Terms

Question 1

What is socialization?

Answer 1

The process by which we learn and internalize the rules and pattern.

Question 2

What is empirical research methods?

Answer 2

Research done using the senses. Things you can see from experiences.

Question 3

What is the developmental theory?

Answer 3

The stages that define development beginning with childhood.

Question 4

What are socio-historical research methods?

Answer 4

Socio historical research methods are methods that are based upon things that happened previously in history used to compare them to present day.

Question 5

What are rationalist research methods?

Answer 5

Says that knowledge is acquired by a process in which the human mind imposes order on the data that the senses provide. These theorists are concerned with observing the changes in fundamental concepts within age. Theorists with this view analyze how the social and physical aspects of human cultures affect development of succeeding generations of children.

Question 6

What is cross-cultural psychology?

Answer 6

A research methodology that tests the cultural parameters of psychological knowledge. Traditionally, it involves research on human behavior that compares psychological processes between two or more cultures.

Question 7

Culture

Answer 7

A unique meaning and information system, shared by a group and transmitted across generations, that allows the group to meet basic needs of survival, pursue happiness an well-being, and derive meaning from life.

Question 8

Society

Answer 8

A system of interrelationships among people. It refers to the fact that relationships among individuals exist, and in human societies, individuals have multiple relationships with multiple groups and the groups themselves have interrelationships with other groups.

Question 9

Authoritarian parent

Answer 9

Expect unquestioned obedience and view the child as needing to be controlled. They have been described as being low on warmth and responsiveness toward their children.

Question 10

Authoritative parent

Answer 10

Are sensitive to the child’s maturity and are firm, fair, and reasonable. They express a high degree of warmth and affection to their children.

Question 11

Enculturation

Answer 11

The process in which people use socialization to learn and adapt to the rules of a specific culture. The process of learning about and being indoctrinated into a culture.

Question 12

Ratchet effect

Answer 12

The concept that humans continually improve on improvements, that they do not go backward or revert to a previous state. Progress occurs because improvements move themselves upward, much like a ratchet.

Question 13

Gender

Answer 13

Refers to the behaviors that a culture deems appropriate for men and women. These behaviors may or may not be related to sex and sex roles, although they often are.

Question 14

Sex

Answer 14

Refers to the physical characteristics and differences between men and women. (The reproductive systems)

Question 15

Cognition

Answer 15

A term denoting all mental process’ we use to transform sensory input into knowledge.

Question 16

Perception

Answer 16

The process of gathering information about the world through our senses. Our initial interpretations of sensation.

Question 17

Personality

Answer 17

A broad concept that refers to many aspects of an individuals unique characteristics. A set of relatively enduring behavioral and cognitive characteristics, traits, or predispositions that people take with them to different situations, contexts and interactions with others, and that contribute to differences among individuals. A variable that is thought to vary on a cultural level and that may be thought to affect psychological processes. There are differences in aggregate personality traits across cultures. Five Factor Model of Personality - suggests that five personality traits - neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, and conscientiousness - exist universally and can describe most human dispositions for behavior.

Question 18

Trait

Answer 18

A characteristic or quality distinguishing a person. It refers to a consistent pattern of behavior that a person would usually display in relevant circumstances.

Question 19

Semantics

Answer 19

Refers to what words mean. For example, table refers to a physical object that has four legs and a flat horizontal surface.

Question 20

Syntax and grammar

Answer 20

Refers to the system of rules governing word forms and how words should be strung together to form meaningful utterances. For example, English has a grammatical rule that says we add “s” to the end of many words to indicate plurality (cat becomes cats). English also has a syntactic rule that we generally place adjectives before nouns, not after (for example, small dog, not dog small).

Question 21

Urie Brofenbrenner

Answer 21

A russian theorist. Emphasis is on a wider set of bioecological factors. Created a model focused on how the embedded ecological systems interact to affect human development. Proposed an ecological/bioecological systems view of development. Believed that research was vital. He suggested that human development research should address the following compontents: Ecological validity, Developmental validity, Planned or natural experiments and Transforming experiments. His original model “ecology of human development,” had 11 definitions and 4 ecological system levels. He then added another ecological level - the historical one - and renamed his the model bioecological,” which stresses consideration of biological systems interaction. The systems in the ecological model are Microsystem (home, school, neighborhood), Mesosystem (interrelation between home and school), Exosystem (parent’s work life), Macrosystem (different socioeconomic or religious factors) and Chronosystem (historical context that affect the setting). He added a chronosystem element and a greater emphasis on the biological person component resulting in the PPCT Model which consists of four elements that interact to affect development (process, person, context, time). His perspective has influenced child assessment practices, especially in relation to young children’s assessment.

Question 22

Erikson

Answer 22

• Interested in social and emotional development.
• Focuses on how healthy personalities develop rather than unhealthy.
• More optimistic in his studies
• Focused on the growth of the individual at a healthy state of mind rather than unhealthy.

Question 23

Freud

Answer 23

• Interested in the ideas of social and emotional development
• One of the first theorists who though that the causes of human behavior could be discovered by scientific methods.
• Proposed that unconscious process underlie conscious processes, and these unconscious needs and wishes influence feelings and social behaviors.
• He outlined 5 phases of psychosexual development (oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, and Puberty)
• He was critiqued because his theories don’t seem falsifiable. They seem to focus on the specific time period he was living in (20th century Victorian times)

Question 24

Reliability

Answer 24

The degree to which a finding, measurement, or statistic is consistent.

Question 25

Validity

Answer 25

The degree to which a finding, measurement, or statistic is accurate, or represents what it’s supposed to.

Question 26

What is acculturation?

Answer 26

The process of individual change and adaptation as a result of continuous contact with a new, distinct culture.