PSYC 2450 Chapter Notes - Chapter All: Developmental Psychology, Soltyrei, Behaviorism
11 Jun 2018
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Chapter 1 – Introduction to Developmental Psychology and Its Research Strategies
What is Development?
Development – systematic continuities and changes in the individual that occur between
conception and death.
Systematic – imply that they are orderly, patterned and relatively enduring.
Continuities – ways in which we remain stable or continue to reflect our past
Developmental Psychology – branch of psychology devoted to identifying and explaining the
continuities and changes that individuals display over time
Developmentalist – any scholar, regardless of discipline (for example, psychologist, biologist,
sociologist, anthropologist, educator) who seeks to understand the developmental process
What Causes Us to Develop?
Two important processes – maturation and learning
Maturation – biological unfolding of the individual according to species-typical biological
iheitae ad a idiidual peso’s iologial iheitae
Learning – relatively permanent change in behaviour (or behaviour potential) that results from
oe’s epeiees o patie
We can in response to our environments – particularly in response to the actions and reactions
of the people around us
What Goals Do Developmentalists Pursue?
Three major goals are to describe, to explain and to optimize development
Normative Development – developmental changes that characterize most or all members of a
species; typical patterns of development
Ideographic Development – individual variations in the rate, extent, or direction of
developmentx
They seek to understand the important ways that developing humans resemble each other and
how they are likely to differ as they proceed through life
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Next, they seek to explain the changes they have observed
Hope to determine why people develop as they typically do and why some people develop
differently than others
Finally, they hope to optimize development by applying what they have learned in attempts to
help people develop in positive directions
A Holistic Process – unified view of the developmental process that emphasizes the important
interrelationships among the physical, mental, social, and emotional aspects of human
development
Plasticity – refers to a capacity for change in response to positive or negative life experiences
Ex. Highly aggressive children who are intensely disliked by their peers often improve their
social status after learning and practising the social skills that popular children display
Early Philosophical Perspectives on Childhood
Thomas Hobbes doctrine of original sin held that children are inherently selfish egoists who
must be restrained by society
Jea Jaues Rousseau’s dotie of innate purity maintained that children are born with an
intuitive sense of right and wrong that society often corrupts
John Locke believed that the mind of an infant is a tabula rasa or blank state and that children
have no inborn tendencies – all knowledge, abilities, behaviours, and motives are acquired
through experience
Origins of a Science of Development
G. Stanley hall conducted the first large-scale scientific investigation of children, and because of
this he is considered to be the founder of developmental psychology
He disoeed that hilde’s understanding of the world grows rapidly during childhood and
that the logi of oug hilde is ot e logial at all
Sigmund Freud came up with the psychoanalytic theory
Research Strategies: Basic Methods and Designs
Interviews and Questionnaires
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Ask the hild, o the hild’s paets, uestios petaiig to aspets of deelopet suh as the
hild’s ehaiou, feeligs ad eliefs
Structured interview or questionnaire – a technique in which all participants are asked the
same question sin precisely the same order so that the responses of different participants can
be compared
Diary Study – a questionnaire method in which participants write answers to specified
questions in a diary or notebook, either at specified times or when prompted by an electronic
pager
Shortcomings – a’t e used fo e oug hilde
The Clinical Method
A tpe of iteie i hih a patiipat’s espose to eah suessie uestio o pole
determines what the investigator will ask next
Used because they are flexible – often possible to obtain a rich understanding of the meaning
of those answers
Observational Methodologies
Naturalistic Observation – a method in which the scientist tests hypotheses by observing
people as they engage in everyday activies in their natural habitats (parks, home, school)
Commonly used for infants and toddlers who often cannot be studied through methods that
demand verbal skills
Strength because it illustrates how people actually behave in everyday life
Limitations – some behaviours occur so infrequently (heroic rescues) or are so socially
undesirable (criminal acts) that they are unlikely to be witnessed by an observer in the natural
environment OR the presence of an observer can sometimes make people behave differently
than they otherwise would
Observer Influence – tede of patiipats to eat to a osee’s pesee ehaig i
unusual ways
Time sampling – a procedure in which the investigator records the frequencies with which
individuals display particular behaviours during the brief time intervals that each is observed
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Document Summary
Chapter 1 introduction to developmental psychology and its research strategies. Development systematic continuities and changes in the individual that occur between conception and death. Systematic imply that they are orderly, patterned and relatively enduring. Continuities ways in which we remain stable or continue to reflect our past. Developmental psychology branch of psychology devoted to identifying and explaining the continuities and changes that individuals display over time. Developmentalist any scholar, regardless of discipline (for example, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, anthropologist, educator) who seeks to understand the developmental process. Maturation biological unfolding of the individual according to species-typical biological i(cid:374)he(cid:396)ita(cid:374)(cid:272)e a(cid:374)d a(cid:374) i(cid:374)di(cid:448)idual pe(cid:396)so(cid:374)"s (cid:271)iologi(cid:272)al i(cid:374)he(cid:396)ita(cid:374)(cid:272)e. Learning relatively permanent change in behaviour (or behaviour potential) that results from o(cid:374)e"s e(cid:454)pe(cid:396)ie(cid:374)(cid:272)es o(cid:396) p(cid:396)a(cid:272)ti(cid:272)e. We can in response to our environments particularly in response to the actions and reactions of the people around us. Three major goals are to describe, to explain and to optimize development.
