Chapter 5 Developing Through the Life Span
About this set
Created by:
davidfenderconrad on January 19, 2011
Subjects:
Classes:
Log in to favorite or report as inappropriate.
Order by
42 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Developmental psychology | Branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span |
| Zygote | Fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops onto 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 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 (FAS) | Physical and cognitive abnormalties in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. Severe case: noticeable facial misproportions |
| Habituation | Decreasing responsiveness with repeated simulation. As infants gain familiarity 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. |
| Schema | A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. |
| cognition | all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating |
| Accommodation | Adapting one's current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. |
| assimilation | interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schemas |
| 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 perceived. |
| Preoperational stage | In Piaget's theory the stage (fom 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 that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects. |
| Egocentrism | In Piaget's theory, the inability of the preoperational child to take another's point of view. |
| Theory of mind | People's ideas about their own and others' mental states- about their feelings, percetpions, and thoughts and the behavior these might predict. |
| Autism | A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind. |
| 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 | An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli of experiences produces proper development. |
| Imprinting | The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very easily in life. |
| 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 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 make sexual reproduction possible |
| Secondary sex characteristics | Nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair. |
| 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. |
| 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 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. |
| Emerging adulthood | For some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to early twenties, bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood |
| 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. |
| Menarche | the first menstrual period |
First Time Here?
Welcome to Quizlet, a fun, free place to study. Try these flashcards, find others to study, or make your own.