Lifespan Development: Approaches and Theories

Practice flashcards covering the principles, research methods, and major theories of lifespan development as presented in the PS7405 module.

How is lifespan development defined in this lecture?

The scientific study of the ways in which people change (and remain the same) from conception to death.

According to Baltes (1987), what does it mean for development to be 'multidirectional'?

Change may mean gains in some areas and losses in others.

What is 'plasticity' in the context of lifespan development?

The ability to adapt to change.

What are 'normative history-graded' influences?

Developmental changes where the time period of birth shapes experience, such as the impact of war on the silent generation.

What is biological age?

An assessment of how quickly the body is ageing, affected by nutrition, activity level, sleep habits, and lifestyle factors like stress and smoking.

Define psychological age.

Cognitive capacity and emotional beliefs about how old we are compared to others of the same chronological age.

Name the three domains of development and provide an example for each.

Physical (e.g., learning to walk), Cognitive (e.g., information processing), and Psychosocial (e.g., friendship or gender identity).

What age range defines 'emerging adulthood'?

Approximately $18$ to $25$ years of age.

What is the difference between quantitative and qualitative change?

Quantitative change is a change in amount, while qualitative change is a change in type.

What is a major disadvantage of naturalistic observation?

It is difficult to generalise, time-consuming, and potentially prone to observer bias.

What is the 'cohort effect' in cross-sectional research?

Differences between age cohorts that reflect the influence of their unique historical or educational experiences rather than the influence of age itself.

What is a sequential research design?

A hybrid of cross-sectional and longitudinal designs where two or more cohorts of different age groups are followed over time.

Define 'preformationism'.

An 18th-century view that a fully formed human exists inside the sperm or egg at conception and children are 'little adults' whose environment plays no role.

Who is often regarded as the founder of child and educational psychology?

G. Stanley Hall.

What term did Freud use to describe the internal drive to maximise pleasure and avoid pain?

Libido.

In Erikson's theory, what is the potential positive outcome of the young adulthood stage ($stage\text{ }6$)?

The development of 'love' through the achievement of intimacy.

What is 'negative reinforcement' in operant conditioning?

Increasing the frequency of a behavior by removing an unpleasant consequence, such as a parent buying a toy to stop a child's tantrum.

According to Bandura, what is 'self-efficacy'?

The belief that one is able to perform a specific behaviour and achieve a particular outcome.

What did Arnold Gesell propose about the timing of skill development?

Development occurs in a sequence determined by genes, and skills are only learned when the organism is 'ready'; the process cannot be sped up.

What is 'imprinting' according to Konrad Lorenz?

A process where ducklings bond with the first moving object they meet during a critical period of up to $48$ hours after hatching.

Define the 'mesosystem' in Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological theory.

The interactions or interrelations between elements of the microsystem, such as the relationship between parents and school.

What is a 'scheme' in Piaget's theory?

An internal cognitive structure containing a 'protocol' of a particular process, such as a 'reaching' scheme.

What is the difference between assimilation and accommodation?

Assimilation is adding new information to an existing scheme; accommodation is modifying the scheme as a result of that new information.

What are the characteristics of Piaget's 'concrete operational' stage ($6$–$12$ years)?

Children comprehend the world through logical thinking and categorisation, master the principle of conservation, and can consider 'what if' questions by the end of the stage.

How does information-processing theory view development differently than stage theories?

It proposes that development is continuous rather than occurring in stages.

What is Vygotsky's 'Zone of Proximal Development'?

Tasks that a child cannot perform by themselves but can manage with some guidance and support from a more experienced person.

What does the acronym 'WEIRD' stand for in psychological research?

Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic.