Chapter 2: Theory and Research Flashcards
Coherent set of logically related concepts that seeks to organize, explain, and predict data.
theory
Psychologists who
believe in thisdevelopment conceptualize the developing child as a hungry sponge
that soaks up experiences and is shaped by this input over time.
reactive development
Possible explanations for phenomena,
used to predict the outcome of research.
hypotheses
Model that views human development
as a series of predictable responses to
stimuli.
mechanistic model
Psychologists who believe in this development argue that people create experiences for themselves and are motivated to learn about the world around them. Things aren’t just happening to them, they are involved in making their world what it is.
active development
Changes in number or amount, such as
in height, weight, size of vocabulary, or
frequency of communication.
quantitative change
Model that views human development as
internally initiated by an active organism
and as occurring in a sequence of quali-
tatively diff erent stages.
organismic model
Organismic theorists are proponents
of this theories in which development
is seen as occurring in a series of distinct
stages, like stair steps.
stage theories
View of human development as
shaped by unconscious forces that
motivate human behavior.
psychoanalytic perspective
Discontinuous changes in kind, struc-
ture, or organization.
qualitative change
In Freudian theory, an unvarying
sequence of stages of childhood
personality development in which gratification shifts from the mouth to the anus and then to the genitals.
psychosexual development
Under the pleasure
principle —the drive to seek immediate satisfaction of their needs and desires.
id
Represents reason, develops gradually during the fi rst year or so of life and operates under the reality principle.
ego
Includes the conscience and
incorporates socially approved “shoulds” and “should nots” into the child’s value
system.
superego
An arrest in development that can show up in adult personality.
fixation
Boys develop sexual attachment to their mothers, and girls to their fathers, and they have aggressive urges toward the same-sex parent, whom they regard as a rival. Freud called these developments the ______.
Oedipus and Electra complexes.
In Erikson’s eight-stage theory, the socially and culturally influenced process of development of the ego, or self.
psychosocial development
In personality*—a major psychosocial challenge that is particularly important at that time and will remain an issue to some degree throughout the rest of life.
Crisis
View of human development that holds that changes in behavior result from experience or from adaptation to the environment.
learning perspective
Learning theory that emphasizes the predictable role of environment in causing observable behavior.
behaviorism
A mental link is formed between two events.
associative learning,
The process by which a behavior is
strengthened, increasing the likelihood
that the behavior will be repeated.
reinforcement
The process by which a behavior is
weakened, decreasing the likelihood of
repetition.
punishment
Learning based on association of
behavior with its consequences.
operant conditioning
Learning based on associating a
stimulus that does not ordinarily elicit a
response with another stimulus that
does elicit the response.
classical conditioning
This therapy is a form of operant conditioning used to eliminate
undesirable behavior, such as temper tantrums, or to instill desirable behavior, such as putting away toys after play.
Behavior modification
Theory that behaviors are learned by observing and imitating models.
social learning theory
—the person acts on the world as the world acts on the person.
reciprocal determinism
Classic social learning theory maintains that people learn appropriate social behavior chiefly by observing and imitating models—that is, by watching other people. This process is called ______.
observational learning
Bandura’s term for bidirectional forces
that affect development.
reciprocal determinism
