Chapter 1: research methods

Question 1

What are folk theories of development?

Answer 1

Ideas held about development that aren’t based on scientific evidence

Question 2

What are the 2 basic world views and what do they represent?

Answer 2

1. Organismic: people are active and continuously interacting with enviornment and help shape their own development
2. Mechanistic: people are machines which are passive until stimulated by environment

Question 3

Which type of psychology fits well with the mechanistic world view?

Answer 3

Behaviorism
–> Skinner: child is passive in conditioning

Question 4

Which researcher fits perfectly in the organismic world view?

Answer 4

Piaget: each new stage represents an advance on preceding stage

Question 5

What is a cohort? What is a cohort effect?

Answer 5

Group of people who were raised in the same environment/time

Cohort effect= age groups have more in common than age only

Question 6

What are the 4 main desings for studying age-related changes?

Answer 6

1. Longitudinal
2. Cross-sectional
3. Microgenetic
4. Sequential designs

Question 7

What is the downside of cross-sectional testing? Name 3 things

Answer 7

1. Only describes age differences: you have no information about the curve of development
2. Cohort effects
3. No answer to how differences arise

Question 7

What is the microgenetic method of studying? What is the benefit of this design compared to longitudinal / cross-sectional designs?

Answer 7

Provides in depth analysis of behavior in a system while change is occurring

Benefit: more detail about period of transitions and it’s more detailed

Question 7

What is the downside of longitudinal studies?

Answer 7

1. Time consuming
2. Effects repeated testing, different measuring instruments over time
3. Not a causal relationship
4. Selective survivorship, participant attrition –> Population bias
5. Not always generalizable to other cohorts

Question 8

Give an example of a cohort effect

Answer 8

E.g. children’s health care over the last century

Question 8

What are two explanations for differences in cross-sectional and longitudinal results?

Answer 8

1. Cohort effects
2. Length of time between measures
   –> Cross sectional can suggest continuous but longitudinal indicates stages/bursts

Question 9

What are sequential designs?

Answer 9

Combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional designs that examines development of individuals from different age cohorts

Question 10

With which type of design was the flynn effect proven?

Answer 10

With sequential designs

Question 11

What are the 4 types of research methods?

Answer 11

1. Observational studies
2. Experimental methods
3. Correlational studies
4. Psychological testing

Question 12

What is the difference between time and event sampling?

Answer 12

Time sampling = observational study that records at frequent intervals of time

Event sampling = observational study that records during particular events

Question 13

What is the clinical method or structured observation?

Answer 13

Natural behavior is observed and then the environment is changed to better understand the behavior of interest

Question 14

What is the difference between structured observation and an experimental method?

Answer 14

There is less control of the environment in structured observations

Question 15

What is psychological testing as a research method?

Answer 15

Instruments for quantitative assessment of a psychological aspect of a person

Question 16

Why is it hard to predict adult personality?

Answer 16

Personality is very environment dependent

Question 17

What are the 2 types of correlational studies? Give an example of each

Answer 17

1. Concurrent: relationship between variables measured at same time
   –> Similarity IQ in twins
2. Predictive: finding if individuals retain their relative rank relative to others over time
   –> intelligent child also bright at age 20

Question 18

What is a marker task?

Answer 18

A task that elicits a behavior with a known neural basis.

Question 19

What is the difference between EEG, PET and fMRI and which one is most suitable for researching children?

Answer 19

EEG: measures ERP’s, difficult for deeper brain areas –> suitable for kids

PET: positron emission tomography, measuring blood flow –> unsuitable because of injections

fMRI: functional magnetic resonance imaging, measures blood flow –> noisy, expensive, not common to use with kids

Question 20

What is the catharsis hypothesis and what did research say about this?

Answer 20

Argument that watching aggression in others reduces your own aggressive feelings

Research: seeing aggression increases own aggression

Question 21

What is ecological validity?

Answer 21

If a study is meaningful to the real world

Question 22

What are 5 components of social policies (e.g. headstart and sure start)?

Answer 22

1. Preschool enrichment
2. Health screening
3. Nutrition education
4. Social services
5. Parent education

Question 23

What are 5 developmental functions? Give an example for each one

Answer 23

1. Continuous increasing function (intelligence)
2. Continuous decreasing function (speech perception infants)
3. Discontinuous step-function (ToM, Piaget)
4. Inverted U-shape (visual acuity)
5. Upright U-shape (step movement)

Question 24

What are important aspects of reliability?

Answer 24

Test-retest and consistency

Question 25

What are important aspects of validity?

Answer 25

Construct, ecological and predictive validity (do I measure what I want to measure)