FAD 3220 Exam 1 (FSU) Questions with Correct Answers Latest Update 2025/2026
lifespan development - Answers the field of study that examines patterns of growth, change,
and stability in behavior that occur throughout the entire life span
cohort - Answers a group of people born at around the same time in the same place; example of
history-graded influence
age-graded influences - Answers 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 - Answers 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 - Answers Physical development, cognitive development,
personality development, and social development.
physical development - Answers 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 - Answers study of how children acquire the ability to learn, think, reason,
communicate, and remember
personality development - Answers stability and change in the characteristics that differentiate
one person from another over the life span
social development - Answers 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 - Answers unusual occurrences that have a major impact on an
individual's life
continuous change - Answers gradual development in which achievements at one level build on
those of previous levels
discontinuous change - Answers 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 - Answers a specific time in development when certain skills or abilities are most
easily learned
sensitive period - Answers 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 - Answers Psychodynamic, Behavioral &
,Cognitive Perspectives
psychodynamic perspective - Answers how behavior springs from unconscious drives and
conflicts
behavioral perspective - Answers the approach that suggests that observable, measurable
behavior should be the focus of study
cognitive perspective - Answers modern perspective that focuses on memory, intelligence,
perception, problem solving, and learning
expand theories within psychodynamic perspective - Answers - 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 - Answers social-cognitive learning theory:
emphasizes learning by observing the behavior or another person, or model
expand theories within cognitive perspective - Answers 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 - Answers - 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) - Answers - 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 - Answers - 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 - Answers - 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
lifespan development - Answers the field of study that examines patterns of growth, change,
and stability in behavior that occur throughout the entire life span
cohort - Answers a group of people born at around the same time in the same place; example of
history-graded influence
age-graded influences - Answers 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 - Answers 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 - Answers Physical development, cognitive development,
personality development, and social development.
physical development - Answers 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 - Answers study of how children acquire the ability to learn, think, reason,
communicate, and remember
personality development - Answers stability and change in the characteristics that differentiate
one person from another over the life span
social development - Answers 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 - Answers unusual occurrences that have a major impact on an
individual's life
continuous change - Answers gradual development in which achievements at one level build on
those of previous levels
discontinuous change - Answers 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 - Answers a specific time in development when certain skills or abilities are most
easily learned
sensitive period - Answers 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 - Answers Psychodynamic, Behavioral &
,Cognitive Perspectives
psychodynamic perspective - Answers how behavior springs from unconscious drives and
conflicts
behavioral perspective - Answers the approach that suggests that observable, measurable
behavior should be the focus of study
cognitive perspective - Answers modern perspective that focuses on memory, intelligence,
perception, problem solving, and learning
expand theories within psychodynamic perspective - Answers - 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 - Answers social-cognitive learning theory:
emphasizes learning by observing the behavior or another person, or model
expand theories within cognitive perspective - Answers 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 - Answers - 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) - Answers - 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 - Answers - 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 - Answers - 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
