Chapter 4

Question 1

A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social development throughout the life span

Answer 1

Developmental Psychology

Question 2

Research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time.

Answer 2

Cross-sectional Studies

Question 3

Research that follows and retests the same people over time.

Answer 3

Longitudinal Studies

Question 4

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

Answer 4

Zygotes

Question 5

The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month (8 weeks)

Answer 5

Embryo

Question 6

The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth

Answer 6

Fetus

Question 7

Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.

Answer 7

Teratogens

Question 8

Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman’s heavy drinking. In severe cases, signs include a small, out-of-proportion head and abnormal facial features.

Answer 8

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Question 9

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

Answer 9

Habituation

Question 10

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

Answer 10

Maturation

Question 11

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

Answer 11

Critical Period

Question 12

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

Answer 12

Cognition

Question 13

A concept of framework that organizes and interprets information.

Answer 13

Schemas

Question 14

Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

Answer 14

Assimilation

Question 15

Adapting our current schemas (understanding) to incorporate new information

Answer 15

Accomodation

Question 16

In Piaget’s theory, the stage from birth to nearly 2 years at which infants know the works mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities. Milestones include object permanence and stranger anxiety.

Answer 16

Sensorimotor Stage

Question 17

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived, develops during the sensorimotor stage.

Answer 17

Object Permanence

Question 18

In Piaget’s theory, the stage from about 2 to 6 or 7 years at which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic. Milestones include pretend play and egocentrism.

Answer 18

Pre-operational Stage

Question 19

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.

Answer 19

Conservation

Question 20

In Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view

Answer 20

Egocentrism

Question 21

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. Milestones include conservation and mathematical transformations.

Answer 21

Concrete Operational Stage

Question 22

In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) at which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts. Milestones include abstract logic and the potential for mature moral reasoning.

Answer 22

Formal Operational Stage

Question 23

In Vygotsky’s theory, a framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking.

Answer 23

Scaffold

Question 24

People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states— about their feeling, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict.

Answer 24

Theory of Mind

Question 25

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

Answer 25

Stranger Anxiety

Question 26

An emotional tie with others; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to caregivers and showing distress on separation.

Answer 26

Attachment

Question 27

The process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life.

Answer 27

Imprinting

Question 28

From the strange situation experiment, infants that played comfortably in their mother’s presence, became distressed when she left, and sought contact with her when she returned.

Answer 28

Secure Attachment

Question 29

Attachment marked by wither anxiety or avoidance of trusting relationships

Answer 29

Insecure Attachment

Question 30

A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity

Answer 30

Temperament

Question 31

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

Answer 31

Basic Trust

Question 32

A form of insecure attachment in which people constantly crave acceptance but remain alert to signs of possible rejection.

Answer 32

Anxious attachment

Question 33

A type of insecure attachment in which people experience discomfort getting close to others and use avoidant strategies to maintain distance from others

Answer 33

Avoidant Attachment

Question 34

Coercive parents who impose rules and expect obedience

Answer 34

Authoritarian

Question 35

Unrestraining parents who make few demands, set few rules, and use little punishment

Answer 35

Permissive

Question 36

Uninvolved parents who are careless, inattentive, and do not seek a close relationship with their children

Answer 36

Neglectful

Question 37

Confrontive parents who are both demanding and responsive, which exert control by setting rules, but, especially with older children, encourage open discussion and allow exceptions

Answer 37

Authoritative

Question 38

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

Answer 38

Adolescence

Question 39

The period of sexual maturation, when a person usually becomes capable of reproducing

Answer 39

Puberty

Question 40

Kohlberg’s level of moral thinking in which the focus is self-interest, rules are obeyed to avoid punishment or gain concrete rewards (before age 9)

Answer 40

Pre-conventional Morality

Question 41

Kohlberg’s level of moral thinking in which the focus is to uphold laws and rules to gain social approval or maintain the social order (early adolescence)

Answer 41

Conventional Morality

Question 42

Kohlberg’s level of moral thinking in which the focus is that actions reflect belief in basic rights and self-defined ethical principles

Answer 42

Post-conventional Morality

Question 43

Erikson’s stage of Psychosocial Development that occurs in infancy (to 1 year) in which infants should develop a sense of basic trust

Answer 43

Trust vs. Mistrust

Question 44

Erikson’s stage of Psychosocial Development that occurs in toddlerhood (1-3 years) in which toddlers learn to exercise their will and do things for themselves, or doubt their abilities

Answer 44

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

Question 45

Erikson’s stage of Psychosocial Development that occurs in preschool (3-6 years) in which preschoolers learn to initiate tasks and carry out plans, or they feel guilty about their efforts to be independent

Answer 45

Initiative vs. Guilt

Question 46

Erikson’s stage of Psychosocial Development that occurs in elementary school (6 year to puberty) in which children learn the pleasure of applying themselves to tasks, or they feel inferior

Answer 46

Industry (Competence) vs. Inferiority

Question 47

Erikson’s stage of Psychosocial Development that occurs in adolescence, in which teenagers work at refining a sense of self by testing roles and then integrating them to form a single identity, or they become confused about who they are.

Answer 47

Identity vs. Role Confusion

Question 48

Erikson’s stage of Psychosocial Development that occurs in young adulthood (20s to early 40s) in which young adults learn to form close relationships and gain the capacity for intimate love, or they feel socially isolated

Answer 48

Intimacy vs. Isolation

Question 49

Erikson’s stage of Psychosocial Development that occurs in middle adulthood (40s to 60s) in which middle-aged people discover a sense of contributing to the world, usually through family and work, or they may feel a lack of purpose

Answer 49

Generativity vs. Stagnation

Question 50

Erikson’s stage of Psychosocial Development that occurs in late adulthood (late 60s and up) in which older adults feel a sense of satisfaction or failure when reflecting on their lives.

Answer 50

Integrity vs. Despair

Question 51

Our sense of self, according to Erikson

Answer 51

Identity

Question 52

The “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our identity that comes from out group memberships.

Answer 52

Social Identity

Question 53

In Erikson’s theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships

Answer 53

Intimacy

Question 54

A period from about age 18 to the mid-twenties, which many in Western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults.

Answer 54

Emerging Adulthood

Question 55

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

Answer 55

Menopause

Question 56

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

Answer 56

Social Clock