Developmental Psych Exam 1

• Longitudinal Method


  a single group of people who are the same age are tested REPEATEDLY over an extended period of time
• Cross-Sectional Method


  multiple age groups of people are tested around the same time and each individual is tested ONLY ONCE
• Mean IQs decline over a person’s lifespan. T or F


  False; the mean IQ for any age is 100
• Personality traits (ex: extroversion) remain “stable” over the lifespan. T or F


  True; stable means that individuals maintain their ranking of personality
• Adopted Siblings (not biologically related to each other or their parents) become less similar on IQ during childhood (6-20 years old). T or F


  True; The siblings do not share the same behavioral genetics, or genetics in general
• Identical Twins


  Same sex and share 100% of genetics
• Fraternal Twins


  Same or opposite sex and share 50% of genetics
• In research on mating privileges, men prefer a “youthful appearance” and women prefer “earning potential.” T or F 


  True; Certain characteristics are preferred by both genders, evolutionary theory plays a big part in this matter.
• Kids who watch aggressive TV tend to act aggressively later on in Bandura’s Bobo Doll Study. T or F


  True; The children that saw adults being mean to the Bobo Doll reciprocated the aggressive actions in comparison to the children that saw adults being nice towards the Bobo Doll.
• Utilization Deficiencies


  Refers to periods in development where people use a strategy or method, but do not benefit from it.
• 5 Big Personality Traits

  Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism
• Human Development

  Defined as the field of psychology the measures change over time.
• Development


  Begins at conception, ends at death, involves different periods, and is a lifelong process.
• Gains


  Refer to improvements
• Losses


  Refer to deficits
• Fluid Intelligence (Gf)


  Refers to the ability to respond quickly to stimuli and the ability to effectively reason novel problems (one you don’t know the answer to)
• Crystallized Intelligence (Gc)


  Refers to the ability to access knowledge you’ve learned or have been exposed to over a lifetime (most common tests are based on vocab or general knowledge).
• Cattell and Horn believed that Fluid Intelligence ______ from ages 20-80 and Crystallized Intelligence ______ over the lifespan.

  Decreases; Increases
• Plasticity (spaced retrieval)


  Refers to the capacity of change of behavior in development
• Cognitive Influences


  Refers to anything relating to the mind
• Social Influences


  Refers to other people’s influence on you
• Biological Influences

  Refers to anything that affects the body
• Goals of Human Development

  1. To describe development by proposing stage theories
  2. To explain development by identifying factors that influence development and change
• Nature vs. Nurture Debate


  Relative influence of genes and environment on behavior
• Continuity vs. Discontinuity Debate

  Continuity: growth in STM (Short Term Memory) capacity in childhood; Discontinuity: transitions between stages in Piaget’s theory
• Universal Change vs. Context Specificity

  Universal Change: stages of language development in first year; Context Specificity: categorization strategies (fish, knife, hoe, potato example)
• Activity vs. Passivity


  Passivity: strong parental influences in early childhood; Activity: weaker parental influences in later childhood and adulthood
• Biological Factors


  brain and other organs in your body that can affect the mind (puberty)
• Normative


  age graded influences - biological events that are normally observed around the same point and time for people throughout the world (relatively universal)
• History Graded Influences


  historical events that can influence biological development (influence the brain and other organs in the body)
• Non-normative Influences


  biological events that are not normally observed in development (ex: genetic disorder)
• Psychological Factors


  factors related to the mind or mental process (ex: memory, reasoning)
• Normative-Age Graded Influences


  things observed about people around the same age (ex: stages of language development in early life)
• History Graded Influences


  historical events that influence psychological development (Ex: schooling)
• Non-normative Influences


  psychological traits that are NOT normally observed (Ex: biological traits that are associated with genetic disorders (down syndrome))
• Sociocultural Factors


  social and cultural factors that can influence development (Ex: schooling and religion)
• Life-Cycle Factors


  events that can have a different impact on an individual depending on when they’re experienced in development (Ex: having a child in early teenage years vs adulthood)
• Definition of a Theory


  refers to a set of statements designed to describe, explain, and predict something in the aspect of one stage in development
• Psychoanalytical Theory (Sigmund Freud)


  includes the unconscious mind, focus on early development, and personality development
• Unconscious Mind


  the part of the mind that you are not aware of, but can affect behavior (Iceberg metaphor)