AP Chapter 5

Question 1

Developmental Psychology

Answer 1

A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout a life span.

Question 2

Zygote

Answer 2

The fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo.

Question 3

Embryo

Answer 3

The developing human organism from about two week after fertilization through the second month.

Question 4

Fetus

Answer 4

The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.

Question 5

Teratogens

Answer 5

(Literally,”monster maker”) agents as chemical and viruses that can reach he embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.

Question 6

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

Answer 6

Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant women’s heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions.

Question 7

Habituation

Answer 7

Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.

Question 8

Maturation

Answer 8

Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behaviour, relatively uninfluenced by experience.

Question 9

Cognition

Answer 9

All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Question 10

Schema

Answer 10

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

Question 11

Assimilation

Answer 11

Interpreting out new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

Question 12

Accommodation

Answer 12

Adapting our current understanding (schema) to incorporate new information.

Question 13

Sensorimotor Stage

Answer 13

In Piaget’s theory, the stage (birth - 2 years) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.

Question 14

Object Permanence

Answer 14

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.

Question 15

Egocentrism

Answer 15

In Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty of taking another’s viewpoint.

Question 16

Preoperational Stage

Answer 16

In Piaget’s theory, the stage (from age 2 - age 6 or 7) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.

Question 17

Conservation

Answer 17

The principle (which Piaget believed to be part or concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite change in the forms of objects.

Question 18

Theory of Mind

Answer 18

People’s ideas about their own and other’s mental states - about their feelings, perceptions, thoughts, and the behaviours these might predict.

Question 19

Concrete Operational Stage

Answer 19

In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (ages 6/7 - 11) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.

Question 20

Autism

Answer 20

A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding other’s state of mind.

Question 21

Stranger Anxiety

Answer 21

The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age.

Question 22

Attachment

Answer 22

An emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation.

Question 23

Critical Period

Answer 23

An optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produce normal development.

Question 24

Imprinting

Answer 24

The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life.

Question 25

Basic Trust

Answer 25

According to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers.

Question 26

Self-concept

Answer 26

Our understanding and evaluation of who we are.

Question 27

Puberty

Answer 27

The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.

Question 28

Primary Sex Characteristics

Answer 28

The body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible.

Question 29

Secondary Sex Characteristics

Answer 29

Non-reproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, and male voice and body hair.

Question 30

Menarche

Answer 30

The first menstrual period.

Question 31

Identity

Answer 31

Our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles.

Question 32

Social Identity

Answer 32

The “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships.

Question 33

Intimacy

Answer 33

In Erikson’s theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood.

Question 34

Emerging Adulthood

Answer 34

For some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to mid-twenties, bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsibility of adulthood.

Question 35

Menopause

Answer 35

The time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines.

Question 36

Cross-sectional Study

Answer 36

A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.

Question 37

Longitudinal Study

Answer 37

Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period.

Question 38

Social Clock

Answer 38

The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement.

Question 39

Formal Operational Stage

Answer 39

In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning at age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.

Question 40

Adolescence

Answer 40

The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.