Chapter 1 Flashcards
weekly review (40 cards)
What are the underlying principles of the lifespan perspective?
Development is:
-a lifelong process
-multidirectional (growth, decline, and stability)
-multidimensional (physical, cognitive, psychosocial development)
-multidisciplinary (education, sociology, anthropology)
-plasticity (potential for change; developmental trajectories can be shaped/altered by the environment)
What are the 3 kinds of multi-contextual influences on development?
-normative age-graded influences
-normative history graded influences
-non-normative life influences
What are Normative Age-Graded Influences?
-Represent the expectations for people at a given age or stage of development
–age-graded influences are called: developmental tasks/milestones
–they are shared by everyone within the age group (normative)
What are Normative History-Graded Influences?
-Represent the expectations for people of a certain cohort or generation
*cohort is a group of people who are born at roughly the same period in a particular society.
–have milestones changed over time? (ex: for teens vs grandparents)
What are Non-Normative Life Influences?
-Represent things that can happen to individuals at any point in the life course; such as:
–health issues
–family disruptions (ex: divorce)
What is ethnocentrism?
-this belief that our own culture is superior
What is cultural relativity?
-an appreciation for cultural differences and the understanding that cultural practices are best understood from the standpoint of that particular culture.
What is the difference between lifespan and life expectancy?
-lifespan: refers to the length of time a species can exist under the most optimal conditions.
-life expectancy: the predicted number of years a person born in a particular time period can reasonably expect to live.
What are the conceptions of age?
-chronological age: number of years since birth
-biological age: how quickly the body is aging
-psychological age: our psychologically adaptive capacity compared to others of our chronological age
-social age: based on the social norms of our culture and the expectations our culture has for people of our age group
What are the periods of development?
-prenatal: conception to birth
-infancy and toddlerhood: birth to 2 years old
-early childhood: 2 to 6 years old
-middle and late childhood: 6 to onset of puberty
-adolescence: onset of puberty to 18 years old
-emerging adulthood: 18 to 29 years old
-established adulthood: 30 to 45 years old
-middle adulthood: 45 to 65 years old
-late adulthood: 65 onward
What are the historical theories on development?
-Preformationist view
-John Locke
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
-Arnold Gesell
-Sigmund Freud
What is preformationism?
-the belief that a tiny, fully formed human is implanted in the sperm or egg at conception and then grows in size until birth.
-this the predominant early theory in the 18th century
What was Locke’s view?
-he proposed that children are largely shaped by their social environments.
-Locke advocated thinking of a child’s mind as a tabula rasa or blank slate, and whatever comes into the child’s mind comes from the environment.
What was Rousseau’s view?
-he believed that children developed according to a natural plan which unfolded in different stages
-Rousseau is considered the father of developmental psychology
What was Gesell’s view?
-he believed that the child’s development was activated by genes and he called this process maturation
-he believed that development unfolded in fixed sequences,
What was Freud’s view?
-he emphasized the importance of early childhood experiences in shaping our personality and behaviour
-his beliefs formed the psychodynamic perspective
What are the contemporary theories on development?
-Erikson and psychosocial theory
-Learning theory/Behaviourism
-Social learning theory
-Cognitive theory (Jean Piaget; Lev Vygotsky; Information processing)
-Urie Bronfenbrenner
What was Erikson’s view?
-Erikson presents eight developmental stages that encompass the entire lifespan.
-he proposed that each period of life has a unique challenge or crisis that the person who reaches it must face, referred to as psychosocial crises.
What is Learning Theory/Behaviourism?
-based on the premise that it is not possible to objectively study the mind, and therefore psychologists should limit their attention to the study of behavior itself.
-Skinner used the ideas of stimulus and response, along with the application of rewards or reinforcements, to train pigeons and other animals.
What is Social Learning Theory?
-learning by watching others
-young children frequently learn behaviours through imitation.
-Bandura Bobo doll study
-reciprocal determinism: interplay between our personality and the way we interpret events and how they influence us
What is the Cognitive Theory?
-focus on how our mental processes or cognitions change over time.
-3 important theories are Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and Information processing
What was Piaget’s cognitive theory?
-he theorized that children progressed through four stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor; preoperational; concrete operational; formal operational
What was Vygotsky’s cognitive theory?
-his sociocultural theory emphasizes the importance of culture and interaction in the development of cognitive abilities
-he believed that a person not only has a set of abilities, but also a set of potential abilities that can be realized if given the proper guidance from others.
What was information processing as a cognitive theory?
-based on the ideas and research of several cognitive scientists studying how individuals perceive, analyze, manipulate, use, and remember information.
-assumes that humans gradually improve in their processing skills; that is, cognitive development is continuous rather than stage-like.
