Developing Through The Life Span

Question 0

Zygote

Answer 0

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

Question 1

Developmental psychology

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Embryo

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Fetus

Answer 3

The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception of birth.

Question 4

Teratogens

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)

Answer 5

Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman’s heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions.

Question 6

Habituation

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Maturation

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Cognition

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Schema

Answer 9

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

Question 10

Assimilation

Answer 10

Interpreting our new experience in terms of our existing shcemas.

Question 11

Accommodation

Answer 11

Adapting our current understandings (shemas) to incorporate new information.

Question 12

Sensorimotor stage

Answer 12

In Piaget’s theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.

Question 13

Object permanence

Answer 13

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.

Question 14

Preoperational stage

Answer 14

In Piaget’s theory, the stage (from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.

Question 15

Conservation

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

Egocentrism

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Theory of mind

Answer 17

People’s idea about their own and others’ mental states - about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict.

Question 18

Concrete operational stage

Answer 18

In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.

Question 19

Formal operational stage

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Autism

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Stranger anxiety

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Attachment

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Critical period

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Imprinting

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Basic trust

Answer 25

According to Erick Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers.

Question 26

Self-concept

Answer 26

Our understanding and evaluation of who we are.

Question 27

Adolescence

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Puberty

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Primary sex characteristics

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Secondary sex characteristics

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Menarche

Answer 31

The first menstrual period.

Question 32

Intimacy

Answer 32

In Erikson’s theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood.

Question 33

Emerging adulthood

Answer 33

For some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to early twenties, bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood.

Question 34

Menopause

Answer 34

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

Question 35

Cross-sectional study

Answer 35

A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.

Question 36

Longitudinal study

Answer 36

Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period.

Question 37

Crystallized intelligence

Answer 37

Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.

Question 38

Fluid intelligence

Answer 38

Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood.

Question 39

Social clock

Answer 39

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

Question 40

Identity

Answer 40

Our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles.

Question 41

Social identity

Answer 41

The “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to “who am I?” That comes from our group memberships.