Chap 1: Study of Human Development

• Development - a process that creates growth.
• Human Development - scientific study of processes of change and stability throughout the human life span.
• Life-span Development - concept of human development as a life long process, which can be studied scientifically. (womb to womb)
• Domains of Development

  • Physical - growth of the body
  • Cognitive - learning, attention, and thinking
  • Psychosocial - emotions, personalities, and social relationships
• Individual Differences - differences in characteristics, influences, or developmental outcomes.
• Heredity - inborn traits inherited from biological parents
• Environment - the totality of non-hereditary or experiential influences on development
• Maturation - unfolding of natural sequence of physical and behavioral changes
• Nuclear Family - two generational kinship, consisting of one or two parents and their biological children
• Extended Family - multi generational kinship, living with other relatives
• Polygamy - married to more than one partner
• Socioeconomic Status (SES) - based on family income and educational and occupational levels of the adults in the household
• Covid-19 - novel coronavirus disease
• Risk Factors - increase the likelihood of a negative outcome
• Culture - all learned behavior passed from parents to children
• Individualistic - people tend to prioritize personal goals
• Collectivistic - people tend to prioritize collaborative social goals
• Ethnic Group - united by ancestry, shared identity
• Ethnic Minorities - ethnic groups with national or cultural traditions different from the majority of the population.
• Race - a grouping of humans distinguised by their outward physical characteristics from the other group. not a biological construct
• Ethnic Gloss - overgeneralization about ethnic or cultural group that obscures differences within the group.
• Normative - event that occurs in a similar way for most people in the group
• Normative Age-Graded - highly similar for people in a particular group. the timing of biological events is fairly predictable within the normal range
• Normative History-Graded - significant events that shape the behavior and attitudes of a historical generation (e.g. ww2. covid19)
• Historical Generation - group of people strongly influenced by a major historical event during their formative period
• Cohort - group of people born at about the same time
• Non-normative - unusual events that have a major impact on individual lives because they disturb the expected sequence of the life cycle
• Typical - events that happen at an atypical time of life (death of a parent when child is young)
• Atypical - events such as surviving a plane crash (accidents, illness)
• Imprinting - an instinctive form of learning, forms an attechment to the first moving object it sees (usually the mother)
• Critical Period - specific time when a given event or its absence has a specific impact on development
• Sensitive Period - times in development when a person is particularly open to certain kinds of experience
• Development is lifelong - development is a lifelong process of change. Each period of the life span is affected by what happened before and will affect what is to come. 
• Development is multidimensional - It occurs along multiple interacting dimensions— biological, psychological, and social—each of which may develop at varying rates.
• Development is multidirectional - As people gain in one area, they may lose in another, sometimes at the same time.
• Relative influences of biology and culture shift over the life span - The process of development is influenced by both biology and culture, but the balance between these influences changes. 
• Development involves changing resource allocations - Individuals choose to invest their resources of time, energy, talent, money, and social support in varying ways.
• Development shows plasticity - It describes the permanent behavioral, anatomical, or physiological changes in the developmental trajectory adopted by an organism during the life span, influenced by external environmental factors or other internal physiological factors, and that occurs through gene–environment interactions.
• Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context - Each person develops within multiple contexts circumstances or conditions defined in part by maturation and in part by time and place. Human beings not only influence but also are influenced by their historical-cultural context.
• Life-span Development Approach

  • Development is lifelong
  • Development is multidimensional
  • Development is multidirectional
  • Relative influences of biology and culture shift over the life span
  • Development involves changing resource allocations
  • Development shows plasticity
  • Development is influenced by the historical and cultural context