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42 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Developemental 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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Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal developement 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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Rooting reflex
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A baby's tendency, when touched on the cheek, to open the mouth and search for the nipple.
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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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Schema
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A concept of framework that organizes and interprets information.
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Cognition
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All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
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Assimilation
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Interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schemas.
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Accommodation
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Adapting one's current understanding (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 inability of the preoperational child to take another's point of view.
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Theory of mind
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People's idea about their own and others' mental states - about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts and the behavior these might predict.
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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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Concrete operational stage
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In Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive developement (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 developement (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.
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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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Critical period
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An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produce proper developement.
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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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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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Self-concept
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A sense of one's identity and personal worth.
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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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Primary sex characteristics
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The body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible.
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Secondary sex characteristics
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Nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair.
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Menarche [meh-NAR-key]
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The first menstrual period.
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Identity
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One's 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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Intimacy
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In Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developemental task in late adolescence and early 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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Alzheimer's disease
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A progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and, finally, physical functioning.
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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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Crystallized intelligence
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One's accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.
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Fluid intelligence
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One's ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood.
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Social clock
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The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement.
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