Chapter Two: Theory And Research Flashcards
Hypotheses
Tentative explanations or predictions that can be explanations that can be tested by further research.
Mechanistic Model
Model that views human development as a series of predictable responses to stimuli.
Organismic Model
Model that views human development as internally initiated by an active organism and as occurring in a sequence of qualitatively different stages.
Quantitative Change
Changes in number or amount
Qualitative Change
Discontinuous changes in kind, structure, and organization.
Psychoanalytic Development
View of human development as shaped by unconscious forces that motivate human behavior.
Psychosexual Development
An unvarying sequence of stages of childhood personality development in which gratification shifts from the mouth to the anus to the genitals. (Freud’s theory)
Psychosocial development
The socially and culturally influenced process of development of the ego, or self. (Erikson’s eight stage theory)
Learning Perspective
View of human development that holds that changes in behavior result from experience of from adaptation to the environment.
Behaviorism
Learning theory that emphasizes the predictable role of the environment in causing observable behavior.
Classical Conditioning
Learning based on associating a stimulus that does not ordinarily elicit a response with another stimulus that does elicit the response.
Operant Conditioning
Learning based on association of behavior with its consequences.
Reinforcement
The process by which a behavior is strengthened, increasing the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated.
Punishment
The process by which a behavior is weakened, decreasing the likelihood of repetition.
Social Learning Theory (social cognitive theory)
Behaviors are learned by observing and imitating models.
Reciprocal Determination
Bandura’s term for bidirectional forces that affect development.
Observational Learning
Learning through watching the behavior of others.
Self-efficacy
Sense of one’s capability to master challenges and achieve goals.
Cognitive Perspective
View that thought processes are central to development.
Cognitive-stage Theory
Plaget’s theory that children’s cognitive development advances in a series of four stages involving qualitatively distinct types of mental operations.
Organization (plaget)
The creation of categories or systems of knowledge.
Schemes
Organized patterns of thought and behavior.
Assimilation
Incorporation of new information into an existing cognitive structure.
Sociocultural Theory
Vygotskys’s theory of how contextual factors affect children development.
Zone of Proximal Development
Vygotsky’s term for the difference between what a child can do alone and what the child can do with help.
Scaffolding
Temporary support to help a child master a task.
Information-processing Approach
Observing and analyzing the mental processes involved in perceiving and handling information.
Contextual Perspective
View of human development that sees the individual as inseparable from the social context.
Bioecological Theory
Bronfrenbrenner’s approach to understanding processes and contexts of human development that identifies five levels of environmental influence.
Sociobiological/evolutionary Perspective
Focuses on evolutionary and biological based instead of behavior.
Ethology
Study of distinctive adaptive behaviors of species of animals that have evolved to increase survival of the species.
Evolutionary Psychology
Application of Darwinian principles of natural selection and survival of the fittest to individual behavior.
Operational definition
Definition stated solely in terms of the operations or procedures used to produce or measure a phenomenon.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Study of links between neural processes and cognitive abilities.
Case Study
Study of a single subject or family
Correlational Study
Research design intended to discover whether a statistical relationship between variables exists.
Cross sectional Study
Asses age related differences
Longitudinal Study
Assess age changes in a sample over time
Sequential Study
Study design that combines cross sectional and longitudinal techniques.
Theory
A set of logically related concepts or statements to seek to describe and explain development and to predict the kinds of behavior that might occur under certain condition.
