1. Kathleen Stassen Berger
Part I Chapter One
Introduction
Defining Development
Five Characteristics of
Development
Developmental Study as a Science
Cautions from Science
Prepared by Madeleine Lacefield 1
Tattoon, M.A.
3. Introduction
What will happen to the baby just born, or to
the schoolchild trying to make a friend, or
to the emerging adult wondering how to
pay for college, or to the elder
contemplating retirement?
Why should you care?
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4. Defining Development
The science of human development
seeks to understand how and why
people—all kinds of people,
everywhere—change or remain the
same over time.
There are 3 crucial elements.
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5. 1. Science
• developmental study is a science….
– theories
– data
– analysis
– critical thinking
– sound methodology
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6. 2. Diversity
• studying all kinds of people
– young and old
– rich and poor
– every ethnicity, background
– sexual orientation
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7. 3. Connections Between Change and Time
• Changing or remaining the same over
time
– transformations
– consistencies of human life
• beginning to end
– understanding each segment of life
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8. Dynamic Systems Theory
• stresses the fluctuations and transitions
– the dynamic synthesis of multiple levels of
analysis
• the interaction between people and within
each person
– parent and child
– prenatal and postnatal life
– between ages 2 and 102
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9. Bioecological Systems
• Urie Bronfenbrenner
– a leader in understanding ecological
systems approach
• he believed that developmentalists need
to examine all systems surrounding the
development of each person
– microsysems
– exosystems
– macrosystems
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10. The Ecological Model
• microsysems
– a person’s immediate
surroundings
• exosystems
– local institutions, such as
schools and churches
• macrosystems
– larger social setting,
including cultural values,
economic polices, and
political processes
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11. Five Characteristics of Development
―…developmentalists are acutely aware
of the reciprocal connections between
one moment in life and another…
leading to five principles that are
useful for understanding any age of
human life…‖
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12. 1. Multidirectional
• changes in direction; development is
dynamic, not static
– each fraction of a second
– years are analyzed, revealing
unexpected twist and turns
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14. The Butterfly Effect
– the power of a small change
• all change may have a large effect
• every change affects a dynamic system
– a tiny event could have an enormous
impact, not that is always does
• opposite can occur… large changes can
affect people in contradictory ways (i.e.,
lottery jackpots)
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15. 2. Multicontextual
―…humans develop in dozens of contexts
that profoundly affect their development…‖
– physical surroundings
– family patterns
• Social context
– historical
– socioeconomic
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16. The Historical Context
– corhort
• people born within a few years of one
another
– these people are affected by the same
» values
» events
» technologies
» culture
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17. The Socioeconomic Context
– socioeconomic status (SES)
• ―social class‖
– more than money
– occupation
– education
– place of residence
• includes advantages and disadvantages
• Question: does low SES cause damage in
infancy or in late adulthood?
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19. 3. Multicultural
―…culture affects each human at every
moment… culture is so pervasive,
people rarely notice their culture while
they are immersed in it…‖
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20. Deciding What to Do Each Moment
– culture
• the patterns of behavior that are passed from
one generation to the next
• groups have their own culture
– values
– customs
– clothes
– dwellings
– cuisine
– assumptions
• people are influenced by more than one culture
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21. Ethnicity, Race, and Income
– ethnic groups
– share certain attributes
» ancestral heritage
» national origin
» religion
» culture
» language
• ethnic categories arise from history,
sociology, and psychology, not from
biology
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22. Ethnicity, Race, and Income
– race
– used to categorize groups of people
» based on appearance
» 95% of the genetic differences between one person
and another occur within, not between, supposed
racial groups
• race is misleading as a biological category
– race = social construction
– an idea created by society
– perceived racial differences lead to discrimination
– affect cognition
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23. Ethnicity, Race, and Income
– social construction
• SES (socioeconomic status)
– a form of income or wealth
– overlaps with ethnicity and race
– national history and SES affect culture,
development
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25. 4. Multidisciplinary
―…a broad array of disciplines and cross-
cutting topics… each person develops
simultaneously in body, mind, and spirit…‖
Development is divided into three domains;
– biosocial
– cognitive
– psychosocial
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27. Mirror Neurons
– reflected brain cells
– observed actions
• mirror the intentions, sensations, and
emotions of those around
– implications of Mirror-Neuron Research
• possible cultural transmission or social
organization
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28. 5. Plasticity
• denotes two complementary aspects of
development
– human traits can be molded
• yet maintaining durability of identity
• culture and upbringing affect both aspects of
plasticity
• Genes and other biological influences
– provides hope and realism
• hope = changes is possible
• realism = each developing person must build on
what has come before
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29. Developmental Study as a Science
• based on objective evidence
• laden with subjective perceptions
• making developmental science
challenging
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30. Steps of the Science Method
• to avoid distortions of unexamined
opinions and to control the biases of
personal experience
1. ask a question
2. developing a hypothesis
3. test the hypothesis
4. draw conclusions
5. Make the finding available
– Replication
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31. Ways to Test Hypotheses
• Four methods:
1. Observation
2. The Experiment
3. The Survey
4. The Case Study
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32. Observation
• record behavior systematically and
objectively
– occur in a naturalistic setting
– tries to be unobtrusive
– can occur in a laboratory or in
searches of archival data
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33. The Experiment
• used to establish cause
– a particular treatment to expose to a specific
condition
• notes whether their behavior changes
– independent variable = imposed treatment or
special condition
– dependent variable = specific behavior being
studied
» experimental group: is given a particular treatment
» control group: does not get the treatment
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35. The Survey
• Information is collected from a large
number of people by:
– interview
– questionnaire
– some other means
• wording and the questions can
influence answers
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36. The Case Study
• intensive study of one individual or
situation
– asking about past history
– current thinking
– future plans
• can provide unanticipated insight
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38. Studying Change over Time
• Cross-Sectional Research
– designed to compare groups of people
who differ in age but share other
important characteristics
(i.e., education, SES, ethnicity)
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39. Studying Change over Time
• Longitudinal Research
– design in which the same individuals
are followed over time and their
development is repeatedly assessed
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40. Studying Change over Time
• Cross-Sequential Research
– designed to first study several groups
of different ages and then follow those
groups over the years
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41. Caution from Science
• developmental scientists also
discover changes that are not
beneficial
– television, divorce, shift work,
automobiles.
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42. Caution from Science
• Correlation and Causation
– can be confusing
• a correlation indicates the degree of
relationship between two variables.
– a correlation is positive if both variables tend to
increase or decrease together
– a correlation is negative if one variables tends to
increase when the other decreases
– a correlation is zero if no connection is evident
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43. Caution from Science
• Quantity and Quality
– a second caution concerns how much
scientists should rely on data
produced
• quantitative research: provides data
that can be expressed with numbers
• qualitative research contains
descriptions of conditions, and
participants’ ideas
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44. Caution from Science
• Ethics in Research
– Caution for all scientists is to ensure
that research meets ethical standards
• ―code of ethics‖
– A set of moral principles that members of a
profession or group are expected to follow
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45. Caution from Science
• Protection of Research Participants
– Researcher must ensure that
participation is voluntary, confidential,
and harmless
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46. Caution from Science
• What should we Study?
– Consider the most important ethical
concern:
• ―Are scientists studying issues that are
crucial to human development?‖
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