Lifespan Development Chapter 1 Flashcards

Lifespan Development Concepts

• Age-graded influences: Predictable influences on development strongly tied to age.
• Behavior modification: Combines conditioning and modeling to change behaviors.
• Behaviorism: Focuses on observable events and behavior development through conditioning.
• Chronosystem: Temporal changes in environments impacting development.
• Clinical interview: Flexible method to understand the participant's perspective.
• Clinical/case study method: Comprehensive picture of an individual's psychology through multiple data forms.

Theories of Development

• Cognitive-developmental theory: Introduced by Piaget, viewing children as active learners with development in stages.
• Cohort effects: Influences affecting individuals born around the same time, potentially skewing research results.
• Continuous development: Development as a gradual accumulation of skills.
• Discontinuous development: Emergence of new understanding and responses at specific development periods.

Research Designs

• Correlational design: Gathers information without altering experiences, identifying relationships but not causation.
• Cross-sectional design: Studies different age groups at one point in time.
• Longitudinal design: Tracks the same individuals over time to observe changes.
• Experimental design: Randomly assigns participants to study cause and effect through manipulation of variables.
• Sequential designs: Combines cross-sectional and longitudinal methods for comprehensive analysis.

Environmental Systems

• Ecological systems theory: Considers how multiple environmental layers (microsystems to macrosystems) influence development.
• Microsystem: Immediate environments where daily interactions occur.
• Mesosystem: Connections between different microsystems affecting individual experiences.
• Exosystem: Indirect relationships influencing immediate settings.
• Macrosystem: Cultural values and laws affecting developmental contexts.

Psychological Theories

• Ethnography: Research method focusing on cultural understanding through immersive observation.
• Ethology: Studies the adaptive value of behaviors concerning evolution.
• Evolutionary developmental psychology: Explores species-wide competencies and their developmental changes.
• Psychoanalytic perspective: Freud's stages linking personality development with resolution of drives and social expectations.
• Psychosocial theory: Erikson's emphasis on individual development and cultural impact across a lifespan.

Research Methodologies

• Naturalistic observation: Observing behavior in natural environments without interference.
• Structured observation: Controlled environment ensuring equal opportunity to display behaviors.
• Random assignment: Ensures equitable distribution of participant characteristics in experiments.

Developmental Concepts

• Lifespan perspective: Development is lifelong, multidimensional, and influenced by various factors.
• Resilience: The ability to adapt positively amid developmental threats.
• Sensitive period: Optimal time for specific capacities to develop, with increased responsiveness to environmental influences.
• Nonnormative influences: Unpredictable events impacting individuals' development uniquely.

Measurement and Assessment

• Correlation coefficient: Indicates strength and direction of relationships between variables.
• Dependent variable: The outcome expected to change due to manipulations in an experiment.
• Independent variable: The factor manipulated by the researcher to observe its effects.

Additional Concepts

• Social learning theory: Highlights imitation and observational learning's role in behavior development.
• Sociocultural theory: Vygotsky's idea where culture and dialogue shape children's understanding through social interaction.
• Normative approach: Utilizes behavior averages to represent typical developmental milestones.

Test your knowledge with these flashcards covering key concepts from Chapter 1 of Lifespan Development. Each card includes essential terms and definitions that are pivotal for understanding the developmental influences across the human lifespan. Perfect for quick reviews and exam preparation.