Chapter 10: Human Development - Key Words

Question 1

Study of how behaviour changes over the lifespan

Answer 1

developmental psychology

Question 2

False assumption that because one event occured before another event, it must have caused that event

Answer 2

Post hoc fallacy

Question 3

research design that examines people of different ages at a single point in time

Answer 3

cross-sectional design

Question 4

effect observed in a sample of participants that results from individuals in the sampel growing up at the same time

Answer 4

cohort effect

Question 5

research design that examines development in the same group of people on multiple occasions over time

Answer 5

longitudinal design

Question 6

situation in which the effects of genes depend on the environment in which they are expressed

Answer 6

gene-environment interaction

Question 7

tendency of individuals with certain genetic predispositions to seek out and create environments that permit the expression of those predispositions

Answer 7

nature-via-nurture

Question 8

activation or deactivation of genes by environmental experiences throughout development

Answer 8

gene expression

Question 9

period prior to birth

Answer 9

prenatal

Question 10

fertilized egg

Answer 10

zygote

Question 11

ball of identical cells early in pregnancy that haven’t yet begun to take on any specific function in a body part

Answer 11

blastocyst

Question 12

second to eight week of prenatal development, during which limbs, facial features, and major orans of the body take form

Answer 12

embryonic stage

Question 13

period of prenatal development from the ninth week until birth after all major organs are establisehd and physical maturation is the primary change

Answer 13

fetal stage

Question 14

environmental factor that can exert a negative impact on prenatal development

Answer 14

teratogen

Question 15

condition resulting from high levels of prenatal alcohol exposure, causing learning disabilities, physical growth retardation, facial malformations, and behavioural disorders

Answer 15

fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

Question 16

bodily motion that occurs as a result of self-initiated force that moves the bones and muscles

Answer 16

motor behaviour

Question 17

the transition between childhood and adulthood commonly associated with the teenage years

Answer 17

adolescence

Question 18

the achievement of sexual maturation resulting in the potential to reproduce

Answer 18

puberty

Question 19

a physical feature such as the reproductive organs and genitals that distinguish the sexes

Answer 19

primary sex characterstic

Question 20

a sex-differentiating characteristics that doesn’t relate directly to reproduction, such as breast enlargement in women and deepening voices in men

Answer 20

secondary-sex characteristic

Question 21

start of menstruation

Answer 21

menarche

Question 22

boy’s first ejaculation

Answer 22

spermarche

Question 23

the termination of menstruation, marking the end of a woman’s reproductive potential

Answer 23

menopause

Question 24

study of how children acquire the ability to learn, think, reason, communicate, and remember

Answer 24

cognitive development

Question 25

Piagetian process of absorbing new experience into current-knowledge structures

Answer 25

assimilation

Question 26

Piagetian process of altering a belief to make it more compatible with experience

Answer 26

Accomodation

Question 27

Stage in Piaget’s theory characterized by a focus on the here and the now without the ability to represent experiences mentally

Answer 27

sensorimotor stage

Question 28

the understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of view

Answer 28

object permanence

Question 29

stage in Piaget’s theory characterized by the ability to construct mental representations of experience, but not yet perform operations on them

Answer 29

preoperational stage

Question 30

inability to see the world from other’s perspectives

Answer 30

egocentrism

Question 31

Piagetian task requiring children to understand that despite a transformation in the physical presentation of an amount, the amount remains the same

Answer 31

conservation tasks

Question 32

stage in Piaget’s theory characterized by the ability to perform mental operations on physical events only

Answer 32

concrete operations stage

Question 33

Stage in Piaget’s theory characterized by the ability to perform hypothetical reasoning beyond the here and now

Answer 33

formal operations stage

Question 34

Vygotskian learning mechanism in which parents provide initial assistance in children’s learning but gradually remove structure as children become more competent

Answer 34

scaffolding

Question 35

phase of learning during which children can benefit from instruction

Answer 35

zone of proximal development

Question 36

ability to reason about what other people know or believe

Answer 36

theory of mind

Question 37

a fear of strangers developing at 8 or 9 months of age

Answer 37

stranger anxiety

Question 38

basic emotional style that appears early in development and is largely genetic in origin

Answer 38

temperament

Question 39

the strong emotional connection we share with those to whom we feel closest

Answer 39

attachment

Question 40

positive emotions afforded by touch

Answer 40

contact comfort

Question 41

drawing conclusions on the basis of only a single measure

Answer 41

mono-operation bias

Question 42

environment that provides children with basic needs for affection and discipline

Answer 42

average expectable environment

Question 43

ability to inhibit an impulse to act

Answer 43

self-control

Question 44

individual’s sense of being male or female

Answer 44

gender identity

Question 45

a set of behaviours that tend to be associated with being male or female

Answer 45

gender role

Question 46

our sense of who we are, and our life goals and priorities

Answer 46

identity

Question 47

dilemna concerning an individuals relations to other people

Answer 47

psychosocial crisis

Question 48

period of life between the ages of 18 and 25 during which many aspects of emotional development, identity, and personality become solidified

Answer 48

emerging adulthood

Question 49

supposed phase of adulthood characterized by emotional distress about the aging process and an attempt to regain youth

Answer 49

midlife crisis

Question 50

alleged period of depression in mothers following the departure of their grown children from the home

Answer 50

empty-nest syndrome