difference in views, determines how we treated them at the time or what resources were provided, and what practices were used

The Reformation   

Puritan belief in original sin: children are born with sin so parents must undo this Harsh, restrictive child-rearing practices were recommended Showed love & concern

Philosophies of the Enlightenment John Locke  

Mind of the child is a tabula rasa (“blank slate”) Child is passive and receives from the environment

Jean-Jacques Rousseau  

Child is a noble savage endowed with sense of right & wrong Child is active in their own development

Scientific Beginnings Charles Darwin 

Baby biography of his son; one of the first recordings of development

G. Stanley Hall   

Father of Developmental Psychology More objective data; larger samples Urged the psychological study of children as a major component of teacher training

Theories of Development   

Provide organizing frameworks for observations Organize facts-- broad set of statements; use to organize thinking Serve as a sound basis for practical action o Allow predictions

Early Writings  

Plato: Classic nativist; children born with innate knowledge, just had to relocate information that’s already available Aristotle: Classic empiricist; everything the child needs to know is available in the world and can be observed through empirical observation-- experience is more important

PSYC2110: CLASS 1

MAY 11TH, 2020

The Psychoanalytic Perspective   

People move through stages Confront conflicts at every stage Conflict resolution determines person’s ability to learn, get along with others, and cope with anxiety

Freud’s Theory and Psychosexual Stages  

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Behaviour is controlled by powerful unconscious urges 3 parts of personality: id (pleasure), ego (balances needs of the id and superego), and superego (reflecting standards/rules obtained by the individual) o Conflict between these parts Dynamic balance = healthy personality STAGE Oral Anal Phallic

APPROXIMATE AGE 0 - 2 years 2 - 3 years 4 - 6 years

EROGENOUS ZONE Mouth Anus Genitals

Latent

7 years - puberty

None

Genital

Puberty on

Genitals

KEY TASK Weaning Toilet training Resolving Oedipus Complex Developing social relationships Developing mature social & sexual relationships

Personality develops at puberty

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory   

More emphasis on social motivation Personality continues to develop throughout life in 8 stages Must resolve crisis at each stage Psychosocial Stage Basic Trust vs. Mistrust

Age Birth  1 year

Challenge To develop a sense that the world is safe, a “good place”

Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt

1 year  3 years

Initiative vs. Guilt

3 years  6 years

Industry vs. Inferiority

6 years  Adolescence

Identity vs. Identity Confusion

Adolescence

Intimacy vs. Isolation

Young Adulthood

Generativity vs. Stagnation

Middle Adulthood

To realize that one is an independent person who can make decisions To develop willingness to try new things and to handle failure To learn basic skills and to work with others To develop a lasting, integrated sense of self To commit to another in a loving relationship To contribute to younger people,

[This depends on the interactions with the parents]

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MAY 11TH, 2020

through child-rearing, childcare, or other productive work Integrity vs. Despair Late Life To view one’s life as satisfactory and worth living Possible to experience a stage later-on in life (e.g. possible to gain trust vs. mistrust in late life instead; based on certain life events, possible to move back to previous stages)

The Learning Perspective 

Development results from learning o Changes in behaviour result from experience or adaptation to the environment

Behaviourism: Psychology Loses Its Mind 

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“Loses Its Mind” = People were frustrated with Freud’s theory because it focused so much on the unconscious and it’s not possible to look into there, so there was a push in psychology to start looking at observable characteristics only-- direct observations/behaviours Conclusions should be based on direct observations Focuses on associative learning (mental link between 2 stimuli) 2 kinds of associative learning: o Classical Conditioning (John B. Watson) o Operant Conditioning (B. F. Skinner)

“Little Albert”    

Classical Conditioning in humans Rat  Child-- child wasn’t scared Added ringing bell which scared Albert He then associated fear with the rat when it appeared alongside the bell

Operant Conditioning   

Consequences of a behaviour determine whether a behaviour is repeated Types of consequences: reinforcement and punishment Initial behaviour voluntarily done by the person-- consequence determines if they repeat it or not

Social Learning Theory    

Albert Bandura Stresses learning by observation & imitation mediated by cognitive processes Must actively attend, encode, store, recall, & reproduce actions; doesn’t mean we’ll follow through again, as we must be motivated to reproduce the action Also learn through vicarious reinforcement, meaning one chooses to do an action or not based on if they’ve seen someone else do it and be reinforced for it

Cognitive-Developmental Perspective 

Focus on children’s mental processes

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Ways in which children perceive and mentally represent the world How they develop thinking, logic, and problem-solving ability

Piaget’s Theory      

Discontinued Developmental Theory Origins of knowledge Children actively construct knowledge Proceed through 4 stages Cognition is qualitatively different at each stage Found patterns in wrong answers on IQ tests, causing him to believe that children at different ages think in qualitatively different ways, which led to the development of 4 stages

Piaget’s 4 Stages of Development Sensorimotor Preoperational Concrete Operations Formal Operations Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory  

Birth  2 years 2 years  7 years 7 years  11 years 11 years+

Viewed cognitive growth as a socially mediated activity Knowledge is constructed through interactions with “more-skilled” people & objects in culture

Information-Processing Perspective   

Computer analogy Input flows in  operated on  output Explains cognition by analyzing the processes involved in perceiving & handling information

Developmental Neuroscience  

Identify links between cognitive & social domains of development Develop interventions for learning & behavioural problems

Ethological and Evolutionary Perspective  

Exploration using senses; motor coordination improves Usage of symbols Logical thought Abstract thought

Concerned with the adaptive value of behaviour Importance of innate mechanisms o Universal to all members of the species o Require no learning o Normally stereotyped

PSYC2110: CLASS 1

MAY 11TH, 2020

Ecological Perspective    

Brenner, Urie Environments are very influential; can support or stifle Person develops within complex system of relationships Affected by multiple levels; different systems

Dynamic Systems Perspective  

An integrated system that guides mastery of new skills System is constantly in motion, reorganizing into more effective means

Research Strategies 

Developmental researchers employ a number of methods and designs to study development

The Scientific Method

Research Designs Case Studies   

Intensive study of a single individual Usually when studying rare occurrences e.g. Genie Wiley: Feral child who was kept in a locked room beginning at 20 months old where she was immobilized, forbade anyone from interacting with her, got zero stimulation, and was severely malnourished o Didn’t learn to communicate until her release at 13 years-old o Had the mental capacity of 13/18 months at 13 years-old o Could acquire basic vocabulary, but couldn’t understand grammar

Correlational Studies  

Identifying any relationship between 2 variables that naturally coexist (e.g. prenatal smoking and infant development) Correlation does NOT mean causation

PSYC2110: CLASS 1

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MAY 11TH, 2020

Negative correlation = one variable increases while the other decreases

Experiments  

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Variables are systematically manipulated by the researcher Used to determine cause & effect o Cause & effect requires experimental research, NOT correlational  Independent Variable: Manipulated variable  Dependent Variable: Measured variable Participants are randomly assigned to a control group (no treatment), or experimental groups (treatment)

Field Experiment 

An experiment that takes place in a naturalistic setting

Natural (or Quasi-) Experiment [Quasi = Almost]  

A study in which the investigator measures the impact of some naturally occurring event that is assumed to affect people’s lives Quasi because it’s still occurring naturally, so no total control over the variables

Studying Change Over Time = whole point of development Longitudinal Design 

Same participants tested repeatedly

Cohort Effect

Cross-Sectional Design  

Participants of different ages are tested at one point in time Problem with Cross-Sectional Design can be a cohort effect: testing different groups of people at different times can cause differences to appear

Do people become more religious as they get older? Or is it a cohort effect where the 20year-olds have been born at a certain time which causes them to score low on religion and it has nothing to do with development over time?

Sequential Design  

Combining longitudinal and cross-sectional designs Different age groups of participants are followed over time Sequential Design C

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PSYC2110: CLASS 1

MAY 11TH, 2020

Research Methods [Used within the research designs] Observational Research 1. Naturalistic Observation (ex. studying sharing at daycare) 2. Structured Observation (es. studying attachment with Strange Situation Test: tests how babies or young children respond to the temporary absence of their mothers) 3. Participant Observation (ex. observing children’s friendships and asking them questions about it) Self-Reports 1. Interviews a. Structured interviews: Same questions; very specific kind of procedure and analyze results/behaviours b. Clinical interviews: Flexible conversational style of questioning 2. Questionnaires: Questions & answers in written form Physiological Methods 

Assessment of physiological responses to stimulation (e.g. heart rate, blood pressure, stress hormone levels)

Neuroscience Methods 

Assess brain development and nervous system functioning (e.g. event-related potential)

Neuroimaging Techniques 

Can localize & convey an image of activity in specific areas of the brain by tracking the flow of blood & oxygen (e.g. functional magnetic resonance imaging fMRI)

Research Ethics     

Non-harmful procedures: submit procedure to ethics board to be approved Informed consent Debriefing: telling participants what exactly was being studied and what exactly happened in the study Confidentiality Beneficial treatments: if testing a treatment that ends up being successful for use, it must be offered to all participants...