Human Development and Behavior Flashcards

Maslow's hierarchy of needs places which category at the base of the pyramid, indicating it must be met first?

Answer: Physiological needs

Physiological needs — such as food, water, shelter, and sleep — are at the base of Maslow's hierarchy because they are the most fundamental survival requirements.

Bandura's social learning theory highlights which key process as central to learning new behaviors?

Answer: Observational learning through modeling and vicarious reinforcement

Bandura demonstrated that people learn behaviors by observing others and noting the consequences, a process known as observational learning or modeling.

Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation experiments identified which attachment style in infants who show intense distress at separation but are not soothed upon reunion?

Answer: Anxious-ambivalent (resistant) attachment

Anxious-ambivalent (resistant) infants are highly distressed by separation and often display angry or passive behavior when the caregiver returns, failing to be comforted.

In the context of human development, what does the term 'epigenetics' refer to?

Answer: Changes in gene expression caused by environmental factors without altering DNA sequence

Epigenetics refers to changes in how genes are expressed due to environmental influences — such as stress, diet, or trauma — without changing the underlying DNA sequence.

Which developmental theorist described eight stages of psychosocial development from infancy through late adulthood?

Answer: Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson proposed eight life-span stages, each characterized by a psychosocial crisis that must be resolved for healthy development to proceed.

According to Freud's psychosexual stages, unresolved conflicts during the oral stage may result in which adult behaviors?

Answer: Dependency, oral fixations such as smoking or overeating

Freud theorized that fixation at the oral stage — the first year of life — may manifest in adulthood as dependency or oral habits such as smoking, nail-biting, or overeating.

The concept of 'temperament' in developmental psychology most directly refers to which of the following?

Answer: Biologically based individual differences in emotional reactivity and self-regulation

Temperament refers to innate, biologically rooted tendencies in emotional reactivity, activity level, and self-regulation that are present from birth.