Psychology Chapter 9 Human Development

Front 1

accommodation

Back 1

Modifying schemas as an infant
tries out familiar schemas on objects that don't fit them.

Front 2

assimilation

Back 2

Taking in new info about objects by using existing
schemas on objects that fit those schemas.

Front 3

attachment

Back 3

A deep, affectionate, close, and enduring relationship with a person with whom a baby has shared many experiences.

Front 4

attachment behavior

Back 4

Actions such as crying, smiling, vocalizing, & gesturing that help bring an infant into closer proximity to its caretaker.

Front 5

attachment theory

Back 5

The idea that children form a close attachment to their earliest caretakers and that this attachment pattern can affect aspects of the children’s later life.

Front 6

authoritarian parents

Back 6

Parents who are firm, punitive, and unsympathetic.

Front 7

authoritative parents

Back 7

Parents who reason with their children and are firm but understanding.

Front 8

behavioral genetics

Back 8

The study of the effect of genes on behavior.

Front 9

chromosomes

Back 9

Structures in every biological cell that contain genetic information in the form of genes.

Front 10

concrete operations

Back 10

Piaget's 3rd stage of cognitive development, during which children can learn to count, measure, add, and subtract.

Front 11

conservation

Back 11

The ability to recognize that the important properties of substances or objects, such as quantity, volume, or weight, remain constant despite changes in shape, length, or position.

Front 12

conventional reasoning

Back 12

Moral reasoning that reflects a concern about other people as well as the belief that morality consists of following rules and conventions.

Front 13

critical period

Back 13

An interval during which certain kinds of growth must occur if development is to proceed normally.

Front 14

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

Back 14

The molecular structure of a gene that provides the genetic code.

Front 15

developmental psychology

Back 15

(The psychological specialty that)
Documents the course of people’s social, emotional, moral, and intellectual development over the life-span.

Front 16

embryo

Back 16

The developing individual from 2 wks-2 mos after fertilization.

Front 17

ethnic identity

Back 17

The part of a person’s identity that reflects the racial, religious, or cultural group to which that person belongs.

Front 18

fetal alcohol syndrome

Back 18

A pattern of defects found in babies born to women who drink heavily during pregnancy.

Front 19

fetus

Back 19

The developing individual from the third month after conception until birth.

Front 20

formal operational period

Back 20

Piaget's 4th stage of cognitive development,
characterized by the ability to engage in hypothetical thinking.

Front 21

gender roles

Back 21

Patterns of work, appearance, & behavior
that society associates w/ being male or female.

Front 22

generativity

Back 22

The concern of adults in their 40's w/generating something enduring.

Front 23

genes

Back 23

Hereditary units, located on chromosomes, that contain biological instructions inherited from both parents, providing the blueprint for physical development.

Front 24

identity crisis

Back 24

The phase during which an adolescent attempts to develop an integrated self-image as a unique person by pulling together self-knowledge acquired during childhood.

Front 25

information processing

Back 25

The process of taking in, remembering or forgetting, and using information.

Front 26

maturation

Back 26

Natural growth or change triggered by biological factors independent of the environment.

Front 27

moral development

Back 27

The growth of an individual’s understanding of the concepts of right and wrong.

Front 28

object permanence

Back 28

The knowledge that an object exists even when it is not in view.

Front 29

parenting style

Back 29

The varying patterns of behavior—ranging from permissive to authoritarian—that parents display as they interact with and discipline their children.

Front 30

permissive parents

Back 30

Parents who give their children complete freedom and lax discipline.

Front 31

personality

Back 31

The pattern of psychological and behavioral characteristics by which each person can be compared and contrasted with others.

Front 32

postconventional reasoning

Back 32

Moral reasoning that reflects moral judgments based on personal standards or universal principles of justice, equality, and respect for human life.

Front 33

preconventional reasoning

Back 33

Moral reasoning that is NOT based on the conventions or rules that guide social interactions in a society.

Front 34

preoperational period

Back 34

Piaget's 2nd stage of cognitive development, where children begin to understand, create, and use symbols that represent things that aren't present.

Front 35

puberty

Back 35

The condition of being able, for the first time, to reproduce.

Front 36

reflexes

Back 36

Simple, involuntary, unlearned behaviors directed by the spinal cord without instructions from the brain.

Front 37

schemas

Back 37

Mental representations of what we know and expect about the world.

Front 38

sensorimotor period

Back 38

Piaget's 1st stage of cognitive development,
when the infant’s mental activity is confined to sensory perception & motor skills.

Front 39

sex roles

Back 39

(see gender roles)

Front 40

socialization

Back 40

The process by which parents, teachers, and others teach children the skills and social norms necessary to be well-functioning members of society.

Front 41

temperament

Back 41

An individual’s basic, natural disposition, that is evident from infancy.

Front 42

teratogens

Back 42

Harmful substances, such as alcohol and other drugs, that can cause birth defects.

Front 43

terminal drop

Back 43

A sharp decline in mental functioning that tends to occur in late adulthood, a few months or years before death.

Front 44

uninvolved parents

Back 44

Parents who invest as little time, money, and effort in their children as possible.