Influences on Development 1 Objectives There are five

Influences on Development 1

Objectives • There are five (5) main objectives for this module, to: 1. 2. 3. Understand the process for the scientific method Be able to identify various influences on development Understand how to create logical and concrete hypotheses Recognize the difference between independent and dependant variables Recognize the difference between subject and treatment variables 4. 5. © A. Taylor Do not duplicate without permission GRS/Objectives 2

Scientific Method There are multiple domains of development and an even greater number of interesting questions regarding why development occurs as it does and best practices for optimal development. GRS/Scientific Method 3

Developmental Questions • Think about what you have studied in past courses. • Identify a concept or area of development that is interesting to you. • Create a question around that area of development. GRS/Scientific Method/Dev Questions 4

Developmental Questions For example: Aggression Do particular parenting behaviors (e. g. , indulgent, permissive, authoritarian, authoritative) contribute to a child’s aggressiveness more than others? GRS/Scientific Method/Dev Questions 5

Developmental Questions For example: Single Parent Families Does living in a single-parent family positively or negatively impact children’s social development? GRS/Scientific Method/Dev Questions 6

Developmental Questions For example: Racism Does learning about racism help or hinder a child’s self esteem? GRS/Scientific Method/Dev Questions 7

Developmental Questions For example: Fetal Development Is fetal heart rate related to mental and psychomotor development after birth? GRS/Scientific Method/Dev Questions 8

Developmental Questions For example: Academic Achievement Is school readiness during pre-school necessary for future academic achievement? GRS/Scientific Method/Dev Questions 9

Developmental Questions In order to answers such questions researchers use the scientific method. This means that the answers to the question are based on objective evidence. GRS/Scientific Method/Dev Questions 10

Objective vs. Subjective • The difference between objective and subjective can be compared to the difference between fact and opinion. FACTS OPINIONS Objective Evidence Subjective Ideas GRS/Scientific Method/Dev Questions/Obj vs. Sub 11

Objective vs. Subjective FACTS Objective Evidence • Objective evidence is that which is based in fact or sound (that means good or trustworthy) measurement. • Subjective ideas are those that are based in one’s personal experiences, feelings or best guesses. OPINIONS Subjective Evidence GRS/Scientific Method/Dev Questions/Obj vs. Sub 12

Question • In order to make sure that research is objective researchers use the scientific method. The scientific method has five (5) general steps. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Question Hypothesize Test Conclude Publish We will consider each of these steps in turn. GRS/Scientific Method/Question 13

Research FYI • Research is a singular noun: • “My research looks at children’s achievement motivation” • Research is a plural noun: • “I love research” • “I am involved in three research studies” (NOT three researches) • Research is something that you do: • “I am currently researching how children learn math” Although, “My research examines how children learn math” sounds GRS/Scientific 14 better. Method/Hypothesize

Question 1. Ask a Question The first step of the scientific method requires that you ask a question. This question can be based on something that you have read, observed, or experienced in your own life. This is very similar to the exercise that you were instructed to complete a few slides ago. • Think about what you have studied in past courses. • Identify a concept or area of development that is interesting to you. • Create a question around that area of development. GRS/Scientific Method/Question 15

Hypothesize 2. Develop a Hypothesis The second step of the scientific method requires that make a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an idea or prediction about what you think the answer to the question may be. A hypothesis is more than a guess because it is based in previous research or theories. In order to make a good hypothesis you may have to recall or review what you know about concepts and theories of development. GRS/Scientific Method/Hypothesize 16

Hypothesize FYI • Hypothesis is a singular noun: • “My hypothesis is that smoking is positively correlated with poor diet” • Hypotheses is a plural noun: • “I have three hypotheses” • Hypothesize is something that you do: • “I hypothesize that students with better grades will have a higher self-esteem” GRS/Scientific Method/Hypothesize 17

Test • The third step of the scientific method requires that you test your hypothesis. There are different ways testing your hypothesis so that you get objective evidence to support or disprove your prediction (that is to say, your hypothesis). GRS/Scientific Method/Test 18

Conclude • In the fourth step your look at what you discover from your test and make a conclusion about the answer to the question. Was your hypothesis/prediction supported after all? • In this step you also review and critique your study including how you collected your data, measures that you used, and people that participated that may have messed up your results. Sometimes your have a good hypothesis but a bad way of testing it. GRS/Scientific Method/Conclude 19

Publish • The last step of the scientific method requires you to publish your study. This includes what your question was, what predicted, what you did, who participated, and what you found. • Others will then be able to use this information to formulate new questions and continue developing the body of knowledge in the field. GRS/Scientific Method/Publish 20

Scientific Method Each step of the scientific method leads to the next so that our knowledge base continues to thrive and grow Question lish po Hy Te st Pub e siz the 1. Ask a question that interests you e on c l u d C GRS/Scientific Method 21

Scientific Method Hypothesize Each step of the scientific method leads to the next so that our knowledge base continues to thrive and grow nc lud e P u b lish GRS/Scientific Method Co stio 2. Make a prediction st Que Te n Hypothesize 22

Scientific Method Test Each step of the scientific method leads to the next so that our knowledge base continues to thrive and grow Test size lu nc Co Pu s bli h othe Hyp n Q u e stio GRS/Scientific Method de 3. Test your prediction objectively 23

Scientific Method Conclude Each step of the scientific method leads to the next so that our knowledge base continues to thrive and grow Conclude Pu t Qu Tes sh bli 4. See what your results tell you and critique your methods ti es on th e s ize Hyp o GRS/Scientific Method 24

Scientific Method Publish Each step of the scientific method leads to the next so that our knowledge base continues to thrive and grow Hy s the po ize Tes t clud Con n GRS/Scientific Method tio es 5. Let others know what you did and what you found Qu e Publish 25

Scientific Method Question (again) Each step of the scientific method leads to the next so that our knowledge base continues to thrive and grow Question lish po Hy Te st Pub e siz the Others will use your work to ask their own questions, create new studies and the cycle will continue e on c l u d C GRS/Scientific Method 26

Influences on Development Whenever you are considering development you must necessarily consider change. Development cannot and does not occur without some type of change. For example: People get older GRS/Influences on Development 27

Influences on Development Whenever you are considering development you must necessarily consider change. Development cannot and does not occur without some type of change. For example: People get faster and slower GRS/Influences on Development 28

Influences on Development • People change in so many ways… Physically Psychologically Mentally Emotionally Cognitively Biologically Intellectually Intrapers Spiritually You name it… Relationally Interpersonally GRS/Influences on Development Socially 29

Types of Differences • Developmental research examines the various ways we change with age GRS/Influences on Development/Types of Diff 30

Types of Differences • Developmental research also can examine differences between individuals of the same age Individual Differences = Why are some individuals higher/lower; better/worse compared to those their same age? GRS/Influences on Development/Types of Diff 31

Influences on Development • There are three major types of influences on development: – Normative Age-Graded – Normative History-Graded – Nonnormative Let’s consider each of these more closely GRS/Influences on Development 32

Normative Age-Graded • Normative age-graded influences on development are changes that occur to most people at a certain age… Consider the following ages and gender groups below. What activities or experiences could you safely assume that they are experiencing? Age/Gender Experience 5 year old boy starting kindergarten pre-teen girl puberty 65 year old man retiring GRS/Influences on Development/Norm Age-Graded Why’d you guess that? Because that’s what usually happens to most people at that age! 33

Normative Age-Graded • Normative age-graded influences on development are changes that occur to most people at a certain age… Consider the following experiences. What age would you expect this to occur in someone’s life? Age/Gender 9 -18 months Experience learning to walk graduating from high school 45 -55 years/women menopause 17 -19 years GRS/Influences on Development/Norm Age-Graded Why’d you guess that? Because that’s the age this stuff usually happens! 34

Normative Age-Graded • Normative age-graded influences on development are changes that occur to most people at a certain age… What do you think about the conversation below? I’m still in elementary ent! r school. iffe s. D ’ t a Th What high school did you go to? Well, only if my mom ! O says it’s AR okay. BIZZ Hey, you wanna go to happy hour after work? GRS/Influences on Development/Norm Age-Graded 35

Normative Age-Graded • Normative age-graded influences on development are changes that occur to most people at a certain age… Marriage Moving out of the house Here are some more examples… First job First words Learning to drive pregnancy graduation Potty training Normative age-graded effects can be either biological – like puberty or menopause or environmental – having to do with the family life cycle (marriage), education (graduations), or occupations (first job). GRS/Influences on Development/Norm Age-Graded 36

Normative Age-Graded • Normative age-graded influences on development are changes that occur to most people at a certain age… IN A PARTICULAR CULTURE Can you imagine a culture… 1. …In which many adults are not formally educated? To not have passed elementary school would be typical 2. …In which girls are married off very young? To be pregnant at 14 may not be surprising 3. …In which children live at home until they are married? To be a single adult living with your parents would be expected GRS/Influences on Development/Norm Age-Graded 37

Normative Age-Graded • Normative age-graded influences on development are changes that occur to most people at a certain age… It is therefore reasonable to assume that… Some developmental changes occur because individuals within any particular culture have various predictable experiences throughout their lifespan. GRS/Influences on Development/Norm Age-Graded 38

Normative History-Graded • Normative history-graded influences on development are changes that occur to most people that have lived during a certain time… It is therefore reasonable to assume that… Some developmental changes occur because individuals within any particular culture have shared historical experiences. GRS/Influences on Development/Norm History- 39

Normative History-Graded • Normative history-graded influences are those influences within the life course that are correlated with historical time and are experienced by the majority of a culture. For example, , wars and epidemics are considered history-graded events. They are normative in that they are experienced by the majority of the population during a given time. In addition, the majority of a cohort (individuals all born the same year) experience the event in similar ways. They may however affect cohorts differentially. For example, the 1950 cohort experienced and still experiences the Vietnam War differently than the 1970 cohort. History-graded normative events are both the result of biological and environmental determinants. For example, an epidemic would be classified as a biological determinant and economic depression an environmental determinants. Famine resulting from economic depression would represent an example of an interaction between the two determinants. The current AIDs crisis and the computer revolution could be viewed as normative history-graded events. GRS/Influences on Development/Norm History- 40

Normative History-Graded Normative history-graded influences on development are experiences that are shared by most people that have existed during a certain time… Consider the following time frames below. Can you think of any memorable events that occurred? Time Event 2008 First black man selected as a presidential nominee 2005 Hurricane Katrina 2001 World Trade Center destruction 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster 1963 President Kennedy assassinated GRS/Influences on Development/Norm History- 41

Cohorts Normative history-graded influences on development are experiences that are shared by most people that have existed during a certain time… There may however be some cohort effects… A cohort is a group of people that share particular characteristics. Usually this characteristic is the year that they were born. It might also include the country/culture that they identify with. GRS/Influences on Development/Norm History- 42

Cohorts Consider the assassination of President Kennedy. All of the people below know that President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Ann, a twenty year old Betty, a fifty-year old Cindy, a seventy-five year old Why might they each have different feelings about this same event (besides the fact that they are different people)? • They are from different cohorts. Betty was a young child at the time, and Ann wasn’t even alive when it happened. • We might expect Cindy to have unique feelings about the event along with other who were middle age adults at the time. 43

Normative History-Graded Normative history-graded influences on development are experiences that are shared by most people that have existed during a certain time. Although it may effect different cohorts differently. Here are some more examples… Famine or Drought World Leaders Epidemics (e. g. , AIDS) economic depression War Natural disasters Technology (e. g. , computer revolution Normative history-graded effects can be either biological – like the AIDS epidemic or environmental – like global warming. GRS/Influences on Development/Norm Age-Graded 44

Normative History-Graded Normative history-graded influences on development are experiences that are shared by most people that have existed during a certain time. Although it may effect different cohorts differently. It is therefore reasonable to assume that… Some developmental changes or differences are a result of individuals sharing similar historical experiences. GRS/Influences on Development/Norm History- 45

Nonnormative • Nonnormative influences are that are not normative age-graded normative history-graded. • In other words, events or experiences that do not typically occur to everyone at a certain age or everyone that existed at a certain time. GRS/Influences on Development/Nonnormative 46

Nonnormative • Nonnormative influences are events or experiences that do not typically occur to everyone at a certain age or everyone that existed at a certain time. • These events can be positive or negative For example… Ra. PE Winning the lottery Witnessing violence career choice or change Adoption divorce abuse having an accident You can’t assume that because someone is a certain age or was born at a certain time that they have had any of these 47 nonnormative experiences.

References • • • Berger, K. S. (2006) The developing person: Through childhood and adolescence. New York, Worth. Creasey, G. L. (2006) Research methods in lifespan development. , Boston: Pearson Education. Woolf, L. M. (1998) Theoretical perspectives relevant to developmental psychology. Retrieved August 20, 2008 from Linda M. Woolf, Ph. D. Web site: http: //www. webster. edu/~woolflm/designs. html copyright April Taylor Do Not Duplicate 48