Human Growth and Development exam questions with 100% correct answers.

human developmemt a field of study devoted to understanding constancy and change throughout the llifespan theory an orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains, and predicts behavior continuous development a process of gradually augmenting the same types of skills that were there to begin with discontinuous development a process in which new and different ways of interpreting and responding to the world emerge at particular time periods stages qualitative changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving that characterize specifice periods of development contexts Unique combinations of personal and environmental circumstances that can result in different paths of change. nature-nurture controversy inborn biological givens vs. complex forces of the physical and social world that influence our biological makeup and psychological experiences before and after birth life expectancy The average number of years an individual can be expected to live, given current social, economic, and medical conditions. Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn infant can expect to live. lifespan perspective (1) development as lifelong (2) development as multidimensional and multidirectional (3) development as highly plastic (4) development as embedded in multiple contexts age-graded influences events that are strongly related to age and therefore fairly predictable in whwen they occur and how long they last history-graded influences forces unique to a particular historic era that explain why people born around the same time tend to be alike in ways that set them apart from people born at other times preformationism in medieval Europe once children emerged from infancy ther were regarded as miniature already-formed adults John Locke "tabula rasa" (blank slate) children in the beginning are nothing at all and all kinds of experiences can shape their character. Nurture to shape a child Jean Jacques Rousseau children were noble savages, naturally endowed with a sense of right and wrong. Adult training would only harm children. Tetens older people can compensate for intellectual declines that, at times, may reflect hidden gains Carus four periods of life: childhood, youth, adulthood, senescence Charles Darwin natural selection and survival of the fittest normative approach measures of behaviour are taken on large numbers of individuals, age-related averages are computed to represent typical development Alfred Binet first successful intelligence test (Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale) Freud Austrian-born British psychoanalyst noted for her application of psychoanalysis to child therapy. id largest portion of the mind; basic biological needs and desires ego conscious, rational part ofo personality; emerges in early infancy, ensures that the id is redirected property superego conscience; develops from interaction with parents Erik Erikson neo-Freudian, humanistic; 8 psychosocial stages of development: theory shows how people evolve through the life span. Each stage is marked by a psychological crisis that involves confronting "Who am I?" Jean Piaget ; swiss developmental psychologist who proposed a four-stage theory of cognitive development based on the concept of mental operations ethology concerned with adaptive, or survival, value of behavior and its evolutionary history sensitive period a time that is optimal for certain capacities to emerge and in which the individual is especially responsive to environment influences ecological systems theory views the person as developing with a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment microsystem innermost level of the environment which consists of activities and interaction patterns in the person's immediate surroundings mesosystem connections between microsystems exosystem social settings that do not contain the developing person but nevertheless affect experiences in immediate settings macrosystem consists of cultural values, laws, customs, and resources naturalistic observation Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation. structured observation investigator sets up a lab situation that evoke the behavior of interest so that every particpant has equal opportuniity to display responce. clinical interview researchers use a flexible, conversational style to probe for the participant's point of view structured interview Selection technique that involves asking all applicants the same questions and comparing their responses to a standardized set of answers. clinical/case study method brings together a wide range of information on one person, including interviews, observations, and sometimes test scores ethnography directed toward understanding a culture or a distinct social group, achieving its goals through participant observation correlational design researchers gather information on already-existing groups of individuals, generally in natural life circumstances, and make no effort to alter their experiences longitudinal design group of participants studied repeatedly at different ages, and changes are noted as the participants mature cohort effects individuals born in the same period are influenced by a particular set of historical and cultural conditions cross-sectional design groups of people differing in age are studied at the same point in time longitudinal-sequential design a sequence of samples are followed for a number of years codominance a pattern of inheritance in which both genes influence the person's characteristics genetic imprinting genes are chemically marked in such a way that one member of the pair is activated, regardless of its makeup sub-culture groups of people with beliefs and customs that differ from those of the larger culture collectivist societies people define themselves as part of a group and stress group goals over individual goals individualistic societies people think of themselves as separate entities and are largely concerned with their own personal needs heritability estimates measure the extent to which individual differences in complex traits in a specific population are due to genetic factors. kinship studies compare characteristics of family members concordance rate percentage of instances in which both twins show a trait when it is present in one twin range of reaction each person's unique, genetically determined response to a range of environmental conditions canalization the tendency of heredity to restrict the development of some characteristics to just one or a few outcomes genetic-environmental correlation our genes influence the environments to which we are exposed niche-picking the tendency to actively choose and environment that complements our heredity epigenesis development resulting from ongoing, bidirectional exchanges between heredity and all levels of the environment marasmus wasted condition of the body caused by diet low in nutrients kwashiorkor unbalanced diet very low in protein habituation gradual reduction in the strength of a response due to repetitive stimulation mental strategies to operate on and transform information, increasing the chances that we will retain information, use it effectively and think flexibly, adapting the information to changing circumstances