Test 2 Flashcards
Theory
Coherent set of related concepts that seeks to organize and explain data.
Data
Information gathered from research.
Quantitative Development
Changes, occurring with age, in number or amount of something, such as how many items can be remembered.
Qualitative Development
Changes, occurring at successive times of life, in kind, nature, structure, or organization of phenomena, such as stages of development.
Metatheory
Hypothesis about the operation of the universe, which embraces a group of theories having similar assumptions and values.
Model
Concrete image or other representation of a theory, which helps in understanding meaningful relationships among data.
Mechanistic Perspective
Metatheory, based on the machine as a metaphor, that views development as a response to internal and external stimuli and studies phenomena by analyzing the operation of their component parts.
Information-Processing Theory
Study of mental processes that underlie intelligent behavior: these involve manipulation of symbols and perceptions to acquire, store, and retrieve information and solve problems.
Organismic Perspective
Metatheory that views development as internally initiated and controlled and as occurring in a universal sequence of qualitatively different stages culminating in full maturation.
Contextual Perspective
Metatheory that views development as the product of an ongoing process of interaction between an individual and the context within which the individual acts to achieve goals.
Valid
With regard to research, yielding conclusions appropriate to the phenomena and population under study.
Reliable
With regard to research method or tool, consistent in measuring performance.
Quantitative Research
Research that focuses on change in degree or amount, such as numbers of learning experiences.
Qualitative Research
Research that focuses on changes in kind, such as new behaviors or new stages. One example would be moving from preoperational stage to concrete operational stage.
Scientific Method
System of established principles and processes of scientific inquiry, including careful observation and recording of data, testing of alternative hypotheses, and widespread dissemination of findings and conclusions so that other scientists can check, analyze, repeat, learn from, and build on the results.
Sample
Group of research participants chosen to represent a population under study.
External Validity
Generalizability of experimental results beyond the study situation.
Random Selection
Technique used to ensure representativeness of a sample by giving each member of a population an equal chance to be selected.
Naturalistic Observation
Method of research in which people’s behavior is noted and recorded in natural settings without the observer’s intervention or manipulation.
Laboratory Observation
Research method in which the behavior of all participants is noted and recorded in the same situation, under controlled conditions.
Observer Bias
Tendency of an observer to misinterpret or distort data to fit his or her expectations.
Case Study
Research design covering a single case or life, based on observations, interviews, or biographical and documentary material.
Correlational Study
Research design intended to discover whether a statistical correlation can be calculated showing the direction and strength of a relationship between variables.
Variables
Phenomena that change or vary among members of a group, or can be varied for purposes of research.
Experiment
Rigorously controlled procedure in which the experimenter systematically manipulates one or more variables to see whether this manipulation causes change in other, uncontrolled variables.
Independent Variable
In an experiment, the variable over which the experimenter has direct control; its manipulation is call the treatment.
Dependent Variable
In an experiment, the variable that may or may not change as a result of manipulation of the independent variable.
Treatment
Manipulation of an independent variable whose effects an experiment is designed to study.
Experimental Group
In an experiment, the group receiving the treatment under study; any changes in these people are compared with any changes in the control group.
Control Group
In an experiment, a group of people who are similar to the people in the experimental group but who do not receive the treatment under study. Results obtained with the control group are compared with results obtained with the experimental group.
Internal Validity
Assurance that the outcome was due to the treatment and only the treatment.
Random Assignment
Technique used in assigning members of a study sample to experimental and control groups, in which each member of the sample has an equal chance to be assigned to each group and to receive or not receive the treatment.
Construct Validity
Ability of a researcher to demonstrate that the manipulations and measures used in a study pertain to, or represent, the concept or phenomenon under study.
Factorial Invariance
Issue of whether a dimension(s) represents or pertains to the same construct in all age groups.
Quasi Experiment
Study which resembles an experiment in that it attempts to measure change or to find differences among groups, but which lacks control based on random assignment.
Cross-Sectional Study
Quasi-experimental research design in which people of different ages are assessed on one occasion, providing comparative information about age differences.
Cohort
Group of people with a common experience; often, people born at the same point in time.
Longitudinal Study
Quasi-experimental research design in which data are collected about the same person or persons over a period of time, to assess developmental changes that occur with age.
Time-Lag Study
Quasi-experimental research design in which data are collected about different age cohorts on two or more occasions when the groups of people being studied are the same chronological.
Intelligent Behavior
Behavior that is goal-oriented (conscious and deliberate) and adaptive &used to identify and solve problems effectively).
Psychometric Approach
Study of intelligence through quantitative measurements of intellectual functioning.
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Measurement of intelligence traditionally obtained by dividing a person’s metal age by his or her chronological age and multiplying the result by 100.
Deviation IQ
Measurement of intelligence based on distribution of raw scores and standard deviation from the mean.
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
Intelligence test for adults, consisting of eleven subtests that yield verbal IQ, performance IQ, and total IQ scores.
Cultural Bias
Tendency of psychometric intelligence tests to include questions involving content or skills more familiar and meaningful to some cultural groups than to others.
Culture-Free
Tests with no culture-linked content.
Culture-Fair
Tests consisting only of experiences common to people in various cultures.
Factor Analysis
Statistical method that seeks to identify underlying dimensions (factors) common to a group of tests on which the same people score similarly.
Componential Element
In Sternberg’s triarchic theory, the analytic aspect of intelligence, which determines how efficiently people process information and solve problems.
Experiential Element
In Sternberg’s triarchic theory, the insightful aspect of intelligence, which determines how effectively people process both novel and familiar tasks.
Contextual Element
In Sternberg’s triarchic theory, the practical aspect of intelligence, which determines how effectively epople deal with their environment.
Tacit Knowledge
In Sternberg’s terminology, information that is not formally taught or openly expressed but is necessary to get ahead; includes self-management and management of tasks and of others.
Classic Aging Pattern
On Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), greater and sharper age-associated decline in performance IQ than in verbal IQ.
Fluid Intelligence
Type of intelligence, proposed by Horn, that is applied to novel problems and is relatively independent of educational and cultural influences.
Crystallized Intelligence
Type of intelligence, proposed by Horn, that involves remembering and applying learned information; it is relatively dependent on education and cultural background.
Dual-Process Model
Model of intellectual functioning in late adulthood, proposed by Baltes, which identifies and seeks to measure two dimensions of intelligence: mechanics and pragmatics.
Mechanics of Intelligence
In Baltes’s dual-process model, basic physiological functions or procedures used to process information (similar to fluid intelligence); the dimension of intellect in which there is often an age-related decline.
Pragmatics of Intelligence
In Baltes’s dual-process model, processes that involve application of the contents of the mind - an accumulation of culture-based factual and procedural knowledge; the dimension of intellect that tends to grow with age.
Terminal Drop
Sudden decrease in intellectual performance shortly before death.
Selective-Optimization with Compensation
In Baltes’s dual-process model, strategy for maintaining or enhancing overall intellectual functioning by careful choice of tasks, increased practice, and use of stronger abilities to compensate for those that have weakened.
Reflective Thinking
Complex abstract thinking that constantly reevaluates facts and ideas, and the subsequent conclusions.
Encapsulation
In Hoyer’s terminology, progressive dedication of information processing and fluid thinking to specific knowledge systems, making knowledge more readily accessible and compensating for declines in cognitive machinery.
Postformal Thought
Mature thinking which relies on experience and intuition as well as logic, can transcend particular systems, and can deal with ambiguity, uncertainty, inconsistency, contradiction, imperfection, and compromise.
Commitment Within Relativism
In Perry’s terminology, final stage of college students’ cognitive development, in which they commit themselves to self-chosen beliefs and values despite uncertainty and recognition of other valid possibilities.
Intrasystemic Level
First level of Labouvie-Vief’s model of adult cognitive development, characterized by ability to reason only within a single system of thought.
Intersystemic Level
Second level of Labouvie-Vief’s model of adult cognitive development, characterized by awareness of multiple, contradictory systems of thought.
Integrated Level
Third and final level in Labouvie-Vief’s model of adult cognitive development, characterized by openness, flexibility, and autonomous choice of principles; integration of subjectivity with objectivity; and judgment of truth claims on the basis of rational, disciplined reflection and collective thought and discussion.
Necessary Subjectivity
In Sinnott’s terminology, characteristic of social interactions in which each person’s view of the situation inevitably affects the other’s and the situation as a whole.
Acquisitive Stage
First of Schaie’s cognitive stages, characterized by a child’s of adolescent’s learning of information and skills largely for their own sake or as preparation for participation in society.
Achieving Stage
Second of Schaie’s cognitive stages, in which young adults use knowledge to gain competence and independence.