Psychology 1000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Jean Piaget, Visual Acuity

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Dr.Mike

Document Summary

Developmental psychology tries to answer 4 broad questions: nature vs. nurture (maturation vs. learning, critical vs. Inverted u-shaped function emerges at birth, peaks and disappears with age (visual acuity: u-shaped function present early in life, disappears temporarily and reemerges later (ex: stepping with support) Multiple types of research methods are used to study development: normative theories are typical sequence of change and consistency. Ex: cross-sectional to check for consistency b/w each groups. Individual theories consistency is not there; look at individuals. Developmental psychologists use various methods to answer these. Gives data immediately, but the disadvantage is the age difference. Differences between a 60 year old and a 30 year old are due to environmental differences and growing up in different time periods: longitudinal design testing the same cohort over again. Ex: 10 year olds a test this month and retested over again until the age of 70.