Developmental Psychology Practice Flashcards

A full set of vocabulary flashcards covering human development domains, genetics, research methods, major theories (Freud, Erikson, Piaget, Kohlberg, Bronfenbrenner, Vygotsky), and lifespan issues.

Human Development

The scientific study of the systematic processes of change and stability in people.

Life-Span Perspective

A view of development as lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual, involving growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss.

Physical Development

Growth of the body and brain, sensory capacities, motor skills, and health.

Cognitive Development

The study of learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity.

Psychosocial Development

The study of emotions, personality, and social relationships.

Social Construction

A concept or practice that is an invention of a particular culture or society.

Stability-Change Issue

Involves the degree to which early traits and characteristics persist through life or change.

Continuity-Discontinuity

Focuses on whether development involves gradual, cumulative change (continuity) or distinct stages (discontinuity).

Growth

Quantitative physical changes.

Maturation

A transitional state telling a person is fully functional; the unfolding of a natural sequence of physical change and behavior patterns.

Development

Functional changes encompassing physical, mental, and social aspects; it is progressive.

Behavioral Genetics

Scientific study of the extent to which genetic and environmental differences are responsible for differences in traits.

Heritability

The proportion of variability in a trait within a sample that can be linked to genetic differences among individuals.

Concordance Rate

The percentage of pairs of people studied in which if one member displays a trait, the other does too.

Reaction Range

A wide range of possibilities that a trait might exhibit differently.

Canalized Range

Limited possible changes within development; fixed paths such as motor and language development.

Epigenetics

The process where genes turn on and off in patterned ways throughout the lifespan.

Passive Gene-Environment Correlation

When the environment provided by parents for their children is influenced partly by the parents' genotypes.

Evocative Gene-Environment Correlation

When a child's genotype evokes certain kinds of reactions from other people.

Active Gene-Environment Correlation

When children seek out environments that are compatible with their genotypes.

Socioeconomic Status

A combination of economic and social factors including income, education, and occupation.

Ethnic Gloss

An overgeneralization that obscures or blurs variations within a group.

Normative Age-Graded Influences

Biological or environmental events that affect people in a society in similar ways at specific age levels.

Normative History-Graded Influences

Environmental events that affect most people in a society in similar ways, associated with historical events.

Nonnormative Influences

Unusual events that have a major impact on individual lives because they disturb the expected sequence of the life cycle.

Plasticity

The modifiability of performance.

Tabula Rasa

John Locke's view of children as a blank slate.

Mechanistic Model

A model viewing people like machines that react to environmental input (reactive).

Organismic Model

A model viewing people as active, growing organisms that set their own development in motion (active).

Ethnocentrism

The belief that one's own group is superior to other groups.

Case Study

An in-depth study of a certain individual or group; offers high detail but low external validity.

Ethnographic Studies

Research seeking to describe the pattern of relationships, customs, beliefs, and traditions in a society's way of life.

Cross-Sectional Study

Research where children of different ages are assessed at $1$ point in time.

Longitudinal Study

Research that follows the same group or person more than once, often years apart.

Sequential Study

Data collection on successive cross-sectional or longitudinal samples to separate age-related change from cohort effects.

Unconscious Motivation

Sigmund Freud's belief in the power of instincts and inner forces to influence behavior without awareness.

Id

The component of personality driven by the pleasure principle, seeking immediate gratification.

Ego

The component of personality driven by the reality principle, finding realistic ways to gratify instincts.

Superego

The component of personality driven by the morality principle, representing internalized moral standards.

Fixation

An arrest in development where libido remains tied to an earlier stage, manifesting in adult personality.

Defense Mechanisms

Unconscious coping devices used by the ego to adapt or protect against anxiety.

Crisis

According to Erikson, a major psychosocial challenge that is particularly important at a specific stage of life.

Constructivism

Jean Piaget's view that children actively construct new understandings of the world based on their experiences.

Schemes

Ways of organizing information about the world that govern how a child thinks and behaves.

Assimilation

Incorporating new information into existing cognitive structures.

Accommodation

Adjusting one's cognitive structures to fit new information.

Equilibration

The process where children seek a balance between what they understand and what they observe.

Circular Reactions

The process by which an infant learns to reproduce events originally discovered by chance.

Object Permanence

The realization that something continues to exist when it is out of sight.

Representational Ability

The ability to mentally represent objects and actions in memory through symbols like words or images.

Symbolic Function

Being able to think about something in the absence of sensory or motor cues.

Animism

The tendency to attribute life to objects that are not alive.

Centration

The tendency to focus on one aspect of a situation and neglect others.

Irreversibility

The failure to understand that an action can go in two or more directions.

Egocentrism

When young children center so much on their own point of view that they cannot take in another's perspective.

Conservation

The fact that two things that are equal remain so even if their appearance is altered, as long as nothing is added or taken away.

Theory of Mind

Awareness of the broad range of human mental states and the understanding that others have their own beliefs and intents.

Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning

A methodical, scientific approach to problem-solving characterizing formal operations thinking.

Imaginary Audience

A conceptualized observer who is as concerned with a young person's thoughts and behavior as the adolescent is.

Personal Fable

The belief that one is special, their experience is unique, and they are not subject to the rules governing the rest of the world.

Microsystem

The everyday environment including direct interactions with family, friends, and teachers.

Mesosystem

Linkages between different microsystems, such as the relationship between home and school.

Exosystem

Social structures that do not contain the child but indirectly influence them, such as a parent's workplace.

Macrosystem

Overarching cultural patterns, including dominant beliefs, ideologies, and economic systems.

Chronosystem

The dimension of time, including environmental changes and historical events occurring over a lifetime.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

The gap between what a child can do alone and what they can accomplish with assistance.

Scaffolding

Supportive assistance provided by parents or teachers to help a child master a task.

Attachment

A reciprocal, enduring emotional tie between an infant and a caregiver.

Self-Efficacy

An individual's belief or confidence in their ability to execute behaviors necessary to attain specific performance.

Reciprocal Determinism

Albert Bandura's concept that the impetus for development is bidirectional between the person and the environment.

Down Syndrome

A chromosomal abnormality caused by an extra copy of chromosome $21$, also known as Trisomy $21$.

Teratogen

An environmental agent, such as a virus or drug, that can interfere with normal prenatal development.

Anoxia

An oxygen shortage during birth that can cause brain damage or Cerebral Palsy.

Stranger Anxiety

Wariness of a person an infant does not know, typically appearing by $8$ or $9$ months.

Gender Identity

Awareness of one's own gender and that of others, typically occurring between ages $2$ and $3$.

Authoritarian Parenting

A style emphasizing control and unquestioning obedience, characterized by high control and low responsiveness.

Authoritative Parenting

A style emphasizing a child's individuality while stressing limits, characterized by high control and high responsiveness.

Fluid Intelligence

The ability to solve novel problems requiring little or no previous knowledge; peaks in young adulthood.

Crystallized Intelligence

The ability to remember and use information acquired over a lifetime; increases through middle age.

Hayflick Limit

The biological limit where cells lose their capacity to replicate, estimated at no more than $50$ divisions.

Hospice Care

Compassionate, family-centered care for the terminally ill.

Palliative Care

Treatment focused on the relief of pain and suffering and maintaining quality of life rather than curing disease.

Resilience

A pattern of grieving where the mourner shows a low and gradually diminishing level of distress.

Euthanasia

Meaning 'good death,' an action intended to end suffering or allow a terminally ill person to die with dignity.