Human Growth and Development Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering foundational theories, biological concepts, cognitive stages, learning theories, personality structures, lifespan development, and crisis interventions from Chapter 3 of Human Growth and Development.

Anabolism

The aspect of biological aging in which the body builds to its peak potential, occurring from birth to an age that varies by individual.

Catabolism

The aspect of biological aging involving the body's usually slow deterioration from its peak through an individual's death.

Biological Aging

A category of aging that involves how the body functions and changes over time, relying heavily on metabolic changes.

Psychological Aging

An individual's personal perception of their own age.

Social Aging

How an individual's chronological age is viewed within a societal or cultural context, affected by factors such as vocation and socioeconomic status.

Continuous Development

A perspective on development emphasizing small shifts or gradual, sequential changes occurring over time that are difficult to separate, such as operant conditioning.

Discontinuous Development

A perspective portraying developmental changes in behaviors and abilities as qualitatively different from previous or subsequent levels, as seen in stage theories.

Active Theories

Theories of development that portray people as active agents in regulating or governing their own behavior, such as Erikson's psychosocial theory.

Reactive Theories

Theories of development portraying people as passive recipients who react to environmental stimuli to accommodate changes, such as Skinner's operant conditioning.

Cohort Effect

The phenomenon in cross-sectional research where differences between groups occur because people born during the same time share unique lived experiences.

Time-lag Study

A research design, also called a cohort sequential study, involving replications of a previous study on a modern-day cohort using the original parameters to enable intergenerational comparisons.

Hindbrain

The brain region highly developed at birth that is responsible for life maintenance and survival functions, consisting of the medulla oblongata, cerebellum, and pons.

Medulla Oblongata

A structure in the hindbrain responsible for regulating the heart and breathing.

Cerebellum

A structure located in the hindbrain that regulates balance.

Pons

A structure in the hindbrain that connects the left and right cerebellum.

Reticular Activating System

A brain structure connecting the hindbrain and forebrain that regulates arousal and attention.

Midbrain

The brain structure that connects the hindbrain and forebrain, controls eye muscles, and relays auditory and visual information to higher-level thinking centers.

Left Hemisphere

The hemisphere of the cerebrum that controls the right side of the body and is responsible for language, writing, and logical, systematic thought.

Right Hemisphere

The hemisphere of the cerebrum that controls the left side of the body and is responsible for muscle abilities, imagination, and emotional expression.

Corpus Callosum

A bundle of nerve cells that connects the two cerebral hemispheres, allowing them to integrate cognitive, emotional, and bodily functions.

Cerebral Cortex

The outer layer covering the two cerebral hemispheres, responsible for memory, concentration, problem-solving, and muscle coordination, divided into four lobes.

Occipital Lobe

The lobe of the cerebral cortex that helps the brain interpret sensory information through the eyes.

Parietal Lobe

The lobe of the cerebral cortex that controls spatial reasoning and the sense of touch.

Temporal Lobe

The lobe of the cerebral cortex responsible for hearing and the storage of permanent memory.

Frontal Lobe

The lobe of the cerebral cortex that regulates sense of smell, body control, and movement.

Thalamus

A brain structure that relays nerve impulses from sensory pathways to the cerebral cortex.

Limbic System

A brain region concerned with emotions and motivation, containing the hypothalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus.

Hypothalamus

The control center for pleasure and pain in the limbic system that regulates hunger, thirst, sexual functions, and body temperature through hormone release.

Amygdala

A limbic system structure that influences behaviors and activities such as sexual interest, feeding, and anger.

Hippocampus

A limbic system structure that influences memory and aids in recognizing novel information or situations.

Phenylketonuria

A recessively transmitted autosomal disorder occurring in about 1 in 8,000 births involving an inability to neutralize the amino acid phenylalanine.

Sickle Cell Anemia

A recessively transmitted autosomal disorder occurring in about 1 in 500 African American births that causes red blood cells to take on an abnormal shape, causing oxygen deprivation and tissue damage.

Tay-Sachs Disease

A recessively transmitted autosomal disorder occurring in about 1 in 3,500 births to Jews of European descent involving an inability to metabolize fatty substances in neural tissues.

Hemophilia

A recessively transmitted X-linked disease occurring in about 1 in 5,000 births involving the failure of blood to clot.

Turner Syndrome (XO)

A sex chromosomal disorder occurring in about 1 in 5,000 female births where all or part of the second X chromosome is missing, leading to short stature, webbed neck, and underdeveloped ovaries.

Klinefelter's Syndrome (XXY)

A sex chromosomal disorder occurring in about 1 in 1,000 male births involving an extra X chromosome, resulting in tall stature, higher body fat, sterile status, and incomplete sex characteristics.

Simultaneous Conditioning

A classical conditioning procedure in which the unconditioned stimulus and conditioned stimulus are presented at the exact same instant.

Delayed Conditioning

The most effective classical conditioning procedure, in which the conditioned stimulus begins first and overlaps the presentation of the unconditioned stimulus.

Backward Conditioning

A classical conditioning procedure where the unconditioned stimulus is presented before the conditioned stimulus, which is rarely effective.

Extinction (Classical Conditioning)

The weakening of a learned response resulting from the repeated display of the conditioned stimulus without the presentation of the unconditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous Recovery

The reestablishment of a conditioned stimulus-conditioned response connection that quickly turns a weakened response back into a strong learned response.

Reciprocal Inhibition

A principle formulated by Joseph Wolpe stating that a person cannot engage in two mutually exclusive psychological or physiological states simultaneously.

Systematic Desensitization

A classical conditioning technique developed by Joseph Wolpe that deconditions phobias by pairing progressive steps on a fear hierarchy with a state of relaxation.

Law of Effect

Edward L. Thorndike's principle stating that a response accompanied by a stimulus followed by a satisfying reward strengthens the connection, whereas an unpleasant consequence weakens it.

Positive Reinforcement

The addition of a stimulus immediately following a response in order to increase the likelihood that the behavior will reoccur.

Negative Reinforcement

The removal of a stimulus immediately following a response in order to increase the likelihood that the behavior will reoccur.

Punishment

An aversive behavioral technique involving the addition or removal of a stimulus to decrease the frequency of a given behavior.

Fixed Ratio (FR) Schedule

An intermittent reinforcement schedule where a reinforcer is administered each time a participant makes a specific number of responses.

Variable Ratio (VR) Schedule

An intermittent reinforcement schedule where reinforcers are presented periodically so that, on average, they occur after an unpredictable number of responses.

Fixed Interval (FI) Schedule

An intermittent reinforcement schedule where reinforcers are presented after a set, non-changing period of time.

Variable Interval (VI) Schedule

An intermittent reinforcement schedule where the time interval between reinforcement administrations is varied around an average.

Self-efficacy

An individual's confidence in their ability to perform a specific behavior or accomplish a given task, conceptualized by Albert Bandura.

Approach-Approach Conflict

A conflict type described by Dollard and Miller occurring when two positive choices are presented, but only one can be chosen.

Approach-Avoidance Conflict

A conflict type occurring when an individual desires an appealing choice but fears negative consequences or punishment for obtaining it.

Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict

A conflict type occurring when an individual faces two undesirable options where either choice leads to a negative outcome.

Organization (Piaget)

The cognitive process of ordering and classifying new information to advance mental growth.

Assimilation

The cognitive process of perceiving and interpreting new information in terms of an already existing mental framework.

Accommodation

The process of altering or restructuring mental organization so that new information or categories can be added to the cognitive framework.

Schema

A mental structure that processes, organizes, and integrates experiences, information, or perceptions.

Equilibration

The process of adapting thoughts through assimilation and accommodation to resolve conflict or disequilibrium and make sense of new information.

Object Permanence

The understanding mastered in the sensorimotor stage that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight.

Centration

A cognitive limitation in the preoperational stage characterized by focusing on only one feature of a situation at a time.

Animism

The preoperational tendency to attribute life, feelings, or human characteristics to inanimate objects.

Irreversibility

The inability of a preoperational child to understand that actions or circumstances can be undone or reversed.

Conservation

The concrete operational understanding that the quantity of a substance remains constant regardless of changes in its shape or visual configuration.

Zone of Proximal Development

Lev Vygotsky's concept describing the gap between what a child can accomplish independently and what they can achieve with guidance.

Scaffolding

Temporary instructional supports put in place to help a child learn a new task, which are gradually removed as independence is achieved.

Retroactive Inhibition

A loss of memory that occurs when newly learned information interferes with the recall of previously learned information.

Proactive Inhibition

A loss of memory that occurs when previously learned information interferes with the retention of newly learned information.

Chunking

A memory technique involving the grouping of individual items into larger units to increase short-term storage capacity.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

A principle stating that memory and performance are optimized at moderate levels of arousal, whereas very low or very high arousal suppresses performance.

Cognitive Dissonance

Leon Festinger's term describing the discomfort experienced when an individual perceives a contradiction between existing beliefs and new information.

Imaginary Audience

David Elkind's construct describing the adolescent egocentric belief that everyone around them is constantly watching and judging them.

Personal Fable

An adolescent belief in their absolute uniqueness and invulnerability, leading to the assumption that negative consequences only happen to others.

Crystallized Intelligence

A component of intellect consisting of learned verbal and mathematical abilities acquired through experience and education.

Fluid Intelligence

A component of intellect consisting of nonverbal problem-solving capabilities and pattern recognition.

Language Acquisition Device

Noam Chomsky's proposed innate brain mechanism that enables humans to learn language, grammar, and speech production.

Surface Structures

Language rules specific to a particular language or culture in Noam Chomsky's nativist theory.

Deep Structures

Innate and universal language rules, such as basic letter sounds, that transcend specific cultures in Noam Chomsky's theory.

Semantics

The branch of linguistics concerned with the study of word meanings.

Syntax

The set of rules governing the proper grammatical construction of sentences.

Pragmatics

The study of how language is used appropriately within social contexts, including conversational turn-taking and gestures.

Phoneme

The most basic sound unit of a language.

Morpheme

The smallest meaningful linguistic unit in a language.

Broca's Area

A region of the brain associated with speech production; damage here often results in motor aphasia.

Wernicke's Area

A region of the brain associated with speech comprehension; damage here often results in sensory aphasia.

Id

The structure of personality present at birth containing basic instinctual drives (libido), operating on the pleasure principle to seek immediate gratification.

Ego

The executive structure of personality operating on the reality principle to mediate between id impulses, reality, and superego demands.

Superego

The moral branch of personality operating on the morality principle, developing around age five from social interactions and internalized societal standards.

Repression

A psychoanalytic defense mechanism that pushes unwanted or painful thoughts and memories out of conscious awareness.

Displacement

A defense mechanism involving the redirection of emotional feelings or impulses from the original target onto a less threatening substitute target.

Reaction Formation

A defense mechanism in which a person expresses the opposite motive or attitude from what is actually felt to keep unwanted thoughts hidden.

Oedipus Complex

In Freud's phallic stage, a young boy's unconscious desire to eliminate his father to possess his mother, resolved by identifying with the father.

Electra Complex

In Freud's phallic stage, a young girl's unconscious desire to eliminate her mother to possess her father, resolved by identifying with the mother.

Imprinting

An irreversible ethological process identified by Konrad Lorenz where a newly hatched animal attaches to the first moving object encountered.

Secure Attachment

A healthy attachment pattern identified by Mary Ainsworth in which children explore their surroundings comfortably, show distress upon separation, and greet the caregiver warmly upon reunion.

Avoidant Attachment

An attachment pattern in which children display withdrawn behavior, explore without checking in with the caregiver, show little concern during separation, and avoid contact upon reunion.

Ambivalent Attachment

An attachment pattern characterized by intense distress upon separation, clingy behavior, and refusal to explore the environment.

Disorganized Attachment

An attachment pattern in which children show confused or contradictory behavior upon reunion, exhibiting little clear emotion during separation.

Identity Achievement

James Marcia's identity status where an individual has thoroughly explored options and committed to specific identity goals and values.