Lecture 1: Overview of Lifespan Development

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture notes.

Life story

An accumulation of all experiences up to the present, including universal events and the personal meaning attached to them.

human development

The study of how people grow and change across the entire life, linking to developmental psychology and lifespan development.

Multidirectionality

Development involves gains and losses across different domains over time. ex: physical abilities might decline but sex goes up

Plasticity

The capacity for change in response to experiences. ex: things might appear worse but they get better through experiences

Historical embeddedness

Development is shaped by the historical context in which a person lives.

Contextualism

Development is understood within the contexts and settings that influence it.

Death

End of life; in psychology, discussed alongside death, dying, grief, and bereavement.

Functional death

Absence of heartbeat and breathing.

Brain death

All signs of brain activity have ceased; no recovery of brain functioning.

Cephalocaudal principle

Development proceeds from head to toe.

Proximodistal principle

Development proceeds from the center outward (near to far).

Principle of hierarchical integration

Simple processes become integrated into more complex ones over development.

Principle of independence of systems

Different bodily and psychological systems can develop independently. ex: growth chart or your nervous system

History-graded influences

Cohort effects; development influenced by the historical period.

Age-graded influences

Influences tied to age markers in development.

Non-normative influences

Unusual events that are not typical for a given age group.

Nature vs. Nurture

Debate over the relative contributions of genetics and environment to development.

Stability vs. Change

Whether traits remain consistent or change across the lifespan.

Quantitative vs. Qualitative changes

Changes in amount or number versus changes in the kind or structure of being.

Active learning

Learners actively engage and participate in the learning process.

Passive learning

Learners receive information without active engagement.

Resilience

The ability to bounce back after adversity or misfortune.

Freud

Founder of psychoanalytic theory; proposed levels of consciousness and the structure of personality.

Id

Part of personality present at birth; unconscious; operates on the pleasure principle.

Superego

Part of personality containing internalized moral standards; conscience.

Ego

Mediator between id and superego; operates on the reality principle.

Psychosexual stages

Freud’s stages of development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital.

Erikson

Psychoanalytic theorist who proposed psychosocial development across the lifespan. Also increased our understanding of the ego

Psychosocial stages

Developed by Eirskon for Eight stages of development each with a central conflict and virtue.

Learning theories

Theories emphasizing how learning occurs (classical, operant, social learning).

Schemas

patterns of actions involved in acquiring or organizing knowledge

adaptation

interaction between child and the enviornment

Assimilation

process of interpreting new information of existing schemas

Accommodation

process of changing existing schemas or creating new schemas

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

sensiormotoke, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

Sensimotor

(birth - 2) baby learns through senses like touching and actions

preoperational

(2 - 7) uses language to operate

concrete operational

(7 - 11) kids start thinking logically but still no abstract thoughts

formal operational

(12+) teens develop abstract thinking forming hypotheses

Sociocultural perspectives on development

views children as social beings who are influenced by the culture In which they live

Zone of Proximal development

ranging of task a child can perform with the help if someone more skilled

Scaffolding

adults provide problem solving methods until a child can perform them independently like using your fingers to count your hand

Ethology

the area of science in which inborn behavior patterns and what their benefit is to the organism in relation to their environment and survival.

Ecological systems theory

development is affected by the interactions between the person and the setting that make up their enviornment

Microsystems

inner circle; context of your immediate enviornment (home, parents, school)

Mesosystem

how microsystems relates together. ex: getting along with your parents but not your siblings

Ecosystem

your local government or parents job

macrosystem

outer circle, culture, legal system, political system like president

Chronosystem

the function of time affected. Ex: the time when your sibling was born

Psychology

the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

Scientific method

a systematic method for gathering knowledge about the world around us

Naturalistic observation

observing someone in their enviornment

Labtratory observation

observing someone in a lab

Case study

specific detailed description about one person or a small group

Suveys

quick accessible questions

Correlational research

correlating two variables together

Independent variable

manipulating a variable

Dependent

measuring the variable

Sequential design

combination between longitudinal and cross sectional

debriefing

what was done in the research

Deception

don’t tell participants everything so that you can avoid bias

Thanatiophobia

an intense fear of death or dying.

Bereavement

acknowledging that one has experienced a death