Developmental Psychology Flashcards
Zygote
Fertilized egg. Fertilization to 2 weeks
Embryo
Developing human organism. Organs forming now. 2 weeks to 9 weeks
Fetus
Developing human. 9 weeks to birth
Teratogens
Agents that harm the embryo or fetus. Chemicals and shit
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
Jean Piaget
1896-1980
Studied children’s cognitive development
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 (schemas) to incorporate new information
Sensorimotor stage
In Piaget’s theory, the stage (birth to 2 years old) 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
Preoperational stage
In Piaget’s theory, 2 years old to 6 or 7 years old during child development when child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic
Conservation
The principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changed in the forms of objects
Egocentrism
In Piaget’s theory, The Preoperational Child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view
Theory of mind
People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states— About their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict
Concrete operational stage
In Piaget’s theory, age 7 till 11 years old, when children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events
Formal operations stage
In Piaget’s theory, age 12 and up, when people begin to think logically about abstract concepts
Stranger anxiety
The fear or strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age
Attachment
An emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation
Critical period
An optimal period early in life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development
Imprinting
The process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life
Basic trust
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
