ACTUAL Exam Questions and CORRECT
Answers
lifespan development - CORRECT ANSWER- the field of study that examines patterns of
growth, change, and stability in behavior that occur throughout the entire life span
cohort - CORRECT ANSWER- a group of people born at around the same time in the same
place; example of history-graded influence
age-graded influences - CORRECT ANSWER- biological and environmental influences that
are similar for individuals in a particular age group, regardless of when or where they are raised
sociocultural-graded influences - CORRECT ANSWER- the social and cultural factors
present at a particular time for a particular individual, depending on such variables as ethnicity,
social class, and subcultural membership
topical areas of lifespan development - CORRECT ANSWER- Physical development,
cognitive development, personality development, and social development.
physical development - CORRECT ANSWER- development involving the body's physical
makeup, including the brain, nervous system, muscles, and senses, and the need for food, drink,
and sleep
cognitive development - CORRECT ANSWER- study of how children acquire the ability to
learn, think, reason, communicate, and remember
personality development - CORRECT ANSWER- stability and change in the characteristics
that differentiate one person from another over the life span
,social development - CORRECT ANSWER- the way in which individuals' interactions with
others and their social relationships grow, change, and remain stable over the course of life
non-normative life events - CORRECT ANSWER- unusual occurrences that have a major
impact on an individual's life
continuous change - CORRECT ANSWER- gradual development in which achievements at
one level build on those of previous levels
discontinuous change - CORRECT ANSWER- development that occurs in distinct steps or
stages, with each stage bringing about behavior that is assumed to be qualitatively different from
behavior at earlier stages
critical period - CORRECT ANSWER- a specific time in development when certain skills or
abilities are most easily learned
sensitive period - CORRECT ANSWER- a limited phase in an individual animal's
development in which they're particularly susceptible to certain kinds of stimuli in the
environment
theoretical perspectives on lifespan development - CORRECT ANSWER- Psychodynamic,
Behavioral & Cognitive Perspectives
psychodynamic perspective - CORRECT ANSWER- how behavior springs from
unconscious drives and conflicts
behavioral perspective - CORRECT ANSWER- the approach that suggests that observable,
measurable behavior should be the focus of study
cognitive perspective - CORRECT ANSWER- modern perspective that focuses on memory,
intelligence, perception, problem solving, and learning
,expand theories within psychodynamic perspective - CORRECT ANSWER- -
psychoanalytic (Freud): suggests that unconscious forces act to determine personality and
behavior; ex: desires
- psychosocial theory (Erikson): suggests our behavioral development occurs in 8 fixed, similar
stages
expand theories within behavioral perspective - CORRECT ANSWER- social-cognitive
learning theory: emphasizes learning by observing the behavior or another person, or model
expand theories within cognitive perspective - CORRECT ANSWER- Theory of Cognitive
Development (Piaget): suggests that growth in children's understanding of the world could be
explained by assimilation [people understanding new experience in terms of current stage of
cognitive development] and accommodation [changes in existing ways of thinking in response to
encounters with new stimuli or events]
concepts of psychoanalytic theory - CORRECT ANSWER- - psychosexual development:
occurs as children pass through distinct changes in which pleasure, or gratification, is focused on
a particular biological function and body part
- psychosocial development: refers to change in interactions and understandings of one another
concepts of behavioral theory (social-cognitive learning theory) - CORRECT ANSWER- -
classical conditioning: type of learning that occurs when organism learns to respond in particular
way to neutral stimulus
- operant conditioning: a form of learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or
weakened by its association with positive or negative consequences
- behavior modification: formal technique for promoting the frequency of desirable behaviors
and decreasing the incidence of unwanted ones
, - reinforcement: process in which behavior is followed by stimulus that increases probability that
the behavior will be repeated
concepts within Piaget's Theory - CORRECT ANSWER- - assimilation: process in which
people understand a new experience in terms of their current stage of cognitive development
- accommodation: refers to changes in existing ways of thinking in response to encounters with
new stimuli or events
- information-processing approach: the model that seeks to identify the ways individuals take in,
use, and store information
- neo-Piagetian theory: considers cognition as made up of different types of individual skills
- cognitive neuroscience approaches: looks at cognitive development through the lens of brain
processes
name the main theorists and their contributions - CORRECT ANSWER- - Freud
(psychoanalytic theory): states the unconscious is part of the personality [id: pleasure principle,
ego: reality principle, superego: conscious]
- Freud (psychosexual development): pleasure shifts from mouth -> anus -> genitals
- Erikson (psychosocial theory): says growth and change continue throughout the lifespan unlike
Freud
- Bandura (social-cognitive learning theory): proposes learning is best done through imitation
- Piaget (cognitive development theory): discusses increase of quality and quantity of
information in a series of stages