Unit 6: Development Flashcards
Zygote
the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo
embryo
the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month
fetus
the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth
Teratogens
agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during parental development and cause harm
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
physical and cognitive abnormality in children caused by a pregnant woman’s heavy drinking. In severe cases, signs include a small, out-of-proportion head and abnormal facial features
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.
Nature vs. Nurture
how our genetic inheritance (our nature) interacts with our experiences (our nurture) to influence our development
Continuity vs. Change
certain parts of development are gradual and continuous, while other parts change abruptly in separate stages
Stability vs. Change
certain traits persist through life while others change as we age
Authoritarian
parents impose rules and expect obedience
Permissive indulgent
Parents submit to their children’s desires. They make few demands and use little punishment
Permissive Neglectful
Parents don’t show compassion to their children. They make few demands and use little punishment
Authoritative
parents are both demanding and responsive. They exert control by setting rules and enforcing them, but they also explain the reasons for the rules. And, especially with older children, they encourage open discussion when making the rules and allow exceptions.
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
Self-concept
children 15-18 months begin to be able to recognize themselves in the mirror, 2-5 years they can describe their traits, and from 8-10 years they begin to have a better understanding of self-image
Contact Comfort Theory (Harry Harlow)
disproved the belief that love is only based on physical needs, found that baby monkeys needed compassion and love from parental monkeys to promote healthy development
Critical period
an optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development
Imprinting (Konrad Lorenz)
the process by which certain animals form strong attachments during an early-life critical period. Lorenz found in his experiments that the ducklings followed him - only valid for animals; not children)
Strange Situation (Mary Ainsworth)
an experimental technique used to assess the quality of attachment in infants and young children (up to the age of 2). The procedure subjects the child to increasing amounts of stress induced by a strange setting (a lab), the entrance of an unfamiliar person, and two brief separations from the parent.
Basic Tryst (Erik Erikson)
a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers. (Erik compared how girls and boys were raised from when they were babies and how this would influence their future lives)
Schema
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
Assimilation
interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas
Accommodation
adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information
Jean Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Children actively construct and modify their understanding of the world through assimilation and accommodation
Lev Vygotsky’s critique of Piaget
Vygotsky emphasized how the child’s mind grows through interaction with the social environment
Scaffolding
The passive, natural process through which new concepts are formed, especially in early childhood (with the help of parents or guardians)
Zone of proximal development
The zone between what a child can and can’t do (training wheels on a bike)
Implications for Parenting Teaching
Young children are incapable of adult logic. Children are not passive receptacles waiting to be filled with knowledge. Accept children’s cognitive immaturity as adaptive, it’s nature’s way of keeping children safe
x - chromosomes
the sex chromosome found in both men and women. Females have two X chromosomes; males have one. An x chromosome from each parent produces a female child.
Y - chromosome
the sex chromosome found only in males. When paired with an X chromosome from the mother, it produces a male child
Testosterone
the most important of the male sex hormones. Both males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty
Puberty
the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing
Primary sex characteristics
the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible
Secondary sex characteristics
Nonreproductive sexual traits, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair
Language
Our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning
Phoneme
in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
Morpheme
in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; maybe a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)
Grammar
in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. In a given language, semantics is the set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds
syntax
the set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences
Babbling stage
beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language
One-word stage
the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words
Two-Word stage
beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements
Telegraphic speech
early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram - “go car” - using mostly nouns and verbs
Aphasia
impairment of language, usually caused by left-hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking ) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding)
Broca’s area
controls language expression - an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech
Wernicke’s area
controls language reception - a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe
Linguistic determinism
Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think
Overextension
the phenomenon that children extend known words to describe referents outside their vocabulary
