You are in browse mode. You must login to use MEMORY

level: Chapter 1

Questions and Answers List

INFLUENCES ON DEVELOPMENT

level questions: Chapter 1

Question	Answer
Goal in the study of human development in which scientists observe behavior in order to describe what happens in the lives of children and adults.	Describe
Goal in which scientists attempt to understand, or explain, why observed behavior occurs—the cause of observed behavior.	Explain
Goal in which scientists make educated guesses about what might happen in the future to behavior.	Predict
Goal in which scientists use the knowledge of causes of behavior to change or control behavior.	Intervene
Growth of the body and brain and change or stability in sensory capacities, motor skills, and health.	Physical development
Change or stability in mental abilities, such as learning, memory, language, thinking, moral reasoning, and creativity.	Cognitive development
Change and stability in emotions, personality, and social relationships.	Psychosocial development:
Concept about the nature of reality, based on societally shared perceptions or assumptions.	Social construction
Differences in characteristics, influences, or developmental outcomes.	Individual differences
Inborn characteristics inherited from the biological parents at conception.	Heredity
Totality of nonhereditary, or experiential, influences on development	Environment
Unfolding of a natural sequence of physical and behavioral changes, including readiness to master new abilities.	Maturation
The influence of heredity on development	Inherited characteristics
The influence of environment on development	Environmental factors
Kinship and household unit made up of one or two parents and their natural, adopted, or stepchildren	Nuclear family
Kinship network of parents, children, and other relatives, sometimes living together in an extended-family household.	Extended family
Combination of economic and social factors describing an individual or family, including income, education, and occupation.	Socioeconomic status (SES)
Conditions that increase the likelihood of a negative developmental outcome.	Risk factors
A society's or group's total way of life, including customs, traditions, beliefs, values, language, and physical products- all learned behavior passed on from parents to children.	Culture
Group united by ancestry, race, religion, language, and/or national origins, which contribute to a sense of shared identity.	Ethnic group
Characteristic of an event that occurs in a similar way for most people in a group	Normative
Event or influence that is highly similar for people in a particular age group- includes biological (puberty, menopause) and social (marriage, retirement) events.	Normative age-graded influences
Event or influence common to a particular cohort. In this section, the concept of historical generations is defined as a group of people who experience the event at a formative time in their lives.	Normative history-graded influences
Group of people growing up at about the same time.	Cohort
A group of people strongly influenced by a major historical event during their formative period.	Historical generation
Characteristic of an unusual event that happens to a particular person, or a typical event that happens at an unusual time of life.	Nonnormative
Phenomenon in which newly hatched birds will instinctively follow the first moving object they see- the result of the readiness of the nervous system of the organism to acquire certain information during a brief critical period in early life.	Imprinting
The readiness of an organism's nervous system to acquire certain information	Predisposition toward learning
Specific time when a given event, or its absence, has the greatest impact on development.	Critical period
Range of modifiability of performance.	Plasticity
Times in development when a person is particularly open to certain kinds of experiences.	Sensitive periods