Developmental Psychology
CH1: Research methods
Premature babies: born too early, so < 37 weeks (1 out of 10 kids is preterm). How do we
study research questions about premature babies?
Cross-sectional design: measuring preterm children at different ages, and measure term
born children at different ages, and you can compare the results.
short in time and easy to do.
cohort effects: age groups have more in common than just age, when they are raised
in similar environments (confounding effect influences results).
Longitudinal design: measuring preterm children at birth, and then wait 5 years and
measure them again, and then measure them again at 12 years old etc, and do the same for
term born children. Better comparable results because it’s the same kids you measure, but
the cross-sectional design is easier and shorter.
very expensive and takes a long time
kids may drop out (selective survivorship / participant attrition) biased results
no cohort effects because same kids
different measurement instruments
but we do not measure causality with a longitudinal design there is no manipulation, it is
just a predictive correlational study.
Microgenetic study: measuring individual children repeatedly in a short time, examining
change as it occurs.
Sequential design: shorter easier study measuring the development of individuals from
different age cohort groups, so measure 10 people in between 40-50 7 times in a year. These
studies reveal whether cross-sectional and longitudinal results agree.
,Softenon incident: in the 50s there was a medicine against pregnancy sickness, namely
thalidomide, but all their kids were born with malformations.
There are differences in IQ between premature born kids with very low birth weights and
term born kids. So an increase of birth weight comes with an increase of IQ.
Choosing research method
Observational research
objective perception of people in lab or natural setting
either time sampling (look at what someone does every 20 minutes) or event
sampling (studying a certain behaviour)
often with young children or mentally disordered or demented people
interrater reliability is very important !!
molecular: the mouth is curved upward (more objective)
molar: the boy is smiling (subjective opinion)
Standardized tests
tests that are adapted over time, for example IQ tests
predictive value of IQ at young age is bad, you can’t predict their IQ at 6 months.
IQ is studied related to school problems and to provide the right mental care.
measurement equivalence: measurements at different ages allow the same
interpretation.
reliability are results reliable test-retest / interrater reliability
validity do you measure the right thing construct validity
Clinical method: natural behaviour is observed and then the kid’s environment is changed to
understand the reason of the behaviour better, test a kid to how far he can handle.
concurrent study: correlational study where the variables are measured at the same time.
predictive study: correlational study where there is made a prediction of the score for the
future.
Experimental studies are not always ecologically valid, meaning that they are not really
meaningful in life.
maturation: aspects of development that are largely under genetic control.
Two basic worlds views
organismic: humans are actively and continually interacting with the environment,
therefore shaping their own development. Like Piaget’s theory.
mechanistic: humans are passive until they receive stimuli from the environment,
development is an ongoing growth, not in stages, like behaviourist theory.
,CH 2: Theories about development
A theory is a coherent set of ideas, hypotheses and explanations. A good developmental
theory focuses on change over time, explains the emergence of new properties (sudden new
things that appear) and is hopefully usable in practice (with kids for example).
3 dimensions of theories: development is
nature / nurture:
knowledge is innate and gets expressed throughout the development / only the learning
mechanisms are innate, environment does the rest of the learning and development. Most
theories say that both predispositions as well as the environment shape your development.
active / passive:
child makes own development happen / child just experiences passive changes. Most
theories choose the middle way: some processes happen automatically and other
processes ask for active role of the child.
continuous / in stages:
development is gradual / development occurs in transitions and stages. Most theories say
that it is a combination of both.
Regarding development, there are six main subjects of theories; motor / cognitive / social-
cognitive / evolution / psychoanalytic / humanistic.
Motor development
Gesell’s maturational theory of motor development: all children develop in the same way,
so it is a biologically directed maturation , so the same patterns will occur no matter the
environment; it is passive, natural and in stages.
cephalocaudal direction: kid develops from head to toe
proximodistal direction: form centre of body to the outside
a kid’s temperament influences the speed of development
role of the parents is to provide the right mental environment (so don’t push kids)
Critics:
not all kids follow the same pattern, e. g. some kids have never crawled
environment can shape motor development as well, like McGraw studied: extra
stimulation increases the speed of motor development, so she states that
development is more nurture than nature (trained twin baby developed quicker).
, Dynamic systems theory: development is a collection of changing components that
influence each other. There is complex interaction between all 3 parts of the system (so the
body of the kid, the nervous system and the environmental support).
interaction between environment, kid’s actions and physical properties
important property is self-organization, like the V shape birds always fly in
effects are often non-linear, so small changes may have big effects
Cognitive development
Jean Piaget was the leader of cognitive development theories, see ch9. He stated kids are
born without knowledge but construct their own knowledge by exploring the environment.
Information processing theories: cognitive processes are explained with inputs and outputs,
the human mind is a system where information flows through. These theories focus on the
information that is available in the external environment; this information must be payed
attention to, encoded in memory and retrievable.
information processing theories are bottom-up: so kids get information and store it
in brain, while nativist theories are top-down (innate knowledge controls actions).
object unity: when a kid is shown an object that is hidden in the middle, from 4
months old a kid understands that the two outer parts are connected and form one
object together. Kids can also fill in subjective contours (filling in perception).
Big difference is that Piaget thought development happens in stages, while information
processing theories think that development is a continuous process.
