| A | B |
|---|
| Maturation | The biologically determined age related sequence of unfolding physical changes and behavioural patterns, including the readiness for new abilities. - Gesell, McCall, Denis and Denis |
| Secular Trend | Trend, for example, in physical development that can only be seen by observing several generations. - J.M. Tanner |
| Principles of development | Development proceeds according to three fundamental principles - cephalocaudal, proximodistal, simple to complex - Papalia and Olds |
| Range of reaction | The upper and lower limits of one's genetic inheritance that is actualised through interaction with the environment. - Papalia and Olds |
| Organisation and Adaption | The two invariant functions or processes in Piaget's cognitive structure. - Piaget |
| Attachment | A close emotional bond between the developing infant and the caregiver. - Bowlby and Ainsworth |
| Separation anxiety | Distress shown by an infant when a familiar person leaves. - Ainsworth |
| Psychosocial crisis | A developmental turning point, a crucial period of inceased vulnerability and potential. - Erikson |
| Developmental tasks | A task which arises at acertain time in the life of an individual, successful achievement of which leads to his happiness and to success with later tasks, while failure leads to unhappiness, disapproval by society and difficulty with later tasks. - Havighurst |
| Hierarchy of needs | A rank order of needs that motivate behaviour. - Maslow |
| Schema | A cognitive structure or an organised pattern of behaviour used to think about and act in a situation. - Piaget |
| Sensitive periods | A period of time when a human being is sensitive to certain experiences, but with the understanding that later events may reverse earlier ones. Concept usually applies to psychosocial and cognitive rather than physical. - Lenneberg |
| Genotype | The actual genes a person inherits from their parents. i.e. 46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent. |
| Phenotype | Outward observable physical trait inherited from parents, e.g. eye colour, height. |
| Chronosystem | the patterning of environmental events and transitions over the life course and socio historical circumstances which impact upon development. - Bronfenbrenner |
| Epigenetic principle | Development occurs in a predictable order dictated by the ground plan which is the blueprint provided by DNA. Various parts of the body develop or ascend at a particular time to form the whole. |
| Critical period | A specific time during development when a given event will have the greatest impact. |
| Teratogen | Environmental factors capable of causing birth defects. |
| Socialisation | The process of transmitting culture from one generation to the next. Culture is the knowledge, belief systems and values of a particular society. - Kochanska |
| Family as microsystem | A group of people who are irrationally committed to each other's well being. - Bronfenbrenner |
| Parenting styles | Types of parenting are associated with different aspects of the child's social behaviours, e.g. social competence and cognitive abilities. - Baumrind |
| Social Clock | The stages of adulthood are determined more by a "social clock" or societal expectations than by a biological clock as it is in childhood. - Bernice Neugarten |
| Timing of events model | Individuals develop in response to the timing of events in our lives, both normative (expected events occuring at expected times - e.g. death of an old person) and non-normative (expected events at unexpected times, e.g. the early death of a child) |
| Continuity vs discontinuity | One of the big issues in human development - is development a gradual, continuous process or is it a series of distinct stages? |
| Interpsychological/Intrapsychological | Development occurs through social experiences which first happen through children's interaction between themselves and others (interpsychological). These social experiences become internalised (intrapsychological). The child is then able to use these behaviours to further interact with their environment and with others. - Vygotsky. |
| ZPD | The difference between a child's actual development level as determined by independant problem solving and their level of potential development attained with assistance of an adult or more capable peer. - Vygotsky |
| Dyad | A relationship between 2 people. - Vygotsky |
| Macrosystem | The culture in which an individual lives - Bronfenbrenner |
| Exosystem | The link between two social settings, one of which does not contain the individual but affects him or her indirectly. - Bronfenbrenner |
| Mesosystem | The relations or connections between microsystems that contain the developing person. - Bronfenbrenner |
| Microsystem | The system which contains the patterns of relationships between the developing person and others. - Bronfenbrenner |
| Language Acquisition device | Theory that human infants are biologically programmed to learn language through a language aquisition device that allows them to recognise and imitate sounds. - Chomsky |
| Symbolic representation | The ability to use mental representations (words, numbers, images) to which a child has attached meaning.- Piaget |
| Temperament | A person's innate characteristic way or style of approaching or responding/reacting to situations or others. - Thomas and Chess |
| Modelling | A part of Social Learning Theory that states that identification results from observing and imitating a model. - Bandura |
