Chapter 1-Introduction

Question 0

Context

Answer 0

The settings, influences by historical, economic, and cultural factors, in which development occurs.

Question 1

Development

Answer 1

The pattern of movement or change that begins at conception and continues through the human life span.

Question 2

Culture

Answer 2

The behavior patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a group that are passed on from generation to generation.

Question 3

Cross-cultural studies

Answer 3

Comparisons of one culture with one or more other cultures. These comparison provide information about the degree to which children’s development is similar, or universal, across cultures, and the degree to which it is culture-specific.

Question 4

Ethnicity

Answer 4

A characteristic beset on cultural heritage, nationality, race, religion, and language.

Question 5

Socioeconomic status (SES)

Answer 5

An individual’s position within society based on occupational, educational, and economic characteristics.

Question 6

Gender

Answer 6

The characteristics of people as males or females.

Question 7

Social policy

Answer 7

A government’s course of action designed to promote the welfare of its citizens.

Question 8

Original sin view

Answer 8

Advocates during the Middle Ages, the belief that children were born into the world as evil beings and were basically bad.

Question 9

Tabula rasa view

Answer 9

The idea, proposed by John Locke, that children are not innately bad but are like a “blank tablet.”

Question 10

Innate goodness view

Answer 10

The idea, presented by Swiss-born French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, that children are inherently good.

Question 11

Genetic epistemology

Answer 11

The study of how children’s knowledge changes over the course of their development.

Question 12

Biological processes

Answer 12

Changes in an individual’s body.

Question 13

Cognitive processes

Answer 13

Changes in an individual’s thought, intelligence, and language.

Question 14

Socioemotional processes

Answer 14

Changes in an individual’s relationships with other people, changes in emotions, and changes in personality.

Question 15

Prenatal period

Answer 15

The time from contraception to birth.

Question 16

Infancy

Answer 16

Birth to 18-24 months of age

Question 17

Early childhood

Answer 17

End of infancy to about 5-6 years of age…sometimes called the preschool years

Question 18

Middle and late childhood

Answer 18

About 6-11 years of age…sometimes called the elementary school years

Question 19

Adolescence

Answer 19

Transition from childhood to early adulthood, approximately 10-12 to 18-22 years of age

Question 20

Nature-nurture issue

Answer 20

Nature proponents claim biological inheritance is the more inoperative influence on development; nurture proponents cliam that environmental experiences are the more important

Question 21

Continuity-discontinuity issue

Answer 21

The issue regarding whether development involves gradual, cumulative change (continuity) or distinct stages (discontinuity)

Question 22

Early-later experience issue

Answer 22

The issue of the degree to which early experiences (especially infancy) or later experiences are the key determinants of the child’s development

Question 23

Scientific method

Answer 23

Conceptualizer the problem, collect data, draw conclusions, and revise research conclusions and theory.

Question 24

Theory

Answer 24

An interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps to explain and make predictions

Question 25

Hypothesis

Answer 25

A specific assumption or prediction that can be tested to determine its accuracy

Question 26

Psychoanalytic theories

Answer 26

Describe development as primarily unconscious and heavily colored by emotion. Behavior is merely a surface characteristic, and the symbolic workings of the mind have to be analyzed to understand behavior. Early experiences with parents are emphasized.

Question 27

Erikson’s theory

Answer 27

Includes eight stages of human development. Each stage consists of a unique developmental task that confronts individuals with a crisis that must be resolved.

Question 28

Piaget’s theory

Answer 28

States that children actively construct their understanding of the world and go through four stages of cognitive development.

Question 29

Vigotsky’s theory

Answer 29

A sociocultural cognitive theory that emphasizes how culture and social interaction guide cognitive development.

Question 30

Information-processing theory

Answer 30

Emphasizes that individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it. Central to this theory are the processes of memory and thinking.

Question 31

Social cognitive theory

Answer 31

The view of psychologists who emphasize behavior, environment, and cognition as the key factors in development.

Question 32

ethology

Answer 32

Stresses that behavior is strongly influenced by biology, is tied to evolution, and is characterized by critical or sensitive periods.

Question 33

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory

Answer 33

An environmental systems theory that focuses on five environmental systems; Microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem

Question 34

Eclectic theoretical orientation

Answer 34

An orientation that does not follow any one theoretical approach but rather selects from each theory whatever is considerered the best in it.

Question 35

Laboratory

Answer 35

A controlled setting in which many of the complex factors of the “real world” are removed

Question 36

Naturalistic observation

Answer 36

Observing behavior in real-world settings

Question 37

Standardized test

Answer 37

A test with uniform procedures for administration and scoring. Many standardized tests allow a persons performance to be compared with the performance of other individuals.

Question 38

Case study

Answer 38

An in-depth look at a single individual.

Question 39

Descriptive research

Answer 39

A research design that has the purpose of observing and recording behavior.

Question 40

Correlational research

Answer 40

A research design whose goal is to describe the strength of the relationship between two or more events or characteristics.

Question 41

Correlation coefficient

Answer 41

A number based on statistical analysis that is used to describe the degree of association between two variables

Question 42

Experiment

Answer 42

A carefully regulated procedure in which one or more of the factors believed to influence the behavior being studied are manipulated while other factors are held constant

Question 43

Cross-sectional approach

Answer 43

A research strategy in which individuals of different ages are compared at one time

Question 44

Longitudinal approach

Answer 44

A research strategy in which the same individuals are studied over a period of time, usually several years or more

Question 45

Ethnic gloss

Answer 45

The use of an ethnic label such as African American or Latino in a superficial way that portrays an ethnic group as being more homogeneous than it really is