Child Psychology: Scientific Method and Themes

• Child psychology utilizes a scientific approach to understand behavior and development.

Ways of Knowing

• Logic involves formal rules of reasoning.
• Intuition means understanding without formal training, akin to common sense.
• Authority is based on expertise or status.
• Observation involves systematic measurements.
• Science values observation over other knowledge sources.

Scientific Method

• Formulating an idea involves making a testable statement.
• Predictions are formed based on the idea.
• Empirical testing of predictions is conducted through observation and measurement.
• Interpretation of results is based on the empirical evidence gathered from testing.
• Ideas are revised, accepted, or rejected based on evidence.
• Scientific beliefs are considered tentative and subject to change with new evidence.
• Beliefs not supported by evidence should be abandoned or revised.

Themes in Child Psychology

• Nature vs. Nurture explores the influence of genetics and environment.
• Change examines how behavior and thought evolve over time and experiences.
• Continuity/Discontinuity considers whether development occurs in stages or as continuous growth.
• Individual Differences focuses on the factors that make individuals unique.
• Social Context explores the role of environment on development.
• Passive vs. Active Development questions whether children are passive recipients or active constructors of their experiences.

Nature vs. Nurture

• Nature refers to genetic inheritance.
• Nurture encompasses environmental influences.
• Most traits are determined by a combination of nature and nurture.
• The basic ability to acquire language depends on genetics (nature).
• The specific language learned depends on the environment (nurture).

Change

• Development occurs over time, across different experiences like culture, individual events, deprivation, and biological maturation.
• Discontinuity refers to qualitatively distinct periods or stages of development.
• Continuity refers to quantitative enhancement or maturation.

Continuity/Discontinuity

• It is explored whether the topic develops more like the growth of a tree or metamorphosis of a butterfly
• Piaget’s conservation of liquid task shows an example of discontinuity.

Individual Differences

• Factors such as learning disabilities and mental illness can differ between individuals.
• Sources of atypical development can be changed/enhanced by medical, educational, and parenting interventions.

Social Context

• The role of social context (experience) in development includes parenting, peers/friends, community, SES (some aspects), and culture.

Passive vs. Active Development

• Child personality can influence how others treat them (experience), which can influence development.
• Developmental psychology is applicable to understanding human nature, sources of differences, cognitive abilities, behavior, growth, and the role of environmental conditions.

Child Development: Multiple Levels of Analysis

• A multidisciplinary approach can be used to understand development. This includes culture/groups, individual behavior, brain/biological/physiological systems, and genetics/cells.
• Ontogeny considers the lifespan and tells us when developments happen, how they happen, the role of maturation vs. experience, what changes, and when practices are beneficial or harmful.
• Phylogeny considers the evolutionary development of species and can tell us when abilities appeared, human nature, and allows for invasive paradigms such as controlled rearing.
• Cross-cultural studies examine different groups and illuminates what is universal/varies, and what practices/policies are most beneficial/harmful.

Research Types

• Qualitative research documents and describes experiences or perspectives.
• Quantitative research uses empirical research with techniques that include statistical, mathematical, or computational.

Qualitative Research Methods

• These are used to document or describe experiences or perspectives.
• These methods include interviews, narratives, and ethnographic studies.

Quantitative Research Types: Correlational

• Correlation is the association between two or more variables.
• Its gives understanding as to whether children who differ on one variable systematically differ on another.
• The strength of correlational studies is that they show prediction but there are limitations.
• Correlations do not demonstrate the direction of causation.
• Correlations do not demonstrate spurious correlations.
• Correlations do not demonstrate third/mediating factors in correlations.

Quantitative Research Types: Experimental

• Independent variables are manipulated, and dependent variables are measured.
• This allows for cause-effect relationships to be inferred.
• Limitations to experimental research can include confounds and resources/ethical considerations.

Research Designs in Child Psychology

• Longitudinal studies test the same children repeatedly over time.
• Cross-sectional studies test different children of different ages at a single time point.
• Micro-genetic studies study the same children repeatedly/intensively around a particular developmental point of interest.

Psychological Measures

• Self-report involves simple questions, forced choice, unstructured/open ended, and structed interviews/games.
• Behavioral/choice testing includes speed/reaction time/accuracy.

Challenges in Studying Children

• Lack of language/less developed language skills
• Limited time constraints
• Reduced competence to following instructions
• Rapid change requires precise monitoring of age
• Sensitivity demands careful attention to safety and recruitment
• Studies often require unique methods to address challenges
• Examples of Studying Helping Behavior can be unstructured/naturalistic or structured observation.

Studying Young Infants

• Researchers utilize limited movements, decision making, and verbal abilities.
• Researchers measure what they can do, like look, hear, suck on pacifier, turn head/orient, and reach.

Looking Behavior

• Preferential looking assumes differential looking indicates infants notice a difference.
• Looking behavior can reflect familiarity, personal preference, novelty, or interest. Careful design and control studies are needed to rule out alternative explanations.
• Habituation involves repeated stimulus presentation until boredom, followed by changing a property to measure renewed looking response (dishabituation).

Biological Measures

• Examples of biological measurement include heart rate, cortisol, genetics, respiration rate, and brain measures.
• Brain measurement are done through fMRI and EEG.

Limits to Research/Science

• Validity assesses whether research measures what it claims.
• Reliability assesses whether the measurement is trustworthy.
• Confounds are additional factors explaining results. Context/Bias considers how context/beliefs influence observations/measurements.
• Context influences how we experience the world.
• Awareness is needed to account for this when conducting and consuming research.

Explore child psychology's scientific approach to understanding behavior and development. Key ways of knowing include logic, intuition, authority, observation, and the scientific method. Understand the themes such as Nature vs. Nurture.