Focuses on the scientific study of the systematic processes of change and stability in people
Life-Span Development
Concept of human development as lifelong process, which can be studied scientifically
Life-Span Perspective
Views development as lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual, and as a process that involves growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss
Domains of Development
Physical Development
Cognitive Development
Psychosocial Development
Physical Development
Growth of the body and brain, sensory capacities, motor skills, and health
Cognitive Development
Learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity
Psychosocial Development
Emotions, personality, and social relationships
Social Construction
A concept or practice that is an invention of a particular culture or society
Stability-Change Issue
Degree to which early traits and characteristics persists through life or change
Continuity-Discontinuity
Degree to which development involves either gradual, cumulative change (continuity) or distinct stages (discontinuity)
Growth
Physical changes, quantitative
Maturation
Transitional state that tells a person is fully functional, the unfolding of natural sequence of physical change and behavior patterns
Development
Functional changes, encompasses physical, mental, and social aspects, progressive
Learning
How a person adapt to the environment
Behavioral Genetics
Scientific study of the extent to which genetic and environmental differences among people and animals are responsible for differences in their traits
Heritability
Proportion of all the variability in the trait within a large sample of people that can be linked to genetic differences among those individuals
Gregor Mendel studied the heredity in plants
Selective Breeding
Involves attempting to breed animals for a particular trait to determine whether the trait is heritable
Genes contribute to such attributes as activity level, emotionality, aggressiveness, and sex drive in rats mice, and chickens
Methods to study heredity
Twin Studies
Adoption Studies
Family Studies
Concordance Rate
The percentage of pairs of people studied in which if one member of a pair displays the trait, the other does too
Reaction Range
Wide range of possibility that it might exhibit differently
Canalized Range
Limited possible changes of changing (fixed), e.g., motor and language development
Genes turn on and off in patterned ways throughout the lifespan (Epigenetics)
Gene-Environment Interaction
The effects of genes depend on what kind of environment we experiences, and how we respond to the environment depends on what genes we gave
Intelligence is strongly influenced by heredity, but it is also affected by parental stimulation, education, peer influence, and others
Factors that contribute to individual differences in emotionality
Genes
Shared Environmental Influences
Nonshared Environmental Influences
Types of Gene-Environment Correlations
Passive Gene-Environment
Evocative Gene-Environment
Active Gene-Environment
Heredity
Consists of inborn traits and characteristics provided by the child's parents (Nature)
Environment
Influences stems from the outside body, starting from conception throughout life (Nurture)
Individual Differences
People differ in gender, height, weight, and body build; in health and energy level, etc.
Context of Development
Family
Socioeconomic Status
Culture
Gender
History
Socioeconomic Status
Combination of economic and social factors describing an individual or family, including income, education, and occupation
Culture
Society's or group's total way of life
Ethnic Gloss
Overgeneralization that obscures or blurs variations
Race
Identifiable biological category, is more accurately defined social construct
Normative Influences
Biological or environmental events that affect many or most people in a society in a similar ways and events that touch only certain individuals
Types of Normative Influences
Normative Age-Graded Influences
Normative History-Graded Influences
Historical Generation
Group of people who experience the event at a formative time in their lives