Chapter 10- Human Development

Question 1

Developmental psychology

Answer 1

Study of how behavior changes over the life span.

Question 2

Nature vs nurture

Answer 2

Both play powerful roles in development. Interconnected. Nature and nurture sometimes interact over course of development

Question 3

Gene-environment interaction

Answer 3

Many case the effects of genes depend on the environment and vice versa

Question 4

Nature via nurture

Answer 4

Tendency of individuals with certain genetic predispositions to seek out and create environments that permit the expression of those predispositions

Question 5

Gene expression

Answer 5

Activation or deactivation of genes by environmental experiences throughout development

Question 6

The mystique of early experience

Answer 6

Early life experiences effect development but so does later experience. Children are resilient and can bounce back

Question 7

Epigenetics

Answer 7

Whether genes are active is regulated day by day and moment by moment environments conditions

Question 8

Cross sectional design

Answer 8

Research design that examines people of different ages at a single point in time

Question 9

Cohort effect

Answer 9

Effect observed in a sample of participants that results from individuals in the sample growing up at the same time. Sets of people who lived in different times can differ in some systematic way from sets of people who lived during a different time period

Question 10

Longitudinal design

Answer 10

Research design that examines development in the same group of people on multiple occasions over time

Question 11

Developmental effects

Answer 11

Changes over time within individuals as consequence of growing older

Question 12

Attrition

Answer 12

Participants dropping out of the study before it is completed

Question 13

Post hoc fallacy

Answer 13

False assumption that because one event occurred before another event it must have caused that event

Question 14

Physical and motor development

Answer 14

The form and structure of the body including the brain undergo radical changes throughout the life span.

Question 15

Prenatal

Answer 15

Before birth

Question 16

Zygote

Answer 16

Fertilized egg

Question 17

Blastocyst

Answer 17

Ball of identical cells early in pregnancy that haven’t yet begun to take on any specific function in a body part

Question 18

Embryo

Answer 18

Second to eight week of prenatal development, during which limbs, facial features, and major organs of the body take form

Question 19

Fetus

Answer 19

Period of prenatal development from ninth week until birth after all major organs are established and physical maturation( bulking up) is the primary change

Question 20

Teratogen

Answer 20

An environmental factor that can exert a negative impact on prenatal development

Question 21

Fetal alcohol syndrome

Answer 21

Condition resulting from high levels of prenatal alcohol exposure, causing learning disabilities, physical physical growth retardation, facial malformations, and behavioral disorders

Question 22

Reflexes

Answer 22

Infants are born with a large set of automatic motor behaviors- or reflexes- that are triggered by specific types of stimulation. Reflexes fulfill important survival needs. Sucking reflex and rooting reflex: eating

Question 23

Motor behaviors

Answer 23

Bodily motion that occurs as a result of self initiated force that moves the bones and muscles. Babies learn this through trial and error

Question 24

Adolescence

Answer 24

Transition b/w childhood to adulthood. Teenage years

Question 25

Puberty

Answer 25

The achievement of sexual maturation resulting in the potential to reproduce

Question 26

Primary sex characteristics

Answer 26

A physical feature such as the reproductive organs and genitals that distinguish the sexes

Question 27

Secondary sex characteristic

Answer 27

A sex differentiating characteristic that doesn’t relate directly to reproduction such as breast enlargement in women and deepening voices in men

Question 28

Menarche

Answer 28

Start of menstruation

Question 29

Spermarche

Answer 29

Boy’s first ejaculation

Question 30

Menopause

Answer 30

Termination of menstruation marking the end of a woman’s reproductive potential

Question 31

Cognitive development

Answer 31

Study of how children acquire the ability to learn, think, reason, communicate, and remember

Question 32

Stage like changes in understanding

Answer 32

Sudden spurts in knowledge followed by periods of stability

Question 33

Continuous

Answer 33

Gradual changes in understanding

Question 34

Domain general

Answer 34

Propose that changes in children’s cognitive skills affect most or all areas of cognitive function in tandem

Question 35

Domain specific

Answer 35

Propose that children’s cognitive skills develop independently and at different rates across different domains, such as reasoning,language, and counting

Question 36

Assimilation

Answer 36

Piagetian process of absorbing new experience into current knowledge structures

Question 37

Accommodation

Answer 37

Piagetian process of altering a belief to make it more compatible with experience