Chapter One

The Study of Human

Development
 1.1 Thinking about Development:
Learning Objectives

• What fundamental issues of development

have scholars addressed throughout history?
• What are the basic forces in the
biopsychosocial framework?
• How does the timing of these forces make a
difference in their impact?
• How does neuroscience enhance
understanding of human development?
 Defining Human Development

• Examines how and why people change and

how they remain the same over time
• Examines how and why people are both
unique and similar to each other
• A multidisciplinary science based on theories
and research studies
 Recurring Issues in Human
Development

• Nature vs. nurture

– Influence of heredity vs. environment
• Continuity vs. discontinuity
– Does development smoothly progress or
shift abruptly?
• Universal vs. context-specific development
– Is there just one or multiple ways in which
development occurs?
 Basic Forces in Human Development:
The Biopsychosocial Framework

• Biological forces
– Genetic, health-related
• Psychological forces
– Cognitive/perceptual, emotional,
personality
• Sociocultural forces
– Societal, cultural, ethnic, interpersonal
• Lifecycle forces
– Identical events, different age groups
 Neuroscience: A Window Into Human
Development

• Study of brain activity-behavior relationships

• Helps in understanding interactions among
the four forces
 1.2 Developmental Theories:
Learning Objectives

• What is a developmental theory?

• How do psychodynamic theories account for
development?
• What is the focus of learning theories of
development?
• How do cognitive-developmental theories
explain changes in thinking?
 1.2 Developmental Theories:
Learning Objectives (cont’d.)

• What are the main points in the ecological

and systems approach?
• What are the major tenets of life-span and
lifecycle theories?
 What Is a Theory?

• “An organized set of ideas that is designed to

explain development”
• Essential for developing predictions about
behavior
• Predictions result in research that helps to
support or clarify the theory
Psychodynamic Theory:
Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
 Behaviorism

• Operant conditioning
– The consequences of a behavior
determine whether it will be repeated
– A positive or negative reinforcement
increases the chance that a behavior will
be repeated
– A punishment decreases the chance that a
behavior will be repeated
 Social Learning Theory

• Observational learning, or imitation

– People learn by watching others
– Imitation is more likely when the subject of
observation is seen as smart, popular, or
talented
– Imitation is more likely when the subject of
observation is rewarded for the behavior
• Self efficacy
– People’s beliefs about their own abilities
and talents
 Cognitive-Developmental Theory

• Stresses development of thought processes

• Three approaches
– Piaget: we develop in discrete stages
– Vygotsky: societal expectations of what we
should know at different ages and
“apprenticeship” experiences shape
development
– Information-processing theory: like
computers, we become more efficient at
processing information as we mature
Piaget’s Stages
 Information-Processing Theory

• Uses the computer as a model of how

thinking develops
• Mental hardware: psychological structures,
such as memory capacity
• Mental software: cognitive abilities that
process information and help us to interact
with the world
• Both improve with development
 Vygotsky’s Theory

• Emphasizes sociocultural influences on child

development
• Focuses on how adults convey aspects of
their culture to children
• Views development as an “apprenticeship”
 The Ecological and Systems
Approach

• All aspects of human development are

interconnected
• No single aspect can adequately explain
development
• Consider all factors – environmental, family,
political, social, etc. – and how they interact
 Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Theory:
An Ecological Approach

• Microsystem
– People and objects in the immediate
environment
• Mesosystem
– Influences of microsystems on each other
• Exosystem
– Social, environmental, governmental forces
• Macrosystem
– Subcultures and cultures in which the other
three systems are embedded
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological
Approach
 Lawton & Nahemow’s Competence-
Environmental Press Theory

• Adaptation, or development, depends upon:

– The person’s abilities or “competencies”
– The demands the environment (“presses”)
places on the person
• Emphasizes how these factors interact
 Life-Span Perspective

• Many factors influence development; no one

factor adequately explains it
– Multidirectionality
– Plasticity
– Historical context
– Multiple causation
 Selective Optimization With
Compensation (SOC)

• Describes choices that determine and

regulate development and aging
– Elective selection
• Reduce involvement with one goal in
order to concentrate on another
– Loss-based selection
• Reduce involvement because of lack of
resources or abilities
– Compensation
• Find alternate ways of meeting goals
 The Life-Course Perspective

• Different generations experience/adjust to

biological, psychological, and sociocultural
forces within the time-period of their lives
– Personal life events interact with historical
influences
– Individual issues integrate with family
issues
– Earlier life events, and the period of history
in which they occurred, shaped
subsequent events and issues
The Big Picture
The Big Picture (cont’d.)
 1.3 Doing Developmental Research:
Learning Objectives

• How do scientists measure topics of interest

in studying human development?
• What research designs are used to study
human development?
• How do researchers integrate results from
multiple studies?
• What ethical procedures must researchers
follow?
 1.3 Doing Developmental Research:
Learning Objectives (cont’d.)

• How do investigators communicate results

from research studies?
• How does research affect public policy?
 Measurement in Human
Development Research

• Systematic observation consists of two types

– Naturalistic observation
• “Real-life” observations
– Structured observation
• Researchers create a situation likely to
result in the type of behavior in which
they are interested
 Other Behavioral Measures

• Sampling behavior with tasks

– Example: showing photos to measure
emotion recognition accuracy
• Self-reports
– Example: measuring self-esteem using a
questionnaire
• Physiological measures
– Example: measuring interest level using
GSR and pupil dilation
 Reliability and Validity

• Reliability: Does this method consistently

measure what is being studied?
– Example: IQ test yielding “identical” scores
when given twice over a two-week interval
• Validity: Does this accurately measure the
variable of interest?
– Example: personality test truly assessing
level of aggressiveness
 Representative Sampling

• Populations: Broad groups of people in which

researchers may be interested
• Example: adolescent African Americans
of low, medium, and high SES
• Sample: A subset of people chosen to well
represent the population
• Example: randomly selecting 100 high
school students from areas with high
SES diversity
 General Research Designs

• Correlational studies: Measure how people

score on two variables (e.g., GPA/SAT)
– Calculate a correlation coefficient (r)
between the two variables’ scores
• r can range between -1.00 to +1.00
• r’s magnitude, regardless of sign shows
how much the scores on one variable
can predict the other variable’s scores
• Correlation does not prove causation
Possible Interpretations of a
Correlational Study
 Experimental Studies

• Studies the possible “cause and effect”

relationship between two variables
– First manipulate exposure to different
levels of an independent variable (IV)
– After exposure to the IV, measure how
people score on a dependent variable (DV)
– Main question is whether the DV’s scores
differ depending upon the level of the IV
 Longitudinal Studies

• Longitudinal studies
– Observes or tests one group of individuals
at each of several time periods
• Expensive and a large time commitment
• Allows examination of (dis)continuity,
because the same people were tested
across time
 Cross-Sectional Studies

• Cross-sectional studies
– Observes or tests groups of different ages
at the same period in time
• More time-effective, less expensive
• Cannot address (dis)continuity because
each age group involves different people
 Designs for Studying Development:
Sequential Studies

• Sequential studies
– A combination of cross-sectional and
longitudinal designs
– Allows for flexibility to collect information in
several ways
– Avoids cohort effects of cross-sectional
designs
• Effects due to the same generation or
time in history
 Integrating Findings from
Different Studies

• Meta analysis
– Analysis of multiple studies that all
examined the same research questions
and variables
– Allows scientists to verify whether the
same relationships among variables are
replicated across multiple studies
 Conducting Research Ethically

• Minimize and warn of any risks to participants

• Informed consent
• Avoid deception
• Individual results or data must be kept
anonymous or confidential
 Communicating Research Results

• Research results are published in peer-

reviewed scientific journals
• To be published in journals, research results
must be useful, well done, and original
 Applying Research Results:
Social Policy

• Driving age
• Stem-cell research
• Adoption policies
 Think about This

• Does being a participant in a scientific study

distort real-life behavior?
• What if the only way to collect valid
information requires
– Putting participants at risk?
– Deception, such as not informing
participants of possible risks?