PSYC1001 Developmental Psychology Lecture 1 2024 PDF

PSYC1001: Developmental Psychology Lecture 1 Introduction to Developmental Psychology Grace Sanders Consultation: By appointment [email protected] 1  Developm...

PSYC1001: Developmental Psychology Lecture 1 Introduction to Developmental Psychology Grace Sanders Consultation: By appointment [email protected] 1  Developmental Psychology: Series Outline 1. Introduction/research methods 2. The importance of the early environment: how the first few years can shape the rest of your life 3. Constructivist theories of cognitive development 4. Social development 5. Language: how language is learned and how it changes how we think 6. Motivation, achievement, and how to talk to children 2 Lecture Outline Introduction to Developmental Psychology 1. Defining developmental psychology 2. Asking some big questions about development 3. Examples of developmental psychology research topics 4. Interpreting children’s behavior in an experimental context 5. Developmental research methods and challenges 3 Background 4 Background What is developmental psychology? A formal definition: Developmental Psychology is the discipline that seeks to identify and explain the changes (in behaviour) that individuals undergo from the moment of conception until they die. 5 Background Developmental psychology: areas of change All areas studied in Psychology e.g., * Physical growth (including sensation and perception) and motor skills  Mental or reasoning ability (cognition and learning)  Emotional expression  Patterns of social behaviour  Personality 6 Background Questions asked by developmental psychologists What does the world look like to the newborn? How does perception change with age? Why do many 1-year-olds seem so attached to their mothers and so fearful of strangers? Why are some people friendly and outgoing whereas others are shy and reserved? Why is learning to speak so natural, but learning to read or learning maths so effortful? Is ADHD the same in adults as in children? Can we trust children’s testimony? 7 Background Developmental psychology: areas of change What’s different about you now from when you were a baby? Are babies just tiny adults who don’t know anything? Or is there a qualitative transformation? Why do babies seem so dumb? Are they actually dumb? Or do babies actually know much more than they seem? 8 Background Developmental psychology: areas of change The big general trajectory of developmental change: From dependence to independence Or external regulation to self-regulation But why does this take so long? What are the mechanisms at play? When infants and children are so reliant on others, how sophisticated is their thinking and how active are they in what they learn? 9 10 11 Background Developmental psychology: areas of change A contemporary answer: Children are quite active and sophisticated even when they have limited self-regulatory abilities Why is development like this? The flexibility of our species is (e.g., see cultural diversity, change over time) is because of our prolonged “helplessness” Self-regulation and independence requires that we prioritise goals Goals guide self-regulation It makes sense if we have many years of learning before we prioritize only goal-relevant information. 12 Background Questions asked by developmental psychologists Two primary kinds of research: 1. Reverse engineering the way the world is now e.g., What are the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the development of self- regulation? 2. Interventions to make the world better e.g., Understanding these mechanisms, how do we best help children at risk for self- regulation problems? Both kinds of research are needed, usually done by different researchers. Usually when doing 1, you don’t know what will be relevant for 2. Collaborations are necessary for each kind to best inform each other! 13 Interpreting children’s behaviour 14 Interpreting children’s behaviour Where does the behaviour originate? How do we know it is normal? Delayed gratification example 15 16 Interpreting children’s behaviour Delayed gratification Q. What is this task measuring? Is it a good measure? Q. Why are there such big differences between children of the same age? Q. What determines these differences? What is the source of the behaviour? 17 Interpreting children’s behaviour Sources of behaviour Biological/Maturation (nature) Experience (nurture) 18  Developmental research - Methodological considerations and design issues 19 Developmental research Methodological considerations Q. Does watching aggressive models influence aggression in 2- yr-olds? Does this change with age? Design a study to answer this question… * Lab or naturalistic observation? (internal/external validity) * What measure of ‘aggression’? * Who observes/tests? Change with age: Cross-sectional or longitudinal design 20 Developmental research Design issues Sampling bias (representative sample) Observer effects (mother/teacher/researcher) Selective attrition (problem in longitudinal studies) Practice effects (repeated measures - influence performance) Validity/reliability of tests (tests of children - modified adult tests) Developmental psychology Research designs 22 Research designs Cross-sectional vs Longitudinal designs In the cross-sectional approach different subjects are studied at different ages. In the longitudinal approach the investigator studies the same subjects at a variety of ages as they develop. These may be relatively short longitudinal studies (changes over just a year or two) or very long (decades). 23 Research designs Cross-sectional design (I) Main advantage - data can be collected over a wide age range in a short time However: (II) This approach yields no information about past determinants of the age-related changes. (III) Problem of ‘cohort variation’ – each age group was born in a different year and therefore has experienced different environmental influences. (IV) Does not yield any information about individual development 24 Research designs Longitudinal design Bowlby: Attachment theory (I) Provide extensive information about how individuals develop However: (II) Time and cost (II) Subject loss (selective attrition) (IV) Cross-generational change (how relevant is our early data?) (V) Inflexibility (stuck with the sample and with the measures we initially decided upon) 25 Research designs Bowlby: Longitudinal-sequential design Attachment theory The Longitudinal Sequential design: cross-sectional/short-term longitudinal design That is: This design is composed of a sequence of samples of different ages, each of which is followed longitudinally for a period of time Advantages: (a) More efficient than the longitudinal design (b) Reveals cultural/historical effects - by employing a time-lagged comparison (compare samples born in different years with one another at the same age) 26 Research designs Comparing the three designs Cross-sectional - Different groups of children tested at each age Age Group 6 A Time needed for data collection < 1 yr 10 B 14 C Longitudinal - Same group of children tested at several ages. Age Group 6 A Time needed for data collection = 9 yrs 10 A 14 A Longitudinal-sequential - Different groups of children, each tested at 2 ages. Age Group 6 A Time needed for data collection = 5 yrs 10 A B 27 14 B Introduction to developmental psychology Take home messages Developmental Psychology is the discipline that seeks to identify and explain the changes (in behaviour) that individuals undergo over the life span Developmental Psychology can look at all fields researched in Psychology – As in all other areas there is both research that reverse engineers the world and intervenes on the world. Be aware of design issues such as observer effects and selective attrition when testing children The three different research designs (cross-sectional, longitudinal and longitudinal-sequential) all have their own strengths and weaknesses 28