terms Flashcards
1
Q
Basic-level category
A
The neutral, preferred category for a given object, at an intermediate level of specificity
2
Q
Category
A
A set of entities that are equivalent in some way. Usually the items are similar to one another
3
Q
Concept
A
The mental representation of a category
4
Q
Exemplar
A
An example in memory that is labeled as being in a particular category
5
Q
Psychological essentialism
A
The belief that members of a category have an unseen property that causes them to be in the category and to have the properties associated with it
6
Q
Typicality
A
The difference in “goodness” of category members, ranging from the most typical (the prototype) to borderline members
7
Q
Chutes and ladders
A
A numerical board game that seems to be useful for building numerical knowledge
8
Q
Concrete operations stage
A
Piagetian stage between ages 7-12 when children can think logically about concrete situations but not engage in systematic scientific reasoning
9
Q
Conservation problems
A
Problems pioneered by Piaget in which physical transformation of an object or set of objects changes a perceptually salient dimension but not the quantity that is being asked about
10
Q
Continuous development
A
Ways in which development occurs in a gradual incremental manner, rather than through sudden jumps
11
Q
Depth perception
A
The ability to actively perceive the distance from oneself of objects in the environment
12
Q
Discontinuous development
A
Development that does not occur in a gradual incremental manner
13
Q
Formal operations stage
A
Piagetian stage starting at age 12 and continuing for the rest of life, in which adolescents may gain the reasoning powers of educated adults
14
Q
Information processing theories
A
Theories that focus on describing the cognitive processes that underlie thinking at any one age and cognitive growth over time
15
Q
Nature
A
The genes that children bring with them to life and that influence all aspects of their development
16
Q
Numerical magnitudes
A
The sizes of numbers
17
Q
Nurture
A
The environments, starting with the womb, that influence all aspects of children’s development
18
Q
Object permanence task
A
The Piagetian task in which infants below about 9 months of age fail to search for an object that is removed from their sight and, if not allowed to search immediately for the object, act as if they do not know that it continues to exist
19
Q
Phonemic awareness
A
Awareness of the component sounds within words
20
Q
Piaget’s theory
A
Theory that development occurs through a sequence of discontinuous stages: the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages
21
Q
Preoperational reasoning stage
A
Period within Piagetian theory from age 2-7, in which children can represent objects through drawing and language but cannot solve logical reasoning problems, such as the conservation problems
22
Q
Qualitative changes
A
Large, fundamental change, as when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly; stage theories such as Piaget’s posit that each stage reflects qualitative change relative to previous stages
23
Q
Quantitative changes
A
Gradual, incremental change, as in the growth of a pine tree’s girth
24
Q
Sensorimotor stage
A
Period within Piagetian theory from birth to 2 years, during which children come to represent the enduring reality of objects
25
Sociocultural theories
Theory founded in large part by Lev Vygotsky that emphasizes how other people and the attitudes, values, and beliefs of the surrounding culture influence children's development
26
Endophenotypes
A characteristic that reflects a genetic liability for disease and a more basic component of a complex clinical presentation. Endophenotypes are less developmentally malleable than overt behavior
27
Event-related potentials (ERP)
Measures the firing of groups of neurons in the cortex. As a person views or listens to specific types of information, neuronal activity creates small electrical currents that can be recorded from non-invasive sensors placed on the scalp. ERP provides excellent information about the timing of processing (good temporal resolution), clarifying brain activity at the millisecond pace at which it unfolds
28
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
Uses powerful magnets to measure the levels of oxygen within the brain that vary with changes in neural activity; as the neurons in specific brain regions "work harder" when performing a specific task, they require more oxygen. By having people listen to or view social percepts in an MRI scanner, fMRI specifies the brain regions that evidence a relative increase in blood flow. fMRI provides excellent spatial information, pinpointing with millimeter accuracy, the brain regions most critical for different social processes
29
Social brain
The set of neuroanatomical structures that allows us to understand the actions and intentions of other people
30
Authoritative
A parenting style characterized by high (but reasonable) expectations for children's behaviour, good communication, warmth and nurturance, and the use of reasoning (rather than coercion) as preferred responses to children's misbehaviour
31
Conscience
The cognitive, emotional, and social influences that cause young children to create and act consistently with internal standards of conduct
32
Effortful control
A temperament quality that enables children to be more successful in motivated self-regulation
33
Family Stress Model
A description of the negative effects of family financial difficulty on child adjustment through the effects of economic stress on parents' depressed mood, increased marital problems, and poor parenting
34
Gender schemas
Organized beliefs and expectations about maleness and femaleness that guide children's thinking about gender
35
Goodness of fit
The match or synchrony between a child's temperament and characteristics of parental care that contributes to positive or negative personality development. A good "fit" means that parents have accommodated to the child's temperamental attributes, and this contributes to positive personality growth and better adjustment
36
Security of attachment
An infant's confidence in the sensitivity and responsiveness of a caregiver, especially when he or she is needed. Infants can be securely attached or insecurely attached
37
Social referencing
The process by which one individual consults another's emotional expressions to determine how to evaluate and respond to circumstances that are ambiguous or uncertain
38
Temperament
Early emerging differences in reactivity and self-regulation, which constitutes a foundation for personality development
39
Theory of mind
Children's growing understanding of the mental states that affect people's behaviour
40
Cultural display rules
These are rules that are learned early in life that specify the management and modification of emotional expressions according to social circumstances. Cultural display rules can work in a number of different ways. For example, they can require individuals to express emotions "as is" (as they feel them), to exaggerate their expressions to show less than what is actually felt, to conceal their feelings by expressing something else, or to show nothing at all.
41
Interpersonal
This refers to the relationship or interaction between two or more individuals in a group. Thus, the interpersonal functions of emotion refer to the effects of one's emotion on others, or to the relationship between oneself and others
42
Intrapersonal
This refers to what occurs within oneself. Thus, the intrapersonal functions of emotion refer to the effects of emotion to individuals that occur physically inside their bodies and psychologically inside their minds
43
Social and cultural
Society refers to a system of relationships between individuals and groups of individuals; culture refers to the meaning and information afforded to that system that is transmitted across generations. Thus, the social and cultural functions of emotion refer to the effects that emotions have on the functioning and maintenance of societies and cultures
44
Social referencing
This refers to the process whereby individuals look for information from others to clarify a situation, and then use that information to act. Thus, individuals will often use the emotional expressions of others as a source of information to make decisions about their own behaviour
45
Attachment behavioural system
A motivational system selected over the course of evolution to maintain proximity between a young child and his or her primary attachment figure
46
Attachment behaviours
Behaviours and signals that attract the attention of primary attachment figure and function to prevent separation from that individual or to reestablish proximity to that individual (ex. crying and clinging)
47
Attachment figure
Someone who functions as the primary safe haven and secure base for an individual. In childhood, an individual's attachment figure is often a parent. In adulthood, an individual's attachment figure is often a romantic partner
48
Attachment patterns
(also called "attachment styles" or "attachment orientations") Individual differences in how securely (vs. insecurely) people think, feel, and behave in attachment relationships
49
Strange situation
A laboratory task that involves briefly separating and reuniting infants and their primary caregivers as a way of studying individual differences in attachment behaviour
50
Crowds
Adolescent peer groups characterized by shared reputations or images
51
Deviant peer contagion
The spread of problem behaviors within groups of adolescents
52
Differential susceptibility
Genetic factors that make individuals more or less responsive to environmental experiences
53
Foreclosure
Individuals commit to an identity without exploration of options
54
Homophily
Adolescents tend to associate with peers who are similar to themselves
55
Identity diffusion
Adolescents neither explore nor commit to any roles or ideologies
56
Moratorium
State in which adolescents are actively exploring options but have not yet made identity commitments
57
Psychological control
Parents' manipulation of and intrusion into adolescents' emotional and cognitive world through invalidating adolescents' feelings and pressuring them to think in particular ways
58
Collectivism
Belief system that emphasizes the duties and obligations that each person has toward others
59
Emerging adulthood
A new life stage extending from approx. ages 18-25, during which the foundation of an adult life is gradually constructed in love and work. Primary features include identity explorations, instability, focus on self-development, feeling incompletely adult, and a broad sense of possibilities
60
Individualism
Belief system that exalts freedom, independence, and individual choice as high values
61
Industrialized countries
The economically advanced countries of the world, in which most of the world's wealth is concentrated
62
Non-industrialized countries
The less economically advanced countries that comprise the majority of the world's population. Most are currently developing at a rapid rate
63
OECD countries
Members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, comprised of the world's wealthiest countries
64
Tertiary education
Education or training beyond secondary school, usually taking place in a college, university, or vocational training program
65
Age identity
How old or young people feel compared to their chronological age; after early adulthood, most people feel younger than their chronological age
66
Autobiographical narratives
A qualitative research method used to understand characteristics and life themes that an individual considers to uniquely distinguish him or herself from others
67
Average life expectancy
Mean number of years that 50% of people in a specific birth cohort are expected to survive. This is typically calculated from birth but is also sometimes recalculated for people who have already reached a particular age (ex. 65)
68
Cohort
Group of people typically born in the same year or historical period, who share common experiences over time; sometimes called a generation (ex. baby boomers)
69
Convoy model of social relations
Theory that proposes that the frequency, types, and reciprocity of social exchanges change with age. These social exchanges impact the health and wellbeing of the givers and receivers in the convoy
70
Cross-sectional studies
Research method that provides information about age group differences; age differences are confounded with cohort differences and effects related to history and time of study
71
Crystallized intelligence
Type of intellectual ability that relies on the application of knowledge, experience, and learned information
72
Fluid intelligence
Type of intelligence that relies on the ability to use information processing resources to reason logically and solve novel problems
73
Global subjective well-being
Individuals' perceptions of and satisfaction with their lives as a whole
74
Authoritative
A parenting style characterized by high (but reasonable) expectations for children's behaviour, good communication, warmth and nurturance, and the use of reasoning (rather than coercion) as preferred responses to children's misbehaviour
75
Conscience
The cognitive, emotional, and social influences that cause young children to create and act consistently with internal standards of conduct
76
Effortful control
A temperament quality that enables children to be more successful in motivated self-regulation
77
Family stress model
A description of the negative effects of family financial difficulty on child adjustment through the effects of economic stress on parents' depressed mood, increased marital problems, and poor parenting
78
Gender schemas
Organized beliefs and expectations about maleness and femaleness that guide children's thinking about gender
79
Goodness of fit
The match or synchrony between a child's temperament and characteristics of parental care that contributes to positive or negative personality development. A good fit means that parents have accommodated to the child's temperamental attributes, and this contributes to positive personality growth and better adjustment
80
Security of attachment
An infant's confidence in the sensitivity and responsiveness of a caregiver, especially when he or she is needed. Infants can be securely attached or insecurely attached
81
Social referencing
The process by which one individual consults another's emotional expressions to determine how to evaluate and respond to circumstances that are ambiguous or uncertain
82
Temperament
Early emerging differences in reactivity and self-regulation, which constitutes a foundation for personality development
83
Theory of mind
Children's growing understanding of the mental states that affect people's behaviour
84
Cultural display rules
Rules that are learned early in life that specify the management and modification of emotional expressions according to social circumstances
85
Interpersonal
Relationship or interaction between two or more individuals. Interpersonal functions of emotion refer to the effects of one's emotion on others or to the relationship between oneself and others
86
Intrapersonal
What occurs within oneself. Interpersonal functions of emotion refer to the effects of emotion to individuals that occur physically inside their bodies and psychologically inside their minds
87
Social and cultural
Society- system of relationships between individuals and groups of individuals
Culture- meaning and information afforded to that system that is transmitted across generations
The social and cultural functions of emotion refer to the effects that emotions have on the functioning and maintenance of societies and cultures
