Module 1.2 Flashcards

Nature-nurture debate

The debate about the relative contributions of biological processes and experiential factors to development.

Inborn biases

The view that children are born with tendencies to interpret experiences in certain ways.

Continuity

The side of the continuity-discontinuity of an issue asserting that age-related change is primarily a matter of amount or degree

Discontinuity

The side of the continuity-discontinuity of an issue asserting that age-related changes primarily involve changes in type or kind.

Qualitative change

A change in characteristic, kind, or type

Stages

Qualitatively distinct periods of development

Normative age-graded changes

Changes that are common to every member of a species and are linked to specific ages.

Social clock

A set of norms defining a sequence of like experiences that is considered typical in a given culture

Ageism

Prejudicial attitudes about older adults that characterize them in negative ways.

Normative history-grades changes

Historical forces that affect each generation somewhat differently

Nonnormative changes

Changes that result from unique, unshared events

Critical periods

Specific period in development when an organism is especially sensitive to the presence of some particular kind of experience.

Sensitive period

A span of months or years during which a child may be particularly responsive to specific forms of experience or particularly influenced by their absent.

Cohort

A group of individuals who are born within some fairly narrow span of years and thus share the same historical experiences at the same time in their lives.

Atypical development

Development that deviates from the typical development pathway in a direction that is harmful to the individual

Culture

A system of meanings and customs, including values, attitudes, goals, laws, beliefs, moral guidelines, and physical artifacts of various kinds, Such as tools, forms of dwellings, and the like.