Ch. 4 Life Development

Question 1

developmental psychology

Answer 1

a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the 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 2 weeks 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

agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the 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 woman’s heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions.

Question 7

rooting reflex

Answer 7

a baby’s tendency, when touched on the cheek, to open the mouth and search for the nipple.

Question 8

habituation

Answer 8

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 9

maturation

Answer 9

biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.

Question 10

schema

Answer 10

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

Question 11

assimilation

Answer 11

interpreting one’s new experience in terms of one’s existing schemas.

Question 12

accommodation

Answer 12

adapting one’s current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.

Question 13

cognition

Answer 13

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Question 14

sensorimotor stage

Answer 14

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 activities.

Question 15

object permanence

Answer 15

the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

Question 16

preoperational stage

Answer 16

in Piaget’s theory, the stage (from about 2 to 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.

Question 17

conservation

Answer 17

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

Question 18

egocentrism

Answer 18

in Piaget’s theory, the inability of the preoperational child to take another’s point of view.

Question 19

theory of mind

Answer 19

people’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states - about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts and the behavior these might predict.

Question 20

autism

Answer 20

a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others’ states of mind.

Question 21

concrete operational stage

Answer 21

in Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children fain the mental operations that enable the to think logically about concrete events.

Question 22

formal operational stage

Answer 22

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

Question 23

stranger anxiety

Answer 23

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

Question 24

attachment

Answer 24

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

Question 25

critical period

Answer 25

an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development.

Question 26

imprinting

Answer 26

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

Question 27

basic trust

Answer 27

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 28

self-concept

Answer 28

a sense of one’sidentiy and personal worth

Question 29

adolescence

Answer 29

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

Question 30

puberty

Answer 30

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

Question 31

primary sec characteristics

Answer 31

the body structure (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible.

Question 32

secondary sex characteristics

Answer 32

nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair.

Question 33

menarche

Answer 33

the first menstrual period

Question 34

identity

Answer 34

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

Question 35

intimacy

Answer 35

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

Question 36

menopause

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Alzheimer’s disease

Answer 37

a progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and, finally, physical functioning.

Question 38

cross-sectional study

Answer 38

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

Question 39

longitudinal study

Answer 39

research in which the same people ar restudied and retested over a long period.

Question 40

crystallized intelligence

Answer 40

one’s accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

Question 41

fluid intelligence

Answer 41

one’s ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood.

Question 42

social clock

Answer 42

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