Chapter 1: Introduction to Child and Adolescent Development

Question 1

Development

Answer 1

Predictable changes that occur in structure or function over the life span

Question 2

Ontogeny

Answer 2

Development of the individual over his or her lifetime

Question 3

Phylogeny

Answer 3

Evolution of the species

Question 4

Child Study Movement

Answer 4

Social movement begun in the United States around 1900 that proposed the systematic application of science principles to the study of children

Question 5

Stability

Answer 5

In development psychology, the degree to which a person maintains over time the same rank order in comparison with peers for a particular characteristic

Question 6

Plasticity

Answer 6

The extent to which behavior or brain functioning can be changed

Question 7

Dicontinuity versus Continuity of Development

Answer 7

The scientific debate over whether developmental change is gradual (continuous) or relatively abrupt (discontinuous)

Question 8

Normative Approach

Answer 8

Approach in psychology concerned with features that all people have in common

Question 9

Developmental Function

Answer 9

The form that development takes over time

Question 10

Idiographic Approach

Answer 10

Approach to psychology that is concerned with individual differences among people, as opposed to concern with features that all people have in common

Question 11

Nature/Nurture

Answer 11

Debate concerning the degree to which biology (nature) and experience (nurture) influences the development of any psychological characteristic and its development

Question 12

Empiricism

Answer 12

Philosophical perspective that nature provides only species-general learning mechanisms, with cognition arising as a result of experience

Question 13

Nativism

Answer 13

Philosophical perspective that human intellectual abilities are innate

Question 14

Genetic Determinism

Answer 14

The idea that one’s genes determine one’s behavior

Question 15

Developmental Systems Theory

Answer 15

The perspective that development is not simply “produced” by genes, nor constructed by the environment, but emerges from the continuous, bidirectional interaction between all levels of biological and environmental factors

Question 16

Epigenesis

Answer 16

The emergence of new structures and functions during course of development

Question 17

Preformationism

Answer 17

The idea that development is just the expression of previously fully formed structures

Question 18

Structure

Answer 18

In development psychology, a substrate of the organism that develops, such as muscle, nervous tissue, or mental knowledge

Question 19

Function

Answer 19

In developmental psychology, action related to a structure, such as movement of a muscle, nerve firing, or the activation of a mental representation

Question 20

Sensitive Period

Answer 20

The time in development (usually early in life) when a certain skill or ability can be most easily acquired

Question 21

Validity

Answer 21

The extent to which a measurement accurately assesses what it purports to measure

Question 22

Reliability

Answer 22

The trustworthiness of a research finding; includes interobserver reliability and replicability

Question 23

Parsimony

Answer 23

Preference for the simplest scientific explanation for a phenomenon

Question 24

Structured Interviews

Answer 24

Interviews in which participants are asked a set of standardized questions under conditions in which the researcher can control extraneous factors that may influence a child’s behavior

Question 25

Clinical Interviews

Answer 25

Interviews, used extensively by Piaget, in which the examiner probes a child’s knowledge about a given topic

Question 26

Questionnaires

Answer 26

A form of self-reports, in which participants respond to a series of questions designed to get at some specific aspect of people’s behavior, thinking, or feelings

Question 27

Observational Studies

Answer 27

Studies in which researchers identify a type of behavior they are interested in and observe children in specific situations for the incidence of those behaviors. They can be naturalistic or structured and typically do not involve an experimental manipulation of variables

Question 28

Case Study

Answer 28

Detailed description of a single individual made by an expert observer

Question 29

Correlational Studies

Answer 29

Type of study that examines two or more factors to determine if changes in one are associated with changes in another

Question 30

Experimental Studies

Answer 30

Type of studies in which a researcher manipulates one or more factors, then observes how these manipulations change the behavior under investigation

Question 31

Independent Variables

Answer 31

In experimental studies, the factors, or variables, that are modified to see their effect on the dependent, or outcome, variables

Question 32

Dependent Variables

Answer 32

The “outcome” variable, or behavior, that is being studied

Question 33

Quasi-Experimental Studies

Answer 33

Studies in which assignment of participants to conditions is not made at random (e.x. males vs females)

Question 34

Naturalistic Studies

Answer 34

Studies in which the researcher observes individuals in their own environments, interviewing as little as possible.

Question 35

Longitudinal Studies

Answer 35

Type of developmental studies that assesses developmental change by following a person or group of people over a long period of time

Question 36

Cross-sectional Studies

Answer 36

Type of developmental studies that compares different individuals of different ages at the same point in time

Question 37

Cross-sequential Approach

Answer 37

Type of developmental studies that combines aspects of cross-sectional and longitudinal; groups of participants as different ages are tested, and then followed longitudinally

Question 38

Cohort Effects

Answer 38

The psychological effects associated with being a member of a group born at a particular time (e.x. a generation) and place; the fact that people who are living in a culture at the same time are influenced by the same historical events

Question 39

Microgenetic Studies

Answer 39

Studies assessing some target behaviors of participants repeatedly over relatively short intervals of time, usually days or weeks