Chapter 4: development
Terms
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- puberty
- the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing
- Critical period
- an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development.
- crystallized intelligence
- one's accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.
- secondary sex characteristics
- nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair.
- teratogens
- agents, such as chemicals and viruses that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
- concrete operational stage
- in piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 6-7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.
- assimilation
- interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schemas.
- fetus
- the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.
- preoperational stage
- in Piaget''s theory, the stage 9from about 2 to 6-7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.
- longitudinal study
- research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period.
- permissive
- submit to children's desires, make few demands, use little punishment
- menarche
- the first menstual period
- 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.
- accomadation
- adapting one's current understandings 9schemas) to incorporate new information
- maturation
- biological growth process that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience
- egocentrism
- in piaget's theory, the inability of the properational child to take another's point of view
- habituation
- decreasing responsiveness wtih repeated stimulation. as infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.
- basic trust
- according to Erik erikson, a sense that the world in predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropritate experiences with responsive caregivers.
- Alzheimer's disease
- a progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoining, language, and finally physcial functioning.
- social clock
- the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement.
- 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 activites.
- adolescence
- the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.
- fluid intelligence
- one's ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood.
- authoritative
- both demanding and responsive, set rules but explain reasons and encourage open discussion.
- primary sex characteristics
- the body structures 9ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible
- conservation
- the principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properies such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of object
- autism
- a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understandeing of others' states of mind.
- 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.
- self-concept
- a sense of one's identity and personal worth.
- object permanence
- the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
- intimacy
- in Erikson's theory the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescense and early adulthood
- imprinting
- the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life.
- cross-sectional study
- a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.
- theory of mind
- people's ideas about their own and other's mental states about their own and other's mental states about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts and the behavior these might predict.
- zygote
- the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division develops into an embryo.
- cognition
- all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
- rooting reflex
- a baby's tendency, when touched on the cheek to open the mouth and search for the nipple
- schema
- a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
- embryo
- te developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month
- menopause
- the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the bological changes a women experiences as her ability to reproduce declines
- fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
- physical and cognitivie abnormalitie in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. in severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportons.
- authoritarian
- parents impose rules and expect obedience
- developmental psychology
- a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.