PSICOLOGIA DEL DESARROLLO I

Teoría e investigación

Developmental scientists have come up with many, often conflicting, theories about the nature of human development.

A theory is a set of logically related concepts or statements which seeks to describe and explain development and to predict what kinds of behavior might occur under certain conditions.

Theories are often the beginning of serious research studies.


Aspectos teóricos básicos

Teoría ( a set of logically related concepts or statements, helps to organize data, and to generate hypotheses.)

Hipótesis (are tentative explanations or predictions that can be tested by further research.)


Los 3 aspectos teóricos básicos en los que difieren los científicos del desarrollo

¿Herencia o entorno?
¿Desarrollo activo o pasivo? Mechanistic and organismic model
¿Desarrollo continuo o en etapas?

Diferenciar los modelos mecanicista y organicista del desarrollo?
Mechanistic model:
People are like machines and they react to environmental input
If we know enough about how the human machine is put together and about the internal and external forces impinging on it we can predict what the person will do
Mechanistic research seeks to identify and isolate the factors that make people behave or react as they do.

Organismic model: People as active, growing organisms that set their own development in motion and initiate events.
Impetus for change is internal.
The whole of a human being’s behavior is greater than the sum of the parts that make it up.
Cannot predict behavior by breaking it down into simple responses to environmental stimulation

Perspectivas teóricas
These six perspectives underlie influential theories and research on human development.
The psychoanalytic perspective is concerned with unconscious forces that motivate human behavior. Sigmund Freud developed this theory at the beginning of the twentieth century.
The learning perspective is based on the idea that people respond to their environment. Children learn in the social context.
The humanistic perspective says that people have the ability to take charge of their lives and foster their own development.
The cognitive perspective is associated with Piaget’s cognitive stage theory and with information-processing theory.
The ethological perspective is associated with Bowlby’s and Ainsworth’s attachment theories.
The contextual perspective is associated with Brofennbrenner’s bioecological theory.


Métodos de investigación

¿Cómo estudian los científicos del desarrollo a las personas?


El método científico
Identificar
Formular
Recolectar
Analizar
Divulgar

Diseños básicos de investigación

Estudios de caso
Estudios etnográficos
Estudios correlacionales
Experimentos

Diseños en investigación del desarrollo
Longitudinales
Transversales
Secuenciales

Longitudinal designs include collecting data on the same person or group of persons over a period of time. One of the most famous longitudinal research studies is the Oakland Adolescent Growth Study.

Cross-Sectional designs assess people of different ages at one time. One of the advantages of cross-sectional research is speed and economy.

Cross-Sequential designs try to overcome the drawbacks of longitudinal and cross-sectional designs. Researchers assess a cross-sectional sample more than once to determine how members of each age cohort have changed.

Ética de la investigación

Tres derechos de los participantes en una investigación
1. Derecho al consentimiento informado
2. Derecho a la autoestima
3. Derecho a la privacidad y a la confidencialidad

Should research that might harm people ever be undertaken? How can we balance the possible benefits against the risk of mental, emotional, or physical injury to individuals?

In resolving such dilemmas, researchers are supposed to be guided by the three principles.

The right to informed consent exists when participants voluntarily agree to be in a study, are competent to give consent, are aware of the risks and benefits, and are not being exploited. Some controversy exists over the informed consent of children.

The right to self-esteem protects participants from being involved in research whose results may damage their self-concept.

The right to privacy and confidentiality provides guidelines for dealing with certain kinds of confidential information that participants may reveal during the study.