LIfeSpan Exam Chapter 1 Terms

understand human development :)

Age-graded influence

Life influence correlate w/person’s chronological age

Biological age

Body’s age

Chronological age

Number of years person has actually lived

Cognitive development

Mental processes/tools to gain knowledge/think/solve problems

Cohort

Generation of people/influenced by historical/cultural events

Continuous development

Gradual/cumulative changes in skills

Cross-sectional research

People w/different ages studied at same time

Discontinuous development

Abrupt changes

Erickson’s Psychosocial Theory

8 life stages; each have crisis

Experimental Research

Control variable → study its effect on another variable

History graded influence

Historic event that influences someone

Longitudinal research

Research specific group over diff time periods

Naturalistic observation

Researcher observes in natural/real world settings

Non-normative influence

Influences that don’t affect every member the same way

Physical development

Body maturation; includes perceptual abilities

Psychological age

Number of years behave emotionally/cognitively

Psychosocial crisis

Key issue during life period; Erikson

Random assignment

People in study randomly assigned to experimental/control group

Representative sample

Sample that mirrors population → generalization

Socioemotional development

Social/emotional functioning (Personality/emotions/social skills/relationships)

Theory

tries explain/predict behavior

Non normative influence example

Most people get married/not everyone gets divorced