Unit 9
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Created by:
kirstend114 on May 7, 2012
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Developmental Psychology
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48 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 zygote | the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo. |
| embryo | the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month. |
| fetus | the developing human organism from 9 weeks to birth. |
| teratogens | agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm. |
| fetal alcohol syndrome | physical and cagnitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions. |
| habituation | dereasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner. |
| maturation | biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience. |
| cognition | all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. |
| schema | a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. |
| assimilation | interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas. |
| accommodation | adapting our current understanding (schemas) to incorporate new information. |
| sensorimotor stage | in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities. |
| object permanence | the awareness that things continue to exist even when not percieved. |
| preoperational stage | in Piaget's theory, the stage (from 2 to about 6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic. |
| conservation | the principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects. |
| egocentrism | in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view. |
| theory of mind | people's ideas about their own and other's mental states--about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict. |
| concrete operational stage | in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events. |
| formal operational stage | in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts. |
| autism | a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind. |
| stranger anxiety | the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age. |
| attachment | an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation. |
| imprinting | the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life. |
| temperament | a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity. |
| basic trust | according to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers. |
| self-concept | our understanding and evaluation of who we are. |
| gender | in psychology, the biologically and socially influenced characteristics by which people define male and female. |
| aggression | physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone. |
| role | a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave. |
| gender role | a set of expected behaviors for males or females. |
| gender identity | our sense of being male or female. |
| gender typing | the acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role. |
| social learning theory | the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished. |
| adolescence | the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence. |
| puberty | the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing. |
| primary sex characteristics | the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that makes sexual reproduction possible. |
| secondary sex characteristics | nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair. |
| menarche | the first menstrual period. |
| identity | a sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent's task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles. |
| social identity | the "we" aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to "Who am I?" that comes from our group memberships. |
| intimacy | in Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescense and early adulthood. |
| emerging adulthood | for some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to mid-twenties, bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood. |
| menopause | the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines. |
| cross-sectional study | a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another. |
| longitudinal study | research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period. |
| crystallized intelligence | our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age. |
| fluid intelligence | our ability to react speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood. |
| social clock | the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement. |
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