Developmental Psych

developmental psychology
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Terms in this set (38)
developmental psychology
The study of continuity and change across the lifespan
germinal stage
The 2-week period of prenatal development that begins at conception
zygote
fertilized egg that contains genetic material from both the egg and the sperm
embryonic stage
The period of prenatal development that lasts from the 2nd week until about the 8th week
fetal stage
The period of prenatal development that lasts from the 9th week until birth
myelination
The formation of a fatty sheath around the axons of a neuron
teratogen
any substance that passes from the mother to the unborn child and impairs development
fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
a developmental disorder that stems from heavy alcohol use by the mother during pregnancy
infancy
The stage of development that begins at birth and lasts between 18 and 24 months
motor development
The emergence of the ability to execute physical actions
motor reflexesMotor responses that are triggered by specific patterns of sensory stimulationcephalocaudal ruleThe "top-to-bottom" rule that describes the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the head to the feetproximodistal ruleThe "inside-to-outside" rule that describes the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the center to the peripherycognitive developmentthe process by which infants and children gain the ability to think and understandsensorimotor stagea stage of cognitive development that begins at birth and lasts through infancy, during which infants acquire information about the world by sensing it and moving around within itschemastheories about the way the world worksassimilationthe process by which infants apply their schemas in novel situationsaccommodationthe process by which infants revise their schemas in light of new informationobject permanencethe fact that objects continue to exist even when they are not visiblechildhoodthe stage of development that begins at about 18 to 24 months and lasts until about 11 to 14 yearspreoperational stagethe stage of cognitive development that begins at about 2 years and ends at about 6 years, during which children develop a preliminary understanding of the physical worldconcrete operational stagethe stage of cognitive development that begins at about 6 years and ends at about 11 years, during which children learn how actions or "operations" can transform the "concrete" objects of the physical worldconservationThe understanding that the quantitative properties of an object are invariant despite changes in the object's appearanceformal operational stageThe final stage of cognitive development that begins around the age of 11, during which children learn to reason about abstract conceptsegocentrismThe failure the understand that the world appears different to different peopletheory of mindthe understanding that the mind produces representations of the world and that these representations guide behaviorattachmentThe emotional bond with a primary caregiverattachment stylescharacteristic patterns of reacting to the absence and presence of one's primary caregivertemperamentA biologically based pattern of attentional emotional reactivityinternal working modelA set of beliefs about the way relationships workpreconventional stagea stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by its consequences for the actorconventional stagea stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by the extent to which it conforms to social rulespostconventional stagea stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is determined by a set of general principles that reflect core valuesadolescenceThe period of development that begins with the onset of sexual maturity (about 11 to 14 years of age) and lasts until the beginning of adulthood (about 18 to 21 years of age)pubertyThe onset of bodily changes associated with sexual maturityprimary sex characteristicsBodily structures that change at puberty and are directly involved in reproductionsecondary sex characteristicsBodily structures that change at puberty but are not directly involved in reproductionadulthoodthe stage of development that begins around 18 to 21 years and ends at death