Midterm 3 Notes PDF

Week 1 notes 1.Development is lifelong - Development happens at every age and stage - Not simply the study of infancy, childhood, and adolescence - Early, middle, and late adulthood are dynamic life periods with unique developmental challenges and opportunities...

Week 1 notes 1.Development is lifelong - Development happens at every age and stage - Not simply the study of infancy, childhood, and adolescence - Early, middle, and late adulthood are dynamic life periods with unique developmental challenges and opportunities 2) Development is multidimensional → Biological processes: genes, brains, hormones, physical health, puberty, menopause → Cognitive processes: thought, language, memory, reasoning, problem-solving, attention, abstract thinking, processing speed → Socioemotional processes: social relationships, emotional experience, cultural expectations ** relationships between above processes are bi-directional Ex. a baby smiling at caregiver (physiological response) → cognitive level: does the baby have the ability to understand that it is with its parent/caregiver - Does it have the ability to respond to certain acts? → Socioemotional: emotions experienced by the infant - influence of the infants smile on the social relationship/bond with the caregiver 3) Human development is plastic Plasticity: is the capacity for change – the ability to move from one developmental trajectory to another. - Does our biology determine our future? - Can social circumstances lead us down an unlikely path? - Can we recover from devastating injury? - Does plasticity change over the life course? 4) Human development is contextual → All development occurs within a historical and cultural context/setting → There is no single “normal”/”best” developmental pattern or trajectory - developmental expectations vary across cultures and over time - Historical, economic, social, and cultural factors shape our development → historical conditions: life expectancy, major historical events, social opportunities → economic conditions: demands of work, opportunity for leisure, opportunity to explore one’s interests → social conditions: racism, sexism, heteronormativity, ablism, ageism, etc → cultural expectations: roles in society, family expectations, religious beliefs 5) Human development is co-constructed - development is an interplay of structure and agency - “Although they are shaped by their genes and environment, humans can create a unique developmental path by actively choosing from the environment those things that optimize their lives”. 6) Human development is political → Governments are responsible for promoting the development of citizens through social policy -ex. access to education, healthcare, food, safe living, and working conditions → Governments intentionally interfere with developmental processes for political ends -ex. residential schools and the “60s scoop” - Canadian gov intentionally intervened in the development of indigenous children. The goal was to break down indigenous kinship structures, eliminating claims to futurity and thus claims to land. -“Residential schooling was always more than simply an educational program. IT was an integral part of a conscious policy of cultural genocide. Ongoing debates: 1) Age Chronological age: years since birth Biological age: age in terms of biological health, functional capacities of vital organs, joints, metabolic function, etc.  Psychological age: adaptive psychological capacities to learn, reason flexibly, think clearly, retain and process information Social age: connectedness with others, social roles adopted, life experiences Ageism in developmental science: tendency to focus research, grant funding, and social advocacy on younger people/early developmental periods 2) Nature & Nurture Nature: an organism’s biological inheritance Nurture: an organism’s environmental experiences - ex. Is our capacity for language learned or innate? ** Nature and nurture interact throughout our development and are so intertwined as to be inseparable. 3) Structure & Agency How much control do we have over our life? Structure: features of our life (biological, political, cultural) that pre-dispose certain actions or limit choice Agency: actions within a person’s control, the ability to act from free will 4) Stability & Change - ask the question: do early traits and characteristics persist or change over time? 5) Continuity & Discontinuity Continuity: development consists of continuous, gradual, cumulative change Discontinuity: development consists of sudden abrupt changes or distinct “stages” ex. oak tree develops continuously. slowly, gradually, growing from a seed to a giant tree - Butterflies begin their lives as caterpillars… eventually becoming butterflies (discontinuity) 6) Universal & Particular Does psychology research produce universal facts about human nature or situated understanding of particular people? **Ethnocentrism: Assuming one’s own culturally specific practices, beliefs, or ideals are normal/natural and correct Week 2 notes: Theories of Human Development: Theory: interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps to explain phenomena and make predictions - Developmental phenomena: human growth and change across the life course - acquire skills and navigate challenges at different life stages - Developmental predictions: How biological processes and social environments shape our developmental trajectory Psychodynamic: - Founding figures: Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Karen Horney, Erik Erikson, Anna Freud - Humans are essentially controlled by inner forces and conflicts - we are motivated by primal desires, which are often sexual in nature - we learn to repress or push down some of our basic drives, in order to function in society - Behaviour is the result of: → unconscious motives, conflicts, and defenses → early childhood experiences → unresolved conflicts - Methods: → interview, talk therapy → Free association and dream interpretation → Intensive naturalistic observation - Psychodynamic theories of development: - Freud - Erikson * Oriented around our emotional needs and drives * emphasize discontinuity over continuity - emphasize universal over particular - emphasize stability over change 1) Freuds psychosexual theory: → Oral (0-2): Breast feeding/ weaning → anal (2-4): toilet training → Phallic (4-6): gender identity (family) → Latency (7-15): Gender identity (society) → Genital (15+): romantic relationships 2) Erikson’s psychosocial theory: → Infancy (0-1): trust vs. mistrust - developing a trusting bond with a caregiver → early childhood (1-3): autonomy vs. shame - children are starting to make basic decisions for themselves → pre-school (3-5): initiative vs guilt - children display a lot of curiosity about the world around them → mid childhood (6-10): industry vs. inferiority - children begin to acquire more knowledge and skills required by their society - if encouraged, they will acquire skills needed to succeed in the social world → adolescence (11-20): identity vs confusion - form a personal identity (trying to figure out which fits us best) → early adulthood (20-40): intimacy vs isolation - ability to open oneself up to other people  - forming long lasting adult friendships/romantic relationships → mid adulthood (40-60): generate vs. stagnate - doing things for others, trying to make the world a better place → late adulthood (60+): integrity vs despair - reviewing life experiences, trying to come to peace, see the meaning and value of your life ** Crisis of development - thought that at every life stage, we confront an important developmental challenge, that we need to navigate - Like freud, if we overcome these challenges, we are ready to handle the challenges in the next stage. Behavioral theories: - founding figures: Ivan Pavlov, BF Skinner, Alberta Bandura - Humans are essentially reacting to their environment - Behaviour is the result of: - past learning, - conditioned responses, - stimuli in their environment - Method: - lab experiments - precise observation of stimuli and response Behaviourist theories of development: - Skinner - Bandura 1) Skinners operant conditioning theory: - learned behaviour through reward and punishment - parental discipline - structure of the social environment produces changes in behaviour 2) Bandura’s social cognitive theory: - imitation and modeling - like skinner, development is learned and influenced by an individuals + and – interactions ** focused on observational learning * structure over agency - most of our behaviours are just responses to whatever stimuli we encounter. Not room  for free will and agency * change over stability - is structure of environment is changed, we should see changes in behaviour - emphasizes capacity for change. * continuity vs discontinuity - not stage based theories - theories that think about development as a learned process, that takes place continuously over the course of our life Humanistic: - Founding figures: Abraham maslow, carl rogers - Humans are essentially: free agents seeking self-actualization - behaviour is the result of: - free will/personal choices - innate drive towards self-actualization - search for personal meaning - methods: - interview people about meaning and values - introspection/theorization of self-concept humanistic theories of development: - Maslow ** behaviorism and psychodynamic tend to emphasize factors beyond a persons control, humanistic psych sees people as free agents 1)Maslows hierarchy of needs - Deficiency needs: what we need to survive - physiological needs > safety > love and belonging > self esteem and recognition - Growth needs: what we need to thrive - curiosity and understanding > beauty and creativity > self-actualization * Needs hierarchy: we cannot focus on growth and self-actualization unless our basic needs are met. * agency over structure * change over stability * continuity over discontinuity Cognitive: Founding figures: jean Piaget, Noam Chomsky - Humans are essentially thinkers - Behaviour is the result of: - thoughts, planning, perceptions - attention, memory - methods: - study of cognitive process - laboratory and field settings ** focused on how we reason about things, incorporate new info * may study how children learn to categorize things around them, or how humans acquire language. * views humans as information processors Cognitive theories of development - Piaget - Kohlberg 1) Piaget’s cognitive development → Sensorimotor (0-2): sensory exploration - exploring the world, learning about relationships and cause/effect → Preoperational (2-7): symbolic thinking - connect words and images with corresponding meanings → Concrete operational (7-11): logical reasoning and classification - reason more logically about world around them → Formal operational (11+): abstract thought - we think more abstractly ** Children progress thought a series of cognitive stages 2) Kohlbergs stages of moral development: - Stages of moral reasoning - preconventional - focused on avoiding punishment - conventional - thinking about following rules - postconventional - pursue right action based on abstract principles like human rights - How a child thinks, not how much they know of the conclusion they come to ** How children develop a sense of right/wrong * discontinuity over continuity * universal over particular Sociocultural: - Founding figures: Lev Vygotsky, Uri Bronfenbrenner, Barbara Rogoff, Kenneth and Mamie Clark - Humans are essentially: social beings embedded in culture - behaviour is the result of: - social norms, expectations and values - relationships - cultural and social environment - methods: - cross cultural studies/diverse participants - naturalistic observation and interview Socialcultural theorists of development: - lev Vygotsky - uri Bronfenbrenner 1) Lev Vygotsky: - development is inseparable from social and cultural activities - social interactions with more skills adults give children tools that they need to adapt successfully to their culture * contemporary of Piaget but places more emphases on social and cultural activities to understand cognitive development 2) Uri Brongenbrenner’s ecological theory: - humans are embedded in environmental systems - microsystem - family, schools, peers. Impact development in immediate and personal ways - exosystem - societies, mass media, access to social services and healthcare, legal system - macrosystem - attitudes, ideologies prevalent in the culture * people are nested within these layers * human development occurs due to interactions between each of these layers ** nurture over nature * particular over universal * continuity over discontinuity Biological: -Founding figures: carl Lashley, Charles Darwin, Francis Galton - Humans are essentially animals - Behaviour is the result of: - genetics - evolution - biochemical processes in our brains - methods: - neurophysiology, hormones, neurochemistry - behavioural genetics -lab research Biological theories of development 1) ethological theory - critical or sensitive periods for biological development - certain biological milestones such as attaching to a caregiver 2) evolutionary theory - adaptative value of human behaviours/instincts - our behaviours serve as a long term survival value by helping us to survive, reproduce etc 3) Neuroplasticity - biochemical processes and structural function of our brains - function of different brain structures * nature over nurture * universal over particular Design and method: - Theory: provides your search problems, questions and objectives - Design: your plan for answering research questions - method: specific tools and techniques you will use to implement your research design Types of designs: 1) Descriptive Research: Recording Events - helps identify and catalog variety of how humans behave and experience the world around them - gives info on human behaviour in a naturalistic non lab setting a) Case study: - in depth analysis of an individual or group or event - useful for studying rare phenomena - Pros: → occur in a naturalistic setting → rare phenonema → challenge existing theory - allow scientists to study something closely → new ideas and hypotheses Cons: → Cant determine cause and effect → Generalizability b) naturalistic observation - researchers observe behaviour as it occurs in a natural settings - look at differences and similarities within that setting - ex. Examining bullying: observe behavior during recess across different schools - pros: → naturalistic setting → wholistic Cons: → difficult to determine cause and effect → Observer effects c) Survey research: - information is obtained by administering questionnaires to many people - sample you survey, needs to represent population you will be researching - random sampling: ensures that our sample can be generalized - pros: → Generalizable → Efficient cons: → Cant determine cause and effect → impersonal 2) Correlational research: - associations between 2 events or variables - using stats to work out how they are related to each other - ex. Correlational study between happiness and quality of social relationships - then look for patterns across paricipants ** Correlation does not equal causation ** bidirectionality: can’t tell if whether X is causing Y, and vice versa ** Third variable: correlation that you see is obscured - maybe relationship between happiness and social relationships is due to another reason - ex. Personality. Outgoing people tend to make friends more easily, and be more happier, vs neurotic people - Correlation coefficient: - positive: higher scores on one variable, higher scores on another variable - negative: higher score on one, lower score on other variable - pros: → discover associations → Lab is not always appropriate → make predictions - if we know 2 things are highly correlated cons: → cant determine cause and effect → impersonal 3) Experimental research: Tools to examine cause and effect: → manipulate → measure → control Variables: IV and DV * IV is being manipulated and DV is what is being measured Pro: → determine relationships of cause and effect Con: → May not translate to the real world, where variables are rarely isolated and people are embedded in complex situations. ** But these research designs capture info about participants at one point of time. ** BUT developmental psychologists are concerned with how people change over time. 3 additional features of developmental design: 1) Cross Sectional: - compare people of different age at same point in time - ex. Cohort of 5, 10, 15 year olds.. give them a task, and compare performance across different ages - problem: don’t know if the differences observed are due to different ages, or whether due to other life experiences - someone 20 years old today is growing up in a different time vs someone who is 60 (no pandemic, less TV) 2) Longitudinal designs: - repeatedly test the same participants as they get older 3) Sequential: - repeatedly test several groups of participants as they grow older - uses cross sectional and longitudinal design - allows to determine whether these groups follow a similar developmental pattern over time ** most time consuming and expensive