AP psych unit 3

Abstracts thinking

The ability to think about concepts, principles, and ideas that are not physically present.

Accommodation

(Piaget) The process of modifying existing schemas to incorporate new information.

Achievement

(Identity Status) A status after a period of exploration has led to personal commitment and identity.

Addiction

A compulsive, physical, and psychological need for a habit

Adoption Studies

Research that compares the traits of adopted children to their adoptive and biological parents to understand genetic vs. environmental influences.

Alcohol

A depressant psychoactive drug that reduces anxiety and inhibitions.

Animism

(Piaget) The preoperational child's belief that inanimate objects have feelings and intentions.

Anxious attachment

(Insecure Anxious) An attachment style characterized by a fear of abandonment and a need for constant reassurance.

Assimilation

(Piaget) The process of interpreting new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

Attachment styles

The patterns of attachment (Secure, Avoidant, Anxious, Disorganized) formed in infancy.

Authoritarian parenting

A strict parenting style with high demands and low responsiveness.

Authoritative parenting

A parenting style with high demands and high responsiveness; firm but nurturing.

Autonomy and shame and doubt

Erikson's second stage (1

Avoidant attachment

(Insecure Avoidant) An attachment style characterized by emotional distance and reluctance to seek comfort.

Behavioral perspective

A theoretical framework that focuses on how behavior is learned through conditioning.

Caffeine

A stimulant psychoactive drug found in coffee, tea, and soda.

Chronological development

The sequence of development over a person's lifetime.

Chronosystem

(Ecological Systems) The dimension of time, including historical events and life transitions.

Cocaine

A powerful stimulant psychoactive drug.

Concrete operational stage

Piaget's third stage (7

Conservation

(Piaget) The understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape or appearance.

Continuous development

The view that development is a gradual, cumulative process.

Critical periods

A specific time in development when certain skills or abilities are most easily acquired.

Cross Sectional Study

A research design that compares people of different ages at the same point in time.

Depressants

Psychoactive drugs that reduce neural activity and slow body functions (e.g., alcohol, barbiturates).

Difference Threshold (Just Noticeable Difference)

The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time.

Discontinuous development

The view that development occurs in a series of distinct stages.

Disorganized attachment

An attachment style characterized by a lack of a consistent strategy for dealing with stress; often linked to trauma.

Down Syndrome

A genetic condition caused by an extra chromosome 21, leading to intellectual disability and physical features.

Ecological systems theory

Bronfenbrenner's theory that development is influenced by multiple environmental systems.

Egocentrism

(Piaget) The preoperational child's inability to see a situation from another person's point of view.

Embryo

The developing human organism from about 2 weeks to 2 months after fertilization.

Emerging adulthood

A period from about 18 to 25 years of age, exploring independence but not fully assuming adult roles.

Epigenetics

The study of how environmental factors can change gene expression without altering the DNA sequence.

Exosystem

(Ecological Systems) The external environments that indirectly influence development (e.g., parent's workplace).

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by heavy drinking during pregnancy.

Fetus

The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.

Fine motor coordination

The ability to make precise movements with small muscles (e.g., fingers).

Formal operational stage

Piaget's fourth stage (12+ years); abstract and hypothetical thinking emerges.

Foreclosure

(Identity Status) Committing to an identity without exploration, often adopting others' values.

Generativity and stagnation

Erikson's seventh stage (middle adulthood); focus on contributing to the next generation.

Genome

The complete instructions for making an organism, consisting of all the genetic material in its chromosomes.

Gross motor coordination

The ability to make large, general movements with large muscles (e.g., walking).

Growth spurt

The rapid period of physical growth during puberty.

Habituation

A decrease in responsiveness with repeated exposure to a stimulus.

Hallucinogens

Psychoactive drugs that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of input (e.g., LSD).

Heroin

A highly addictive depressant opioid drug.

Identity and role confusion

Erikson's fifth stage (adolescence); teenagers work at refining a sense of self.

Imaginary audience

The adolescent belief that others are as preoccupied with them as they are with themselves.

Imprinting

A primitive form of attachment in some species, occurring during a critical period.

Industry and inferiority

Erikson's fourth stage (elementary school); children learn the pleasure of applying themselves or feel inferior.

Infantile Amnesia

The inability to recall memories from the first few years of life.

Initiative and guilt

Erikson's third stage (preschool); children learn to initiate tasks and carry out plans, or feel guilty about efforts.

Insecure Anxious Attachment

See Anxious attachment.

Insecure Avoidant Attachment

See Avoidant attachment.

Integrity and despair

Erikson's eighth stage (late adulthood); reflecting on life as meaningful or full of regret.

Intimacy and isolation

Erikson's sixth stage (young adulthood); forming close, loving relationships.

Lifespan development

The field of study that examines patterns of growth, change, and stability from conception through death.

Longitudinal Study

A research design that follows the same individuals over a long period of time.

LSD

A powerful hallucinogenic drug.

Macrosystem

(Ecological Systems) The broader cultural context, including laws, customs, and values.

Marijuana

A mild hallucinogen derived from the cannabis plant.

Maturation

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

Menarche

The first menstrual period in girls.

Menopause

The time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences.

Mental symbols

Internal images or representations used in thinking and memory.

Mesosystem

(Ecological Systems) The connections between the microsystems (e.g., home and school).

Methamphetamines

A powerfully addictive stimulant drug.

Microsystem

(Ecological Systems) The immediate environments an individual personally experiences (e.g., family, school).

Modeling

The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior (Social Learning Theory).

Moro Reflex

An infant reflex where a baby throws its arms out and then inward in response to a sensation of falling.

Nature

The influence of our inherited characteristics on our personality, physical growth, and social interactions.

Object permanence

(Piaget) The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen.

Occupational identity

A component of one's overall identity related to career and work.

Opioids

A class of drugs that depress neural activity, temporarily relieving pain and anxiety (e.g., heroin, oxycodone).

Parallel play

When children play next to each other but do not interact actively.

Permissive parenting

A parenting style with few demands and high responsiveness; indulgent.

Personal fable

The adolescent belief that one's thoughts, feelings, and experiences are unique and special.

Piaget’s Stages

Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, Formal Operational.

Preoperational stage

Piaget's second stage (2

Pretend play

Symbolic, imaginative play where children use objects to represent other things.

Primary sex characteristics

The body structures (ovaries, testes) that make sexual reproduction possible.

Psychoactive Drugs

Chemicals that change perceptions and moods by acting on the nervous system.

Puberty

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

Racial/ethnic identity

A component of one's overall identity related to racial and ethnic background.

Reflexes

Inborn, automatic responses to specific sensory stimuli (e.g., rooting, sucking).

Religious identity

A component of one's overall identity related to spiritual beliefs.

Reversibility

(Piaget) The understanding that actions can be reversed.

Rooting reflex

An infant's tendency to turn its mouth toward a stimulus that strokes its cheek.

Scaffolding

(Vygotsky) The support provided by a more skilled person to help a learner accomplish a task.

Schemas

(Piaget) Mental concepts or frameworks that organize and interpret information.

Secondary sex characteristics

Non

Secure attachment

An attachment style where the infant is comfortable and confident with the caregiver.

Sensitive periods

A optimal period early in life for developing certain skills, though not as rigid as a critical period.

Sensorimotor stage

Piaget's first stage (0

Separation anxiety

The distress shown by an infant when a familiar caregiver leaves.

Sexual orientation

An enduring sexual attraction toward members of the opposite sex, same sex, or both.

Social clock

The culturally preferred timing of social events (e.g., marriage, parenthood, retirement).

Social learning theory

The theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating others.

Spermarche

The first ejaculation in boys.