Chapter 1: The Study of Human Development

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and definitions from the lecture notes.

Human development

The scientific study of processes of change and stability throughout the life span, with applications to child rearing, education, health, and social policy.

Life-span development

The concept of human development as a lifelong process that can be studied scientifically.

Domains of development

Aspects of development that influence each other: physical, cognitive, and psychosocial.

Physical development

Growth of the body and brain, including sensory capacities, motor skills, and health.

Cognitive development

Changes in mental abilities such as learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity.

Psychosocial development

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

Prenatal period

Conception to birth.

Infancy and toddlerhood

Birth to about age 3.

Early childhood

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.

Goals of the field

Description, explanation, prediction, and intervention in human development.

Heredity

Inborn traits or characteristics inherited from the biological parents.

Environment

Totality of nonhereditary or experiential influences on development.

Maturation

Unfolding of a natural sequence of physical and behavioral changes.

Nuclear family

Two-generational unit with one or two parents and their biological, adopted, or stepchildren.

Extended family

Multigenerational kinship network of parents, children, and other relatives, sometimes living together.

Socioeconomic status (SES)

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

Poverty

A global problem that can damage physical, cognitive, and psychosocial well-being.

Culture

A society’s total way of life, including customs, traditions, beliefs, values, language, and physical products; learned behavior passed from parents to children.

Ethnicity

A group united by ancestry, race, religion, language, or national origins, contributing to a shared identity.

Ethnic gloss

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

Race (social construct)

Race is a social construct; most human variation occurs within rather than between socially defined races.

Minority-majority country

A country in which minorities will comprise over 50% of the population (e.g., the U.S. by 2045).

Historical context

The time in which people live; time and place shape development.

Normative influences

Influences that are typical for most people in a group; include normative age-graded and normative history-graded influences.

Normative age-graded influences

Events highly similar for people in a particular age group.

Normative history-graded influences

Significant events that shape the behavior and attitudes of a historical generation.

Historical generation

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

Nonnormative influences

Unusual events that happen to a particular person or at an unusual time of life with major impact on development.

Imprinting

Instinctive form of learning during a brief critical period when a young animal forms attachment to the first moving object.

Critical period

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

Plasticity

Range or modifiability of performance; capacity to change in response to experience.

Sensitive period

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

Seven principles of life-span development

Development is lifelong; multidimensional; multidirectional; biology and culture shift over the life span; changing resource allocations; plasticity; and influence by historical and cultural context.

Intersectionality

Analytic framework focused on how a person’s identities combine to create differences in discrimination and privilege.

Racism and discrimination

Unfair treatment based on race, ethnicity, or other identities.

BIPOC

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

Immigration

Movement of people into a country to live; contributes to cultural diversity.

Immigrant

A person who moves to another country to live.

Unauthorized immigrant

A person who enters or remains in a country without legal permission.