psyc 210 developmental psychology unit 2 study guides

Key Concepts and Terminology

• Developmental psychology studies how individuals grow, change, and adapt across the lifespan from conception to death
• Key terms include maturation (genetically-determined growth), critical periods (optimal times for development), and plasticity (ability to change in response to experiences)
• Continuity vs. discontinuity describes whether development occurs gradually (continuity) or in distinct stages (discontinuity)
• Sensitive periods are times when individuals are more responsive to environmental influences (language acquisition)
• Domains of development include physical, cognitive, and social-emotional changes that occur throughout life
• Longitudinal research designs follow the same individuals over an extended period to observe changes (early childhood to adolescence)
• Cross-sectional research compares different age groups at a single point in time (comparing problem-solving abilities of 5-year-olds and 10-year-olds)

Historical Context and Major Theorists

• Developmental psychology emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the work of pioneering theorists
• Sigmund Freud's psychosexual theory proposed that personality develops through five stages focused on erogenous zones (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital)
• Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory emphasized the importance of social relationships and outlined eight stages of development (trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt)
  • Each stage presents a crisis or challenge that must be resolved for healthy development
• Jean Piaget's cognitive development theory described how children's thinking changes in four stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational)
• Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural theory stressed the role of social interactions and cultural tools in cognitive development (scaffolding, zone of proximal development)
• Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory examined the influence of multiple environmental contexts on development (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, chronosystem)
• Mary Ainsworth's attachment theory investigated the importance of early caregiver-infant bonds (secure, anxious-ambivalent, anxious-avoidant attachment styles)

Stages of Development

• Prenatal development occurs from conception to birth and includes the germinal, embryonic, and fetal periods
• Infancy and toddlerhood span from birth to age 3 and involve rapid physical growth, sensory exploration, and the emergence of language
• Early childhood (ages 3-6) is marked by increased independence, pretend play, and the development of self-concept
• Middle childhood (ages 6-12) brings advances in logical thinking, friendship, and self-esteem
• Adolescence (ages 12-18) is a time of physical maturation, identity formation, and increased abstract reasoning
• Early adulthood (ages 18-40) involves establishing intimate relationships, careers, and families
• Middle adulthood (ages 40-65) may bring challenges such as midlife transitions, caring for aging parents, and health concerns
• Late adulthood (ages 65+) is characterized by retirement, reflection on life experiences, and adaptation to physical and cognitive changes

Nature vs. Nurture Debate

• The nature vs. nurture debate concerns the relative influence of genetic factors (nature) and environmental experiences (nurture) on development
• Nativism emphasizes the role of innate abilities and characteristics in guiding development (language acquisition device)
• Empiricism stresses the importance of learning and experience in shaping behavior and development (operant conditioning)
• Interactionism recognizes that both nature and nurture contribute to development through complex interactions (gene-environment interactions)
  • Epigenetics studies how environmental factors can alter gene expression without changing the underlying DNA sequence
• Behavioral genetics investigates the heritability of traits and disorders by comparing identical and fraternal twins (twin studies)
• Adoption studies compare adopted children to their biological and adoptive parents to separate genetic and environmental influences

Cognitive and Social-Emotional Perspectives

• Cognitive development refers to changes in thinking, reasoning, memory, and language throughout the lifespan
• Piaget's theory proposed that children actively construct knowledge through assimilation (incorporating new information into existing schemas) and accommodation (modifying schemas to fit new information)
• Information processing theories compare the mind to a computer and examine how individuals encode, store, and retrieve information (working memory, long-term memory)
• Social-emotional development involves changes in emotions, personality, and relationships with others
• Erikson's theory highlighted the importance of resolving psychosocial crises at each stage for healthy personality development (identity vs. role confusion in adolescence)
• Attachment theory emphasizes the quality of early caregiver-child relationships in shaping social-emotional development and future relationship patterns
• Temperament refers to innate individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation that influence social-emotional development (easy, difficult, slow-to-warm-up temperaments)

Research Methods in Developmental Psychology

• Observational methods involve systematically watching and recording behavior in natural or structured settings (naturalistic observation, structured observation)
• Self-report measures such as interviews and questionnaires ask participants to provide information about their thoughts, feelings, and experiences (Attachment Q-sort)
• Standardized assessments are norm-referenced tests that compare an individual's performance to a larger group (Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Wechsler Intelligence Scales)
  • Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure, while validity indicates how well it measures what it intends to measure
• Experiments manipulate one or more variables to determine their effect on behavior or development (randomized controlled trials)
• Longitudinal and cross-sectional designs are used to study development over time, either by following the same individuals (longitudinal) or comparing different age groups (cross-sectional)
• Ethical considerations in developmental research include obtaining informed consent, protecting participant confidentiality, and minimizing potential harm (debriefing)

Real-World Applications

• Parenting practices can be informed by developmental research on attachment, discipline strategies, and the importance of responsive caregiving
• Educational policies and practices draw on findings from cognitive development research to create age-appropriate curricula and teaching methods (scaffolding in the classroom)
• Child welfare and protection services use knowledge about child development to assess risk, provide interventions, and promote healthy outcomes for vulnerable children
• Developmental research on aging informs the design of policies, products, and services that support the well-being of older adults (retirement planning, assistive technologies)
• Mental health interventions for children and adolescents are guided by research on social-emotional development and the risk factors for psychological disorders (early identification and treatment)
• Developmental research on resilience helps identify protective factors that promote positive outcomes in the face of adversity (supportive relationships, problem-solving skills)

Critiques and Limitations

• Developmental theories are often based on limited samples that may not represent the diversity of human experiences across cultures and historical periods
• Stage theories can be overly simplistic and fail to capture the variability and complexity of individual development
• The nature vs. nurture debate has been criticized for presenting a false dichotomy, as development is influenced by the interaction of both factors
• Developmental research often relies on correlational designs that cannot establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables
• Longitudinal studies are expensive, time-consuming, and subject to participant attrition, while cross-sectional designs cannot track individual changes over time
• Observational methods may be influenced by researcher bias and reactivity, while self-report measures are subject to social desirability and recall biases
• Standardized assessments may not adequately capture the full range of abilities and may reflect cultural biases in their design and interpretation
• Ethical concerns arise when conducting research with vulnerable populations such as children and older adults, who may have limited capacity for informed consent