| Term | Definition |
|---|
| developmental psychology | a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 139) |
| zygote | the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 140) |
| embryo | the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month in which major body systems develop. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 141) |
| fetus | the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth in which the first bone cells appear. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 141) |
| teratogens agents | such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 141) |
| fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) | physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 142) |
| rooting reflex | a baby's tendency, when touched on the cheek, to turn toward the touch, open the mouth, and search for the nipple. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 142) |
| habituation | decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 143) |
| maturation | biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 145) |
| schema | a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 147) |
| assimilation | interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schemas. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 148) |
| cognition | all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 148) |
| accommodation | adapting one's current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 148) |
| object permanence | the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 149) |
| 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. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 149) |
| 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. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 150) |
| egocentrism | in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty in taking another's point of view. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 150) |
| 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. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 150) |
| 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. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 151) |
| autism | a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 152) |
| 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. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 153) |
| 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. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 154) |
| attachment | an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 155) |
| stranger anxiety | the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 155) |
| critical period | an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 156) |
| imprinting | the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 156) |
| 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. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 158) |
| self-concept | (1) a sense of one's identity and personal worth. (2) all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?" (Myers Psychology 8e p. 161) |
| adolescence | the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 164) |
| primary sex characteristics | the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 165) |
| puberty | the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 165) |
| secondary sex characteristics | nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 165) |
| menarche [meh-NAR-key] | the first menstrual period. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 166) |
| 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. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 171) |
| intimacy | in Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 172) |
| menopause | the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 176) |
| Alzheimer's disease | a progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and, finally, physical functioning. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 180) |
| cross-sectional study | a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 183) |
| longitudinal study | research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 183) |
| crystallized intelligence | one's accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 184) |
| fluid intelligence | one's ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 184) |
| social clock | the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 186) |
| preconventional | morality at this level of Kohlberg's theory is determined by the will of outside authority (adults such as parents and teachers) and centers around gaining reward or avoiding punishment. |
| conventional | morality at this level of Kohlber'gs theory is determined by approval seeking and law and order. Right and wrong is determined by society's rules. There is respect for authority and majority rule. |
| postconventional | in this Kohlberg level right and wrong determined by society's rules which are viewed as fallible rather than absolute or by abstract ethical principles that emphasize equality and justice |
| Kohlberg | theorist who claimed individuals went through a series of stages in the process of moral development. |
| Piaget | theorist that developed a series of stages in which an individual passes during cognitive development. |
| babinski reflex | reflex in which babies will fan out their toes when you touch the sole of their feet |
| moro reflex | infant startle response to sudden, intense noise or movement. When startled the newborn arches its back, throws back its head, and flings out its arms and legs. |
| APGAR | test given to newborns one minute after birth and again four minutes later. It is a scaled rating of the infant's physical condition based on 5 measures |
| Marcia | stage theorist who focused on the adolescent crisis of Erik Erikson and came up for four stages that adolescents pass through while seeking an identity. |
| Erikson | theorist who studied psychosocial development across the lifespan. |
| identity v role confusion | Erikson's name for the crisis of adolescence. |
| Vygotsky | theorist focused on the social world of people when explaining cognitive development. |
| temperament | an individual's basic disposition, which is evident from infancy and is generally stable across the lifespan |
| zone of proximal development | area between what a child can learn on their own and with help. |
| attachment | deep and enduring relationship with the person with whom a baby has many experiences. |
| Harlow | researcher that highlighted the importance of physical contact comfort in the formation of attachments with parents |
| imprinting | phenomenon in some animals in which newborns follow the first moving object human or animal that catches their attention |
| Ainsworth | theorist that studied types of attachment by use of the strange situation test |
| Lorenz | theorist associated with the idea of imprinting as an method of attachment in some animals |
| scaffolding | Vygotsky's idea that learners should be given only just enough help so that they can reach the next level |
| Gilligan | criticized Kohlberg's research on moral theory because she felt it was biased against girls |
| identity moratorium | Marcia's stage in which adolescents are delaying making the commitment expected of adult through trial and error experiment with different identities. They are looking actively but have not found it yet |
| identity | sense of oneself as a unique person |
| Kubler-Ross | theorist who proposed that terminally Ill patients go through a series of stages as they approach death. |
| stages of death | denial, anger, bargaining depression, acceptance |
| identity foreclosure | Marcia's stage in which adolescents accept the identity and values given to them in childhood. They are not searching. |
| crystalized intelligence | type of intelligence which includes accumulated knowledge and verbal skills, that INCREASES WITH AGE |
| gerontology | study of the aging process |
| fluid intelligence | form of intelligence that decreases with age and is used in coping with new kinds of problems and to reason speedily and abstractly |
| trust v mistrust | Erikson's first stage in which infants up to one year learn if they can count on their caregivers or not |
| intimacy v isolation | Erikson stage for young adults in which the crisis involves finding a romantic partner or feeling alone |
| integrity v despair | Erikson's crisis of old age in which the individual looks back on their life with either satisfaction or sadness |
| maturation | automatic and orderly process of development which reflects genetics for example walking at a predictable time in development |
| secure | attachment style in which infants are able to explore, are upset when their caregiver leaves and happy when their caregiver returns |
| anxious ambivalent | attachment style in which they are less likely to explore with parent present, protest when they leave, and not comforted when they return |
| avoidant | attachment style in which they seek little contact with their caregiver and are not distressed when the caregiver leaves |
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