Chapter 1 Child Development: Theories and Themes Flashcards
Theory
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.
Natural selection
an ongoing process in nature that results in survival of those organisms that are best adapted to their environments.
Maturational theory
a theory that views development as unfolding according to a specific and pre-arranged scheme or plan within the body.
Ethological theory
a theory that views development from an evolutionary perspective, such that human behaviours can be adaptive and have survival value.
Critical period
the time in development when a specific type of learning best takes place.
Imprinting
the instinctive creation of an emotional bond between a newborn animal and the animal’s mother.
Attachment
the emotional bond that forms between people, particularly children and their parents.
Psychoanalysis
Freud’s psychological theory and method of treatment for unresolved unconscious conflict.
Id
one of three Freudian components of personality; a reservoir of primitive instincts and drives.
Ego
one of three Freudian components of personality; tries to realistically meet the demands of the id.
Superego
one of three Freudian components of personality; acts as the moral agent of personality.
Libido
an instinctive energy or force that motivates humans to experience pleasure.
Environmental reactions
a family’s responses to hereditary conditions.
Body-ego
a person’s senses of the self as an individual.
Psychic skin
a person’s capacity for protecting and containing their internal emotional states.
Neuropsychoanalysis
the study of the relationship between psychoanalytic theory and biological approaches in psychology.
Psychodynamic theories
theories that are offshoots of Freudian psychoanalysis.
Psychosocial theory
Erik Erikson’s psychoanalytic theory that development occurs in a sequence of stages defined by a unique crisis or social challenge.
Classical conditioning
a theory of associative learning that later gave rise to behaviorism.
Operant conditioning
a behavioural theory about how the consequences of a behaviour can affect future occurrences of that behaviour.
Reinforcement
a consequence that increases the future likelihood of the behaviour it follows.
Punishment
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.
Imitation
behaving in the manner one sees others behaving.
Vicarious (observational) learning
a method of learning in which one acquires knowledge by watching others’ behaviours and the consequences or outcomes of those behaviours.
Social cognitive theory
a theory of personality that views the environment, behaviour, and cognitions as important in shaping development.
Self-efficacy
beliefs about one’s own levels of ability, skill, and talent.
Culture
the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, symbolic representations, and behaviours associated with a group of people.
Ecological theory
a theory of development that views the child as embedded in a series of complex and interactive systems.
Mental hardware
cognitive structures, including memories and where they are stored.
Mental software
organized sets of cognitive processes, such as reading.
Evolutionary developmental psychology
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.
Developmental psychopathology
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.
