Chapter 1 - Intro To Lifespan Flashcards
Developmental Psychology
Scientific study of ways in which people change as well as stay the same from conception to death. 
Physical domain
Changes in height, weight, sensory capabilities, nervous system, and propensity for disease and illness
Cognitive domain
Changes in intelligence, wisdom, perception, problem solving, memory, and language
Psychological domain
Changes in emotion, self perception, and interpersonal relationships with families, peers, and friends
Plasticity
Our ability to change and that many of our characteristics are malleable
Development is multicontextual (3 parts)
- Normative age graded influences - specific age grade share particular experiences and developmental changes
- Normative history graded influences - Time period shapes your experiences (cohort - same period & particular society)
- Non-normative life influences - unique experiences that may shape our development
Socioeconomic status
Way to identify families and households based on their shared levels of education, income, and occupation
Culture
Totality of our shared language, knowledge, material objects, and behavior
Ethnocentrism
Believe that our own culture is superior
Cultural relativity
Appreciation for cultural differences and the understanding that cultural practices are best understood from the standpoint of that particular culture
Lifespan
Length of time a species can exist under the most optimal conditions
Life expectancy
Predicted number of years a person born in a particular time period can reasonably expect to live
Chronological age
Number of years since your birth
Biological age
How quickly the body is aging
Psychological age
Psychologically Adaptive Capacity compared to others of our chronological age
Social age
social Norms of culture and Expectations our culture has for people of our age group
Prenatal
Conception (through implantation in the uterine wall by the embryo) and ends at birth
Infancy and toddlerhood
Birth to two years
Early childhood
Two years until six years
Middle and late childhood
Six years to until onset puberty
Adolescence
Onset puberty to 18
Emerging adulthood
18 to 25
Early adulthood
25 to 40-45
Middle adulthood
40-45 to 65
Late adulthood
65 onward
Nature
Argues that heredity plays the most important role bringing about a particular feature
Nurture
Argues that one’s environment is most significant in shaping the way we are
Stage theories or discontinuous development
Assumes that developmental change occurs in
distinct stages qualitatively different from each other, and in a set,
universal sequence
Continuous development
Assumes development is a more slow and gradual process
Preformationist view
18th century - children were believed to possess all their sensory capabilities, emotions, and mental aptitude at birth, and as they develop these abilities and forward it on to determine schedule.
Environment thought to play no role in determining development.
John Locke
(1632-1704)
Children largely shaped by social environments.
Child’s mind at the Tabula Rasa or blank slate - whatever comes into the child’s mind comes from the environment.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
(1712-1778)
Children develop according to a natural plan which unfolds in different stages.
Children should be allowed to think by themselves according to their own ways and an inner, biological timetable.
Did not believe in teaching children the correct way to think.
Arnold Gessell
(1880-1961)
Believe that child development activated by genes and “maturation”
Believed development unfolded in fixed sequences
against teaching children ahead of schedule.
Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
Emphasized importance of early
Childhood Experiences in shaping personality and behavior.
Driven primarily by Instincts.
Difficult to test scientifically and not validated and cannot be used as evidence for his theories.
Erikson & Psychological Theory
Each period of life has a unique Challenge or Crisis that the person reaches it must face known as Psychosocial Crisis.
If person does not resolve a stage successfully, it may hinder their ability to deal with the later stages. 
Erikson’s Psychological Stages
Trust vs Mistrust - birth to 12/18 months
Autonomy vs shame/doubt - 18 months to 3 yrs
Initiative vs guilt - 3 to 6 yrs
Industry vs inferiority - 6 to 12 yrs
Identity vs role confusion - 12 to 18 yrs
Intimacy vs isolation - 19 to 40 yrs
Generativity vs stagnation - 40 to 65 yrs
Ego integrity vs despair - 65 death
Learning theory / behaviorism
Based on premise that it is not possible to objectively study the mind, and therefore psychologist should limit their attention to the study of behavior itself.
Can’t study mind - focus on behavior
B.F. Skinner - Used ideas of stimulus and response, along with the application of rewards or reinforcements, to train pigeons and other animals. Developed theories about how best to teach children and to create societies that were peaceful and productive.
1 Social learning theory
2 Reciprocal Determinism
Learning by watching others.
Albert Bandura -
1 children learn behaviors through imitation. Interplay between the environment and the individual.
Bobo doll experiment. 
2 Interplay between our personality and the way we interpret events and how they influence us. Example: Interplay between parents and children. Parents not only influence their child’s environment but children influence parents as well.
Cognitive theory
Focus on how our mental processes or cognitions change over time.
Three important theories:
Jean Piaget
Lev Vygotsky
Information Processing
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
 Children of differing ages interpret the world differently.
Stages of Cognitive Development:
Sensorimotor - Birth-2yrs - Children experience through seeing hearing touching and tasting (Object permanence)
Preoperational - 2-7yrs - internally represent the world through language and mental imagery. See world through others perspectives (Theory of mind slash rapid increase in language ability)
Concrete operational - 7-11yrs - Think logically and can perform operations on objects that are real (conservation)
Formal operational - 11-adulthood - Think systematically can reason about abstract concepts and understand ethics and scientific reasoning (abstract logic)
Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)
Social cultural theory - Emphasizes the importance of culture and interaction in the development of cognitive abilities. 
Person has set of abilities and a set of potential abilities that can be realized if given the proper guidance from others.
Social cultural theory
Emphasizes the importance of culture and interaction in the development of cognitive abilities.
Information processing
Studying how individuals perceive, analyze, manipulate, use, and remember information.
Assumes that humans gradually improving their processing skills; That is, cognitive development is continuous rather than stage like.
Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005)
Ecological Systems Theory - provides a framework for understanding and studying the Many influences on human development.
Human interaction is influenced by larger social forces. There are several systems as follows:
Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem, Chronosystem
Microsystem (Bronfenbrenner)
Individual’s setting in those who have direct, significant contact with the person, such as parents or siblings
Mesosystem (Bronfenbrenner)
Includes the larger organizational Structures, such as school, the family, or religion.
Exosystem (Bronfenbrenner)
Includes the larger context of community
Macrosystem (Bronfenbrenner)
Includes the cultural elements, such as global economic conditions, war, technological trans, values, philosophies, and a society’s response to the global community.
Chronosystem (Bronfenbrenner)
Historical context in which these experiences occur. Relates to different generational time periods.
Scientific method
Set of assumptions, rules, and procedures scientists use to conduct research
Research design
Specific method A researcher uses to collect, analyze, and interpret data
Descriptive research
Research that describes what is occurring at a particular point in time
Correlational research
Research designed to discover relationships among variables and to allow the prediction of future events from present knowledge.
Correlation does not demonstrate causation
Experimental research
Research in which a researcher manipulates one or more variables to see their effects
Case studies
Descriptive records of fun or a small group of individual’s experiences in behavior
Naturalistic observation
Psychologists observe and record behavior that occurs in every day settings
Laboratory observation
Observation is conducted in a setting created by the researcher. Permits the researcher to control more aspects of the situation.
Survey
Measure administered through either a verbal or written questionnaire to get a picture of the believes or behaviors of a sample of people of interest.
Sample
People chosen to participate in the research
Population
All the people the researcher wishes to know about
Representative sample
Include the same percentages of males, females, age groups, ethnic groups, and social economic groups as the larger population
Social desirability
Respondents may lie because they want to present themselves in the most favorable light
Psychophysiological assessment
Record physiological data, such as measures of heart rate, hormone levels, or brain activity to help explain development
Secondary/content analysis
Analyzing information that has already been collected or examining documents or media to uncover attitudes, practices or preferences
Pearson correlation coefficient
Known as r
Most common statistical measure of the strength of linear relationships among variables.
-1.00 to 1.00
Relationship can be positive or negative
Independent variable
Variable that is manipulated by the experimenter
Dependent variable
Variable that is measured and is expected to be influenced by the independent variable
Extraneous variables
Variables that are not part of the experiment that could inadvertently affect either the experimental or control group, thus distorting the results
Cross-sectional research
Compare samples that represent a cross-section of the population who vary in age
Year of study: 2004
Cohort A - 2 yrs old
Cohort B - 6 yrs old
Cohort C - 8 yrs old
Cohort effect
Impact of having been born in a certain time.
Longitudinal research
Studying a group of people who are the same age, and measuring them repeatedly over a period of time
Attrition
When participants fail to complete all portions of a study
Practice effect
When participants become better at a task overtime because they have done it again and again; not due to natural psychological development
Sequential research
Includes elements of both longitudinal and cross-sectional research designs
Informed consent
Explains as much as possible about the true nature of the study, particularly everything that might be expected to influence willingness to participate
Confidentiality
Researchers must protect the privacy of the research participants’ responses by not using names or other information that could identify the participants
Deception
Whenever the research participants are not completely and fully informed about the nature of the research project before participating in it
Debriefing
At the end of the study, a procedure design to fully explain the purpose and procedure of the pre-search and remove any harmful after effects of participation
