Exam 1: Introduction to Developmental Psychology and Its Research Strategies

What is one advantage of the longitudinal approach to developmental research?

List and describe the basic elements of the experimental method.

A researcher who uses a true experimental design would also use random assignment to place participants into each of the treatment and control conditions.Why is this necessary? How does this allow the researcher to assign cause-and-effect to the findings of the study?

What does ideographic development consist of?

Distinguish an experiment from a natural/quasi-experiment.

Lena wants to know whether young children can be taught to have certain phobias.She argues that previous research has indicated that phobias can be taught and that there is nothing unethical about continuing such research.Do current ethical guidelines support Lena's position?

Identify one key strength and one weakness of the ethnographic method.

Under what circumstances would a natural or quasi-experiment be most useful?

What are investigators who prefer the cross-cultural approach often looking for?

If a researcher wanted to know how a child behaves in his or her everyday environment,which research technique would be most appropriate?

Describe three 17th- and 18th-century philosophical controversies about the nature of the child.