Ethological Evolutionary Perspective the study of the evolutionary basis of

Ethological (Evolutionary) Perspective • the study of the evolutionary basis of behaviour and the contributions of evolved responses to a species’ survival and development – Imprinting – Critical/sensitive periods • Bowlby – proximity-promoting signals • Evolutionary psychology- ancestral environments

Theories of Development • Evolutionary developmental psychologists ask “How does a given behaviour contribute to development, and hence, survival?”

• the forces of evolution inserted an extra six years between infancy and pre-adolescence—a childhood—into the life of our species • Neoteny , and the childhood it spawned, not only extended the time during which we grow up but ensured that we spent it developing not inside the safety of the womb but outside in the wide, convoluted, and unpredictable world

HUMANS AS THE RESULT OF NEOTENIC DEVELOPMENT? JUVENILE CHIMPANZEE ADULT CHIMPANZEE

CHIMPANZEE ONTOGENY HUMAN ONTOGENY

Theories of Development • Vygotsky – Sociocultural Theory • unique in placing particular emphasis on the impact of children’s social and cultural worlds on their development • child’s development is best understood as a product of social interaction • Culture provides tools for thinking but also its nature

• The Oksapmin 27-body part counting system • t-counting-system

Principle of falsifiability

Operational definitions are used to link concepts with concrete observations. Do you think the examples given are reasonable operational definitions of frustration and aggression? Operational definitions vary in how well they represent concepts. For this reason, many different experiments may be necessary to draw clear conclusions about hypothesized relationships in psychology.

Methods of Studying Children • General Research Designs • A major goal is to determine how particular variables are related to each other – associations (correlations) – cause-effect relations

Methods of Studying Children • Correlational Design • Correlation: The association between two variables • researcher gathers information about the variables of interest, with no intervention