Unit 9 Flashcards
Developmental Psychology
A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.
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
(literally, “monster maker”) Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant women’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.
Maturation
Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
Cognition
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
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.
Sensorimotor Stage
In Piaget’s theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the worlds mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities
Object Permanence
The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
Preoperational stage
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.
Conservation
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.
Egocentrism
In Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view.
Theory of Mind
People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states - about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interested and repetitive behaviors.
Concrete Operational Stage
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.
Formal Operational Stage
In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.
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.
Critical period
An optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development.
Imprinting
The process by which certain animals from strong attachments during an early-life critical period.
Temperament
A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity
Basic Trust
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.
Self-concept
All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?”
Gender
The socially constructed roles and characteristics by which a culture defines male and female.
Aggression
Any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy.
Gender Role
A set of expected behaviors for males or for females.
Role
A set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave
Gender Identity
Our sense of being male or female
Social Learning Theory
The theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished
Gender Typing
The acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role
Transgender
An umbrella term describing people whose gender identity or expression differs from that associated with their birth sex
Adolescence
The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence
Identity
Our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles
Social Identity
The “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships.
Emerging Adulthood
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.
X Chromosome
The sex chromosome found in both men and women. Females have two X chromosomes; male 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 makes sexual reproduction possible.
Secondary Sex Characteristics
Non-reproductive sexual traits, such as female breast and hips, male voice quality, and body hair.
Menarche
The first menstrual period
AIDS
A life threatening, sexually transmitted infection caused by HIV.
Sexual Orientation
An enduring sexual attraction toward members of either one’s own sex, the other sex ,or both sexes
Menopause
The time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a women experiences as her ability to reproduce declines
Cross-sectional study
A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another
Longitudinal study
Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period
Social Clock
The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement
