Developmental Psychology Lecture Notes 2024-5 PDF

“Development refers to systematic continuities and changes in the individual that occur between conception… and death.” Shaffer and Kipp (2014) PSYC422 DEVELOPMENTAL Dr Ed Symes [email protected]...

“Development refers to systematic continuities and changes in the individual that occur between conception… and death.” Shaffer and Kipp (2014) PSYC422 DEVELOPMENTAL Dr Ed Symes [email protected] PSYCHOLOGY 1. Why do we develop in the way we do (major themes) and how do we study it? 4. What things develop? (approaches and Temperament methods) 5. What things develop? 2. What things develop? Fitting in (self and Sensorimotor others) development 3. What things develop? General cognition DEVELOPMENTAL Lecture series overview PSYCHOLOGY LECTURE 1 Why do we develop in the way we do (major themes) and how do we study it? (approaches and methods) OVERVIEW OF LECTURE 1 (Why do we develop the way we do, and how do we study it?)  Housekeeping  Why do we develop the way  Format of lectures we do?  Details of assessments  Nature/nurture  Learning resources  Active/passive  Continuous/discontinuous  Holistic/segmented  Stability/change  How do we study development? Methods and approaches  HOUSEKEEPING Format of lectures for Developmental topic 5x 2 hour lectures, 10 min break in the middle  Lectures will include slides, videos and class interaction via Mentimeter quizzes  Conventions: XX-YY- ZZ Assessment details for module Learning  January exams (details on main Psychology DLE Resources site)  DLE pages  Exam format is MCQs (Multiple Choice  Library Questions)  Reading List  Practice MCQs at end of slides  -Developmental theories (e.g. Piaget… and others!) Major developmental themes/ debates: NATIVIST EMPIRICIST -Nature (biology) / Nurture (environment) -Maturation (passive) / Learning WHY DO WE (active) -Discontinuous/ Continuous DEVELOP THE devHolistic dev -Segmented/ WAY WE DO? -Stability / THE Conceptually related to th Nativist/Empiricist debate NATURE/NURTURE NATURE DEBATE innate, not learnt NURTURE learnt by experience  THE NATURE/NURTURE DEBATE Francis Galton (1822- “I began by thinking over the 1911) dispositions and achievements of my contemporaries at school, at college, and in after life, and was surprised to find how frequently ability seemed to go by descent.” e.g. Hereditary (Galton, 1869, p. v) Genius (1869) THE NATURE/N URTURE DEBATE ‘Eminent Men’ by Giles (1856)  THE NATURE/NURTUR E DEBATE Behavioural genetics Genotype: inherited instructions within genetic code  Determines how organism develops  Not all organisms with same genotype look/act the same due to environmental factors Environment: diet, upbringing, Genotype + experiences Environment  Phenotype  THE NATURE/N URTURE DEBATE  Heritability: the extent to which genetic differences in a population contribute to the variation of an observed trait/ behaviour in that population (e.g. IQ).  Heritability coefficient (h2): A value between 0 and 1 that estimates the extent to which variation is due to genetic factors (i.e. variation in scores on measures of interest). (Also, scientists can make %  THE NATURE/N URTURE DEBATE Trait h2 estimate General attributes.80 Height.60 Weight.40 IQ Attitudes Conservatism.30 Religiosity.16 Racial integration.00 Tables from Pervin (2003, p. EASI: four dimensions of 167) temperament identified by  THE NATURE/NURTURE DEBATE “Give me a dozen healthy infants, John B Watson well-formed, and my own specified (1878- world to bring them up in and I'll 1958) guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless e.g. Psychology of his talents, penchants, tendencies, as the abilities, vocations, and race of his Behaviorist Views it TRADING PLACES A 1980s classic movie! EXPERIMENT LITTLE ALBERT Watson and Raynor EXPERIMENT (1920)  DWIGHT K SCHRUTE The (American) Office (Season 3, Episode 15) EXPERIMENT  Conceptually related to th Nativist/Empiricist debate PASSIVE innate, not learnt ACTIVE learnt by experience ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT Do we actively (LEARNING)/ shape our own PASSIVE DEVELOPMENT development? Or does it just (MATURATION) happen naturally as we mature? “To grasp the meaning of development, we must understand two important processes that underlie developmental change: maturation and learning.” Shaffer ACTIVEand Kipp (2014) DEVELOPMENT (LEARNING)/ PASSIVE DEVELOPMENT (MATURATION) THE ACTIVE/PASSIVE DEBATE  The Maturational approach  Development comes from within  Genetic, maturational blueprint  Sequence of change is ARNOLD GESELL (1880- 1961)  THE ACTIVE / PASSIV E DEBAT Show of E hands… This ‘step-like’ or ‘discontinuous’ sequence of motor development is fixed (i.e. it always happens THE ACTIVE/PASS IVE DEBATE  Dynamical Systems Theory  The interaction between person and environment shapes development  Motor development is therefore not fixed  Motor development is instead, flexible ESTHER THELEN (1941-2004) THE ACTIVE/PASS  The child is active IVE DEBATE  Explore their own environment  Construct their own knowledge  Aconstructivist Shape their owntheory- development children must construct knowledge themselves  Interact with things to understand them JEAN PIAGET (1896-1980)  Reality depends on the knowledge available to a child  The lifespan perspective THE (Baltes, 1987) Development is life-long, and ACTIVE/PASSIV change is apparent across the E DEBATE lifespan Age periods of development Description Prenatal Starts at conception, continues through implantation in the uterine wall by the embryo, and Startsends Infancy and Toddlerhood at birth at birth and continues to two years of age Early Childhood Starts at two years of age until six years of age Middle and Late Childhood Starts at six years of age and continues until the onset of puberty Adolescence Starts at the onset of puberty until 18 Emerging Adulthood Starts at 18 until 25 Early Adulthood Starts at 25 until 40-45 Middle Adulthood Starts at 40- 45 until 60-65 Late Adulthood Starts at 65 onward Table from Lally & Valentine- THE The lifespan ACTIVE/PASSIVE perspective DEBATE (Baltes, 1987) Development is influenced by three specific contexts: 1. Normative age- graded influences 2. Normative history- graded influences (cohort effects) 3. Non-normative life influences IB-CY-YC THE Conceptually related to th CONTINUOUS/DISC Nativist/Empiricist debate ONTINUOUS DISCONTINUOUS innate, not learnt DEBATE CONTINUOUS learnt by experience THE CONTINUOUS/ DISCONTINUOU S DEBATE THE  Dynamical Systems CONTINUOUS / Theory  Development is NOT fixed DISCONTINU OUS DEBATE  Development is flexible Quantitative changes: 1… 2… 3… 4… 5…. ESTHER THELEN (1941-2004) Thelen  James decided to THE skip the picture- CONTINUOUS/ book stage and DISCONTINUOUS get stuck DEBATE straight into metaphysics…  THE CONTINUOUS/DISCONTINUOUS DEBATE JEAN PIAGET (1896- 1980)  An invariant developmental sequence – all children progress through the stages in the same order  Stages are not bypassed – each successive change builds on the accomplishments of previous stages  Cultural and environmental influences may affect the timing – age norms that accompany stages (and substages) are an approximation Qualitative changes: Non-verbal… verbal Tadpole… frog  THE Conceptually related to th Nativist/Empiricist debate HOLISTIC/SEGMENTED DEBATE SEGMENTED innate, not learnt … or is it a HOLISTIC segmented process, learnt by experience with some aspects of development occurring in isolation (e.g. language)?  Is development a holistic process, where changes in one aspect have important Historical implications for other perspective aspects (e.g. cognition, social development)…  Conceptually related to th Nativist/Empiricist debate STABILITY innate, not learnt CHANGE THE learnt by experience STABILI TY/CHA NGE DEBATE “Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man.” Aristotle https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/people/about-darwin/family-life/ darwin-s-observations-his-children HOW DO WE STUDY From December 1839 until July 1856, Charles DEVELOPMENT Darwin (and occasionally his wife, Emma) took notes on the development of their five children  METHODS AND APPROACHES Observation: was a baby biography published in 1877 the first scientific study of children? https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/people/about-darwin/family-life/darwin-s- METHODS AND  -ve Observation is always APPROACHE stance when observing. selective- there exists no neutral S  -ve Observation is informed and shaped by our theories, biases, preconceptions, etc.  -ve Observer influence is unwanted and needs to be minimised.  +ve Written coding schemes make scientific observations verifiable.  +ve Unlike the experimental method, the observational method METHODS AND Coding observation APPROACHES s  METHODS AND APPROACH ES participatory photo- research elicitation Observations parent, (naturalistic, teacher structured) or peer reports self-reports ethnograp  METHOD S AND Clinical method - observation + loosely APPROAC structured experimentation HES Experiments e.g. Piaget’s preferred method - behavioural: verbal & non- verbal - neurophysiological : EEG, ERP, fNIRS, fMRI e.g. How alert or sleepy is the infant at  METHOD S AND APPROA TimeCHES span research designs - Cross-sectional - Longitudinal - Sequential (a mix of Micro-genetic: above) Examines in detail the processes of developmental change - Micro-genetic as it occurs, by repeated testing How to get in contact Dr Ed Email: [email protected] Symes See next slide for Office: PSQ A217 some practice Book an office MCQs appointment: (answers not Mondays and Tuesdays provided!) 12-1 Check in code Scan QR code or click here XX-YY-ZZ PSYC422 DEVELOPMENTAL Dr Ed Symes [email protected] PSYCHOLOGY PRACTICE MCQS