Week 1 Exam 1

Question 1

The science of human development

Answer 1

Seeks to understand how and why people of all ages and circumstances change or remain the same over time

Question 2

Flourishing (including VanderWeele’s definition)

Answer 2

• Aims to identify the ingredients (domains) of a happy and meaningful life – a good life
• A good life is like a cake. Everyone should have one
• Knowing the ingredients, we can bake our cakes
• Helping others to bake theirs
• Communities, institutions, and governments help, too
• No one flourishes alone
• To flourish, human beings need supportive people in our lives

Question 3

Nature

Answer 3

 How much of a characteristic, trait, or emotion is the result of genes and chromosomes?
 The influence of inherited genes

Question 4

Nurture

Answer 4

 How much of the result of experiences and environment?
 Environmental influences that affect development

Question 5

Epigenetics

Answer 5

The ways in which environmental factors affect genes and gene expression

Question 6

Differential susceptibility

Answer 6

 How environmental experiences differ because of particular inherited genes
 Ex. One pack a day smoker may die of lung cancer at age 40; another may live to 100 and die of old age

Question 7

Critical period of development

Answer 7

The time when certain things must occur, in order for development to be normal

Question 8

o Sensitive period of development

Answer 8

The time when a particular aspect of development occurs most easily, when experience exerts its greatest effects

Question 9

Cohort

Answer 9

 People who are born within the same historical period
 Move through life together
 Share experiences of events, new tech, and cultural changes, at the same ages

Question 10

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Answer 10

 Income, wealth, occupation, education, and neighborhood; underlies every other system
 Age and cohort are entangled with SES

Question 11

VanderWeele’s six proposed domains of human flourishing.

Answer 11

o Happiness and life satisfaction
o Mental and physical health
o Meaning and purpose
o Character and virtue
o Close social relationships
o Financial and material stability

Question 12

Be able to explain the “nature versus nurture” debate.

Answer 12

chicken or the egg came first

Question 13

What makes the Harvard Study of Adult Development unusual and important? According to its director, Dr. Robert Waldinger, the study’s findings reveal the secret to a happy life. What is that secret?

Answer 13

The secret to a happy life is socializing and having people you trust. Close social relationships