Unit 9: Developmental Psychology

Question 1

Zygote

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Embryo

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Fetus

Answer 3

the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth

Question 4

Teratogens

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Fetal alcohol syndrome

Answer 5

(FAS) physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a women’s heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include facial misproportions

Question 6

Habituation

Answer 6

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 7

Maturation

Answer 7

biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced experience (walking!)

Question 8

Cognition

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Sensorimotor Stage

Answer 9

Birth to age 2
Experiencing the world through sense and actions
Object permanence, stranger anxiety

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

Accomodation

Answer 12

adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

Question 13

Preoperational stage

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Conservation

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Egocentrism

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Theory of mind

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Concrete operational stage

Answer 17

in Piaget’s theory, the state of cognitive development (age 6 to 11) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events

Question 18

Formal operational stage

Answer 18

in Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (starts about at age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts

Question 19

Stranger anxiety

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Attachment

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Critical period

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Imprinting

Answer 22

the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life

Question 23

Temperament

Answer 23

a person’s characteristic emotional reactivity intensity

Question 24

Basic trust

Answer 24

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 25

Self-concept

Answer 25

our understanding and evaluation of who we are. usually fully developed by age 12

Question 26

Authoritarian

Answer 26

parents impose rules and expect obedience

Question 27

Permissive

Answer 27

parents submit to their children’s desires. They make few demands and use little punishment

Question 28

Authoritative

Answer 28

parents are both demanding and responsive. They exert control by setting rules and enforcing them, but they also explain the reasons for the rules

Question 29

Gender

Answer 29

the biologically and socially influenced characteristics by which people define male and female

Question 30

X-chromosome

Answer 30

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.

Question 31

Y-chromosome

Answer 31

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

Question 32

Roles

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Gender roles

Answer 33

a set of expected behaviors for males or for females

Question 34

Gender identity

Answer 34

our sense of being male or female

Question 35

Gender typing

Answer 35

the acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role

Question 36

Social learning theory

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Genes

Answer 37

dictate our overall brain architecture

Question 38

Embryo

Answer 38

receive differing nutrition and levels of exposure to toxins

Question 39

Peer influence

Answer 39

are important for learning cooperation and inventing styles of interaction with others of the same age. Parents are important for education, discipline, responsibility, orderliness, charitableness

Question 40

Adolescence

Answer 40

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

Question 41

Puberty

Answer 41

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

Question 42

Primary sex characteristics

Answer 42

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

Question 43

Secondary sex characteristics

Answer 43

nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality and body hair

Question 44

Menarche

Answer 44

the first menstrual period

Question 45

Develop reasoning power

Answer 45

during the early teen years, reasoning is often self-focused. Gradually most achieve the intellectual summit Piaget called formal operations, and become capable of abstract reasoning

Question 46

Preconventional morality

Answer 46

Before age 9, most children’s morality focuses on self-interest. They obey rules to either avoid punishment or to gain concrete rewards.

Question 47

Conventional morality

Answer 47

By early adolescence, morality focuses on caring for others and on upholding laws and social rules, simply because they are the laws and rules

Question 48

Post conventional morality

Answer 48

With the abstract reasoning of formal operational thought, may reach a third moral level. Actions are judged “right” because they flow from people’s rights or from self-defined basic ethical principles.

Question 49

Identity

Answer 49

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

Question 50

Social identity

Answer 50

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

Question 51

Intimacy

Answer 51

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

Question 52

Menopause

Answer 52

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

Question 53

Cross-sectional study

Answer 53

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

Question 54

Longitudinal study

Answer 54

research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long time

Question 55

Crystalized intelligence

Answer 55

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

Question 56

Fluid intelligence

Answer 56

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

Question 57

Social clock

Answer 57

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