Chapter 2: Theory and Research

Question 1

Coherent set of logically related concepts that seeks to organize, explain, and predict data.

Answer 1

theory

Question 2

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.

Answer 2

reactive development

Question 2

Possible explanations for phenomena,
used to predict the outcome of research.

Answer 2

hypotheses

Question 2

Model that views human development
as a series of predictable responses to
stimuli.

Answer 2

mechanistic model

Question 2

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.

Answer 2

active development

Question 2

Changes in number or amount, such as
in height, weight, size of vocabulary, or
frequency of communication.

Answer 2

quantitative change

Question 3

Model that views human development as
internally initiated by an active organism
and as occurring in a sequence of quali-
tatively diff erent stages.

Answer 3

organismic model

Question 4

Organismic theorists are proponents
of this theories in which development
is seen as occurring in a series of distinct
stages, like stair steps.

Answer 4

stage theories

Question 4

View of human development as
shaped by unconscious forces that
motivate human behavior.

Answer 4

psychoanalytic perspective

Question 4

Discontinuous changes in kind, struc-
ture, or organization.

Answer 4

qualitative change

Question 5

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.

Answer 5

psychosexual development

Question 6

Under the pleasure
principle —the drive to seek immediate satisfaction of their needs and desires.

Answer 6

id

Question 6

Represents reason, develops gradually during the fi rst year or so of life and operates under the reality principle.

Answer 6

ego

Question 7

Includes the conscience and
incorporates socially approved “shoulds” and “should nots” into the child’s value
system.

Answer 7

superego

Question 8

An arrest in development that can show up in adult personality.

Answer 8

fixation

Question 9

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 ______.

Answer 9

Oedipus and Electra complexes.

Question 9

In Erikson’s eight-stage theory, the socially and culturally influenced process of development of the ego, or self.

Answer 9

psychosocial development

Question 10

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.

Answer 10

Crisis

Question 11

View of human development that holds that changes in behavior result from experience or from adaptation to the environment.

Answer 11

learning perspective

Question 12

Learning theory that emphasizes the predictable role of environment in causing observable behavior.

Answer 12

behaviorism

Question 12

A mental link is formed between two events.

Answer 12

associative learning,

Question 13

The process by which a behavior is
strengthened, increasing the likelihood
that the behavior will be repeated.

Answer 13

reinforcement

Question 13

The process by which a behavior is
weakened, decreasing the likelihood of
repetition.

Answer 13

punishment

Question 14

Learning based on association of
behavior with its consequences.

Answer 14

operant conditioning

Question 14

Learning based on associating a stimulus that does not ordinarily elicit a response with another stimulus that does elicit the response.

Answer 14

classical conditioning

Question 14

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.

Answer 14

Behavior modification

Question 15

Theory that behaviors are learned by observing and imitating models.

Answer 15

social learning theory

Question 16

—the person acts on the world as the world acts on the person.

Answer 16

reciprocal determinism

Question 16

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 ______.

Answer 16

observational learning

Question 16

Bandura’s term for bidirectional forces that affect development.

Answer 16

reciprocal determinism

Question 17

Learning through watching the behavior of others.

Answer 17

observational learning

Question 18

Sense of one’s capability to master challenges and achieve goals.

Answer 18

self-efficacy

Question 19

View that thought processes are central to development.

Answer 19

cognitive perspective

Question 20

Piaget’s theory that children’s cognitive development advances in a series of four stages involving qualitatively distinct types of mental operations.

Answer 20

cognitive-stage theory

Question 21

Piaget’s term for adjustment to new information about the environment, achieved through processes of assimilation and accommodation.

Answer 21

adaptation

Question 22

Piaget’s term for the creation of categories or systems of knowledge.

Answer 22

organization

Question 22

Piaget’s term for organized patterns of thought and behavior used in particular situations.

Answer 22

schemes

Question 23

Piaget’s term for changes in a cognitive structure to include new information.

Answer 23

accommodation

Question 23

Piaget’s term for incorporation of new information into an existing cognitive structure.

Answer 23

assimilation

Question 23

Piaget’s term for the tendency to seek a stable balance among cognitive elements; achieved through a balance between assimilation and accommodation.

Answer 23

equilibration

Question 24

Vygotsky’s theory of how contextual factors aff ect children’s development.

Answer 24

sociocultural theory

Question 24

Vygotsky’s term for the difference between what a child can do alone and what the child can do with help.

Answer 24

zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Question 25

Temporary support to help a child master a task

Answer 25

scaffolding

Question 26

Approach to the study of cognitive development by observing and analyzing the mental processes involved in perceiving and handling information.

Answer 26

information-processing approach

Question 26

View of human development that sees the individual as inseparable from the social context.

Answer 26

contextual perspective

Question 27

Bronfenbrenner’s approach to understanding processes and contexts of human development that identifies five levels of environmental influence.

Answer 27

bioecological theory

Question 28

A ______ is the everyday environment of home, school, work, or neighborhood, including face-to-face relationships with spouse, children, parents, friends, classmates, teachers, employers, or colleagues.

Answer 28

microsystem

Question 28

The _____ is the interlocking of various microsystems. It may include linkages between home and school (such as parent-teacher conferences) or between the family and the peer group (such as relationships that develop among families of children in a neighborhood play group).

Answer 28

mesosystem

Question 28

the _____ consists of interactions between a microsystem and an outside system or institution. Though the effects are indirect, they can still have a profound impact on a child.

Answer 28

exosystem

Question 29

Adds the dimension of time: change or constancy in the person and the environment. Time marches on, and, as it does, changes occur.

Answer 29

chronosystem

Question 30

View of human development that focuses on evolutionary and biological bases of behavior.

Answer 30

evolutionary/sociobiological perspective

Question 30

Behaviors that developed to solve problems in adapting to an earlier environment.

Answer 30

Evolved mechanisms

Question 31

Study of distinctive adaptive behaviors of species of animals that have evolved to increase survival of the species.

Answer 31

ethology

Question 32

Application of Darwinian principles of natural selection and survival of the fittest to individual behavior.

Answer 32

evolutionary psychology

Question 33

Research that deals with objectively measurable data.

Answer 33

quantitative research

Question 33

System of established principles and processes of scientifi c inquiry, which includes identifying a problem to be studied, formulating a hypothesis to be tested by research, collecting data, analyzing the data, forming tentative conclusions, and disseminating findings.

Answer 33

scientific method

Question 33

Research that focuses on nonnumerical data, such as subjective experiences, feelings, or beliefs.

Answer 33

qualitative research

Question 34

Group of participants chosen to represent the entire population under study.

Answer 34

sample

Question 34

Selection of a sample in such a way that each person in a population has an equal and independent chance of being chosen.

Answer 34

random selection

Question 34

Research method in which all participants are observed under the same controlled conditions.

Answer 34

laboratory observation

Question 34

Research method in which behavior is studied in natural settings without inter- vention or manipulation.

Answer 34

naturalistic observation

Question 35

Definition stated solely in terms of the operations or procedures used to pro- duce or measure a phenomenon.

Answer 35

operational definition

Question 36

Research method in which the observer lives with the people or participates in the activity being observed.

Answer 36

participant observation

Question 36

Study of links between neural pro- cesses and cognitive abilities.

Answer 36

cognitive neuroscience

Question 36

Study of a single subject, such as an individual or family.

Answer 36

case study

Question 36

Rigorously controlled, replicable procedure in which the researcher manipulates variables to assess the effect of one on the other.

Answer 36

experiment

Question 36

In-depth study of a culture, which uses a combination of methods including participant observation.

Answer 36

ethnographic study

Question 36

Research design intended to discover whether a statistical relationship between variables exists.

Answer 36

correlational study

Question 37

In an experiment, the group receiving the treatment under study.

Answer 37

experimental group

Question 37

In an experiment, a group of people, similar to those in the experimental group, who do not receive the treat- ment under study.

Answer 37

control group

Question 38

In an experiment, the condition overwhich the experimenter has direct control.

Answer 38

independent variable

Question 38

Assignment of participants in an experi- ment to groups in such a way that each person has an equal chance of being placed in any group.

Answer 38

random assignment

Question 38

In an experiment, the condition that may or may not change as a result of changes in the independent variable.

Answer 38

dependent variable

Question 39

Study designed to assess age-related diff erences, in which people of diff erent ages are assessed on one occasion.

Answer 39

cross-sectional study

Question 39

Study designed to assess age changes in a sample over time.

Answer 39

longitudinal study

Question 39

Study design that combines cross- sectional and longitudinal techniques.

Answer 39

sequential study