Infants, Children and Adolescents fogalmak (in English)

academic programs

Preschool and kindergarten programs in which teachers structure children's learning, teaching academic skills through formal lessons that often involve repetition and drill. Distinguished from child-centered programs.

accommodation

In Piaget's theory, that part of adaptation in which new schemes are created and old ones adjusted to produce a better fit with the environment. Distinguished from assimilation.

acculturative stress

Psychological distress resulting from conflict between an individual's minority culture and the host culture.

adaptation

In Piaget's theory, the process of building schemes through direct interaction with the environment. Consists of two complementary activities: assimilation and accommodation.

adolescence

The transition between childhood and adulthood that begins with puberty. It involves accepting one's full-grown body, acquiring adult ways of thinking, attaining greater independence from one's family, developing more mature ways of relating to peers of both sexes, and beginning to construct an identity.

adrenarche

The rise in adrenal androgens long before physical changes of puberty are visible, typically between ages 6 and 8.

affordances

The action possibilities that a situation offers an organism with certain motor capabilities. Discovering affordances plays a major role in perceptual differentiation.

age of viability

The age at which the fetus can first survive if born early. Occurs sometime between 22 and 26 weeks.

alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND)

The least severe form of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, involving impairment in at least three areas of mental functioning but with typical physical growth and absence of facial abnormalities. Distinguished from fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and partial fetal alcohol syndrome (p-FAS).

allele

Each of two or more forms of a gene, one inherited from the mother and one from the father, located at the same place on corresponding pairs of chromosomes.

amnion

The inner membrane that forms a protective covering around the prenatal organism.

amniotic fluid

The fluid that fills the amnion, which helps keep temperature constant and provides a cushion against jolts caused by the woman's movements.

amodal sensory properties

Information that overlaps two or more sensory systems, such as rate, rhythm, duration, intensity and temporal synchrony in visual and auditory input.

amygdala

An inner-brain structure that plays a central role in processing of novelty and emotional information.

androgyny

The gender identity held by individuals who score high on both traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine personality characteristics.

animistic thinking

The belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities, such as thoughts, wishes, feelings and intentions.

anorexia nervosa

An eating disorder in which young people, mainly females, starve themselves because of a compulsive fear of getting fat and an extremely distorted body image.

A-not-B search error

The error made by 8- to 12-month-olds who, after reaching several times for an object at one hiding place (A), then seeing it moved to second (B), still search for it in the first hiding place (A).

anoxia

Inadequate oxygen supply.

Apgar Scale

A rating system on each of five characteristics - heart rate, respiratory effort, reflex irritability, muscle tone and color - used to assess the newborn baby's physical condition immediately after birth.

applied behavior analysis

Observations of relationships between behavior and environmental events, followed by systematic changes in those events based on procedures of conditioning and modeling. The goal is to eliminate undesirable behaviors and increase desirable responses.

assimilation

That part of adaptation in which the external world is interpreted in terms of current schemes. Distinguished from accommodation.

associative play

A form of true social interaction in which children engage in separate activities but exchange toys and comment on one's another behavior. Distinguished from nonsocial activity, parallel play and cooperative play.

attachment

The strong affectionate tie that humans have with special people in their lives, which leads them to experience pleasure and joy when interacting with them and to be comforted by their nearness in times of stress.

Attachment Q-Sort

A method of assessing attachment security, ranging from high to low, in children between 1 and 5 years of age through home observations of a variety of attachment-related behaviors.

attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

A disorder involving inattention, impulsivity and excessive motor activity, resulting in academic and social problems.

attribution retraining

An intervention that encourages learned-helpless children to believe they can overcome failure by exerting more effort and using more effective strategies.

authoritarian child-rearing style

A child-rearing style that is low in acceptance and involvement, high in coercive and psychological control, and low in autonomy granting. Distinguished from authoritarian, permissive and uninvolved child-rearing styles.

authoritative child-rearing style

A child-rearing style that is high in acceptance and involvement, adaptive control techniques, and appropriate autonomy granting. Distinguished from authoritarian, permissive and uninvolved child-rearing styles.

autobiographical memory

Long-lasting representations of personally meaningful one-time events from both the recent and the distant past.

automatic processes

Cognitive activities that are so-well learned that they require no space in working memory and, therefore, permit an individual to focus on other information while performing them.

autonomy

At adolescence, a sense of oneself as a separate, self-governing individual. Involves an emotional component - relying more on oneself and less on parents for support and guidance; and a behavioral component - engaging in careful, well-reasoned decision-making.

autonomy versus shame and doubt

In Erikson's theory, the psychological conflict of toddlerhood, which is resolved favorably when parents provide young children with suitable guidance and reasonable choices.

autosomes

The 22 matching chromosome pairs in each human cell.

average children

Children who receive average numbers of positive and negative votes on self-report measures of social preferences. Distinguished from popular, rejected, controversial and neglected children.

babbling

Repetition of consonant-vowel combinations in long strings, beginning around 6 months of age.

basic emotions

Emotions such as happiness, interest, surprise, fear, anger, sadness and disgust that are universal in humans and other primates and have a long evolutionary history of promoting survival.

basic trust versus mistrust

In Erikson's theory, the psychological conflict of infancy, which is resolved positively when the balance of care is sympathetic and loving.

behavioral genetics

A field devoted to uncovering the contributions of nature and nurture to the diversity in human traits and abilities.

behaviorism

An apporach that regards directly observable events - stimuli and responses - as the appropriate focus of study and views the development of behavior as taking place through classical and operant conditioning.

bicultural identity

The identity constructed by individuals who explore and adopt values from both their family's subculture and the dominant culture.

binge-eating disorder

An eating disorder in which young people engage in binge eating at least once a week for three months or longer but (unlike bulimia nervosa) do not purge afterward.

blastocyst

The prenatal cell mass four days after fertilization, when 60 to 70 cells exist that form a hollow, fluid-filled ball.

blended/reconstituted family

A family structure dormed through cohabitation or remarriage that includes parent, stepparent and children.

body image

Conception of and attitude toward one's physical appearance.

bonding

Parents' feelings of affection and concern for the newborn baby.

brain plasticity

The capacity of various parts of the cerebral cortex to take over functions of damaged regions. Declines as hemispheres of the cerebral cortex lateralize.

breech position

A position of the baby in the uterus that would cause the buttocks or feet to be delivered first.

bulimia nervosa

An eating disorder in which young people, mainly females, engage in strict dieting and excessive exercise accompanied by binge eating, often followed by deliberate vomiting and purging with laxatives.

cardinality

The mathematical principle stating that the last number in a counting sequence indicates the quantity of items in the set.

categorical self

Classification of the self according to prominent ways in which people differ, such as age, sex, physical characteristics, and goodness and badness. Develops between 18 and 30 months.

carrier

A heterozygous individual who can pass a recessive trait to his or her children.

central executive

In information processing, the conscious, reflective part of the mental system that directs the flow of information by deciding what to attend to, coordinating incoming information with information already in the system, and selecting, applying, and monitoring strategies that facilitate memory storage, comprehension, reasoning and problem solving.

centration

In Piaget's theory, the tendency of preoperational children to focus on one aspect of a situation while neglecting other important features. Distinguished from decentration.

cephalocaudal trend

An organized pattern of physical growth in which the head develops more rapidly than the lower part of the body ("head to tail"). Distinguished from proximodistal trend.

cerebellum

A structure at the rear and base of the brain that aids in balance and control of body movement.

cerebral cortex

The largest, most complex structure of the human brain, containing the greatest number of neurons and synapses, which accounts for the highly developed intelligence of the human species.

cesarean delivery

A surgical birth in which the doctor makes an incision in the mother's abdomen and lifts the baby out of the uterus.

child-centered programs

Preschool and kindergarten programs in which teachers provide a variety of activities from which children select, and much learning takes place through play. Distinguished from academic programs.

child development

An area of study devoted to understanding constancy and change from conception through adolescence.

child-rearing styles

Combinations of parenting behaviors that occur over a wide range of situations, creating an enduring child-rearing climate.

chorion

The outer membrane that forms a protective covering around the prenatal organism. It sends out tiny hairlike villi, from which the placenta begins to develop.

chromosomes

Rodlike structures in the cell nucleus that store and transmit genetic information.

chronosystem

In ecological systems theory, temporal changes in environments, either externally imposed or arising from within the child, that produce new conditions affecting development. Distinguished from microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem.

circular reaction

In Piaget's theory, a means of building schemes in which infants try to repeat a chance event caused by their own motor activity.

classical conditioning

A form of learning that involves associating a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that leads to a reflexive response. Once the nervous system makes the connection between the two stimuli, the neutral stimulus produces the behavior by itself.

clinical interview

An interview method in which the researcher uses a flexible, conversational style to probe for the participant's point of view. Distinguished from structured interview.

clinical/case study method

A research method in which the aim is to obtain as complete a picture as possible of one individual's psychological functioning by bringing together a wide range of information, including interview data, observations, and sometimes test scores.

clique

A group of about five to eight members who are good friends and, therefore, usually resemble one another in family background, attitudes, values, and interests.

cognitive-developmental theory

An approach introduced by Piaget that views children as actively constructing knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world, and in which cognitive development takes place in stages.

cognitive maps

Mental representations of spaces, such as classroom, school or neigborhood.

cognitive self-regulation

The process of continuously monitoring progress toward a goal, checking outcomes, and redirecting unsuccessful efforts.

cohort effects

The effects of cultural-historical change on the accuracy of longitudinal and cross-sectional research findings. Results based on one cohort - individuals developing in the same time period, who are influenced by particular historical and cultural conditions - may not apply to other cohorts.

commitment within relativistic thinking

The mature individual's formulation of a more satisfying perspective that syntethizes contradictions between opposing views, rather than choosing between them.

communities of learners

An educational approach inspired by Vygotsky's theory, in which teahcers guide the overall process of learning, buth otherwise, no distinction is made between adult and child contributors. All participate in joint endeavors, and students have the authority to define and resolve problems as they work toward project goalls, which often address complex real-world issues.

compliance

Obedience to requests and commands.

comprehension

In language development, the words and word combinations that children understand. Distinguished from production.

concrete operational stage

Piaget's third stage, extending from abut 7 to 11 years of age, during which thought becomes logical, flexible, and organized in its application to concrete information, but the capacity for abstract thinking is not yet present.

conditioned response (CR)

In classical conditioning, a new response produced by a conditioned stimulus (CS) that is similar to the unconditioned or reflexive response (UCR).

conditioned stimulus (CS)

In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus that, through pairing with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), leads to a new, conditioned response (CR). Distinguished from unconditioned stimulus.

conservation

The understanding that certain physical characteristics of objects remain the same, even when their outward appearance changes.

constructivist classroom

A classroom grounded in Piaget's view of children as active learners who construct their own knowledge. Features include richly equipped learning centers, small groups and individuals solving self-chosen problems, a teacher who guides and supports in response to children's needs, and evaluation based on individual students' progress in relation to their own prior development. Distinguished from traditional classroom and social-constructivist classroom.

contexts

Unique combinations of personal and environmental circumstances that can result in different paths of development.

continuous development

The view that development is a process of gradually adding more of the same types of skills that were there to begin with. Distinguished from discontinuous development.

contrast sensitivity

A general principle accounting for early visual pattern preferences, which states that if babies can detect a difference in contrast between two patterns, they prefer the pattern with more contrast.

controversial children

Children who receive many votes, both positive and negative, on self-report measures of social preferences, indicating that they are both liked and disliked. Distinguished from popular, rejected, neglected and average children.

conventional level

Kohlberg's second level of moral development, in which moral understanding is based on conforming to social rules to ensure positive human relationships and maintain societal order.

convergent thinking

The type of thinking emphasized on intelligence tests, which involves arriving at a single correct answer to a problem. Distinguished from divergent thinking.

cooing

Pleasant vowel-like noises made by infants, beginning around 2 months of age.

cooperative learning

Collaboration on a task by a small group of classmates who work toward common goals by considering one another's ideas, appropriately challenging one another, providing sufficient explanations to correct misunderstandings, and resolving differences of opinion on the basis of reasons and evidence.

cooperative play

A form of social interaction in which children orient toward a common goal, such as acting out a make-believe theme. Distinguished from nonsocial activity, parallel play and associative play.

coparenting

The extent to which parents mutually support each other's parenting behaviors.

coregulation

A form of supervision in which parents exercise general oversight while permitting children to take charge of moment-by-moment decision making.

core knowledge perspective

A perspective that states that infants are born withh a set of innate knowledge systems, or core domains of thought, each of which permits a ready grasp of new, related information and therefore supports early, rapid development of certain aspects of cognition.

corpus callosum

The large bundle of fibers connecting the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex. Supports smooth coordination of movements on both sides of the body and integration of many aspects of thinking.

correlational design

A research design in which the investigator gathers information on individuals without altering their experiences and then examines relationships between participants' characteristics and their behavior or development. Does not permit inferences about cause and effect.

correlation coefficient

A number, ranging from +1.00 to -1.00, that describes the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables.

creativity

The ability to produce work that is original yet appropriate - something others have not thought of that is useful in some way.

cross-sectional design

A research design in which groups of participants of different ages are studied at the same point in time. Distinguished from longitudinal design.

crowd

A large, loosely organized social group consisting of several cliques with similar values. Membership is based on reputation and stereotype.