Lifespan Development - Exam 1

What are the major focuses of the cognitive grand theory?

ideas, beliefs, assumptions

What are the major focuses of the psychoanalytic grand theory?

emotions (love, hate, fear, etc)

What are the major focuses of the behaviorism grand theory?

actions (what the person does)

Why study human development?

to understand self and others; to predict; to mindfully adjust/intervene

How do theories help us study human development?

they’re tools to make sense of real world experiences

What set of assumptions, rules, and procedures ae used for collecting, analyzing and interpreting data to study human development?

empiricism, objectivity, accumulation

empiricism

data used to hypothesize and make predictions

objectivity

free from person bias or emotions

accumulation (replication)

with consistent and commonly shared methods, allowing for replication, and further refinement

What are the stages of human development?

prenatal, infancy and toddlerhood, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early (emerging) adulthood, middle adulthood, late adulthood

prenatal age

conception to birth

infancy and toddlerhood age

birth to 2 years

early childhood age

2-6 years

middle childhood age

6 - 11 years

adolescence age

11-18 years

emerging adulthood age

18 - 29 years

early adulthood age

29 - 40 years

middle adulthood age

40-65 years

late adulthood age

65 years and up

What does emerging adulthood refer to?

a time to explore and find an optimal path for life

What is differential susceptibility?

individuals, with different genetic structures, vary in how sensitive they are to particular environment influences

What is the lifespan perspective?

an approach to the study of human development that takes all phases of life into account, not just childhood or adulthood

What does continuity mean in development?

gradual quantitative change

How is social learning theory an example of continual development?

it emphasizes gradual addition of learned responses (habits) that make up one’s personality

What does discontinuity mean in development?

a set of qualitatively distinct (sometimes rapid) stages

Why is Piaget’s cognitive theory an example of discontinued development?

has four distinct stages of childhood development

What does context mean?

direct physical environment + surrounding living creatures + social values + cultural norms

What does perspective mean?

good for reducing prejudice and political polarization

What is social context?

everyone who influences a developing person, immediately and over time, directly and indirectly

What is the ecological systems approach (now known as the bioecological approach)?

considers all influences from various contexts of development

biosystem

developing person (age, sex, health, abilities, temperament)

microsystem

immediate, direct influences (family, school, neighborhood, peer group, house of worship)

mesosystem

interaction of microsystems

exosystem

religious values, educational systems, etc

macrosystem

cultural patterns, political philosophies, economic policies, social conditions

chronosystem

dimension of time; changing conditions, personal and societal, over the lifespan

cohort

people born within the same historical period who move through life together, experiencing same events, new technologies, and cultural shifts at the same ages

non-normative influences

unpredictable and not tied to a certain time in a person development or historical period

culture

a system of shared beliefs, norms, behaviors, and expectations that persist over time and prescribe social behaviors/assumptions

What does the multicultural approach avoid?

the difference-equals-deficit error

What is difference-equals-deficit error?

the mistaken belief that a deviation from some norm is necessarily inferior to behaviors/characteristics that meet the standard

intersectionality

idea that various identities need to be combined, important when discrimiantion occurs

biosocial refers to

biology, neuroscience, and medicine

cognitive refers to

psychology, linguistics, and education

psychosocial refers to

economics, sociology, and history

plasticity

idea that abilities, personality, and other human characteristics can change over time

dynamic-systems approach

a view of human development as an ongoing, ever-changing interaction between physical, cognitive, and psychosocial influences

normative approach

age-related averages of many samples to describe typical development; introduced by hall and Gesell

case study

an intensive study on one individual

interview

face to face (or over the phone) questioning about the topic of interests, can be clinical or structured

advantages of surveys

can collect info on large samples, less costly

disadvantages of surveys

subjects need to be literate; social desirability and wording of the survey can bias responses

advantages of observations

reveal how children behave in everyday life, detailed information

disadvantages of observations

people may not behave normally

advantages of interviews

detailed information

disadvantages of interviews

interviewer may have bias

advantages of case studies

can collect rich and detailed information about the case

disadvantages of case studies

not a representative sample

ethnography

researchers spread significant amount of time in the culturally community, participating in its daily life (extensive field notes will be developed bases on observations, interviews, and careful interpretations)

cross-sectional research

research that studies groups differing in age at the same time (quick but no individual tracking)

longitudinal research

to study the same group of individuals over a long period (attribution, practice effects, cohort effects)

cross sequential research

hybrid where researchers first study several groups of different ages and then follow the groups over the years

developmental theory

systemic statement of principles and generalizations that provide a coherent framework

psychoanalytical

sexual nature/biological drive emphasis

psychosocial

Erik Erikson, more attention to social/contextual influences, 8 development stages, each characterized by a developmental crisis

trust vs. mistrust

stage 1, a sense of trust that the world is good

trust vs. mistrust example

infancy: infants trust mom over other people because they’re the ones who feed them