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DevPsych
Chapter 1 and 2
Term | Definition |
---|---|
The field of human development | focuses on the scientific study of the systematic processes of change and stability in people. |
Developmental scientists (or developmentalists) | individuals engaged in the professional study of human development—look at ways in which people change from conception through maturity as well as at characteristics that remain fairly stable. |
life-span development | human development is a lifelong process—a concept known as |
Goal of Human development | 1. to describe 2.To explain 3. To predict 4. To intervene |
three major domains that developmental scientists study | 1. physical 2. cognitive 3. psychosocial |
Physical development | Growth of the body and brain, sensory capacities, motor skills, and health |
cognitive development | Learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity |
psychosocial development | Emotions, personality, and social relationships |
social construction | Division of the life span into periods is a |
what does social construction mean? | a concept or practice that may appear natural and obvious to those who accept it, but in reality is an invention of a particular culture or society |
concept of childhood | a social construction |
adolesence | this term was introduced recently in industrial societies |
infants | dependent on adults for food, clothing, and shelter as well as for human contact and affection,. they form attachments to parents and caregivers, who also become attached to them |
toddlers | become more self-reliant; they need to assert their autonomy but also need parents to set limits on their behavior |
early childhood | children gain more self-control and become more interested in other children |
middle childhood | control over behavior gradually shifts from parent to child, and the peer group becomes increasingly important |
adolescence | is the search for identity—personal, sexual, and occupational |
adulthood | an exploratory period in the early to mid-20s |
young adulthood | establishing independent lifestyles, occupations, and usually, families. By the 30s, most adults have successfully fulfilled those tasks. |
middle adulthood | some decline in physical capabilities is likely. At the same time, many middle-aged people find excitement and challenge in life changes—launching new careers and adult children—while some face the need to care for elderly parents. |
late adulthood | people need to cope with losses in their faculties, the loss of loved ones, and preparations for death |
Hypnotizability | an individual difference between people and is normally distributed just as many other traits are. |
influences on development | 1. heredity 2. environment 3. maturation |
heredity | inborn traits or characteristics inherited from the biological parents |
environment | the world outside the self, beginning in the womb, and the learning that comes from experience |
maturation | abilities to walk and talk —the unfolding of a natural sequence of physical changes and behavior patterns |
nuclear family | a household unit consisting of one or two parents and their children, whether biological, adopted, or stepchildren |
extended family | a multigenerational network of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and more distant relatives—is the traditional family form |
extended family | becoming less typical in many developing countries due to industrialization and migration to urban centers |
socioeconomic status (SES) | based on family income and the educational and occupational levels of the adults in the household |
10 percent | In the United States, where poverty thresholds depend on family size and composition, how many percent are in extreme poverty? |
risk factors | conditions that increase the likelihood of a negative outcome—are present |
Culture | to a society’s or group’s total way of life, including its customs, traditions, laws, knowledge, beliefs, values, language, and physical products, from tools to artworks |
Culture | —all of the behavior and attitudes that are learned, shared, and transmitted among members of a social group |
ethnic group | consists of people united by a distinctive culture, ancestry, religion, language, and/or national origin, all of which contribute to a sense of shared identity and shared attitudes, beliefs, and values |
race | historically and popularly viewed as an identifiable biological category |
Many scholars now agree that the term RACE | is a social construct |
ethnic gloss | an overgeneralization that obscures or blurs such variations |
media exposure | due to the very fast paced growing society we have, it is now a normative influence to children |
normal influences | biological or environmental events that affect many or most people in a society in similar ways |
normative age-graded influence | are highly similar for people in a particular age group. the timing of biological events is fairly predictable within a normal range. |
normative history-graded influence | these are significant events that shape the behaviors and attitudes of a historical generation |
historical generation | a group of people who experience the event at a formative events in their lives |
cohort | a group of people born at about the same time |
nonnormative influences | unusual events that have a major impact on individual lives because they disturb the expected sequence of the life cycle. |
types of influences | contribute to the complexity of human development as well as to the challenges people experience in trying to build their lives. |
three types of influences | 1. normative age graded 2. normative history graded 3. nonnormative |
imprinting | instinctively follow the first moving object they see, whether or not it is a member of their species |
predisposition toward learning | the readiness of an organism’s nervous system to acquire certain information during a brief critical period in early life |
critical period | a specific time when a given event, or its absence, has a specific impact on development |
plasticity | modifiability of performance |
sensitive periods | a developing person is especially responsive to certain kinds of experiences |
Development is lifelong | Development is a lifelong process of change. Each period of the life span is affected by what hap-pened before and will affect what is to come. |
Development is multidimensional | It occurs along multiple interacting dimensions—biological, psychological, and social—each of which may develop at varying rates |
Development is multidirectional | As people gain in one area, they may lose in another, sometimes at the same time |
Relative influences of biology and culture shift over the life span | The process of development is influenced by both biology and culture, but the balance between these influences changes |
Development involves changing resource allocations | Individuals choose to invest their resources of time, energy, talent, money, and social support in var-ying ways |
Development shows plasticity | Many abilities, such as memory, strength, and endurance, can be improved significantly with train-ing and practice, even late in life |
Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context | Each person develops within multiple contexts—circumstances or conditions defined in part by mat-uration and in part by time and place. |
Theory | Coherent set of logically related concepts that seeks to organize, explain, and predict data. |
Hypotheses | Possible explanations for phenomena, used to predict the outcome of research. |
mechanistic model | Model that views development as a passive, predictable response to stimuli. |
organismic model | model that views developments as internally initiated by an active organism, and as occurring in a sequence of qualitatively different stages. |
quantitative change | changes in number or amount, such as the frequency with which a response is made |
qualitative change | changes in kind or nature, implying that development occurs in a series of distinct stages or steps |
learning perspective | view of development that holds that changes in behavior result from experience or adaptation to the environment |
Behaviorism | learning theory that emphasizes the predictable role of environment causing observable behavior |
classical conditioning | learning based on association of a stimulus that does not ordinarily elicit a response with another stimulus that does elicit a response |
operant conditioning | learning based on reinforcement or punishment |
reinforcement | in operant conditioning, a stimulus that encourages repetition of a desired behavior |
punishment | in operant conditioning, a stimulus that discourages repetition of a behavior. |
extinguished | term referring to the return of a behavior to its original, or baseline level after removal of reinforcement |
behavior modification (behavior therapy) | use of conditioning to gradually change a behavior |
social learning theory | theory that behaviors are learned by observing and imitating models; also called social cognitive theory |
reciprocal detirminism | bandura's concept that the person acts on the world as the world acts on the person |
observational learning | learning through watching the behavior of others |
Social cognitive theory: | Bandura’s newest version of social learning theory in which the emphasis on cognitive response to perceptions is increased. |
Self-efficacy | A confidence that a person has the characteristics needed to succeed. |
cognitive perspective | views that thought processes are central to development |
clinical method | technique combining observation and flexible questioning |
Organization | The tendency to create increasingly complex cognitive structures (schemes). |
Scheme | Organized patterns of behavior that a person uses to act and think about a situation. |
adaptation | How children handle new information in light of what they already know. |
assimilation | part of adaptation, taking in new information and incorporating into existing cognitive structures |
accommodation | part of adaptation, changing one's cognitive structure to include new information |
equilibration | the constant striving for a stable balance in shift from assimilation to accommodation |
sociocultural theory by lev vegotsky | focuses on the social and cultural processes that guide children's cognitive development |
collaborative | vegostky's view that children learn through social interaction |
Zone of Proximal development (ZPD) | the gap between what children is already able to do and what they are not quite ready to accomplish by themselves |
scaffolding | the temporary support that parents, teachers, or others give a child in doing a task until the child can do it alone |
Information-processing approach | Approach to the study of cognitive development by observing and analyzing the mental processes involved in perceiving and handling information. |
Computational models | Flowcharts that analyze the specific steps people go through in gathering, storing, retrieving, and using information. |
Neo-Piagetian Theories | Proponents of these theories seek to integrate elements of Piaget’s theory with the information-processing approach. |
Contextual perspective | View of development that sees the individual as inseparable from the social context. |
Bioecological theory | Bronfenbrenner’s approach to understanding processes and contexts of human development. |
Microsystem | Bronfenbrenner’s term for a setting in which a child interacts with others on an everyday, face-to-face basis. |
Mesosystem | Bronfenbrenner’s term for linkages between two or more microsystems |
Exosystem | Bronfenbrenner’s term for linkages between two or more settings, one of which does not contain the child. |
Macrosystem | Bronfenbrenner’s term for a society’s overall cultural patterns. |
Chronosystem | Bronfenbrenner’s term for effects of time on other developmental systems. |
Evolutionary/Sociobiological perspective | View of human development that focuses on evolutionary and biological bases of social behavior |
Survival of the fittest | Darwinian process in which the animal most capable of survival (the one with the most adaptable traits) survives to pass on its genes in offspring. |
Natural selection | Darwinian process in which the weak and those with maladaptive traits are removed from the gene pool, leaving only the healthiest and strongest to survive and continue the species |
Ethology | Study of distinctive adaptive behaviors of species of animals that have evolved to increase survival of the species |
Developmental systems approach | The view that human development is the outcome of a dynamic process of bidirectional interaction between person and environment. |
Evolutionary psychology | Application of Darwinian principles of natural selection and survival of the fittest to individual behavior |
Quantitative research | Research that focuses on “hard” data and numerical or statistical measures |
Qualitative research | Research that focuses on “soft” data, such as subjective experiences, feelings, or beliefs. |
Scientific method | System of established principles and processes of scientific inquiry |
Population | A group to whom the findings in research may apply. |
Sample | Group of participants chosen to represent the entire population under study |
Generalized | Application of results from a sample study to the population as a whole |
Random selection | Method of selecting participants in a study so that each person in a population has an equal and independent chance of being chosen |
Naturalistic observation | Research method in which behavior is studied in natural settings without intervention or manipulation |
Laboratory observation | Research method in which all participants are observed under the same controlled conditions |
Observer bias | The researcher’s tendency to interpret data to fit expectations or to emphasize some aspects and minimize others. |
Valid | A test that measures the abilities it claims to measure is said to be valid |
Reliable | A test that provides consistent results from one testing to another is reliable. |
Standardized | A test that is given and scored by the same methods and criteria for all test-takers is said to be standardized |
Operational definitions | Definitions stated solely in terms of the operations or procedures used to produce or measure a phenomenon |
Cognitive neuroscience | Study of cognitive development that links brain processes with cognitive ones. |
case study | Study of an individual. |
Ethnographic study | In-depth study of a culture which uses a combination of methods including participant observation |
Participant observation | Research method in which the observer lives with the people or participates in the activity being observed. |
Correlational study | Research design intended to discover whether a statistical relationship between variables exists. |
Correlation | A statistical relationship between two or more variables. |
Variables | Phenomena that change or vary among people or that can be varied for purposes of research |
Positive correlation | Variables that are related increase or decrease together |
Negative correlation | Variables have an inverse relationship; as one increases, the other decreases. |
Experiment | Rigorously controlled, replicable procedure in which the researcher manipulates variables to assess the effect of one on the other. |
Replicate | Repeating an experiment in exactly the same way with different participants to verify the results and conclusions. |
Experimental group | In an experiment, the group receiving the treatment under study. |
Treatment | The phenomenon the researcher wants to study. |
Control group | In an experiment, the group of people who do not receive the treatment whose effects are to be measured. |
Treatment groups | In an experiment, groups that each receive one of the treatments under study. |
Double-blind procedure | An experiment in which neither the participants nor those running the experiment know who is receiving the treatment. |
Placebo | An inert treatment. |
Independent variable: | In an experiment, the condition over which the experimenter has direct control |
Dependent variable | In an experiment, the condition that may or may not change as a result of changes in the independent variable. |
Random assignment | Assigning the participants in an experiment to groups in such a way that each person has an equal chance of being placed in any group. |
Confound | Contamination of an experiment by unintended differences between the groups. |
Laboratory experiment | Experiment in which the participants are brought to a special place where they experience conditions manipulated by the experimenter. |
Field experiment | A controlled study conducted in an everyday setting, such as home or school. |
Natural experiment | : Study comparing people who have been accidentally “assigned” to separate groups by circumstances of life (a correlational study). |
Cross-sectional study | Study design in which people of different ages are assessed on one occasion |
Longitudinal study | Study designed to assess changes in a sample over time. |
Sequential study | Study design that combines cross-sectional and longitudinal techniques. |