 | Term | Definition |
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Developmental Psychology |
Study of how people change from birth to old age; changes over the life span that includes thinking, language, intelligence, emotions, & social behaviorspecifically the hows and whys changes occur |
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Biographical or Respective Study |
A method of studying developmental changes by reconstructing people’s past through interviews and inferring the effects of past events on current behaviors |
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Embryo |
Prenatal period-2 weeks after conception to 3 months; Cells begin to specialize: internal organs, muscles and bones, skin and nervous system |
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Placenta |
Organ that nourishes the embryo and fetus; the mother’s blood vessels transmit nutritive substances to the embryo or fetus and carry waste products away from it; Diseases and teratogens can cross the placenta and infect the fetus, compromising the baby’s development. |
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Neonate |
Newborn babies; sleep up to 20 hours a day |
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Sucking Reflex |
Newborn reflex/tendency to suck on objects placed by the mouth |
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Grasping Reflex |
Newborn reflex where babies ling to objects placed in hands; normally disappears after 2 or 3 months and reemerges later when voluntary grasping begins (typically around 5 months) |
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Temperament |
Characteristic patterns of emotional reactions and emotional self-regulation; Thomas and Chess (1977) devised 3 temperaments: Easy-good-natured and adaptable, easy to care for and please; Difficult-moody and intense, reacting to new people and new situations both negatively and positively; Slow-to-warm-up-relatively inactive and slow to respond to new things, and when they do react, their reactions are mild; Kagan (1988) added a 4th temperament: Shy-timid and inhibited, fearful of anything new or strange |
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Developmental Norms |
Average ages that children reach developmental milestones: 6 mos-babbling, 9 mos-stand with assistance, 10 mos-crawling, 12 mos-walking, 18 mos-vocabulary of 50-70 words |
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Object Permanence |
concept from Piaget; major milestone in Sensory-Motor Stage; The concept that things continue to exist even when they are out of sight; “out of sight, out of mind”, typically achieved by 18 to 24 mos (meaning the child realizes that the object exists if it is out of sight) |
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Preoperational Stage |
second stage of Piaget’s cognitive development; 2-7 years; main activities involve fantasy play, symbolic gestures, egocentrism; understand object permanence and mental representations; must achieve conservation and egocentrism |
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Concrete Operational Stage |
third stage of Piaget’s cognitive development; 7-11 years; main activities involve complex classification, can see things from another person’s point of view; reversibility, think about things in the “here-and-now”; understand conservation |
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Formal Operational Stage |
fourth stage of Piaget’s cognitive development; 11-15 years; main activities involve problem-solving, reversibility, complex thought, abstract thought |
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Imprinting |
formation of a strong bond to the first moving thing (usually a mother) it sees after it is born; Ducks and geese |
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Autonomy |
sense of independence; a desire not to be controlled by others; main concept in Erikson’s second psychosocial stage |
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Solitary Play |
The earliest form of play upto age 1 ½ to 2; a child engaged in a recreational activity alone; |
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Cooperative Play |
Children between the age of 3 and 3 ½ where two or more children engaged in play that requires interaction and also include group imagination such as “playing house” |
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Sex-Typed Behavior |
Socially prescribed ways of behaving that differ for boys and girls; Ex. Girls play with dolls and boys play with trucks |
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Gender-Role Awareness |
knowledge of what behavior is appropriate for each gender as set my society |
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Gender Identity |
a person’s knowledge that she is a little girl or he is a boy; may not include understanding of what that means |
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Puberty |
onset of sexual maturation, with accompanying physical development; symptoms include growth of pubic hair, development of secondary sex characteristics (breasts, testes, penile enlargement) |
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Imaginary Audience |
Elkind; adolescent fallacy; tendency of teens to feel they are constantly being observed by others, that others are being judging them on their appearance and behavior; feeling of being perpetually “onstage”; may be the source of much self-consciousness, concern about personal appearance, and showing off |
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Identity Formation |
Erikson; stage of adolescence where teens are to develop a stable sense of self necessary to make the transition from dependence on other to dependence on oneself |
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Clique |
groups of adolescents with similar interests and strong mutual attachment; early adolescents tend to group in small unisex groups of 3 to 9 members; as teens settle into more stable dating patters the cliques enlarge and include both genders |
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Midlife Transition |
According to Levinson, a process whereby adults assess the past and formulate new goals for the future; taking stock of life |
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Longitudinal Study |
A method of studying developmental changes by evaluating the same people at different points of their lives, for example every 5 years |
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Prenatal Development |
Development from conception to birth; fertilization of egg, division of fertilized egg & the process that transforms it from a 1-celled organism to a complex human being; Embryo-2 weeks after fertilization the implanted cells begin to specialize to 3 months: internal organs, muscles and bones, skin and nervous system; Fetus-3 months to birth-1” in length and resembles a human |
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Fetus |
Prenatal period-3 months-birth; 1” in length and resembles humans with a head, arms/legs, and a heart that beats; by 4 months mother will begin to feel the movements in the uterus. |
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Critical Period |
first 3 months of pregnancy when external and internal influences have a major effect on development |
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Rooting Reflex |
Newborn reflex that causes a newborn baby to turn its head toward something that touches its cheek and to grope around with its mouth |
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Swallowing Reflex |
Newborns ability t wallow milk and other liquids without choking |
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Stepping Reflex |
Newborn reflex that refers to the fact that very young babies take what looks like walking steps if they are held upright with their feet just touching a flat surface; normally disappears after 2 or 3 months and reemerges later when real walking begins (typically around 1 year of age) |
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Maturation |
Biological processes that unfold as a person grows older & contribute to orderly sequences of developmental changes, such as the progression from sitting up to crawling to walking |
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Sensory-Motor Stage |
first stage of Piaget’s cognitive development; birth to 2 years; main activities involve sucking and grasping; must achieve object permanence and mental representations |
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Mental Representation |
concept of Piaget; major milestone in Sensory-Motor Stage; ability to see an image inside their heads and manipulate those representations |
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Egocentric |
concept of Piaget; major milestone in Preoperational Stage; inability of preschool children to see things from another person’s point of view. |
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Principles of Conservation |
concept of Piaget; major milestone in Preoperational Stage; concept that the quantity of a substance is not altered by reversible changes in its appearance; Example-2 glasses (one tall, one short) with equal amounts of juice but the child thinks the tall glass has more juice because it is taller. |
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Holophase |
one-word sentences used by a 1 to 2 year old child; Up! No! More! |
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Attachment |
emotional bond to the people who care for the child built on hours of interactions otherwise known as basic trust; According to Erikson this is the first psychosocial crisis; According to Ainsworth developed a series of 3 (or 4) types of attachment styles which she states that the attachment to the first caregiver will follow the child through other relationships in life |
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Socialization |
process by which children learn the behaviors and attitudes appropriate to their family and culture; essential first step in socialization; important for Erikson’s second stage |
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Parallel Play |
Children between the age of 1 ½ and 2 play side by side, doing the same or similar things, but not interacting with each other |
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Peer Group |
A network of same-aged friends and acquaintances who give one another emotional and social support |
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Gender Constancy |
the realization that gender will not change with age |
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Gender Stereotypes |
General beliefs about characteristics that males and females are presumed to have; Ex. Girls play with dolls and boys play with trucks |
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Growth Spurt |
rapid increase in height and weight that occurs in adolescence |
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Menarche |
first menstrual period, typically 1-2 years after growth of breasts around ages 12-13 |
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Personal Fable |
Elkind; adolescent fallacy; adolescents’ unrealistic sense of their own uniqueness; view that they are all alone in their pain; sense of invulnerability |
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Identity Crisis |
A period of intense self-examination and decision-making; part of the process of identity formation |
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Midlife Crisis |
Feelings of boredom and stagnation in middle adulthood; time when adults discover they no longer feel fulfilled in their jobs or personal lives and attempt to make a decisive shift in career or lifestyle |
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Menopause |
Time in life when a woman’s menstruation ceases |
