EDU 120 All Exams Study Questions/Answers Graded A+
2025/2026
Why are developmentalists reluctant to specify chronological ages for any period of
development? - Time is one of many variables that affect each person
Development is multidirectional - Over time, human characteristics change in every
direction; development isn't linear
Pace of change also varies: continuity and discontinuity
Gains and losses appear throughout life and are apparent throughout history
What is the critical period? - Time when certain things must occur for normal
development
What is the sensitive period? - Time when a particular development occurs most easily
What 3 contexts' make up multi-contextual development? - Social context
- Everyone who influences each developing person, immediately and over time, directly
and indirectly is included in social context
Historical context
- Cohort
- All persons born within a few years of one another are said to be a cohort, a group
defines by the shared age of its members
Socioeconomic context
- Socioeconomic status (SES): income, wealth, occupation, education, and
neighborhood; underlies every other system
- Age and cohort are entangled with SES
Ecological-systems approach - Bronfenbrunner
Each person is affected by many social contexts and interpersonal interactions
Three nested levels surround individuals and affect them
this theory is later names bio ecological theory
What is included in Microsystems? - Elements of the persons immediate surroundings,
such as family and peer group
What is included in ecosystems? - Local institutions such as church and school
What is included in macrosystems? - The larger social setting, including cultural values,
economic policies, and political processes
What is included in chronosystem? - Literally "time system"
Changing conditions, personal and societal, over the life span
Development is multi-cultural - Vygotsky
, - People do not develop in isolation but rather in relationship to the culture of their
community, transmitted by the words, objects, and actions of other people
Culture
- System of shared beliefs, norms, behaviors, and expectations that persist over time
and prescribe social behavior and assumptions
Social construction
- Based on shared perceptions, not on objective reality
Difference or deficit?
- Humans tends to believe that they , their nation, and their culture are better than
others
- Belief becomes destructive if it reduces respect and appreciation for others
- Differences may be assets or a deficit
- We look at life through a straw and tend to think that our respective is better than it
being different
Ethnic and racial groups
- Ethnic group
- Consists of people whose ancestors were born in the same region and who may
share a language, culture, and religion
- Ethnicity
- Includes social construction affected by social context, not a direct outcome of biology
- Race
- Includes social construction that is more affected by history than ethnicity; created
and changed by societies
What is intersectionality? - Various identities need to be combines
systems of social categorization and group power intersect to influence everyone
What does plastic development mean? - People change over time
New behavior depends partly on what has already happened
What is the dynamic systems approach? - Ever-changing interaction between body and
mind and between the individual and every aspect of the environment
Psychosexual theory - Freund
Psychoanalytic
Unconscious Drives
Discontinuous
Stage 1: oral -- if we don't have this met, we will spend out whole life trying to fill that
drive
Psychosocial - Erik Erikson
Psychoanalytic
Stages
Discontinuous
He has social work as a part of it
In each stage, we must solve a psychological crisis
2025/2026
Why are developmentalists reluctant to specify chronological ages for any period of
development? - Time is one of many variables that affect each person
Development is multidirectional - Over time, human characteristics change in every
direction; development isn't linear
Pace of change also varies: continuity and discontinuity
Gains and losses appear throughout life and are apparent throughout history
What is the critical period? - Time when certain things must occur for normal
development
What is the sensitive period? - Time when a particular development occurs most easily
What 3 contexts' make up multi-contextual development? - Social context
- Everyone who influences each developing person, immediately and over time, directly
and indirectly is included in social context
Historical context
- Cohort
- All persons born within a few years of one another are said to be a cohort, a group
defines by the shared age of its members
Socioeconomic context
- Socioeconomic status (SES): income, wealth, occupation, education, and
neighborhood; underlies every other system
- Age and cohort are entangled with SES
Ecological-systems approach - Bronfenbrunner
Each person is affected by many social contexts and interpersonal interactions
Three nested levels surround individuals and affect them
this theory is later names bio ecological theory
What is included in Microsystems? - Elements of the persons immediate surroundings,
such as family and peer group
What is included in ecosystems? - Local institutions such as church and school
What is included in macrosystems? - The larger social setting, including cultural values,
economic policies, and political processes
What is included in chronosystem? - Literally "time system"
Changing conditions, personal and societal, over the life span
Development is multi-cultural - Vygotsky
, - People do not develop in isolation but rather in relationship to the culture of their
community, transmitted by the words, objects, and actions of other people
Culture
- System of shared beliefs, norms, behaviors, and expectations that persist over time
and prescribe social behavior and assumptions
Social construction
- Based on shared perceptions, not on objective reality
Difference or deficit?
- Humans tends to believe that they , their nation, and their culture are better than
others
- Belief becomes destructive if it reduces respect and appreciation for others
- Differences may be assets or a deficit
- We look at life through a straw and tend to think that our respective is better than it
being different
Ethnic and racial groups
- Ethnic group
- Consists of people whose ancestors were born in the same region and who may
share a language, culture, and religion
- Ethnicity
- Includes social construction affected by social context, not a direct outcome of biology
- Race
- Includes social construction that is more affected by history than ethnicity; created
and changed by societies
What is intersectionality? - Various identities need to be combines
systems of social categorization and group power intersect to influence everyone
What does plastic development mean? - People change over time
New behavior depends partly on what has already happened
What is the dynamic systems approach? - Ever-changing interaction between body and
mind and between the individual and every aspect of the environment
Psychosexual theory - Freund
Psychoanalytic
Unconscious Drives
Discontinuous
Stage 1: oral -- if we don't have this met, we will spend out whole life trying to fill that
drive
Psychosocial - Erik Erikson
Psychoanalytic
Stages
Discontinuous
He has social work as a part of it
In each stage, we must solve a psychological crisis
