Ch. 1 approaching psychological development Flashcards
Between-subjects design
A design in which different but equivalent groups are assessed in each experimental condition in a study.
Converging methods
Using various approaches to study a problem from different vantage points in order to arrive at a more accurate, objective answer than any single method could produce alone.
Cross-sectional approach
An approach to development in which studies look at different
groups of participants at different age periods.
Ecological validity
A quality of a study that captures all the critical factors to understanding a behavior or ability in a natural context.
Empiricism
A view of development that stresses the presence, at birth, of a general, allpurpose learning system, with little or no biases to acquire particular kinds of information.
Ethology
The study of traits (either body parts or behavior) from an adaptive evolutionary perspective that usually involves comparisons across species.
Global change
A type of development that occurs at roughly the same time in very different areas of thought or behavior.
Local change
A specific psychological capacity that develops relatively independently of
other specific capacities.
Longitudinal approach
An approach to development in which studies look at the same
group of participants at different age periods.
Nativism
A view of development that stresses the existence, at birth, of a set of different learning systems, each biased to acquire particular kinds of information better than others.
Qualitative change
A stagelike form of developmental change in which a new kind of structure or process emerges that was not present before the change.
Quantitative change
A developmental change in which the same structures and processes remain but change in magnitude—for example, an incremental expansion to a mental process
rather than a totally new kind of mental process.
Stages of development
Relatively discontinuous changes in thinking and behaving,
resulting in new kinds of accomplishments and patterns of thought that were not present
before that stage.
