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
Shared Environmental Influences
common experiences that work to make individuals similar (e.g. parenting style)
Nonshared Environmental Influences
unique experiences to the individual – those who are not shared with the other members of the family (e.g. favoritism)
What are the three kinds of gene-environment correlations?
- Passive Gene-Environment
- Evocative Gene-Environment
- Active Gene-Environment
Passive Gene-Environment
parents’ decisions for their children is influenced partly by the parents’ genotypes
e.g. Intelligent parents will provide an intelligence-stimulating environment for their child whose intelligence from heredity will be further nurtured.
Evocative Gene-Environment
+ child’s genotype evokes certain kinds of reactions from people
+ Genetic makeup may affect the reactions of other people to a child and, hence, the kind of social experiences the child will experience
e.g. A teacher notices that a child is musically inclined and provides opportunities for the child to further her musical skills.
Active-Gene Environment
children’s genotype influences the environments they seek (also called niche-building)
Heredity
consists of inborn traits and characteristics provided by the child’s parents (nature)
Environment
influences stems from the outside body, starting from conception throughout life (nurture)
What are the contexts of development?
- Family
- Socioeconomic Status
- Culture
- Gender
- History
Family
involves nuclear and extended family
Socioeconomic Status
combination of economic and social factors describing an individual or family, including income, education, and occupation
Culture
society’s or group’s total way of life
Ethnic Gloss
overgeneralization that obscures or blurs variations
Race
identifiable biological category, is more accurately defined social construct
What are the types of influences regarding history?
- Normative Influences
- Normative Age-Graded Influences
- Normative History-Graded Influences
Normative Influences
biological or environmental events that affects many or most people in a society in a similar ways and events that touch only certain individuals
Normative History-Graded Influences
+ Historical Generation
+ Age Cohort
Historical Generation
group of people who experience the event at a formative time in their lives
Age Cohort
group of people born at about the same time
Nonnormative
unusual events that have major impacts on individual lives because they disturb the expected sequence of the life cycle
Imprinting
instinctively follow the first moving object they see
Critical Period
specific time when a given or its absence, has a specific impact on development
Sensitive Period
when developing person is especially responsive to certain kind of experience
Plasticity
modifiability of performance
Theory
set of logically related concept or statements that seek to describe and explain development and to predict the kinds of behavior that might occur under certain conditions
Hypothesis
explanations or predictions that can be tested further by research
John Locke
tabula rasa
Jean Jacques Rosseau
children are born “noble savages” who develop according to their own positive natural tendencies if not corrupted by society
Mechanistic Model
people are like machines that react to environmental input (reactive)
Organismic Model
people as active, growing organisms that set their own development in motion; initiate events, and do not just react (active)
Continuous
gradual and incremental
Discontinuous
abrupt or even
Quantitative Change
change in number or amount, such as height, weight, or vocabulary size
Qualitative Change
emergence of new phenomena that could not be easily predicted on the basis of the past basic functioning
Evolutionary Psychology
emphasized the importance of adaptation, reproduction, and “survival of the fittest” in shaping behavior
Nativist Perspective
genes
Empiricist Perspective
environment
Noam Chomsky
all children acquire language in the same way
