Chapter 1 Intro

Question 0

Who was the most influential at baby biographies whom used his own son for recording early development ?

Answer 0

Charles Darwin

Question 1

What are baby biographies ?

Answer 1

Collected data about development of children. Past investigators observed their own children & published their data

Question 2

Were the baby biographies successful ? Why or why not ?

Answer 2

No, because of the confounding data collected, it isn’t comparable, but a good start in the right direction

Question 3

What is a theory ?

Answer 3

A set of concepts & propositions designed to organize, describe, & explain an existing set of observation

Question 4

What are the characteristics of a “good theory” ?

Answer 4

Parsimonious, Falsifiable, & Heuristic value ( hypothesis )

Question 5

What is Parsimonious ?

Answer 5

Uses few explanatory principles to explain a broad set of observations

Question 6

Explain falsifiable ?

Answer 6

Capable of making predictions about future events to prove theory is supported or disconfirmed

Question 7

What is heuristic ?

Answer 7

Where you build on existing knowledge by continuing to stimulate new research & discoveries

Question 8

How do continuity theorist view HD ?

Answer 8

As a process of small steps without sudden changes

Question 9

Discontinuity theorists …?

Answer 9

Road to maturity is a series of abrupt changes which are to elevate the child to new & more advanced level of functioning

Question 10

What are other aspects of continuity & discontinuity issues ?

Answer 10

Whether developmental changes are Quantitative or qualitative in nature

Question 11

Explain Quantitative ..

Answer 11

Changes in degree. Example: gradually growing taller

Question 12

Qualitative changes are?

Answer 12

Changes in kind. Changes that make an individual fundamentally different in some way than before. Example: tadpole to a frog

Question 13

Explain the Scientific Method ?

Answer 13

A guide of attempts to understand attitude or value about the pursuit of knowledge & let the observations (DATA) decide their thinking

Question 14

What does Reliability mean ?

Answer 14

A measure is reliable if it yields consistent information over time and across observers

Question 15

What is Validity ?

Answer 15

A measure that accurately reflects what the researchers intended to measure

Question 16

What are correlational studies ?

Answer 16

Info gathered to determine whether 2 or more variables are related.

Question 17

Give an example of a correlational study ?

Answer 17

No change to environment, take people as they are, & try to determine wether variations in people’s life experiences are associated w/differences in their behaviors or patterns of development

Question 18

An actual example of a correlational study

Answer 18

Young kids learn a lot from tv & imitate what they observe. One hypothesis could say that more observed tv violence will be more inclined to behave the same

Question 19

What is an experimental method ?

Answer 19

Cause & effect relationship that may exist between 2 variables. Introduce some change in the participants environment & measure the effect of change on their behavior

Question 20

An Independent variable is?

Answer 20

Aka “different treatments” exposed to participants. An example : the type of tv program being observed; little violence vs more violence present

Question 21

A dependent variable is ?

Answer 21

Children’s reactions to the tv show would be the data. Example: how aggressive children behaved

Question 22

Explain what a cross sectional design is…

Answer 22

Subjects from different age groups are studied at the same point in time

Question 23

Besides examining subjects in different design set ups, what else do they look for ?

Answer 23

How children’s feelings, thoughts, abilities, and behaviors develop or change over time

Question 24

An example of a cross sectional design ?

Answer 24

Whether children become more generous as they mature; 6,8,10 year olds have a chance to share w/needy youngsters who are less fortunate

Question 25

Explain Longitudinal design ?

Answer 25

A group of same subjects are studied repeatedly over a period of months or years

Question 26

Explain an example of Longitudinal design

Answer 26

Researcher interested in determining whether generosity increases through childhood. Group of 6 yr olds & a chance to behave well to youngsters & follow up with the same scenario @ ages 8 & 10

Question 27

Explain what a sequential design is

Answer 27

Subjects from different age groups are studied repeatedly over a period of months or years

Question 28

What is a problem with the Longitudinal design ?

Answer 28

It's time consuming & expensive. May limit ones conclusions due to cross generational changes to the cohort that was studied

Question 29

A problem with the Sequential Design is ?

Answer 29

More costly & time consuming. May still leave questions about whether a developmental change is generalizable beyond the cohorts studied

Question 30

Advantage of a longitudinal design ?

Answer 30

Provides data on development of individuals, reveal links between early experiences & later outcomes, how we are alike & diff in the ways we change over time

Question 31

Advantage of a sequential design ?

Answer 31

Indicates whether developmental changes experienced by one cohort are similar to those experienced by other cohorts