Unit 3 - Human Development Flashcards
What is Adolescence?
The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.
Example: Teenager, in between the adult stage and child stage.
What is Puberty?
The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.
Example: Beginning around age 11 in girls and around age 13 for boys; growth spurts, surge of hormones, rapid physical development and mood intensifications.
What are Primary sex characteristics?
The body structures that make sexual reproduction possible.
Example: Ovaries, testes, and external genitalia.
What are Secondary sex characteristics?
Non-reproductive sexual characteristics.
Example: Female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair.
What is Menarche?
The first menstrual period.
Example: Girls going through puberty, when prepared usually experience it as a positive life transition; very memorable.
What is Identity?
Our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles.
Example: Gender identity; becoming aware of your sex and body, race identity.
What is Social Identity?
The ‘we’ aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to ‘Who am I?’ that comes from our group memberships.
Example: International students, minority ethnic group, people with disabilities, people on a team.
What is Intimacy?
In Erikson’s theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood.
Example: A romantic couple taking their relationship to the next commitment level of marriage.
What is Emerging adulthood?
For some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to early twenties, bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood.
Example: The time from 18 to the mid-twenties; those who leave home for college, are separated from parents and, more than ever before, managing their time and priorities, but may remain dependent on their parents’ financial and emotional support and return home for holidays.
What is Menopause?
The time of natural cessation of menstruation, also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines.
Example: End of her menstrual cycles, usually within a few years of age 50.
What is Cross-Sectional Research?
A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.
Example: The freshmen this year being tested, along with the seniors this year being tested, and then being compared to one another.
What is Longitudinal Research?
Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period.
Example: The freshmen this year being tested, and then tested again when they are seniors.
What is Crystalized Intelligence?
Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.
Example: Vocabulary and analogies tests.
What is Fluid Intelligence?
Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood.
Example: Solving novel logic problems, this ability decreases slowly up to about age 75, then more rapidly, especially after age 85.
What is Social Clock?
The culturally preferred timing of social events.
Example: Marriage, parenthood, and retirement.
Who is Jean Piaget?
Researched intellectual development throughout a child’s life; believed that children’s moral judgments build on their cognitive development.
Example: Developed stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational.
Who is Erik Erikson?
Invented a theory of psychosocial development; the theory of physical, emotional, and psychological human development.
Example: The eight stages of life, each with a psychological crisis.
Who is Lawrence Kohlberg?
Described the development of moral reasoning, posing moral dilemmas to assess right and wrong.
Example: His findings showed three basic levels of moral thinking: preconventional (focus on direct consequences), conventional (societies right and wrong) , and postconventional (individual can go aganist society) morality.
Who is G. Stanley Hall?
Believed that tension between biological maturity and social dependence creates a period of ‘storm and stress’.
Example: One of the first psychologists to describe adolescence.
Who is Paul Baltes?
Developed ‘wisdom’ tests that assess expert knowledge about life and good judgment.
Example: Results suggested that older adults perform well on these tests.
Who is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi?
Mapped people’s emotional terrain by signaling them to report activities and feelings.
Example: Teenagers’ moods are less stable than adults, with less intense joy but greater contentment in old age.
Who is Konrad Lorenz?
Proposed that romantic love is like ducklings’ imprinting.
Example: One may form a bond with someone similar after repeated exposure.
Developmental Psychology
How behavior’s and thoughts change over time
Nature versus Nurture
Are behaviors inherieted (genetics) or learned (enviorment)
