Psych Chapter 11

Front 1

developmental psychology

Back 1

the study of continuity and change across the life span

Front 2

zygote

Back 2

a single cell that contains chromosomes from both a sperm and an egg

Front 3

germinal stage

Back 3

the two-week period of prenatal development that begins at conception

Front 4

embryonic stage

Back 4

the period of prenatal development that last from the second week until about the eighth week

Front 5

fetal stage

Back 5

the period of prenatal development that lasts from the ninth week until birth

Front 6

myelination

Back 6

the formation of a fatty sheath around the axons of a brain cell

Front 7

teratogens

Back 7

agents that damage the process of development, such as drugs and viruses

Front 8

fetal alcohol syndrome

Back 8

a developmental disorder that stems from heavy alcohol use by the mother during pregnancy

Front 9

infancy

Back 9

the stage of development that begins at birth and last between 18 and 24 months

Front 10

motor development

Back 10

the emergence of the ability to execute physical action

Front 11

reflexes

Back 11

specific patterns of motor response that are triggered by specific patterns of sensory stimulation

Front 12

cephalocaudal rule

Back 12

the "top-to-bottom" rule that describes the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the head to the feet

Front 13

proximodistal rule

Back 13

the "inside-to-outside" rule that describes the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the center to the periphery

Front 14

cognitive development

Back 14

the emergence of the ability to understand the world

Front 15

sensorimotor

Back 15

a stage of development that begins at birth and lasts through infancy in which infants acquire information about the world by sensing it and moving around within it

Front 16

schemas

Back 16

theories about or models of the way the world works

Front 17

assimilation

Back 17

the process by which infants apply their schemas in novel situations

Front 18

accommodation

Back 18

the process by which infants revise their schemas in light of new information

Front 19

object permanence

Back 19

the idea that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible

Front 20

childhood

Back 20

the stage of development that begins at about 18 to 24 months and lasts until adolescence

Front 21

preoperational stage

Back 21

the stage of development that begins at about 2 years and ends at about 6 years, in which children have a preliminary understanding of the physical world

Front 22

concrete operational stage

Back 22

the stage of development that begins at about 6 years and ends at about 11 years, in which children acquire a basic understanding of the physical world and a preliminary understanding of their own and others' minds

Front 23

conservation

Back 23

the notion that the quantitative properties of an object are invariant despite changes in the object's appearance

Front 24

formal operational stage

Back 24

the stage of development that begins around the age of 11 and lasts through adulthood, in which children gain a deeper understanding of their own and others' minds and learn to reason abstractly

Front 25

egocentrism

Back 25

the failure to understand that the world appears differently to different observers

Front 26

theory of mind

Back 26

the idea that human behavior is guided by mental representation, which gives rise to the realization that the world is not always the way it looks and that different people see it differently

Front 27

attachment

Back 27

the emotional bond that forms between newborns and their primary caregivers

Front 28

strange situation

Back 28

a behavioral test developed by Mary Ainsworth that is used to determine a child's attachment style

Front 29

internal working model of attachment

Back 29

a set of expectations about how the primary caregiver will respond when the child feels insecure

Front 30

temperaments

Back 30

characteristic patterns of emotional reactivity

Front 31

preconventional stage

Back 31

a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by its consequences for the actor

Front 32

conventional stage

Back 32

a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by the extent to which it conforms to social rules

Front 33

postconventional stage

Back 33

a stage of moral development at which the morality of an action is determined by a set of general principles that reflect core values

Front 34

adolescence

Back 34

the period of development that begins with the onset of sexual maturity and lasts until the beginning of adulthood

Front 35

puberty

Back 35

the bodily changes associated with sexual maturity

Front 36

primary sex characteristics

Back 36

bodily structures that are directly involved in reproduction

Front 37

secondary sex characteristics

Back 37

bodily structures that change dramatically with sexual maturity but that are not directly involved in reproduction