Exam 2: Theories of Development

Explain how Darwin's theory of evolution is related to the study of ethology.

Evolutionary developmental psychologists have suggested that girls in dysfunctional families reach puberty earlier because this will enable them to pass on their genes if they don't reach adulthood.

The idea that biological maturation operates in interaction with the environment and the experiences it provides to children comes from

In ecological theory, the macrosystem consists of

Freud believed that the key to healthy psychological functioning involved

The study of the interaction of genes and behavior is called:

In Erikson's psychosocial theory, the developmental challenge of infancy is the issue of

In evolutionary theory, survival of the fittest refers to the ability of the animal to adapt most successfully to their environment.

The major modern application of psychoanalytic theory has been in the area of

If you wanted to encourage a child to eat a healthier diet, at first you might smile or nod when the child was willing to take a small bite of a healthy food item on her plate. Then you might only smile and nod when the child took a full bite of the food. Then you might only respond when the child ate several bites, and finally only when the child finished the serving on her plate. You are changing this child's behavior through the process of

The superego is the part of the personality that

When research has ecological validity it means that it takes the environment into account when interpreting the findings.

The force that drives development

Roland Fryer Jr., a Harvard economist, carried out a study in which students were paid for a variety of behaviors, including getting good test scores, attendance, reading, and not fighting with each other. As a result many students read more and were better behaved in class. Discuss the pros and cons of this approach.

Piaget believed that the primary difference between how children think and how adults think is a difference in how much each knows.

An explanation for why girls growing up in families that are conflictual, dysfunctional, or in which the father is absent go through puberty at an earlier age has come from the field of

Psychoanalytic theory focuses on the internal process of the mind, but learning theories focus on

If a professor wanted his students to study at a steady pace throughout the semester, this would be more likely to happen if the quizzes in his class happened

According to Freud, boys and girls develop what has been called "the family romance" during the ____________ stage of development.

Create a mnemonic device to remember important information about one of the theories in this chapter.