Psych 100 Ch 4

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Developmental Psychology

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

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Zygote

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

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Embryo

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

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Fetus

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The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.

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Teratogens

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

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Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

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Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions.

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Habituation

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

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Maturation

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

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Critical Period

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

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Cognition

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

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Schema

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A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

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Assimilation

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Interpreting our new experience in terms of our existing schemas.

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Accommodation

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

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Sensorimotor Stage

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In Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.

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Object Permanence

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

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Preoperational Stage

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In Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to 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.

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Conservation

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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.

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Egocentrism

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

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Theory of Mind

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

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Concrete Operational Stage

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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.

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Formal Operational Stage

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

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Autism

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A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind.

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Stranger Anxiety

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

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Attachment

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

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Imprinting

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

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Temperament

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A person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.

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Basic Trust

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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.

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Adolescence

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

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Puberty

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

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Identity

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

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Social Identity

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

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Intimacy

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

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Emerging Adulthood

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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.

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Menopause

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

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Cross-Sectional Study

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

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Longitudinal Study

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

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Social Clock

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