Chap 1 - Intro to Lifespan Dev

• Physical domain. Changes in height and weight, sensory capabilities, the nervous system, as well as the propensity for disease and illness.
• Cognitive domain. Changes in intelligence, wisdom, perception, problem-solving, memory, and language
• Psychosocial domain. Changes in emotion, self-perception and interpersonal relationships with families, peers, and friends.
• Normative age-graded influences. Humans in a specific age-grade share particular experiences and developmental changes
• age-grade: a specific age group such as toddler, adolescent, senior
• Normative history-graded influences. Time period of birth shapes experiences
• Non-normative life influences. Unique experiences shape our development.
• Socioeconomic Status also influences our lives. It is a way to identify families and households based on their shared levels of education, income, and occupation.
• Poverty level. An income amount established by the federal government that is based on a set of income thresholds that vary by family size.
• Culture. Totality of our shared language, knowledge, material objects, and behavior.
• Ethnocentrism. The belief that our own culture is superior
• Cultural relativity. An appreciation for cultural differences and the understanding that cultural practices are best understood from the standpoint of that particular culture.
• Lifespan. The length of time a species can exist under the most optimal conditions.
• Life expectancy. The predicted number of years a person born in a particular time period can reasonably expect to live.
• Chronological age. The number of years since one’s birth
• Biological age. How quickly the body is aging
• Psychological age. The psychologically adaptive capacity compared to others of our chronological age
• Social age. The social norms of our culture and the expectations our culture has for people of our age group.
• Prenatal Development. Conception occurs and development begins.
• Teratogens: Environmental factors that can lead to birth defects
• Infancy and Toddlerhood. Period of dramatic growth and change.
• Early Childhood. The preschool years; consists of the years which follow toddlerhood and precede formal schooling
• Middle and Late Childhood. Involvement in the early grades of school
• Adolescence. A period of dramatic physical change marked by an overall growth spurt and
• Emerging Adulthood. Transitional time between the end of adolescence and before individuals acquire all the benchmarks of adulthood; continued identity exploration & full independence.
• Early Adulthood. Intimate relationships, establishing families, and work are the primary concerns.
• Middle Adulthood. Aging becomes more noticeable; many people are at their peak of productivity in love and work.
• Late Adulthood. For both age groups the risks of diseases increases substantially.
• Young-old (65-84). Still relatively healthy, productive, active, and the majority continue to live independently
• Oldest-old (85 above).
• Nature. Heredity plays the most important role in bringing about that feature.
• Nurture. One’s environment is most significant in shaping the way we are.
• Stage theories (discontinuous development). Assume that developmental change often occurs in distinct stages that are qualitatively different from each other, and in a set, universal sequence.
• Continuous development. Assumes development is a more slow and gradual process.
• Active. Piaget believed that children actively explore their world and construct new ways of thinking to explain the things they experience
• Passive. Behavioral view
• Preformationist view. The belief that a tiny, fully formed human is implanted in the sperm or egg at conception and then grows in size until birth
• John Locke • Proposed that children are largely shaped by their social environments, especially their education as adults teach them important knowledge.
• A child’s mind as a tabula rasa (blank slate); thus, whatever comes to mind is from the environment.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau • Believed that children developed according to a natural plan which unfolded in different stages