Chapter 1

Question 1

development

Answer 1

The pattern of movement or change that begins at conception and continues through the human life span.

Question 2

life-span perspective

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

normative age-graded influences

Answer 3

Influences that are similar for individuals in a particular age group.

Question 4

normative history-graded influences

Answer 4

Influences that are common to people of a particular generation because of historical circumstances.

Question 5

nonnormative life events

Answer 5

Unusual occurrences that have a major impact on an individual’s life.

Question 6

culture

Answer 6

The behavior, patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a group of people that are passed on from generation to generation.

Question 7

cross-cultural studies

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

ethnicity

Answer 8

Categorization of an individual based on cultural heritage, nationality characteristics, race, religion, and language.

Question 9

socioeconomic status (SES)

Answer 9

Classification of a person’s position in society based on occupational, educational, and economic characteristics.

Question 10

gender

Answer 10

The characteristics of people as females or males.

Question 11

social policy

Answer 11

A government’s course of action designed to promote the welfare
of its citizens.

Question 12

biological processes

Answer 12

Processes that produce changes in an individual’s physical nature.

Question 13

cognitive processes

Answer 13

Processes that involve changes in an individual’s thought, intelligence, and language.

Question 14

socioemotional processes

Answer 14

Processes that involve changes in an individual’s relationships with other people, emotions, and personality.

Question 15

emerging adulthood

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

nature-nurture issue

Answer 16

Debate about whether development is primarily influenced by nature or nurture.

Question 17

stability-change issue

Answer 17

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).

Question 18

continuity-discontinuity issue

Answer 18

Debate that focuses on the extent to which development involves gradual, cumulative change (continuity) or distinct stages (discontinuity).

Question 19

theory

Answer 19

An interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps to explain phenomena and make predictions.

Question 20

hypotheses

Answer 20

Specific assumptions and predictions that can be tested to determine their accuracy.

Question 21

psychoanalytic theories

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

Freudian Stages.

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Erikson’s theory

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

Piaget’s theory Theory

Answer 24

stating that children actively construct their understanding of the world and go through four stages of cognitive development.

Question 25

Vygotsky’s theory

Answer 25

Sociocultural cognitive theory that emphasizes how culture and social interaction guide cognitive development.

Question 26

information-processing theory

Answer 26

Theory emphasizing that individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it. Central to this theory are the processes of memory and thinking.

Question 27

social cognitive theory

Answer 27

Theoretical view that behavior, environment, and cognition are the key factors in development.

Question 28

ethology

Answer 28

Theory stressing that behavior is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution, and is characterized by critical or sensitive periods.

Question 29

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory

Answer 29

Bronfenbrenner’s environmental systems theory that focuses on five environmental systems: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.