Chapter 3 Flashcards
What is developmental psychology?
A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social development throughout the life span.
What is a cross-sectional study?
Research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time.
What is a longitudinal study?
Research that follows and retests the same people over time.
What are chromosomes?
Threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes.
What is DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)?
A molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes.
What are genes?
The biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes; segments of DNA
What is heredity?
The genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring
What is a genome?
The complete instructions for making an organism, consisting of all the genetic material in that organism’s chromosomes.
What is an environment?
Every external influence, from prenatal nutrition to social support in later life.
What is an interaction?
The interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor (such as environment) depends on another factor (such as heredity)
What is epigenetics?
The study of the molecular ways by which environments can influence gene expression (without a DNA change).
What is a zygote?
The fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo
What is a embyro?
The developing organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month.
What is a fetus?
the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.
What are teratogens?
agents, such as chemicals or viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
What is fetal alcohol syndrome(FAS)
physical and mental function deficits in children caused by their birth mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy. In severe cases, symptoms include a small, out-of-proportion head and distinct facial features.
What is a reflex?
a simple, automatic response to a sensory stimulus, such as the knee-jerk response.
What is temperament?
a person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.
What are identical (monozygotic) twins?
individuals who developed from a single fertilized egg that split in two, creating two genetically identical siblings.
What are fraternal (dizygotic) twins?
individuals who developed from separate fertilized eggs. They are genetically no closer than ordinary siblings, but shared a prenatal environment.
What is maturation?
biological growth processes leading to orderly changes in behavior, mostly independent of experience.
What is a critical period?
a period early in life when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences is needed for proper development.
What is cognition?
all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
What is a schema?
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.
What is assimilation?
interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.
What is accommodation?
adapting our current schemas to incorporate new information.
What is sensorimotor stage?
in Piaget’s theory, the stage (from birth to nearly 2 years of age) at which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.
What is object permanence?
the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
What is the preoperational stage?
in Piaget’s theory, the stage (from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age) in which a child learns to use language but cannot yet perform the mental operations of concrete logic.
What is egocentrism?
in Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view.
What is the concrete operational stage?
in Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 7 to 11 years of age) at which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.
What is conservation?
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 shapes.
What is formal operational stage?
in Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) at which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.
What is scaffold?
in Vygotsky’s theory, a framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking.
What is the theory of mind?
people’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states — about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict.
What is stranger anxiety?
the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age.
What is attachment?
an emotional tie with others; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to caregivers and showing distress on separation.
What is basic trust?
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.
What is adolescence?
the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.
What is puberty?
the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.
What is identity?
our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and blending various roles.
What is social identity?
the “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships.
What is intimacy?
in Erikson’s theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in early adulthood.
What is emerging adulthood?
a period from about age 18 to the mid-twenties, when many in Western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults.
What is menopause?
the end of menstruation. In everyday use, it can also mean the biological transition a woman experiences from before until after the end of menstruation.
What is the social clock?
the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement.
