Study of Human Development

Question 1

Scientific study of processes of change and stability throughout the human life span.

Answer 1

Human development

Question 2

Consider to be from “womb to tomb” comprising the entire human life span from conception to death.

Answer 2

Life-span development

Question 3

growth of body and brain, including patterns of change in sensory capacities, motor skills, and health.

Answer 3

Physical development

Question 4

Pattern of change in mental abilities, such as learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity.

Answer 4

Cognitive development

Question 5

Pattern of change in emotions personality, and social relationships.

Answer 5

Psychosocial development

Question 6

A concept or practice that may appear natural and obvious to those who accept it, but that in reality is an invention of a particular culture or society.

Answer 6

Social construction

Question 7

Differences in characteristics, influences, or developmental outcomes.

Answer 7

Individual differences

Question 8

Inborn traits or characteristics inherited from the biological parents.

Answer 8

Heredity

Question 9

Totality of nonhereditary, or experiential influences on development.

Answer 9

Environment

Question 10

Unfolding of a natural sequences of physical and behavioral changes.

Answer 10

Maturation

Question 11

Two-generational kinship, economic, and household unit consisting of one or two parents and their biological children, adopted children, or stepchildren.

Answer 11

Nuclear family

Question 12

Multigenerational kinship network of parents, children and other relatives, sometimes living together in an extended-family household.

Answer 12

Extended family

Question 13

Combination of economic and social factors describing an individual or family, including income, education, and occupation.

Answer 13

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

Question 14

Conditions that increase the likelihood of a negative developmental outcome.

Answer 14

Risk factors

Question 15

A society’s or group’s total way of life, including customs, traditions, beliefs, values, language, and physical products—all learned behavior, passed on from parents to children.

Answer 15

Culture

Question 16

A group united by ancestry, race, religion, language, or national origins, which contribute to a sense of shared identity.

Answer 16

Ethnic group

Question 17

Characteristic of an event that occurs in a similar way for most people in a group.

Answer 17

Normative

Question 18

A group of people strongly influenced by a major historical event during their formative period.

Answer 18

Historical generation

Question 19

A group of people born at about the same time.

Answer 19

Cohort

Question 20

Characteristic of an unusual event that happens to a particular person or a typical event that happens at an unusual time of life.

Answer 20

Non-normative

Question 21

Highly similar for people in a particular age group. The timing of biological events is fairly predictable within a normal range.

E.g:
people don’t experience puberty at age 35 or menopause at 12.

Answer 21

Normative age-graded influences

Question 22

Significant events that shape the behavior and attitude.

Answer 22

Normative history-graded influences

Question 23

Instinctive form of learning in which, during a critical period in early development, a young animal forms an attachment to the first moving object it sees, usually the mother.

Answer 23

Imprinting

Question 24

Specific time when a given event or its absence has a specific impact on development.

Answer 24

Critical period

Question 25

Range of modifiability of performance.

Answer 25

Plasticity

Question 26

Times in development when a person is particularly open to certain kinds of experiences.

Answer 26

Sensitive periods

Question 27

Who identified seven key principles of a life-span developmental approach

Answer 27

Paul B. Baltes (1936–2006) and his colleagues

Question 28

Each period of the life span is affected by what happened before and will affect what is to come. Each period has unique characteristics and value. No period is more or less important than any other.

Answer 28

Development is lifelong

Question 29

It occurs along multiple interacting dimensions—biological, psychological, and social—each of which may develop at varying rates.

Answer 29

Development is multidimensional

Question 30

As people gain in one area, they may lose in another, sometimes at the same time.

Answer 30

Development is multidirectional

Question 32

Individuals choose to invest their resources of time, energy, talent, money, and social support in varying ways.

Answer 32

Development involves changing resource allocations

Question 33

Many abilities, such as memory, strength, and endurance, can be improved significantly with training and practice, even late in life.

Answer 33

Development shows plasticity

Question 34

Each person develops within multiple contexts—circumstances or conditions defined in part by maturation and in part by time and place.

Answer 34

Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context.