Human Development Exam 2

Question 1

Reflex

Answer 1

automatic response to certain kinds of stimulation

Question 2

Rooting Reflex

Answer 2

reflex that causes the neonate to turn its head and open its mouth when it is touched on the cheek or the side of the mouth; this helps the neonate find the breast.

Question 3

Moro Reflex

Answer 3

reflex in response to a sensation of falling backward or to a loud sound, in which the neonate arches its back, flings out its arms, and then brings its arms quickly together in an embrace.

Question 4

Sound Localization

Answer 4

perceptual ability for telling where a sound is coming from.

Question 5

Mammery glands

Answer 5

in females, the glands that produce milk t nourish babies.

Question 6

Let-down reflex

Answer 6

in females, a reflex that causes milk to be released to the tip of the nipples, in response to the sound of her infants cry, seeing its open mouth, or even thinking about breast feeding.

Question 7

wet nursing

Answer 7

cultural practice, common in human history, of hiring a lactating woman other than the mother to feed the infant.

Question 8

Colostrum

Answer 8

Thick, yellowish, milky liquid produced by mammalian mothers during the first days following birth, extremely rich in protein and antibodies that strengthen the baby’s immune system.

Question 9

meta-analysis

Answer 9

statistical technique that combines the results from many studies into one summary statistic to evaluate the overall outcome of research in an area.

Question 10

confounded

Answer 10

problem in statistical analysis when variables are entwined in people’s lives in a way that is not easy to disentangle.

Question 11

Cephalocaudal Principle

Answer 11

principle of biological development taht growth tends to begin at the top, with the head, and then proceeds downward to the rest of the body.

Question 12

Proximodistal principle

Answer 12

principle of biological development that growth proceeds from the middle of the body outward.

Question 13

teething

Answer 13

period of discomfort and pain experienced by infants as their new teeth break through their gums.

Question 14

Neurotransmitter

Answer 14

Chemical that enables neurons to communicate across synapses.

Question 15

axon

Answer 15

part of a neuron that transmits electric impulses and releases neurotransmitters.

Question 16

dendrite

Answer 16

part of the neuron that recieves neurotransmitters

Question 17

myelination

Answer 17

process of the growth of the myelin sheath around the axon of a neuron.

Question 18

synaptic pruning

Answer 18

process in brain development in which dendritic connections that are used become stronger and faster and those that are unused whither away.

Question 19

cerebral cortex

Answer 19

outer portion of the brain, containing four regions with distinct function.

Question 20

lateralization

Answer 20

specialization of funcitons in the two hemispheres of the brain

Question 21

plasticity

Answer 21

degree to which development can be influenced by environmental circumstances.

Question 22

Gross motor development

Answer 22

development of motor abilities including balance and posture as well as whole-body movements such as crawling.

Question 23

Fine motor development

Answer 23

development of motor abilities involving finely tuned movements of the hands such as grasping and manipulating objects.

Question 24

Maturation

Answer 24

concept that an innate, biologically based program is the driving force behind development.

Question 25

Schemes

Answer 25

cognitive structures for processing, organizing, and interpreting information.

Question 26

object permanence

Answer 26

awareness that objects continue to exist even when we are not in direct sensory or motor contact with them.

Question 27

Habituation

Answer 27

gradual decrease in attention to a stimulus after repeated presentaions

Question 28

dishabituation

Answer 28

following habituation, the revival of attentionwhen a new stimulus is presented.

Question 29

Zone of Proximal Development

Answer 29

difference between skills or tasks that children can accomplish alone and those they are capable of performing if guided by an adult or a more competent peer.

Question 30

Scaffolding

Answer 30

degree of assistance provided to the learner in the zone of proximal development, gradually decreasing as the learner's skills develop.

Question 31

imprinting

Answer 31

instant and enduring bond to the first moving object seen after birth

Question 32

bonding

Answer 32

concept that in humans the first few minutes and hours after birth are critical to mother-infant relationships.

Question 33

trust vs mistrust

Answer 33

in Erikson's psychosocial theory, the fist stage of development, during infancy, in which the central crisis is the need to establish a stable attachment to a lovign and nurturing caregiver.

Question 34

attachment theory

Answer 34

Bowlby's theory of emotional and social development, focusing on the crucial importance of the infants relationship with the primary caregiver.

Question 35

secure attachment

Answer 35

healthiest classification of parent-child attachment, in which the child uses the parent as a secure base from which to explore, protests when parent leaves, and is happy when parent returns.

Question 36

amae

Answer 36

japanese word for very close, physical, indulgent relationship between mother and child.

Question 37

corpus callosum

Answer 37

band of neural fibers connecting the two hemispheres of the brain.

Question 38

emotional self-regulation

Answer 38

ability to exercise control over one's emotions

Question 39

gender constancy

Answer 39

understanding that maleness and femaleness are biological and cannot change

Question 40

gender roles

Answer 40

cultural expectations for appearance and behavior specific to males or females

Question 41

gender schema

Answer 41

gender-based cognitive structure for organizing and processing information, comprising expectations for males and females appearance and behavior

Question 42

displacement effect

Answer 42

in media research, term for how media use occupies time that may have been spent on other activities