Chapter 1: The scope and methods of
developmental psychology
Created @January 30, 2023 1:14 PM
Class DP
Type Summary
Materials
Reviewed
Studying changes with age
Age itself contributes noting to development. Development results from maturation and changes resulting
from experience that intervene between the different ages and stages of childhood.
Maturation: those aspects of development that are primarily under genetic control, and which are
relatively uninfluenced by the environment.
Developmental psychologists study age related changes in behaviour and development and the factors
that cause development to take place.
Concepts of human development
Folk theories of development: ideas held about development that are not based upon scientific
investigation.
The manner in which development is defined and the areas of interest will lead to different methods of
studying development.
World view (paradigm): a philosophical of ideas that derives to organise a set of scientific theories and
associated scientific methods. They are not supported by empirical evidence, we simply believe them.
Organismic world view
According to the organismic world view, a person is represented as a biological organism that is
inherently active and continually interacting with the environment, and therefore helping to shape its
development.
The organismic world view emphasises the interaction between maturation and experience that leads to
the development of new internal psychological structures for processing environmental input. Qualitatively
distinct principles may be involved in human functioning at different points in life. These are stages
represented by new characteristics that were not present in the previous stage.
The job of the developmental psychologist with an organismic world view is to determine when different
stages operate and what variables, processes, and laws represent the differences between stages and
determine the transitions between them.
Chapter 1: The scope and methods of developmental psychology 1
, Mechanistic world view
According to the mechanistic world view, a person can be represented as being like. Matching which is
inherently passive until stimulated by the environment.
The frequency of behaviours can increase with age due to various learning processes and they can
decrease with age when they no longer have any functional consequence, or lead to negative
consequences.
The developmental psychologists’ job consists of studying the environmental factors and principles of
learning that determine the way organisms respond to situations and what results in increases, decreases
or changes in behaviour.
Development is reflected by a more continuous growth function rather than stages and the child is passive
rather than active in shaping its own development. This world view is represented by behaviourists.
Ways of studying development
Designs for studying age-related changes
Cross-sectional designs - children of different ages are observed at a single point in time.
It is the least time consuming and gives a quick estimate of changes with age. However, it only
describes age differences and there is no way of deriving an estimate of the continuity or discontinuity
of various processes over age because performance is averaged over different individuals at each
age.
Longitudinal designs - more than one observation of the same group at different points in
time.
Longitudinal designs allow assessment of within-person changes with age and between-person
differences in age changes.
However, it may be difficult to schedule repeated visits of the same participants, and the drop out rate
can be very high due to participant attrition (those who find the task difficult drop out) and selective
survivorship. These can produce a population bias that give a misleading impression of development
and may limit the generality of the results.
Another major problem can be the time it takes to complete the study. And afterwards, the results may
only be true for the specific cohort (a group of people who were raised in the same environment or
who share certain demographic characteristics) that has been studied, producing yet another bias.
Another problem is the possible effect of repeated testing, participants might get better over age
simply because of practice.
Microgenetic studies - only a few children are tested over a short period of time.
This method allows to study a specific change as it occurs because the density of observations is
high compared with the typical longitudinal study. The method provides detailed information about an
individual over a period of transition.
Sometimes, longitudinal and cross-sectional results tell a different story. There are a few things that can
cause a difference in results:
Time between measures: the intervals of the x-axis, so the ages the children are to be tested at. (EX
length measured over weeks vs days). Some developmental functions are not revealed unless
frequent measures are taken on individuals.
Chapter 1: The scope and methods of developmental psychology 2
, Cohort effects: changes across generations in the characteristic one is interested in. The findings
from cross-sectional studies give a different account of development across the life span than
longitudinal studies because the samples consist of different cohorts.
Longitudinal effect: the same individuals show a slight improvement in performance over age.
In these instances, a possible way of investigating the cause of these different findings is with the use of
sequential designs. It is a combination of a cross-sectional and longitudinal design that examines the
development of individuals from different cohorts. An example of a sequential design is testing
participants from different age groups (20,30,40,50) multiple times (few years apart).
Although sequential designs are not used often, they provide a measure of individual differences and
reveal whether or not longitudinal and cross-sectional results agree.
Flynn effect: an increase in the average IQ test scores over different generations
Research methods
Observational studies
Studies in which behaviour is observed and recorded and the researcher does not attempt to
influence the individual behaviour in any way (EX baby biographies).
Baby biographies
PROBLEMS: These do come with problems of generalisation, a small sample rarely represents
the entire population, and the observations tend to be unsystematic and retrospective (events
described long after their appearance).
STRENGTHS: detailed account of subtle changes, production of theories of child development
that can be used for further research
Time sampling: individuals are studies over a period of time, and at frequent brief intervals during
a period a note is made of whether or not certain behaviours of interest are occurring. The aim is
to get an idea of how frequently different behaviours occur during the total observation period.
PROBLEMS: research may not get an accurate record of the amount of time spent in different
behaviours, the behaviour may not be happening when the sample is taken. And many
behaviours may simply not occur or might be missed during the period that recording is taking
place.
Event sampling: researchers actively select the type of event that they want to observe. The
event is recorded throughout a time period on a continuous basis. It is the most commonly used
observation method in child development research. The aim is to accumulate data systematically
rather than to investigate change over time.
Clinical method: note an interesting behaviour and then, in order to understand it, vary the task to
note any changes in the response. It is a combination of observation and loosely structured
experimentation (Piaget).
Experimental methods
The aim of the experiment is to specify the causal relationships between maturation, experience and
learning, and behaviour. A situation is created in which the experimenter controls causal variables
that influence the independent variable. By controlling the environment, changes in the dependent
variable can be attributed to the independent variable.
Structured observation: an observational study in which the independent variable is systematically
controlled and varied and the child’s behaviour is observed. Similar to an experiment but the degree
of control is less precise.
Chapter 1: The scope and methods of developmental psychology 3
, Psychological testing
Instruments for the quantitative assessment of some psychological attribute or attributes of a person.
Researchers can compare their sample to the appropriate norms.
Tests of ability and intelligence have become increasingly accurate in predicting later behaviour, but
attempts to predict adult personality are less accurate. The only exception is children who are shy or
bold, they tend to become adults who are shy or bold. Personality is difficult to measure precisely,
because the main traits are social in nature and vary depending on the context.
Tests are regularly used in clinical and educational setting to gain an understanding of an individual
child and compare them with others. Another use is to select groups of children for participation in an
experiment and then evaluate the results of the experimenter.
Experimental group: the group of individuals who receive a particular treatment
Control group: do not receive treatment
Correlational studies
There are two types of correlational studies: concurrent and predictive. Correlational studies are
important in telling us what sorts of abilities or psychological characteristics tend to go together and
what abilities and characteristics predict later occurring behaviours.
Concurrent studies: the relationship between variables that are measured at the same time.
Predictive studies: do individuals retain their relative staging, or rank order, relative to others over
time.
Imaging methods
Imaging methods either record brain activity from the scalp or inside the head.
EEG: measures ERPs, the timing of the brain’s response to events. Can be difficult to tap into
specific regions with this method.
PET and fMRI: measuring cortical sources. Participant has to be still for a long time so it can be
hard to do this with children.
Choosing the method of study
Observational studies are ideal for discovering questions to ask about various phases and aspects of
children’s development. They are ideal in studying children’s behaviour and development in its natural
context. A common argument against experimentation is that it often takes place in an unnatural setting,
and the results may therefore have little bearing on real life. They lack ecological validity.
Only experimental studies can distinguish causes of development.
Beyond common sense: the importance of research
evidence
Developmental psychologists apply their knowledge to the implementations of social policies. This
knowledge can also be used for early intervention schemes.
Research into children’s development helps us understand better the development of the child in order to
provide better attention to the requirements of children and families.
Developmental functions: growing and changing
Chapter 1: The scope and methods of developmental psychology 4
