Chapter 1 Flashcards
What is development
Development refers to systematic changes in the individual that occur between conception and death. By describing changes as “systematic,” we imply that they are orderly, patterned, and relatively enduring, so temporary mood swings and other transitory changes in our appearances, thoughts, and behaviours are therefore excluded.
Development is the systematic continuities and changes in the individual over the course of life
What are developmental continuities
Developmental continuities are the ways in which we remain stable over time or continue to reflect our past
What are the most important aspects of development
Maturation and learning
Most developmental changes are the product of these two
What is maturation
Maturation refers to developmental changes in the body or behaviour that result from the ageing process rather than from learning, injury, illness, or some other life experience. A major contributor to this process is one’s genes. Maturation is partly responsible for psychological changes such as our increasing ability to concentrate, solve problems, and understand another person’s thoughts or feelings.
What is learning
The process through which our experiences produce relatively permanent changes in our feelings, thoughts, and behaviour → can only occur once a certain maturation level exists
Ex: Learning how to dribble a basketball
What goals do developmentalists pursue
They have 3 main goals:
- Describe development
- Explain development
- Optimize development
Explain the purpose of description in developmental psychology
To create empirical observations at different ages and their changes across time. To adequately do so, it is necessary to focus on normative and ideographic development.
What is normative development
Normative development encompasses all developmental changes that characterise most people; typical patterns of development.
Typical/universal patterns of change; ex: puberty, menopause, etc
What is ideographic development
Ideographic development encompasses all individual variations in the rate, extent, or direction of development.
Explain the purpose of explanation in developmental psychology
To determine why people develop as they typically do and why some people develop differently from others.
Why do changes occur
This falls under the explanation aspect of a developmentalists goal and it is due to equifinality and multifinality
What is equifinality
The property of allowing or having the same effect or result from different events → people start from different places but end up at the same place
What is multifinality
It is a process where a similar starting state (ex: levels of behaviour, type of attachment, presence of a mental illness) results in multiple pathways that lead to different outcomes
What is the purpose of optimisation in developmental psychology
Developmentalists hope to optimise development by applying what they have learned in attempts to help people develop in positive directions. By doing so are able to: promote stronger affectionate ties between fussy, unresponsive infants and their frustrated parents, assist children with learning difficulties to succeed at school, and help socially unskilled children prevent the emotional difficulties that could result from having no close friends or being rejected by peers.
What type of process is development
Development is a continual and cumulative process
Continual: uninterrupted development
Cumulative: build on earlier stages
What is the critical period for humans
The prenatal period
What is traditional development (as opposed to holistic)
Traditional development emphasizes the division of physical growth, cognitive aspects, and psychosocial aspects
What is holistic development (as opposed to traditional)
The holistic perspective emphasizes that there is a relation between the physical, mental, social and emotional aspects of human development
This is referred to as the Gestalt approach
What is plasticity
Plasticity refers to a capacity for change in response to positive or negative life experiences.
Plasticity: changes due to life events → past events have implications for the future (negative & positive events)
Explain the importance of historical/cultural context
No single portrait of development is accurate for all cultures, social classes or racial and ethnic groups. Each of these groups, transmit a particular pattern of beliefs, values, customs, and skills to its younger generations, and this has a strong influence on the attributes and competencies that individuals display.
What is original sin and who is accredited for this idea
Thomas Hobbes’s doctrine of original sin is an idea that states, children are inherently selfish egoists who must be restrained by society. Proponents argued that parents must actively control their egoistic children.
Hobbes argued that children are passive subjects to be moulded by parents.
What is innate purity and who is accredited for this idea
Jean Jaques Rousseau’s doctrine of innate purity stated that children are born with an intuitive sense of right and wrong that is misdirected/corrupted by society. Innate purists argued that parents should give their children freedom to follow their inherently positive inclination.
Rousseau believed that children are actively involved in the shaping of their own intellects and personalities, they are active agents.
