Chapter 9- Infancy And Childhood

Question 1

Maturation

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Schema

Answer 2

A mental mold in which we pour our experiences; a concept of something

Question 3

Assimilation

Answer 3

Interpreting ones new experience in terms of one’s existing schemas

Question 4

Accommodation

Answer 4

Adapting ones current understanding (schemas) to include new information

Question 5

Cognition

Answer 5

All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering an communicating

Question 6

Sensorimotor stage

Answer 6

Piaget’s theory; the stage (birth to 2 years) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

Question 7

Object permanence

Answer 7

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

Question 8

Preoperational stage

Answer 8

In Piaget’s theory; the stage ( 2-6) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic

Question 9

Conservation

Answer 9

The principle that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape (Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning)

Question 10

Egocentrism (in children)

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Theory of mind

Answer 11

People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states— about their feelings, perceptions, thoughts and the behavior these might predict

Question 12

Autism

Answer 12

A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understandings of others’ states of mind

Question 13

Concrete operational stage

Answer 13

In Piaget’s theory; the state of cognitive development (from about 6-7 to 11) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events

Question 14

Formal operational stage

Answer 14

In Piaget’s theory– the stage of cognitive development (around age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts

Question 15

Stranger anxiety

Answer 15

The fear of strangers that infants commonly display; beginning by 8 months of age

Question 16

Attachment— and how it’s shown in young children

Answer 16

An emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress in situations

Question 17

Critical period

Answer 17

An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produce proper development

Question 18

Imprinting

Answer 18

The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life

Question 19

Basic trust

Answer 19

According to Erik Erickson; a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy– said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers

Question 20

Self-concept

Answer 20

A sense of one’s identity and personal worth