| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Developmental Psychology | The study of the lifelong, often age-related, processes of change in the physical, cognitive, moral, emotional, and social domains of functioning; such changes are rooted in biological mechanisms that are genetically controlled, as well as in social interactions |
| Zygote | A fertilized egg |
| Embryo | The prenatal organism from the 5th through the 49th day after conception |
| Fetus | The prenatal organism from the 8th week after conception until birth |
| Placenta | A mass of tissue that is attached to the wall f the uterus and connected to the developing fetus by the umbilical cord; it supplies nutrients and eliminates waste products |
| Teratogen | Substance that can produce developmental malformations (birth defects) during the prenatal period |
| Babinski reflex | Reflex in which a newborn fans out the toes when the sole of the foot is touched |
| Moro reflex | Reflex in which a newborn strectches out the arms and legs and cries in response to a loud noise or an abrupt change in the environment |
| Rooting reflex | Reflex that causes a newborn to turn the head toward a light touch on lips or cheek |
| Sucking reflex | Reflex that causes a newborn to make sucking motions when a finger or nipple if placed in the mouth |
| Grasping reflex | Reflex that causes a newborn to grasp vigorously any object touching the palm or fingers or placed in the hand |
| Critical Period | The time in to development of an organism when it is especially sensitive to certain environmental influences; outside of that period the same influences will have far less effect |
| Schema | In Piaget's view, a specific mental structure; an organized way of interacting with the environment and experiencing it- a generalization a child makes based on comparable occurences of various actins, usally physical, motor actions |
| Assimilation | According to Piaget, the process by which new ideas and experiences are absorbed and incorporated into existing mental structures and behaviors |
| Accommodation | According to Piaget, the process by which existing mental structures and behaviors are modified to adapt to new experiences |
| Sensorimotor stage | The first of Piaget's four stages of cognitive development (covering roughly the first 2 years of life), during which the child develops some motoer coordination skills and a memory for past events |
| Object permanence | The realization of infants that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight |
| Preoperational stage | Piaget's second stage of cognitive development (lasting from about age 2 to age 6 or 7), during which the child begins to represent the world symbolically |
| Egocentrism | Inability to perceive a situation or event except in relation to oneself; also know as self-centeredness |
| Decentration | Process of changing from a totally self-oriented point of view to one tha recognizes other people's feelings, ideas, and viewpoints |
| Concrete operational stage | Piaget's thrid stage of cognitive development (lasting from approximately age 6 or 7 to age 11 or 12), during which the child develops the ability to understand constant factors in the environment, rules, and higher-order symbolic systems |
| Conservation | Ability to recognize that objects can e transformed in some way, visually or phycially, yet still be the same in number, weight, substance, or volume |
| Formal operational stage | Piaget's fourth and final stage of cognitive development (beginning at about age 12), during which the individual can think hypothetically, can consider future possibilites, and can use deductive logic |
| Cross-sectional study | A type of research design that compares individuals of different ages to determine how they differ on an important dimension |
| Theory of mind | An understanding of mental states such as feelings, desires, beliefs, and intentions and of the causal role they play in human behavior |
| Morality | A system of learned attitudes about social practices, instituations, and individual behavior used to evaluate situations and behavior as right or wrong, good or bad |
| Sex | The biologically based categories of male and female |
| Gender | A socially and culturally constructed set of distinctions between masculine and feminine sets of behaviors that is promoted and expected by society |
| Attachment | The strong emotional tie that a person feels toward special other persons in his or her life |
| Bonding | Special process of emotional attachment that may occur between parents and babies in the minutes and hours immediately after birth |
| Temperament | Early-emerging and long-lasting individual differences in disposition and in the intensity and especially the quality of emotional reactions |
| Gender stereotype | A fixed, overly simple, sometimes incorrect idea about traits, attitudes, and behaviors of males or females |
| cohort effect | observed group differences based on the era when people were born and grew up, exposing them to particular experiences that may affect the results of cross-sectional studies |
| prenatal development | period of development from conception until birth |
| fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) | group of abnormalities that occur in the babies of mothers who drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy |
| habituation | decreased responsiveness with repeated presentation of the same stimulus |
| schema | framework of basic ideas about people, objects and events based on past experience in long-term memory |
| zone of proximal development | the range between the level at which a child can solve a problem working alone with difficulty, and the level at which a child can solve a problem with the assistance of adults or children with more skill |
| preconventional level of moral development | morality based on consequences to self |
| moral development | growth in the ability to tell right from wrong, control impulses, and act ethically |
| conventional level of moral development | morality based on fitting in to the norms of society |
| postconventional level of moral development | morality based on one's own individual moral principles (i.e., conscience) |
| authoritarian parenting | style of parenting marked by emotional coldness, imposing rules and expecting obedience |
| authoritative parenting | parenting style characterized by emotional warmth, high standards for behavior, explanation and consistent enforcement of rules, and inclusion of children in decision making |
Combine with other sets
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