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Developmental Psychology 355Tuesday/Thursday 1/28-30/14 LectureWhy Study Child Development? To gain insight into human nature  To help raise our children  To help choose social policies To gain insight into the origins of individual differences o Adult behavior, sex/gender differences, effects of culture on development To gain insight into developmental problems o Origins, treatment, prevention To optimize conditions of development 9 Fundamental Questions 1. How do nature and nurture together shape development?2. How do children shape their own development?3. In what ways is development continuous, and in what way is it discontinuous?4. How does change occur?5. How does the sociocultural context influence development?6. How do children become so different from each other?7. How can research promote children’s well-being ?8. How vulnerabilities and resilience contribute to development?9. The importance of timing Historical Foundations and Themes Tuesday, 2/4-6/14 LectureScientific Method1. choose question to be answered2. formulate hypothesis 3. develop method for testing the hypothesis4. use data to draw conclusion Designs for Examining DevelopmentCross-Sectional Designs:  compare behavior or characteristics of children of different ages Longitudinal Designs:  same children are studied twice or more over a period of time  disadvantage: you have to wait a long time for children to grow up/effects of repeated testing; difficult keeping all participants in study  advantage: indicates the degree of stability of individual differences over long periods; reveals individual children’s patterns of change over long periods  Longitudinal Study Source of Memory: 135 children, 4,6,and 8 years …visited lab 2 times per year for 3 years (3 groups following them for 3 years)  cross-sequential study Cross-Sequential  combines the advantages of longitudinal and cross-sectional different groups are followed over time o ex: tracking 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders over 3 years  advantages: you are looking at developmental change; acquiring data (longitudinal change) but you don’t have to wait so long to do itMicrogenetic Designs provide in-depth depiction of a behavior over timeo study children on the verge of an important developmental change o provide heightened exposureo study them intensely while their behavior is in transition motor/perceptual development  development of locomotion (walking and crawling) enrolled babies who are just on the verge of crawling  children are observed intensively over a relatively short time period while a change is occurring  changes in locomotion over time  advantages: intensive observation of changes while they are occurring can reveal process of change; reveals individual change patterns over short periods in considerable detail disadvantages: does not provide information about typical patterns of change over long periods; does not reveal individual change patterns over long periods you want to study children on the verge of a developmental change *** used on counting strategies (Dr.Segler) uses this design tolook at childrens counting and reliance on different strategies  look at children as they are transferring in and out of these strategies Contexts for Gathering Data about Children Interviews & Self-Report subjects provide info about themselveso face to face (&computer assisted)o structured interviewo clinical interview advantages: can reveal children subjective experience; structured interviews are inexpensive means for collecting in-depth data about individuals; clinical interviews allow flexibility for following up unexpectedcomments disadvantages: reports are often biased to reflect favorably on interviewee; memory of interviewee ofteninaccurate and incomplete; prediction of future behaviors is often inaccurate structured interview = same questions for every person (same info about everyone) but not in-depth  clinical interview = tailored toward the individual…based on the participants response you can follow up and ask for more info Case Study  detailed understanding of a particular child information is gathered in a variety of wayso interviewo observationo etc really looking at one individual advantage: rich in detail (example of Darwins baby biography)  disadvantage: sensitive to nuances with an individual child (if you are looking up motor development you mighthave a baby who doesn’t crawl); vulnerable to bias Naturalistic Observation  observe children in different environments used when the primary goal of research is to describe how children behave in their usual environments advantages: useful for describing behavior in everyday settings; helps illuminate social interaction processes disadvantages: difficult to know which aspects of situation are most influential; limited value for studying infrequent behaviors; don’t have a lot of control  ex: on a playground or center for young children on campus study: Looking at troubled children and want to see family dynamics over the dinner table (look in book to seeresults) ***Structured Observation  present identical situations to a number of children and record their behavior enables direct comparisons (between families or groups of children)  advantages: variability is reduced but tends to be les natural; ensures that all childrens behaviors are observedin same context; allows controlled comparison of childrens behavior in different situations disadvantages: context is less natural than in naturalistic observation; reveals less about subjective experience than interviews  study: parents asked to have their young toddlers comply with different things (fun and not fun tasks) different children exposed to the same situation and researchers record how children behave in that situationCombinations because every method has its limitations, researchers often use a combination of techniques o or add additional measuresPhysiological & Neuroscience  study the physiological bases of behavioro involuntary responses/activities  heart rate blood-pressures stress hormone levelso brain activity EEG/ERPs – electrical activity of the brain  fMRI – flow of oxygenated bloodo brain structure MRIElectroencephalogram (EEG) Continuous signal of brain activity (there is excited & relaxed or drowsy or asleep) You could tell things about the state


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UMD PSYC 355 - Lecture notes

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