PSY 357 Study Guide Questions with Complete
Solutions
Human development
the multidisciplinary study of how people change and how they remain the same over time
Nature-nurture issue
the degree to which genetic or hereditary influences (nature) and experiential or environmental
influences (nurture) deter-mine the kind of person you are
Continuity-discontinuity issue
whether a particular developmental phenomenon represents a smooth progression throughout the
life span (continuity) or a series of abrupt shifts (discontinuity)
Universal versus context-specific developmental issue
whether there is one path of development or several paths
Biopsychosocial framework
a useful way to organize the biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces on human
development
Theory
an organized set of ideas that is designed to explain development
Psychodynamic theory
theories proposing that development is largely determined by how well people resolve conflicts
they face at different ages
,Psychosocial theory
Erikson's proposal that personality development is determined by the interaction of an internal
maturational plan and external societal demands
Operant conditioning
learning paradigm in which the consequences of a behavior determine whether a behavior is
repeated
Reinforcement
a consequence that increases the likelihood of the behavior that it follows
Punishment
a consequence that decreases the likelihood of the behavior that it follows
Imitation or observational learning
learning that occurs by simply watching how others behave
Self-efficacy
people's beliefs about their own abilities and talents
Information-processing theory
theory proposing that human cognition consists of mental hardware and mental software
Ecological theory
theory based on idea that human development is inseparable from the environmental contexts in
which a person develops
, Microsystem
the people and objects in an individual's immediate environment
Mesosystem
provides connections across microsystems
Exosystem
social settings that a person may not experience firsthand but that still influence development
Macrosystem
the cultures and subcultures in which the microsystem, mesosystem, and exosystem are
embedded
Systemic observation
watching people and carefully recording what they do or say; two types - natural and structured
Naturalistic observation
technique in which people are observed as they behave spontaneously in a real-life situation
Structured observations
technique in which a researcher creates a setting that is likely to elicit the behavior of interest
Self-reports
people's answers to questions about the topic of interest
Correlational study
investigation looking at relations between variables as they exist naturally in the world
Solutions
Human development
the multidisciplinary study of how people change and how they remain the same over time
Nature-nurture issue
the degree to which genetic or hereditary influences (nature) and experiential or environmental
influences (nurture) deter-mine the kind of person you are
Continuity-discontinuity issue
whether a particular developmental phenomenon represents a smooth progression throughout the
life span (continuity) or a series of abrupt shifts (discontinuity)
Universal versus context-specific developmental issue
whether there is one path of development or several paths
Biopsychosocial framework
a useful way to organize the biological, psychological, and sociocultural forces on human
development
Theory
an organized set of ideas that is designed to explain development
Psychodynamic theory
theories proposing that development is largely determined by how well people resolve conflicts
they face at different ages
,Psychosocial theory
Erikson's proposal that personality development is determined by the interaction of an internal
maturational plan and external societal demands
Operant conditioning
learning paradigm in which the consequences of a behavior determine whether a behavior is
repeated
Reinforcement
a consequence that increases the likelihood of the behavior that it follows
Punishment
a consequence that decreases the likelihood of the behavior that it follows
Imitation or observational learning
learning that occurs by simply watching how others behave
Self-efficacy
people's beliefs about their own abilities and talents
Information-processing theory
theory proposing that human cognition consists of mental hardware and mental software
Ecological theory
theory based on idea that human development is inseparable from the environmental contexts in
which a person develops
, Microsystem
the people and objects in an individual's immediate environment
Mesosystem
provides connections across microsystems
Exosystem
social settings that a person may not experience firsthand but that still influence development
Macrosystem
the cultures and subcultures in which the microsystem, mesosystem, and exosystem are
embedded
Systemic observation
watching people and carefully recording what they do or say; two types - natural and structured
Naturalistic observation
technique in which people are observed as they behave spontaneously in a real-life situation
Structured observations
technique in which a researcher creates a setting that is likely to elicit the behavior of interest
Self-reports
people's answers to questions about the topic of interest
Correlational study
investigation looking at relations between variables as they exist naturally in the world
