Chapter 1: Introduction

ethnic group

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

race

______________ historically and popularly viewed as an identifiable biological category, is more accurately defined as a social construct.

Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context

Each person develops under circumstances or conditions defined in part by maturation and in part by time and place.

physical development

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

individual differences

Differences in characteristics, influences, or developmental outcomes.

maturation

Unfolding of a natural sequence of physical and behavioral changes.

socioeconomic status (SES)

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

poverty

_____________________ ,especially if it is long-lasting, can be harmful to the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial well-being of children and families.

cohort

A group of people born at about the same time.

development shows plasticity

Many abilities can be improved significantly with training and practice, even late in life. However, plasticity has limits that depend in part on the various influences on development.

human development

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

life-span development

Concept of human development as a lifelong process, which can be studied scientifically.

cognitive developmen

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

psychosocial development

Pattern of change in emotions, personality, and social relationships.

social construction

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.

eight generally accepted periods of human development

Prenatal Period (conception to birth)
Infancy and Toddlerhood (birth to age 3)
Early Child hood (ages 3 to 6)
Middle Childhood (ages 6 to 11)
Adolescence (ages 11 to about 20)
Emerging and Young Adulthood (ages 20 to 40)
Middle Adulthood (ages 40 to 65)
Late Adulthood (age 65 and over)

heredity

Inborn traits or characteristics inherited from the biological parents.

environment

Totality of nonhereditary, or experiential, influences on development.

nuclear family

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

extended family

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

indirect

The harm done by poverty may be _________________, through its impact on parents' emotional state and parenting practices and on the home environment they create.

risk factors

Conditions that increase the likelihood of a negative developmental outcome.

culture

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.

ethnic gloss

Overgeneralization about an ethnic or cultural group that obscures differences within the group.

normative

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

historical generation

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

nonnormative

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

imprinting

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.

critical period

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

plasticity

Range of modifiability of performance.

sensitive periods

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

seven key principles of a life-span developmental approach

Development is lifelong
Development is multidimensional
Development is multidirectional
Relative influences of biology and culture shift over the life span.
Development involves changing resource allocations.
Development shows plasticity
Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context

development is lifelong

Each period of the life span is affected by what happened 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 varying ways. The allocation of resources to the three functions (growth, maintenance or recovery, or for dealing with loss of maintenance and recovery) changes throughout life as the total available pool of resources decreases.