Chapter 1 vocabulary

Question 1

age effects

Answer 1

one of the three fundamental effects examined in developmental research, along with cohort and time-of-measurement effects, which reflects the influence of time dependent processes on development.

Question 2

ageism

Answer 2

the untrue assumption that chronological age is the main determinant of human characteristics and that one age is better than another.

Question 3

biological forces

Answer 3

one of four basic forces of development that includes all genetic and health-related factors.

Question 4

biopsychosocial framework

Answer 4

way of organizing the biological, psychological and sociocultural forces on human development.

Question 5

case study

Answer 5

an intensive investigation of individual people

Question 6

cohort

Answer 6

a group of people born at the same point in time or within a specific time span.

Question 7

cohort effects

Answer 7

one of the three basic influences examined in developmental research, along with age and time-of-measurement effects, which reflects differences caused by experiences and circumstances unique to the historical time in which one lives.

Question 8

confounding

Answer 8

any situation in which one cannot determine which of two or more effects is responsible for the behaviors being observed.

Question 9

continuity-discontinuity controversy

Answer 9

the debate over whether a particular developmental phenomenon represents smooth progression over time (continuity) or a series of abrupt shifts (discontinuity).

Question 10

correlational study

Answer 10

an investigation in which the strength of association between variables is examined.

Question 11

cross-sectional study

Answer 11

a developmental research design in which people of different ages and cohorts are observed at one time of measurement to obtain information about age differences.

Question 12

demographers

Answer 12

people who study population trends.

Question 13

dependent variable

Answer 13

behaviors or outcomes measured in an experiment.

Question 14

emerging adulthood

Answer 14

a period when individuals are not adolescents but are not yet fully adults.

Question 15

experiment

Answer 15

a study in which participants are randomly assigned to experimental and control groups and in which an independent variable is manipulated to observe its effects on a dependent variable so that cause-and-effect relations can be established.

Question 16

gerontology

Answer 16

the study of aging from maturity through old age.

Question 17

independent variable

Answer 17

the variable manipulated in an experiment.

Question 18

life-cycle forces

Answer 18

one of the four basic forces of development that reflects differences in how the same event or combination of biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces affects people at different points in their lives.

Question 19

life-span perspective

Answer 19

a view of the human life span that divides it into two phases: childhood/adolescence and young/middle/late adulthood.

Question 20

longitudinal study

Answer 20

a developmental research design that measures one cohort over two or more times of measurement to examine age changes.

Question 21

meta-analysis

Answer 21

a technique that allows researchers to synthesize the results of many studies to estimate relations between variables.

Question 22

microgenetic study

Answer 22

a special type of longitudinal design in which participants are tested repeatedly over a span of days or weeks, typically with the aim of observing change directly as it occurs.

Question 23

nature-nurture issue

Answer 23

a debate over the relative influence of genetics and the environment on development.

Question 24

nonnormative influences

Answer 24

random events that are important to an individual but do not happen to most people.

Question 25

normative age-graded influences

Answer 25

experiences caused by biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces that are closely related to a person’s age.

Question 26

normative history-graded influences

Answer 26

events that most people in a specific culture experience at the same time.

Question 27

plasticity

Answer 27

the belief that capacity is not fixed, but can be learned or improved with practice.

Question 28

population pyramid

Answer 28

graphic technique for illustrating population trends.

Question 29

primary aging

Answer 29

the normal, disease-free development during adulthood.

Question 30

psychological forces

Answer 30

one of the four basic forces of development that includes all internal perceptual, cognitive, emotional and personality factors.

Question 31

reliability

Answer 31

the ability of a measure to produce the same value when used repeatedly to measure the identical phenomenon over time.

Question 32

secondary aging

Answer 32

developmental changes that are related to disease, lifestyle, and other environmental changes that are not inevitable.

Question 33

self-reports

Answer 33

people’s answers to questions about a topic of interest.

Question 34

sequential designs

Answer 34

types of developmental research designs involving combinations of cross-sectional and longitudinal designs.

Question 35

sociocultural forces

Answer 35

one of the four basic forces of development that include interpersonal, societal, cultural, and ethnic factors.

Question 36

stability-change issue

Answer 36

a debate over the degree to which people remain the same over time as opposed to being different.

Question 37

systematic observation

Answer 37

a type of measurement involving watching people and carefully recording what they say and do.

Question 38

tertiary aging

Answer 38

rapid losses occurring shortly before death.

Question 39

time-of-measurement effects

Answer 39

one of the three fundamental effects examined in developmental research, along with age and cohort effects, which results from the time at which the data are collected.

Question 40

universal versus context-specific development controversy

Answer 40

a debate over whether there is a single pathway of development, or several.

Question 41

validity

Answer 41

the degree to which an instrument measures what it is supposed to measure.