CH1 Mastery Flashcards
Socioeconomic status SES
position people hold in community based on factors like income, education, occupation
ethnicity
person’s classification in or affiliation with a group based on common heritage or traditions
aging
collection of positive, negative and neutral changes in the mature organism
environment
set of conditions outside the person that are presumed to influence and be influenced by the individual
Learning
Relatively permanent change in behavior (or behav potential) that results from a persons experiences of practice
Culture
System of meanings shared by certain population that’s transmitted from one generation to the next
Genes
hereditary material passed from parents to child at conception
Development
Set of systematic changes in the individual occurring between conception and death
Maturation
Set of developmental changes biologically programmed by hereditary material rather than caused primarily by life experience
Life expectancy
Average number of years a newborn baby can be expected to live
Nature/Nurture Issue
Debate over relative roles of biological predispositions and environmental influences as determinants of human development
Evidence based practice
Research ensuring that the curricula and treatments provided have been demonstrated to be effective
Gerontology
Study of aging
Life Span Perspective
Outlook that development is longterm multidirectional process that is best viewed from a multidisciplinary approach
Plasticity
openness of brain cells or of the organism as a whole to positive and negative environmental influence
Neuroplasticity
Brain’s ability to change in response to experience throughout the lifespan
Scientific Method
Attitude dictating that investigators must be objective and allow data to decide merits of their theorizing
Theory
Set of concepts and propositions designed to organize, describe and explain a set of observations
Hypothesis
Specific prediction about what will hold true if we observe a phenomenon
Sample
Group of individuals chosen to be subjects of a study
Population
Well-defined group that a researcher is interested in drawing conclusions about
Random Sample
method of selecting a subgroup of study objects in unbiased way from larger population
Naturalistic Observation
Research method in which scientists study subjects in common everyday activities in their natural habitats
Structured observation
research method in which scientists create special conditions designed to elicit the behavior of interest
Case Study
in depth examination of an individual, typically carried out by compiling and analyzing info from various sources
Experiment
Research in which the investigator manipulates part of a person’s environment to measure its effect on the individual
Correlational Method
Research technique that involves determining whether two or more variables are related
Cross sectional Design
developmental research in which different age groups are studied at the same point in time and compared
Cohort
Group of people born at the same time
Longitudinal Design
Developmental research in which one group of subjects is studied repeatedly over months or years
ethnocentrism
Belief that one’s own cultural group is superior to others
research ethics
Set of moral principles that investigators are bound to honor to protect research participants from harm
