1.
Amygdala: A tiny brain structure that registers emotions, particularly fear and anxiety
2.
Androgyny: A balance, within one person, of traditionally masculine and feminine psychological characterstics
3.
Animism: The belief that natural objects and phenomena are alive
4.
Antipathy: Dislike or hatred
5.
Bukkying Aggression: Unprovoked, repeated physical or verbal attack, especially on victims who are unlikely to defend themselves
6.
Centration: A characteristic of preoperational thought in which a young child focuses on one idea, excluding all others
7.
Child Abuse: Deliberate action that is harmful to a child's physical emotional, or sexual well-being
8.
Child Maltreatment: Intentional harm to or avoidable endangerment of anyone under 18 years ago
9.
Child Neglect: Failure to meet a child's basic physical, educational, or emotional needs
10.
Conservation: The principle that the amount of a substance remains the same
11.
Corpus Callosum: A long, thick band of nerve fibers that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain and allows communication between them
12.
Egocentrism: Piaget's term for children's tendency to think about the world entirely from their own personal perspective
13.
Electra Complex: The unconscious desire of girls to replace thier mother and win their father's affection
14.
Fast-mapping: The speedy and sometimes imprecise way in which children learn new words by tentatively placing them in mental categories according to their personal meaning
15.
Focus on Appearance: A characteristic of preoperational thought in which a young child ignores all attributes that are not apparent
16.
Gender Schema: A cognitive concept or general belief based on one's , a child's experiences-in this case understanding of sex differences
17.
Hippocampus: A brain structure that is a central processor of memory, especially memory for locations
18.
Hypothalamus: A brain area that responds to the amygdala and the hippocampus to produce hormones that activate other parts of the brain and body
19.
Identification: An attempt to defend to one's self-concept by taking on the behaviors and attitudes of someone else
20.
Instrumental Aggression: Hurtful behavior that is intended to get or keep something that another person has
21.
Irreversibility: A characteristic of preoperational thought in which a young child thinks that nothing can be undone
22.
Lateralization: Literally, sidedness, referring to the specialization in certain functions by each side of the brain, with one side dominant for each activity. The left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and vice versa.
23.
Montessori Schools: Schools that offer early-childhood education based on the philosophy of Maria Montessori, which emphasizes careful work and tasks that each young child can do
24.
Myelination: The process by which axons become coated with myelin, a fatty substance that speeds the transmission of nerve impulses from neuron to neuron
25.
Oedipus Complex: The unconscious desire of young boys to replace their father and win their mother's exclusive love
26.
overregularization: The application of rules of grammar even when exceptions occur, making the language seem more "regular" than it actually is
27.
Permanency Planning: An effort by child welfare authorities to find a long-term living situation that will provide stability and support for a maltreated child.
28.
Perseveration: The tendency to persevere in, or stick to, one thought or action for a long time.
29.
Phallic Stage: Freud's 3rd stage of development, when the penis becomes the focus of concern and pleasure
30.
Preoperational intelligence: Piaget's term for cognitive development between the ages of about 2 and 6; it includes language and imagination
31.
Primary Prevention: Actions that change overall background conditions to prevent some unwanted event or circumstance, such as injury, disease, or abuse
32.
Psychological control: A disciplinary technique that involves threatening to withdraw love and support and that relies on a child's feelings of guilt and gratitude to the parents
33.
Reactive Aggression: An impulsive retaliation for another person's intentional or accidental action, verbal or physical
34.
Reggio Emilia approach: Encourages each child's creativity in a carefully designed setting
35.
Relational aggression: Nonphysical acts, such as insults or social rejection, aimed at harming the social connection between the victim adn other people
36.
Reported Maltreatment: Harm or endangerment about which someone has notified the authorities
37.
Scaffolding: Temporary support that is tailored to a learner's needs and abilities and aimed at helping the learner master the next task in a given learning process
38.
Secondary Prevention: Actions that avert harm in a high-risk situation, such as stopping a car before it hits a pedestrian
39.
Social Mediation: Human interaction that expands and advances understanding, often through words that one person uses to explain something to another
40.
Static Reasoning: A characteristic of preoperational thought in which a young child thinks that nothing changes
41.
Substantiated Maltreatment: Harm or endangerment that has been reported, investigated, and verified
42.
Superego: In psychoanalytic theory, the judgmental part of the personality that internalizes the moral standards of the parents
43.
Tertiary Prevention: Actions, such as immediate and effective medical treatment, that are taken after an adverse event (such as illness or injury) occurs and that are aimed at reducing the harm or preventing disability
44.
Theory of Mind: A person's theory of what other people might be thinking
45.
Theory-Theory: The idea that children attempt to explain everything they see and hear by constructing theories
