Life span Midterm

accommodation

In Piaget’s theory, enlarging our mental capacities to fit input from the wider world.

active forces

The nature-interacts-with-nurture principle that our genetic temperamental tendencies cause us to choose to put ourselves into specific environments.

adoption study

Behavioral genetic research strategy, designed to determine the genetic contribution to a given trait, that involves comparing adopted children with their biological and adoptive parents.

adult development

The scientific study of adult life.

assimilation

In Piaget’s theory, the first step promoting mental growth, involving fitting environmental input to our existing mental capacities.

attachment theory

Theory formulated by John Bowlby centering on the crucial importance to our species’ survival of being closely connected with a caregiver during early childhood and being attached to a significant other during all of life.

average life expectancy

A person’s fifty-fifty chance at birth of living to a given age.

baby boom cohort

The huge age group born between 1946 and 1964.

behavioral genetics

Field devoted to scientifically determining the role that hereditary forces play in determining individual differences in behavior.

bidirectionality

The principle that people affect one another, or that interpersonal influences flow in both directions.

child development

The scientific study of development from birth through adolescence.

cognitive behaviorism (social learning theory)

A behavioral worldview that emphasizes that people learn by watching others and that our thoughts about the reinforcers determine our behavior. Cognitive behaviorists focus on charting and modifying people’s thoughts.

Cohort 

The age group with whom we travel through life. 

Collectivist cultures

Societies that prize social harmony, obedience, and close family connectedness over individual achievement.

contexts of development

Fundamental markers, such as cohort, socioeconomic status, culture, and gender, that shape how we develop throughout the lifespan.

correlational study

A research strategy that involves relating two or more variables.

developing world

The most impoverished countries of the world.

developed world

The economically well-off countries in the world.

developmental systems approach

An all-encompassing outlook on development that stresses the need to embrace a variety of approaches, and emphasizes the reality that many influences affect development.

developmentalists (or developmental scientists)

Researchers and practitioners whose professional interest lies in the study of the human lifespan.

emerging adulthood

The phase of life that begins after high school, lasts through the late twenties, and is devoted to constructing an adult life.

epigenetic

Research field exploring how early life events alter the outer cover of our DNA, producing lifelong changes in health and behavior.

Erikson’s psychosocial tasks

In Erik Erikson’s theory, each challenge that we face as we travel through the eight stages of the lifespan.

fetal stage

The final phase of prenatal development, lasting seven months, characterized by physical refinements, massive growth, and the development of the brain.

frontal lobes

The area at the front uppermost part of the brain, responsible for reasoning and planning our actions.

gross motor skills

Physical abilities that involve large muscle movements, such as running and jumping.

Guilt

Feeling upset about harming others or about violating internal standards of behavior.

intimacy

Erikson’s first adult task, which involves connecting with a partner in a mutual loving relationship.

lifespan development

The scientific study of development through life.

longitudinal study

A developmental research strategy that involves testing an age group repeatedly over many years.

middle childhood

The second phase of childhood, comprising the ages from roughly 7 to 12 years.

old-age dependency ratio

The fraction of people over age 60 compared to younger, working-age adults (ages 15 to 59). This ratio has been rising dramatically in recent decades.

old-old

People age 80 and older.

Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory

Jean Piaget’s principle that from infancy to adolescence, children progress through four qualitatively different stages of intellectual growth.

qualitative research

Occasional developmental science data-collection strategy that involves personal interviews.

quantitative research

Standard developmental science data-collection strategy that involves testing groups of people and using numerical scales and statistics.

reflex

A response or action that is automatic and programmed by noncortical brain centers.

self-awareness

The capacity to observe our abilities and actions from an outside frame of reference and to reflect on our inner state.

self-conscious emotions

Feelings of pride, shame, or guilt, which first emerge around age 2 and show the capacity to reflect on the self.

self-efficacy

According to cognitive behaviorism, an internal belief in our competence that predicts whether we initiate activities or persist in the face of failures, and predicts the goals we set.

self-esteem

Evaluating ourselves as either “good” or “bad” based on comparisons to other people.

self-report strategy

A measurement that asks people to report on their feelings and activities through questionnaires.

self-soothing

Children’s ability, usually beginning at about 6 months of age, to put themselves back to sleep when they wake up during the night.

semantic memory

In the memory-systems perspective, a moderately resilient (long-lasting) type of memory; refers to our ability to recall basic facts.

working memory

In information-processing theory, the limited-capacity gateway system, containing all the material that we can keep in awareness at a single time. The material in this system is either processed for more permanent storage or lost.

young-old

People in their sixties and seventies.

trimester

One of the three-month-long segments into which pregnancy is divided.

theory of mind

Children’s first cognitive understanding, which appears at about age 4, that other people have different beliefs and perspectives from their own.

Theory

Any perspective explaining why people act the way they do; theories allow us to predict behavior and also suggest how to intervene to improve behavior.

sucking reflex

The automatic, spontaneous sucking movements newborns produce, especially when anything touches their lips.

storm and stress

G. Stanley Hall’s phrase for the intense moodiness, emotional sensitivity, and risk-taking tendencies that characterize the life stage he labeled adolescence.

nurture

Environmental causes of development.

nature

Biological or genetic causes of development.