Unit 9

Question 1

Developmental Psychology

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Zygote

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

(literally, “monster maker”) Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.

Question 6

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

Habituation

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Maturation

Answer 8

Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.

Question 9

Cognition

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Schema

Answer 10

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

Question 11

Assimilation

Answer 11

Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

Question 12

Accommodation

Answer 12

Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.

Question 13

Sensorimotor Stage

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Object Permanence

Answer 14

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.

Question 15

Preoperational stage

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

Conservation

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

Egocentrism

Answer 17

In Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view.

Question 18

Theory of Mind

Answer 18

People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states - about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict.

Question 19

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

Concrete Operational Stage

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

Formal Operational Stage

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Stranger Anxiety

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Attachment

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 period

Answer 24

An optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development.

Question 25

Imprinting

Answer 25

The process by which certain animals from strong attachments during an early-life critical period.

Question 26

Temperament

Answer 26

A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity

Question 27

Basic Trust

Answer 27

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 28

Self-concept

Answer 28

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?”

Question 29

Gender

Answer 29

The socially constructed roles and characteristics by which a culture defines male and female.

Question 30

Aggression

Answer 30

Any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy.

Question 31

Gender Role

Answer 31

A set of expected behaviors for males or for females.

Question 32

Role

Answer 32

A set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave

Question 33

Gender Identity

Answer 33

Our sense of being male or female

Question 34

Social Learning Theory

Answer 34

The theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished

Question 35

Gender Typing

Answer 35

The acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role

Question 36

Transgender

Answer 36

An umbrella term describing people whose gender identity or expression differs from that associated with their birth sex

Question 37

Adolescence

Answer 37

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

Question 38

Identity

Answer 38

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

Question 39

Social Identity

Answer 39

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

Question 40

Emerging Adulthood

Answer 40

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.

Question 41

X Chromosome

Answer 41

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.

Question 42

Y Chromosome

Answer 42

The sex chromosome found only in males. When paired with an X chromosome from the mother, it produces a male child.

Question 43

Testosterone

Answer 43

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.

Question 44

Puberty

Answer 44

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

Question 45

Primary Sex Characteristics

Answer 45

The body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that makes sexual reproduction possible.

Question 46

Secondary Sex Characteristics

Answer 46

Non-reproductive sexual traits, such as female breast and hips, male voice quality, and body hair.

Question 47

Menarche

Answer 47

The first menstrual period

Question 48

AIDS

Answer 48

A life threatening, sexually transmitted infection caused by HIV.

Question 49

Sexual Orientation

Answer 49

An enduring sexual attraction toward members of either one’s own sex, the other sex ,or both sexes

Question 50

Menopause

Answer 50

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

Question 51

Cross-sectional study

Answer 51

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

Question 52

Longitudinal study

Answer 52

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

Question 53

Social Clock

Answer 53

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