What is Development DEP 3103 January 11 2016 Why study developmental psychology Nothing is more important in a society than raising children Our culture and civilization depend on the sharing of knowledge All we do in psychology is based on our development as children o We had to start from somewhere Children are incredibly weird Why are babies so pathetic A deer can walk after 5 days after birth but humans take months and months to walk and even when they learn they are still not very good at it Why is that o We spend more time being nurtured raised by our parents and we learn a lot in that time period o Our stupidity actually makes us smarter in the end No object permanence No awareness of radical scale changes o The children in the video tried to fit in the miniature chair or miniature car although the objects were extremely smaller than they are Why are babies so smart Babies are citizens of the world In the first month of life babies can hear the distinction of sounds in every language What makes us who we are Our genes Our peers Our families Our cultures Seven Up show on Netflix What changes over development Continuity Development is gradual Discontinuity Make big shifts to qualitatively new behaviors Or do we do something else entirely In development we actually see both continuity and discontinuity How do children shape their own development Children are actively involved in their own development Elicit different responses from adults and other kids Fussiness aggressiveness shyness o Individual personality shapes development Different interests lead to different expertise o Some children want to throw a ball others want to curl up with a book Nature vs Nurture Nature Biological endowment Nurture Environment including physical and social o Womb nutrition community school language foods we eat clubs were involved in before college etc IT S BOTH Nature and nurture work together Genetic predisposition for antisocial behavior but an increase in behavior is seen in negative environments Early experiences influence the expression of one s genes Physical appearance can be shaped by our environment o Availability for healthcare food etc Maturation and Learning Maturation A developmental process that is heavily constrained by genetic factors and so is relatively insensitive to environmental input Learning A developmental process that is heavily constrained by environmental factors Thinking about nativism v empiricism Age of emergence Cross cultural variation Species comparison How do scientists study development and learning January 13 2016 Ethical Considerations Institutional Review Board IRB o Insures that research participants are safe and there will not be any damage to the child while involved in the study Are there any issues that are different than the ethics of doing research with adults Can children consent to be a research subject What if they cry What if there are risks o Ask the parents the parent legal guardian needs to be involved in some way o Ethical considerations must always be made when studying children Researchers have a vital responsibility to o Anticipate potential risks that children in their studies may encounter o Minimize any risks o And make sure the benefits outweigh any potential harm Measurement Approaches Diary study Charles Darwin in the 1850s o This method is known as interview or observational method o Do not interfere with the child in any way or form o Obtain rich data information about the child natural environment o If you take a child out of their natural environment they may act differently o Behavioral physiological responses to stimuli o Naturalistic Observation Bell Ainsworth 1972 Infant Crying Study Looked at how parents responded to their infants crying Were they quick to respond Or wait a few minutes All based on observing mothers in their homes Hypothesis If parents are responsive the baby tends to be crying a lot in the future This is true o Structured Observation Controlled situation No longer in their natural environment o Behavioral physiological responses Examples Picture preferences brain and body responses button presses storytelling games etc o How do parents get children to comply with requests For example to clean up their mess Diary study Parent records day to day events I asked my kid to clean up today at 4pm he didn t Interview Ask the parent questions Naturalistic observation Have the child play and have the parent ask the child to clean up and see how they respond Structured observation Set up a messy room in a lab or school or something and have someone ask the child to clean up more experimental control here Behavioral physiological responses Does the child talk back What kind of posture do they take Heart rate Do they get aroused in their bodies when asked to clean up Correlational Studies Measure a set of variables see if they are related Correlation vs causation o Just because 2 things are related this does not mean that one causes the other Example children s compliance and parental warmth Between 1 and 1 o Relationships can be positive OR negative No correlation 0 There could be a 3rd variable o Kid shoe size is correlated with reading skills Why As the shoe size gets larger as the kid gets older Age is what is really correlated with reading skills This is the danger of correlational research The latent variable AGE the real thing that is changing reading skills o Sleeping with a night light is related to later nearsightedness Do nightlights cause poor vision Is there an alternative explanation Parents who have poor vision tend to use nightlights in the house Children tend to inherit poor vision from their parents but it is not due to nightlights Correlation does NOT equal causation o Example Ice cream sales and murder rates o The more ice cream is being sold the more murders occur o A does not cause B o 3rd variable temperature Experimental Studies Independent variable IV o Manipulated by the experimenter Dependent variable DV o Behavior outcome being measured Hold other factors constant Random assignment vs non random assignment o Sometimes random assignment is not possible ex Autism s effect on math scores you must find the children with Autism Measure selection of objects selection of items on a scale reaction time listening reading times response to questions physiological responses etc Downside to experimental studies they take place in a lab environment which is fabricated not natural Longitudinal
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