Myer's Chapter 4 Exploring Psychology Developing through Lifespan
Terms
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- assimilation
- refers to interpreting a new experience in terms of an existing schema.In Piaget's theory.
- habituation
- decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repearted exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.
- developmental psychology
- a branch of psychology that studies human development in phsical, cognitive, and social change perspectives.
- menopause
- the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines.
- crystallized intelligence
- refers to those aspects of intellectual ability, such as vocabulary and general knowledged that reflect accumulated learning. Crystallized intelligence tends to increase with age.
- puberty
- the early adolescent period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproduction.
- self-concept
- a person's sense of identity and personal worth.
- schemas
- are mental concepts that organize and interpret information. They are found in Piaget's theory of cognitive development
- embryo
- the developing prenatal organism from about 2 weeks through 2 months after conception.
- teratogens
- agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
- fetus
- the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.
- basic trust
- according to Erikson is a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy - a concept that infants form if their needs are met by responsive caregiving.
- accommodation
- refers to changing an existing schema to incorporate new information that cannot be assimilated.In Piaget's theory.
- object permanance
- the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
- primary sex characteristics
- the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that enable reproduction.
- fetal alcohol syndrome
- a syndrome that refers to the physical and cognitive abnormalities that heavy drinking by a pregnant woman may cause in the developing child.
- stranger anxiety
- the fear of strangers that infants begin to display at about 8 months of age.
- alzheimer's disease
- a progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and finally, phisical funtioning.
- intimacy
- in Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood.
- cross-sectional study
- in this study people of different ages are compared with one another.
- critical period
- the limited time shortly after birth during which an organism must be exposed to certain experiences or influences if it is to develop properly.
- maturation
- biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
- social clock
- the cultural preferred timing of social event such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement.
- cognition
- all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
- zygote
- the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo
- formal operational stage
- in Piaget's theory normally begins about age 12. During this stage people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.
- developmental_psychology
- the branch of psychology that studies the social and mental development of children
- crystalized intelligence
- one's accumulated acknowledge and verbal skills; tends fo increase with age
- conservation
- the principle that properties such as number, volume, and mass remain constant despite changes in the forms of objects; it is acquired during the concrete operational stage.
- secondary sex characteristics
- the nonreproductive sexual characteristics, for example,female breasts, male voice quality, and body hair.
- rooting reflex
- a baby's tendency, when touched on the cheek, to turn toward the touch, open the mouth, and search for the nipple.
- sensorimotor stage
- in Piaget's theory of cognitive stages, this stage lasts from birth to about age 2.During this stage, infants gain knowledge of the world through their senses and their motor activities.
- 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.
- concrete operational stage
- the stage lasting from about ages 6 or 7 to 11, children can think logically about concrete events and objects.
- adolescence
- this refers to the life stage from puberty to independent adulthood, denoted physically by a growth spurt and maturation of primary and secondary sex characteristics, cognitively by the onset of formal operational thought, and socially by the formation of identity.
- menarche
- the first menstrual period.
- preoperational stage
- in Piaget's theory lasts from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age. During this stage, language development is rapid, but the child is unable to understand the mental operations of concrete logic.
- fluid intelligence
- refers to a person's ability to reason speedily and abstractly. Fluid intelligence tends to decline with age.
- egocentrism
- in Piaget's theory refers to the difficulty that preoperational children have in considing another's viewpoint. "Ego" means "self" erring and "centrism" indicates "in the center"; the preoperational child is "self-centered."
- imprinting
- the process by which certain animals form attachments early in life, usually during a limited critical period.
- longitudinal study
- in this study the same people are tested and retested over a period of years.
- attachment
- an emotional tie with another person, shown in young children by their seeking closeness to a caregiver and showing distress on separation.