Developmental psychology

Schemata

Mental representations that define a particular category or behavior.

Concepts

Rules that describe properties of environmental events and their relations to other concepts.

Assimilation

The process of modifying new information to fit into existing schema.

Accommodation

The process of creating new schema or changing existing schema based on new information.

Object permanence

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight.

Deferred imitation

Forming mental representations of actions that are recalled later.

Egocentrism

Belief that others see the world exactly like oneself.

Conservation problems

Difficulties in understanding that certain properties of objects remain the same even when their appearance changes.

Concrete operational period

The stage of cognitive development (7-11 years) characterized by organized and rational thinking, logical analyses, and mastery of conservation problems.

Formal operational period

The stage of cognitive development (11+ years) characterized by abstract reasoning, ability to hypothesize and test hypotheses, and logical thinking.

Sociocultural theory of development

Emphasizes the influence of social interactions, language, and cultural context on cognitive development.