Conceptualising and Measurement Development Flashcards
(21 cards)
What is development?
Systematic changes and continuities in an individual that occur between conception and death
Systematic- Orderly and patterned (not fleeting)
Continuities - remain the same or reflect the past
What are the 3 broad domains
Physical- physical and biologcial processes
Cognitive- thought and other mental processes
Psychosocial- the self, and social and interpersonal interactions
What else is development?
Development at any ages involves both gains and losses/ People don’t always improve or worsen- they become different to the person they previously were.
Carving up time:
Overview of period of life
Prenatal period
Infancy: 2 years
Early Childhood: 2 -6 years
Middle Childhood: 6-12 years
Adolescence: 12-18/20 years
Emerging adulthood: 18-25/29
Early adulthood: 20-4-
Middle adulthood: 40-65
Late adulthood: 65…
Is development a fixed concept?
NO.
Way we conceptualise periods of development differs across time and cultures
Eg. adolescence was not acknowledge until late 19th/early 20th century
Areas of developement
perceptual, cognitive, moral, brain, physical, social, action, emotional.
All of these areas r linked
Bioecological model
Urie Bronfenbrenner and Stephen J
Emphasizes that biology and the enviro interact to produce development
Microsystem: immediate physical and social environment
Mesosystem: linkages between microsystems
Exosystemic: Linkages between social system
Macrosystem: larger cultural context
Chronosystem: changes occur in a timeframe
Model is a way of conceptualising factors influencing development, more than theory of how development works
Goals of studying development
Describing- normal development and individual difference- important in empirical research
Explaining- typical vs individually different development
Predicting - factors that cause humans to develop typically or differently
Optimising- Positive development and enhancing capacity. Preventing and overcoming difficulties
Is explanation necessary for prediction and optimization
Yes
Why?
Extending inequities that already exists in our society
Explanations allows us to intervene and makes things better
What is the method we used/ and what makes a good theory
Scientific method
- Internally consistent (doesn’t generate contradictory hypotheses)
- Falsifiable (able to proven wrong)- yet to falsify it
- Supported by data (consistent with what we know)
Karl Popper- Backed aked importance of Falsifiability
What is a Theory?
A set of concepts and propositions designed to organised, describe, and explain a set of observations
Data collection techniques:
Reporting
Questionaries (self-reporting, parent-report), interviews, achievement tests, personality assessments
Strengths:
- Data collection with large group
- Ability to collect many measures
Limitations
- Cannot be used with infants, young children, those with reading or language difficulties
- Difficult to equate questions across age groups
- Self-presentation concerns (children might answer strategically instead of honesty)
Data collection techniques:
Behavioral Observations
Naturalistic observations: Observing behavior in natural setting (eg. home or at school)
Strengths:
- Reflects behaviour in the real world
- Helpful for generating research questions and theories
Limitations:
- Difficult to identify causation
- Behaviours of interest might occur rarely
- Children may behave differently when being observed
- Observation can be biased
Data collection techniques:
Structural observations
Creating special conditions to elicit behaviors of interest
Strengths:
- More control, less noise
- Allows for more direct comparisons between children
Limitations
- Concerns about whether behavior in controlled environments with generalise to natural settings
Data collection techniques:
Neural/physiclogical/biological measures
Brain structures and function: EEG, fMRI
Physiological responses: Electrodermal activity, heart rate
Biological Measures: Cortisol level; DNA
Strengths:
- Hard to fake (for strategically changes)
- Don’t require language or complex behaviors
Limitations
- Can be difficult to interpret (eg. increase in heart may reflect anger or excitement)
Research methods: Case studies
In-depth examination of an individual or small number of individuals
- Can use a variety of data collection techniques (eg. observation, testing, interviews)
Strengths:
- Rich info about complex or are aspects of development
Limitation
- Often difficult to generalize findings to other situations or groups
Research methods: Correlational studies
Determining whether two or more variables are related in a systematic way.
Correlation coefficient reflects strength and direction of relationship
Correlation does not = causation, cause their is a third variable problem or coincidental correlations
Strengths:
- Can be used when its unethical to manipulate variables of interest (eg. studying the impact of divorce on cognitive devleopment)
- Allows for multiple factors to be examined
Limtiations:
- Cannot establish a causal relationship
- Directionally problem (Does X cause Y or vice versa?)
- Third variable problem (is some other factor driving the correlation)
Research methods: Experiments
A variable is manipulated in order to see what effect this has on the measured variable
- Independent variable (manipulated)
- Dependent variable (measured
Critical features of true experiment
1. Random assignment
2. Manipulation of an independent variable
3. Experimental controls
Strengths:
- Can bestabish cause and effect
- Allows for careful contorls
Limitations
- Concerns about generzablity to real world conditions
0 Interventions raise ethical concerns
Research methods: Meta- Analyses
Answering complex questions about development requires us to synthesise the results of many different
- Studies often revel different (sometimes contradictory) effects
- Is there a genuine effect? If so, how strong is
A research method in which the results of multiple studies addressing the same question are synthesized to produce overall conclusions
Developmental Research Designs: Cross-Sectional Designs
Compare the performance of people of different cohorts (same year or range of years).
Strengths:
- Quick and easy to conduct (don’t have to wait for people to age)
Limitations:
- Cannot reveal developmental change and constancy withing individuals
- Age effects and cohort effects are confounded (if you see differences, is it because of age or because some other difference between the cohorts)
Developmental Research Designs: Longitudinal Designs
Assess one group of the same individuals repeatedly over time
Strengths:
- Allows researchers to follow specific developmental trajectories
Limitations
- Costly and time consuming
- Some participants are not studied at each time point
- Potential issues with repeated testing
- Are results specific to the cohort?
