Exam #3 Terms (Developmental Psychology and Intelligence) Flashcards
What is developmental psychology?
A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.
What is a zygote?
The fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo.
What is an embryo?
The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month.
What is a fetus?
The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.
What are teratogens?
Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm (literally, “monster makers”).
What is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)?
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.
What is habituation?
Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation.
What is maturation?
Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
What is cognition?
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
What is a schema?
A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.
What is assimilation?
Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.
What is accommodation?
Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.
What is the sensorimotor stage?
In Piaget’s theory, the stage (from birth to nearly 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.
What is object permanence?
The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
What is the preoperational stage?
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.
What is conservation?
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.
What is egocentrism?
In Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view.
What is 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.
What is the concrete operational stage?
In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.
What is the formal operational stage?
In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.
What is a scaffold?
A framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking.
What is autism spectrum disorder (ASD)?
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.
What is the critical period?
An optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development.
What is imprinting?
The process by which certain animals from strong attachments during early life.
What is a strange situation?
A procedure for studying child-caregiver attachment; a child is placed in an unfamiliar environment while their caregiver leaves and then returns, and the child’s reactions are observed.
What is secure attachment?
Demonstrated by infants who comfortably explore environments in the presence of their caregiver, show only temporary distress when the caregiver leaves, and find comfort in the caregiver’s return.
What is insecure attachment?
Demonstrated by infants who display either a clinging, anxious attachment or an avoidant attachment that resists closeness.
What is temperament?
A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.
What is 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.
What is self-concept?
All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in answer to the question, “Who am I?”
What is authoritarian parenting?
Coercive parenting with rules and an expectation of obedience.
What is permissive parenting?
Unrestraining parenting with few demands, limits, and little punishment.
What is negligent parenting?
Uninvolved parenting with no close relationship between parent and child.
What is authoritative parenting?
Confrontive parenting that is both demanding and responsive.
What is sex?
The biologically influenced characteristics by which people define male and female.
What is gender?
The socially influenced characteristics by which people define boy, girl, man, and woman.
What is aggression?
Any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.
What is relational aggression?
An act of aggression (physical or verbal) intended to harm a person’s relationship or social standing.
What is a role?
A set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.
