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43 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Define a zygote |
The fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo. |
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Define an embryo |
The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month. |
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Define a fetus |
The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth. |
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Define teratogens |
Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm. |
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Define fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) |
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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Define habituation |
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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Define maturation |
Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience. |
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Define cognition |
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing , remembering, and communicating. |
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What did Jean Piaget do/what did he find? |
He found that a child's mind develops through a series of stages. |
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Define a schema |
A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. |
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Define assimilation |
Interpreting our new experience in terms of our existing schemas. |
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Define accommodation |
Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. |
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Define the sensorimotor stage |
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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Define object permanence |
The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived. |
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Define the preoperational stage |
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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Define conservation |
The principle (which Piaget believed to be 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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Define egocentrism |
In Piaget's theory, the preoporational child's difficulty taking another's point of view. |
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Define the theory of mind |
People's ideas about their own and others' mental states- about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict. |
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Define the concrete operational stage |
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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Define the formal operational stage |
In Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people think logically about abstract concepts. |
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Define autism |
A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states mind. |
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Define stranger anxiety |
The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age. |
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Define attachment |
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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Define critical period |
An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces further development. |
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Define imprinting |
The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life. |
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What did Harry Harlow find in his studies? |
The infants much preferred the cloth mother over the one that fed them in every situation. |
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Define basic trust |
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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Define self-concept |
Our understanding and evaluation of who we are. |
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Define adolescence |
The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence. |
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Define puberty |
The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing. |
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Define primary sex characteristics |
The body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible. |
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Define secondary sex characteristics |
non-reproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair. |
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Define menarche |
The first menstrual period. |
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Define identity |
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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Define social identity |
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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Define intimacy |
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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Define emerging adulthood |
For some people in modern cultures, a period form the late teens to early twenties, bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood. |
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Define menopause |
The time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines. |
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Define a cross-sectional study |
A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another. |
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Define longitudinal study |
Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period. |
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Define crystallized intelligence |
Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age |
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Define fluid intelligence |
Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood |
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Define a social clock |
The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement. |