Psych 220 Review Exam 1 Chapters 1-5 (Berk) Anything in the chapters is fair game! But, pay particular attention to the following topics we did not cover in lecture: Chapter 1 Basic Issues 1. Theory: an orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains, and predicts behavior a. Ex: good theory of infant -- caregiver attachment i. Describe the behaviors of babies of 6 to 9 months of age as they seek the affection and comfort of a familiar adult ii. Explain how and why infants develop this strong desire to bond with a caregiver iii. Predict the consequences of this emotional bond for future relationships b. Provide organizing frameworks for observations of people i. Guide and give meaning to what we see c. Theories that are verified by research provides a sound basis for practical action i. Once a theory helps for understanding of development, in much better position to know how to improve welfare and treatment of children and adults d. Influenced by cultural values and belief systems i. A theories continued existence depends on scientific verification 1. Every theory must be tested using a fair set of research procedures agreed on by the scientific community a. Findings must endure, or be replicated over time e. Continuous or Discontinuous Development? i. Amount or Complexity 1. First view point 2. Difference between the immature and the mature a. Ex: A baby’s perception of certain things, such as memories for past events or the ability to categorize objects, may be very similar to our own. i. Only limitation is that the baby cannot perform these tasks with the same amount of info and precision as an older individual ii. Continuous - a process of gradually augmenting the same types of skills that were there to begin with.iii. Children and infants have a unique ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving , ones quite different from adults 1. Second view point a. Discontinuous - a process in which new ways of understanding and responding to the world emerge at specific times i. Ex: same baby from before could not yet perceive, remember, or categorize experiences as a mature person is able to 1. Instead the baby moves through developmental steps until reaching the highest level of functioning iv. Theories that accept discontinuous perspective, regard development as taking place in stages 1. Stages - qualitative changes in thinking, feeling, and behaving that characterize specific periods of development. 2. Stage theories, development = climbing a staircase a. Each step = a more mature, reorganized way of functioning 3. Stage concept assumes people undergo periods of rapid transformation as move from one stage to another a. Change is sudden rather than gradual and ongoing f. One Course of Development or Many? i. Stage theorists believe that people follow the same sequence of development 1. HDEV field recognizes children and adults live in distinct contexts a. Contexts - unique combinations of personal and environmental circumstances that can result in different paths of change i. Ex: introverted person develops in different contexts compared to an extroverted individual 2. Different circumstances that people experience, foster different intellectual capacities, social skills, and feels about oneself and others ii. Contemporary theorists regard contexts that shape development as many-layered and complex 1. Personal side - includes heredity & biological makeup 2. Environmental side - include both immediate settings (home, school, neighborhood) and circumstances more remote from everyday life (community resources, societal values, and historical time period) a. New evidence emphasizes mutually influential relations between individuals and contextsi. People not always affected by but also contribute to the contexts in which they develop 3. Researchers more aware of cultural diversity g. Relative influence of nature and nurture? i. Are genetic or environmental factors more important? 1. Basis of nature-nurture controversy a. Nature - hereditary information we receive from our parents at the moment of conception b. Nurture - the complex forces of the physical and social world that influence our biological makeup and psychological experiences before and after birth 2. A theory’s position on the roles of nature and nurture affects how it explains individual differences a. Theorists who emphasize stability typically stress the importance of heredity i. Stability - individuals who are high or low in a characteristic (such as verbal ability, anxiety, or sociability) will remain so at later ages b. If environment is regarded as more important, usually point to early experiences as establishing a lifelong pattern of behavior i. Plasticity- lifelong development that is open to change; change occurs based on response to influential experiences c. Stability vs plasticity Lifespan Perspective 1. First half of twentieth century, widely assumed that development stopped at adolescence a. Infancy and childhood seen as periods of rapid transformation i. Adulthood was a plateau and aging as a period of decline 1. Due to sanitation and medical knowledge, life expectancy gained more in the twentieth century that in the preceding 5,000 years ii. A profound shift in human change contributed to the challenging of an earlier stereotype 1. Researchers are envisioning it from a developmental systems perspective -- as a perpetually ongoing process, extending from conception to death, that is molded by a complex network of biological, psychological, and social influences a. A leading systems approach is the lifespan perspective: i. Four assumptions make up this broader view: that development is (1) lifelong, (2) multidimensionaland multidirectional, (3) highly plastic, (4) affected by multiple, interacting forces 2. Development is Lifelong a. No age period is supreme in its impact on the life course i. Within each period, change occurs in three broad domains: physical, cognitive, and emotional/ social 1. This is separated for convenience of discussion b. These domains are not really distinct; they overlap and interact i. Every age period has its own agenda, its unique demands and opportunities that yield certain similarities in development across many individuals 3. Development is Multidimensional and multidirectional a. From a lifespan perspective, the challenges and