Chapter 1 Flashcards
Biological/Physical Development
The growth of the body and its organs, the functioning of the brain, physical aging, changes in motor abilities etc.
Development
Systematic changes in the individual occurring between conception and death
Cognitive Development
Changes and continuities in perception, language, learning, memory, problem solving, and other mental processes
Psychosocial Development
Changes in motives, emotions, personality traits, social skills, relationships, and roles played in the family and in the larger society
Growth
The physical changes that occur from conception to maturity
Biological Aging
The deterioration of organisms that leads inevitably to their death
Development involves gains, losses, neutral changes, and continuities in each phase of the life span, and aging is a part of it
Prenatal Period
Conception to birth
Infancy Period
First 2 years of life
Preschool Period
2-5
Middle Childhood
About 6-10
Adolescence
Approximately 10-18
Emerging Adulthood
18-25 or even 29
Early Adulthood
25-40
Middle Adulthood
40-65
Late Adulthood
65 years or older
Culture
A system of meanings shared by a population of people and transmitted from one generation to the next
Age Grade
Socially defined age groups each with different statuses, roles, privileges, and responsibilities in society
example: separating children by age in school/18 year olds being able to vote
Age Norms
Society telling people how to act their age
Social Clock
A personal sense of when things should be done in life and when an individual is ahead of or behind the schedule dictated by social norms
Life-Span Perspective
Views development as lifelong, multidirectional process that involves gains and loss, is characterized by considerable plasticity, is shaped by it’s historical context, has many causes, and is best viewed from a multidisciplinary perspective
Plasticity
Refers to the capacity to change in response to experience, positive or negative.
Development is multi-influenced
Development is the outcome of ongoing interactions between a changing person and her changing world.
Balte’s modern life-span perspective
Assumes that development occurs throughout the life span, is multidirectional, involves gains and interlinked losses at every age, is characterized by plasticity, is affected by its historical and cultural context, is influenced by multiple, interacting causes, and is best studied by multiple disciplines.
Storm and Stress
G. Stanley Hall’s term for the emotional ups and downs and rapid changes that he believed characterize adolescence.
Theory
A set of ideas proposed to describe and explain certain phenomena
Nature vs. Nuture
Is development primarily the product of genes, biology, and maturation—or of experience, learning, and social influences?
Continuity-Discontinuity
Do humans change gradually and in quantitative ways—or do they progress through qualitatively different stages and develop very different competencies and characteristics as they get older?
Universality-Context Specificity
Is development similar from person to person and from culture to culture—or do pathways of development vary considerably depending on the social context?
Learning
A relatively permanent change in behavior (or behavioral potential) that results from a person’s experiences or practice.
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Stage theory
A theory of development laid out in a sequence of distinct phases, each characterized by a particular set of abilities, motives, emotions, or behaviors that form a coherent pattern.
Cognitive development theory
Piaget’s theory detailing how children advance through four stages of thinking: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.
Systems Theories
Theories of development holding that changes over the life span arise from the ongoing interrelationships between a changing organism and a changing environment, both of which are part of a larger, dynamic system
Bioecological Model
Bronfenbrenner’s model of development that emphasizes the roles of both nature and nurture as the developing person interacts with a series of environmental systems (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem) over time (chronosystem).
Mircosystem
face-to-face
Mesosystem
interrelationships between microsystems or immediate environments (e.g., ways in which events in the family affect a child’s interactions at a day care center).
Exosystem
settings not experienced directly by individuals that still influence their development (e.g., effects of events at a parent’s workplace on children’s development).
Marcosystem
the larger cultural or subcultural context of development.
Chronosystem
the system that captures the way changes in environmental systems, such as social trends and life events, are patterned over a person’s lifetime.
Scientific Method
An attitude or value about the pursuit of knowledge that dictates that investigators must be objective and must allow their data to decide the merits of their theorizing.
Hypotheses
A theory-based prediction about what will hold true if we observe a phenomenon.
Sample
A group of individuals chosen to be the subjects of a study.
Population
A well-defined group that a researcher studies a sample of individuals and is interested in drawing conclusions about.
Random Sample
A sample formed by identifying all members of the larger population of interest and then selecting a portion of them in an unbiased or random way to participate in the study; a technique to ensure that the sample studied is representative or typical of the larger population of interest.
Naturalistic Observation
A research method in which the scientist observes people as they engage in common everyday activities in their natural habitats. Contrast with structured observation.
Structured Observation
A research method in which scientists create special conditions designed to elicit the behavior of interest to achieve greater control over the conditions under which they gather behavioral data. Contrast with naturalistic observation
FMRI
A brain-imaging technique that uses magnetic forces to measure the increase in blood flow to an area of the brain that occurs when that brain area is active. By having children and adults perform cognitive tasks while lying very still in a scanner, researchers can determine which parts of the brain are involved in particular cognitive activities.
Case Study
An in-depth examination of an individual (or a small number of individuals) typically carried out by compiling and analyzing information from a variety of sources such as observing, testing, and interviewing the person or people who know the individual.
Experiment
A research strategy in which the investigator manipulates or alters some aspect of a person’s environment to measure its effect on the individual’s behavior or development.
Independent Variable
The aspect of the environment that a researcher deliberately changes or manipulates in an experiment to see its effect on behavior; a causal variable. Contrast with dependent variable.
Dependent Variable
The aspect of behavior measured in an experiment and assumed to be under the control of, or dependent on, the independent variable.
Random Assignment
A technique in which research participants are placed in experimental conditions in an unbiased or random way so that the resulting groups are not systematically different.
Experimental Control
The holding of all other factors besides the independent variable in an experiment constant so that any changes in the dependent variable can be said to be caused by the manipulation of the independent variable.
Correlational Method
A research technique that involves determining whether two or more variables are related. It cannot indicate that one thing caused another, but it can suggest that a causal relationship exists or allow us to predict one characteristic from our knowledge of another
Correlational Coefficient
A measure, ranging from +1.00 to -1.00, of the extent to which two variables or attributes are systematically related to each other in either a positive or a negative way.
Directionality Problem
The problem in correlational studies of determining whether a presumed causal variable is the cause or the effect. See also third variable problem.
Third Variable Problem
In correlation studies, the problem posed by the fact that the association between the two variables of interest may be caused by some third variable; see also directionality problem.
Meta-analysis
A research method in which the results of multiple studies addressing the same question are synthesized to produce overall conclusions.
Cross-sectional Design
A developmental research design in which different age groups are studied at the same point in time and compared.
Cohorts
A group of people born at the same time; a particular generation of people.
Age Effects
In developmental research, the effects of getting older or of developing.
Cohort Effects
In cross-sectional research, the effects on findings that the different age groups (cohorts) being compared were born at different times and had different formative experiences.
Longitudinal Design
A developmental research design in which one group of subjects is studied repeatedly over months or years.
Time of Measurement Effects
In developmental research, the effects on findings of historical events occurring when the data for a study are being collected (e.g., psychological changes brought about by an economic depression rather than as a function of aging).
Sequential Design
A developmental research design that combines the cross-sectional approach and the longitudinal approach in a single study to compensate for the weaknesses of each.
WEIRD People
An acronym referring to people living in societies that are Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. The field of psychology has been characterized as the study of WEIRD people (e.g., American college students).
Ethnocentrism
The belief that one’s own cultural or ethnic group is superior to others.
Research Ethics
Standards of conduct that investigators are ethically bound to honor to protect their research participants from physical or psychological harm.
