lecture 2

Question 1

what are the big five families of theories?

Answer 1

1) Organismic
2) Psychodynamic
3) Mechanistic
4) Dialectical
5) Contextual

Question 2

explain organismic theories

Answer 2

• development is goal-directed (teleological)
• qualitative change
• unidirectional and irreversible
• discontinuous
• universal
• active and constructive organism
• passive environment

Question 3

explain psychodynamic theories

Answer 3

• regression and fixation
• focus on personality and emotional development
• timing of movement through stages

Question 4

explain Mechanistic Theories

Answer 4

• organism is analogous to a machine
• change (development) depends on the level & kind of stimulation, plus history
• Organism is passive (or reactive), environment is active
• change is quantitative, addictive, and continuous

Question 5

explain dialectical theories

Answer 5

• basic metaphors are contradiction and conflict
• individual develops through continuous process of thesis, antithesis and synthesis
• both organism and environment are inherently active
• changing individual in a changing world
• cross-cultural psychology and cultural relativism

Question 6

explain contextualism theories

Answer 6

• basic metaphor for development is the situated historical event

Question 7

3 kind of change

Answer 7

1) individual differences: individuals differ from one another on various dimensions
2) Intra-individual differences: differences between individuals in the course and rate of change
3) Inter-Individual differences: differences between individuals in the course and rate of change

Question 8

naturalistic observation pros and cons

Answer 8

• pros: gets at “real” behaviour

- cons: cant control variables and cant infer cause-effect

Question 9

what are the pros can cons of structured observation?

Answer 9

• pros: study behaviour rarely seen in everyday life

- cons: may not generalize to “real” life, observer influence and bias influence

Question 10

what are the pros and cons of interview/questionnaires?

Answer 10

• pros: can capture unobservable behaviour

- cons: biased recall and social desirability

Question 11

what are pros and cons of clinical interviews?

Answer 11

• pros: breadth & depth of information

- cons: flexibility of interview makes comparing across individuals is difficult

Question 12

what are the pros and cons to neurobiological methods?

Answer 12

• pros: infer perception, thoughts & emotions from infants
• cons: cannot reveal with certainty the meaning of brain activity

Question 13

what are the pros and cons to case studies?

Answer 13

• pros: provides a rich understanding of one individual

- cons: theoretical bias of research generalizability

Question 14

what are the pros and cons to ethnography?

Answer 14

• pros: more complete than single-subject, single visit, interview, or questionnaire
• cons: can’t apply findings to individuals or settings other than the ones observed

Question 15

what are the pros and cons to combination of methods?

Answer 15

• pros: multiple methods result in broader understanding

- cons: $$$$$$ expensive!!!!!!

Question 16

define reliability

Answer 16

the consistency, or repeatability, of measures of behaviour

Question 17

what are two different types of reliability?

Answer 17

Inter-rater Reliability

Test-restest Reliability

Question 18

what is inter-rater reliability?

Answer 18

if results are consistent when measurements are taken by different people using the same methods

Question 19

what is test-retest reliability?

Answer 19

if results are consistent from one test administration to the next

Question 20

define Validity

Answer 20

the degree to which the test measures what you claim it measures

Question 21

what are the two different types of validity?

Answer 21

• Internal Validity

- External Validity

Question 22

what is internal validity?

Answer 22

the degree to which conditions internal to the design of the study permit an accurate test of the hypothesis

Question 23

what is the external validity?

Answer 23

the degree to which findings generalize to setting and participants outside the original study

Question 24

what are three developmental designs?

Answer 24

1) cross-sectional
2) longitudinal
3) cross-sequential

Question 25

what are cross-sectional studies?

Answer 25

study groups of people of different ages at single points in time

Question 26

what are longitudinal studies?

Answer 26

study the same group of people over time

Question 27

what are cross-sequential studies?

Answer 27

study groups of people from different birth cohorts over time

Question 28

“when tested at the same time, are there differences between 6-and-8-year-olds?” what type of comparison is this?

Answer 28

cross-sectional comparison

Question 29

“when testes at 2-year intervals, do children change?” what type of comparison is this?

Answer 29

longitudinal comparison

Question 30

“when tested at 8 years of age, do children born in 1994 differ from those born in 1996?” what type of comparison is this?

Answer 30

cohort comparisons

Question 31

what is involved in experimental studies?

Answer 31

• control and manipulation of variables
• random assignment
• blind assignment
• drawn conclusions about causality

Question 32

what is the purpose of correlational studies?

Answer 32

to determine relations between naturally occurring variables m

Question 33

define correlation

Answer 33

a number indicating the direction and magnitude of association between two variables ( r = - 1.0 to + 1.0)

Question 34

what does negative correlation refer to?

Answer 34

high scores on one variable are associated with low scores on the other

Question 35

what does zero correlation refer to?

Answer 35

scores on one variable have no relationship to scores on the other

Question 36

what does positive correlation refer to?

Answer 36

high scores on one variable are associated with high scores on the other

Question 37

true or false?
children who spend more time watching violent TV programs also exhibit a higher number of aggressive acts on the playground.

Answer 37

true

Question 38

if correlation does not = causation, what are the possible explanations?

Answer 38

A causes B
B causes A
OR A THIRD VARIABLE CAUSES BOTH