Developmental Psychology, Research Methods, and Hereditary Influences Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards generated from developmental psychology lecture notes covering core concepts, research methods, genetic interactions, and prenatal influences.

Developmental Psychology

A process of systematic, continuous changes that are lifelong (occurring between conception and death), orderly, patterned, and enduring, excluding situationally-determined, contextual changes such as mood.

Normative Explanation

An explanation proposing that people follow similar developmental patterns due to biological maturation, society, or culture.

Ideographic Explanation

An explanation proposing that individuals differ in development due to unique factors like genetics, education, or parenting.

Normative Development

The typical patterns of change that most people experience over time, such as learning to walk before running.

Ideographic Development

The unique individual differences observed in development among different people.

Optimization

The goal of developmental science focused on applying developmental knowledge to solve real-world problems, inform policy-makers, and help individuals grow positively.

Maturation

The biological unfolding of an individual according to hereditary variables.

Learning

The process through which maturation and experiences produce relatively permanent changes in feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.

Holistic Approach

A view of human development asserting that physical, cognitive, and psychosocial domains are interconnected and continuously interact over life.

Segmented Approach

An approach in developmental study where developmental domains (cognition, personality, social, physical) are analyzed separately, often ignoring cross-domain influences.

Theoretical Eclecticism

An approach in which developmental domains are studied separately while integrating insights from overlapping theories without committing strictly to a single model.

Continuity View

The perspective that development is a gradual, quantitative, additive process involving slow changes over time rather than sudden jumps.

Discontinuity View

The perspective that development occurs abruptly in distinct stages, with each stage representing a qualitative change and an advanced level of functioning.

Reciprocal Determinism

Albert Bandura's model stating that individual cognitions, behaviors, and environmental factors mutually interact to influence one another.

Developmental Niche

A theoretical framework by Super and Harkness describing how a child's immediate environment is shaped by physical and social settings, caregiver psychology, and child-rearing customs and beliefs.

Conceptualization

The process of breaking down constructs and specifying their relevance to a specific research purpose.

Operationalization

The process of turning abstract constructs into actual measurable variables.

Variable

A specific feature or aspect of a construct that can be assigned different values for each participant in a study.

Inter-rater Reliability

The degree of consistency demonstrated when recorded data from different researchers or observers are compared.

Internal Consistency Reliability

The degree to which multiple questions testing the same variable on a measurement tool yield consistent results.

Construct Validity

The degree to which a research instrument accurately measures the specific theoretical construct it was operationalized to evaluate.

Content Validity

The extent to which a measurement tool successfully captures all relevant aspects of the tested construct.

Predictive Validity

The extent to which a measurement tool accurately predicts a relevant future outcome or behavior.

Social Desirability

The tendency of self-assessment respondents to answer questions in a manner that presents themselves in a more favorable light.

Self-deceptive Enhancement

An unintentional positive self-bias in self-assessment responses caused by a lack of personal self-insight.

Impression Management

The conscious effort by respondents to present themselves in a positive light during self-assessments.

Field Experiment

An experiment conducted in a natural setting to determine if findings from controlled laboratory experiments apply to real-world environments.

Clinical Method

A flexible research technique where an investigator presents a task, notes the participant's response, and asks unique follow-up questions tailored to that response.

Correlational Research

A research design that quantifies the degree to which events, measures, or variables are associated with each other without proving causation.

Directional Problem

A ambiguity in correlational research where variable $X$ could cause $Y$, $Y$ could cause $X$, or an unmeasured third variable $Z$ could cause both.

Correlation Coefficient ($r$)

A numerical statistic ranging from $-1$ to $+1$ that quantifies the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables.

Independent Variable

The explanatory or predictor variable manipulated or examined to determine its effect on an outcome.

Dependent Variable

The outcome variable measured by researchers to determine if it is influenced by the independent variable.

Moderator

A variable that strengthens or weakens the strength or direction of an existing relationship between an independent variable and a dependent variable.

Mediator

An intervening variable that explains the underlying connection between an independent variable and a dependent variable, potentially eliminating their direct association when present.

Quasi-Experiment

A research design examining pre-existing groups when random assignment is impossible or unethical, evaluating the effects of an intervention without true experimental control.

Genotype

An individual's underlying genetic makeup and DNA sequence.

Phenotype

The observable physical, physiological, or behavioral traits expressed from an individual's genotype.

Epigenetics

The study of how dynamic gene expression is altered by environmental conditions, experiences, and interactions over time.

Polygenic Inheritance

The pattern of inheritance in which complex traits (such as height, skin color, and intelligence) are regulated and expressed by multiple genes.

Behavioral Genetics

The scientific field investigating how genetic factors and environmental forces interact to produce individual differences in behavior and psychological traits.

Heritability

The proportion of observable phenotypical variance within a population group that is statistically attributable to genotypical variance.

Environmentality

The percentage of observed phenotypical variance within a population group attributable to non-genetic or environmental differences.

Shared Environmental Influences

Environmental factors experienced similarly by family members (such as home life or schooling) that have moderate impact and rarely account for unique personality differences.

Non-shared Environmental Influences

Unique environmental experiences (such as peer groups or differential parental treatment) that significantly drive unique individual differences between siblings or twins.

Passive Gene-Environment Correlation

A correlation occurring when parents provide both genes and an environment aligned with those genes, without the child actively seeking or evoking it.

Reactive Gene-Environment Correlation

A correlation occurring when a child's genetically influenced traits evoke specific reactions or adjustments from parents and caregivers.

Active Gene-Environment Correlation

A correlation occurring when individuals actively choose, seek out, or construct environments compatible with their genetic predispositions.

Environmental Canalization

The restriction of human development caused by severe external adversity, such as malnutrition or lack of social stimulation.

Canalized Traits

Developmental attributes that are heavily sheltered against environmental variation and primarily directed by genetic forces, such as infant babbling.

Diathesis-Stress Model

A framework stating that human development and psychopathology result from interactions where environmental stressors exacerbate pre-existing genetic vulnerabilities.

Plasticity

The general capacity for human psychological and physiological systems to adapt and change in response to positive or negative life experiences.

Neuro-plasticity

The capacity of the central nervous system to form new neural connections and reorganize pathways in response to novel experiences and learning.

Sensitive Period Principle

The principle that specific windows in embryonic and fetal development (such as weeks 3–8) carry heightened vulnerability to permanent structural or functional damage from risk factors.

Teratogens

External agents—including diseases, drugs, pollutants, heavy metals, or chemicals—that cross the placental barrier and cause harm to an embryo or fetus.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

A severe congenital condition caused by maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy, marked by intellectual disability, growth delays, facial deformities, and behavioral issues.

Postpartum Depression

A severe mood disorder occurring after childbirth involving extreme sadness, withdrawal, and hostility, influenced by hormonal shifts, social environment, and partner support.