psychology 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 9 weeks after conception to birth.

Answer 3

fetus

Question 4

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

Answer 4

teratogens

Question 5

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

Answer 5

fetal alcohol syndrome

Question 6

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 6

habituation

Question 7

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

Answer 7

maturation

Question 8

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

Answer 8

critical period

Question 9

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

Answer 9

congnition

Question 10

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

Answer 10

schema

Question 11

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

Answer 11

assimilation

Question 12

1) In developmental psychology, adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. 2) in sensation and perception, the process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina.

Answer 12

accommodation

Question 13

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

Answer 13

sensorimotor stage

Question 14

the awareness that things ontinue to exist even when not percieved.

Answer 14

object permanence

Question 15

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 15

preoperational stage

Question 16

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.

Answer 16

conservation

Question 17

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

Answer 17

egocentrism

Question 18

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

Answer 18

theory of mind

Question 19

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 19

concrete operational stage

Question 20

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 20

formal 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

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

Answer 22

stranger anxiety

Question 23

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

Answer 23

attachment

Question 24

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

Answer 24

imprinting

Question 25

a person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.

Answer 25

temperament

Question 26

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 26

basic trust

Question 27

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

Answer 27

adolescence

Question 28

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

Answer 28

puberty

Question 29

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 29

identitiy

Question 30

the "we" aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to "who am I?" that comes from our group memberships.

Answer 30

social identity

Question 31

in Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in the late adolescence and early adult hood.

Answer 31

intimacy

Question 32

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 32

emerging adulthood

Question 33

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

Answer 33

menopause

Question 34

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

Answer 34

cross-sectional study

Question 35

research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period of time.

Answer 35

longitudinal study

Question 36

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

Answer 36

social clock