PSYC 2500

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PSYC 2500

• Foundations of Developmental Psychology

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Who we are and how you can reach us

• Course Webpage
• http//webct.carleton.ca

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Dr. Anne Bowker

• Office LA B549
• Office Hours Tues 930 to 1130
• Email anne_bowker_at_carleton.ca
• Phone [phone], Ext 8218

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Teaching Assistants

• Leanne Findlay
• E-MAIL lfindlay_at_connect.carleton.ca

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Teaching Assistants

• Clara Tarjan
• E-MAIL cjtarjan_at_hotmail.com

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Important Dates

• Assignment 1 Jan 28
• Midterm Feb 28 (Sat)
• 3-5pm
• Assignment 2 Mar 10

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Chapter 1 Outline

• What is child development?
• 4 Themes
• What is a theory?
• Research methods in child devt

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Child Development

• Age changes in childrens characteristics
• Systematic
• Successive

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Child Development

• Multi-faceted
• Physical Devt
• Cognitive Devt
• Social Devt
• Biology/Genetics

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Child Development

• Two questions
• What happens?
• Why does it happen?

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4 Themes

• 1. Qualitative vs Quantitative
• 2. Continuity vs Discontinuity

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4 Themes (cont.)

• 3. Nature vs Nurture
• 4. Cultural Universals vs Cultural Specificity

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Quantitative vs Qualitative
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Continuity vs Discontinuity
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Nature vs Nurture

• Nature Inborn qualities
• Nurture Qualities acquired from experience

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Nature vs Nurture

• Tabula Rasa (Blank Slate)
• Innate Goodness
• Original Sin

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Sociocultural Contexts

• Home
• School
• Peer Group
• Community
• Culture
• Era

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Overview

• What is a theory?
• Research Methods
• Measurement
• Design
• Evaluating research

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Theory

• Systematically organized knowledge
• Broad Applicability
• Set of assumptions, organizing principles
• Try to predict behavior

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Terms

• Hypotheses
• Questions
• Testable
• Operational Definitions

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An Ideal Theory

• 1. Makes accurate predictions
• 2. Falsifiable
• 3. Systematically organized
• 4. Broadly applicable
• 5. Heuristic value

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Research Methods

• Measurement
• A set of rules for assigning numbers to objects,
  representing quantities of attributes

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Research Methods

• 1. Behavioral Observations
• 2. Verbal Reports
• Interviews, Questionnaires
• Children, Parents, Teachers, Peers
• Clinical Method

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Research Methods

• 3. Case Studies
• 4. Ethnography
• 5. Psychophysiological Methods

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Research Methods

• Reliability
• Precision of Measurement

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Research Methods

• Validity
• Accuracy of Measurement

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Research Methods

• How do we collect the data?
• Research Designs

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Research Methods

• 1. Experimental Designs
• 2. Correlational Designs
• Quasi-experimental

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Research Methods

• Cross-Sectional Design
• Longitudinal Design
• Sequential Design

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Evaluating Research

• 1. Self-report data
• 2. Sample size
• 3. Experimental bias
• 4. Sampling bias

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Experimental Questions

• 1. Are boys better in math than girls?
• 2. Do students at Carleton University learn more
  than students at Ottawa U?

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Review
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Chapter 2 Outline

• Theories of Child Development
• Psychoanalytic theory
• Learning theory
• Cognitive theory
• Ethological theory
• Ecological theory

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Psychoanalytic Theory

• First major theory of child development
• Sigmund Freud

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Psychoanalytic Theory

• Unconscious mental forces
• Early childhood experiences
• Stage Theory

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Psychosexual Stages of Devt

• 1. Oral
• 2. Anal
• 3. Phallic
• 4. Latency
• 5. Genital

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Structure of Personality

• Id
• Pleasure priniciple (innate desires)
• Ego
• Decision-making, rational
• Superego
• Moral component (conscience)

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Psychoanalytic Theory

• 1. Inadequacy of evidence
• 2. Lack of testability
• 3. Sexism

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Erikson

• Theory of psychosocial development
• Stage Theory
• Life span focus

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Learning Theory

• Change in behavior is due to individual
  experience in a specific situation
• 1. Skinner and Operant Conditioning

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B.F. Skinner

• We learn to repeat behaviors which are rewarded,
  and not repeat behaviors which are punished.

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Social Learning Theory

• Bandura
• 1. Observational Learning
• 2. Reinforcement
• 3. Thinking and reasoning

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Social Learning Theory

• 4. Behavior regulation
• 5. Reciprocal determinism

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Theories of Cognitive Devt

• Jean Piaget
• Describe and explain the developmental changes in
  all forms of thinking, reasoning and intellectual
  activity, from birth to adulthood.

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Piaget

• Stage Theory
• 1. Sensori-motor
• 2. Preoperational
• 3. Concrete operations
• 4. Formal operations

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Piaget

• 3 assumptions
• 1. Stages are general
• 2. Invariant sequence
• 3. Universal

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Piaget

• Why to kids move through these stages?
• To adapt to the world

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Information Processing

• Analogies between human thinking and computers
• No stages
• Quantitative, no qualitative change

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Ethology

• Study of animal behavior in natural settings
• Lorenz Imprinting
• Bowlby - Attachment

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Ecological Theories

• Bronfenbrenner
• Microsystem
• Mesosystem
• Exosystem
• Macrosystem

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Theories - Summary

• Qualitative vs quantitative change
• Continuous vs discontinuous devt
• Nature vs Nurture
• Culture specific

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Ethical issues in studying children

• Protection from Harm
• Informed consent
• Confidentiality
• Deception and Debriefing

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Review