Chapter One: The Study of Human Development

Question 1

nature-nurture issue

Answer 1

the degree to which genetic or hereditary influences [nature] and experiential influences [nurture] determine the kind of person you are

Question 2

human development

Answer 2

the multidisciplinary study of how people change and how they remain the same over time

Question 3

continuity-discontinuitity issue

Answer 3

whether a particular developmental phenomenon represents a smooth progression throughout the life span [continuity] or a series of abrupt shifts [discontinuity]

Question 4

universal vs. context-specific development issue

Answer 4

whether there is just one path of development or several paths

Question 5

biopsychosocial framework

Answer 5

a useful way to organize the biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces on human development

Question 6

neuroscience

Answer 6

the study of the brain and nervous system, especially in terms of the brain-behavior relationships

Question 7

theory

Answer 7

an organized set of ideas that is designed to explain development

Question 8

psychodynamic theories

Answer 8

theories proposing that development is largely determined by how well people resolve conflicts they face at different ages

Question 9

psychosocial theory

Answer 9

Erikson’s proposal that personality development is determined by the interaction of an internal maturational plan and external societal demands

Question 10

epigenetic principle

Answer 10

in Erikson’s theory, the idea that each psychosocial strength has its own special period of particular importance

Question 11

operant conditioning

Answer 11

Skinner - learning paradigm in which the consequences of a behavior determine whether a behavior is repeated in the future

Question 12

reinforcement

Answer 12

a consequence that increase the future likelihood of the behavior that it follows

Question 13

punishment

Answer 13

a consequence that decreases the future likelihood of the behavior that it follows

Question 14

imitation/observational learning

Answer 14

Bandar - learning that occurs by simply watching how others behave

Question 15

self-efficacy

Answer 15

people’s beliefs about their own abilities and talents

Question 16

information-processing theory

Answer 16

theory proposing that human cognition consists of mental hardware (ex. structures - memories) and mental software (ex. processes - reading a sentence)

Question 17

ecological theory

Answer 17

theory based on idea that human development is inseparable from the environmental contexts in which a person develops

Question 18

Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development

Answer 18

1. Sensimotor (birth-2): knowledge of world based on sense/motor skills
2. Preoperational thought (2-6): child learns to use symbols
3. Concrete operational thought (7-early adolescence): understands/applies logical operations, focuses on here and now
4. Formal operational thought (adolescence ->): thinks abstractly

Question 19

microsystem

Answer 19

the people and objects in an individual’s immediate environment

Question 20

mesosystem

Answer 20

provides connections across microsystems

Question 21

exosystem

Answer 21

social settings that a person may not experience firsthand but that still influence development

Question 22

macrosystem

Answer 22

the cultures and subcultures in which the microsystem, mesosystem, and ecosystem are embedded

Question 23

Bronfenbenner’s Theory

Answer 23

the developing person is embedded in a series of complex and interactive systems

Question 24

life-span perspective

Answer 24

view that human development is multiply determined and cannot be understood within the scope of a single framework

Question 25

selective optimization with compensation (SOC) model

Answer 25

model in which three processes (selection, optimization, and compensation) form a system of behavioral action that generates and regulates development and aging

Question 26

Life course perspective

Answer 26

description of how various generations experience the biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces of development in their respective historical contexts

Question 27

systematic observation

Answer 27

watching people and carefully recording what they do or say

Question 28

naturalistic observation

Answer 28

technique in which people are observed as they behave spontaneously in some real life situation

Question 29

structured observation

Answer 29

technique in which a researcher creates a setting that is likely to elicit the behavior of interest

Question 30

self-reports

Answer 30

people's answers to questions about the topic of interest

Question 31

reliability

Answer 31

extent to which a measure provides a consistent index of a characteristic

Question 32

validity

Answer 32

extent to which a measure actually assess what researchers think it does

Question 33

correlational study

Answer 33

investigation looking at relations between variables as they exist naturally in the world

Question 34

correlational coefficient

Answer 34

an expression of the strength and direction of a relation between two variables

Question 35

qualitative research

Answer 35

method that involves gaining in-depth understand of human behavior and what governs it

Question 36

longitudinal study

Answer 36

longitudinal study research design in which the same individuals are observed or tested repeatedly at different points in their lives

Question 37

cross-sectional study

Answer 37

study in which developmental differences are identified by testing people of different ages

Question 38

cohort effects

Answer 38

problem with cross-sectional designs in which differences between age groups (cohorts) may result as easily from environmental events as from developmental processes

Question 39

sequential design

Answer 39

developmental research design based on a cross-sectional and longitudinal designs (a "sequence" of longitudinal designs)

Question 40

meta-analysis

Answer 40

a tool that enables researchers to synthesize the results of many studies to estimate relations between variables

Question 41

The nature-nurture issue involves the degree to which _____ and the environment influence human development.

Answer 41

genetics

Question 42

Azar remarked that her 14 year-old son is incredibly shy and has been ever since he was a little baby. This illustrates the _______ of development.

Answer 42

continuity

Question 43

______ forces include genetic and health factors.

Answer 43

biological

Question 44

Neuroscience examines ______ relations.

Answer 44

brain-behavior

Question 45

_____ organize knowledge in order to provide testable explanations of human behaviors and the ways in which they change over time.

Answer 45

theories

Question 46

The _____ perspective proposes that development is determined by the interactions of an internal maturational plan and external societal demands.

Answer 46

psychosocial

Question 47

According to the social cognitive theory, people learn from reinforcements, from punishments, and through ______ ____.

Answer 47

observing others

Question 48

Piaget's theory and Vygotsky's theory are examples of the _______ perspective.

Answer 48

cognitive development

Question 49

According to Bronfenbenner, development occurs in the context of the _______ mesosytem, exosystem, and macrosystem.

Answer 49

microsystem

Question 50

A belief that human development is characterized by multidirecitonality and plasticity is fundamental to the ______ perspective.

Answer 50

life-span

Question 51

In _____, people are observed as they behave spontaneously in a real life setting.

Answer 51

naturalistic observation

Question 52

A _____ is a group of individuals thought to be representative of some larger population of interest.

Answer 52

sample

Question 53

The ____ variable is measured in an experiment to evaluate the impact of the variable that was manipulated.

Answer 53

dependent

Question 54

Problems of longitudinal studies include the length of time to complete the work, loss of research participants over time, and ______.

Answer 54

influence of repeated testing on a person's performance

Question 55

Human development researchers must submit their plans for research to a review board that determines whether the research ________________.

Answer 55

preserves the rights of the research participants