Except where expressly noted otherwise, the contents of this course are based on materials published in the Open Source Library by Linda Overstreet. These materials were originally published freely under a Creative Commons Attribution License (you can review the license at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). The original version of the materials as published as Psyc 200 Lifespan Development may be accessed for free at http://opencourselibrary.org/econ-201/.

1. The Study of Human
Development (Lifespan)
 The study of how and why people change
over time
 Physically, cognitively, psychologically, and
socially
 To describe, explain, predict, and influence
change

2. Contexts of Human
Development
 Contexts
 Cohort
 Social Class
 Culture
 Ethnocentrism
 Cultural relativity

3. Profile of U. S. Social Classes
 Upper class (1%)
 Upper middle (14%)
 Middle class (30%)
 Working class (30%)
 Working poor (20%)
 Underclass (5%)

4. The Context for Stage
Theories
 Stage Theories
 Examples
 Newer Assumptions and
Understandings
 Developmental delay?
 The interplay between nature and nurture
 Continuity rather than change?
 Stages revisited?

5. Stages of Development
 Prenatal
Development
 Infancy
 Early Childhood
 Middle Childhood
 Adolescence
 Early Adulthood
 Middle Adulthood
 Late Adulthood
 Death and Dying

6. Research Methods
How do we know what we know?

7. Problems in Research
 Personal knowledge
 Based on what I know
 Believing is seeing
 Confirmation bias
 Sampling bias

8. Scientific Methods
 Quantitative
 Research question
 Review previous studies
 Determine method
 Conduct research
 Interpret results
 Draw conclusions
 Share findings

9. Scientific Methods
 Qualitative
 Begin with broad interest
 Gain entrance
 Gather general information
 Modify research questions
 Note patterns
 Explore new ideas
 Report findings

10. Types of Research
Research Designs

11. Observational Studies
 Advantages
 Natural Environment
 See what people do
 Generate
hypotheses
 Disadvantages
 Cannot generalize
findings
 Descriptive only

12. Independent Variables
 A “variable” reflects change in value
 Independent variable
 Manipulated by the researcher

13. Dependent Variable
 Varies in response to what’s introduced
 Value depends on the IV
 Subject of the research

14. Name that variable: IV or DV?
 “Smoking causes
cancer.” (DV)
 “Men commit suicide
more frequently than
women.” (DV)
 “Stress declines with
exercise.” (IV)
 “Income increases
with education.”
(DV)
 “Studying improves
grades.” (IV)
 “Education reduces
prejudices.” (IV)

15. Experiments
 Advantages
 Establish cause and
effect
 Conditions for
establishing cause
and effect:
 IV & DV related
 IV comes first
 No outside cause
 Disadvantages
 Hawthorne Effect
 Artificial environment

16. Case Study
 Finding out as much
as possible about a
single case.
 A variety of
techniques

17. Case Study
 Advantages
 Explore unusual
situations
 Generate
hypotheses
 Disadvantages
 “confirmation bias”

18. Surveys
 Ask a standard set
of questions to a
sample of people

19. Surveys
 Advantages
 Can reach many
 (telephone, mail,
internet)
 Disadvantages
 Self-report
 Sensitive topics
 Requires careful
wording

20. Secondary/Content Analysis
 Analyzing information that has already
been collected
 Examples:
 Census data
 Headlines in the news
 Themes in advertising products for boys
and girls

21. Secondary/Content Analysis
 Advantages
 Information already
collected
 Disadvantages
 Poor quality data
yields poor results
 Media may not
accurately reflect
behavior/attitudes

22. Developmental Designs
 Cross-sectional
 Varied sample
 One measure
 Longitudinal
 Cross-sequential
 Varied sample
 Over time