Chapter 1 Flashcards
Development
the pattern of change beginning at conception and continuing throughout the life span
- involves growth
- also includes decline brought on by aging and dying
Life-span perspective
the perspective that development is lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual.
- development involves growth, maintenance and regulation and is constructed through biological, sociocultural and individual factors working together
- the emphasis is on developmental change throughout childhood and adulthood
life expectancy
- the upper boundary of the human life span is 122 years
- life expectancy in the US is about 79 years
- people are living longer b/c of better sanitation, nutrition and medicine
- more people over 60 than under 18
life expectancy & negative implications
- negative quality of life for older people
- society reflects the needs of younger people
- less accessibility; built for able-bodied people
- focus on what older ppl lack and not what they can contribute to society
normative age-graded influences…
are similar for individuals in a particular age group
EX: starting school, puberty, menopause
normative history-graded influences
have common generational experiences due to historical events
EX: in the 1930s, the Great Depression: in the 60s-70s the civil rights & women’s rights movements; the attacks on 9/11 in 2001
nonnormative life events
are unusual occurences that have a major life impact
- ex: early pregnancy, losing a parent as a child, winning the lotto
culture
behavior patters, beliefs, and all other products of a group passed on from generation to generation
cross-cultural studies
comparison of one culture with one or more other cultures to gain information about their developmental similarities
ethnicity
a characteristic based on cultural heritage, nationality characteristics, race, religion, and language.
- pride of ethnic identity has positive outcomes
socioeconomic status
grouping of people with similar occupational, educational, and economic characteristics
gender
characteristics of people as males or females
- transgender refers to individuals who adopt a gender identity that differed from one assigned to them at birth
some contemporary concerns: Technology
- the potential effects on language development
- screen time vs participation in physical activity
- whether media multitasking is harmful or beneficial
- the degree of which older adults are adapting
Contemporary Concern: The Aging of America
- the # of Americans over age 65 has grown drastically
- centenarians: persons 100 yrs of age or older are the fasted growing age group in the US and is expected to increase
biological processes
changes in an individual’s physical nature
- science now allows for the study of an individual’s genetic makeup
cognitive processes
changes in an individual’s thought, intelligence, and language
socioemotional processes
changes in an individual’s relationships, emotions, and personality.
socioemotional processes
changes in an individual’s relationships, emotions, and personality
period of development
a time frame in a person’s life characterized by certain features
- Prenatal period: conception to birth
- Infancy: birth to 18 - 24 months
- Toddler: 18 months to 3 yrs old
- Early childhood: 3 - 5 yrs old
- Middle & late childhood: ~ 6 - 10 - 11 yrs
- Adolescence: 10 - 12 yrs old, to 18 - 21 yrs
- Emerging adulthood: 18 - 25 yrs
- Early adulthood: early 20s - 30s
- Middle adulthood: 40s - 50s
- Late adulthood: 60s - 70s until death
Periods of Development (4 ages)
- First age: childhood and adolescence
- Second age: prime adulthood, 20-59
- Third age: ~ 60 - 79 yrs
- Fourth age: ~ 80 yrs and older
3 Developmental Patterns of Aging
- Normal aging: describes most individuals, with psychological functioning peaking early middle age
- Pathological aging: describes individuals w/ above average decline as they age, developing condition leading to mild cognitive impairment or chronic disease that impairs daily functioning
- Successful aging: describes individuals maintaining positive cognitive, and socioemotional development longer in life
The Significance of Age: Age and Happiness
Adults tend to be happier as they age bc they
- have stronger relationships
- feel less pressured to achieve
- have more leisure time
- have more life experience that helps them adapt to change
life satisfaction varies across countries
The Significance of Age: Conceptions of age (4)
- Chronological age: the # of yrs that have elapsed since birth
- Biological age: age in terms of biological health
- Psychological age: the individual’s adaptive capacities compared w/ ppl of the same chronological age
- Social age: connectedness w/ others and the social roles people adopt
Nature-nurture issue
the debate about whether development is primarily influenced by nature or nurture
- nature refers to an organism’s biological inheritance
- nurture refers to its environmental experiences
Stability-change issue
the debate about the degree to which early traits and characteristics persist throughout life or change
does the individual…
- become an older version of the early self w/ the same traits or
- develop into someone diff from who he or she was at an earlier point in development
Continuity-discontinuity issue
the debate about the extent to which development involves gradual, cumulative change (continuity) or distinct changes (discontinuity)
scientific method
a four-step approach that can be used to obtain accurate information
- conceptualize a process or problem
- collect data
- analyze the data
- draw conclusion
theory
an interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps to explain the phenomena and facilitate predictions
hypothesis
specific assumptions and predictions that can be tested to determining their accuracy
psychoanalytic theories
describe development as primarily unconscious and heavily colored by emotion
- behavior is a surface characteristic, and the symbolic workings of the mind have to be analyzed to understand behavior
- early experiences with parents are emphasized
psychoanalytic theories
describe development as primarily unconscious and heavily colored by emotion
- behavior is a surface characteristic, and the symbolic workings of the mind have to be analyzed to understand behavior
- early experiences with parents are emphasized
Psychoanalytic Theories: Freud’s theory
- Throughout his work with patients, Freud became convinced that their problems were the result of experiences early in life
- He defined 5 stages of psychosexual development
- Adult personality is determined by the way we resolve conflicts bw sources of pleasure at each stage and the demands of reality
Psychoanalytic Theories: Freud’s theory
- Throughout his work with patients, Freud became convinced that their problems were the result of experiences early in life
- He defined 5 stages of psychosexual development
- Adult personality is determined by the way we resolve conflicts bw sources of pleasure at each stage and the demands of reality
Psychoanalytic Theories (5)
Freud believes if the need for pleasure at any stage is either unsatisfied or over satisfied an individual may become fixated or locked in at that stage of development
- Oral stage: infant’s pleasure centers on the mouth; birth 1 1/2 yrs
- Anal stage: Child’s pleasure focuses on the anus; 1 1/2 - 3 yrs
- Phallic stage: The child’s pleasure focuses on the genitals: 3 - 6 yrs
- Latency stage: Child represses sexual interest and develops social and intellectual skills;6 yrs - puberty
- Genital stage: A time of sexual reawakening; source of sexual pleasure becomes someones outside the family; puberty onward
Erikson’s psychosocial theory
- According to Erik Erikson, the primary motivation for behavior is social in nature
- Personality and development change occurs throughout the life span
- Both early and late experiences are important
Erikson’s theory
8 stages of human development representing a crisis that must be resolved
- Trust vs mistrust: 1st yr of infancy
- Autonomy vs shame and guilt: 1 - 3 yrs
- Initiative vs guilt: 3 - 5 yrs
- Industry vs inferiority: 6 - to puberty
- Identity vs identity confusion: 10 - 20 yrs
- Intimacy vs isolation: 20s & 30s
- Generativity vs stagnation: 40s & 50s
- Integrity vs despair: 60s to death
Criticisms of psychoanalytic theories
- Lack of scientific support
- Too much emphasis on sexual underpinnings
- An image of people that is too negative
Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory (4 stages)
How a child thinks- not how much the child knows - determines the child’s stage of cognitive development.
children go through 4 stages of cognitive development as they actively construct their understanding of the world
- sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 yrs)
- Preoperational stage (2 - 7 rs)
- Concrete operational stage (7 - 11 yrs)
- Formal operational stage (11 yrs - adulthood)
Organization and adaption underlie this.
Sensorimotor Stage: Birth to 2 years of age
The infant constructs an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences w/ physical actions.
An infant progresses from reflexive, instinctual action at birth to the beginning of symbolic thought toward the end of the stage.
Preoperational Stage: 2 to 7 years of age
The child begins to represent the world with words and images. These reflect increased symbolic thinking and go beyond the connection of sensory in formation and physical action.
Concrete Operational Stage: 7 to 11 years of Age
The child can now reason logically about concrete events and classify objects into different sets
Formal Operational Stage: 11 years of age through adulthood
The adolescent reasons in more abstract, idealistic, and logical ways.
Formal Operational Stage: 11 years of age through adulthood
The adolescent reasons in more abstract, idealistic, and logical ways.
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Cognitive Theory
emphasizes how culture and social interaction guide and are inseparable from cognitive development.
Information-processing theory
emphasizes that individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about
Central to this theory is the processes of memory and thinking
Criticisms of Cognitive Theories
- skepticism about the pureness of Piaget’s stages
- inadequate attention to individual variations
- little emphasis on cognition in Skinner’s theory
- Inadequate attention paid to developmental changes
Comparing Information Processing in Humans and Computers
Psychologists who study cognition often use a computer analogy to explain how humans process information. The brain is analogous to the computer’s hardware, and cognition is analogous to the computer’s software.
Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
Development consists of the pattern of behavioral changes brought about by rewards and punishments
Bandura’s social cognitive theory
- Emphasizes behavior, environment, and cognition as the key factors in development
- Relations b/w behavior person/cognitive, and environmental factors are reciprocal
- Using forethought, individuals guide and motivate themselves by creating action plans, formulating goals and visualizing positive outcomes of their actions
Bandura’s social cognitive theory
- Emphasizes behavior, environment, and cognition as the key factors in development
- Relations b/w behavior person/cognitive, and environmental factors are reciprocal
- Using forethought, individuals guide and motivate themselves by creating action plans, formulating goals and visualizing positive outcomes of their actions
Ethological Theory
Ethology: stresses that behavior is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution, and is characterized by experiences during critical or sensitive behaviors.
Konrad Lorenz helped bring ethology to prominence by showing the developmental importance of the imprinting behavior of geese.
John Bowlby determined that attachment to a caregiver over the first year of life has important consequences for optimal social relationship development throughout the life span.
Criticisms:
Inadequate attention to biological factors
Too little emphasis on cognitive factors
Ethological Theory (2 periods)
- Critical Period: a certain, very early point at which imprinting must take place
- Sensitive Period: the time attachment should optimally occur
- Criticisms: too much emphasis on biological foundations
the critical and sensitive period concepts might be too rigid
Ecological Theory
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory: development reflects the influence of 5 environmental systems
Five environmental systems
Microsystem: setting in which the individual lives and helps to construct
Mesosystem: the relations b/w microsystems or connections b/w contexts
Exosystem: links b/w social setting in which the individual has a passive role and their immediate context
Macrosystem: the culture in which individuals live
Chronosystem: the patterning the environmental events and transitions over the life course
All are affected by each other and by events occurring over time
Eclectic Theoretical Orientation
does not follow any one theoretical approach
- selects from each theory whatever is considered its best features
- allows for seeing the study of development as it actually exists
- for example, diff theorist making, diff assumptions, stressing diff empirical problems, and discovering information about diff strategies.
Methods for Collecting Data
Observation:
- Laboratory: a controlled setting where many of the complex factors of the “real world” are absent
Naturalistic observation: observing behavior in real-world settings, making no effort to manipulate or control the situation
Survey and Interview:
- survey: a standard set of clear and unbiased questions used to obtain people’s reported attitudes or beliefs about a particular topic; sometimes referred to as a questionnaire
- interview: individuals are directly asked to self-report
Standardized test & Case study
standardized test: a test administered and scored utilizing uniform
case study: an in-depth look at a single individual.
physiological measures:
- measure of hormones such as cortisol
- neuroimaging of fMRI
- Electroencephalography (EEG)
- Heart rate
- Eye tracking
- Gene testing
Research Designs
Descriptive research: a research method designed to observe and record behavior
Correlational research: attempts to determine the strength of the relationship b/w two or more events or characteristics
- Correlation coefficient: a number based on statistical analysis that is used to describe the degree of association b/w two variables.
- Ranges from -1.00 to +1.00
- The higher the correlation coefficient (whether positive or negative) the stronger the association b/w the two variables.
- correlation does not equal causation
Experiment
A carefully regulated procedure in which one or more of the factors believed to influence the behavior being studied are manipulated while all other factors are held constant.
- the independent variable is manipulated, influential, experimental factor that is a potential cause.
- the dependent variable is a factor that can change in response to changes in the independent variable
- a control group is a comparison group that serves as a baseline
Random assignment is an important principle in experimental research
- participants are assigned to experimental and control groups by chance
Time Span of Research
Cross-sectional approach: a research strategy that compares individuals of different ages simultaneously
Longitudinal approach: a research strategy where the same individuals are studied over a period of time, usually several yrs or more
Cohort effects: characteristics determined by a person’s time of birth, era, or generation rather than the person’s actual age.
Conducting Ethical Research
The American Psychological Association (APA) has developed ethics guidelines to address 4 issues:
- Informed consent: participants must know what their participation will involve and must be able to withdraw at will
- Confidentiality: data must be kept confidential and, when possible, anonymous.
- Debriefing: after the study, participants should be informed of its purpose and methods
- Deception: when necessary. deception may be used, but the psychologist must ensure it will not harm the participants and the participants will be debriefed.
Minimizing Bias
Gender Bias:
Conclusions are often drawn about females’ attitudes and behaviors from research conducted with males as the only research study participants.
Cultural and Ethnic Bias:
- Life-span development research has not always included individuals from diverse ethnic groups
- Ethnic gloss: superficial use of an ethnic label that portrays an ethnic group as being more homogenous than it really is.
Minimizing Bias
Gender Bias:
Conclusions are often drawn about females’ attitudes and behaviors from research conducted with males as the only research study participants.
Cultural and Ethnic Bias:
- Life-span development research has not always included individuals from diverse ethnic groups
- Ethnic gloss: superficial use of an ethnic label that portrays an ethnic group as being more homogenous than it really is.
