Chapter 5- Developmental Issues Flashcards
Developmental psychology
A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.
Zygote
The fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into a embryo.
Embryo
The developing human organism from about two weeks after fertilization through the second month.
Fetus
The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.
Teratogens
“Monster maker” the agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
Fetal alcohol syndrome (fas)
Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant women’s heavy drinking. In severe cases, signs include small, out of proportion head and abnormal facial features.
Habituation
Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.
Maturation
Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
Cognition
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
Schema
A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.
Assimilation
Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.
Accommodation
Adapting our current understandings to incorporate new information.
Sensorimotor stage
In piagets theory, the stage during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.
Object permanence
The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
Pre operational stage
In piagets theory, the stage during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.