Chapter 1 Child Development: Theories and Themes

Question 1

Theory

Answer 1

an organized set of ideas designed to explain and make predictions about development; also, any organized set of ideas designed to explain and make predictions about natural phenomena.

Question 2

Natural selection

Answer 2

an ongoing process in nature that results in survival of those organisms that are best adapted to their environments.

Question 3

Maturational theory

Answer 3

a theory that views development as unfolding according to a specific and pre-arranged scheme or plan within the body.

Question 4

Ethological theory

Answer 4

a theory that views development from an evolutionary perspective, such that human behaviours can be adaptive and have survival value.

Question 5

Critical period

Answer 5

the time in development when a specific type of learning best takes place.

Question 6

Imprinting

Answer 6

the instinctive creation of an emotional bond between a newborn animal and the animal’s mother.

Question 7

Attachment

Answer 7

the emotional bond that forms between people, particularly children and their parents.

Question 8

Psychoanalysis

Answer 8

Freud’s psychological theory and method of treatment for unresolved unconscious conflict.

Question 9

Id

Answer 9

one of three Freudian components of personality; a reservoir of primitive instincts and drives.

Question 10

Ego

Answer 10

one of three Freudian components of personality; tries to realistically meet the demands of the id.

Question 11

Superego

Answer 11

one of three Freudian components of personality; acts as the moral agent of personality.

Question 12

Libido

Answer 12

an instinctive energy or force that motivates humans to experience pleasure.

Question 13

Environmental reactions

Answer 13

a family’s responses to hereditary conditions.

Question 14

Body-ego

Answer 14

a person’s senses of the self as an individual.

Question 15

Psychic skin

Answer 15

a person’s capacity for protecting and containing their internal emotional states.

Question 16

Neuropsychoanalysis

Answer 16

the study of the relationship between psychoanalytic theory and biological approaches in psychology.

Question 17

Psychodynamic theories

Answer 17

theories that are offshoots of Freudian psychoanalysis.

Question 18

Psychosocial theory

Answer 18

Erik Erikson’s psychoanalytic theory that development occurs in a sequence of stages defined by a unique crisis or social challenge.

Question 19

Classical conditioning

Answer 19

a theory of associative learning that later gave rise to behaviorism.

Question 20

Operant conditioning

Answer 20

a behavioural theory about how the consequences of a behaviour can affect future occurrences of that behaviour.

Question 21

Reinforcement

Answer 21

a consequence that increases the future likelihood of the behaviour it follows.

Question 22

Punishment

Answer 22

an aversive consequence that decreases the future likelihood of the behaviour it follows primarily when the child is in the presence of an authority figure.

Question 23

Imitation

Answer 23

behaving in the manner one sees others behaving.

Question 24

Vicarious (observational) learning

Answer 24

a method of learning in which one acquires knowledge by watching others’ behaviours and the consequences or outcomes of those behaviours.

Question 25

Social cognitive theory

Answer 25

a theory of personality that views the environment, behaviour, and cognitions as important in shaping development.

Question 26

Self-efficacy

Answer 26

beliefs about one’s own levels of ability, skill, and talent.

Question 27

Culture

Answer 27

the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, symbolic representations, and behaviours associated with a group of people.

Question 28

Ecological theory

Answer 28

a theory of development that views the child as embedded in a series of complex and interactive systems.

Question 29

Mental hardware

Answer 29

cognitive structures, including memories and where they are stored.

Question 30

Mental software

Answer 30

organized sets of cognitive processes, such as reading.

Question 31

Evolutionary developmental psychology

Answer 31

an approach to developmental psychology using evolutionary theory as a metatheory of human development in an attempt to have psychologists agree on a unified perspective of humanity.

Question 32

Developmental psychopathology

Answer 32

a theory of child development that tries to explain how abnormal development occurs within a view of development as a dynamic process involving continual transformation during the lifespan.