Lifespan Developmental Psychology-Exam
with Questions and complete solutions
Socioeconomic Status: SES - ✔✔Position based off of:
Income
Education
Occupation
EX. Children in a low socioeconomic group are more likely to have: growth stunted, have physical
disabilities, more likely to develop mental disabilities, more likely to develop pneumonia, higher risk for
learning disability, more likely to be in a special education class, and more likely to drop out of high
school
Neighborhood - ✔✔Composition of an individuals surrounding community, focusing on
human capital.
Presence of educated, employed adults provides the neighborhood with models
EX. A neighborhood that lacks human capitol is a risk factor for a child's well being. You may be less
likely to go to school and find a job
ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT: Physical - ✔✔Talking about physical changes in body, brain,
sensory capabilities (see/hear), and motor skills (running, jumping, etc.)
ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT: Cognitive - ✔✔Talking about mental abilities: learning,
memory, reasoning, thinking, etc.
ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT: Psychosocial (Personality and Social) - ✔✔Two Types:
- Personality
- Focuses on the individual as the unit of study
- The unique way in which each individual deals with the world.
- Social changes
,- Considers the group as the unit of study
- How are you the same or different than another group?
- Most focus is on relationships and how you interact in them
INFLUENCES OF DEVELOPMENT: Contextual - ✔✔Two Types:
- Culture
- Way of life passed from one generation to the next
- Ethnicity
- Group shares a common origin, race, or religion
INFLUENCES OF DEVELOPMENT: Critical Period - ✔✔A point in time when a give event like an X-ray
or the absence of a given event has a specific impact on the individual that almost always leads to a
particular consequence
EX. A woman should not get an X-Ray during her pregnancy or take certain drugs because it will affect
the fetus's development
Sensitive Periods - ✔✔A time in development when a person is particularly responsive to
certain types of experience
The individual being impacted in a certain way that may or may not happen
Brain Plasticity - ✔✔- The ability to continuously modify itself through experience.
- Our brain is not fixed in child hood
- Since our brain has that plasticity it is more useful to think about sensitive periods
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT: Physical - ✔✔- Men are typically heavier and taller
than women on average
,- Men enter puberty about two years later on average than women
- Men are 20x more likely to be color blind or color deficient than women
- Men have a shorter life expectancy, dying on average 10 years sooner than women
- Men are more likely to go bald
- Men are more likely to wiggle their ears than women
- Women have a better sense of smell
- Men have a hard time smelling faint smells
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT: Psychological - ✔✔- Women are more likely to
become depressed
- Women are more likely to develop an anxiety disorder
- Women are more likely to develop an eating disorder
- Men are more likely to develop alcoholism
- Women are more likely to ATTEMPT suicide (pills)
- Men are more likely to SUCCEED suicide (guns)
- Men are more likely to be hyperactive (ADHD)
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT: Cognitive - ✔✔- Men are more likely to have speech
problems (stutter, articulation,etc.)
- Beginning in adolescence females tend to better on verbal tasks such as writing and language usage
- Females also do better than males on math COMPUTATION (adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing)
- Males do better than females on math problem SOLVING
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT: Social Behavior - ✔✔- Men value independence
- Identify themselves apart from others
- Females value interdependence
- Being socially connected to other people (relationships, children)
- Identify themselves through social ties
- Men tend to be less expressive
, - Men tend to be more self-reliant
- Males are more aggressive than females
- One of the most consistent findings in research literature
- Males are more socially dominant than women
- EX. How many male presidents vs. women presidents have we had? ALL males
- Typically people tend to look at males
- To be heard, women have to be more assertive to get the attention
- Males are more likely to initiate sexual activities than females
SCIENTIFIC METHOD: Specify The Problem - ✔✔- Hypothesis: A testable prediction, often
derived from a theory
- Typically derived from a theory
- Want it to be testable
- Want it to be straight forward
SCIENTIFIC METHOD: Design and Conduct the Study
- Operational Definition:
- Subject Bias: - ✔✔- A definition stated in terms that can be observed or measured
- When the subjects in the study behave in a way they think the experimenter wants them to behave
SCIENTIFIC METHOD: Design and Conduct the Study
- Single-Blind Design:
- Experimenter Bias:
- Double-Blind Design: - ✔✔- A technique in which subjects are kept uninformed about
the hypothesis of the study so that this knowledge does not affect their behavior.
- Occurs when experimenters, who are aware of the hypothesis of the study, subtly influence the
subjects to behave according to prediction.
- Both the subjects and the experimenter conducting the study are kept uninformed about
the hypothesis
with Questions and complete solutions
Socioeconomic Status: SES - ✔✔Position based off of:
Income
Education
Occupation
EX. Children in a low socioeconomic group are more likely to have: growth stunted, have physical
disabilities, more likely to develop mental disabilities, more likely to develop pneumonia, higher risk for
learning disability, more likely to be in a special education class, and more likely to drop out of high
school
Neighborhood - ✔✔Composition of an individuals surrounding community, focusing on
human capital.
Presence of educated, employed adults provides the neighborhood with models
EX. A neighborhood that lacks human capitol is a risk factor for a child's well being. You may be less
likely to go to school and find a job
ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT: Physical - ✔✔Talking about physical changes in body, brain,
sensory capabilities (see/hear), and motor skills (running, jumping, etc.)
ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT: Cognitive - ✔✔Talking about mental abilities: learning,
memory, reasoning, thinking, etc.
ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT: Psychosocial (Personality and Social) - ✔✔Two Types:
- Personality
- Focuses on the individual as the unit of study
- The unique way in which each individual deals with the world.
- Social changes
,- Considers the group as the unit of study
- How are you the same or different than another group?
- Most focus is on relationships and how you interact in them
INFLUENCES OF DEVELOPMENT: Contextual - ✔✔Two Types:
- Culture
- Way of life passed from one generation to the next
- Ethnicity
- Group shares a common origin, race, or religion
INFLUENCES OF DEVELOPMENT: Critical Period - ✔✔A point in time when a give event like an X-ray
or the absence of a given event has a specific impact on the individual that almost always leads to a
particular consequence
EX. A woman should not get an X-Ray during her pregnancy or take certain drugs because it will affect
the fetus's development
Sensitive Periods - ✔✔A time in development when a person is particularly responsive to
certain types of experience
The individual being impacted in a certain way that may or may not happen
Brain Plasticity - ✔✔- The ability to continuously modify itself through experience.
- Our brain is not fixed in child hood
- Since our brain has that plasticity it is more useful to think about sensitive periods
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT: Physical - ✔✔- Men are typically heavier and taller
than women on average
,- Men enter puberty about two years later on average than women
- Men are 20x more likely to be color blind or color deficient than women
- Men have a shorter life expectancy, dying on average 10 years sooner than women
- Men are more likely to go bald
- Men are more likely to wiggle their ears than women
- Women have a better sense of smell
- Men have a hard time smelling faint smells
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT: Psychological - ✔✔- Women are more likely to
become depressed
- Women are more likely to develop an anxiety disorder
- Women are more likely to develop an eating disorder
- Men are more likely to develop alcoholism
- Women are more likely to ATTEMPT suicide (pills)
- Men are more likely to SUCCEED suicide (guns)
- Men are more likely to be hyperactive (ADHD)
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT: Cognitive - ✔✔- Men are more likely to have speech
problems (stutter, articulation,etc.)
- Beginning in adolescence females tend to better on verbal tasks such as writing and language usage
- Females also do better than males on math COMPUTATION (adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing)
- Males do better than females on math problem SOLVING
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT: Social Behavior - ✔✔- Men value independence
- Identify themselves apart from others
- Females value interdependence
- Being socially connected to other people (relationships, children)
- Identify themselves through social ties
- Men tend to be less expressive
, - Men tend to be more self-reliant
- Males are more aggressive than females
- One of the most consistent findings in research literature
- Males are more socially dominant than women
- EX. How many male presidents vs. women presidents have we had? ALL males
- Typically people tend to look at males
- To be heard, women have to be more assertive to get the attention
- Males are more likely to initiate sexual activities than females
SCIENTIFIC METHOD: Specify The Problem - ✔✔- Hypothesis: A testable prediction, often
derived from a theory
- Typically derived from a theory
- Want it to be testable
- Want it to be straight forward
SCIENTIFIC METHOD: Design and Conduct the Study
- Operational Definition:
- Subject Bias: - ✔✔- A definition stated in terms that can be observed or measured
- When the subjects in the study behave in a way they think the experimenter wants them to behave
SCIENTIFIC METHOD: Design and Conduct the Study
- Single-Blind Design:
- Experimenter Bias:
- Double-Blind Design: - ✔✔- A technique in which subjects are kept uninformed about
the hypothesis of the study so that this knowledge does not affect their behavior.
- Occurs when experimenters, who are aware of the hypothesis of the study, subtly influence the
subjects to behave according to prediction.
- Both the subjects and the experimenter conducting the study are kept uninformed about
the hypothesis
