Unit 6 - Other Terms Flashcards
Rite of Passage
Social rituals that mark the transition between developmental stages.
Social Clock
Culturally preferred timing of social events.
Cross Sectional Study
Study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.
Longitudinal Study
Study in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period.
Developmental Psychology
A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.
Continuity or Stages
Change is gradual and smoothly occurs; change happens successively in life stages.
Stability or Change
Personality traits that are present at birth remain constant; personality traits change over time throughout someone’s life.
Adolescence
The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.
Puberty
The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.
X chromosome
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.
Primary Sexual Characteristics
The body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible.
Secondary Sexual Characteristics
Nonreproductive sexual traits, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair.
Intersex
People born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, “do not fit binary notions of male or female bodies.”
