Psych 413:
Social and Personality Development
Dr. Susan Birch
Oral Presentations: Topics, Partners, Dates
#1) Early Precursors (aka. Social and Personality Development in Infancy) (Sept. 17)
#2) Emotional Development (Sept 24)
A. Carla H. & Etela
B. Andrea & Karen H.
C. Katherine H &
#3) Attachment and/or Borderline Personality Disorder (Oct. 1)
A. Katie C. & Monica T.
B. Teresa
#4) Theory of Mind/Autism (Oct. 13th) (NOTE: Not Oct 8th as originally scheduled)
A. Kristin F & Catherine.C
B. Chris S & Nargess T
#5) Theory of Mind/Autism (Oct. 22)
A. Fikir & Rameen
B. Margaret
C. Cecelia & Michelle
#6) Social Development in Non-human animals (Oct 29)
A. Russ & Shelagh
B. Sandy &
C. Sandra* & Wendy
Oral Presentations: Topics, Partners, Dates
#7) Gender Development (Nov 5)
A. Melissa
B. Carola* & Liz H.
C. Mandy & Nancy D.
D. Angela B & Kim R
#8) Moral and Prosocial Development (Nov 12)
A. Caitlin, Allaina, Jennifer
B. Cloe & Jennifer N.
#9) Antisocial Personality Disorder (Nov 19)
A. Daniela & Sophie
B. Clara & Erin
C. Tenille & Alice
D. Amy* &
#10) Development of Self and/or Autobiographical Memory (Nov 29)
A. Adam G. & Tania F.
B. Tahira &
C. Susan* & Cynthia
#11) Dissociative Identify Disorder (aka Multiple Personality Disorder) (Dec. 1)
A. Michelle C. & Stephanie H. Or, Gender Development on Wed. Nov. 3rd *Let me know
Today’s Topics
1. Important Themes
2. Basics of Methodology
Important Themes
1. Nature and Nurture
2. The Sociocultural Context
3. Individual Differences
Nature AND Nurture
The debate has switched from an either or debate to a question of
How large a role does each play?
e.g. Watson’s Little Albert Study
Obviously, this research shows us that experience plays a role in
learning but additional research suggests we are ‘pre-wired’ or
predisposed with certain constraints on learning
We can learn to be afraid of…
But not…
The Sociocultural Context of Development
How does the sociocultural context influence
development?
Sociocultural context refers to the physical, social,
cultural, economic, and historical circumstances
in a child’s life.
Sociocultural Context
• Physical = house, daycare, school, urban vs. rural
neighborhood etc.
• Social = parents, siblings, other family members,
teachers, friends, peers, etc.
• Economic = national wealth, societal wealth,
family/individual wealth
• Cultural = language, values, traditions,
attitudes/beliefs, laws, political structure, technology,
etc.
• Historical = influences all these other factors, e.g.
traditional practices, policies, economy, technology etc.
Individual Differences
• As well as sharing a vast number of common capacities for
language, perception, thought etc., individuals also differ
from one another.
e.g. even 2 children from within the same family who share both a
lot of their genes and a lot of the same environment
• What are the sources of this variation?
– Genetic differences
– Difference in ways parents and other treat them
– Differences in children’s choices of environment
– Similar experiences affect children differently
Thus, an interaction of genes and environment
Why might it be interesting to study individual differences?
Basics of Research Methods
The Scientific Method
4 Basic Steps:
1. Choose a question to be answered.
2. Formulate a hypothesis or prediction
about the answer.
3. Develop a method for testing the
hypothesis.
4. Interpret the data yielded and draw a
conclusion.
3 Main Ways of Collecting Data
1. Interviews
2. Naturalistic Observation
3. Structured Observation
* Each have their advantages and disadvantages and the type
of data collection method a researcher chooses depends on
which is best suited to the primary goal of the research
Interviews: Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages:
1. Reveals children’s subjective experience
2. Inexpensive/easy means of data collection
3. Can be geared to specific individuals
Disadvantages:
1. Reports are often biased in a positive direction
2. Participant’s memory is often inaccurate or incomplete
3. Participant’s ability to predict their actions are often
inaccurate.
4. Subject to experimenter bias
Naturalistic Observation
• A person observes the child in their normal
environments of interest (e.g. home, school,
playground etc.)
• Used when the primary goal is to describe
how children behave in their usual
environments
Naturalistic Observation
Advantages
• Particularly useful for studying social
interactions (e.g. parents and child) and other
types of behavior which could not be studied
“on-demand” in a lab
– E.g. How a child’s behavior changes after a new
baby brother or sister is brought home
– E.g. How children react when Mom & Dad are
fighting
Naturalistic Observation
Disadvantages
• Can’t control all variables in a natural environment
making it very hard to determine which variable(s)
influenced the behavior
• Possibility that the observer influenced the behavior
• The behavior you are interested in might occur very
rarely, reducing the opportunity to study it
• subject to experimenter bias
Structured Observation
(aka experimental and correlational designs)
Researchers design a specific task or situation that will elicit the
behavior relevant to their hypothesis
Advantages
• Ensures all children experience the same thing--allowing for
direct comparison of different children/groups
Disadvantages
• Reveals less info about subjective information than interviews
• Not in the child’s natural environment
Experimental Designs
•
Enable you to determine cause and effect
Experimental Designs must meet 2 premises:
1. 2 or more groups of participants are comparable at
the beginning (via random assignment)
2. Each group is presented with experiences that differ
in only 1 way.
If the 2 groups yield different responses you can assume
that the one thing that was different caused the
differences.
Correlational Designs
Correlational Designs
• Used to determine if there is a relationship between 2
variables
• If there is a strong relationship, knowing one variable
helps predict the other
e.g. aggressive behavior and hours watching TV
Can’t tell you the direction of the cause!
Examining Development:
Cross sectional vs Longitudinal design
Cross Sectional vs. Longitudinal Design
Longitudinal: Advantages
• Reveal information about the stability of individual
differences or patterns of change in individual children
• Avoids cohort effects (8 vs. 80-year olds computer
knowledge)
Longitudinal: Disadvantages
• Time-consuming, expensive
• Subject loss (attrition) may influence the results
But what do you do when your
subjects can’t speak?
What about babies? They can’t talk!
What do they do? (besides eating, pooping, and sleeping)?
• Cry
• Smile
• Suck
• Look around
Researchers have designed clever ways to ask infants
questions and have them answer using all of the
above (most often Looking!!)
Preferential Looking Paradigm
Preferential Looking Paradigm
This method measures the amount of time they spend
looking at different stimuli.
If they consistently look longer at 1 it tells us 2 things:
1. They can tell the difference between the two.
2. They prefer to look at one over the other.
Preferential Looking Paradigm
When Preferences Fail…
• if infants fail to show a preference between
two stimuli, what explanations follow?
 they cannot tell the difference
 they can tell the difference, but happen
not to have a preference
• we need to use a different technique to find
the answer.
Habituation Method
what happens when we change
the stimulus?
old
new
Habituation Method
Habituation Method
• Repeatedly presents infants with one thing over and
over until they become “bored”
(decrease their looking time to a set criterion)
• Then a new stimulus is presented.
• If they can tell the difference between the old and the
new stimuli they should increase their looking time when
the new stimuli is introduced.
Violation of Expectation Paradigm
Based on the assumption that infants (or anyone) will look
longer when something violates their expectations
or “surprises” them.
For example,
When a
magician cuts
a person in 2.
Violation of Expectation
Baillargeon’s Drawbridge study
Bringing up Monkey Video!
(Keep in mind the themes and the paper in your course pack on temperament)