- FSHD 117 Study Guide Exam #1- Defining life span developmento Systematic changes and continuities in the individual that occur between conception and death o Pattern of movement or change that begins at conception and continues through the human life span o These changes can be continuous or discontinuous o Physical development  The growth of the body and its organs, functioning of physiological systems including the brain, physical signs of aging, changes in motor abilities o Cognitive Development  Changes and continuities in perception, language, learning, memory, problem solvingo Psychosocial Development  Changes and carryover in personal and interpersonal aspects of development, such as motives, emotions, personality traits, interpersonal skills and relationships o Development is  A lifelong process  Multidirectional- Different patterns of change over time (some intellectual abilities peak in adolescene while others peak in their 40s)  Both gain and loss Lifelong plasticity - Capacity to change in response to experience, whether positive or negative  Shaped by historical-culture context  Multiply influenced - Both nature and nurtue  Must be studied by multiple disciplines - Psychologists, biologists, historians, economists… o Summary:  Balte’s modern life-span persective assumes that development occurs throughout the life span, is multidirectional, involves gains and losses at every age, characterized by plasticity, isaffected by its historical and cultural context, is influenced by multiple, interacting casues, and is best studied by multiple disciplines - Be able to explain the different types of research methodso What is the scientific method, why is it done? An attitude or value about the pursuit of knowledge that dictates that investigators must be objective and must allow their data to decide the merits of their theorizing  Allow us to make suggestions towards theories of development  Testing is done through systemically observing the results of our experiments  Formulating theories and testing hypotheses derived from a theory by conducting research with a sample o Know the different types of sample selection Random sample - A sample formed by identifying all members of the largerpopulation of interest and then selecting a portion of them in an unbiased or random way - Used to ensure that the sample studied is representative or typical of the larger population of interest  Representative sample - Sample representative of population as a wholeo Know the difference between sample and population Sample - The group of individuals chosen to be the subjects of a study - Actual people being tested  Population - A well-defined group that a researcher who studies a sample of individuals is interested in drawing conclusions about - Sample is drawn from the population o Know the researcher’s ethical responsibilities  The standards of conduct that investigators are ethically bound to honor to protect their research participants from physical or psychological harm  Allowing them to freely give their informed consent Debriefing them afterward if they are not told everything in advance or are deceived Protecting them from harm  Treating any information they provide as confidential o Know all the different types of data collection methods (e.g., behavioral, naturalistic, observational study, interviews, cross sectional, longitudinal, experimental, correlations, cohorts, time measurement effects, sequential…. etc.),  Methods are: - Research tools we use to gather data - This is in contrast to research design which is how we setup the study - Knowledge is advanced the most when multiple methods and measures are used to study the same aspect of humandevelopment  Physiological - Addresses issues of biological response to stimuli - Often must use animals as subjects - Very hard to fake or lie about our bodies responses- Cons: not always clear what exactly they are assessing, can be tied with other emotions  Naturalistic (behavioral) - Observing people in their natural state - Conducted in settings where that encourage normal behavior - Allows us to see people interact and behave as close to normal as possible - Homes, schools, playgrounds, workplaces- Used to study child development more than adult development - Cons: some behaviors occur too infrequently and unexpectedly to be studied through naturalistic observation - Hard to pinpoint the causes of the bahvior observed - Presence of an observer makes it difficult for people to behave normally  Observational Structured (Behavioral) - Scientists create special conditions designed to elicit the behavior of interest to achieve greater control over the data - Concerns: whethere participants will behave naturally and whether conclusions based on their behavior in specially designed settings will generalize to their behavior in the real world - Allows us to: o Control situation, alter stimuli, elicit behavior intentionally  Interviews- Allow us to ask people their opinions, and about their experiences - Gather a lot of data in short period of time - Cons of verbal reports: cannot be used with infants, young children, cognitively impaired elders - Respondents may try to represent themselves in a positive light - Is open to bias from social desirability of responses, hard to write good surveys/ interviews  Case Studies - Allows us to look in depth at a particular person or phenomenon - Small population (1-20 people) sample - Hard to generalize to general population - Useful when studying people with rare conditions- Complement correlational and experimental research  Cross Sectional- Use particpants of different ages at one time to create a picture of development across ages o Different age groups are studied at the same point in time and compared - Allows us to look at mulitiple independent vavriables anddependent variables in a short period of time - Gives information about AGE DIFFERENCES – can draw conconlusions about how performance changes with age- Cons: researchers don’t learn about how individuals change with age - Quick and easy  Longitudinal- One cohort of individuals is assessed repeatedly over time - Gives information about AGE CHANGES rather than age differences- Can show whether most people change in the same direction or whether different individuals travel different developmental paths - Costly and time consuming