Psych: Chapter 4
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- developmental psychology
- a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.
- zygote
- the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo.
- embryo
- the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month.
- fetus
- the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.
- teratogens
- agents, such as chemicals and ciruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus druing prenatal development and cause harm.
- fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
- physical and cognitive abnormalities in children cuased by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions.
- rooting reflex
- a baby's tendency, when touched on the cheek, to open the mouth and search for the nipple.
- maturation
- biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
- schema
- a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
- assimilation
- interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schemas
- accommodation
- adapting one's current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.
- cognition
- all the mental activites associated with thinkin, knowing, remembering, and communitcating.
- 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.
- object permanenece
- the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
- preoperational stage
- in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2-6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.
- conservation
- the principle (which PIaget believed to be a part of concret operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects.
- egocentrism
- in Piaget's theory, the inability of the preoperational child to take another's point of view.
- theory of mind
- people's ideas about their own and others; mental states- about their feelings, preceptions, and thought and their behavior these might predict.
- autism
- a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind.
- concrete operational stage
- in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development *from about 6or 7-11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.
- formal operational stage
- in Piaget's theory, teh stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.
- stranger anxiety
- the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age.
- attachment
- an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seseking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on seperation.
- critical period
- an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stiumuli or experiences produces proper development.
- imprinting
- the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life.
- basic trust
- according to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infacny by appropriate experiences with responzive caregivers.
- self-concept
- a sense of one's identity and personal worth
- adolesence
- the trasition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.
- puberty
- the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.
- primary sex charactersitic
- the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible.
- secondary sex characteristics
- nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair.
- menarche
- the first menstrual 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.
- intimacy
- in Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood.
- menopuase
- the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines.
- Alzheimer' disease
- a progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and finally, phsycial functioning.
- cross-sectional study
- a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.
- longitudinal study
- research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period.
- crystalilized intelligence
- one's accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase iwth age.
- fluid intelligence
- one's ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood.
- social clock
- the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement.
- habituation
- decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and tehy look away sooner.