Chapter 1 - Studying Adult Development and Aging

biopsychosocial framework

way of organizing the biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces on human development

cohort

group of people born at the same point or specific time span in historical time

normative history-graded influence

event that most people in a specific culture experience at the same time

nonnormative influence

random event that is important to an individual but does not happen to most people

normative age-graded influence

experience caused by biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces closely related to a person's age

primary aging

normal, disease-free development during adulthood

secondary aging

developmental change related to disease, lifestyle, and other environmental changes that are not inevitable

tertiary aging

rapid loss occurring shortly before death

emerging adulthood

period when individuals are not adolescents but are not yet fully adults

plasticity

belief that capacity is not fixed, but can be learned or improved with practice

reliability

ability of a measure to produce the same value when used repeatedly

validity

degree to which an instrument measures what it is supposed to measure

systematic observation

measurement involving watching people and carefully recording what they say or do

self-reports

people's answers to questions about a topic of interest

experiment

study in which an independent variable is manipulated to observe effects on a dependent variable

correlational study

investigation in which the strength of association between variables is examined

case study

intensive investigation of individual people

age effect

fundamental influence which reflects the influence of time-dependent processes on development

cohort effect

fundamental influence which reflects differences caused by one's individual experiences and circumstances

time-of-measurement effect

fundamental influence which results from the time at which the data are collected

confounding

situation in which one cannot determine which effect is responsible for observed behavior

meta-analysis

synthesis of the results of many studies with intent to estimate relations between variables