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40 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Developmental Psychology |
a branch of psychology that studies physical, |
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Zygote |
the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo. (p. 169) |
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Embryo |
the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month. (p. 169) |
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Fetus |
the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth. (p. 169) |
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Teratogens |
(literally, “monster maker”) agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm. (p. 170) |
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Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) |
physical and cognitive abnormalities |
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Habituation |
decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, |
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Maturation |
biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience. (p. 172) |
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Cognition |
all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. (pp. 174, 338) |
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Schema |
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. (p. 174) |
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Assimilation |
interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas. (p. 174) |
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Accommadation |
adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. (p. 175) |
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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. (p. 175) |
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Object Permanence |
the awareness that things continue to exist even |
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Egocentrism |
in Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view. (p. 177) |
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Conservation |
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. (p. 177) |
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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. (p. 178) |
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Concrete Operational Stage |
in Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive |
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Formal Operational Stage |
in Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts. (p. 179 |
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Autism |
a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others’ |
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Stranger Anxiety |
the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age. (p. 182) |
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Attachment |
an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation. (p. 183) |
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Critical Period |
an optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development. (p. 183) |
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Imprinting |
the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life. (p. 183) |
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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. (p. 186) |
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Self-Concept |
all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?” (pp. 188, 525) |
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Adolescence |
the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence. (p. 190) |
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Puberty |
the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing. (p. 191) |
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Primary Sex Characteristics |
the body structures (ovaries, testes, |
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Secondary Sex Characteristics |
nonreproductive sexual characteristics, |
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Menarche |
the first menstrual period. (p. 191) |
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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. (p. 197) |
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Social Identity |
the “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships. (p. 197) |
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Intimacy |
in Erikson’s theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood. (p. 197) |
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Emerging Adulthood |
for some people in modern cultures, a period |
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Menopause |
the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce |
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Cross-Sectional Study |
a study in which people of different ages are |
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Longitudinal Study |
research in which the same people are restudied |
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Social Clock |
the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement. (p. 208) |
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Preoperational Stage |
in Piaget’s theory, the stage (from about 2 to |