WV.NOTESFOR PSYCH MATTERS
linked to genetic differences among those
individuals
Perspectives on Nature and Nurture Gregor Mendel – studied the heredity in plants
Selective Breeding – involves attempting to breed
animals for a particular trait to determine whether
Human Development – focuses on the scientific the trait is heritable
study of the systematic processes of change and
Genes contribute to such attributes as activity level,
stability in people
emotionality, aggressiveness, and sex drive in rats
Life-Span Development – concept of human mice, and chickens
development as lifelong process, which can be
1. Twin Studies
studied scientifically
2. Adoption Studies
Life-Span Perspective – views development as
lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, 3. Family Studies
multidisciplinary, and contextual, and as a process Concordance Rate – the percentage of pairs of
that involves growth, maintenance, and regulation of people studied in which if one member of a pair
loss displays the trait, the other does too
Genes turn on and off in patterned ways throughout
Domains of Development the lifespan (Epigenetics)
Physical Development – growth of the body and Gene-Environment Interaction – the effects of
brain, sensory capacities, motor skills, and health genes depend on what kind of environment we
Cognitive Development – learning, attention, experiences, and how we respond to the
memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and environment depends on what genes we gave
creativity In an instance, Intelligence is strongly influenced by
Psychosocial Development – emotions, heredity. However, it is also affected by parental
personality, and social relationships stimulation, education, peer influence, and others
3 factors that contribute to individual
Social Construction – a concept or practice that is differences in emotionality:
an invention of a particular culture or society 1. Genes
Stability-Change Issue – which involves the degree 2. Shared Environmental Influences – common
to which early traits and characteristics persists experiences that work to make them similar (e.g.,
through life or change parenting style)
Continuity-Discontinuity – focuses on the degree 3. Nonshared Environmental Influences – unique
to which development involves either gradual, experiences to the individual – those who are not
cumulative change (continuity) or distinct stages shared with the other members of the family (e.g.,
(discontinuity) parental favoritism)
Maturation – the unfolding of natural sequence of
physical change and behavior patterns
Behavioral Genetics – scientific study of the 3 kinds of Gene-Environment Correlations
extent to which genetic and environmental
differences among people and animals are Passive Gene-Environment – parent provide for
responsible for differences in their traits their children is influenced partly by the parents’
genotypes
Heritability – proportion of all the variability in the Evocative Gene-Environment – child’s genotype
genotype influence the kinds of environment they evokes certain kind of reactions from other people
- Genetic makeup may affect the reactions of other
seek
people to a child and, hence, the kind of social
environment that the child will experience
trait within a large sample of people that can be
, WV.NOTESFOR PSYCH MATTERS
Plasticity – modifiability of performance
Heredity – consists of inborn traits and Theory – set of logically related concepts or
characteristics provided by the child’s parents statements that seek to describe and explain
(Nature) development and to predict the kinds of behavior
Environment – influences stems from the outside that might occur under certain conditions
body, starting from conception throughout life Hypothesis – explanations or predications that can
(Nurture) be tested by further research
Individual Differences – people differ in gender, John Locke – Tabula Rasa
height, weight, and body build; in health and energy Jean Jacques Rousseau – children are born “noble
level, etc. savages” who develop according to their own
Heredity – consists of inborn traits provided by positive natural tendencies if not corrupted by
the parents society
Context of Development: Mechanistic Model – people are like machines that
1. Family – Nuclear and Extended Family react to environmental input
2. Socioeconomic Status – combination of Organismic Model – people as active, growing
economic and social factors describing an individual organisms that set their own development in motion;
or family, including income, education, and initiate events, and do not just react
occupation Continuous – gradual and incremental
3. Culture – society’s or group’s total way of life Discontinuous – abrupt or uneven
Ethnic Gloss – overgeneralization that obscures or Quantitative Change – change in number or
blurs variations amount, such as height, weight, or vocabulary size
Race – identifiable biological category, is more Qualitative Change – emergence of new
accurately defined social construct phenomena that could not be easily predicted on the
4. Gender basis of the past basic functioning
5. History Evolutionary Psychology – emphasized the
importance of adaptation, reproduction, and
“survival of the fittest” in shaping behavior
Normative Influences – biological or Research Methods in Developmental Psychology
environmental events that affect many or most and Ethics
people in a society in a similar ways and events that
touch only certain individuals
a. Normative Age-Graded Influences
b. Normative History-Graded Influences
Historical Generation – group of people who
experience the event at a formative time in their
lives
Age Cohort – group of people born at about the
same time
Nonnormative – unusual events that have major
impact on individual lives because they disturb the
expected sequence of the life cycle
Imprinting – instinctively follow the first moving
object they see
Critical Period – specific time when a given event,
or its absence, has a specific impact on development General Principles
Sensitive Periods – when developing person is
especially responsive to certain kind of experience A. Beneficence and Take care to do no
Nonmaleficence harm; minimize harm
linked to genetic differences among those
individuals
Perspectives on Nature and Nurture Gregor Mendel – studied the heredity in plants
Selective Breeding – involves attempting to breed
animals for a particular trait to determine whether
Human Development – focuses on the scientific the trait is heritable
study of the systematic processes of change and
Genes contribute to such attributes as activity level,
stability in people
emotionality, aggressiveness, and sex drive in rats
Life-Span Development – concept of human mice, and chickens
development as lifelong process, which can be
1. Twin Studies
studied scientifically
2. Adoption Studies
Life-Span Perspective – views development as
lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, 3. Family Studies
multidisciplinary, and contextual, and as a process Concordance Rate – the percentage of pairs of
that involves growth, maintenance, and regulation of people studied in which if one member of a pair
loss displays the trait, the other does too
Genes turn on and off in patterned ways throughout
Domains of Development the lifespan (Epigenetics)
Physical Development – growth of the body and Gene-Environment Interaction – the effects of
brain, sensory capacities, motor skills, and health genes depend on what kind of environment we
Cognitive Development – learning, attention, experiences, and how we respond to the
memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and environment depends on what genes we gave
creativity In an instance, Intelligence is strongly influenced by
Psychosocial Development – emotions, heredity. However, it is also affected by parental
personality, and social relationships stimulation, education, peer influence, and others
3 factors that contribute to individual
Social Construction – a concept or practice that is differences in emotionality:
an invention of a particular culture or society 1. Genes
Stability-Change Issue – which involves the degree 2. Shared Environmental Influences – common
to which early traits and characteristics persists experiences that work to make them similar (e.g.,
through life or change parenting style)
Continuity-Discontinuity – focuses on the degree 3. Nonshared Environmental Influences – unique
to which development involves either gradual, experiences to the individual – those who are not
cumulative change (continuity) or distinct stages shared with the other members of the family (e.g.,
(discontinuity) parental favoritism)
Maturation – the unfolding of natural sequence of
physical change and behavior patterns
Behavioral Genetics – scientific study of the 3 kinds of Gene-Environment Correlations
extent to which genetic and environmental
differences among people and animals are Passive Gene-Environment – parent provide for
responsible for differences in their traits their children is influenced partly by the parents’
genotypes
Heritability – proportion of all the variability in the Evocative Gene-Environment – child’s genotype
genotype influence the kinds of environment they evokes certain kind of reactions from other people
- Genetic makeup may affect the reactions of other
seek
people to a child and, hence, the kind of social
environment that the child will experience
trait within a large sample of people that can be
, WV.NOTESFOR PSYCH MATTERS
Plasticity – modifiability of performance
Heredity – consists of inborn traits and Theory – set of logically related concepts or
characteristics provided by the child’s parents statements that seek to describe and explain
(Nature) development and to predict the kinds of behavior
Environment – influences stems from the outside that might occur under certain conditions
body, starting from conception throughout life Hypothesis – explanations or predications that can
(Nurture) be tested by further research
Individual Differences – people differ in gender, John Locke – Tabula Rasa
height, weight, and body build; in health and energy Jean Jacques Rousseau – children are born “noble
level, etc. savages” who develop according to their own
Heredity – consists of inborn traits provided by positive natural tendencies if not corrupted by
the parents society
Context of Development: Mechanistic Model – people are like machines that
1. Family – Nuclear and Extended Family react to environmental input
2. Socioeconomic Status – combination of Organismic Model – people as active, growing
economic and social factors describing an individual organisms that set their own development in motion;
or family, including income, education, and initiate events, and do not just react
occupation Continuous – gradual and incremental
3. Culture – society’s or group’s total way of life Discontinuous – abrupt or uneven
Ethnic Gloss – overgeneralization that obscures or Quantitative Change – change in number or
blurs variations amount, such as height, weight, or vocabulary size
Race – identifiable biological category, is more Qualitative Change – emergence of new
accurately defined social construct phenomena that could not be easily predicted on the
4. Gender basis of the past basic functioning
5. History Evolutionary Psychology – emphasized the
importance of adaptation, reproduction, and
“survival of the fittest” in shaping behavior
Normative Influences – biological or Research Methods in Developmental Psychology
environmental events that affect many or most and Ethics
people in a society in a similar ways and events that
touch only certain individuals
a. Normative Age-Graded Influences
b. Normative History-Graded Influences
Historical Generation – group of people who
experience the event at a formative time in their
lives
Age Cohort – group of people born at about the
same time
Nonnormative – unusual events that have major
impact on individual lives because they disturb the
expected sequence of the life cycle
Imprinting – instinctively follow the first moving
object they see
Critical Period – specific time when a given event,
or its absence, has a specific impact on development General Principles
Sensitive Periods – when developing person is
especially responsive to certain kind of experience A. Beneficence and Take care to do no
Nonmaleficence harm; minimize harm
