Chapter 1 Flashcards
development
The pattern of movement or change that begins at conception and continues through the human life span.
life-span perspective
View of development as being lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual; involving growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss; and constructed through biological, sociocultural, and individual factors working together.
normative age-graded influences
Influences that are similar for individuals in a particular age group.
normative history-graded influences
Influences that are common to people of a particular generation because of historical circumstances.
nonnormative life events
Unusual occurrences that have a major impact on an individual’s life.
culture
The behavior, patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a group of people that are passed on from generation to generation.
cross-cultural studies
Comparisons of one culture with one or more other cultures. These provide information about the degree to which development is similar, or universal, across cultures, and the degree to which it is culture specific.
ethnicity
Categorization of an individual based on cultural heritage, nationality characteristics, race, religion, and language.
socioeconomic status (SES)
Classification of a person’s position in society based on occupational, educational, and economic characteristics.
gender
The characteristics of people as females or males.
social policy
A government’s course of action designed to promote the welfare
of its citizens.
biological processes
Processes that produce changes in an individual’s physical nature.
cognitive processes
Processes that involve changes in an individual’s thought, intelligence, and language.
socioemotional processes
Processes that involve changes in an individual’s relationships with other people, emotions, and personality.
emerging adulthood
The developmental time frame occurring from approximately 18 to 25 years of age; this transitional period between adolescence and adulthood is characterized by experimentation and exploration.
nature-nurture issue
Debate about whether development is primarily influenced by nature or nurture.
stability-change issue
Debate as to whether and to what degree we become older renditions of our earlier selves (stability) or whether we develop into someone different from who we were at an earlier point in development (change).
continuity-discontinuity issue
Debate that focuses on the extent to which development involves gradual, cumulative change (continuity) or distinct stages (discontinuity).
theory
An interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps to explain phenomena and make predictions.
hypotheses
Specific assumptions and predictions that can be tested to determine their accuracy.
psychoanalytic theories
Theories that describe development as primarily unconscious and heavily colored by emotion. Behavior is merely a surface characteristic, and the symbolic workings of the mind must be analyzed to understand behavior. Early experiences with parents are emphasized.
Freudian Stages.
Because Freud emphasized sexual motivation, his stages of development are known as psychosexual stages. In his view, if the need for pleasure at any stage is either undergratified or overgratified, an individual may become fixated, or locked in, at that stage of development.
Erikson’s theory
Theory that proposes eight stages of human development. Each stage consists of a unique developmental task that confronts individuals with a crisis that must be resolved.
Piaget’s theory Theory
stating that children actively construct their understanding of the world and go through four stages of cognitive development.
Vygotsky’s theory
Sociocultural cognitive theory that emphasizes how culture and social interaction guide cognitive development.
information-processing theory
Theory emphasizing that individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it. Central to this theory are the processes of memory and thinking.
social cognitive theory
Theoretical view that behavior, environment, and cognition are the key factors in development.
ethology
Theory stressing that behavior is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution, and is characterized by critical or sensitive periods.
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory
Bronfenbrenner’s environmental systems theory that focuses on five environmental systems: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.
