DevPsy Shaffer: -H Flashcards
a large-scale preschool educational program
designed to provide children from low-income families
with a variety of social and intellectual experiences that
might better prepare them for school.
Head Start
a decrease in one’s response to a stimulus
that has become familiar through repetition.
habituation
adult–child interactions in which
children’s cognitions and modes of thinking are shaped
as they participate with or observe adults engaged in
culturally relevant activities.
guided participation
the pituitary hormone that stimulates the rapid growth and development of body cells; primarily responsible for the adolescent growth spurt.
growth hormone (GH)
prefixes, suffixes, prepositions,
and auxiliary verbs that modify the meaning of words
and sentences.
grammatical morphemes
nerve cells that nourish neurons and encase them in
insulating sheaths of myelin.
glia
a fuzzy representation of information that preserves
the central content but few precise details.
gist
the possession of unusually high intellectual
potential or other special talents.
giftedness
a procedure, not yet perfected
or approved for use with humans, in which harmful
genes would be repaired or replaced with healthy ones,
thereby permanently correcting a genetic defect.
germline gene therapy
the genetic endowment that an individual inherits.
genotype
a sexually transmitted disease that can infect infants during birth, causing blindness, brain
damage, or even death.
genital herpes
the notion that group differences in
IQ are hereditary.
genetic hypothesis
the experimental study of the development of knowledge, developed by Piaget.
genetic epistemology
a service designed to inform prospec
tive parents about genetic diseases and to help them
determine the likelihood that they would transmit such
disorders to their children.
genetic counseling
hereditary blueprints for development that are
transmitted unchanged from generation to generation.
genes
the process by which a child becomes aware of his or her gender and acquires motives, values, and behaviors considered appropriate for members of that sex.
gender typing
the stage of gender identity in which the child recognizes that gender is stable over time.
gender stability
children’s tendency to associate with
same-sex playmates and to think of the other sex as an
out-group.
gender segregation:
organized sets of beliefs and expectations about males and females that guide information
processing.
gender schemas
a behavior, value, or motive that members of a society consider more typical or appropriate for members of one sex.
gender-role standard
a magnification of sex differences early in adolescence; associated with increased pressure to conform to traditional gender roles.
gender intensification
one’s awareness of one’s gender and its
implications.
gender identity
the stage of gender identity in which the child recognizes that a person’s gender is invariant despite changes in the person’s activities or appearance (also known as gender constancy).
gender consistency
a person’s social and cultural identity as male or
female.
gender
Spearman’s abbreviation for neogenesis, which, roughly
translated, means one’s ability to understand relations
(or general mental ability).
g
a theory proposed by Brainerd and Reyna that postulates that people encode experiences
on a continuum from literal, verbatim traces to fuzzy,
gistlike traces.
fuzzy-trace theory
a recollection that is not prompted by specific
cues or prompts.
free recall
morphemes that can stand alone as a
word (e.g., cat, go, yellow).
free morphemes
abnormality of the X chromosome caused by a defective gene and associated with mild to severe mental retardation, particularly when the defective gene is passed from mother to child.
fragile-X syndrome
Piaget’s fourth and final stage of cognitive development, from age 11 or 12 and beyond,
when the individual begins to think more rationally and
systematically about abstract concepts and hypothetical events.
formal operations
A B-complex vitamin that helps to prevent defects of the central nervous system.
folic acid
the systematic increase in IQ scores observed
over the 20th century.
Flynn effect
the ability to perceive relationships and
solve relational problems of the type that are not taught
and are relatively free of cultural influences.
fluid intelligence
the period of the birth process last
ing from the first regular uterine contractions until the
cervix is fully dilated.
first stage of labor
an experiment that takes place in a naturalistic setting such as home, school, or a playground
field experiment
name given to the prenatal organism from the 9th
week of pregnancy until birth.
fetus
a group of serious con
genital problems commonly observed in the offspring
of mothers who abuse alcohol during pregnancy.
fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
a group of mild congenital
problems that are sometimes observed in children of
mothers who drink sparingly to moderately during
pregnancy.
fetal alcohol effects (FAE)
the theory that empathy
may promote altruism by causing one to reflect on
altruistic norms and thus to feel some obligation to
help distressed others.
“felt-responsibility” hypothesis
the process of acquiring a word after hearing it applied to its referent on a small number of occasions.
fast mapping
the complex network of relationships, interactions, and patterns of influence that characterize a family with three or more members.
family social system
Conger’s model of how economic distress affects family dynamics and developmental outcomes.
family distress model
two or more persons, related by birth, marriage,
adoption, or choice, who have emotional ties and responsibilities to each other.
family
acting in ways that do not reflect one’s true self or the “true me.”
false self-behavior
a type of task used in theory-of-mind studies, in which the child must infer that another
person does not possess knowledge that he or she possesses (that is, that the other person holds a belief that is false).
false-belief task
a statistical procedure for identifying clusters of tests or test items (called factors) that are highly correlated with one another and unrelated to
other test items.
factor analysis
a more mature self-representation, emerg
ing between ages 3½ and 5 years, in which children
are able to integrate past, current, and unknown fu
ture self-representations into a notion of a “self” that
endures over time.
extended self
a group of blood relatives from more
than one nuclear family (for example, grandparents,
aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews) who live together,
forming a household.
extended family
an early linguistic style in which toddlers
use language mainly to call attention to their own and
others’ feelings and to regulate social interactions.
expressive style
a social prescription, usually directed
toward females, that one should be cooperative, kind,
nurturant, and sensitive to the needs of others.
expressive role
