Chapter 4: The Developing Person

Question 1

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

Answer 1

Sensorimotor, Pre-operational, Concrete Operational, Formal Operational. -

Question 2

Developmental Psychology

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Zygote

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Embryo

Answer 4

the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month. -

Question 5

Fetus

Answer 5

the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth. -Biological

Question 6

Teratogens

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

Answer 7

a medical condition in which body deformation or facial development or mental ability of a fetus is impaired because the mother drank alcohol while pregnant. -

Question 8

Rooting Reflex

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Habituation

Answer 9

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 10

Maturation

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Schema

Answer 11

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. -

Question 12

Assimilation

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Accommodation

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Cognition

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Sensorimotor Stage

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Object Permanence

Answer 16

the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived. -

Question 17

Preoperational Stage

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Conservation

Answer 18

(Piaget: part of concrete operational reasoning) the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects. -

Question 19

Egocentrism

Answer 19

in Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view. -

Question 20

Theory of Mind

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Autism

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Concrete Operational Stage

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Formal Operational Stage

Answer 23

in Piaget’s theory, (~12 to +) the stage of cognitive development during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts. -

Question 24

Stranger Anxiety

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Attachment

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Critical Period

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Imprinting

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Basic Trust

Answer 28

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 29

Self-Concept

Answer 29

a sense of one's identity and personal worth. -

Question 30

Adolescence

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Puberty

Answer 31

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

Question 32

Primary Sex Characteristics

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Secondary Sex Characteristics

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Menarche

Answer 34

the first menstrual period. -Biological

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

an irreversible, progressive brain disorder, characterized by the deterioration of memory, language, and eventually, 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 are 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. -

Question 43

Death-Deferral Theory

Question 44

Parenting Styles

Answer 44

Authoritarian- Authoritative- Permissive- Rejecting/Neglecting-