Chapter 5 Key Terms

Front 1

accomodation

Back 1

Piaget's term for the modification of an established schema to fit a new object or problem

Front 2

androgyny

Back 2

ability to display both male and female characteristics

Front 3

assimilation

Back 3

Piaget's term for the application of an established schema to new objects or problems

Front 4

attachment

Back 4

long term feeling of closeness between people such as a child and a caregiver

Front 5

authoritarian parents

Back 5

parents who exert firm controls on their children, generally without explaining the reasons for the rules and without providing much warmth.

Front 6

authoritative parents

Back 6

parents who are demanding and impose firm controls but are also warm and responsive to the child's communications.

Front 7

biculturalism

Back 7

ability to alternate between membership in one culture and membership in another

Front 8

chromosome

Back 8

strand of hereditary material found in the nucleus of a cell.

Front 9

cohort

Back 9

group of people born at a particular time (compared to people born at different times)

Front 10

conservation

Back 10

concept that objects retain their weight, volume and certain other properties in spite of changes in their shape or arrangement

Front 11

cross-sectional study

Back 11

study of groups of individuals of different ages all at the same time.

Front 12

dishabituation

Back 12

increase in a previously habituation response, as a result of a change in the stimulus

Front 13

dizygotic twins

Back 13

Literally two egg twins. Twins who develop from two eggs fertilized by two different sperm. They are no more closely related than are any other children born to the same parents.

Front 14

dominant

Back 14

a gene of which a single copy is sufficient to produce its effect

Front 15

egocentric

Back 15

not taking the perspective of another person; tending to view the world as centered around oneself.

Front 16

equilibriation

Back 16

establishment of a harmony or balance between assimilation and accommodation

Front 17

evolution

Back 17

a gradual change in the frequency of various genes from one generation to the next.

Front 18

fetal alcohol syndrome

Back 18

condition marked by stunted growth of the head and body; malformations of the face, heart and ears; and nervous system damage including seizures, hyperactivity, learning disabilities and mental retardation.

Front 19

fetus

Back 19

organism more developed than an embryo but not yet born (from about 8 weeks after conception to birth in humans)

Front 20

gene

Back 20

segments of chromosomes that control chemical reactions that ultimately direct the development of the organism

Front 21

habituation

Back 21

decrease in a person's response to a stimulus after it has been presented repeatedly

Front 22

hereditability

Back 22

estimate of the variance within a population that is due to heredity

Front 23

identity achievement

Back 23

outcome of having explored various possible identities and then making one's own decisions

Front 24

identity crisis

Back 24

concerns with decisions about future and the quest for self understanding

Front 25

identity diffusion

Back 25

condition of having not yet given any serious thought to identity decisions and having no clear sense of identity

Front 26

identity foreclosure

Back 26

state of having made firm identity decisions without having thought much about them

Front 27

identity moratorium

Back 27

state of seriously considering one's identity without having made any decisions

Front 28

indifferent or uninvolved parents

Back 28

parents who pay little attention to heir child beyond doing what is necessary to feed and shelter them

Front 29

interaction

Back 29

an instance in which the effect of one variable depends on some other variable

Front 30

longitudinal study

Back 30

study of a single group of individuals over time

Front 31

midlife transition

Back 31

time when people reassess their personal goals, set new ones and prepare for the rest of life

Front 32

monozygotic twins

Back 32

literally one egg twins. Twins who develop from the same fertilized egg

Front 33

multiplier effect

Back 33

a small initial advantage in some behavior, possibly genetic in origin, alters the environment and magnifies that advantage

Front 34

object permanence

Back 34

concept that objects continue to exist even when one does not see, hear or otherwise sense them

Front 35

operation

Back 35

according to Piaget, a mental process that can be reversed

Front 36

permissive parents

Back 36

those who are warm and loving but undemanding

Front 37

phenylketonuria (PKU)

Back 37

inherited disorder in which a person lacks the chemical reactions that convert a nutrient called phenylalanine into other chemicals. unless a diet is carefully controlled, the person can become mentally retarded.

Front 38

preoperational stage

Back 38

According to Piaget, the second stage of intellectual development, in which children lack operations

Front 39

recessive

Back 39

a gene whose effects appear only if the dominant gene is absent

Front 40

scheme (pl schemata)

Back 40

organized way of interacting with objects in the world

Front 41

selective attrition

Back 41

tendency of some kinds of people to be more likely than others to drop out of a study

Front 42

sensory motor stage

Back 42

according to Piaget, the first stage of intellectual development. An infant's behavior is limited to making simple motor responses to sensory stimuli.

Front 43

sequential design

Back 43

procedure in which researchers start with different groups of people at different ages studied at the same time and them study them again at one or more later times

Front 44

sex chromosomes

Back 44

pair of chromosomes that determine whether a fetus will develop as a female or as a male

Front 45

sex-limited gene

Back 45

gene that affects one sex more strongly than the other even though both sexes have the gene

Front 46

sex-linked (aka x-linked) gene

Back 46

gene located on the X chromosome (eg hemophilia)

Front 47

sex roles

Back 47

different activities expected of males and females

Front 48

stage of concrete operations

Back 48

According to Piaget, the ability to deal with the properties of concrete objects but not hypothetical or abstract questions

Front 49

stage of formal operations

Back 49

According to Piaget, the stage where children develop the ability to deal with abstract hypothetical situations which demand logical deductive reasoning and systematic planning

Front 50

strange situation

Back 50

procedure in which a psychologist observes an infant's behavior in an unfamiliar room at various times as a stranger enters, leaves and returns and the mother enters, leaves and returns

Front 51

temperament

Back 51

people's tendency to be either active or inactive, outgoing or reserved, and to respond vigorously or quietly to new stimuli

Front 52

terror management theory

Back 52

proposal that we cope with our fear of death by avoiding thinking about death and affirming a worldview that provides self-esteem, hope and value in life.

Front 53

theory of mind

Back 53

understanding that other people have a mind too and that each person knows some things that other people don't know.

Front 54

X chromosome

Back 54

Sex chromosome. females have 2 per cell and males have only one

Front 55

Y chromosome

Back 55

Sex chromosome. Males have one per cell, females have none.

Front 56

Zone of proximal development

Back 56

distance between what a child can do on his or her own and what the child can do with the help of adults and older children

Front 57

zygote

Back 57

fertilized egg cell.