1. Basic Concepts and Methods
Chapter 1:
Basic Concepts and Methods

2. IN THIS CHAPTER
Introduction to Human Development
Key Issues in the Study of Human Development
Research Methods and Designs

3. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1.1 What ideas about development were proposed by early philosophers and scientists?
1.2  What is the lifespan perspective?
1.3  What major domains and periods do developmental scientists use to organize their discussions Of the human lifespan?
1.4 How do developmentalists view the two sides of the nature–nurture debate?
1.5 What is the continuity–discontinuity debate?
1.6 How do the three kinds of age-related change differ?
1.7 How does consideration of the contexts in which change occurs improve scientists’ understanding of human development?

4. LEARNING OBJECTIVES (con’t)
1.8  What are the goals of scientists who study human development?
1.9  What descriptive methods do developmental scientists use?
1.10 What is the primary advantage of the experimental method?
1.11 What are the pros and cons of cross-sectional, longitudinal, and sequential research designs?
1.12 Why is cross-cultural research important to the study of human development?
1.13 What are the ethical standards that developmental researchers must follow?

5. AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Human development: scientific study of age-related changes in:
Behavior
Thinking
Emotion
Personality
An entire lifespan!

6. PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS Original Sin
Augustine of Hippo
Humans are born selfish and must seek spiritual rebirth.
Developmental Outcomes
Individuals struggle to overcome immoral actions.
The Christian notion of original sin teaches that children are born with a selfish nature and must be spiritually reborn.

7. PHILOSOPHICAL AND SCIENTIFIC ROOTS Innate Goodness
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Emphasis on children and the basic goodness of human nature
Nurturance and protection needed
Developmental Outcomes
Children’s environment interferes or encourages
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 is to achieve one’s inborn potential. Deprivation leads to frustration and anger.

8. PHILOSOPHICAL AND SCIENTIFIC ROOTS The Blank Slate
John Locke
Empiricism
Children as passive recipients of environmental experiences
Developmental Outcomes
Individual differences due to experience
John Locke insisted that at birth the mind is a blank slate—in Latin, a tabula rasa. All knowledge, he argued, is created by experience.

9. EARLY SCIENTIFIC THEORIES Charles Darwin
First Organized Study of Human Development
Evolution
Interplay of genetics and environmental adaptation
Baby Biographies
Detailed records of his own children’s early years
Darwin’s baby biographies; the concept of developmental stages

10. EARLY SCIENTIFIC THEORIES G. Stanley Hall
First Scientific Study of Child Development
Psychologist
Emphasis on norms or average ages at which developmental milestones occur
Coined the phrase “storm and stress” to refer to adolescence
Hall: “Contents of children’s minds on entering school” (1891)

11. EARLY SCIENTIFIC THEORIES Arnold Gesell
Systematic Description of Children across Domains, Particularly in the First Five Years of Life
Maturation occurs “naturally” as a result of a genetically programmed sequence.
Used movie cameras, one-way mirrors
Hall: “Contents of children’s minds on entering school” (1891)

12. THE LIFESPAN PERSPECTIVE Overview
Important changes occur in each period of development.
Children and adults experience major life passages.
Increased longevity
Children and adults experience major life passages.
Parenthood
Retirement
Paul Baltes—capacity for positive change—plasticity; positive aspects of advanced age; development of strategies to maximize gains and compensate for losses

13. THE LIFESPAN PERSPECTIVE Paul Baltes
Multi-contextual nature of development
Plasticity and adaptability at all ages
Interdisciplinary perspective and research
With age comes the need for strategies used to maximize gains and compensate for losses.
As we age, we use strategies to maximize gain and compensate for losses.
Emphasis on positive aspects of advancing age

14. DOMAINS AND PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT
Three Broad Domain Categories:
Physical Domain
Cognitive Domain
Social Domain
Using domain classifications helps to organize discussions of human development.
Physical: change in size, shape, characteristics of body; change is how individuals sense and perceive world
Cognitive: change in thinking, memory, problem solving, and other intellectual skills; examination of individual differences among children and adults related to intradomain variables
Social: relationship of individual with others; individual development in social skills, personality, and individual beliefs about others

15. PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT
Prenatal
Infancy
Early Childhood
Middle Childhood
Adolescence
Early Adulthood
Middle Adulthood
Late Adulthood

16. AGE DIFFERENCES IN ATTAINMENT OF MAJORITY STATUS AROUND THE WORLD
Different cultures set different legal boundaries that mark the entry into early adulthood.
U.S.: parental permission is needed to join the military until age 18; age 16 for driving; age 17 or 18 for criminal accountability; age 18 for signing contracts; 21 for buying alcohol; age 24 for economic independence (college loans)
Emerging adulthood
Age of majority to join military in other countries: 15 in Laos, 16 in the United Kingdom, 17 in Nicaragua, 19 in Algeria, 20 in South Korea, 21 in Brazil, and 22 in Afghanistan (CIA World Factbook , 2013)

17. STOP AND THINK!
What marks the end of each of these periods of development? How do you know?

18. KEY ISSUES IN THE STUDY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Nature versus Nurture
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.
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).

19. CONTINUITY VERSUS DISCONTINUITY
Continuity = Quantitative change in amount or degree
Discontinuity = Qualitative, step-like change
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each kind of change?
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

20. ANOTHER WAY TO LOOK AT IT!
If development consists only of additions, the concept of stages is not needed.
If development involves reorganization or emergence strategies, quality, or skills, than stages are useful.
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

21. THREE KINDS OF CHANGE Qualitative Changes in Kind or Type
Normative Age-Graded Universal Changes
Social clock or age norms
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 in a particular group (such as a culture) with its own 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; and atypical development.

22. Elder; Berkeley/Oakland Growth Study
AN EXAMPLE OF A COHORT EFFECT: CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Elder; Berkeley/Oakland Growth Study
Long-term study of cohort differences
Older cohort: experienced worst economic hardship; assumed adult responsibilities; contributed to family welfare; demonstrated strong work ethic and family commitment
Younger cohort: often suffered loss of cohesion and warmth; demonstrated general negative consequences for boys; were less hopeful and confident; preformed less well in school and years of schooling; demonstrated less ambition and success as adults
Participants born in 1920 (teens) or 1928 (young children)

23. Critical Analysis
Individuals who were born in 1985 were in high school when the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, occurred. Those who were born a decade later, in 1995, were in the early elementary grades. Individuals in both cohorts probably remember the events, but, because they experienced them during different periods of development, the two groups might have been affected differently.
What kinds of differences do you think might be found in these two groups’ long-term reactions to the events of September 11, 2001?

24. CONTEXTS OF DEVELOPMENT Vulnerability and Resilience
Vulnerabilities and protective factors interact with a child’s environment.
Environments cause differential effects.
Resilient children gain support from optimal environments.
The same environment can affect different children differently.
The effects depend on the qualities a child brings to interactions.

25. CONTEXTS OF DEVELOPMENT Gender
Gender matters.
It influences individual development.
Interaction between characteristics and environment influences and is influenced by gender.

26. CONTEXTS OF DEVELOPMENT Origins of Delinquency
Poor discipline and poor monitoring
Non-compliant child
Negative behavior patterns established
Rejection by peers and school difficulty
Push toward delinquency

27. CONTEXTS OF DEVELOPMENT
Individual Differences Related to Timing
Critical period
Sensitive period
On-time events
Off-time events
Atypical development
“Double whammy”
Ask: Can you provide examples?
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

28. THE GOALS OF DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE
Describe development.
Explain development.
Predict developmental event.
Influence some developmental outcome.
Describe development State what happens.
Explain development
Why events and changes occur
Predict developmental events
Predictions/hypotheses produced by useful theories
Influence some developmental outcomes
For example: memory declines

29. RESEARCH METHODS AND DESIGNS
Are theories and hypotheses the same?
Theories
Predictions or hypotheses
Theories: sets of statements that propose general principles of development
Hypothesis: an educated guess that is testable by data collection

30. DESCRIPTIVE METHODS Variables: characteristics that vary across people
Relationship: when two or more variables vary together
Can you think of two variables we could study to learn about our class?
Variable
E.g., years of age
One variable can relate to another variable.
E.g., years of age and memory decline

31. It Depends . . .
Decide which of these two statements you most agree with and think about how you would defend your position:
Relevant research findings should be the most important factor in the formation of social policies.
Research findings represent only one of several sources of information that ought to be considered in the formation of social policies.

32. DESCRIPTIVE METHODS Naturalistic Observations
Descriptive methods: ways to identify relationship
People observed in their normal environments
Potential observer biases
Limited generalizability
Time consuming
Observe people in their normal environments; these include schools or assisted living facilities.

33. DESCRIPTIVE METHODS Case Studies and Laboratory Observations
In-depth examination of a single individual
Laboratory Observations
Controlled setting for study
Case Studies
In-depth examination of a single individual
Useful in making decisions about individuals
Frequently the basis of important hypotheses about unusual developmental events

34. DESCRIPTIVE METHODS Surveys, Interviews, and Questionnaires
Two broad survey areas
Questionnaires
Interviews
Methods
Questions asked; answers recorded
Samples used
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.

35. CORRELATIONS Correlations
Describe the strength of the relationship between two variables
Positive Correlation
High scores on one variable usually accompany high scores on the other.
Negative Correlation
Scores on two variables move in opposite directions.
Correlations range from to and describe the strength of the 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: e.g., better-educated people generally have higher family incomes.
Negative correlation
Scores on the two variables move in opposite directions: e.g., better-educated people are less likely to smoke cigarettes.

36. LIMITATIONS OF CORRELATIONS
Correlation is NOT causality.
Correlations 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.

37. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS Test causal hypotheses.
Randomly assign participants to different treatment and control groups.
Experimental (treatment) group
Control group
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.

38. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS Variables
Independent variable or “cause”
Dependent variable or “effect”
The dependent variable depends on the “cause.”
Quasi-experiments
Participants are not randomly assigned.
Quasi-experiments
Participants are not randomly assigned; for example, children in daycare programs may be compared with children kept at home.

39. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS Three General Categories
Cross-Sectional
Longitudinal
Sequential
Let’s take a closer look at each.

40. DESIGNS TO STUDY AGE-RELATED CHANGES Cross-Sectional Designs
People from different age groups studied at the same time point
Can indicate possible age differences or age changes
Age-related differences may become confused with cohort or generational effects.
Cross-sectional research is 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

41. BIRTH COHORT OR GENERATIONAL EFFECTS
Different generations have unique experiences.
Cohort and generational effects can become entangled.
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 II or the Great Depression of the 1930s.
When (and where) you were born could affect nutrition, sleeping arrangements, or your age at marriage.
In cross-sectional studies or “one-shots,” cohort and aging effects may become entangled.

42. CAN YOU SEE ANY COHORT PATTERNS?
Figure 1.1 (p. 15): In this cross-sectional study, researchers compared the ability to recognize various kinds of facial expressions across young adult, middle-aged adult, and older adult groups. This study is cross-sectional because it measured the same variable at the same time in people of different ages. (Source: Figure 1, “Age Differences in Recognition of Emotion in Lexical Stimuli and Facial Expressions,” by Derek M. Isaacowitz et al., from Psychology and Aging, Vol. 22 (1), pp. 147–159, Mar. 2007, American Psychological Association. Reprinted by permission.)
Figure 1.1 An Example of a Cross-Sectional Design

43. DESIGNS TO STUDY AGE-RELATED CHANGES Longitudinal Designs
Same individuals studied over a period of time
Individual consistencies and inconsistencies can be observed.
Net change assessed over time in the same people.
Some studies last for several years.
The Berkeley/Oakland Growth Study continued for several decades.

44. LONGITUDINAL DESIGNS Some Problems
Practice or testing affect
Study attrition
“Practice” or “testing” effects can occur when people are repeatedly studied.
Study “attrition”
People die, move away, or simply stop participating.
Better-educated, healthier people more often remain in the study.
This can create biases in studying aging.

45. AN EXAMPLE OF A LONGITUDINAL DESIGN
Figure 1.2 (p. 16)
Cohort: age-related differences due to grouping by age.
These results are from a classic study in Berkeley and Oakland, California, of a group of participants born either in 1920 or in They were tested frequently in childhood and adolescence, as well as three times in adulthood.
Here you can see the sharp rise in self-confidence that occurred for both men and women in this group in their 30s—a pattern that may reflect a shared personality change, triggered by the common experiences of the social clock.
(Source: Adapted from Figures 1 and 2, p. 228, “As Time Goes By: Change and Stability in Personality Over Fifty Years,” from Psychology and Aging, 1 (3), pp. 220–232, Haan, N. et al. Copyright ˝ 1986 by the American Psychological Association. Adapted by permission.)
Figure 1.2 Example of a Longitudinal Design

46. DESIGNS TO STUDY AGE-RELATED CHANGES Sequential Designs
Combined groups from at least two cohorts followed in a longitudinal study
Comparison of cohorts while incorporating some degree of individual differences
Both aging AND cohort effects are possible.
Sequential designs allow for comparison of cohorts while incorporating some degree of individual differences.
Age-group comparisons provide the same kind of information that 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.

47. AN EXAMPLE OF A CROSS-SEQUENTIAL DESIGN
Figure 1.3 (p. 16): These findings illustrate the strengths of the cross sequential design. Researchers tested more than 700 women in 1983, 1986, 1993, and Among the 700 were some women who were born during the “Baby Boom” (1946 to 1964) and some who were born earlier (“Preboomers”). Panel (a) shows that the tendency of women in both cohorts to describe themselves as “feminine” increased across all four testing points, but (b) shows that women’s perceptions of conflict within their marriages remained stable across age for Preboomers but declined dramatically among Baby Boomers.
(Source: Adapted from Figure 1a, p. 950, Figure 6b, p. 953, from “Social Role and Birth Cohort Influences on Gender-Linked Personality Traits in Women: A 20-Year Longitudinal Analysis,” by S. Kasen, et al., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91 (5), Nov. 2006, pp. 944–958. Copyright ˝ 2006 by the American Psychological Association. Adapted by permission.)
Figure 1.3 An Example of a Cross-Sequential Design

48. CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH Ethnographies
In-depth descriptions of single culture or context
May compare two or more cultures or subcultures
Can provide both descriptive and interpretive information
May compare two or more cultures or subcultures; perhaps particular age or ethnic groups

49. CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH Benefits
Cross-Cultural Studies
Search for universal and unique developmental changes
Demonstrate degree of environmental variation within human development
Cross-cultural studies search for universal and unique developmental changes.
Researchers hope that cross-cultural studies can be used to improve people’s lives: e.g., by encouraging more cooperation by learning from collectivist cultures.

50. RESEARCH ETHICS
Ethics: broad ethical principles for responsible conduct of research and use of any outcomes resulting from research
In Research
Protection of animal rights and human subjects
Universities, government, and organizations often have Institutional Review Boards (IRBs).
Universities, government, and organizations often have Institutional Review Boards (IRBs).
Often called “Human Subjects Committees.”
Special attention paid to studies of children, pregnant women, and individuals with learning or other disabilities

51. RESEARCH ETHICS Protection from harm Informed consent Confidentiality
Knowledge of result
Deception
Protection from harm: we protect participants from harm.
Informed Consent: participants learn possible risks and benefits of the study; ability to withdraw without retribution.
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.