Psych 414 Exam 1

• 1. human thinking, feeling, behavior
• 2. similarities and differences across culture
• 3. the present with a focus on the future

simple and global to complex and specific

• description
• explanation
• prediction
• intervention

what people are like at different ages and how they change (or stay the same) over time

the origins of individual differences and the causes of development

what an individual will be like at a later point in development based on what is known about the individuals' past and present characteristics

how best to use developmental knowledge to improve well-being

norms and individual differences

looking at what is average or typical in the population

variations. those that grow at a faster rate (reaching the same height, or exceeding)

• remaining constant over time
• individual or group

• describes consistency in relative standing of individuals on some characteristic through time
• stability vs. instability 

• describes the group mean level consistency and refers to degree of change in the developmental trajectory
• continuity vs. discontinuity 

behavior seen at one point in life can be represented in the same way as behavior later

behavior seen at one point cannot be represented in the same way at another point

• stability-continuity
• stability-discontinuity
• instability-continuity
• instability-discontinuity 

differences in how much or how many of something exists

differences in "what" exists, in what sort of phenomenon is present

• 1. change and relative plasticity
• 2. relationism and the integration of levels of organization
• 3. historical embeddedness and temporality
• 4. the limits of generalizability, diversity, and individual differences

stressed the importance of interrelated ecological levels conceived of as nested systems

• microsystem
• mesosystem
• exosystem
• macrosystem
• chronosystem

• setting in which a child interacts with others on an everyday basis
• ex. sex, age

linkages between two or more microsystems

like mesosystem, consists of linkages between two or more settings. at least one of these settings does not contain the developing person and thus affects him or her only indirectly

• describes the culture in which individuals live. the beliefs, customs, economic and social systems are included in this cultural context
• ex. beliefs, social influences

term for the effects of time on other developmental systems. represents the degree of stability or change in a person's world

• 1. the developmental process- involving the fused and dynamic relation of the individual and the context
• 2. person
• 3. context
• 4. time- conceptualized as involving the multiple dimensions of temporality

• Research should:
• Stress the bidirectional relations existing between individuals at multiple levels and multiple contexts
• Promote individual-in-context research
• Have the potential for actions / have a point!

• 1. Development is lifelong
• 2. Development involves both gain and loss
• 3. Relative influences of biology and culture shift over the life span
• 4. Development involves a changing allocation of resources
• 5. Development shows plasticity
• 6. Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context

• 1. Normative, age-graded- biological and environmental determinants correlated with chronological age
• 2. Normative, history-graded- biological and environmental determinants correlated with historical time. Normative defined by extent to which most people experience them
• 3. Non-normative- not directly indexed by time because they do not occur for most people

• age-graded
• history-graded
• non-normative

• Active producer and the product of his or her development
• Role of self-reflection and self-regulative loops in human development
• Actions: means through which individuals affect their contexts 
• Feedback: resulting from such actions people organize their ideas about their contexts and themselves
• Consequence of this understanding- individuals develop a set of “guides”

the processes of dynamic person-context relations

motivations (intentions, goals) or regulators-for or of future actions

• Central role of intentionality, or the individual moderating exchanges
• Change in development are derived from the intention-based exchanges

• 1. principle of life-span development
• 2. human agency
• 3. principle of timing
• 4. linked lives
• 5. historical time and place

human development and aging are a life-long process

individuals construct their own life course through the choices and actions they take

refers to the fact that the developmental antecedents and consequences of life transitions, events, and behavior patterns vary according to their timing in a person's life

involves the idea that lives are linked interdependently and social-historical influences are expressed through this network of shared relationships

the life course of individuals is embedded in and shaped by the historical times and places they experience over their lifetime

• a person's emotion, attitudinal, and behavioral patterns
• sum of mental, emotional, social characteristics
• definitions of personality: are based on theorists own theoretical positions

• culture as an independent variable that acts on psychological processes
• compares different cultural groups
• uses experimental methods

• culture as a medium which people acquire and share symbolic meanings and practices
• studies within and between cultural groups can be made
• uses ethnographic methods
• (culture and individual behavior are inseparable)

cultivation- tending of something, crops or animals

• culture virus/bacteria to see how they will grow
• seeking to understand environments that promote and hinder growth

• cultural medium has both material and mental components
• we are transformed by the artifacts of prior generations
• history in the present
• every individual is different
• learning occurs best through working in the zone of proximal development

distance between ability to perform task under adult guidance and ability independently- this is the zone

consists of its received ideas and understandings about persons, society, nature, and the metaphysical realm of the divine

consists of its routine or institutionalized family life, social, economic, and political practices

• provide optimal conditions for growth- tools/materials, knowledge
• culture as a garden:
• optimal artificial environment (culture)
• best soil, till the soil, nutrients, moisture, best time to plant, protect against predators, disease, which plants to put with others, which to keep separate, etc
• cities/suburbs...availability of resources such as distance to grocery store, public transportation, education, healthcare

• conducted research on the peoples of the American and Canadian Northwest
• collected objective data on technology, language, customs and myths
• wanted to compare these groups
• concluded that culture represents a combination of locally developed and borrowed features 

important to view history of interaction between and within culture we are observing to avoid making misinterpretations 

• cultures could be classified according to their level of development and characterized by the sophistication of their technology and the complexity of their social organization
• development from more simple to complex

people are born with the same potential, but some develop more fully than others

• human social behavior is organized by symbolic designations of both physical and social aspects of the environment
• includes the symbols and associated meanings of the positions that people occupy in social structures

• awareness of our roles and positions impacts the expectations of ourselves and how we should behave
• individuals designate themselves as objects in relation to their location in structural positions and their perceptions of broader definitions of the situation
• behavior isn't completely determined by these designations or definitions 

• 1. open and flexible
• 2. closed and rigid
• all have some constraints about how to be with face to face interaction

the degree to which an individual identifies with ___ in a certain situation/context

• identities are organized into a salience hierarchy
• high in the hierarchy are more likely to be evoked than those lower

• identities are parts of larger sense of self
• they are internalized self-designations associations with positions that individuals occupy within various social contexts

• the link between social structure and the self
• degree to which a person's relationship to others depends on being a certain kind of individual with a particular identity

• developmental change as the emergent synthesis of several major factors interacting over time
• over time these factors give rise to qualitative rearrangements in the organization of behavior

the child's location within the complex set of socio-cultural-ecological relations that form the proximal environment of development

examine how variables are naturally related in the real word, without any attempt by the researcher to alter them 

• rely on naturally occurring relationships
• may take place in a real-world setting

• cannot be used to support caused relationships (correlation does not mean causation)
• cannot show direction of the cause/effect
• an unidentified variable may be involved (third variable problem)

examine how variables are related when manipulated by researchers

• can demonstrate causal relationships
• avoid the directionality problem

often take place in an artificial/lab setting

the extent to which the data collected address the research hypothesis in the way intended

there is no confounds

extent to which findings generalize to the population

the extent to which a measure is stable and consistent over time in similar conditions

• something in the world that can be measured and that can vary
• independent variable and dependent variable

anything that affects the DV and may unintentionally vary between the experimental conditions of a study

• can be used to gather data from a large # of people
• easy to administer, cost-effective, and fast

people can introduce biases into their answers or may not recall info accurately

• can provide extensive data about one or a few individuals or organizations
• can study extreme cases

• can be very subjective- if a researcher has a causal theory, this theory can bias what is observed and recorded
• also, it is not possible to generalize the results from an individual to the population

• when participants in different groups in an experiment differ systematically
• avoid this through random assignment

• 1. beneficience
• 2. respect
• 3. justice

the obligation to maximize research benefits and minimize research harm

the responsibility to ensure that research participation is informed, rational, and voluntary

the obligation to ensure the fair distribution of research benefits and burdens across populations

• 1. non-harmful procedures
• 2. informed consent and assent
• 3. parental consent
• 4. additional consent
• 5. incentives
• 6. deception
• 7. anonymity
• 8. mutual responsibilities
• 9. jeopardy
• 10. unforeseen consequences
• 11. confidentiality 
• 12. informing participants 
• 13. reporting results
• 14. implications of findings
• 15. scientific misconduct
• 16. personal misconduct

investigators should not use research procedures that may harm the child, and are obligated to use the least stressful operation whenever possible

investigators working with toddlers and preschool children should make efforts to at least tell the children what will be done, where it will be done, who will be involved, how long their participation will last, whether or not an incentive will be offered

• investigators should obtain written informed consent from parents or children's legal guardians
• parents/guardians can refuse
• right to withdraw permission at any time without penalty

investigators should afford the same rights just mentioned for parents to those with roles such as teachers or camp counselors (in loco parentis), particularly if their interaction with the child is the focus of the study

incentives to participate must be fair and must not exceed the range of incentives that the child normally experiences (they shouldn't coerce the child to participate)

• some psychologists take the position that deception is never justified with children, bust this is not a generally accepted position. if deception is used, investigators believe that the deception they employ has the potential to harm, they should apprise participants of the need for deception in a sensitive and developmentally appropriate manner
• debriefing to provide good feelings about their research participation

if investigators collect data from institutional records, they should obtain permission from responsible individuals and take precautions to preserve the anonymity of the information contained in these records

• investigators should clarify the responsibilities of all participants in the research enterprise - children, parents, teachers, administrators, and research assistants - at the inception of the study
• investigators should also honor all promises made to parties involved in the research 

if an investigator learns of information that jeopardizes a child's well-being during the conduct of a study, he or she has a responsibility to discuss the information with the parents and with experts in the field who may arrange the necessary assistance for the child

if research procedures result in unforeseen negative consequences for child participants the investigators should take immediate action to amend the untoward effects and should modify the procedure for subsequent participants 

procedures insuring the confidentiality of participants' responses must be in place. when a possibility exists that others may gain access to research responses, investigators should explain this possibility (along with plans for protecting confidentiality) to participants as part of the procedure of obtaining informed consent

the investigator recognizes a duty to inform participants of any misunderstandings, and to report general findings to them in terms of appropriate to their understanding. if investigators must withhold information, they should make efforts to ensure that the participants are not damaged by the withheld information

because investigators' comments may carry undue weight, they should exercise caution in reporting results, making evaluative statements, or giving advice to parents, teachers and the like

investigators should be particularly mindful of the social, political, and human implications of their research

investigators must refrain from scientific misconduct, including such practices as plagiarism. the fabrication of data also constitutes scientific misconduct (does not include unintentional errors)

committing a criminal felony may be grounds fro expulsion from SRCD