PSYC 4

Question 1

A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.

Answer 1

Developmental Psychology

Question 2

The fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo.

Answer 2

Zygote

Question 3

The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month.

Answer 3

Embryo

Question 4

The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.

Answer 4

Fetus

Question 5

(Literally, “monster maker”) agents, such as toxins, chemicals, and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.

Answer 5

Teratogens

Question 6

Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman’s heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions.

Answer 6

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

Question 7

Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.

Answer 7

Habituation

Question 8

Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.

Answer 8

Maturation

Question 9

An optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development.

Answer 9

Critical Period

Question 10

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Answer 10

Cognition

Question 11

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

Answer 11

Schema

Question 12

Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

Answer 12

Assimilation

Question 13

Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.

Answer 13

Accommodation

Question 14

In Piaget’s theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.

Answer 14

Sensorimotor Stage

Question 15

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.

Answer 15

Object Permanence

Question 16

In Piaget’s theory, the stage (from about 2 to about 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.

Answer 16

Preoperational Stage

Question 17

The principle (which Piaget believed to be part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects.

Answer 17

Conservation

Question 18

In Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view.

Answer 18

Egocentrism

Question 19

People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states - about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict.

Answer 19

Theory of Mind

Question 20

In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.

Answer 20

Concrete Operational Stage

Question 21

A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others’ states of mind.

Answer 21

Autism

Question 22

In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.

Answer 22

Formal Operational Stage

Question 23

The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age.

Answer 23

Stranger Anxiety

Question 24

An emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation.

Answer 24

Attachment

Question 25

The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life.

Answer 25

Imprinting

Question 26

A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.

Answer 26

Temperament

Question 27

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.

Answer 27

Basic Trust

Question 28

The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.

Answer 28

Adolescence

Question 29

The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.

Answer 29

Puberty

Question 30

Our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles.

Answer 30

Identity

Question 31

The “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships.

Answer 31

Social Identity

Question 32

In Erikson’s theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood.

Answer 32

Intimacy

Question 33

For some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to mid-twenties, bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood.

Answer 33

Emerging Adulthood

Question 34

The time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines.

Answer 34

Menopause

Question 35

A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.

Answer 35

Cross-Sectional Study

Question 36

Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period.

Answer 36

Longitudinal Study

Question 37

The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement.

Answer 37

Social Clock