AP Psych chapter 4
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zacnussell on May 17, 2012
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Childhood development
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41 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Developmental Psychology | the branch of psychology that studies the social and mental development of children |
| Zygote | the cell resulting from the union of an ovum and a spermatozoon |
| Embryo | the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month |
| Fetus | the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception 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 cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking |
| Rooting Reflex | a baby's tendency, when touched on the cheek, to turn toward the touch, open the mouth, and search for the nipple |
| Habituation | a general accommodation to unchanging environmental conditions |
| Maturation | biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience |
| Schema | a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information |
| Assimilation | the process of assimilating new ideas into an existing cognitive structure |
| Accomodation | adapting one's current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information |
| Cognition | the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning |
| 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 Permanance | the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived |
| Preoperational Stage | in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to 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 others' mental states -- about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts and the behavior 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 |
| 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 |
| Critical Period | a specific time in development when certain skills or abilities are most easily learned |
| Imprinting | a learning process in early life whereby species specific patterns of behavior are established |
| 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 | a sense of one's identity and personal worth |
| Adolescence | the time period between the beginning of puberty and adulthood |
| 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 make sexual reproduction possible |
| Secondary Sex Characteristics | nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair |
| Menarche | the first occurrence of menstruation in a woman |
| Identity | one's sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent's task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles |
| Intimacy | in Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood |
| Menopause | the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines |
| Alzheimer's Disease | an irreversible, progressive brain disorder, characterized by the deterioration of memory, language, and eventually, physical functioning |
| 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 | one's accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age |
| Fluid Intelligence | one's ability to reason 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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