Midterm 1 Flashcards
(125 cards)
D: Competence
The ability to successfully adapt to the environment
-developmental competence is reflected in a child’s ability to use internal and external resources to achieve successful adaptation
D: Developmental Pathway
the sequence and timing of particular behaviours and the possible relationships between behaviours over time
D: Developmental Tasks
markers which tell how children typically progress within various domains as they grow
- there are tasks in broad domains of competence (conduct, academics, etc)
D: Equifinality
the concept that similar outcomes stem from different early experiences and developmental pathways
D: Multifinality
the concept that various outcomes may stem from similar beginnings
D: Protective Factor
a personal or situational variable that reduces the chances for a child to develop a disorder
D: Resilience
the ability to fight off or recover from adverse circumstances
- traits include sustained competence under stress, or quick rebounding to previous competence
D: Risk Factor
a variable which precedes a negative outcome of interest and increases the chances that the outcome will occur
Top 3 Risk Factors
- from disadvantaged families
- born with low birth weight
- parents have mental illness or substance abuse problems
D: Stigma
a cluster of negative attitudes and beliefs that motivates fear, rejection, avoidance and discrimination with respect to people with mental illnesses
D: adaptational failure
failure to master or progress in accomplishing developmental milestones
- this is one of the foundations of many psychological disorders
D: continuity
developmental changes which are gradual and quantitative
- we can use these patterns to predict future behaviour patterns
D: behavioural genetics
a branch of genetics that investigates possible connections between a genetic predisposition and observed behaviour, taking into account environmental and genetic influences
D: developmental psychopathology
an approach to describing and studying disorders of childhood, adolescence, and beyond in a manner tat emphasizes the importance of developmental processes and tasks
D: discontinuity
developmental changes are abrupt and qualitative
- future behaviour is poorly predicted by earlier patterns
D: organization of development
early patterns of adaptation evolve with structure over time and transform into higher-order functions
- prior patterns of adaptation are incorporated into successive reorganizations at subsequent periods of development
D: sensitive periods
windows of time during which environmental influences on development, both good and bad, are enhanced
D: transaction
the dynamic interaction of a child and environment
- they influence each other
- environment and child are both active contributors to adaptive and maladaptive behaviour
D: epinephrine
a neurotransmitter that is produced in the adrenal glands in response to stress
D: frontal lobes
contain the functions underlying most of our thinking and reasoning abilities including memory
- self-control, judgement, emotional regulation
- restructured in teen years
D: gene-environment interaction
genes influence how we respond to the environment and the environment influences our genes
D: molecular genetics
directly assess the association between variations in DNA sequences and variations in a particular trait or traits
D: neural plasticity
the brain’s atomically differentiation is use-dependent; nature provides the basic processes and nurture provides the experiences needed to select the most adaptive network of connections based on use and function
D: etiology
the study of the causes of disorders
D: family systems
a theoretical paradigm that suggests it is difficult to predict the behaviour of a particular family member, such as a child, in isolation from other family members