lifespan exam 1 review updated already
passed 2025
environmental hazards on the embryo/fetus - correct answer ✔✔radiation and pollutants
biological aging - correct answer ✔✔the deterioration of organisms that leads inevitably to their death
emerging adulthood - correct answer ✔✔Newly identified period of the life span extending from about
age 18 to age 25 or even later, when young people are neither adolescents nor adults and are exploring
their identities, careers, and relationships.
rite of passage - correct answer ✔✔A ritual that marks a person's "passage" from one status to another,
usually in reference to rituals marking the transition from childhood to adulthood.
maturation - correct answer ✔✔-Developmental changes that are biologically programmed by genes
rather than caused primarily by learning, injury, illness, or some other life experience.
learning - correct answer ✔✔-A relatively permanent change in behavior (or behavioral potential) that
results from a person's experiences or practice
age norms - correct answer ✔✔Expectations about what people should be doing or how they should
behave at different points in the life span.
social clock - correct answer ✔✔-A personal sense of when things should be done in life and when the
individual is ahead of or behind the schedule dictated by age norms.
-a person's feeling of being ahead of schedule, behind schedule, or on schedule
evidence-based practice - correct answer ✔✔Grounding what professionals do in research and ensuring
that the curricula and treatments provided to students or clients have been demonstrated to be effective
,life expectancy - correct answer ✔✔The average number of years a newborn baby can be expected to
live; now about 78 years in the United States.
directionality problem - correct answer ✔✔The problem in correlational studies of determining whether
a presumed causal variable is the cause or the effect. See also third variable problem.
third-variable problem - correct answer ✔✔In correlation studies, the problem posed by the fact that
the association between the two variables of interest may be caused by some third variable; see also
directionality problem.
meta-analysis - correct answer ✔✔A research method in which the results of multiple studies addressing
the same question are synthesized to produce overall conclusions.
WEIRD people - correct answer ✔✔An acronym referring to people living in societies that are Western,
Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. The field of psychology has been characterized as the
study of WEIRD people (for example, American college students).
Ethnocentrism - correct answer ✔✔The belief that one's own cultural or ethnic group is superior to
others.
cultural differences - correct answer ✔✔includes beliefs, values, and practices concerning the nature of
humans in different phases of the life span, what children need to be taught to function in their society,
and how people should lead their lives as adults.
-Different cultures can lead us along different developmental pathways
subcultural differences - correct answer ✔✔Age grades, age norms, and social clocks differ not only from
culture to culture but also from subculture to subculture. Our own society is diverse with respect to race
and ethnicity, or people's affiliation with a group based on common heritage or traditions.
historical changes related to development - correct answer ✔✔-Traditionally, biologists have defined
growth as the physical changes that occur from conception to maturity. We indeed become biologically
mature and physically competent during the early part of the life span
-In short, development involves gains, losses, neutral changes, and continuities in each phase of the life
span, and aging is part of it.
, What were the contributions of Charles Darwin to developmental psychology? - correct answer ✔✔-the
most influential baby biographer
-made daily records of his son's development
-interest in evolution. -He believed that infants share many characteristics with their nonhuman
ancestors and that understanding the development of the embryo and child can offer insights into the
evolution of the species.
-Darwin's evolutionary perspective strongly influenced early theories of human development, which
emphasized universal, biologically based maturational changes
What were the contributions of G. Stanley Hall to developmental psychology? - correct answer ✔✔-
founder of developmental psychology in the US
-developed questionnaire
method with children
-First president of the psychological association
-attempted to collect more objective data from larger samples of individuals
-He explored "the contents of children's minds" at different ages
Describe the seven key life-span assumptions from your text. - correct answer ✔✔1. development is a
lifelong process
2. development is multi-directional
3. development involves both gain and loss
4. development is characterized by lifelong plasticity
5. development is shaped by its historical-cultural context
6. development is multiply influenced
7. development must be studied by multiple disciplnes
1. Development is a lifelong process - correct answer ✔✔-we change throughout the life span.
-development in any period of life is best seen in the context of the whole life span.
passed 2025
environmental hazards on the embryo/fetus - correct answer ✔✔radiation and pollutants
biological aging - correct answer ✔✔the deterioration of organisms that leads inevitably to their death
emerging adulthood - correct answer ✔✔Newly identified period of the life span extending from about
age 18 to age 25 or even later, when young people are neither adolescents nor adults and are exploring
their identities, careers, and relationships.
rite of passage - correct answer ✔✔A ritual that marks a person's "passage" from one status to another,
usually in reference to rituals marking the transition from childhood to adulthood.
maturation - correct answer ✔✔-Developmental changes that are biologically programmed by genes
rather than caused primarily by learning, injury, illness, or some other life experience.
learning - correct answer ✔✔-A relatively permanent change in behavior (or behavioral potential) that
results from a person's experiences or practice
age norms - correct answer ✔✔Expectations about what people should be doing or how they should
behave at different points in the life span.
social clock - correct answer ✔✔-A personal sense of when things should be done in life and when the
individual is ahead of or behind the schedule dictated by age norms.
-a person's feeling of being ahead of schedule, behind schedule, or on schedule
evidence-based practice - correct answer ✔✔Grounding what professionals do in research and ensuring
that the curricula and treatments provided to students or clients have been demonstrated to be effective
,life expectancy - correct answer ✔✔The average number of years a newborn baby can be expected to
live; now about 78 years in the United States.
directionality problem - correct answer ✔✔The problem in correlational studies of determining whether
a presumed causal variable is the cause or the effect. See also third variable problem.
third-variable problem - correct answer ✔✔In correlation studies, the problem posed by the fact that
the association between the two variables of interest may be caused by some third variable; see also
directionality problem.
meta-analysis - correct answer ✔✔A research method in which the results of multiple studies addressing
the same question are synthesized to produce overall conclusions.
WEIRD people - correct answer ✔✔An acronym referring to people living in societies that are Western,
Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. The field of psychology has been characterized as the
study of WEIRD people (for example, American college students).
Ethnocentrism - correct answer ✔✔The belief that one's own cultural or ethnic group is superior to
others.
cultural differences - correct answer ✔✔includes beliefs, values, and practices concerning the nature of
humans in different phases of the life span, what children need to be taught to function in their society,
and how people should lead their lives as adults.
-Different cultures can lead us along different developmental pathways
subcultural differences - correct answer ✔✔Age grades, age norms, and social clocks differ not only from
culture to culture but also from subculture to subculture. Our own society is diverse with respect to race
and ethnicity, or people's affiliation with a group based on common heritage or traditions.
historical changes related to development - correct answer ✔✔-Traditionally, biologists have defined
growth as the physical changes that occur from conception to maturity. We indeed become biologically
mature and physically competent during the early part of the life span
-In short, development involves gains, losses, neutral changes, and continuities in each phase of the life
span, and aging is part of it.
, What were the contributions of Charles Darwin to developmental psychology? - correct answer ✔✔-the
most influential baby biographer
-made daily records of his son's development
-interest in evolution. -He believed that infants share many characteristics with their nonhuman
ancestors and that understanding the development of the embryo and child can offer insights into the
evolution of the species.
-Darwin's evolutionary perspective strongly influenced early theories of human development, which
emphasized universal, biologically based maturational changes
What were the contributions of G. Stanley Hall to developmental psychology? - correct answer ✔✔-
founder of developmental psychology in the US
-developed questionnaire
method with children
-First president of the psychological association
-attempted to collect more objective data from larger samples of individuals
-He explored "the contents of children's minds" at different ages
Describe the seven key life-span assumptions from your text. - correct answer ✔✔1. development is a
lifelong process
2. development is multi-directional
3. development involves both gain and loss
4. development is characterized by lifelong plasticity
5. development is shaped by its historical-cultural context
6. development is multiply influenced
7. development must be studied by multiple disciplnes
1. Development is a lifelong process - correct answer ✔✔-we change throughout the life span.
-development in any period of life is best seen in the context of the whole life span.
