Test 1

observational studies

also called naturalistic observation, involves watching and recording the actions of participants

lifespan perspective

an approach to studying development which emphasizes that development is lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, contextual, and multidisciplinary

secondary content analysis

archival research, involves analyzing information that has already been collected or examining documents or media to uncover attitudes, practices or preferences

discontinuous development

idea that development takes place in unique stages and occurs at specific times or ages

evaluation research

research designed to assess the effectiveness of policies or programs

descriptive studies

research focused on describing an occurrence

correlational research

research that formally tests whether a relationship exists between two or more variables, however, correlation does not imply causation

experimental research

research that involves randomly assigning people to different conditions and using hypothesis testing to make inferences about how these conditions affect behavior; the only method that measures cause and effect between variables

explanatory studies

research that tries to answer the question "why"

qualitative research

theoretical ideas are "grounded" in the experiences of the participants, who answer open-ended questions

as height increases, typically weight increases

Height and weight are positively correlated. This means that ________.

Children who score higher on measures of creativity also score higher on measures of resilience.

In a study of children, let's suppose that researchers found a positive correlation (r= .63) between creativity and resilience. How is this finding interpreted?

Older adults tended to have lower empathy scores than younger adults.

In a study of empathy across young adulthood to older adulthood, researchers found a negative correlation (r= -.75) between empathy and age. How is this finding interpreted?

informed consent statement

A couple arrives at a research lab to participate in a research study of psychosocial factors related to relationship satisfaction. After they learn about the study, they are asked to review a(n) ________, which reviews the procedures to be used in the research, any expected risks or benefits, and serves as a contract stating that they agree to participate in research.

College students are samples of convenience that are not randomly selected from the wider population and may not represent all young adults in our society.

A graduate student research team is giving an oral presentation of their research on resilience in young adults. They note that a downside of their study is that participants were recruited from the university that they attend. What makes this a study limitation?

early adulthood

A group of friends gets together and their conversation revolves around love and work: relationships, planning for future marriage and children, finishing formal education and establishing their careers, developing independence, and feeling like an adult. This group of friends is in the ________ period of human development.

findings about Mr. Jackson may not be generalized to other people

A researcher wants to know as much as possible about Mr. Jackson, who is a middle-aged adult with extraordinary memory abilities. Various tests, interviews, and other methods are used to gather in-depth data about Mr. Jackson and his memory. From what you have learned about research methods, ________.

survey

A researcher wants to understand parents' attitudes and opinions toward residential school programs for academically gifted students. This researcher would likely choose a ________ research method.

Development is multidirectional.

A teenager bemoans, "My life is a roller coaster. I've got all this new stuff to think about and I'm not as good at things I used to do well. I think I'm making progress in one area, but I'm losing ground in another." This statement about alternating between gains and losses reflects which of Baltes' key principles of lifespan development?

Nurture

A theorist proposes that children learn language by observing and imitating their parents, who in turn reinforce the sounds and words their children produce. In the nature versus nurture debate, where does this theorist's proposal fit?

Development is plastic

According to Baltes' lifespan perspective, what is true about development?

Depression

To examine the effectiveness of two types of interventions for depression, researchers randomly assigned participants to a 12-week course of cognitive-behavioral therapy, a 12-week mindfulness-based stress reduction program, or a waitlist control group. In this experiment, what is the dependent variable?

middle childhood

Andrea's brain has recently reached its adult size, though it continues to develop; her body's growth has slowed down for now, and her motor skills are more coordinated. She is busy with learning and testing in school; her friendships with other girls are especially important. Considering all of this information, Andrea is probably in this period of human development:

ideally you should study a random sample of children

As a scientific researcher, you want to find out when children learn to read. Based on what you've learned about the scientific method:

middle childhood

As an elementary school student, Hayden's life revolves around learning and testing new academic skills, refining motor skills, and developing social relationships with friends and students outside of the family. Hayden is in the ________ period of human development.

Development can follow a different course for each child.

Childcare practices differ across cultures, and different practices have been found to influence when and how children reach certain developmental milestones, such as sitting, crawling, and walking. Which approach to human development is conveyed by this finding?

assess the effectiveness of an academic enrichment program

Dr. Carlton conducts evaluation research of language enrichment programs for preschool children from low-income families. The objective of this research is to ________.

Evaluation

For funding purposes, research is done to assess the effectiveness of Head Start (preschool) programs on children's academic achievements. This type of research is:

the influence of nature on human development

If cross-cultural research reveals that certain aspects of childhood physical development are the same and happen at the same ages in different countries, this would most likely be evidence for:

normative history-graded influences

Iminathi and all of her siblings are being raised by their elderly grandmother (with few resources) because both of their parents have died from complications of AIDS. This is very common in recent years in South Africa, as many adults have died due to the AIDS/HIV epidemic, leaving their children to be raised by grandparents. According to Baltes' contextual paradigm, this best exemplifies:

Development is multidimensional.

In a health class for middle schoolers, the instructor discusses puberty, to the embarrassment of the students, and reviews the biological factors involved in how their bodies are changing, the cognitive factors involved in more advanced thinking skills, the emotional factors involved in regulating feelings, and the social factors involved in navigating relationships. This illustrates which of Baltes' key principles of lifespan development?

Development is multidimensional.

In a prenatal education class, an instructor informs parents that their child's development will be influenced by many factors, including biological, cognitive, social, and emotional factors. This instructor is addressing which of Baltes' key principles of lifespan development?

submit her proposal for review and approval by the Institutional Review Board at the university

Jaime is a graduate student who will be conducting research on infants and emotions for her master's degree. Jaime and her graduate school advisor have developed the plan for her research and her advisor reminds Jaime that the first thing she needs to do is to:

psychosocial

Jesse recently started elementary school and is forming new relationships with other children and the teacher. Social comparisons with schoolmates begin to influence Jesse's self-esteem. The changes described here best illustrate Jesse's development in the ________ domain of human development.

parents reading to their young children often tends to be related to children having a large vocabulary

Let's suppose that developmental researchers found a correlation coefficient of r = +.85 between how often parents read to their young children and the size of children's vocabulary. What conclusion could you accurately make from this information?

multidirectional

Michael's grandfather was teaching Michael how to drive a car. At first, Michael was frustrated because his grandfather's reactions and driving were rather slow; his grandfather explained that while he's not as fast as he used to be, he is more careful in his driving in later life. When Michael followed his grandfather's example and avoided hitting another car due to his cautious driving, he appreciated his grandfather's slow, but careful driving. This difference in ability involving the loss of speed but gain of caution best illustrates Baltes' principle that development is:

cognitive domain

Parents track the number of new words their toddler learns each day and are surprised by how many new words their child has learned at the end of one month. By charting their child's language development, these parents are showing an interest in the ________ of human development.

Socioeconomic status

Research indicates that family education, income, and occupation strongly influence the academic achievement gap across racial/ethnic groups. Which contextual influence on development does this exemplify?

the assignment (or lack of assignment) to the new tutoring program is the independent variable

Researchers are interested in whether a new tutoring program can improve students' scores on math tests. All students were given math tests at the beginning. Then half of the students were randomly assigned to a group and given the new tutoring program; the other half were randomly assigned to another group and did not receive any tutoring. All students were given math tests again. Which of the following statements is true?

sequential research design

Researchers studied frequency and amount of marijuana use in three groups of students (grades 6 to 8, grades 9 to 10, and grades 11 to 12) over five years. With this ________, researchers can examine age-related changes and changes within the same individuals as they age. In addition, researchers can account for the possibility of cohort and/or time of measurement effects.

build upon earlier research to enhance understanding of a topic.

Using the scientific method, researchers should

Longitudinal research design

Suppose a group of researchers wants to investigate the relationship between daily mindfulness meditation and cortisol (stress hormone) levels in the body over a 20-year time period. Which research design would allow them to measure changes with age and within individuals over time, even though it would be expensive, limited to one cohort, take a long time, and they might have people drop out of the study?

ethnocentrism; cultural relativity

Teresa believes her cultural practices are the best and right ones, and it is difficult for her to understand the cultural practices of other societies. Tanya expresses an appreciation for cultural differences and a willingness to consider the perspectives of people in other cultures. Teresa's view demonstrates ________, while Tanya's view demonstrates ________.

it is closest to 0

The correlation coefficient indicates the weakest relationship when ________

-.90

Which of the following correlation coefficients indicates the strongest relationship between two variables?

Students who watch more television perform more poorly on their exams

Which statement best illustrates a negative correlation between the number of hours spent watching TV the week before an exam and the grade on that exam?

development is lifelong

While most human development theorists and researchers have focused on infancy and childhood, and some on adolescence, others have explored development over the course of one's entire life, which aligns with Baltes' key principle of lifespan development that ________.

differences found could be due to age or cohort effects

You are interested in finding out if life satisfaction changes with age. You send a survey to individuals who are 15, 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, 75, and 85 years old in 2019 and compare their life satisfaction ratings. From what you've learned about developmental research designs:

cohort

a group of people who are born at roughly the same period in a particular society. Cohorts share histories and contexts for living

survey

asking a standard set of questions to a group of subjects

normative age-graded influences

biological and environmental factors that have a strong correlation with chronological age

culture

blueprint or guideline shared by a group of people that specifies how to live; passed down from generation to generation; learned from parents and others

nurture

environmental, social, and cultural influences of behavior

case study

exploring a single case or situation in great detail. Information may be gathered with the use of observation, interviews, testing, or other methods to uncover as much as possible about a person or situation

Hawthorne effect

individuals tend to change their behavior when they know they are being watched

normative history-graded influences

influences associated with a specific time period that define the broader bio-cultural context in which an individual develops

content analysis

involves looking at media such as old texts, pictures, commercials, lyrics or other materials to explore patterns or themes in culture

quantitative research

involves numerical data that are quantified using statistics to understand and report what has been studied

continuous development

the idea that development is a progressive and cumulative process, gradually improving on existing skills

nature

the influences of biology and genetics on behavior

nonnormative influences

unpredictable influences not tied to a certain developmental time, personally or historical period

validity

when something yields accurate results

reliability

when something yields consistent results