OT-506- Occupational Development

Nature

in development, nature refers to the traits, capacities, and limitations that each individual inherits genetically from their parents at the moment of conception

Nurture

In development, nurture includes all of the environmental influences that affect the individual after conception. This includes everything from the mother’s nutrition while pregnant to the cultural influences in the nation

Plasticity

The potential for change, adaptation, and growth. Brain, body, and behavior are far more plastic than previously thought.

Critical Period

A crucial time when a particular type of developmental growth (in body or behavior) must happen for normal development to occur

Sensitive Period

A time when a certain type of development is most likely, although it may still happen later with more difficulty

Differential Susceptibility

The notion that people vary in how sensitive they are to particular environments. Sometimes, genetic differences make some people more vulnerable to risks than others. (Also called differential sensitivity.)

Interaction

When two or more things influence each other and lead to something that neither could have produced alone.

Intersectionality

People have many identities, each of which affects the others, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, and always more complicated than belonging to a single group. The combination differs.

Socioeconomic status

A person’s position in society as determined by income, occupation, education, and place of residence. (Sometimes called social class.)

Adverse childhood experiences

Severe harmful events that children experience, such as abuse and neglect, or witness, such as parental drug abuse, divorce, mental illness, or incarceration.

Sleeper effect

 Influences on human development that are quiet at the beginning and then later have noticeable impact.

Bioecological Systems Theory

Each person is significantly affected by a number of overlapping systems, which provide the context for development. Immediate contexts have supporting networks and local structures, all of which are governed by cultural norms and situated in a historical era and in a developmental stage.

Biosystem, Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem, Chronosystem

Cohort

People born within the same historical period who therefore move through life together, experiencing the same events, new technologies, and cultural shifts at the same ages

Culture

Shared assumptions, norms, expectations, and beliefs that guide everyday interactions and behaviors.

Social Construction

An idea that is built on shared perceptions, not on objective reality. Many age-related terms (such as emerging adulthood, and senior citizen) are social constructions, connected to biological traits but strongly influenced by social assumptions

Difference-Equals-Deficit Error

The mistaken belief that something unfamiliar is necessarily inferior.

Ethnic Group

People whose ancestors were born in the same region and who often share a language, culture, and religion.

Race

A social category that groups people based on physical appearance, often skin color.

Scientific method

A way to answer questions using empirical research and data-based conclusions.

Hypothesis

A specific prediction that can be tested

Replication

Repeating a study, usually using different participants, perhaps of another age, SES, or culture.

Survey

A research method in which information is collected from many people by interviews, written questionnaires, or other means.

Scientific Observation

A method of testing a hypothesis by unobtrusively watching and recording participants’ behavior systematically — in a natural setting, in a laboratory, or in searches of archival data.

Quantitative Research

Research that provides data that can be expressed with numbers, such as ranks, scales, and measurements.

Qualitative Research

Research that prioritizes depth of explanation, individual experiences, and open-ended research questions. Researchers analyze nonnumerical data, such as interviews, focus groups, text, or art.

Qualitative Research

A research method in which the researcher tries to determine the cause-and-effect relationship between two variables by manipulating one (called the independent variable) and then recording the ensuing changes in the other (called the dependent variable).

Experiment

A research method in which the researcher tries to determine the cause-and-effect relationship between two variables by manipulating one (called the independent variable) and then recording the ensuing changes in the other (called the dependent variable).

Control Group

 In an experiment, a group that indicates what would have happened without the independent variable.

Independent Variable

In an experiment, the variable that is introduced to see what effect it has on the dependent variable. (Also called an experimental variable.)

Dependent Variable

In an experiment, the variable may change due to whatever new condition or situation the experimenter adds. This variable depends on the independent variable.

Correlation

The degree of the relationship between two variables. This is calculated as a number between −1 and +1 that indicates the likelihood that one variable will (or will not) occur when the other variable does (or does not). The closer it is to 0, the weaker the relationship.

Cross-Sectional Research

A research design that compares groups of people who differ in age but are similar in other important characteristics.

Longitudinal Research

A research design in which the same individuals are followed over time, as their development is repeatedly assessed.

Cross-Sequential Research

A hybrid research design in which researchers first study several groups of people of different ages (a cross-sectional approach) and then follow those groups over the years (a longitudinal approach).

Accelerated Longitudinal Research

A hybrid design that follows multiple age groups for a period. The aim is to project the developmental trajectory for the entire age range in a fraction of the time.

Meta-Analysis

A technique of combining the results of many studies to find a scientific consensus.