Development:

systematic continuities and changes in the individual over the course of life.

Developmental continuities:

ways in which we remain stable over time or continue to reflect our past.

Developmental psychology:

branch of psychology devoted to identifying and explaining the continuities and changes that individuals display over time.

Developmentalist:

any scholar, regardless of discipline (e.g., psychologist, biologist, sociologist, anthropologist, educator), who seeks to understand the developmental process.

Maturation:

developmental changes in the body or behaviour that result from the aging process rather than from learning, injury, illness, or some other life experience.

Learning:

a relatively permanent change in behaviour (or behavioural potential) that results from one's experiences or practice.

Normative development:

developmental changes that characterize most or all members of a species; typical patterns of development.

ideographic development:

individual variations in the rate, extent, or direction of development.

holistic perspective:

unified view of the developmental process that emphasizes the important interrelationships among the physical, mental, social, and emotional aspects of human development.

Plasticity:

capacity for change; a developmental state that has the potential to be shaped by experience.

original sin:

idea that children are inherently negative creatures who must be taught to rechannel their selfish interests into socially acceptable outlets.

innate purity:

the idea that infants are born with an intuitive sense of right and wrong that is often misdirected by the demands and restrictions of society

tabula rasa:

the idea that the mind of an infant is a "blank slate" and that all knowledge, abilities, behaviours, and motives are acquired through experience.

baby biographies:

a detailed record of an infant's growth and development over a period of time.

scientific method:

the use of objective and replicable methods to gather data for the purpose of testing a theory or hypothesis. It dictates that, above all, investigators must be objective and must allow their data to decide the merits of their thinking.

theory:

a set of concepts and propositions designed to organize, describe, and explain an existing set of observations.

hypotheses:

a theoretical prediction about some aspect of experience.

Reliability:

consistency of measurement

validity:

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

structured interview:

a technique in which all participants are asked the same questions in precisely the same order so that the responses of different participants can be compared.

clinical method:

a type of interview in which a participant's response to each successive question (or problem) determines what the investigator will ask next.

naturalistic observation:

observing and recording behaviour in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation

observer influence:

tendency of participants to react to an observer's presence by behaving in unusual ways.

time sampling:

a measurement of the presence or absence of behaviour within specific time intervals

structured observation:

an observational method in which the investigator cues the behaviour of interest and observes participants' responses in a laboratory.

case study:

a research method in which the investigator gathers extensive information about the life of an individual and then tests developmental hypotheses by analyzing the events of the person's life history.

ethnography:

method in which the researcher seeks to understand the unique values, traditions, and social processes of a culture or subculture by living with its members and making extensive observations and notes.

psychophysiological methods:

methods that measure the relationships between physiological processes and aspects of children's physical, cognitive, social, or emotional behaviour/development.

correlation design:

research design that examines the extent to which two variables are associated

correlation coefficient:

numerical index, ranging from 21.00 to 11.00, of the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables.

experimental design:

a research design in which the investigator introduces some change in the participant's environment and then measures the effect of that change on the participant's behaviour.

independent variable:

The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.

dependent variable:

The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

confounding variable:

a factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect in an experiment

experimental control:

steps taken by an experimenter to ensure that all extraneous factors that could influence the dependent variable are roughly equivalent in each experimental condition, and to ensure that observed changes in the dependent variable were indeed caused by the manipulation of the independent variable

random assignment:

control technique in which participants are assigned to experimental conditions through an unbiased procedure so that the members of the groups are not systematically different from one another.

ecological validity:

The extent to which a study is realistic or representative of real life.

field experiment:

an experiment that takes place in a naturalistic setting such as home, school, or a playground

natural or quasi experiment:

a study in which the investigator measures the impact of some naturally occurring event that is assumed to affect people's lives

cross-sectional design:

research design in which subjects from different age groups are studied at the same point in time.

cohort:

a group of people of the same age who are exposed to similar cultural environments and historical events as they are growing up

cohort effect:

age-related difference among cohorts that is attributable to cultural/historical differences in cohorts' growing-up experiences rather than to true developmental change.

longitudinal design:

a research design in which one group of subjects is studied repeatedly over a period of months or years.

practice effects:

change in participants' natural responses as a result of repeated testing.

selective attrition:

nonrandom loss of participants during a study that results in a nonrepresentative sample.

nonrepresentative sample:

a subgroup that differs in important ways from the larger group (or population) to which it belongs

cross-generational problem:

the fact that long-term changes in the environment may limit the conclusions of a longitudinal project to that generation of children who were growing up while the study was in progress.

sequential designs:

a research design in which from different age groups are studied repeatedly over a period of months or years.

Microgenetic studies:

a research design in which participants are studied intensively over a short period of time as developmental changes occur; attempts to specify how or why those changes occur

cross-cultural comparison:

a study that compares the behaviour and/or development of people from different cultural or subcultural backgrounds.

informed consent:

the right of research participants to receive an explanation in language they can understand, of all aspects of research that may affect their willingness to participate.

protected from harm:

the right of research participants to be protected from physical or psychological harm

minimal risk:

term used when assessing risk in ethics reviews that refers to risks that are no greater than   those one would encounter in daily life

benefits-to-risk ratio:

a comparison of the possible benefits of a study for advancing knowledge and optimizing life conditions versus its costs to participants in terms of inconvenience and possible harm

Continuity:

the ways in which we remain stable over time or continue to reflect our past.

parsimony:

a criterion for evaluating the scientific merit of theories

falsifiable:

A criterion for evaluating the scientific merit of theories. A theory is _____ when it is capable of generating predictions that could be disconfirmed.

heuristic value:

a criterion for evaluating the scientific merit of theories. A _______ theory is one that continues to stimulate new research and discoveries.

psychosexual theory:

Freud's theory states maturation of the sex instinct underlies stages of personality development, and that the manner in which parents manage children's instinctual impulses determines the traits that children display

repressed:

a type of motivated forgetting in which anxiety-provoking thoughts and conflicts are forced out of conscious awareness

drives:

an inborn biological force that motivates a particular response or class of responses

id:

psychoanalytic term for the inborn component of the personality that is compelled by the drives

ego:

psychoanalytic term for the rational component of the personality

superego:

psychoanalytic term for the component of personality that consists of one's internalized moral standards

fixate:

arrested development at a particular psychosexual stage that can prevent movement to higher stages

psychosocial theory:

Erikson's revision of Freud's theory, which emphasizes sociocultural (rather than sexual) determinants of development and posits a series of eight psychosocial conflicts that people must resolve successfully to display healthy psychological adjustments.

behaviourism:

a school of thinking in psychology that holds that conclusions about human development should be based on controlled observations of overt behaviour rather than speculation about unconscious motives or other unobservable phenomena; the philosophical underpinning for the early theories of learning.

habits:

well-learned associations between stimuli and responses that represent the stable aspects of one's personality

reinforcer:

any consequence of an act that increases the probability that the act will recur

punisher:

any consequence of an act that suppresses that act and/or decreases the probability that it will recur

operant learning:

a for of learning in which voluntary acts (or operants) become either more or less probable, depending on the consequences they produce.

observational learning:

learning that results from observing the behaviour of others

cognitive development:

age-related changes that occur in mental activities such as attending, perceiving, learning, thinking, and remembering

scheme:

an organized pattern of thought or action that one constructs to interpret some aspect of one's experience (also called cognitive structure)

assimilation:

Piaget's term for the process by which children interpret new experiences by incorporating them into their existing schemes.

accomodation:

Piaget's term for the process by which children modify their existing schemes in order to incorporate or adapt to new experiences.

Disequilibriums:

imbalances or contradictions between an individual's thought processes and environmental events. On the other hand, equilibrium refers to a balanced, harmonious relationship between an individual's cognitive structures and the environment.

invariant developmental sequence:

a series of developments that occur in one particular order because each development in the sequence is a prerequisite for the next.

sociocultural theory:

Vygotsky's perspective on cognitive development, in which children acquire their culture's values, beliefs, and problem-solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society

zone of proximal development:

Vygotsky's term for the range of tasks that are too complex to be mastered alone but can be accomplished with guidance and encouragement from a more skillful partner.

information-processing theory:

a perspective that views the human mind as a continuously developing symbol-manipulating system, similar to a computer, into which information flows, is operated on, and is converted into output (answers, inferences, or solutions to problems).

ethology:

the study of the bioevolutionary basis of behaviour and development

sensitive period:

period of time that is optimal for the development of particular capacities or behaviours and in which the individual is particularly sensitive to environmental influences that would foster these attributes.

evolutionary theory:

the study of the bioevolutionary basis of behaviour and development, with a focus on survival of the genes.

ecological systems theory:

Bronfenbrenner's model emphasizing that the developing person is embedded in a series of environmental systems that interact with one another and with the person to influence development.

microsystem:

the immediate settings (including role relationships and activities) that the person actually encounters; the innermost of Bronfenbrenner's environmental layers or contexts.

mesosystem:

the interconnections among an individual's immediate settings or microsystems; the second of Bronfenbrenner's environmental layers or contexts.

exosystem:

social systems that children and adolescents do not directly experience but that may nonetheless influence their development; the third of Bronfenbrenner's environmental layers or contexts.

macrosystem:

the larger cultural or subcultural context in which development occurs; Bronfenbrenner's outermost environmental layer or context.

chronosystem:

in ecological systems theory, changes in the individual or the environment that occur over time and influence the direction development takes.

nature/nurture issue:

the debate among developmental theorists about the relative importance of biological predispositions (nature) and environmental influences (nurture) as determinants of human development.

continuity/discontinuity issue:

a debate among theorists about whether developmental changes are quantitative and continuous, or qualitative and discontinuous (i.e., stagelike).

positional stability:

stability of an individual's relative position in a group of people with regard to a psychological characteristic.

absolute stability:

no change in a person's attribute over the course of development.

quantitative changes:

incremental change in degree without sudden transformations; for example, some view the small yearly increases in height and weight that 2- to 11-year-olds display as quantitative developmental changes.

qualitative changes:

a change in kind that makes individuals fundamentally different than they were before; the transformation of a prelinguistic infant into a language user is viewed by many as a qualitative change in communication skills.

developmental stage:

distinct phase within a larger sequence of development; a period characterized by a particular set of abilities, motives, behaviours, or emotions that occur together and form a coherent pattern.

holistic nature of development:

holistic process even when being studied as a segmented, separate process.

mechanistic model:

view of children as passive entities whose developmental paths are primarily determined by external (environmental) influences.

organismic model:

view of children as active entities whose developmental paths are primarily determined by forces from within themselves.

contextual model:

view of children as active entities whose developmental paths represent a continuous, dynamic interplay between internal forces (nature) and external influences (nurture).

developmental systems view:

view that the developmental process results from continuing interactions between biological, psychological, and social factors.

Basic emotions:

the set of emotions, present at birth or emerging early in the first year, that some theorists believe to be biologically programmed

complex emotions:

self-conscious or self-evaluative emotions that emerge in the second year and depend, in part, on cognitive development

emotional display rules:

culturally defined rules specifying which emotions should or should not be expressed under which circumstances

emotional self-regulation:

strategies for managing emotions or adjusting emotional arousal to an appropriate level of intensity

empathy:

ability to experience the same emotion as other people

temperament:

a person's characteristic modes of responding emotionally and behaviourally to environmental events, including such attributes as activity level, irritability, fearfulness, and sociability.

behavioural inhibition:

a temperamental attribute reflecting a tendency to withdraw from unfamiliar people or situations

easy temperament:

temperamental profile in which the child quickly establishes regular routines, is generally good natured, and adapts easily to novelty

difficult temperament:

Temperamental profile in which the child is irregular in daily routines and adapts slowly to new experiences, often responding negatively and intensely.

slow to warm up temperament:

temperamental profile in which the child is inactive and moody and displays mild passive resistance to new routines and experiences

goodness of fit model:

Thomas and Chess's notion that development is likely to be optimized when parents' child-rearing practices are sensitively adapted to the child's temperamental characteristics

attachment:

a close emotional relationship between two persons, characterized by mutual affection and a desire to maintain proximity

synchronized routines:

generally harmonious interactions between two persons in which participants adjust their behavior in response to the partner's feelings and behaviors

asocial phase:

approximately the first 6 weeks of life, in which infants respond in an equally favorable way to interesting social and nonsocial stimuli

phase of indiscriminate attachments:

period between 6 weeks and 6-7 months of age in which infants prefer social to nonsocial stimulation and are likely to protest whenever any adult puts them down or leaves them alone

phase of specific attachment:
period between 7-9 months when infants are attached to one close companion (usually the mother)

secure base:

use of a caregiver as a base from which to explore the environment and to which to return for emotional support

phase of multiple attachments:

period when infants are forming attachments to companions other than their primary 

attachment object

secondary reinforcer:

an initially neutral stimulus that acquires reinforcement value by virtue of its repeated association with other reinforcing stimuli

imprinting:

an innate or instinctual form of learning in which the young of certain species follow and become attached to moving objects (usually their mothers).

preadapted characteristic:

an attribute that is a product of evolution and serves some function that increases the chances of survival for the individual and the species

stranger anxiety:

a wary or fretful reaction that infants and toddlers often display when approached by an unfamiliar person

separation anxiety:

a wary or fretful reaction that infants and toddlers often display when separated from the person(s) to whom they are attached

strange situation:

a series of eight separation and reunion episodes to which infants are exposed in order to determine the quality of their attachments

secure attachment:

an infant-caregiver bond in which the child welcomes contact with a close companion and uses this person as a secure base from which to explore the environment

resistant attachment:

an insecure infant-caregiver bond, characterized by strong separation protest and a tendency of the child to remain near but resist contact initiated by the caregiver, particularly after a separation

avoidant detachment:

an insecure infant-caregiver bond, characterized by little separation protest and a tendency of the child to avoid or ignore the caregiver.

disorganized/disoriented attachment:

an insecure infant-caregiver bond, characterized by the infant's dazed appearance on reunion or a tendency to first seek and then abruptly avoid the caregiver

attachment q-set (aqs):

alternative method of assessing attachment security that is based on observations of the child's attachment-related behaviours at home; can be used with infants, toddlers, and preschool children.

amae:

a Japanese concept that refers to an infant's feeling of total dependence on his or her mother and the presumption of mother's love and indulgence

caregiving hypothesis:

Ainsworth's notion that the type of attachment that an infant develops with a particular caregiver depends primarily on the kind of caregiving he or she has received from that person

temperament hypothesis:

Kagan's view that the Strange Situation measures individual differences in infants' temperaments rather than the quality of their attachments

internal working models:

cognitive representations of self, others, and relationships that infants construct from their interactions with caregivers

self:

the combination of physical and psychological attributes that is unique to each individual

social cognition:

thinking that people display about the thoughts, feelings, motives, and behaviours of themselves and other people

proprioceptive feedback:

sensory information from the muscles, tendons, and joints that helps one to locate the position of one's body (or body parts) in space

personal agency:

recognition that one can be the cause of an event

self-concept:

one's perceptions of one's unique attributes or traits

self-recognition:

the ability to recognize oneself in a mirror or photograph

present self:

Early self-representation in which 2 and 3 year olds recognize current representations of self but are largely unaware that past self-representations or self-relevant events have implications for the future

extended self:

a more mature self-representation, emerging between ages 3.5 and 5 years, in which children are able to integrate past, current, and unknown future self-representations into a notion of a "self" that endures over time

categorical self:

a person's classification of the self along socially significant dimensions such as age and sex

individualistic society:

Society that values personalism and individual accomplishments, which often take precedence over group goals. These societies tend to emphasize ways in which individuals differ from each other.

collectivist (or communal) society:

society that values cooperative interdependence, social harmony, and adherence to group norms. These societies generally hold that the group's well-being is more important than that of the individual

identity:

a sense of who you are, where you are going in life, and how you fit into society

social comparison:

the process of defining and evaluating the self by comparing oneself to other people

achievement motivation:

a willingness to strive to succeed at challenging tasks and to meet high standards of accomplishment

mastery motive:

an inborn motive to explore, understand, and control one's environment

intrinsic achievement orientation:

a desire to achieve in order to satisfy one's personal needs for competence or mastery (as opposed to achieving for external incentives such as grades)

authoritative parenting:

a flexible, democratic style of parenting in which warm, accepting parents provide guidance and control while allowing the child some say in deciding how best to meet challenges and obligations

achievement attributions:

casual explanations that a person provides for his or her successes and failures.

achievement expectancy:

how well (or poorly) a person expects to perform should he or she try to achieve a particular objective

incremental view or growth mindset of ability:

belief that one's ability can be improved through increased effort and practice

entity view or fixed mindset of ability:

belief that one's ability is a highly stable trait that is not influenced much by effort or practice

mastery oriented:

a tendency to persist at challenging tasks because of a belief that one has high ability and/or that earlier failures can be overcome by trying harder

learned-helplessness orientation:

a tendency to give up or stop trying after failure because these failures have been attributed to a lack of ability that one can do little about

attribution retraining:

therapeutic intervention in which helpless children are persuaded to attribute failures to their lack of effort rather than a lack of ability

person praise:

praise focusing on desirable personality traits such as intelligence; this praise fosters performance goals in achievement contexts

performance goals:

state of affairs in which one's primary objective in an achievement context is to display one's competencies (or to avoid looking incompetent)

process-oriented praise:

praise of effort expended to formulate good ideas and effective problem-solving strategies; this praise fosters learning goals in achievement contexts

learning goal:

state of affairs in which one's primary objective in a achievement context is to increase one's skills or objectives

person perception:

the processes by which an individual uses social stimuli to form impressions of others

behavioural comparisons:

the tendency to form impressions of others by comparing and contrasting their overt behaviours

psychological constructs:

the tendency to base our impressions of others on the stable traits these individuals are presumed to have

psychological comparisons phase:

the tendency to form impressions of others by comparing and contrasting these individuals on abstract psychological dimensions

role-taking:

the ability to assume another person's perspective and understand his or her thoughts, feelings, and behaviours