1. © 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Chapter 1:
Basic Concepts and Methods
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2. An Introduction to Human Development
Age-related changes in:
Behavior
Thinking
Emotion
Personality
An entire lifespan!
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Philosophical Roots
Original Sin
Saint Augustine
Humans are born selfish
Addresses moral dimensions of development
The Christian notion of original sin teaches that children are born with a selfish nature and must be spiritually reborn.
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4. Philosophical and Scientific Roots Innate Goodness
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Emphasis on children and basic human nature
Children need only nurturance and protection to flower
Deprivation leads to frustration and anger
French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau also believed in the idea of interaction between internal and external forces, but he claimed that all human beings are naturally good and seek out experiences that help them grow. For Rousseau, the goal of human development was to achieve one’s inborn potential.
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5. Philosophical and Scientific Roots The Blank Slate
John Locke
Empiricism
Children passive recipients of experience
Individual differences due to experience
John Locke, who insisted that at birth the mind is a blank slate—in Latin, a tabula rasa. All knowledge, he argued, is created by experience.
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6. Early Scientific Theories
Charles Darwin
Evolution
Interplay of genetics and environmental adaptation
Baby biographies
Detailed records of own children’s early years
Darwin–baby biographies; The concept of developmental stages.
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7. Early Scientific Theories
G. Stanley Hall
Psychologist
Emphasis on norms or average ages at which developmental milestones occur
Arnold Gesell
Maturation—occurs “naturally”
Used movie cameras, one-way mirrors
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8. The Lifespan Perspective
Paul Baltes
Important changes occur in each period of development
Adults experience major life passages
Parenthood
Retirement
Increased longevity
Now about age 76 for U.S. adults
Paul Baltes – capacity for positive change – plasticity; positive aspects of advanced age; development of strategies to maximize gains and compensate for losses.
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9. The Lifespan Perspective Paul Baltes
Interpret change in context of one’s culture or subculture
Plasticity and adaptability at all ages
Interdisciplinary perspective and research
Multi-contextual nature
As we age, use strategies to maximize gain and compensate for losses
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Domains and Periods
of Development
Physical Domain
Cognitive Domain
Social Domain
Using domain classifications helps to organize discussions of human development.
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11. Periods of Development
Prenatal
Infancy
Early Childhood
Middle Childhood
Adolescence
Early adulthood
Middle adulthood
Late adulthood
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12. Key Issues in the Study of Human Development
Nature versus Nurture
Nature
Inborn propensities; biological influences
Inborn biases
Nurture
Learning from environmental experiences
Internal models of experience
Nature versus nurture, also referred to as heredity versus environment or nativism versus empiricism.
Picture of John Watson – early behaviorist that exemplifies the nurture arguments.
As Watson put it,
Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified
world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random
and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor,
lawyer, merchant, chief, and yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of
his talents, penchants, abilities, vocations, and the race of his ancestors.
(1930, p. 104)
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13. Continuity versus Discontinuity
Quantitative change (in amount or degree)
Discontinuity
Development involves reorganization
Qualitative changes in kind or type
Emergence of wholly new strategies, qualities, or skills (qualitative change)
Stage theories
Qualitatively distinct periods of development
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14. Qualitative changes in kind or type
Three Kinds of Change
Qualitative changes in kind or type
Normative age-graded universal changes
Physical such as puberty
Social clock or age norms such as expected time of retirement
Normative history graded changes
Cohort or generational effects
Non-normative changes
Unique, unshared changes or individual differences
Group specific changes are shared by all individuals who group up together in a particular group such as culture with its system of customs, values, attitudes, laws, moral guidelines and ways of living. Historical context examines which historical forces shape the similarities and differences that affect each generation.
Individual differences – include genetics; timing and critical periods; on-time and off-time events; atypical development.
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15. Contexts of Development Vulnerability and Resilience
Vulnerabilities and protective factors interact with child’s environment
Same environment can affect different children differently
Effect depends on qualities the child brings to the interaction
Resilient children gain support from more optimal environments
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16. Contexts of Development
Critical period
Sensitive period
On-time events
When most members of a society experience events such as marriage
Off-time events
Atypical development
Mental retardation, psychopathology
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Questions To Ponder
Now that you have heard several issues, which do you think is more important in understanding development – nature issues or nurture issues? Why?
What part of the life span interests you the most? What issues would you like to learn about the most?
These questions would be good for general discussion, use with small groups, or writing assignments. 
As writing assignments, students who are given choices to write about display more intrinsic motivation. 
Students can write about one or more questions per chapter and writings can be kept in a journal for collections at later times in the semester rather than on a daily or weekly basis. 
They may also serve as part of participation grades in the class.
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18. Research Methods and Designs
Theories
Sets of statements that propose general principles of development
Predictions or Hypotheses
An educated guess that is testable by data collection and analysis
Theories – sets of statements that propose general principles of development.
Hypothesis – an educated guess that is testable by data collection.
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19. The Goals of Developmental Science
Describe development
Explain development
Why events and changes occur
Predict developmental events
Influence some developmental outcomes
For example: memory declines
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Descriptive Methods
Variables
Characteristics that vary across people
EXAMPLE: years of age
One variable can relate to another variable
EXAMPLE: years of age with memory decline
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21. Descriptive Methods Naturalistic observations
Observe people in their normal environments
Includes schools or assisted living facilities
Could harbor observer biases
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Descriptive Methods
Case Studies
In-depth examination of a single individual
Useful in making decisions about individuals
Frequently basis of important hypotheses about unusual developmental events
Laboratory observations
Controlled setting for study
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23. Descriptive Methods Surveys, interviews and questionnaires
Ask people questions and record their answers
Use samples
Subsets of a total collection (population) of people
People’s answers may be affected by perceived social desirability
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24. © 2009 Allyn & Bacon Publishers
Correlations
Correlations range from to +1.00
Describe strength of relationship between two variables
A “0” means two variables are not related
Positive correlation
High scores on one variable usually accompany high scores on the other
Better educated people generally have higher family incomes
Negative correlation
Scores on the two variables move in opposite directions:
Better educated people are less likely to smoke cigarettes
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25. Limits of Correlations
Correlation is NOT causality
Correlations simply measure the level or degree of covariation between two variables
They do not prove causal relationships
A large correlation between two variables does NOT mean one variable caused the other
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Experimental Designs
Can test causal hypotheses
Randomly assign participants to different treatment and control groups
The experimental group gets a treatment the experimenter thinks will produce a particular effect
The “control group” gets no treatment or neutral treatment
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27. Experimental Designs (continued)
Independent variable or “cause”
Dependent variable or “effect”
The dependent variable depends on the “cause”
Quasi-experiments
Participants not randomly assigned
For example, children in day care programs may be compared with children kept at home
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28. Cross-Sectional Designs
Designs to Study Age-Related Changes
Cross-Sectional Designs
In these designs, we study people from different age groups at the same time point, such as July 2008
Cross-sectional research very useful because it is relatively quick to do
It can indicate possible age differences or age changes
But age-related differences may become confused with cohort or generational effects
Cohort – age-related differences due to grouping by age.
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29. Birth Cohort or Generational Effects
Different generations can have unique experiences
Your generation grew up with computers
100 years ago people didn’t have radio
Your great-grandparents may have lived through World War Two or the 1930s Great Depression
When (and where) you were born could affect nutrition, sleeping arrangements, or your age at marriage
In cross-sectional studies or “one-shot”, cohort and aging effects may become entangled
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30. Figure 1.1 An Example of a Cross-Sectional Design
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31. Designs to Study Age-Related Changes
Longitudinal Designs
Study the same individuals over a period of time
Can observe individual consistencies and inconsistencies
Assess net change over time in the same people
Some studies last for several years
The Berkeley/Oakland Growth Study continued for several decades
Sequential Designs – allow for comparison of cohorts while incorporating some degree of individual differences.
Age-group comparisons provide the same kind of information as a cross-sectional study would.
Comparisons of the scores or behaviors of participants in each group to their own scores or behaviors at
an earlier testing point provide longitudinal evidence at the same time.
Sequential designs also allow for comparisons of cohorts.
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32. Longitudinal Designs: Some Problems
“Practice” or “testing” effects can occur when people are repeatedly studied
Study “attrition”
People die, move away, stop participating
Better educated, healthier people more often remain in the study
This can create biases in studying aging
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33. Figure 1.2 Example of a Longitudinal Design
Cohort – age-related differences due to grouping by age.
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34. Designs to Study Age-Related Changes
Sequential Designs
These combine groups from at least two cohorts followed in a longitudinal study
Both aging AND cohort effects are possible
Allows comparison of cohorts while incorporating some degree of individual differences
Sequential Designs – allow for comparison of cohorts while incorporating some degree of individual differences.
Age-group comparisons provide the same kind of information as a cross-sectional study would.
Comparisons of the scores or behaviors of participants in each group to their own scores or behaviors at
an earlier testing point provide longitudinal evidence at the same time.
Sequential designs also allow for comparisons of cohorts.
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35. Figure 1.3 An Example of a Cross-Sequential Design
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36. Cross-Cultural Research
Ethnographies
In-depth descriptions of a single culture or context
May compare two or more cultures or subcultures
Perhaps particular age or ethnic groups
Cross-cultural studies search for universal and unique developmental changes
Hope to improve people’s lives
EXAMPLE: encourage more cooperation by learning from collectivist cultures
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Research Ethics
Protection of animal rights and human subjects
Universities, government, organizations often have Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)
Often called “Human Subjects Committees”
Special attention paid to studies of children, pregnant women, individuals with learning or other disabilities
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Research Ethics
Protection from harm—We protect participants from harm
Informed Consent—participants learn possible risks and benefits of the study to them
Confidentiality—Research data is kept confidential
Knowledge of Result—Participants are given information about results
Deception—Any deception is explained to participants after data are collected
An experiment is a research method that tests a causal hypothesis.
A key feature of an experiment is that participants are assigned randomly to participate
in one of several groups.
The experimental group receive the treatment the experimenter
thinks will produce a particular effect.
The control group receive either no special treatment or a neutral treatment.
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