Modules 45-54 Flashcards
Zygote
The fertilized egg it enters a 2week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo
Embryo
The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization throughout the second month
Fetus
The developing human organism from 9weeks after conception to birth
Teratogens
Agents such as chemicals and virsues that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm
Fetal alcohol syndrome
Physical and cognitive abnomalities in children caused by a pregnant woman heavy drinking
Habituation
Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual 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
Schema
A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
Assumilation
Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas
Accommodation
Adapting our current understanding to incorporate new information
Sensorimotor stage
Piaget’s theory stage, during which infants lmle the world misty in terms of their sensory impressions and motor acttivies
Object permanence
The awarness thag things continue to exist even when not percieved
Pre operational stage
Piagets theory during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic
Conservation
Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning that properties such as mass and volume and number remain the same despite change
Egocentrism
In Piaget’s theory the preoperational Childs difficulty taking another pov
Theory of mind
Peoples idea about their own and other mental states about their feelings perception and thoughts and the behaviors these might predict
Concrete operational stage
Piagets theory 7-11 during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events
Formal operational theory
Piagets theory 12 to adult hood during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts
Stranger anxiety
The fear that infants have at 8 months
Critical period
Optimal period early in life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli of experiences produce normal development
Imprinting
The process by which certain animals form strong attachments during an early life critical period
Self concept
All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in answer to the question who am I
Social learning theory
The theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished
Adolescence
The tranisiton period from childhood to adulthood extending from puberty to independence
Social identity
The we aspect of our self concept the part of our Answer to who am I that comes from our group memberships
Intimacy
Eriksons ability to form close loving relationships
X chromosomes
In both sexs 1 in males 2 in women
Y chromosomes
Only in males
Testosterone
Important of sex hormones both males and females (mostly male) addition in males stimulated the growth of the male sex organs
Menarche
The first menstrual period
Menopause
The time of natural cessation of menstruation also refers to biological changes a woman experienced as her ability to reproduce declines
Cross sectional study
A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another
Longitudinal study
Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period
Developmental psychology
Branch of psychology that studies physical cognitive and social change throughout the life span
