dev psych 1

• Human development


  The scientific study of processes of change and stability throughout the human life span
• Life-span development


  The concept of human development as a lifelong process, which can be studied scientifically
• Physical development


  • Growth of body and brain, including patterns of change in sensory capacities, motor skills, and health
• Cognitive development


  • Pattern of change in mental abilities, such as learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity
• Psychosocial development


  • Pattern of change in emotions, personality, and social relationships. In Erikson's eight-stage theory, the socially and culturally influenced process of development of the ego, or self
• Social construction


  A concept or practice that may appear natural and obvious to those who accept it but that in reality is an invention of a particular culture or society
• Individual differences


  Differences in characteristics, influences, or developmental outcomes
• Heredity


  Inborn traits or characteristics inherited from the biological parents
• Environment


  Totality of nonhereditary, or experiential, influences on development
• Maturation


  Unfolding of a natural sequence of physical and behavioral changes
• Nuclear family


  A two-generational kinship, economic, and household unit consisting of one or two parents and their biological children, adopted children, or stepchildren
• Extended family


  A multigenerational kinship network of parents, children, and other relatives, sometimes living together in an extended-family household
• Polygamy


  A family structure in which one spouse, most commonly a man, is married to more than one partner
• Socioeconomic status (SES)


  The combination of economic and social factors describing an individual or family, including income, education, and occupation
• COVID-19


  A novel coronavirus disease causing fatigue, loss of sense of smell, fever, and respiratory distress; the source of the 2019 pandemic
• Risk factors


  Conditions that increase the likelihood of a negative developmental outcome
• Culture


  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
• Individualistic culture


  A culture in which people tend to prioritize personal goals ahead of collective goals and to view themselves as distinct individuals
• Collectivistic culture


  A culture in which people tend to prioritize collaborative social goals ahead of individual goals and to view themselves in the context of their social relationships
• Ethnic group


  A group united by ancestry, race, religion, language, or national origins, which contribute to a sense of shared identity
• Ethnic minorities


  Ethnic groups with national or cultural traditions different from the majority of the population
• Intersectionality


  An analytic framework focused on how a person's multiple identities combine to create differences in privilege or discrimination
• Black Lives Matter


  A political and social movement focused on eliminating racially based violence against Black people through nonviolent protest and activism
• BIPOC


  An acronym standing for Black, indigenous and people of color
• Race


  A grouping of humans distinguished by their outward physical characteristics or social qualities from other groups. Not a biological construct
• Ethnic gloss


  An overgeneralization about an ethnic or cultural group that obscures differences within the group
• Normative


  Characteristic of an event that occurs in a similar way for most people in a group
• Historical generation


  A group of people strongly influenced by a major historical event during their formative period
• Cohort


  A group of people born at about the same time
• Nonnormative


  Characteristic of an unusual event that happens to a particular person or a typical event that happens at an unusual time of life
• Imprinting


  The instinctive form of learning in which, during a critical period in early development, a young animal forms an attachment to the first moving object it sees, usually the mother
• Critical period


  A specific time when a given event or its absence has a specific impact on development
• Plasticity


  The range of modifiability of performance. Modifiability, or "molding," of the brain through experience
• Sensitive periods


  Times in development when a person is particularly open to certain kinds of experiences
• The study of human development seeks to describe, explain, predict, and, when appropriate, intervene in development
• The three major domains of development

  • Physical
  • Cognitive
  • Psychosocial
• Each domain of development affects the others
• The concept of periods of development is a social construction
• The life span is divided into eight periods

  • Prenatal
  • Infancy and toddlerhood
  • Early childhood
  • Middle childhood
  • Adolescence
  • Emerging and young adulthood
  • Middle adulthood
  • Late adulthood
• In each period, people have characteristic developmental needs and tasks