Development

Question 1

Define Developmental Psychology

Answer 1

A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the lifespan.

Question 2

Define Zygote

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Define Embryo

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Define Fetus

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Define Teratogens

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Define Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

Define Habituation

Answer 7

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 8

Define Maturation

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Define Cognition

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Define Schema

Answer 10

A concept or framework that organizes or interprets information.

Question 11

Define Assimilation

Answer 11

Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

Question 12

Define Accommodation

Answer 12

Adapting our current understandings to incorporate new information.

Question 13

Define Sensory Motor Stage

Answer 13

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 14

Define Object Permanance

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Define Preoperational Stage

Answer 15

In Piaget’s theory, the stage (from about 2 to about 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 16

Define Conservation

Answer 16

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 17

Define Egocentricism

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Define Theory of Mind

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Define Autism Spectrum Disorder

Answer 19

A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors.

Question 20

Define Concrete Operational Stage

Answer 20

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 21

Define Formal Operational Stage

Answer 21

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 22

Define Stranger Anxiety

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Define Attachment

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Define Critical Period

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Define Imprinting

Answer 25

The process by which certain animals form strong attachments during an early-life critical period.

Question 26

Define Temperment

Answer 26

A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.

Question 27

Define Basic Trust

Answer 27

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 28

Define Self-Concept

Answer 28

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “who am I?”

Question 29

Define Gender

Answer 29

The socially constructed roles and characteristics by which a culture defines male and female.

Question 30

Define Aggression

Answer 30

Any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy

Question 31

Define Gender Role

Answer 31

A set of expected behaviors for males or for females.

Question 32

Define Role

Answer 32

A set of expectations about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.

Question 33

Define Gender Identity

Answer 33

Our sense of being male or female.

Question 34

Define Social Learning Theory

Answer 34

The theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished.

Question 35

Define Gender Typing

Answer 35

The acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role.

Question 36

Define Transgender

Answer 36

An umbrella term describing people whose gender identity or expression differs from that associated with their birth sex.

Question 37

Define Adolescence

Answer 37

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

Question 38

Define Identity

Answer 38

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 39

Define Social Identity

Answer 39

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

Question 40

Define Intimacy

Answer 40

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

Question 41

Define Emerging Adulthood

Answer 41

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

Question 42

Define X Chromosome

Answer 42

The sex chromosome found in both men and women. Females have two X chromosomes; males have one. An X chromosome from each parent produces a female child.

Question 43

Define Y Chromosome

Answer 43

The sex chromosome found only in males. When paired with an X chromosome from the mother, it produces a male child.

Question 44

Define Testosterone

Answer 44

The most important of the male sex hormones. Both males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of the amle sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty.

Question 45

Define Puberty

Answer 45

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

Question 46

Define Primary Sex Characteristics

Answer 46

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

Question 47

Define Secondary Sex Characteristics

Answer 47

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

Question 48

Define Menarche

Answer 48

The first menstrual period.

Question 49

Define AIDS

Answer 49

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. A life-threatening, sexually transmitted infection caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). AIDS depletes the immune system, leaving the person vulnerable to infections.

Question 50

Define Sexual Orientation

Answer 50

An enduring sexual attraction toward members of either one’s own sex (homosexual orientation), the other sex (heterosexual aorientation), or both sexes (bisexual orientation).

Question 51

Define Menopause

Answer 51

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

Question 52

Define Cross-Sectional Study

Answer 52

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

Question 53

Define Longitudinal Study

Answer 53

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

Question 54

Define Social Clock

Answer 54

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

Question 55

Name the stages of Piaget’s theory

Answer 55

Sensory motor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

Question 57

Piaget’s theory vs. Kohleberg’s theory

Answer 57

Cognitive development and morality

Question 58

The rooting reflex occurs when…

Answer 58

the baby’s cheek is touched

Question 58

Who is associated with imprinting?

Answer 58

Konrad Lorenz