Development Psychology Ch. 1

Front 1

lifespan development

Back 1

the scientific study of human growth throughout life

Front 2

child development

Back 2

the study of childhood and the teenage years

Front 3

gerontology

Back 3

the study of aging

Front 4

normative transitions

Back 4

predictable changes in life development
ex. retirement

Front 5

non-normative transitions

Back 5

unpredictable changes in life development
ex. divorce

Front 6

contexts of development

Back 6

factors that determine how an individual develops in life
ex. culture, gender

Front 7

cohort

Back 7

the age group with whom we travel through life

Front 8

baby boom cohort

Back 8

people born during 1946-1964 as a result of returning WWII soldiers.

Front 9

adolescence

Back 9

stage of life between childhood and adulthood
(coined by G. Stanley Hall)

Front 10

Emerging Adulthood

Back 10

ages 18-late 20s where one's place in life is explored

Front 11

average life expectancy

Back 11

50/50 chance at birth of living to a given age

Front 12

20th cent. life expectancy revolution

Back 12

the dramatic increase in average likfe expectancy that occurred during the first half of the twentieth century in the developed world

Front 13

maximum life span

Back 13

the absolute limit of human life

Front 14

young-old

Back 14

ppl in 60-70s

Front 15

old-old

Back 15

ppl in 80 and above

Front 16

socio-economic status

Back 16

referring to one's income and education

Front 17

developed world

Back 17

the most affluent countries in the world

Front 18

developing world

Back 18

the more impoverish countries in the world

Front 19

collectivists cultures

Back 19

societies that emphasize social harmony, obedience, and close family connectedness over individuality

Front 20

individualistic cultures

Back 20

emphasize independence, competition, and personal success

Front 21

theory

Back 21

explanations applied to one's actions. they allow one to predict behavior and how to improve or stop behavior

Front 22

nature

Back 22

explanation that one's genetics influence development

Front 23

nurture

Back 23

explanation that one's environment influences development.

Front 24

traditional behaviorism

Back 24

focuses on charting and modifying only "objective," visible behaviors (because inner thoughts and feelings cant be measured)

Front 25

reinforcement

Back 25

behavioral term for reward

Front 26

operant conditioning

Back 26

according to the original behavioral perspective, the law of learning that determines any voluntary response.

Front 27

operant conditioning

Back 27

according to the original behavioral perspective, the law of learning that determines any voluntary response.

Front 28

cognitive behaviorism (social learning theory)

Back 28

theory that ppl lean by watching others and that our thoughts about the reinforcers determine our behavior.

Front 29

modeling

Back 29

learning by watching and imitating others

Front 30

self-efficacy

Back 30

internal belief in our competence that predicts whether we initiate activities of persist in the face of failures, and predicts the goals we set

Front 31

attachment theory

Back 31

(john bowlby) centers on the crucial importance to our speciies survival of being closely connected with a caregiver during early childhood and being attached to a significant other during all of life

Front 32

evolutionary psychology

Back 32

theory that highlights the role that inborn, species-specific behaviors play in human development and life

Front 33

behavioral genetics

Back 33

field devoted to studying the role genetics plays in understanding why people vary in their personalities of any other human trait.

Front 34

twin studies

Back 34

behavioral genetic research strategy, designed to determine the genetic contribution of a given trait, that involves comparing identical twins with fraternal twins.

Front 35

adoption studies

Back 35

behavioral genetic research strategy designed to determine the genetic contribution to a given trait, that involves comparing adopted children with their biological and adoptive parents

Front 36

twin/adoption studies

Back 36

behavioral genetic research strategy taht involves comparing the similarities of identical twin pairs adopted into different families, to determine the genetic contribution to a given trait

Front 37

evocative forces

Back 37

refer to the fact that our inborn talents and temperamental tendencies naturally evoke, or produce, certain responses from the human world

Front 38

bidirectionality

Back 38

people affect one another, or that interpersonal influences flow in both directions (if you hang with someone who is always sad, he/she will make you sad)

Front 39

active forces

Back 39

refers to the fact that individuals will actively select an environment based on his/her genetic tendencies. (a reader hanging in a library and therefore becoming a more avid reader

Front 40

person-environment fit

Back 40

the extent to which the environment is tailored to our biological tendencies and talents.

Front 41

piaget's cognitive developmental theory

Back 41

jean's pieget's principle that from infant to adolescence, children progress though four qualitatively different stages of intellectual growth

Front 42

assimilation

Back 42

one fits the world to his/her own capacities or existing cognitive structures

Front 43

accommodation

Back 43

one naturally changes his/her thinking to fit the world

Front 44

psychosocial task

Back 44

(erikson) a challenge that we face as we travel through the eight stages of the lifespan
(early childhood-initiative vs guilt)

Front 45

Developmental Systems Approach

Back 45

An all encompassing outlook on development that stresses the need to embrace of theories and the idea that all systems and processes interrelate.

Front 46

Correlational Study

Back 46

A research strategy that involves relating two or more variables.

Front 47

Representative sample

Back 47

A group that reflects the characteristics of the overall population.

Front 48

naturalistic observation

Back 48

a measurement that involve directly watching and coding behaviors

Front 49

self-report strategy

Back 49

measurement strategy that involves having people report on their feelings and activities through questionnaires

Front 50

true experiments

Back 50

one research strategy that can determine that something causes something else; involves randomly assigning people to different treatments and then looking at the outcome

Front 51

cross sectional study

Back 51

researchers compare different age groups same time on the trait or characteristic of interest

Front 52

longitudinal study

Back 52

researchers typically select a group of a particular are and periodically test those ppl over a period of years

Front 53

quantitative research

Back 53

standard developmental science data collection strategy that involves testing groups of people and using numerical scales and stats

Front 54

qualitative research

Back 54

occasional developmental science data-collection strategy that involves interviewing people to obtain information that cannot be quantified on a numerical scale