Introduction to Child Development

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts, philosophical foundations, developmental processes and periods, issues, and research methods in child development.

Development

The pattern of movement or change throughout the life span.

Resilience

The ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change, maintaining confidence despite serious obstacles.

Plato

Ancient Greek philosopher who believed child rearing should emphasize self-control and discipline, and that children are born with innate knowledge.

Aristotle

Ancient Greek philosopher who believed child rearing should fit the needs of the individual child, and that knowledge comes from experience.

John Locke

Philosopher who viewed a child's mind as a tabula rasa (blank slate), advocated discipline first followed by gradually increasing freedom, and stressed parents setting good examples.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Humanistic philosopher who advocated giving children maximum freedom from the beginning, learning through spontaneous interactions without formal education until about age $12$.

Biological Processes

Developmental processes involving changes in an individual's physical nature, such as genetics, heredity, and hormones.

Cognitive Processes

Developmental processes involving changes in an individual's thoughts, intelligence, and language.

Socioemotional Processes

Developmental processes involving changes in an individual's emotions, personality, and relationships with others.

Cohort

A group of people born at a similar point in history who therefore share similar experiences.

Nature

The biological inheritance of an individual, including genes, heredity, and maturational changes.

Nurture

The environmental experiences and learning that exert a major influence on behavior and development.

Interactionist Approach

The perspective that development cannot be explained by nature or nurture alone, but rather by the interaction of both.

Continuity

The view that development involves quantitative, gradual changes in behavior over time rather than distinct stage shifts.

Discontinuity

The view that development involves qualitative, abrupt changes in behavior as individuals pass through a sequence of distinct stages.

Early Experiences Issue

The developmental perspective considering the degree to which early experiences, especially in infancy, set a foundation that cannot be overridden by later experiences.

Later Experiences Issue

The developmental perspective emphasizing that children are malleable and that events occurring later in life can significantly alter development.

Scientific Method

A four-step approach to testing beliefs in child development: 1. Define the problem, 2. Formulate a hypothesis, 3. Test hypothesis/research method, and 4. Draw conclusions.

Hypothesis

An educated guess or testable prediction incorporating operational definitions of variables.

Reliability

The degree to which independent measurements of a given behavior are consistent.

Interrater Reliability

The agreement in observations among different raters witnessing the exact same behavior.

Test-Retest Reliability

Attained when measures or tests of performance are similar when administered on two or more separate occasions.

Parallel-Forms Reliability

Attained when two different versions (alternate or equivalent forms) of test measures yield similar results across two or more occasions.

Validity

The degree to which a test or experiment accurately measures what it is intended to measure.

Internal Validity

The degree to which observed effects in an experiment can be confidently attributed to the independent variable manipulated by the researcher.

External Validity

The degree to which research findings can be generalized beyond the specific particulars of the study (generalizability).

Observational Method

A research technique involving systematically watching and recording behaviors, categorized into laboratory observation and naturalistic observation.

Surveys

Self-report measurement tools (questionnaires or interviews) that ask participants about their opinions, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes.

Standardized Test

A test with uniform procedures for administration, scoring, and interpreting, allowing comparison of an individual's performance to a normative sample.

Case Study

An in-depth examination of a single individual, group, or event, providing detailed portrayals of life history or rare psychological conditions.

Physiological Measures

Assessment methods evaluating biological indicators in children, such as blood hormone levels or neuroimaging via fMRI.

Correlational Method

A research design aimed at describing the strength and direction of the relationship between two or more variables, which cannot prove causation.

Correlation Coefficient

A numerical value based on statistical analysis describing the degree of association between two variables, ranging from $-1.00$ to $+1.00$.

Positive Correlation

A relationship where two variables move in the same direction, both increasing or both decreasing together.

Negative Correlation

A relationship where two variables move in opposite directions; as one variable increases, the other decreases.

Experiment

A regulated procedure in which one or more factors thought to influence a behavior are manipulated while holding all other factors constant.

Independent Variable

The factor that is intentionally manipulated by the researcher in an experiment.

Dependent Variable

The response variable that is measured and can change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

Experimental Group

The group in an experiment that receives the independent variable being tested.

Control Group

The comparison group in an experiment that undergoes all conditions except the independent variable.

Cross-Sectional Design

A research design comparing children of different ages on a given behavior or characteristic at a single point in time.

Longitudinal Design

A research design where the exact same children are assessed twice or more over a substantial period of time.

Cross-Sequential Design

A hybrid research strategy combining cross-sectional and longitudinal designs over a shorter duration.

Informed Consent

An ethical rule requiring that participants (or their parents/guardians) know what the study involves, any potential risks, and their right to withdraw at any time.

Confidentiality

An ethical requirement that all participant data be kept secret and that participant identities be concealed or kept anonymous.

Debriefing

An ethical procedure completed after study completion where participants are informed of the study's underlying purpose and methods.