Chapter 4 Psych

Front 1

Developmental psychology

Back 1

A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span

Front 2

Zygote

Back 2

The fertilized egg; it enters a 2 week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo

Front 3

Embryo

Back 3

The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month

Front 4

Fetus

Back 4

The developing human organism from 9 weeks to birth

Front 5

Teratogens

Back 5

Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm

Front 6

Fetal alcohol syndrome

Back 6

Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by pregnant women's heavy drinking in severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions

Front 7

Rooting reflex

Back 7

A baby's tendency, when touched on the cheek to open the mouth and search for the nipple

Front 8

Maturation

Back 8

Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience

Front 9

Schema

Back 9

A concept or frame work that organizes and interprets information

Front 10

Assimilation

Back 10

Interpreting ones new experience in terms of one's existing schema

Front 11

Accommodation

Back 11

Adapting ones current understanding to incorporate new information

Front 12

Cognition

Back 12

All of the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

Front 13

Sensorimotor stage

Back 13

In piagets theory the stage from birth to 2 years where infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

Front 14

Object permanence

Back 14

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

Front 15

Peroperational stage

Back 15

In piagets theory the stage from 2 to 6 years during which a child learns to use language but does not comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic

Front 16

Conservation

Back 16

The principle that properties such as mass, volume, and numbers remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects

Front 17

Egocentrism

Back 17

In piagets theory the peroperational child's inability to take another point of view

Front 18

Theory of mind

Back 18

People's ideas about their own and others mental states about their feeling, perceptions and thoughts and the behaviors they might predict

Front 19

Concrete operational stage

Back 19

In piagets theory the stage from 6 to 11 years where children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events

Front 20

Formal operational stage

Back 20

In piagets theory the stage of cognitive development around age 12 where people begin to think logically about abstract concepts

Front 21

Critical period

Back 21

An optimal period shortly after birth when an organisms exposure to certain Stimuli or experiences produces proper development

Front 22

Imprinting

Back 22

The process by which certain animals from attachments during a critical period very early in life

Front 23

Basic trust

Back 23

According to Ericksons theory a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriating experiences with responsive caregivers

Front 24

Adolescence

Back 24

Th transition period from childhood to adulthood extending from puberty to independence

Front 25

Puberty

Back 25

The period of sexual maturation during which a person becomes capable of reproducing

Front 26

Primary sex characteristics

Back 26

The body structures that make sexual reproduction possible

Front 27

Identity

Back 27

Ones sense of self, according to Erickson, the adolescents tax is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles

Front 28

Intimacy

Back 28

In Ericksons theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships, a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood

Front 29

Menopause

Back 29

The time of natural cessation of menstruation, also refers to the biological changes a women experiences as her ability to reproduce declines

Front 30

Cross sectional study

Back 30

A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another

Front 31

Longitudinal study

Back 31

Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period

Front 32

Crystallized intelligence

Back 32

Ones accumulated knowledge and verbal skills, tends to increase with age

Front 33

Fluid intelligence

Back 33

Ones ability to reason speedily and abstractly, tends to decrease during late adulthood

Front 34

Social clock

Back 34

The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement