Module 1: Perspectives on Nature and Nurture Flashcards
Human Development
focuses on the scientific study of the systematic processes of change and stability in people
Life-Span Development
concept of human development as lifelong process, which can be studied scientifically
Life-Span Perspective
views development as lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual, and as a process that involves growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss
What are the domains of development?
- Physical development
- Cognitive development
- Psychosocial development
Physical Development
growth of the body and brain, sensory capacities, motor skills, and health
Cognitive Development
learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity
Psychosocial Development
emotions, personality,
and social relationships
Social Construction
a concept or practice that is an invention of a particular culture or society
Stability-Change Issue
which involves the degree to which early traits and characteristics persists through life or change
Continuity-Discontinuity
focuses on the degree to
which development involves either gradual, cumulative change
Growth
+ physical changes
+ quantitative
Maturation
+ transitional state that tells a person is fully functional
+ the unfolding of natural sequence of physical change and behavior patterns
Development
+ functional changes
+ it encompasses physical, social, and mental aspects
+ progressive
Learning
how a person adapts to the environment
Behavioral Genetics
scientific study of the extent to which genetic and environmental differences among people and animals are responsible for differences in their traits
Heritability
proportion of all the variability in the trait within a large sample of people that can be linked to genetic differences among those
individuals (measure of how well differences in people’s genes account for differences in their traits)
Gregor Mendel
studied the heredity in plants
Selective Breeding
+ involves attempting to breed
animals for a particular trait to determine whether the
trait is heritable
+ Genes contribute to such attributes as activity
level, emotionality, aggressiveness, and sex drive
in rats mice, and chickens
Types of studies on heritability
- Twin Studies
- Adoption Studies
- Family Studies
Concordance Rate
the percentage of pairs of people studied in which if one member of a pair displays the trait, the other does too
Reaction Range
potential variability, depending on environmental conditions, in the expression of a hereditary trait
Canalized Range (Canalization)
limitation on variance of expression of certain inherited characteristics
- e.g. eye color; motor and language development
Epigenetics
Genes turn on and off in patterned ways throughout the life span as triggered by the environment
Gene-Environment Interaction
the effects of genes depend on what kind of environment we experience, and how we respond to the environment depends on what gene we have
(e.g. intelligence is strongly influenced by heredity, but is also affected by parental stimulation, education, peer influence, and others)
What are three factors that contribute to individual differences in emotionality?
- Genes
- Shared environmental influences
- Nonshared environmental influences