The Child Psychology Series: The Study of Behavioral Development concerns the formulation of general laws of development, transcending the realm of the development of the individual from infancy to maturity.

This book provides a systematic treatment of problems of research design, strategy, and data analysis that relate specifically to the study of developmental changes in behavior. The topics discussed include developmental psychology in the 1970s, age variable in psychological research, and programmatic view of the task of developmental psychology. The problems of measurement and quantification in developmental psychology, correlational methods in the study of developmental change, and experimental manipulation of developmental change are also elaborated.

This publication is recommended for psychologists, specialists, and students learning the nature of behavioral change.

Contenu

Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I Introduction
Chapter I. Developmental Psychology, Past and Present
A Brief Historical Sketch
Developmental Psychology in the 1970s
Developmental Psychology: Experimental or Differential?
Chapter II. The Age Variable in Psychological Research
The Focus on Change and Its Implications
Change as an Inherent Aspect of Behavior
Some Further Objections to the Use of Age as a Variable in Psychology
Age as a Neutral Variable: Vice or Virtue?
The Age Variable and the Problem of Control in Differential Studies
The Concept of the Developmental Function
Chapter III. Beyond Age-Group Comparison: A Programmatic View of the Task of Developmental Psychology
A Hierarchical Model for the Study of Developmental Problems
Part II Quantification, Dimensionalization, and Design
Chapter IV. Problems of Measurement and Quantification in Developmental Psychology
Four Prototype Cases in the Measurement of Developmental Change
The Qualitative Versus Quantitative Character of Developmental Change
Major Obstacles in the Way of Quantitative Analysis of Developmental Change
Units in the Measurement of Developmental Change
Chapter V. The Dimensionalization of Development: The Discovery and Definition of Developmental Dimensions
The Dimensionalization of Development Illustrated for Three Response Variables
The Search for Developmental Dimensions
Conclusion
Chapter VI. The Dimensionalization of Development (Continued): The Construction of Developmental Scales
Four Steps in the Construction of Developmental Scales
The Dimensionalization of Qualitative Changes
The Two Models of Scalogram Analysis: Cumulative and Disjunctive
The Use of Scalogram Analysis for the Study of Developmental Sequences (Case III Data)
Part III Major Paradigms of Developmental Research
Chapter VII. Longitudinal versus Cross-Sectional Methodology
Cross-Sectional Designs: Shortcut or Short-Change?
Two-Versus Three-Factor Models in the Design of Developmental Research
Purposes of Longitudinal Data
Major Drawbacks of the Longitudinal Method
Shortcuts to Longitudinal Data
Chapter VIII. The Descriptive Study of Developmental Change
Charting the Course of Developmental Change Along Scalar Dimensions
Descriptive Analysis with Respect to Qualitative Change
Chapter IX The Study of Developmental Stages
Stage as a Horizontal-Structure Concept
Models for the Analysis of Developmental-Stage Data
Prototype Response Matrices and Illustrative Examples for Each Model
Approaches to Data Analysis in the Study of Stages
Conclusion: Stages-Mirage or Reality?
Chapter X. Correlational Methods in the Study of Developmental Change
Five Levels of Elaboration in the Multivariate Study of Age Changes
Conclusion: The Place of Correlation Analysis in the Study of the Patterning of Developmental Change
Chapter XI. The Experimental Manipulation of Developmental Change
Four Paradigms of Experimental-Developmental Research
Major Problems in the Design of Research on the Effects of Controlled Experience
Problems of Control and Behavior Monitoring in Early Experience Research
The Problem of Causal Inference in Experimental Studies of Development
The Acquisition of Conservation: The Acceleration Approach to the Interpretation of a Developmental Phenomenon
Conclusion: The Dilemma of the Conservation-Training Study
Chapter XII. Individual Differences in Development
The Development of Cognitive Styles: Developmental or Differential?
Individual Differences as an Aspect of Developmental Functions
The Developmental Aspect of Individual Differences
The Study of Stability and Continuity in Behavior
Stability in the Multivariate Sense
Concluding Comments
Conclusion
References
Author Index
Subject Index