Chapter 2 Flashcards
An average, or typical, standard of behavior or accomplishment, such as the norm for age of walking or the norm for greeting a stranger.
Norm
A group of ideas, assumptions, and generalizations that interpret and illuminate the thousands of observations that have been made about human growth.
Developmental theory
A grand theory of human development that holds that irrational, unconscious drives and motives, often originating in childhood, underlie human behavior.
Psychoanalytic theory
A grand theory of human development that studies observable behavior.
Behaviorism
According to behaviorism, the processes by which responses become to linked to particular stimuli and learning takes place.
Conditioning
The learning process in which meaningful stimulus is connected with a neutral stimulus that had no special meaning before conditioning.
Classical conditioning
The learning process by which a particular action is followed by something desired or by something unwanted.
Operant conditioning
When a behavior is followed by something desired, such as food for a hungry animal or a welcoming smile for a lonely person.
Reinforcement
An extension of behaviorism that emphasizes the influence that other people have over a person’s behavior.
Social learning theory
The central process of social learning, by which a person observes the actions of others and then copies them.
Modeling
In social learning theory, the belief of some people that they are able to change themselves and effectively alter the social context.
Self-efficacy
A grand theory of human development that focuses on changes in how people think over time.
Cognitive theory
In cognitive theory, a state of mental balance in which people are not confused because they can use their existing thought processes to understand current experiences and ideas.
Cognitive equilibrium
The reinterpretation of of new experiences to fit into old ideas.
Assimilation
The restructuring of old ideas to include new experiences.
Accommodation
A perspective that compares human thinking processes by analogy, to computer analysis of data, including sensory input, connections, stored memories, and output.
Information-processing theory
A newer theory that holds that development results from the dynamic interaction of each person with the surrounding social and cultural forces.
Sociocultural theory
Vygotsky’s term for how condition is stimulated and developed in people by more skilled members of society.
Apprenticeship in thinking
The process by which people learn from others who guide their experiences and explorations.
Guided participation
In sociocultural theory, a metaphorical theory, or “zone”, surrounding a learner that includes all the skills, knowledge, and concepts that the person is close to acquiring but cannot yet master without help.
Zones of proximal development
A theory that stresses the potential of all humans for good and the belief that all people have the same basic needs, regardless of culture, gender, or background.
Humanism
The process by which living creatures adjust to their environment.
Selective adaptation
The approach taken by most developmentalists, in which they apply aspects of each of the various theories of development rather than adhering exclusively to one theory.
Eclectic perspective
