Human Development, Chapter 5
Terms
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- normal distribution
- a bell-shaped distribution that results when individual differences are measured in large samples. Most scores cluster around the mean, or average, and progressively fewer fall toward extremes.
- core knowledge perspective
- a view that assumes that infants begin life with innate knowledge systems, or core domains of thought, each of which permits a ready grasp of new related information and therefore supports early, rapid development of certain aspects of cognition
- working, or short-term, memory
- the part of the information-processing system where we "work" on a limited amount of information, actively applying mental strategies so the information will be retained
- referential style of language learning
- a style of early language learning in which toddlers produce many words that refer to objects. They use language mainly to name things.
- intentional, or goal-directed, behavior
- a sequence of actions in which schemes are deliberately combined to solve a problem
- autobiographical memory
- representations of special, one-time events that are long lasting because they are imbued with personal meaning
- infantile amnesia
- the inability of most older children and adults to remember events that happened before age 3.
- organization
- a process that takes place internally, apart from direct contact with the environment. Once children form new schemes, they rearrange them, linking them with other schemes to create a strongly interconnected cognitive system.
- circular reaction
- in Piaget's theory, a means of building schemes in which infants try to repeat a chance event caused by their own motor activity
- joint attention
- a state in which the child and the caregiver gaze at the same object or event and the caregiver comments verbally about what the child sees. Supports language development.
- Home Observation of Measurement of the Environment (HOME)
- a checklist for gathering information about the quality of children's home lives through observation and parental interview
- long-term memory
- In information processing, the part of the mental system that contains or permanent knowledge base
- recognition
- a type of memory that involves noticing whether a stimulus is identical or similar to one previously experienced.
- developmentally appropriate practice
- a set of standards devised by the National Association for the Education of Young Children that specify program characteristics that meet the developmental and individual needs of young children of varying ages, based on current research and the consensus of experts
- child-directed speech (CDS)
- a form of language used by adults to speak to infants and toddlers that consists of short sentences with high-pitched, exaggerated expression, clear pronunciation, distinct pauses between speech segments, and repetition of new words in a variety of contexts
- assimilation
- in Piaget's theory, that part of adaptation in which the external world is interpreted in terms of current schemes
- language acquisition device (LAD)
- in Chomsky's theory, a biologically based innate system that permits children, no matter which language they hear, to understand and speak in a rule-oriented fashion as soon as they have picked up enough words
- sensory register
- the part of the information-processing system where sights and sounds are represented directly and stored briefly
- recall
- a type of memory that involves remembering a stimulus that is not present
- make-believe play
- a type of play in which children pretend, acting out everyday and imaginary activities
- cooing
- pleasant, vowel-like noises made by infants beginning around 2 months of age
- standardization
- the practice of giving a newly constructed test to a large, representative sample of individuals, which serves as the standard for interpreting individual scores
- mental representation
- internal depiction of information that the mind can manipulate. The most powerful mental representations are images and concepts.
- scheme
- in Piaget's theory, a specific structure, or organized way of making sense of experience, that changes with age.
- underextension
- an early vocabulary error in which a word is is applied too narrowly to a smaller number of objects and events than is appropriate.
- object permanence
- the understanding that objects continue to exist when they are out of sight
- violation-of-expectation method
- a method in which researchers habituate infants to a physical event and then determine whether they recover to (look longer at) a possible event (a variation of the first event that conforms to physical laws) or an impossible event (a variation that violates physical laws). Recovery to the impossible event suggests that the infant is surprised at a deviation from reality and is aware of that aspect of the physical world.
- zone of proximal development
- in Vygotsky's theory, a range of tasks that the child cannot yet handle alone but can do with the help of more skilled partners
- expressive style of language learning
- a style of early language learning in which toddlers frequently produce pronouns and social formulas, such as "stop it," "thank you," and "I want it." They use language mainly to talk about the feelings and needs of themselves and other people.
- accommodation
- in Piaget's theory, that part of adaption in which new schemes are created and old ones are adjusted to capture the environment more completely
- developmental quotient (DQ)
- a score on an infant intelligence test, based primarily on perceptual and motor responses Computed in the same manner as an IQ.
- telegraphic speech
- toddlers' two-word utterances that, like a telegram, leave out smaller and less important words
- babbling
- repetition of consonant-vowel combinations in long strings, beginning around 4 months of age
- central executive
- the conscious part of working memory that directs the flow of information through the mental system by deciding what to attend to, coordinating incoming information with information already in the system, and selecting, applying, and monitoring strategies
- overextension
- an early vocabulary error in which a word is applied too broadly to a wider collection of objects and events than is appropriate.
- intelligence quotient or IQ
- a score that permits an individual's performance on an intelligence test to be compared to the performances of other individuals of the same age
- sensorimotor stage
- Piaget's first stage, in which infants and toddlers "think" with their eyes, ears, hands, and other sensorimotor equipment. Spans the first 2 years of life.
- mental strategies
- In information processing, procedures that operate on and transform information, increasing the chances that we will retain information, use it efficiently, and think flexibly, adapting the information to changing circumstances
- adaptation
- in Piaget's theory, the process of building schemes through direct interaction with the environment. Made up of two complementary processes: assimilation and accommodation
- deferred imitation
- the ability to remember and copy the behavior of models who are not present