WGU C217 Questions and Answers
Latest 2022
Multidirectional ✔✔Some dimensions expand and others shrink
multidimensional ✔✔Has biological, cognitive, and socioemotional dimensions
plastic ✔✔The capacity for change
lifelong ✔✔Early adulthood is not the endpoint of development, no age period dominates
development
Multidisciplinary ✔✔Various areas of study have an interest in the field of development through
the life span
Contextual ✔✔All development occurs within a context, or setting (social, cultural, and historic
factors)
Nature ✔✔Refers to an organism's biological inheritance. Genetics, personality, appearance
Nurture ✔✔Refers to an organism's environmental experiences. How much a parent reads with
their children is related to how well children learn and enjoy to read.
Continuity ✔✔Gradual, cumulative change. Oak grows from seedling to giant oak, gradual change
but still an oak
Discontinuity ✔✔Distinct change. Caterpillar to a butterfly.
,Stability ✔✔The result of heredity and possibly early experiences in life. Neg/pos experiences in
early life effect a person's development and personality as they age.
Change ✔✔Later experiences in life can alter a person's development. A person can grow/alter
later in life due to recent changes/experiences.
Freud ✔✔Psychoanalytical. Psychosexual. Personality shaped during first 5 years of life. Focus
for pleasure evolves from anus to mouth.
Erikson ✔✔8 stages of development. Also psychoanalytical. Primary motivation for human
behavior is social
Piaget ✔✔Cognitive theorist. Children go through 4 stages of development. Organization and
adaptation underlie the cognitive construct of the world.
Vygotsky ✔✔Cognitive theorist. Believed children actively constructed their knowledge. His
theory is sociocultural cognitive theory. Emphasized how culture and social interaction guide
cognitive development
Information processing ✔✔Emphasized that individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and
strategize about it. Individuals develop a gradually increasing capacity for processing information
Operant conditioning ✔✔Created by B.F. Skinner. Reward vs punishment. Consequences of
actions shape the occurrence of that action
Bandura's social cognitive model ✔✔Behavior, environment, and cognition are key factors in
development. Cognitive processes have important links with environment and behavior
, Ecological theory ✔✔Emphasized environmental factors and holds that development reflects the
influence of several environmental systems. 5 systems: Microsystems, mesosystem, exosystem,
macrosystem, and chronosystem
Ethology ✔✔Stresses that behavior is strongly influenced by biology and is tied to evolution, and
is characterized by critical or sensitive periods.
How does Erikson's theory differ from that of Freud? ✔✔Erikson believed development is social
rather than sexual
What are the 8 stages of Erikson's development in order? ✔✔Trust vs mistrust
Autonomy vs shame and doubt
Initiative vs guilt
Industry vs inferiority
Identity vs identity confusion
Intimacy vs isolation
Generativity vs stagnation
Integrity vs despair
What are Piaget's 4 stages of development in order? ✔✔Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete operational
Formal operational
Descriptive research. ✔✔Aims to observe and record behavior.
Correlational ✔✔Describe the strength of the relationship between two ore more events
/characteristics. The effect of one subject on another.
Latest 2022
Multidirectional ✔✔Some dimensions expand and others shrink
multidimensional ✔✔Has biological, cognitive, and socioemotional dimensions
plastic ✔✔The capacity for change
lifelong ✔✔Early adulthood is not the endpoint of development, no age period dominates
development
Multidisciplinary ✔✔Various areas of study have an interest in the field of development through
the life span
Contextual ✔✔All development occurs within a context, or setting (social, cultural, and historic
factors)
Nature ✔✔Refers to an organism's biological inheritance. Genetics, personality, appearance
Nurture ✔✔Refers to an organism's environmental experiences. How much a parent reads with
their children is related to how well children learn and enjoy to read.
Continuity ✔✔Gradual, cumulative change. Oak grows from seedling to giant oak, gradual change
but still an oak
Discontinuity ✔✔Distinct change. Caterpillar to a butterfly.
,Stability ✔✔The result of heredity and possibly early experiences in life. Neg/pos experiences in
early life effect a person's development and personality as they age.
Change ✔✔Later experiences in life can alter a person's development. A person can grow/alter
later in life due to recent changes/experiences.
Freud ✔✔Psychoanalytical. Psychosexual. Personality shaped during first 5 years of life. Focus
for pleasure evolves from anus to mouth.
Erikson ✔✔8 stages of development. Also psychoanalytical. Primary motivation for human
behavior is social
Piaget ✔✔Cognitive theorist. Children go through 4 stages of development. Organization and
adaptation underlie the cognitive construct of the world.
Vygotsky ✔✔Cognitive theorist. Believed children actively constructed their knowledge. His
theory is sociocultural cognitive theory. Emphasized how culture and social interaction guide
cognitive development
Information processing ✔✔Emphasized that individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and
strategize about it. Individuals develop a gradually increasing capacity for processing information
Operant conditioning ✔✔Created by B.F. Skinner. Reward vs punishment. Consequences of
actions shape the occurrence of that action
Bandura's social cognitive model ✔✔Behavior, environment, and cognition are key factors in
development. Cognitive processes have important links with environment and behavior
, Ecological theory ✔✔Emphasized environmental factors and holds that development reflects the
influence of several environmental systems. 5 systems: Microsystems, mesosystem, exosystem,
macrosystem, and chronosystem
Ethology ✔✔Stresses that behavior is strongly influenced by biology and is tied to evolution, and
is characterized by critical or sensitive periods.
How does Erikson's theory differ from that of Freud? ✔✔Erikson believed development is social
rather than sexual
What are the 8 stages of Erikson's development in order? ✔✔Trust vs mistrust
Autonomy vs shame and doubt
Initiative vs guilt
Industry vs inferiority
Identity vs identity confusion
Intimacy vs isolation
Generativity vs stagnation
Integrity vs despair
What are Piaget's 4 stages of development in order? ✔✔Sensorimotor
Preoperational
Concrete operational
Formal operational
Descriptive research. ✔✔Aims to observe and record behavior.
Correlational ✔✔Describe the strength of the relationship between two ore more events
/characteristics. The effect of one subject on another.
