PSY 620P January 13, 2015

 Module 1: Theory & Methodology  Module 2: Domains of Development  Module 3: Socialization Processes  Module 4: Beyond Childhood…..

 Format: Textbook chapters and lecture (Tues) supplemented by empirical readings (Thurs)  Readings posted on Blackboard ▪ Sometimes linked to syllabus  Evaluation:  Two take-home exams (35% each) ▪ Theories/Methods; Domains of Development ( due 03/18) ▪ Socialization Processes; Adulthood (due 05/04)  3 x Discussion leader w slides (4 x 5%)  Participation (vebal, questions, in-class written queries (10%)

 Reorganizes  Multiple systems (entire person)  Successive, sequential  Crawl before you walk  Non-reversible (stable)  You can’t go back  Normative  Everyone’s doing it  Continues over lifespan

 Increasing functionality in all things?  Loss of perceptual acuity in non-native languages between 6 & 12 months  Old-age

 Focus on mechanisms underlying change  Focus on how/why of development rather than what  Move away from “either / or” attempts to isolate/quantify relative contributions  How does development proceed?  Nature – Nurture  e.g., is shyness innate or learned?

 Developmental trajectories take many forms  Accurate depiction depends on sampling rate of observations  “Microgenetic method” – small time intervals to observe developmental process Gangi

Messinger

 How does a behavior change in form and/or function over the course of development? (=absolute change)  Continuity – Discontinuity ▪ Descriptive continuity-discontinuity ▪ Explanatory continuity-discontinuity ▪ Descriptions and Explanations can be either Quantitative or Qualitative

 How does a behavior change differently among individuals in the same group? (=relative change)  Stability -- Instability  Examples

 Four essential components  Systematic change with relative plasticity  Integration of levels of organization  Historical embeddedness and temporality  Limits of generalizability, diversity, & individual differences

 Focus on bidirectional relations (e.g., Developmental Systems Perspectives) between levels of organization  Bioecological Theory of Developmental Processes (Bronfenbrenner)  Dynamic Systems Theory (Thelen & Smith)

Describe the level at which you are currently anchoring your own research and/or professional work? Describe a level you are not currently examining but are interested in?

 “In essence, the concepts of historical embeddedness and temporality indicate that a program of developmental research adequate to address the relational, integrated, embedded, and temporal changes involved in human life must involve multiple occasions, methods, levels, variables, and cohorts (Baltes, 1987; Baltes, Lindenberger, & Staudinger, 2006; Schaie & Strother, 1968).” Lerner et al., p. 12  Thoughts?

 Four defining properties of model = PPCT  Process  Person  Context  Time

 Krebs cycle  cellular respiration ▪ evolved…