Unit 4: Developing Through the Life Span (Chapter 5)

Question 1

Developmental psychology

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Zygotes

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Embryo

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Fetus

Answer 4

The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth

Question 5

Teratogens

Answer 5

agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during parental development

Question 6

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Habituation

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Maturation

Answer 8

A biological growth process that sets a basic course of development that experience then adjusts it

Question 9

Cognition

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Schemas

Answer 10

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

Question 11

Assimilate

Answer 11

Interpreting our new experience in terms of our schemas

Question 12

Accommadation

Answer 12

Adapting our current understandings (schema) to incorporate new information

Question 13

Sensorimotor stage

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Object Permence

Answer 14

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

Question 15

Preoperatonal stage

Answer 15

In Piaget’s theory, the stage (2-6 or 7 years) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic

Question 16

Conservation

Answer 16

The principle that properties such as mass, volume and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of the objects

Question 17

Egocentrism

Answer 17

In Piaget’s theory, the pre operational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view

Question 18

Theory of mind

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Concrete operational stage

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Formal operational stage

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Autism

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Stranger anxiety

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Attachement

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Critical speech

Answer 24

An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper develpment

Question 25

Imprinting

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Basic trust

Answer 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

Question 27

Self-concept

Answer 27

Our understanding and evaluation of who we are

Question 28

Adolescence

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Puberty

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Primary sex characteristics

Answer 30

The body structures that make sexual reproduction possible (testes, ovaries and external genitalia

Question 31

Secondary sex characteristics

Answer 31

Non-reproductive sexual characteristics such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality and body hair

Question 32

Menarche

Answer 32

The first menstrual period

Question 33

Identity

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Social identity

Answer 34

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

Question 35

Intimacy

Answer 35

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

Question 36

Emerging adulthood

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Menopause

Answer 37

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

Question 38

Cross-sectional study

Answer 38

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

Question 39

Longitudinal study

Answer 39

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

Question 40

Crystallized intelligence

Answer 40

Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

Question 41

Fluid intelligence

Answer 41

Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood

Question 42

Social clock

Answer 42

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