Chapter 1 Flashcards
Growth
The physical changes that occur from conception to maturity.
Biological aging
The deterioration of organisms that leads inevitably to their death.
To most developmentalists, positive, negative, and neutral changes in the mature organism; different from biological aging
Aging
Development
Systematic changes in the individual occurring between conception and death; such changes can be positive, negative, or neutral.
Age grade
Socially defined age groups or strata, each w/ different statuses, roles, privileges, and responsibilities in society.
Rite of passage
From childhood to adulthood
Age norms
Expectations about what people should be doing or how they should act at different points in a life
Social clock
A personal sense of when things should be done in life and when the individual is ahead of or behind the schedule dictated by age norms.
Ethnicity
A person’s classification in or affiliation with group based on common heritage or traditions.
Socioeconomic status (SES)
The position people hold in society based on such factors as income, education, occupational status, and the prestige of their neighborhood.
Adolescence
The traditional period between childhood and adulthood that begins with puberty and ends when the individual has acquired adult competencies and responsibilities.
Emerging adulthood
Newly identified period of the life span extending from about age 18 to age 25, when young people are neither adolescents nor adults and are exploding their identities, careers, and relationships.
The average number of years a newborn baby can be expected to live; now almost 78 years in the United States
Life expectancy
Nature-nurture issue
The debate over the relationship importance of biological predispositions (nature) and environmental influences (nurture) as determinants of human development.
Maturation
Development that are biologically programmed by genes
Genes
Functional units of heredity made up of DNA
Generation to generation
Environment
Events or conditions outside the person that are presumed to influence and be influenced by the individual
Learning
A relatively permanent change in behavior (or behavioral potential) that results from a person’s experiences or practice.
Bioecological model
Bronfenbrenner’s model of development that emphasizes the roles of both nature and buture as the developing person interacts with a series of environmental systems
Microsystem
In bronfembrenner’s model, the immediate settings in which the persons function.
Ex. Family
Mesosystem
In the model, interrelationships or immediate environments
Ex. How family affects child’s interactions at a day care center
Macrosystem
In the model, the larger cultural or sub cultural context of the development.
Exosystem
In the model, settings not experienced directly by individuals still influence their development
Ex. Effects of events at a parent’s work place on a child’s development
Culture
A system of meanings shared by a population of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.