Human Development: Adolescence Through Adulthood (Chapters 9-12)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key psychological, developmental, relational, and occupational concepts from Chapters 9 through 12.

Identity vs. Role Confusion

Erikson's adolescent identity crisis stage, where the primary purpose of experimentation is to explore possibilities and form an identity.

Identity Diffusion

An identity status characterized by feeling overwhelmed by the process of forming an identity and doing little to explore it.

Identity Foreclosure

An identity status where an individual adopts an identity chosen or expected by adults without engaging in personal exploration.

Identity Moratorium

An identity status in which an individual is actively exploring different alternatives without having chosen a satisfying identity yet.

Identity Achievement

An identity status reached by exploring alternatives and deliberately choosing an identity based on personal exploration and choice.

Adolescent Egocentrism

A characteristic focus on one's own feelings and experiences during adolescence.

Imaginary Audience

The adolescent belief that peers are constantly watching or judging them.

Personal Fable

The belief among adolescents that their experiences and feelings are unique and that nobody else understands them.

Illusion of Invulnerability

The belief held by adolescents that bad things happen to other people, but not to them.

Crystallization

A phase in Super's theory of career development occurring around ages $13\text{--}14$ where teens use their emerging identity to form career ideas.

Specification

A phase in Super's theory of career development occurring around age $18$ where individuals learn about specific lines of work and begin training.

Implementation

A phase in Super's theory of career development characterized by entering the workforce and learning about work firsthand.

Holland's Personality-Type Theory

A career theory stating that work is fulfilling when a job's features fit a person's personality, viewing most people as a blend of six types.

Realistic Type

A Holland personality type that prefers physical labor, working with hands, and concrete problems (e.g., mechanic, truck driver, construction worker).

Investigative Type

A Holland personality type that is task-oriented and interested in thinking about abstract relationships (e.g., scientist, technical writer).

Social Type

A Holland personality type that uses verbal and interpersonal skills to solve problems with people (e.g., teacher, counselor, social worker).

Conventional Type

A Holland personality type that uses verbal or quantitative skills for structured tasks assigned by others (e.g., bank teller, payroll clerk).

Enterprising Type

A Holland personality type that uses verbal skills in positions involving power, status, or leadership (e.g., business executive, real estate agent).

Artistic Type

A Holland personality type that values self-expression through unstructured tasks (e.g., poet, musician, actor).

Internalizing Failure

A cognitive pattern of blaming yourself for failure and interpreting it as proof that something is wrong with you.

Adolescent-Limited Antisocial Behavior

Relatively minor criminal acts during adolescence committed by individuals who are not consistently antisocial across the lifespan.

Life-Course Persistent Antisocial Behavior

Antisocial behavior that begins early in life and persists consistently throughout adulthood.

Roper v. Simmons (2005)

The Supreme Court decision establishing that the death penalty for offenders under age $18$ is unconstitutional.

Emerging Adulthood

The developmental period proposed by Jeffrey Arnett spanning from the late teens through the mid-to-late $20\text{s}$ when individuals are no longer adolescents but not yet fully adults.

Multidimensionality

The concept in adult intelligence that intelligence consists of several distinct types of abilities.

Multidirectionality

The concept in adult intelligence that some cognitive abilities improve over time while others decline.

Interindividual Variability

The principle that patterns of intellectual change and ability levels differ substantially from person to person.

Plasticity

The concept that intellectual abilities are not fixed and can be modified under the right conditions at any time in life.

Fluid Intelligence

Flexible, adaptive reasoning and abstract thinking skills (e.g., puzzle solving) that start relatively high in early adulthood and decline across adulthood.

Crystallized Intelligence

Knowledge acquired through experience and cultural education (e.g., Jeopardy-style facts) that rises through the $20\text{s}$ and increases rapidly from ages $40\text{--}61$.

Life-Span Construct

A unified sense of past, present, and future constructed from personal experiences and input from others.

Scenario

An expectation or plan about one's future within the life-span construct.

Social Clock

The practice of attaching expected or normative ages to specific life events (e.g., expecting to earn six figures by age $30$).

Life Story

A personal narrative that organizes and gives meaning to past life events.

Intimacy vs. Isolation

Erikson's sixth psychosocial stage in which the primary developmental task is developing close, enduring relationships.

Binge Drinking

The consumption of $5$ or more drinks for men or $4$ or more drinks for women on a single occasion.

Assortative Mating

The process of selecting romantic partners based on shared similarities such as age, education, religion, politics, or physical traits.

Romantic Competence

Joanne Davila's concept of applying relationship skills (insight, mutuality, emotion regulation) from the beginning to choose wisely and prevent issues from escalating.

Insight

A component of romantic competence involving awareness of one's own needs in a relationship.

Mutuality

A component of romantic competence involving the recognition that both partners have needs and both matter.

Emotion Regulation

A component of romantic competence focused on keeping emotions and situations in perspective.

Marital Success

The objective outcome of a marriage, specifically measured by whether the marriage ends in divorce.

Marital Quality

A subjective evaluation of a marriage across various roles, such as provider, parent, friend, and shared interests.

Marital Adjustment

The degree to which spouses adapt and accommodate to each other over time.

Marital Satisfaction

A global, overall assessment of how satisfied an individual is with their marriage.

Homogamy

Similarity between spouses in core values and interests, which is linked to increased marital longevity.

Exchange Theory

A marital theory positing that each partner contributes distinct assets or benefits that the other would find difficult to provide independently.

Divorce Hangover

The difficult adjustment and transition period after a divorce, affecting friendships, career, remarriage, and hobbies.

Career Construction Theory

A theory proposing that individuals build careers through intentional actions shaped by personal characteristics and social contexts.

Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT)

A theory of occupational choice rooted in Bandura's social cognitive theory that highlights the central role of self-efficacy.

Self-Efficacy

In SCCT, the confidence in your ability to control motivation, behavior, performance, and your social environment.

Reality Shock

The discrepancy between what students learn in academic classrooms and the realities they encounter in the workplace.

Alienation

A workplace condition characterized by feeling that work is meaningless, personal efforts are devalued, or that one lacks connection to the final product.

Burnout

A state of depleted energy and motivation, loss of occupational idealism, and feelings of exploitation caused by chronic stress.

Obsessive Passion

A form of passion for an activity that is uncontrollable, difficult to disengage from, and disrupts other life domains.

Harmonious Passion

A form of passion in which an individual freely chooses to engage in an activity without feeling pressured or compelled.

Glass Ceiling

An invisible organizational barrier that prevents qualified women from advancing to higher leadership positions.

Dependent Care Dilemma

The ongoing logistical and emotional challenge of balancing paid employment with caring for children or aging dependents.

Family and Medical Leave Act (1993)

A law providing eligible workers with unpaid time off to care for dependents along with the legal right to return to their job.

Work-Family Conflict

The psychological strain of feeling pulled in opposing directions by competing and incompatible work and family demands.

Occupational Insecurity

Stress generated by the perceived apprehension of losing one's job, regardless of whether an actual threat exists.