Chapter 1: History, Theory, and Applied Directions

Question 1

developmental psychology

Answer 1

multidisciplinary study of how people change systematically over time

Question 2

What does hierarchical and self-organizing change mean?

Answer 2

each change is dependent upon the change before it (like a snowball that builds upon itself)

Question 3

altricial

Answer 3

describes organisms that require a caregiver for survival

Question 4

plasticity

Answer 4

changes in neural pathways and synapses due to changes in behavior, environment, neural processes, thinking, emotions, as well as changes resulting from bodily injury

Question 5

child development

Answer 5

an area of study devoted to understanding constancy and change from conception through adolescence.

Question 6

developmental science

Answer 6

the interdisciplinary field (that encompasses child development) which includes all changes we experience throughout the lifespan

Question 7

behavior modification

Answer 7

consists of procedures that combine conditioning and modeling to eliminate undesirable behaviors and increase desirable responses.

Question 8

behaviorism

Answer 8

directly observable events—stimuli and responses—are the appropriate focus of study

Question 9

chronosystem

Answer 9

Bronfenbrenner called the temporal dimension of his model the chronosystem (the prefix chrono- means “time”). Life changes can be imposed on the child, as in the examples just given. Alternatively, they can arise from within the child, since as children get older they select, modify, and create many of their own settings and experiences.

Question 10

cognitive-developmental theory

Answer 10

Jean Piaget’s theory that children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world.

Question 11

collectivist society

Answer 11

societies in which people define themselves as part of a group and stress group goals over individual goals

Question 12

contexts

Answer 12

unique combinations of personal and environmental circumstances that can result in different paths of change

Question 13

continuous development

Answer 13

a process of gradually adding more of the same types of skills that were already present

Question 14

developmental cognitive neuroscience

Answer 14

brings together researchers from psychology, biology, neuroscience, and medicine to study the relationship between changes in the brain and the developing child’s cognitive processing and behavior patterns.

Question 15

discontinuous development

Answer 15

a process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the world emerge at different times

Question 16

dynamic systems perspective

Answer 16

the idea that the child’s mind, body, and physical and social worlds form an integrated system that guides mastery of new skills. The system is dynamic, or constantly in motion. A change in any part of it—from brain growth to physical and social surround- ings—disrupts the current organism–environment relationship. When this hap- pens, the child actively reorganizes her behavior so the components of the system work together again but in a more complex, effective way

Question 17

ecological systems theory

Answer 17

views the child as developing within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment.

Question 18

ethology

Answer 18

is concerned with the adaptive, or survival, value of behavior and its evolutionary history.

Question 19

evolutionary developmental psychoogy

Answer 19

a new area of research that seeks to understand the adap- tive value of species-wide cognitive, emotional, and social competencies as those competen- cies change with age

Question 20

exosystems

Answer 20

consists of social settings that do not contain children but that nevertheless affect children’s experiences in immediate settings.

Question 21

individualistic society

Answer 21

societies in which people think of themselves as separate entities and are largely concerned with their own personal needs

Question 22

information processing

Answer 22

a perspective in cognitive psychology in which the human mind might also be viewed as a symbol-manipulating system through which information flows

Question 23

macrosystem

Answer 23

The outermost level of Bronfenbrenner’s model, the macrosystem, consists of cultural values, laws, customs, and resources.

Question 24

maturation

Answer 24

which refers to a genetically determined, naturally unfolding course of growth

Question 25

mesosystem

Answer 25

the second level of Bronfenbrenner’s model that

encompasses connections between microsystems

Question 26

microsystem

Answer 26

the innermost level of an environment that consists of activities and inter- action patterns in the child’s immediate surroundings.

Question 27

nature-nurture controversy

Answer 27

ongoing debate of the question: “Are genetic or environmental factors more important in influencing development?”

Question 28

normative approach

Answer 28

in which measures of behavior are taken on large numbers of individuals and age-related averages are computed to represent typical development

Question 29

psychoanalytic perspective

Answer 29

perspective that dictates children move through a series of stages in which they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. How these conflicts are resolved determines the person’s ability to learn, to get along with others, and to cope with anxiety

Question 30

psychosexual theory

Answer 30

Freud’s theory that emphasizes that how parents manage their child’s sexual and aggressive drives in the first few years is crucial for healthy personality development

Question 31

psychosocial theory

Answer 31

Erik Erikson’s theory that emphasized that in addition to mediating between id impulses and superego demands, the ego makes a positive contribution to development, acquiring attitudes and skills that make the individual an active, contributing member of society.

Question 32

public policy

Answer 32

laws and government programs designed to improve current conditions

Question 33

resilience

Answer 33

the ability to adapt effectively in the face of threats to development

Question 34

sensitive period

Answer 34

a time that is optimal for certain capacities to emerge because the individual is especially responsive to environmental influences. How- ever, its boundaries are less well-defined than those of a critical period. Development can occur later, but it is harder to induce.

Question 35

social learning theory

Answer 35

Theory developed by Albert Bandura that emphasized modeling, otherwise known as imitation or observational learning, as a powerful source of development.

Question 36

social policy

Answer 36

is any planned set of actions by a group, institution, or governing body directed at attaining a social goal.

Question 37

sociocultural theory

Answer 37

focuses on how culture—the values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a social group—is transmitted to the next generation. According to Vygotsky, social interaction—in particular, cooperative dialogues between children and more knowledgeable members of society—is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a community’s culture.

Question 38

stage

Answer 38

qualitative changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving that characterize specific periods of development

Question 39

theory

Answer 39

an orderly, integrated set of statements that describe, predict, and explain a behavior.
in order for a theory to persist, it must be able to undergo scientific verification via multiple studies