Chapter 1

Question 1

Development

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Life-span perspective of human development views development as

Answer 2

lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual

Question 3

Development is lifelong

Answer 3

It continues into old age

Question 4

Development is multidimensional

Answer 4

Consists of biological, cognitive, and socioemotional dimensions (components within these dimensions)

Question 5

Development is multidirectional

Answer 5

some dimensions grow and others shrink (ex: learning a language as a kid is easier than as an adult)

Question 6

Development is plastic

Answer 6

look at how much plasticity people have in various dimensions at diff. points in development

Question 7

Plasticity

Answer 7

capacity for change

Question 8

developmental science is multidisciplinary

Answer 8

experts look at development in intelligence and social relationships and how that changes with age. Does health and heredity affect diff. dimensions of development?

Question 9

Development is contextual

Answer 9

development occurs in the context of families, schools, peer groups, churches, cities, neighborhoods, univeristy laboratories, countries, etc

Question 10

Contexts are constantly changing like individuals. So contexts exert three types of influences

Answer 10

1. normative age-graded influences
2. normative history-graded influences
3. non-normative/ highly individual life events

Question 11

Normative age-graded influences

Answer 11

for individuals at a certain age group (ex: puberty, menopause, beginning school, retirement)

Question 12

Normative history-graded influences

Answer 12

common for a certain generation (being alive during JFK assassination, WWII, 9/11, social media etc.)

Question 13

Normative life events

Answer 13

individual unique occurrences that affect a persons life

Question 14

Development involves growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss

Answer 14

as development occurs, there is internal conflict between growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss (ex: middle age people try to maintain and regulate loss so there’s less emphasis on growth)

Question 15

Development is a co-construction of biology, culture, and individual development

Answer 15

Development comes from biological, cultural, and individual factors influencing each other

Question 16

Culture

Answer 16

encompasses the behavior patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a particular group of people that are passed on from generation to generation

Question 17

Factors that influence people as they go through the human lifespan

Answer 17

cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicity, and gender

Question 18

Biological processes

Answer 18

produce changes in an individual’s physical nature (ex: genes, brain development, height, weight, nutrition, exercise, hormonal changes, cardiovascular decline)

Question 19

Cognitive processes

Answer 19

refer to changes in an individual’s thinking, intelligence, and language

Question 20

Socioemotional processes

Answer 20

involve changes in an individual’s relationships with other people, in emotional regulation, and in personality

Question 21

Prenatal developmental period

Answer 21

time from conception to birth (9 months)

Question 22

Infancy developmental period

Answer 22

from birth to 18 or 24 months

Question 23

Early childhood developmental period

Answer 23

end of infancy to age 5 or 6

Question 24

Middle and late childhood developmental period

Answer 24

age 6 to age 11

Question 25

Adolescence developmental period

Answer 25

from age 10/12 to 18/22

Question 26

Emerging adulthood developmental period

Answer 26

from 18 to 25 years old

Question 27

Early adulthood developmental period

Answer 27

late teens / twenties to early thirties

Question 28

middle adulthood developmental period

Answer 28

from 40 to 60 years old

Question 29

late adulthood developmental period

Answer 29

60s/70s to death

Question 30

stability-change issue

Answer 30

debate about the degree to which early traits and characteristics persist through life or change

Question 31

nature-nurture issue

Answer 31

debate about extent to which development is influenced by nature and my nurture. nature refers to a organism's biological inheritance, nurture to its environmental experiences

Question 32

continuity-discontinuity issue

Answer 32

debate about extent to which development involves gradual, cumulative change (continuity), or distinct stages (discontinuity)

Question 33

Scientific method

Answer 33

1. conceptualize a process or problem to be studied 2. collect data 3. analyze data 4. draw conclusions

Question 34

theory

Answer 34

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

Question 35

hypothesis

Answer 35

specific assertions and predictions that can be tested

Question 36

Psychoanalytic theories

Answer 36

theories that say development depends primarily on the unconsious mind and is heavily couched in emotion, that behavior is merely a surface characteristic, that it is important ot analyze the symbolic meanings of behavior, and that early experiences are important in development

Question 37

Erikson's theory

Answer 37

psychoanalytic theory in which 8 stages of psychosocial development unfold throughout the life span. Each stage consists of unique developmental task that confronts individuals with a crisis that must be faced

Question 38

Piaget's cognitive developmental theory

Answer 38

theory that children construct their understanding of the world and go through four stages of cognitive development

Question 39

Vygotsky's theory

Answer 39

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

Question 40

information-processing theory

Answer 40

theory emphasizing that individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it. The processes of memory and thinking are central

Question 41

Behavioral and social cognitive theories

Answer 41

theories holding that development can be described in terms of the behaviors learned through interactions with the environment

Question 42

Social cognitive theory

Answer 42

holds that behavior, environment, and person/cognitive factors are the key factors in development

Question 43

Ethology

Answer 43

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

Question 44

Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory

Answer 44

holds that development reflects the influence of several environmental systems (5 environmental systems: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, chronosystem

Question 45

eclectic theoretical orientation

Answer 45

an approach that selects and uses whatever is considered the best in many theories

Question 46

naturalistic observation

Answer 46

observation in real-world without any attempt to manipulate the situation

Question 47

Descriptive research

Answer 47

aims to observe and record behavior

Question 48

Correlational research

Answer 48

goal is to describe the strength of the relationship between two or more events/ characteristics

Question 49

Cross-sectional approach

Answer 49

research strategy where individuals of diff. ages are compared at one time

Question 50

Longitudinal approach

Answer 50

research strategy where the same individuals are studied over a period of time usually several years or more

Question 51

Cohort effects

Answer 51

effects that are due to a person's time of birth, era, or generation but not to actual age