Psych 10 Vocab - Chapter 10

Front 1

zygote

Back 1

fertilized egg

Front 2

developmental psychology

Back 2

study of how behavior changes over time

Front 3

post hoc fallacy

Back 3

false assumption that because one event occurred before another event, it must have caused that event

Front 4

cross-sectional design

Back 4

research design that examines people of different ages at a single point in time

Front 5

cohort effects

Back 5

effects observed in a sample of participants that result from individuals in the sample growing up at the same time

Front 6

longitudinal design

Back 6

research design that examines development in the same group of people on multiple occasions over time

Front 7

gene-environment interaction

Back 7

situation in which the effects of genes depend on the environment in which they are expressed

Front 8

nature via nurture

Back 8

tendency of individuals within certain genetic predispositions to seek out and create environments that permit the expression of those predispositions

Front 9

gene expression

Back 9

activation or deactivation of genes by environmental experiences throughout development

Front 10

prenatal

Back 10

prior to birth

Front 11

blastocyst

Back 11

ball of identical cells early in pregnancy that haven't yet begun to take on any specific function in a body part

Front 12

embryo

Back 12

second to eighth week of prenatal development, during which limbs, facial features, and major organs of the body take form

Front 13

fetus

Back 13

period of prenatal development from ninth week until birth after all major organs are established and physical maturation is the primary change

Front 14

tetratogens

Back 14

environmental factors that can exert a negative impact on prenatal development

Front 15

motor behaviors

Back 15

bodily motions that occur as a result of self-initiated force that moves the bones and muscles

Front 16

cognitive development

Back 16

study of how children learn, think, reason, communicate, and remember

Front 17

constructivist theory

Back 17

Piaget's theoretical perspective that children construct an understanding of the world based on observations of the effects of their behaviors

Front 18

assimilation

Back 18

Piagetian process of absorbing new experience into current knowledge structures

Front 19

accommodation

Back 19

Piagetian process of altering a belief to make it more compatible with experience

Front 20

sensorimotor stage

Back 20

stage in Piaget's theory characterized by a focus on the here and now without the ability to represent experiences mentally

Front 21

object permanence

Back 21

the understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of view

Front 22

preoperational stage

Back 22

stage in Piaget's theory characterized by the ability to construct mental representations of experience, but not yet perform operations on them

Front 23

egocentrism

Back 23

inability to see the world from others' perspectives

Front 24

conservation

Back 24

Piagetian task requiring children to understand that despite a transformation in the physical presentation of an amount, the amount remains the same

Front 25

concrete operations stage

Back 25

stage in Piaget's theory characterized by the ability to perform mental operations on physical events only

Front 26

formal operations stage

Back 26

stage in Piaget's theory characterized by the ability to perform hypothetical reasoning beyond the here and now

Front 27

scaffolding

Back 27

Vygotskian learning mechanism in which parents provide initial assistance in children's learning but gradually remove structure as children become more competent

Front 28

zone of proximal development

Back 28

phase of learning during which children benefit from instruction

Front 29

theory of mind

Back 29

ability to reason about what other people know or believe

Front 30

stranger anxiety

Back 30

a fear of strangers developing at 8 or 9 months of age

Front 31

attachment

Back 31

the strong emotional connection we share with those to whom we feel closest

Front 32

imprinting

Back 32

phenomenon observed in which baby birds begin to follow around and attach themselves to any large moving object they see in the hours immediately after hatching

Front 33

contact comfort

Back 33

positive emotions afforded by touch

Front 34

mono-operation bias

Back 34

drawing conclusions on the basis of only a single measure

Front 35

temperament

Back 35

basic emotional style that appears early in development and is largely genetic in origin

Front 36

average expectable environment

Back 36

environment that provides children with basic needs for affection and discipline

Front 37

group socialization theory

Back 37

theory that peers play a more important role than parents in children's social development

Front 38

self-control

Back 38

ability to inhibit an impulse to act

Front 39

gender identity

Back 39

individuals' sense of being male or female

Front 40

gender roles

Back 40

behaviors that tend to be associated with being male or female

Front 41

adolescence

Back 41

the transition between childhood and adulthood commonly associated with the teenage years

Front 42

primary sex characteristics

Back 42

the reproductive organs and genitals that distinguish the sexes

Front 43

secondary sex characteristics

Back 43

sex-differentiating characteristics that don't relate directly to reproduction, such as breast enlargement in women and deepening voices in men

Front 44

menarche

Back 44

start of menstruation

Front 45

spermarche

Back 45

boys' first ejaculation

Front 46

identity

Back 46

our sense of who we are, and our life goals and priorities

Front 47

psychosocial crisis

Back 47

dilemma concerning an individual's relations to other people

Front 48

midlife crisis

Back 48

supposed phase of adulthood characterized by emotional distress about the aging process and an attempt to regain youth

Front 49

empty-nest syndrome

Back 49

alleged period of depression in mothers following the departure of their grown children from the home

Front 50

menopause

Back 50

the termination of menstruation, marking the end of woman's reproductive potential