PSYC 500: Human Growth and Development Flashcards
Accommodation
Accommodation is a term used in Piagetian theory to describe what occurs when a person alters their current schema (knowledge/thought patterns) or creates new schemas based on new information or new learnings. Accommodation involves changing a schema to incorporate new information. This happens when the existing schema does not work and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation.
EX: A client comes in after her first semester of college because she is struggling with feelings of loneliness, and she does not think she fits in. Courtney is African American but grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood and went to a predominantly white school. She does not have any siblings and the only other black family she has is her parents. She is attending an HBCU (historically black college/university) on a full scholarship. Courtney felt that Black culture and white culture we similar and that their wasn’t much difference between the two cultures. Now she is realizing that there is a significant difference in the two cultures. Courtney is now presented with altering/reorganizing the culture she grew up with to accommodate these new encounters and to be able to make friends and feel less lonely.
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Androgyny
Androgyny is a term in sociocultural theory when both masculine and feminine traits are present in a single individual. These traits represent personality, behavioral, emotional and physical characteristics of masculinity and femineity simultaneously within one individual.
EX: A heterosexual male, normally wears dresses and applies makeup daily. This male’s body language and appearance would be considered “gender-fluid”, meaning he wears close that are not always distinctive to male or female attire.
Assimilation
Assimilation refers to a part of the adaptation process initially proposed by Jean Piaget. Through assimilation, we take in new information or experiences and incorporate them into our existing ideas or schemas (thought patterns). The process is somewhat subjective, because we tend to modify experience or information to fit in with our pre-existing beliefs.
EX: An Hispanic client from a traditional family was having a hard time progressing in a traditional therapy setting. She liked her therapist but did not feel an overall connection which was making it hard for her to disclose personal deeper information. The therapist found a group therapy session with female Hispanics her clients age and suggested her client attend sessions. After attending a couple of sessions, the client was more comfortable because she was used to growing up with a community of people and preferred that versus one-on-one sessions. The client was able to assimilate group sessions to what she was already accustomed to and preferred.
Attachment
Attachment is coined by John Bowlby when referring to infant development. Attachment is the close emotional connectedness between an individual to others and begins as early as infancy. Although attachment to caregivers are developed in infancy, they often influence relationships in adulthood.
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Child Abuse
The physical emotional, sexual, and/or neglectful maltreatment of a child, usually by a parent, guardian, or caregiver. This experience can cause pathology or developmental/social problems in a child. A therapist is legally a mandated reporter, meaning they are required to report any suspicion of child abuse to relevant authorities.
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Classical Conditioning
A term coined by Ivan Pavlov following his experimentation on canine salivation where he created an association between the sound of a bell and the presence of food. In classical conditioning, a novel behavior is learned by association or by pairing the behavior with a particular stimulus. The stimulus then elicits a behavioral reaction after repeated pairings, and ultimately the behavior alone elicits the same reaction.
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Cohort
A group of people who were born at a similar time and share a common experience/characteristic within a defined period of time. Cohorts are often used in cross-sectional designs and developmental research to determine cohort effect, which is any belief or characteristic shared by people in the same cohort that is influenced by pressures or challenges typical of that group.
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Continuity vs. Non-Continuity
A theoretical debate carried out by developmentalists concerning whether development occurs in a continuous or discontinuous manner. The continuous theory of development states that development is gradual and cumulative over time, whereas the discontinuous theory of development states that development occurs is distinct changes.
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Control Group
In a research design, the control group is nearly identical to the experimental group except that there is no manipulation of the independent variable or treatment in this group. The control group data serves as a baseline against which the effects of treatment can be measured. More specifically to clinical treatment, the control group is a group in an experiment who receive no treatment, a placebo or a standard treatment in order to benchmark results against the treatment under study. This is done to increase the validity and reliability of results by isolating the effect of the treatment.
EX: A group of researchers want to study a new treatment for depression. There are two groups of participants with depression. All participants have the same severity of depression. One group is administered the treatment right away. The second group is waitlisted (delayed in treatment). The researchers compare the results of the group immediately administered treatment against the participants waitlisted. Ethically, the waitlisted group will eventually be given treatment for depression.
Correlational Research
A study of the relationship or association between two variables – a causal relationship cannot be determined using correlational research. A positive correlation occurs when both variables increase or decrease at the same time, whereas a negative correlation occurs when one variable increases while the other decreases.
EX: A group of researchers want to examine violent video games and aggressive behaviors in adolescence into adulthood. Researchers found that there is a strong relationship between individuals who exude aggressive behaviors and violent video games. Although they cannot prove that violent video games played by adolescence caused violent behaviors to occur in adulthood they were able to show that there is a connection between the two.
Critical Period
A period in development where growth must occur or it will occur later with difficulty or not at all. This critical period is a fixed period of time that takes place early on in development during which certain behaviors emerge, such as language development. One is particularly vulnerable to environmental factors that can interfere with normal development of these behaviors.
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Cross-Sectional Design
Cross-sectional design is a research design that gathers data of a group of different participants at a particular point of time (i.e. snapshot in time). Cross sectional designs are valuable because it observes variables with little to no manipulation. This research is usually the starting point for further investigation and establishes a good baseline for what is being measured.
EX: Researchers want to examine whether exposure to certain factors such as: having parents that model rigid eating habits, or overindulgence in eating in childhood can lead to high risk for bulimia or anorexia in adolescence and/or adulthood. Researchers hope to identify similar factors or patterns amongst participants so that they can further research into finding treatments or prevention methods for eating disorders.
Defense Mechanism
A term proposed by Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. A defense mechanism is a strategy/reaction that individuals use to avoid discomfort or stress. Defense mechanisms are typically unconscious reactions and are believed to be normal human processes, although can be problematic if overused. The process of defense mechanisms is generally conceptualized as the ego balancing the desires of the id with the restrictions of the superego.
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Developmental Level
A stage in development where one generally achieves certain milestones or growth markers within a certain time frame, indicating normal progression or growth. Developmental levels are important to understand for clinicians in how their client is developing.
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Egocentrism
A feature of Piaget’s preoperational stage, the second stage of his theory of cognitive development that lasts from ages 2 to 6. With egocentrism the child’s thoughts generally center around themselves and unable to understand a situation from another’s perspective. According to Piaget, an egocentric child assumes that all other people think and feel the same as they do. This feature is eliminated when the child moves into the concrete operational stage.
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Extinction
An operant conditioning technique used in behavioral therapy coined by B.F. Skinner. This technique involved discontinuing the reinforcement for a previously reinforced behavior.
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Genotype
A term that refers to the complete genetic makeup of an individual with contribution of dominate and/or recessive genes from both parents. The genotype represents the individual’s exact genetic makeup and full hereditary information. This is important to clinicians has implications for counseling for genetic testing of genetic disorders.
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Genotype-Environmental Relationship
The relationship between one’s genetic material and genetic potential are and how environmental factors influence whether or not one reaches that genetic potential. A rich, encouraging environment will facilitate one’s genetic potential while a poor, discouraging environment will hinder it.
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Myelination
A process in nervous development when the myelin sheaths, which are the fatty substances covering neurons, develop. This process begins prenatally and continues into adolescence. It is important because the myelin sheath helps nerve impulses travel faster and more effectively. There have been correlations discovered in abnormalities or demyelination in their relationship with some forms of mental disorders: such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.
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