Developmental Assignment for Dr. Barnhardt's Introduction to Psychology
Due: Friday, March 23rd, in class
This assignment is worth 6 points. Remember, all assignments must be typed. Your finished
product should be at least 3 double-spaced pages.
Option 1: Describe a single individual in current time in terms of at least three
developmental dimensions and by using at least three different tests.
OR
Option 2: Describe two different individuals at two different ages in current time on at
least two developmental dimensions by using at least two different tests.
YOU MUST USE TESTING PROCEDURES THAT ARE DESCRIBED IN THE BOOK AND/OR
POWERPOINTS. The main goal of this assignment is to describe the tests you used to
evaluate your subjects, how you administered those tests, and the test results that
supported your evaluation.
You can choose from any of the developmental dimensions – physical (motor, perceptual),
language, general cognitive, psychosocial, and moral – that were discussed in the powerpoints
and/or book. Evaluating the motor skills or language skills of an infant or toddler will require you
to observe the subject for particular types of behaviors, but there are no specific tests for
evaluating these dimensions. If you want to evaluate someone in terms of Erikson’s
psychosocial theory of development, you must use the questionnaire posted on the
class website.
Here is a list of do’s for this assignment.
1) State the age(s) of the target person(s), whether child or adult
2) State the dimension and the name of the theory or the scientist responsible for the ideas you
tested.
3) State the stages of the theory that were relevant, if you used a stage theory
4) Describe the tests you used with the people you are describing.
5) Describe how you observed or measured the relevant behaviors.
6) Describe the behaviors or thought patterns that were of interest
7) Indicate whether this behavior or thought pattern is developmentally early, delayed, or ontime, according to your theorist
Here are some cautions for this assignment.
You must be sensitive to how people might react if you share any evaluative information with
them. For example, if you tell a mother that her 2-year old is developmentally delayed, you may
be responsible for causing the mother a lot of undue concern and anxiety. For this reason, you
may want to (1) tell people ahead of time that you are not an expert, (2) that anything you
observe and record is not necessarily correct, but is essentially for your own education, and (3)
always tell the person that you are observing (and their caretaker) that they are doing a great
job!
Examples.
(1) You could use the strange situation test with a 18-month old and then describe their
attachment style. You could also evaluate their language skills. Are they beginning the language
explosion? Finally, you could also evaluate their cognitive abilities by employing some of
Piaget's tasks to see whether they have object permanence. You could also use the violation-ofexpectation paradigm to see whether they're surprised when an incorrect number of toys is
revealed. What does this tell you about the young child's number abilities? If you did any three
of these tests with a single child, you would be doing option 1 and it would be worth 6 points.
(2) You could interview a young adult and describe them in terms of Erikson's theory.
You could also give this person the Heinz dilemma and then describe them in terms of
Kohlberg's theory. Finally, you could give them the pendulum problem, observe the manner in
which they solve it, and then describe them in terms of Piaget's cognitive theory. If you did all
three of these tests with a single person, this would be doing option 1 and it would be worth 6
points.
(3) You could compare a 5-year old and a 9-year old in terms of their cognitive
development by using one of the conservation tasks. You could also compare these same two
children using one of the egocentricity tasks. Of you could compare their moral development by
presenting the Heinz dilemma to both children. If you did any two of these tests with both
children, you would be doing option 2 and it would be worth 6 points.