DevPsy Shaffer: I-L

Question 1

a research design in which one group of subjects is studied repeatedly over a period of months or years.

Answer 1

longitudinal design

Question 2

a form of discipline in which an adult
withholds attention, affection, or approval to modify or
control a child’s behavior.

Answer 2

love withdrawal

Question 3

the third information-processing
store, in which information that has been examined
and interpreted is permanently stored for future use

Answer 3

long-term store (LTS)

Question 4

an aspect of language development
that all children share.

Answer 4

linguistic universal

Question 5

the notion that young children make inferences about word meanings by contrasting new words with words they already know.

Answer 5

lexical contrast constraint

Question 6

Jensen’s term for higher-level cognitive
skills that are involved in abstract reasoning and problem solving.

Answer 6

Level II abilities

Question 7

Jensen’s term for lower-level intellectual
abilities (such as attention and short-term memory)
that are important for simple association learning.

Answer 7

Level I abilities

Question 8

improvements in performance on
novel problems as a result of acquiring a new rule
or strategy from the earlier solution of similar
problems.

Answer 8

learning to learn

Question 9

a relatively permanent change in behavior (or
behavioral potential) that results from one’s experiences or practice.

Answer 9

learning

Question 10

a tendency to give
up or to stop trying after failing because these failures
have been attributed to a lack of ability that one can do
little about.

Answer 10

learned-helplessness orientation

Question 11

fine hair covering the fetus’s body that helps vernix stick to the skin.

Answer 11

lanugo

Question 12

a hypothesized set
of specialized linguistic processing skills that enable
children to analyze speech and to detect phonological,
semantic, and syntactical relationships.

Answer 12

language-making capacity (LMC)

Question 13

Chomsky’s term for
the innate knowledge of grammar that humans are
said to possess—knowledge that might enable young
children to infer the rules governing others’ speech and
to use these rules to produce language.

Answer 13

language acquisition device (LAD)

Question 14

a small number of individually meaningless
symbols (sounds, letters, gestures) that can be combined according to agreed-on rules to produce an infinite number of messages.

Answer 14

language

Question 15

a growth-retarding disease affecting children
who receive enough calories but little if any protein.

Answer 15

kwashiorkor

Question 16

one’s existing information about a topic or content area.

Answer 16

knowledge base

Question 17

the extent to which two individuals have genes
in common.

Answer 17

kinship

Question 18

the notion that infan-tlike facial features are perceived as cute and lovable and elicit favorable responses from others.

Answer 18

kewpie doll effect

Question 19

a listlessness caused by too little iron in the diet that makes children inattentive and

Answer 19

iron deficiency anemia

Question 20

a recent theory specifying that the ability to invest in innovative projects
and to generate creative solutions depends on a con
vergence of creative resources, namely background knowledge, intellectual abilities, personality characteristics, motivation, and environmental support/
encouragement.

Answer 20

investment theory of creativity

Question 21

a series of develop
ments that occur in one particular order because each
development in the sequence is a prerequisite for those
appearing later

Answer 21

invariant developmental sequence

Question 22

the opposite poles of a per
sonality dimension: introverts are shy, anxious around
others, and tend to withdraw from social situations; extroverts are highly sociable and enjoy being with others

Answer 22

introversion/extroversion

Question 23

a desire to achieve in
order to satisfy one’s personal needs for competence or
mastery (as opposed to achieving for external incentives
such as grades).

Answer 23

intrinsic achievement orientation

Question 24

the ability to share meaning, intentions,
and goals with a social partner.

Answer 24

intersubjectivity

Question 25

cognitive representations of self, others, and relationships that infants construct from their interactions with caregivers.

Answer 25

internal working models

Question 26

the process of adopting the attributes or standards of other people—taking these standards as one’s own.

Answer 26

internalization

Question 27

the ability to use one sensory modality to identify a stimulus or pattern of stimuli that is already familiar through another modality.

Answer 27

intermodal perception

Question 28

the notion that biological factors and environmental influences interact to deter mine the course of language development.

Answer 28

interactionist viewpoint

Question 29

a numerical measure of a per son’s performance on an intelligence test relative to the performance of other examinees.

Answer 29

intelligence quotient (IQ)

Question 30

in Piaget’s theory, a basic life function that enables an organism to adapt to its environment.

Answer 30

intelligence

Question 31

a social prescription, usually directed toward males, that one should be dominant, indepen dent, assertive, competitive, and goal oriented.

Answer 31

instrumental role

Question 32

aggressive acts for which the perpetrator’s major goal is to gain access to objects, space, or privileges.

Answer 32

instrumental aggression

Question 33

in the sixth substage of Piaget’s sensorimotor stage, the ability to solve simple problems on a mental, or symbolic, level without having to rely on trial-and-error experimentation.

Answer 33

inner experimentation

Question 34

an ability to display acceptable conduct by resisting the temptation to commit a forbidden act.

Answer 34

inhibitory control

Question 35

the ability to prevent ourselves from executing some cognitive or behavioral response.

Answer 35

inhibition

Question 36

one’s general knowledge of the mannerisms, roles, activities, and behaviors that characterize males and females.

Answer 36

“in-group/out-group” schema

Question 37

the right of research participants to receive a simple explanation of all aspects of research that may affect their willingness to participate.

Answer 37

informed consent:

Question 38

noncurricular objectives of schooling such as teaching children to cooperate, to respect authority, to obey rules, and to become good citizens.

Answer 38

informal curriculum

Question 39

a lack of memory for the early years of one’s life.

Answer 39

infantile amnesia

Question 40

the type of thinking that scientists display, where hypotheses are generated and then systematically tested in experiments.

Answer 40

inductive reasoning

Question 41

a nonpunitive form of discipline in which an adult explains why a child's behavior is wrong and should be changed by emphasizing its effects on others

Answer 41

induction

Question 42

a society that values personalism and individual accomplishments, which often take precedence over group goals. These societies tend to emphasize ways in which individuals differ from each other.

Answer 42

individualistic society

Question 43

the aspect of the environment that an experimenter modifies or manipulates in order to measure its impact on behavior.

Answer 43

independent variable

Question 44

the principle that each pair of chromosomes segregates independently of all other chromosome pairs during meiosis.

Answer 44

independent assortment

Question 45

a belief that one’s ability can be improved through increased effort and practice.

Answer 45

incremental view of ability

Question 46

a nonpunitive method of behavior modification in which adults ignore undesirable conduct while reinforcing acts that are incompatible with these responses.

Answer 46

incompatible-response technique

Question 47

an innate or instinctual form of learning in which the young of certain species will follow and become attached to moving objects (usually their mothers).

Answer 47

imprinting

Question 48

thought that occurs without aware ness that one is thinking.

Answer 48

implicit cognition

Question 49

the burrowing of the blastocyst into the lining of the uterus.

Answer 49

implantation

Question 50

a result of adolescent egocentrism; adolescents believe that everyone around them is as interested in their thoughts and behaviors as they are themselves.

Answer 50

imaginary audience

Question 51

individual variations in the rate, extent, or direction of development.

Answer 51

ideographic development

Question 52

an attempt to promote conservation by teaching nonconservers to recognize that a transformed object or substance is the same object or substance, regardless of its new appearance.

Answer 52

identity training

Question 53

an identity status characterizing individuals who are currently experiencing an identity crisis and are actively exploring occupational and ideological positions in which to invest themselves.

Answer 53

identity moratorium

Question 54

an identity status characterizing individuals who have prematurely committed themselves to occupations or ideologies without really thinking about these commitments.

Answer 54

identity foreclosure

Question 55

an identity status characterizing individuals who are not questioning who they are and have not yet committed themselves to an identity.

Answer 55

identity diffusion

Question 56

Erikson’s term for the uncertainty and dis comfort that adolescents experience when they become confused about their present and future roles in life.

Answer 56

identity crisis

Question 57

an identity status characterizing in dividuals who have carefully considered identity issues and have made firm commitments to an occupation and ideologies.

Answer 57

identity achievement:

Question 58

a mature self-definition; a sense of who one is, where one is going in life, and how one fits into society.

Answer 58

identity

Question 59

Freud’s term for the child’s tendency to emulate another person, usually the same-sex parent.

Answer 59

identification