AP Psychology AMSCO Guided Notes
3.1: Themes and Methods in Developmental Psychology
AMSCO Guided Notes
AP Psychology Guided Notes
AMSCO 3.1 - Themes and Methods in Developmental Psychology
Essential Questions
- How do enduring themes inform developmental psychology?
- How do cross-sectional and longitudinal research design methods used in developmental psychology inform understanding of behavior and mental processes?
I. Enduring Themes
1. What is developmental psychology and what key aspects of human development does it examine?
A. Discontinuous and Continuous Development
1. How does discontinuous development differ from continuous development?
2. Why do some developmental theorists view stage theory as more theoretical than real?
B. Nature and Nurture
1. What is heritability and why cannot heritability be discussed for an individual?
2. How do modern psychologists view the nature and nurture debate compared to earlier perspectives?
C. Stability and Change
1. What is the stability and change debate and how did Freud's view differ from Erikson's view?
II. Longitudinal Design
1. What is longitudinal design and what types of developmental questions can it help answer?
A. The Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children
1. What was the primary focus of the Minnesota Longitudinal Study and how long has it been conducted?
2. What did the Minnesota Longitudinal Study find about the relationship between early attachment experiences and later behavior?
3. How do early experiences affect resiliency and adaptation problems later in life according to the study?
B. Limitations of Longitudinal Design
1. What are the major limitations and challenges of conducting longitudinal research?
III. Cross-Sectional Design
1. What is cross-sectional design and how does it differ from longitudinal design in terms of cost and time?
A. Cohort Effects and Confounding Factors
1. What is a cohort effect and how can it lead to misleading conclusions in cross-sectional studies?
2. How did cohort effects explain the apparent decline in intelligence with age in cross-sectional studies?
B. The Flynn Effect
1. What is the Flynn effect and how does it explain differences in intelligence test scores across generations?
C. Comparing Research Designs
1. How did longitudinal studies of intelligence reveal different conclusions than cross-sectional studies about aging and intelligence?
Key Terms
continuous development
cross-sectional design
developmental psychology
discontinuous development
enduring themes
longitudinal design
nature and nurture
stability and change