📗 -> 10/07/25: PSC140Y-L2
[Lecture Slide Link]
🎤 Vocab
❗ Unit and Larger Context
Small summary
✒️ -> Scratch Notes
What is the primary problem for drawing conclusions from correlational studies?
causation
Why can we draw causal conclusions from experiments?
manipulation and randomization
Causational Studies?
Myopia night light experiment
Correlational study on childrens eyesight vs night light habits
- Darkness, night light, or room light when they go to sleep?
- Do they have normal vision (emmetropia), hyperopia, or myopia?
Far more children had myopia in the the room light condition
“Myopia and ambient night-time lighting”
Twin Studies
Identical (Monozygotic) twins share 100% of their genes
Fraternal (Dizygotic) twins share around 50% of their genes
However, they do share their environment
IQ Family Studies, R-score of IQ score for twins:
Reared-together Biological Relatives:
- MZ (identical) - 0.86
- DZ (fraternal) - 0.6
- Siblinds - 0.47
- Parent-Offspring - 0.42
- Half-siblings - 0.35
- Cousins - 0.15
Reared apart biological relatives: - MZ twins - 0.72
- Siblings - 0.24
- Parent-offspring - 0.24
Reared-together nonbiological Relatives: - Siblings - 0.32
- Parent-offspring - 0.25
Even though genes and environment of MZ are incredibly similar, correlational still not 1
Also interesting:
- Non-twin siblings are more similar than their parents, whoa share on average the same number of genes
- But their ENVIRONMENT is very different
- BUT, MZ twins are highly similar even when reared apart
Bucharest Early Intervention Project
Children in Romanian institutions weer developmentally delayed
In this study, children between 5 and 31 months who had spent at least 1/2 of their life…
Children placed in foster care
- More likely to be securely attached
- Better cogntiive abilities at age 3.5-4.5 years
- Had more normal white matter growth
- Better stress responses later in childhood
Age related changes?
Why do we observe age-related changes?
Bottom-line: it is important to understand the role of correlations and experiments in dev science
- Correlations tells us association, but not what causes it
- Experiments establish causation
- Not always possible or ethical to manipulate a variable of interest (child age, child genes, who the parents are)
🧪 -> Refresh the Info
Did you generally find the overall content understandable or compelling or relevant or not, and why, or which aspects of the reading were most novel or challenging for you and which aspects were most familiar or straightforward?)
Did a specific aspect of the reading raise questions for you or relate to other ideas and findings you’ve encountered, or are there other related issues you wish had been covered?)
🔗 -> Links
Resources
- Put useful links here
Connections
- Link all related words