Psych 323 Review Final Exam 2024
Developmental Psychology (Athabasca University)
, Final Exam Review Psyc 323 Developmental Psychology
Unit 1
1. What is scientific research, what is it based on, and why is scientific research on child development
important?
2. What are the main theories of child development?
3. What are the main research methods for collecting data about children’s development?
4. What types of research designs do child development researchers use?
5. What are some research challenges in studying children’s development?
6. Which of the research methods for collecting data would be appropriate or inappropriate for studying
Erikson’s stage of trust versus mistrust? Why?
7. Which of the theories of child development do you think best explains your own development? Why?
8. Identify five areas in which children’s lives need to be improved and explain the roles of resilience and social
policy in children’s development.
Overall health and well-being through improved health care and lifestyle/psychological states. Positive
parenting and improving effective education also contribute.
Resilience in children is often related to close relationships with parental figures and can be seen in forming
bonds with additional caring people outside of the family. Social policies are a governments way of
increasing welfare to citizens. Poor life conditions and lack of attention/prevention of these conditions
suggest a need for a change in policies.
9. Discuss the most important processes, periods, and issues in development.
Biological processes: inherited genes from parents involving a change in an individual.
Cognitive processes: thinking-consists of changes in an individual’s thoughts, intelligence, and language.
Socioemotional processes: involves changes in an individual’s relationship with others through emotions
and personality.
1. Prenatal- conception to birth
2. Infancy- birth to 18/24months
3. Early childhood- end of infancy to 5/6 years
4. Middle and late childhood- 6 to 11 years
5. Adolescence- 10/12 to 18/19
Issues of development include the argument of nature vs nurture. Development is mainly influenced by
nature (the biological side) or nurture (environmental). Some developmentalists say that development can
be continuous (continuity) while others say it’s a sequence (discontinuity). Another issue of development is
the early-later experience issue concentrates on if early experiences in infancy are more important in
development than later experiences.
10. Summarize why research is important in child development, the main theories of child development, and
research methods, designs, and challenges.
Research is objective, organized, and testable. The scientific method- 1. Hypothesize the problem, 2. Collect
information, 3. Come to conclusions, and 4. Revise the theory. Research lessons the opportunity for
personal bias’.
Main theories:
1. Psychoanalytic theories: These theories define development as being unconscious and controlled by
emotions.
a. Freuds psychoanalytic theory is the 5 psychosocial stages- oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
b. Erikson’s theory is the eight stages of psychosocial development- trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs.
Shame and Doubt, Initiative vs. Guilt, Industry vs. Inferiority, Identity vs. Role Confusion, Intimacy
vs. Isolation, Generativity vs. Stagnation, Ego Integrity vs. Despair.
Developmental Psychology (Athabasca University)
, Final Exam Review Psyc 323 Developmental Psychology
Unit 1
1. What is scientific research, what is it based on, and why is scientific research on child development
important?
2. What are the main theories of child development?
3. What are the main research methods for collecting data about children’s development?
4. What types of research designs do child development researchers use?
5. What are some research challenges in studying children’s development?
6. Which of the research methods for collecting data would be appropriate or inappropriate for studying
Erikson’s stage of trust versus mistrust? Why?
7. Which of the theories of child development do you think best explains your own development? Why?
8. Identify five areas in which children’s lives need to be improved and explain the roles of resilience and social
policy in children’s development.
Overall health and well-being through improved health care and lifestyle/psychological states. Positive
parenting and improving effective education also contribute.
Resilience in children is often related to close relationships with parental figures and can be seen in forming
bonds with additional caring people outside of the family. Social policies are a governments way of
increasing welfare to citizens. Poor life conditions and lack of attention/prevention of these conditions
suggest a need for a change in policies.
9. Discuss the most important processes, periods, and issues in development.
Biological processes: inherited genes from parents involving a change in an individual.
Cognitive processes: thinking-consists of changes in an individual’s thoughts, intelligence, and language.
Socioemotional processes: involves changes in an individual’s relationship with others through emotions
and personality.
1. Prenatal- conception to birth
2. Infancy- birth to 18/24months
3. Early childhood- end of infancy to 5/6 years
4. Middle and late childhood- 6 to 11 years
5. Adolescence- 10/12 to 18/19
Issues of development include the argument of nature vs nurture. Development is mainly influenced by
nature (the biological side) or nurture (environmental). Some developmentalists say that development can
be continuous (continuity) while others say it’s a sequence (discontinuity). Another issue of development is
the early-later experience issue concentrates on if early experiences in infancy are more important in
development than later experiences.
10. Summarize why research is important in child development, the main theories of child development, and
research methods, designs, and challenges.
Research is objective, organized, and testable. The scientific method- 1. Hypothesize the problem, 2. Collect
information, 3. Come to conclusions, and 4. Revise the theory. Research lessons the opportunity for
personal bias’.
Main theories:
1. Psychoanalytic theories: These theories define development as being unconscious and controlled by
emotions.
a. Freuds psychoanalytic theory is the 5 psychosocial stages- oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
b. Erikson’s theory is the eight stages of psychosocial development- trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs.
Shame and Doubt, Initiative vs. Guilt, Industry vs. Inferiority, Identity vs. Role Confusion, Intimacy
vs. Isolation, Generativity vs. Stagnation, Ego Integrity vs. Despair.
