GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT STUDY GUIDE
WITH FULL SOLUTIONS 2026
◉ Nurture blank slate. Answer: tabula rasa
◉ Nature versus nurture differences. Answer: nature
preprogrammed and nurture experiences
◉ View of most theorists on nature versus nurture. Answer:
combination, interact from conception forward
◉ Stage theories (discontinuity theories). Answer: Development
through a series of stages
◉ Continuity theories. Answer: Steady growth process
◉ Discontinuity (stage) vs Continuity. Answer: Stage is qualitative
◉ Child development vs. Life Span Perspective. Answer: Freud and
Piaget = child development
Erikson = life span
,◉ Child Development theory. Answer: complete once reach
adolescence
◉ Life Span theory. Answer: continues throughout life span
◉ Universality vs. context-specific development. Answer:
Universality (Piaget) = same order and same age
Context-specific (Bronfenbrenner) = takes place in various contexts
◉ Context-specific development. Answer: Collectivist cultures vs.
individualistic cultures changes development
◉ Cognitive development theory. Answer: Based on the notion that
cognitive abilities are developed as individuals mature
physiologically and have opportunity to interact with environment
(Piaget)
◉ Equilibration of accommodation and assimilation. Answer: Piaget
argues that normally we are in this state, when a new stimulus
presents we enter state of disequilibrium
◉ Accommodation. Answer: Adjusting prior knowledge gained
through former experiences and interactions
,◉ Assimilation. Answer: Fitting together the new information with
what has been previously known or understood
◉ Constructivism. Answer: Piaget position on learning. Children
construct schema, organized patterns of thought or action, Based on
the experiences that they have actively exploring the environment
◉ Piaget Constructivism. Answer: considered a stage theory
◉ Piaget Constructivism Four Stages. Answer: 1. Sensorimotor
(birth - 2)
2. Preoperational (2-7)
3. Concrete Operations (7-11)
4. Formal Operaitons (11-15)
◉ Preoperational stage. Answer: egocentrism, rigidity of thought,
semi logical reasoning, limited social cognition
◉ Concrete Operations. Answer: Beginning of operational thinking,
can perform transformations, understand reversibility, inversion,
reciprocity, and conservation, group into categories, make
inferences, inductive reasoning
, ◉ Formal Operations. Answer: higher ordered critical thinking, adult
thinking, ultimate stage of cognitive development, scientific method,
logical, abstract and hypothetical thought, deductive and inductive
reasoning
◉ Kohlberg. Answer: extended Piaget model to study of moral
reasoning
◉ Information processing approach. Answer: newer approach to
studying cognitive development, uses computer as metaphor for
human mind
◉ Learning theory (or behaviorist theory). Answer: Developmental
change as the product of learning
◉ Learning. Answer: To find as changes in observable behavior
◉ Watson. Answer: Found in school psychology called behaviorism
or behavioral psychology
◉ Behavioral psychology important figures. Answer: Pavlov, Watson,
Skinner, Bandura
WITH FULL SOLUTIONS 2026
◉ Nurture blank slate. Answer: tabula rasa
◉ Nature versus nurture differences. Answer: nature
preprogrammed and nurture experiences
◉ View of most theorists on nature versus nurture. Answer:
combination, interact from conception forward
◉ Stage theories (discontinuity theories). Answer: Development
through a series of stages
◉ Continuity theories. Answer: Steady growth process
◉ Discontinuity (stage) vs Continuity. Answer: Stage is qualitative
◉ Child development vs. Life Span Perspective. Answer: Freud and
Piaget = child development
Erikson = life span
,◉ Child Development theory. Answer: complete once reach
adolescence
◉ Life Span theory. Answer: continues throughout life span
◉ Universality vs. context-specific development. Answer:
Universality (Piaget) = same order and same age
Context-specific (Bronfenbrenner) = takes place in various contexts
◉ Context-specific development. Answer: Collectivist cultures vs.
individualistic cultures changes development
◉ Cognitive development theory. Answer: Based on the notion that
cognitive abilities are developed as individuals mature
physiologically and have opportunity to interact with environment
(Piaget)
◉ Equilibration of accommodation and assimilation. Answer: Piaget
argues that normally we are in this state, when a new stimulus
presents we enter state of disequilibrium
◉ Accommodation. Answer: Adjusting prior knowledge gained
through former experiences and interactions
,◉ Assimilation. Answer: Fitting together the new information with
what has been previously known or understood
◉ Constructivism. Answer: Piaget position on learning. Children
construct schema, organized patterns of thought or action, Based on
the experiences that they have actively exploring the environment
◉ Piaget Constructivism. Answer: considered a stage theory
◉ Piaget Constructivism Four Stages. Answer: 1. Sensorimotor
(birth - 2)
2. Preoperational (2-7)
3. Concrete Operations (7-11)
4. Formal Operaitons (11-15)
◉ Preoperational stage. Answer: egocentrism, rigidity of thought,
semi logical reasoning, limited social cognition
◉ Concrete Operations. Answer: Beginning of operational thinking,
can perform transformations, understand reversibility, inversion,
reciprocity, and conservation, group into categories, make
inferences, inductive reasoning
, ◉ Formal Operations. Answer: higher ordered critical thinking, adult
thinking, ultimate stage of cognitive development, scientific method,
logical, abstract and hypothetical thought, deductive and inductive
reasoning
◉ Kohlberg. Answer: extended Piaget model to study of moral
reasoning
◉ Information processing approach. Answer: newer approach to
studying cognitive development, uses computer as metaphor for
human mind
◉ Learning theory (or behaviorist theory). Answer: Developmental
change as the product of learning
◉ Learning. Answer: To find as changes in observable behavior
◉ Watson. Answer: Found in school psychology called behaviorism
or behavioral psychology
◉ Behavioral psychology important figures. Answer: Pavlov, Watson,
Skinner, Bandura
