Developmental Psychology Reviewer
Development – refers to the systematic continuities and changes in the individual that occur between
conception and death.
Systematic – order, pattern, relatively enduring (lasting/permanent).
Continuities – ways in which we remain stable (permanent) over time or continue to reflect our past.
Changes – ways that make us different; processes that caused our modifications (adjustment,
improvement, refinement).
2 Kinds of Development:
1. Normative Development
- Typical patterns of changes and continuities.
2. Ideographic Development
- Individual variation in patterns of continuities and changes.
Aspects/Area of Development:
1. Physical/Motor – bodily changes.
Note: Motor – refers to muscle development
2. Cognitive – perception, language, learning, and thinking.
3. Psychosocial – emotions, personality, interpersonal relationships; broken down into:
a. Moral Development
b. Social Development
c. Emotional Development
Lifespan Development– field of study that examines patterns of growth, change, and stability in
behavior that occur throughout the life span.
Developmentalists – any scholar who seeks to understand the developmental processes.
Human Development – multidisciplinary study of how people change and how they remain the same
over time.
The science of human development:
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Reflects complexity and uniqueness of person and their experiences.
Seeks to understand commonalities and patterns across people.
Is firmly grounded in theory.
Seeks to understand human behavior.
Goals:
1. Describe. Behaviors of people of different ages are observed so as to specify how they change
over time.
2. Explain. After providing facts, the developmentalists then explain the changes they have
observed and essentially determine why they behave the way they do.
3. Optimize Development. Applying what they have learned in attempts to help people develop in
positive directions.
Causes of Development:
1. Growth – biological; quantitative (measurable) changes
2. Maturation – biological unfolding of the individual according to species (typical biological
inheritance) and individual person’s biological inheritance.
3. Learning – process through which our experiences produce relatively permanent changes in
feelings, thoughts, and behavior.
Basic Characteristics of Development:
1. Continual and Cumulative
2. Holistic – emphasizes interrelationships among the physical, mental, social, and emotional
aspects of human development.
3. Plasticity – capacity for change in response to positive or negative life experiences.
4. Historical/Cultural Context – entails that the cultural socialization has a strong influence in the
attributes and competencies that individuals display. Development is influenced by societal
changes.
Issues in Human Development:
1. Nature and Nurture
 Nature focuses on the biological predispositions or the innate factors.
 Nurture focuses on the individual’s experiences with the environment.
 This was first labelled by Francis Galton, a polymath cousin of Charles Darwin.
 Francis Galton – speculated that there must be a strong inherited biological basis as
there is a tendency to inherit something through genes (in his example, he talked about
intelligence as his cousin, Charles Darwin, is considered to be a genius).
 Jean Marc Gaspard Itard – studied the developmentally delayed, specifically a feral child
known as Victor of Aveyron.
 Perspectives on Nature and Nurture:
a. Development is driven by nature.
 Nativism – idea that characteristics are innate, inborn, not acquired or
learned.
 Preformationism – theory of inheritance which believes in the concept of
inborn traits; during the 17th century; e.g. Puritans – believed children are
evil by nature; “pre” (before) “formation”, one is already predisposed with
genetically inherited traits.
 Genetic Determinism – believed in the idea that qualities are genetically
determined and cannot be changed by nurture/learning.
 Eugenics- comes from the Greek word eu meaning “good”. Refers to good
genes.
 Eugenicists – scholars of eugenics who advocated the use of controlled
breeding to encourage child bearing among people with characteristics
which are considered as “desirable” and discourage those who do not have
desirable traits.
b. Development is driven by nurture.
 Environmentalists – newborn is unformed and individual’s characteristics
are a product of experience.
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau – French philosopher who rejected preformationism
as he believed that the environment contributes to an individual’s
development.
 John Locke – English philosopher who believed in the concept of “tabula
rasa” meaning blank slate. According to him, all of the individual’s
experience would shape them into their final self thus giving emphasis on
nurture.
c. Development is part nature and part nurture.
 Became popular during the mid-20th century.
 Gave importance to how much each factor contributed to different traits
(measuring the relative contributions of each)
 Heritability – degree to which the different traits were influenced by genetic
factors; degree of influence of genetic factors.
 Identical twins – single fertilized egg which divided; resulting into two
individuals whose genetic makeup is identical.
 Fraternal twins – born from two separate fertilized egg cells and are not
genetically alike.
 Identical twins: Adoption studies – the twins were separated and were
adopted. Found out that that even if they (twins) were separated, the twins
still show resemblance with their biological parents. However, the quality of
the environment still affects the aforementioned inherited trait.
 Family Related Studies – research of individuals growing up in blended
families have shown that children who are more closely related biologically
are more similar in personality, etc. than those who grew up in the same
family but with different genetic backgrounds. (same origin = similar;
different origin = dissimilar)
d. Development results from the interaction of nature with nurture/interplay of
nature and nurture.
 Charles Darwin – Theory of Evolution, main ideas:
a. Survival of the fittest – only the fittest/best adopted to their
environment survive. Through reproduction, these individuals pass their
adaptive traits to their offspring to survive.
b. Natural Selection – outcome of the interaction between members of a
species and their environment.
 Epigenesis – gradual process through which organisms develop over time in
an increasingly differentiated and complex fashion due to the interaction
between heredity and environment.
2. Continuity and Discontinuity
 Continuity states that development is a smooth progression.
 Discontinuity states that development is a series of abrupt shifts.
3. Universal and Context-Specific Development
 Universal – one path for development; developmental changes are common to all
individuals.
 Context-Specific – development is different for each individual; development is
intertwined within the context which it occurs.
4. Critical Periods (Timing of the Development)
 Critical Period refers to the period of during which a particular ability can be learned.
 Issue: whether there are time windows in development during which the learning of
certain skills is possible or better than at other times.
 Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989) – made an observation among geese. When goslings are
newly hatched, they form a lifelong attachment to the first moving object they see and
follows it around—this phenomenon is known as imprinting. This study or observation
suggests that imprinting can be delayed.
Modern Developmental Psychology - is labelled as a scientific enterprise because those who study
development applies the scientific method.
Scientific Method – objective and replicable. Used to draw conclusions about development by making
research observations. Comprised of the following steps:
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Identify the problem.
Formulate a hypothesis/ state your hypothesis.
Identify methodology: research tool/instrument, participants, and research design
Gather data.
Analyze and interpret data.
Draw conclusions.
Give recommendations.
All studies need to be reliable and valid.
Reliability – consistent estimate of a characteristic (accuracy of data)
Validity – extent to which a measure actually assess what researchers think it does
Objective – everyone who examines the data will come to the same conclusions.
Replicable – every time the method is used, it results in the same data and conclusion.
Measurements in Human Development:
1. Systematic Observation – involves watching people and recording what they do or say. It has
two forms:
a. Naturalistic observation – technique in which people are observed as they behave
spontaneously in some real-life situation.
b. Structured observation – researcher creates a setting that is likely to bring out/elicit
behavior of interest
2. Self-Reports – people’s answers to questions about the topic of interest.
a. Questionnaire – when questions are posed in written form
b. Interview – when questions are posed orally
3. Sampling Behavior with Tasks
 Popular alternative if the researcher cannot directly observe the behavior.
 Creates task that are thought to sample behavior of interest.
 Popular and convenient but may not provide a realistic sample of behavior of interest.
4. Physiological Measures
 Provides a more direct measure of underlying behavior.
 Highly specialized as this focuses on particular aspect of a person’s behavior.
Representative Sampling – sample should be a representative of the population of interest otherwise
the study done/conclusions made will be considered invalid.
Population – broad groups of people of interest.
Sample – subset of a population.
General Designs for Research:
1. Correlational Studies
 Type of investigation that looks at the relations between variables as they exist naturally
in the world.
 It seeks to understand the relation between two variables.
 The results of a correlational study are measured by calculating a correlation coefficient.
 Correlation coefficient – expresses the strength and direction of a relation between two
variables. It reflects one of three possible relationships: positive correlation, negative
correlation, and no correlation.
 Correlations can range from -1.0 to 1.0.
 Sign – indicates the direction of the relation between variables. Below are the different
signs:
a. Positive sign– variables are directly proportional/positive; correlation is between 0
and 1. Larger values of one variable are associated with larger values of the second
variable.
b. Negative sign – variables are inversely proportional/negative; correlation is
between -1 and 0. Larger values of one variable are associated with smaller values
of the second variable.
c. No correlation – correlation is 0. Variables are not associated with each other.
 Size/Strength of a Relation – measured by how much the correlation differs from 0,
either positively or negatively.
 Interpretation of correlational studies considers the sign and size of the correlation.
 Does not address the cause and effect between variables.
2. Experimental Studies
 Experiment – systematic way of manipulating the key factor or factors that the
investigator thinks causes a particular behavior.
 Independent Variable – factor manipulated.
 Dependent Variable – behavior observed.
 Requires the investigator to begin with one or more independent variables that are
thought to affect the behavior of interest.
 People are then assigned randomly to different amounts of the independent variable
they are given.
 An appropriate measure is taken of all participants to see whether or not the
treatment/s had the expected effects.
3. Qualitative Studies
 Involves gaining in-depth understanding of human behavior and what governs it.
 Typically involves intensive observation of behavior over extended periods of time.
 Small focused samples rather than large random ones.
Developmental Research Designs:
1. Longitudinal Studies
 The same individuals are observed or tested repeatedly at different points in their lives.
 Most direct way to identify change and is the only way to answer questions about
stability or instability of behavior.
 Disadvantages: costly; needs to keep the sample together throughout the research;
participants become “test wise” as they take the same tests multiple times.
2. Cross-Sectional Studies
 Developmental differences are identified by testing people of different ages.
 Avoids the problems of repeated setting and the costs of tracking a sample over time.
 Continuity of development is not learned as the subjects are only tested once.
 These are affected by Cohort effects—meaning the differences between age groups
(cohorts) may reflect environmental event rather than developmental processes.
 Cross-sectional studies assume that when older people were younger, they resemble
the people in the younger age group. However, this is not always the case.
3. Sequential Studies
 Based on both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies.
 Begins with one or the other and at some regular interval, the researcher adds more
cross-sectional studies or longitudinal studies resulting in a sequence of the studies.
 Provides useful evidence about continuity of development without being as time
consuming as a longitudinal study.