Chapter 1 Flashcards
Development
systematic changes and continuities in the individual that occur between conception and death, or “womb to tomb”
3 Broad Domains
Physical development, cognitive development, psychosocial development
Biological aging
deterioration of organisms that leads to death
emerging adulthood
a transitional period between adolescence and full-fledged adulthood
age norms
define where a person should be at a certain age in accordance to their culture
maturation
the biological unfolding of the individual according to a blue print contained in the genes
learning
the process through which experience brings relatively permanent changes in thoughts, feelings or behavior
Goals of studying development
describing, predicting, explaining, optimizing
Evidence based practice
grounding what they do in research and ensuring that the curricula and treatments they provide have been proven effective
Baby Biographies
scholars began to carefully observe the growth and development of their own children (Charles Darwin)
theory
a set of concepts and propositions intended to describe and explain certain phenomena
signs of a good theory
Internally consistent: same result every time
Falsifiable: can be proved wrong, is not vague
Supported by Data: hypotheses should be confirmed
random sample
a sample formed by identifying all members of the larger population and then drawing names blindly
Naturalistic observation
involves observing people in their everyday surroundings
Structured observation
researchers create special stimuli, tasks, or situations designed to elicit the behavior of interest
Case study
an in-depth examination of an individual typically by complying and analyzing information from a variety of sources such as observation, testing, and interviewing the people
Random assignment
randomly choosing participants
example: drawing names from a jar
Correlational method
generally involves determining whether two or more variables are related in a systematic way
Cross-sectional design
the performances of people of different age groups or cohorts are compared
