Prenatal, Newborn, Infancy, and Childhood Flashcards
developmental psychology
a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social changes throughout the lifespan
zygote
the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and development into a embryo
embryo
the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the 2nd month.
fetus
the developing human organism from 9 weeks after the conception to birth.
teratogens
agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant women’s heavy drinking.
rooting reflex
a baby’s tendency, when touched on the cheek, to turn towards the touch, open the mouth, and search for the nipple.
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.
schema
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information into selective groups.
assimilation
interpreting one’s new experiences in terms on one’s existing schemas.
Ex. a baby sucks on a bottle the same way they suck on a nipple.
accomodation
adapting on’e current understanding (schemas) to incorporate new information.
Ex. a baby changes the sucking motion on a pacifier then when sucking on a bottle or nipple.
cognition
all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
sensorimotor stage
in Piaget’s theory, the stage from birth to 2 during which infants know and relate to the world mostly in terms or their sensory impressions and motor activities (sensing and exploring)
object permanence
the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
preoperational stage
in Piaget’s theory, the stage from 2 to 7 years during which the child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend mental operations of concrete logic.
conservation
the principle of concrete operational learning (Piaget), that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects
egocentrism
in Piaget theory, the preoperational child’s difficultly taking another’s point of view. Perceiving the world only in terms of your own needs and wants.
theory of mind
people’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states - about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts and the behavior these might predict.
autism
a disorder that appears in children and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding others’ states of mind.
concrete operational stage
in Piaget’s theory, the stage of development from about 7 to 11 during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.
formal operational stage
in Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development beginning around 12 during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.
stranger anxiety
the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age.
attachment
an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation.
critical period
an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development.
imprinting
the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life.
basic trust
according to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed dug infancy with bond to caregiver.
self-concept
a sense of one’s identity and personal worth.
