Developmental Area

Question 1

Key Principles

Answer 1

• Suggest behaviour might be innate or learnt from the environment
• Assumes our behaviour changes throughout our lifetime

Question 2

Key Concepts

Answer 2

• social learning theory
• operant conditioning
• positive + negative reinforcement
• moral development
• universal stages of development

Question 3

Strengths of Developmental Area

Answer 3

• many useful to child care, education
• attempts to answer the nature vs nurture debate
• uses a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods
• can study participants over time

Question 4

Weaknesses of Developmental Area

Answer 4

• Research with children may raise ethical issues such as consent
• Practical issues such as having to make inferences from observed behaviour as they cannot express their thoughts through self-report
• Cultural différences in child rearing trends to make research ethnocentric

Question 5

Moral Development

Answer 5

Kohlberg and Lee support the developmental area as they look at changes in children’s moral development by either looking at how it changes over time (Kohlberg) or the differences between cultures swell as just age (Lee)