Vocabulary #6 | 3 Flashcards
Cross-Sectional
A research design where data is collected from different groups of people at a single point in time. (Group A = 5 y/o, Group B = 20 y/o, etc.)
Longitudinal
A research design where the same group of participants are observed and studied repeatedly over a long period of time.
Lifespan
The entire duration of a person’s life, from conception to death, encompassing all stages of development.
Stability v Change
A debate whether a person’s personality traits and behaviors remain relatively consistent (stable) throughout their life, or if they significantly change (change) as they age.
Nature v Nurture
The long-standing debate in psychology about whether genetic factors (nature) or environmental factors (nurture) have a greater influence on human development and behavior.
Continuity vs Discontinuity (developmental stages)
Continuity refers to the view that development is a gradual, continuous process. Discontinuity refers to the view that development occurs in a series of separate stages.
Teratogen
Substances that damage the process of fetal development such as tobacco and alcohol.
Reflex-Rooting (homelander💀)
An involuntary newborn reflex where a baby turns their head towards a touch on their cheek, opening their mouth in an attempt to find a source of food. (LITERALLY HOMELANDER)
Visual Cliff Apparatus
A research method used to study depth perception in infants and animals. (a fake edge is created; do they crawl off the edge and at what age do they stop?)
Critical / Sensitive Period
A specific time window during development where an organism is highly sensitive to environmental stimuli.
Adolescent Growth Spurt
A period of rapid physical growth in height and weight that occurs during adolescence, primarily driven by puberty.
Puberty
The period of rapid physical / hormonal changes, characterized by the development of secondary sexual characteristics and the ability to reproduce, signifying the start of the adolescent stage of development.
Primary Sex Characteristics
The physical body structures directly involved in reproduction, including the sex organs like ovaries, testes, and external genitalia.
Secondary Sex Characteristics
Physical traits that develop during puberty and distinguish between males and females, but are not directly part of the reproductive system.
Menarche
The first menstrual period a female experiences.
Spermarche
The first ejaculation experienced by a male, marking the onset of sexual maturity in boys.
Menopause
The natural stage in a woman’s life when her ovaries cease producing reproductive hormones, marking the end of her reproductive years.
Piaget
The theory of cognitive development proposed by Jean Piaget, which outlines distinct stages children go through as they develop their understanding of the world. (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational).
Object Permanence
The understanding that an object continues to exist even when it is not visible.
Conservation
The cognitive ability of a child to understand that a quantity remains the same even when its appearance changes, like its shape or container.
Reversibility
The cognitive ability to understand that actions can be reversed by preforming the opposite.
Animism
The cognitive tendency for young children to believe that inanimate objects possess lifelike qualities. (like an inANIMATE object!)
Theory of Mind
The cognitive ability to understand that other people have their own unique thoughts, beliefs, desires, and emotions, differing from one’s own.
Preoperational Stage
STAGE 2: Early Childhood. (2-7)
Characterized by development of pretend play, egocentrism, animism, and mass curiosity.
Sensorimotor Stage
STAGE 1: Infancy through Toddlerhood. (0-2)
Characterized by development of object permanence, stranger danger, physical mobility, and habits.
Concrete Operational Stage
STAGE 3: Childhood. (7-11)
Characterized by development of conversion understandings, problem solving, action reversibility, and inductive reasoning.
Formal Operational Stage
STAGE 4: Teenage Years. (12+)
Characterized by development of empathy, invisible audience effect, sex characteristics, and moral reasoning.
Vygotsky
A psychologist known for his “sociocultural theory” which emphasizes that cognitive development is heavily influenced by social interactions, cultural context, and language.
Scaffolding
The process of providing temporary support or guidance to a learner, usually a child, to help them develop a skill that they wouldn’t be able to do independently, gradually reducing the support as the learner becomes more proficient.
Zone of Proximal Development
The range of abilities an individual can perform with the guidance of an expert, but cannot yet perform on their own (me w math)
Crystallized Intelligence
Those aspects of intellectual ability, such as vocabulary and general knowledge, that reflect accumulated learning.
Fluid Intelligence
The ability to solve new problems, reason logically in novel situations, and identify patterns without relying on previously learned knowledge.
Dementia
A generalized decline in cognitive functions like memory, language, and reasoning abilities, severe enough to significantly impair a person’s daily life and activities. (often occurring in older patients)
Phonemes
The smallest distinctive unit of sound in a spoken language.
Morphemes
The smallest unit of meaning in a language. (Ex. “cat”, “run”, “-ed”)
Semantics
The study of meaning in language. It explores how words, phrases, and symbols convey meaning and how that meaning is interpreted and understood.
Grammar
The mental processes involved in interpreting and producing language.
Syntax
The cognitive capacity of human beings that allows us to connect linguistic meaning with linguistic form.
Cooing Stage
Developmental stage in infants’ language acquisition, characterized by the production of vowel-like sounds. It typically occurs between 2-4 months of age. (a baby’s first attempt at expressive language)
Babbling Stage
A very early stage of language development, usually occurring around ages 3-4 months. Single-vowel sounds, such as “ooh” and “aah,” whereas babbling includes consonant sounds, like “muh-muh” and “bah-bah”.
One-Word Stage
A stage in a child’s language development when they start using single words to communicate. It usually happens between 9 and 18 months of age.
Telegraphic Stage
A developmental phase in a child’s language acquisition where they speak using short, simple sentences that only include essential words. Lacks connecting words like “the” or “and”, occurs ages 2 to 3.
Overgeneralization
A cognitive distortion in psychology where an individual draws broad conclusions based on limited evidence or a single negative event. (failing one test and then being sure you’ll fail EVERY math test you take)
