College 1: Introductie en Methoden
Life-span (1.1, 1.2, 1.3)
Development systematic changes and continuities in the individual that occur
between conception and death, or from ‘womb to tomb’.
• Physical development: the growth of the body and its organs, the
functioning of physiological systems including the brain, physical
signs of aging, changes in motor abilities, etc.
• Cognitive development: changes and continuities in perception,
language, memory, problem-solving, and other mental processes
• Psychosocial development: changes and carryover in personal
and interpersonal aspects of development, such as motives,
emotions, personality traits, interpersonal skills and relationships,
and roles played in the family and the larger society
Growth the physical changes that occur from conception to maturity
Biological aging the deterioration of organisms that leads inevitably to their death
Aging involves more than biological aging; it refers to a range of physical,
cognitive, and psychosocial changes, positive and negative, in the
mature organism
➔ Development involves gains, losses, neutral changes, and continuities in each
phase of the life span, and aging is part of it
Emerging a transitional period between adolescence and full-fledged adulthood
adulthood that extends from about age 18 to age 25 and maybe as late as 29
• Exploring identities
• Leading unstable lives filled with job changes, new relationships,
and moves
• Being self-focused, relatively free of obligations to others, and
therefore free to focus on their own psychological needs
• Feeling in between – adultlike in some ways but not others
• Believing that there are limitless possibilities ahead
Culture the shared understanding and way of life of a people. It includes
beliefs, values, and practices concerning the nature of humans in
different phases of the life span.
Age grade socially defined age group in a society, that is assigned different
statuses, roles, privileges, and responsibilities
Rite of passage a ritual that marks a person’s ‘passage’ from one status to another,
usually about the transition from childhood to adulthood
Age norms society’s way of telling people how to act their age
Social clock a person’s sense of when things should be done and when he or she
is ahead of or behind the schedule dictated by age norms
Ethnicity people’s affiliation with a group based on common heritage or
traditions
Socioeconomic standing in society based on such indicators as occupational
status (SES) prestige, education, and income
Adolescence the transitional period between childhood and adulthood that begins
with puberty and involves significant physical, cognitive, and
psychosocial changes
Nature-nurture the question of how biological forces and environmental forces act
issue and interact to make us what we are
Maturation the biological unfolding of the individual as sketched out in the genes
Genes the hereditary material passed from parents to child at conception
Environment all the external physical and social conditions, stimuli, and events
that can affect us
,Learning the process through which experience brings about relatively
permanent changes in thoughts, feelings, or behavior
Evidence-based grounding what is done in research and ensuring that the curricula
and treatments provided have been demonstrated to be effective
Baby biographies published findings of carefully observed growth and development of
own children
Storm and stress a time of emotional ups and downs and rapid changes (adolescence)
Gerontology the study of aging and old age
Lifespan 1. Development is a lifelong process 2. Development is
perspective multidirectional 3. Development involves both gain and loss 4.
(Baltes) Development is characterized by lifelong plasticity 5. Development is
shaped by its historical-cultural context 6. Development is multiply
influenced 7. Multiple disciplines must study the development
Plasticity the capacity to change in response to experience, whether positive
or negative
Neuroplasticity the brain’s remarkable ability to change in response to experience
throughout the lifespan
Scientific method both a method and an attitude – a belief that investigators should
allow their systematic observations (or data) to determine the merits
of their thinking
Naturalistic observing people in their everyday surroundings
observation
Structured creating special stimuli, tasks, or situations designed to elicit the
observation behavior of interest
Functional a brain-scanning technique that uses magnetic forces to measure
magnetic the increase in blood flow to an area of the brain that occurs when
resonance that brain area is active
imaging (fMRI)
Case study an in-depth examination of an individual (or a small number of
individuals), typically carried out by compiling and analyzing
information from a variety of sources, such as observation, testing,
and interviewing the person or people who know them
Experiment manipulated or altered aspects of the environment in investigation to
see how this affects the behavior of the sample of individuals studied
Experimental (all) factors other than the independent variable are controlled or
control held constant so that they cannot contribute to differences among
the treatment groups
Correlational generally involves determining whether two or more variables are
method related in a systematic way
Directionality the direction of the cause-effect could be the reverse of what the
problem researcher thinks it is
Third variable some third variable may cause the association between the who
problem variables of interest
Cohort a group of individuals born at the same time, either in the same year
or within a specified span of years
Age effects relationships between age and an aspect of development
Cohort effects effects of being born as a member of a particular cohort or
generation in a particular historical context
Time-of- the effects of historical events and trends occurring when the data
measurement are being collected and that can affect anyone alive at the time
effects
Sequential design a combination of the cross-sectional approach and the longitudinal
approach in a single study
, College 2: Theorieën binnen de Ontwikkelingspsychologie
Life-span (2, 3.5)
Activity- Focuses on the extent to which human beings are active in creating
passivity issue and influencing their environments and, in the process, in producing
their development, or are passively shaped by forces beyond their
control
Continuity- Focuses in part on whether the changes people undergo over their
discontinuity lifespan are gradual or abrupt
issue
Developmental Distinct phases of development are characterized by a particular set
stages of abilities, motives, emotions, or behaviors that form a coherent
pattern
Universality- The extent to which developmental changes are common to all
context humans (universal) or are different across cultures, subcultures, task
specificity issue contexts, and individuals (context-specific)
Psychoanalytic The theory focused on the development and dynamics of the
theory (Freud) personality and revolutionized thinking about human nature and
human development. It proposed that people are driven by motives
and emotional conflicts of which they are largely unaware and that
their earliest experiences in the family shape them
Instincts Inborn biological forces that motivate behavior. They are the source of
the psychic (or mental) energy that fuels human behavior and that is
channeled in new directions throughout human development
Unconscious The power of instincts and other inner forces to influence our behavior
motivation without our awareness
Id The impulsive, irrational, and selfish part of the personality whose
mission is to satisfy the instincts. The id seeks immediate gratification,
even when biological needs cannot be realistically or appropriately
met
Ego The rational side of the individual tries to find realistic ways of
gratifying the instincts. Begins to emerge during infancy and takes the
form of cognitive processes such as perception. Learning, and
problem solving
Superego The individual’s internalized moral standards. Develops from the ego
as 3- to 6-year-old children internalize their parents' moral standards
and values. Once the superego emerges, children have a parental
voice in their heads that keeps them from violating society’s rules and
makes them feel guilty or ashamed if they do
Libido The psychic energy of the sex instinct
Psychosexual Oral (mouth), anal (toilet training), phallic (desire for the parent of the
stages other sex), latency (tame; schoolwork), and genital (final and
continuing stage)
Fixation Arrested development in which part of the libido remains tied to an
earlier stage of development
Identification Taking on attitudes and behaviors of a parent
Defense Unconscious coping devices (adopted by the ego; identification,
mechanisms repression, regression)
Repression Removing unacceptable thoughts or traumatic memories from
consciousness
Regression Retreating to an earlier, less traumatic stage of development
Psychosocial Eight major conflicts humans experience during their lifespan
stages (Erikson) matched up with Freud’s psychosexual stages. 1. Trust vs. mistrust 2.
Autonomy vs. shame and doubt 3. Initiative vs. guilt 4. Industry vs.
