BIOM 121 1nd Edition Exam 1 Study Guide Lectures 1 10 Lecture 1 January 21 I The life span perspective Development Pattern of movement or change that begins at conception and continues through the human life span Prepares us to take care of the next generation Gives us insight into our own lives II Types of contextual influences Normative age graded influences ex 16 you re able to drive 18 you re able to vote 21 able to legally drink Normative history graded influences historical influences that have effected people during that time Ex 9 11 social media great depression These things have effected the way people have experience life Nonnormative life events unusual assurances that majorly impact someones life Ex getting pregnant at the age of 13 losing parents at a young age III Biological cognitive socioeconomic processes Biological processes brain development height weight cardio vascular health Cognitive processes thinking intelligence language Socioemotional processes relationships with other people emotions and personality IV Periods of development Conceptions of age a Four types of age i Chronological age current age ii Biological age how you have aged how healthy you are People who take care of themselves seem younger than their actual age iii Psychological age individuals adaptive capacities compared to those who are the same age iv Social age connectedness to others People who have favorable social networks are happier and tend to live longer V Development issues Stability change issue Involving the degree to which early traits and characteristics persist through life or change Ex Does a grumpy infant who cries all the time mean that is how they are going to remain No we change and develop But more extreme behaviors are more difficult to change Continuity discontinuity issue Focuses on the degree to which development involves either Gradual cumulative change or distinct stages Evaluating the developmental issues Nature and nurture stability and change continuity and discontinuity characterize development throughout the human life span Lecture 2 January 23 I Theories of development Psychoanalytic theories Cognitive theories Behavioral and social cognitive theories Ethological theory Ecological theory An eclectic theoretical orientation II Cognitive theories Behavioral and social cognitive theories Ethological theory Ecological theory An eclectic theoretical orientation III Behavioral and social cognitive theories Development can be described in terms of behaviors learned through interactions with our surroundings a Skinner s operant conditioning b Bandura s social cognitive theory Heavily emphasize the environment extreme side of nurture behavioral and social cognitive theorists Operational conditioning how we learn is mainly related to being rewarded and punished This doesn t explain all of our behavior IV Ethological theory Ethology Study of the behavior of animals in their natural habitat and trying to explain human behavior based on these observations a Theory stresses that behavior is i Strongly influenced by biology genetic factors ii Tied to evolution iii Characterized by critical or sensitive periods there are certain times where our brains are primed for learning Sensitive period period of time where we are best suited for certain types of development Critical period certain time where you can learn a skill But once you pass that period you can not learn it anymore look up the case of genie b John Bowlby Attachment to a caregiver over the first year of life has important consequences throughout the life span V Bronfenbrenner s ecological theory In order to understand development we have to understand the environment in which they live First level microsystem direct interactions parent child husband wife brother sister Second level mesosystem home and school child care and home immediate neighborhood connections between microsystem Third exosystem doesn t t impact directly but still affects child Fathers boss is mean dad comes home and is in a bad mood effects child Extended family members could fall in here as well Fourth macrosystem gov social policies cultural values current economy Chronosystem temporal dimension or time dimension the timing of events also effects the development Parents getting divorced effects a teenager differently than an infant Evaluation Contributions include Systematic examination of macro and micro dimensions of environmental systems Attention to connections between environmental systems Emphasis on a range of social contexts beyond the family Criticism Giving inadequate attention to biological factors Too little emphasis on cognitive factors Lecture 3 January 26 I Methods for collecting data Observation observe as its occurring a Laboratory Controlled setting in which many of the complex factors of the real world are removed problem artificial how they act in this environment is different than in real life b Naturalistic observation Studies that involve observing behavior in real world settings problem we cant control what happens in the environment Survey and interview problem they can lie Good thing anonymous they don t cost much simple bigger group and fast easier to collect data Standardized test Uniform procedures for administration and scoring ex IQ tests Case study extensive research that is done that uses one person or a few Used when you want to find a full really detailed observation on someone Problem you cant generalize with other people Physiological measures methods that measure types of things like heart rate blood pressure sweating when exposed to certain things II Research design Descriptive research research that s designed for us to observe and record behavior Two different ways Correlational research looking at the relationship between something a Correlation coefficient A number based on statistical analysis that is used to describe the degree of association between two variables there s a relationship between how much we study and how well we do on tests Strength of relationship not causation i Ranges from 1 00 to 1 00 closer you get to one or the other the stronger the relationship Experimental research can determine causation b Experiment One or more of the factors are manipulated while all other factors are held constant i Independent thing we manipulate and dependent variables thing that we measure outcome ii Experimental and control groups used to compare III Time span of research Cross sectional approach