Chapter 2: Theories and Context of Development Flashcards
Sociohistorical Context
The values, tools, and institutions found in one’s society
Mechanistic Theories
Theories of development that liken people to machines, such as the mind-as-a-computer model of information-processing approaches
Organismic Theories
Developmental theories that take a holistic (organism-like) view of development, seeing people as whole beings who begins who cannot be understood by decomposing them into their constituent parts
Behaviorism
Theory popular in the United States throughout the middle of the 20th century, holding that behavior and development are shaped by environmental influences
Applied Behavioral Analysis
Extention of B.F.Skinner’s behaviorism to practical setttings
Social Learning/ Social Cognitive Theory
Bandura’s theory of how individuals operate cognitively on their social experiences and how these cognitive operations influence behavior and deveopment
Operant (instrumental) Conditioning
Learning procedure where behavior is shaped through rewards and punishment
Vicarious Reinforcement
In Bandura’s social cognitive theory, learning from observing others’ behaviors and their consequences, without the need to receive specific reinforcement for one’s behavior
Reciprocal Determinism
In Bandura’s theory, the belief that children have as much of an effect on their environment as their environment has on them
Sensorimotor Period
In Piaget’s theory, the first major stage of cognitive development (birth to 2yrs), in which children understand their world through sensory motor experiences
Preoperational Period
In Piaget’s theory, the second major stage of cognitive development (2-7 years old), characterized by prelogical, intuitive thought
Concrete Operational Period
The third major stage of cognitive development in Piaget’s theory, in which children can decenter their perception, are less egocentric, and can think logically about concrete objects
Formal Operational Period
In Piaget’s theory, the final stage of cognitive development, in which children are able to apply abstract logical rules
Developmental Contextual Approaches
Perspective that views development as the result of bidirectional interaction between all levels of biological and experiential variables
Dynamic System
A set of elements that undergoes change over time as a result of interactions among the elements. Dynamic systems theories propose that developmental differences emerge as a result of the self-organization of lower-level elements
Sociocultural Theory
A perspective of cognitive development that emphasizes that individual development is socially mediated, and historically and culturally conditioned
Tools of Intellectual Adaptation
Vygotsky’s term for tools a culture provides for thinking and problem solving
General Genetic Law of Cultural Development
In Vygotsky’s theory, the idea that cognition occurs on two planes: first the social, between individuals, and later the psychological, as it is internalized by the child
Zone of Proximal Development
In Vygotsky’s theory, the difference between a child’s actual level of ability and the level of ability that he or she can achieve when working under the guidance of a more qualified instructor (adult or older child)
Guided Participation
The process and system of involvement of individuals with others as they communicate and engage in shared activities
Apprenticeship in Thinking
Routine transactions between children and adults, with novice children improving their skills and understanding through participation with more skilled partners in culturally organized activities
Ecological Systems Theory
Bronfenbrenner’s theory that views development as occurring within embedded spheres: mircosystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem, and the chronosystem
Microsystem
In Bronfenbrenner’s theory, all of the different social system in which a child is an active participant (E.x. a child’s family, school, and peer group)
Mesosystem
In Bonfenbrenner’s theory, all the possible microsystems in interaction
Exosystem
In BF theory, all of the social systems in which children are not regularly part of, but which nonetheless influence their lives
Macrosystem
In BF theory, all the values, attitudes, laws, ideology, and so forth of the culture in which children and adolescents live
Choronsystem
In BF theory, the system that reflects the fact that the child and the other systems change with time
Natural Selection
Primary mechanism for species evolution described by Darwin that, in which some members of a species are more fit than others and thus more likely to survive and reproduce
Evolutionary psychology
The application of the principles of modern evolutionary biology to explain human behavior
Evolved Cognitive Mechanisms
Information-processing mechanisms shaped by natural selection during the environments of evolutionary adaptedness to deal with specific and recurrent problems faced by our ancestors, such as getting food, avoiding predators, and finding and keeping a mate
Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness
Ancestral environments during which human nature was shaped
Hominids
Group of animals in the line that led to Homo Sapiens
Domain-specific Mechanisms
Cognitive abilities to one cognitive domain under control of a specific mind/brain function
Domain-general Mechanisms
General, underlying cognitive abilities that influence performance over a wide range of situations
Adaptions
In evolutionary theory, universal and reliably developing inherited features that arose as a result of natural selection and helped to solve some problems in the environment of evolutionary adaptedness
Evolutionary Developmental Psychology
The application of the principles of modern evolutionary biology to explain human development
Naturalistic Fallacy
The erroneous idea that something is good because it is natural
Deferred Adaptions
Aspects of childhood that serve as preparations for adulthood and were selected over the course of evoltion
Ontogenetic Adaptions
Behaviors that play a specific role in survival for an individual at one time only and the disappear when they are no longer needed
