Chapter 1

Question 1

Describe the science of human development.

Answer 1

It seeks to understand how and why people of all ages and circumstances change or remain the same over time.

Question 2

What are the age ranges for different periods of development?

Answer 2

Infancy (0 to 2), early childhood (2 to 6), middle childhood (6 to 11), adolescence (11 to 18), emerging adulthood (18 to 25), adulthood (25 to 65), and late adulthood (65+). These are general age groupings to understand these concepts.

Question 3

What are the 5 steps of the scientific method?

Answer 3

1. Curiosity
2. Hypothesis
3. Test
4. Analyze data and draw conclusions
5. Report the results

Question 4

Define nature.

Answer 4

Influence of genes we inherit.

Question 5

Define nurture.

Answer 5

Environmental influences that affect development.

Question 6

Define epigenetic.

Answer 6

How environmental factors affect genes and genetic expression.

Question 7

Define differential susceptibility.

Answer 7

How environmental experiences differ because of particular inherited genes.

Question 8

What is meant by development is multi-directional?

Answer 8

Overtime, human characteristics change in every direction; development is not linear. Pace of change also varies: continuity and discontinuity. Gains and losses appear throughout life and are apparent historically and generationally.

Question 9

What is a critical period?

Answer 9

This is the time when certain things must occur for normal development.

Question 10

What is a sensitive period?

Answer 10

This is the time when a particular development occurs most easily.

Question 11

What is meant by development is multi-contextual in a social context?

Answer 11

Everyone who influences each developing person, immediately and over time, directly and indirectly is included in social context.

Question 12

Explain the life-span perspective in terms of the ecological systems approach (Bronfenbrenner)?

Answer 12

Each person is affected by many social contexts and interpersonal interactions. There nested levels surround individuals and affect them.

Question 13

Define the nested levels of the ecological systems model.

Answer 13

Question 14

What is meant by development is multi-contextual in a historical context?

Answer 14

All persons born within a few years of one another are said to be cohort, a group defined by the shared age of its members. Think of cohorts as boomers, genzZ genX, etc.

Question 15

What is meaning by development is multi-contextual in a socioeconomic context?

Answer 15

This refers to socioeconomic status such as income, wealth, occupation, education, and neighborhood; underlies every other system. Age and cohort are entangled with SES.

Question 16

What is meaning by development is multi-cultural?

Answer 16

System of shared beliefs, norms, behaviors, and expectations that persist over time and prescribe social behavior and assumptions. Social constructions are also based on shared perceptions, not on objective reality. Humans also tend to believe that they, their nation, and their culture are better than others (difference-equals-deficit error). These differences may be assets or deficits. People also develop a relationship to their community. Ethnic and racial groups will also impact development. Ethnic group consists of people whose ancestors were born in the same region and who may share a language, culture, and religion. Ethnicity includes social construction affected by social context, not direct outcome of biology. Race includes social constructions more affected by history than ethnicity.

Question 17

What is intersectionality?

Answer 17

This is where various identities need to be combined. Systems of social categorization and group power intersect to influence everyone. This is also important in determining if discrimination occurs.

Question 18

What is meant by development is plastic?

Answer 18

Plasticity is basic to a contemporary understanding of human development. It simultaneously incorporates two facts 1. People can change over time; 2. New behavior depends partly on what has already happened.

Question 19

What is meant by development within dynamic-systems?

Answer 19

Humans development is ongoing, ever-changing interaction between body and mind and between the individual and every aspect of the environment.

Question 20

What is a theory?

Answer 20

A bundle of many hypotheses that you can test.

Question 21

What do theories do?

Answer 21

They explain with principles. They help us organize our observations. They help us predict behaviors and events.

Question 22

What are developmental theories?

Answer 22

They are systematic statements of principles and generalizations about human growth. They are a framework for understanding how and why people change as they grow older.

Question 23

What is a psychoanalytic theory?

Answer 23

These propose that irrational, unconscious drives and motives, often originating in childhood, underlie human behavior.

Question 24

Describe Freud.

Answer 24

First psychoanalyst. Proposed 5 psychosexual stages during which sensual satisfaction is linked to developmental needs and conflicts. Suggested early conflict resolution determines personality patterns.

Question 25

Who was Erik Erikson?

Answer 25

He described 8 developmental stages, each characterized by a challenging developmental crisis. He proposed 5 psychosocial stages that build on freud’s theory, but added 3 adult stages. He emphasized family and culture, not sexual urges.

Question 26

What is behaviorism?

Answer 26

This focuses on observable behavior. It describes the laws and processes by which behavior is learned. classical and operant conditioning.

Question 27

Define classical conditioning.

Answer 27

Learning through association. Ivan pavlov. Behaviors can be learned by making an association between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus.

Question 28

Define operant conditioning.

Answer 28

Learning through consequences. B.F. Skinner. Learning process in which a particular action is followed either by something desired or something unwanted, making the action either ore or less likely to be repeated.

Question 29

Explain he social learning theory.

Answer 29

Albert bandura. It is the extension of behaviorism that emphasizes that other people influence each person’s behavior. Proposes that, even without specific reinforcement, every individual learns many things through observation and imitation of other people (modeling).

Question 30

What is cognitive development?

Answer 30

Proposed thoughts and expectations profoundly affect actions, attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions. Focuses on changes in how people think over time.

Question 31

What is assimilation?

Answer 31

Experiences are interpreted to fit into, or assimilate with, old ideas.

Question 32

What is accommodation?

Answer 32

Old ideas are reconstructed to include, or accommodate, new experiences.

Question 33

What is evolutionary theory?

Answer 33

Suggests that organisms change over time as a result of changes in heritable physical or behavioral traits. Charles Darwin: Theorized nature works to ensure that each species does two things: survive and reproduce.

Question 34

What is scientific observation?

Answer 34

Requires researchers to record behavior systematically and objectively. May be conducted in a naturalistic setting or a lab.

Question 35

Explain experiements.

Answer 35

They establish casual relationships among variables. Variables: independent (manipulated) variable and dependent (outcome). Groups: experimental and comparison (control) groups.

Question 36

What is cross-sectional research?

Answer 36

Groups of people of one age compared with people of another age.

Question 37

What is a survey?

Answer 37

Includes information collected from a large number of people through interview, questionnaire, or some other means. Challenges: acquiring valid survey data is not easy. Some people lie/change their minds. Survey answers are influenced by the wording and the sequence of questions.

Question 38

What is longitudinal research?

Answer 38

Collecting data repeatedly on the same individuals as they age.

Question 39

What is cross-sequential research?

Answer 39

Studying several groups of people of different ages (cross-sectional) and following them over the years (longitudinal).

Question 40

Describe correlations?

Answer 40

A correlation exists between two variables if one variable is more likely to occur when the other does. Positive, negative and zero correlation. Correlation is NOT causation!

Question 41

What is qualitative research?

Answer 41

Easily translated across cultures. Easier to summarize, chart, and replicate. More vulnerable to bias and harder to replicate.

Question 42

What are Paiget’s stages of cognitive development?

Answer 42

sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational.

Question 43

Explain Freud’s birth to 1 year stage.

Answer 43

The oral stage. Lips, tongue, and gums are the focus of pleasurable sensations of the baby’s body. Sucking and feeding are the most simulating activities.

Question 44

Explain freud’s 1-3 year stage.

Answer 44

Anal stage. Anal is the focus of pleasurable sensations in the baby’s body. Toilet and training is the most important activity.

Question 45

Explain Freud’s 3-6 year stage.

Answer 45

Phallic stage. Penis is the most important body part, and pleasure is derived from genital stimulation. Boys are proud of their penises and girls wonder why they don’t have one.

Question 46

Explain Freud’s 6-11 year stage.

Answer 46

Latency. An interlude. Sexual needs are quiet. Psychic energy flows into sports, schoolwork, and friendship.

Question 47

Explain Freud’s adolescence and adulthood stages.

Answer 47

Genial stage. Genitals are the focus of pleasurable sensations. Young person seeks sexual stimulation and satisfaction in heterosexual relationships.

Question 48

Explain Erikson’s birth to 1 year stage.

Answer 48

Trust vs. Mistrust. Babies either trust that others will satisfy their basic needs, including nourishment, warmth cleanliness, and physical contact, or develop mistrust about the care of others.

Question 49

Explain Erikson’s 1 to 3 year stage.

Answer 49

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt. Children are either self-sufficient in many activities, including toileting, feeding, walking, exploring, and talking OR doubt their own abilities.

Question 50

Explain Erikson’s 3 to 6 year stage.

Answer 50

Initiative vs. guilt. Children either try to undertake many adult like activities OR internalize the limits and prohibitions set by parents. They feel either adventurous or guilty.

Question 51

Explain Erikson’s 6 to 11 year stage.

Answer 51

Industry vs. inferiority. Children busily practice and then master new skills or feel inferior, unable to do anything well.

Question 52

Explain Erikson’s Adolescence stage.

Answer 52

Identity vs. role confusion. Adolescents ask themselves “Who am I?” They establish sexual, political, religious, and vocational identities or are confused about their roles.

Question 53

Explain Erikson’s Adulthood stage.

Answer 53

Intimacy vs. Isolation. Young adults seek companionship and love or become isolated from others, fearing rejection. Generativity vs. Stagnation Middle-aged adults contribute to future generations through work, creative activities, and parenthood or they stagnate. Integrity vs. Despair Older adults try to make sense of their lives, either seeing life as a meaningful whole or despairing at goals never reached.

Question 54

Explain Piaget’s birth to 2 years period.

Answer 54

Sensorimotor. Infants use senses and motor abilities to understand the world. Learning is active, without reflection. Infants learn that objects still exist when out of sight (object permanence) and begin to think through mental actions.

Question 55

Explain Piaget’s 2 to 6 years period.

Answer 55

Pre-operational. Children think symbolically, with language, yet children are egocentric, perceiving from their own perspective. The imagination flourishes, and language becomes a significant means of self-expression and social influence.

Question 56

Explain Piaget’s 6 to 11 years period.

Answer 56

Concrete operational. Children understand and apply logic. thinking is limited by direct experience. By applying logic, children grasp concepts of conservation, number ,classification, and ay other scientific ideas.

Question 57

Explain Piaget’s 12 to adulthood stage.

Answer 57

Formal operational. Adolescents and adults use abstract and hypothetical concepts. They can use analysis, not only emotion. Ethics, politics, and social, and moral issues become fascinating as adolescents and adults use abstract, theoretical reasoning.