Lifespan Development Flashcards
What is the definition of Development?
The sequence of changes over the full life span of an organism, a continuous process from conception to death.
Development includes both prenatal and postnatal changes and refers to qualitative changes.
How is Growth defined in the context of lifespan development?
Changes that occur in the fetus after fertilization in the womb, referring to quantitative changes.
Examples include measurable changes such as weight, size, and shape.
What does Maturation refer to?
Changes determined largely by our own genes, following an orderly sequence dictated by the genetic blueprint.
Maturation produces commonalities in growth and development.
What are the key differences between Growth, Development, and Maturation?
Growth is quantitative changes; Development includes physical, emotional, socio-cultural, cognitive changes; Maturation is influenced by genetic makeup.
Development occurs from birth to death.
What determines the interaction of heredity and environment?
Genetic influence and environmental factors.
Variations in characteristics such as skin color, intelligence, and learning abilities arise from this interaction.
Define genotype.
The actual genetic material or a person’s genetic heritage.
It is not all apparent in observable characteristics.
What is phenotype?
The way an individual’s genotype is expressed in observable and measurable characteristics.
Includes physical traits and psychological characteristics.
How does the environment influence development?
The environment can modify genetic predispositions and affect developmental outcomes.
For example, an introverted child in an extroverted environment may become slightly more extroverted.
What is the lifespan perspective in development?
The view that significant modifications occur throughout development across all age groups from conception to old age.
It emphasizes multidimensional and multidirectional changes.
List the characteristics of development according to Paul Baltes.
- Development is life-long
- Development is multi-dimensional
- Development is multidirectional
- Development is highly plastic
- Development is multicontextual
What are normative age-graded influences?
Specific age groups that share particular experiences and developmental changes.
Examples include toddlers, adolescents, or seniors.
What are non-normative life influences?
Unique experiences that shape an individual’s development, despite sharing age and history with peers.
Example: losing a parent at a young age.
What is Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory?
A theory stating that understanding human development requires focusing on relationships between individuals and their environment at various levels.
It includes microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.
Define the microsystem in Bronfenbrenner’s theory.
Settings in which the developing person interacts directly with people and objects.
Examples include family, peers, and school.
What is the macrosystem?
Widely shared cultural values, beliefs, and laws that influence all inner systems and an individual’s life and development.
It encompasses the broader societal context.
What is the significance of the Chronosystem?
It involves events in the individual’s life course and socio-historical circumstances that affect development.
Examples include parental divorce or economic setbacks.
What is the period known as Infancy?
The period from birth to around 18 to 24 months, during which language, attachment, and basic motor movement develop.
Simple cognitive abilities also begin to develop during this time.
What are motor milestones?
Major developmental tasks that depend on movement by the muscles, reflecting physical growth and strengthening.
Achievements develop systematically from simple to complex actions.
What are reflexes in infants?
Innate, involuntary behavior patterns in response to stimulation in certain areas of the body.
Examples include rooting, grasping, and the Moro reflex.
What does Piaget’s stage theory suggest?
All human beings move through an orderly and predictable series of changes regarding cognition.
It emphasizes the development of knowledge as a form of adaptation.
Define Assimilation in Piaget’s theory.
The tendency to understand new information in terms of existing mental frameworks.
Example: A child calling a banana a jet is assimilating new information.
Define Accommodation in Piaget’s theory.
The process of changing existing mental frameworks to incorporate new information.
It involves adapting one’s understanding based on new experiences.
What is Piaget’s stage theory?
A type of theory suggesting that all human beings move through an orderly and predictable series of changes with regards to cognition.
Define cognitive development according to Piaget.
Development of knowledge as a form of adaptation involving the interplay of assimilation and accommodation.