Human Growth & Development Chpt. 1

Human Development
scientific study of the processes of change and stability throughout the human life span

Life-span Development
concept of development as a life-long process, which can be studied scientifically

psychology, psychiatry,sociology, anthropology, biology, genetics, family science, education, history, philosophy, and medicine

1st goal of scientific study of human development
Describe behavior

2nd goal of scientific study of human development
Explain behavior

3rd goal of scientific study of human development
Predict behavior

4th goal of scientific study of human development
Modify behavior (most difficult to accomplish)

Quantitative change
change in number of amt, such as in height, weight, or size of vocab

Qualitative change

Main Domains
physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development

Physical Development
growth of body and brain and change or stability in sensory capacities, motor skills, and health

Cognitive Development
change or stability in meantal abilities, such as learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity.

Psychosocial Development
change and stability in emotions, personality, and social relationships

Social construction
concept about the nature of reality, based on societally shared perceptions or assumptions

1st period of lifespan
Prenatal (conception to birth)

2nd period of lifespan
Infant & Toddler (0-3)

3rd period of lifespan
Early Childhood (3-6)

4th period of lifespan
Middle Childhood (6-11)

5th period of lifespan
Adolescence (11-20)

6th period of lifespan
Young Adulthood (20-40)

7th period of lifespan
Middle Adulthood (40-65)

8th period of lifespan
Late Adulthood (65+)

3 Influences on development
heredity, environment, maturation

landsmarks of development, or average age for occurence of certain events

genetic inheritance

environmental or experiental factors

Who developed the biological perspective?

Major contextual influences
family, socioeconomic status, culture/race, social/ historical context

normative influences
an event that is experienced in a similar way for most people in a group

non-normative influences

critical period
a specific time when a given event, or it’s absences, has a great impact on development

sensitive period
time in development when a person is particularly responsive to certain kinds of experiences

hard, objectively measurable data

soft data about the nature of quality of participants’ subjective experiences, feelings or beliefs

1st step in scientific method
select a problem

2nd step in scientific method
formulate a hypothesis

3rd step in scientific method
test the hypothesis

4th step in scientific method
draw conclusions

5th step in scientific method
disseminate findings

descriptive studies
information is gathered on subjects without manipulating them in any way (interviews, questionnaires)

Manipulative experiments
an experiment is performed before the information is gathered

control group
does not receive treatment

experimental group
does receive treatment

independent variable
the variable that is varied/manipulated by researcher

dependent variable
the response that is measured

positive correlation
both variables increase or decrease together

negative correlation
as one variable increase the other decreases and vice versa

Ethical issues in developmental research
right to informed consent, avoidance of deception, and right to privacy and confidentiality

inborn characteristics inherited from the biological parents at conception

totality of nonhereditary or experiential influences on development

unfolding of a natural sequence of physical and behavioral changes, including readiness to master new abilities

nuclear family
kinship and household unit made up of one or two parents and their natural, adopted, or stepchildren

extended family
a multigenerational kinship network of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and more distant relatives

group of people growing up at the same time

human capital
the presence of educated, employed adults who can build the community’s economic base and provide models of what a young person can hope to achieve

instinctive form of learning in which, during a critical period in early development, a young animal forms an attachment to the 1st moving object it sees

predisposition toward learning
the readiness of an organism’s nervous system to acquire certain information during a brief critical period in early life

1st principle of the life-span development approach
Development is lifelong

2nd principle of the life-span development approach
Development involves both gain/loss

3rd principle of the life-span development approach
Relative influences of biology and culture shift over the life span.

4th principle of the life-span development approach
Development involves a changing allocation of resources

5th principle of the life-span development approach
Development is modifiable

6th principle of the life-span development approach
Developement is influenced by the historical and cultural context