AP Psychology Unit 6 Vocabulary

Teratogens

Harmful agents (drugs, supplements or diseases) that can cause abnormal development or birth defects

Rooting Reflex

Infant's tendency to respond to a touch on the cheek by turning towards it and opening their mouth (searching for a nipple)

APGAR Test

Quick assessment of newborn immediately after birth, helps determine physical well-being and need for further medical assistance

Habituation

Decreasing responsiveness to repeated stimuli (ex: as infants become more familiar with a visual stimulus they look away sooner when presented with it)

Maturation

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

Schema

Concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

Developmental Psychology

Study of physical, cognitive and social changes throughout lifespan

Zygote

Fertilized egg, 2-week period of rapid cell division then develops into an embryo

Embryo

Developing organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization to second month

Fetus

Developing organism from 9 weeks after fertilization to birth

Assimilation

Interpreting one's new experiences in terms of one's existing schemas

Accomadation

Adapting one's current understanding (schemas) to incorporate new information

Cognition

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

Sensorimotor Stage

Piaget's theory: stage of cognitive development (birth-2 yrs) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

Object Permanence

Awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

Preoperational Stage

Piaget's Theory: stage of cognitive development (2 yrs-6/7 yrs) during which a child learns to use language and symbols but doesn't yet comprehend the mental operations of logic

Conservation

Principal that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the form of the object (believed to be part of concrete operational reasoning)

Egocentrism

Preoperational difficulty of a child to understand another point of view

Theory of Mind

People's ideas about their own, and other's, mental states (feelings, perceptions, and thoughts) and the behavior they might predict

Concrete Operational Stage

Piaget's theory: stage of cognitive development (6/7 yrs-11 yrs) during which children gain mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events

Formal Operational Stage

Piaget's theory: stage of cognitive development (12 yrs+) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts

Parenting Styles

Manner in which parents raise their children (can refer to: expectations, attentiveness and style of discipline utilized)

Stranger Anxiety

Fear of strangers commonly displayed by infants (begins around 8 months)

Attachment

Emotional tie with another person, shown in young children by seeking closeness with caregiver and showing distress upon separation

Critical Period

Optimal period shortly after birth where organisms exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development

Imprinting

Process by which certain animals form attachment during a critical period just after birth

Basic Trust

Erikson's Theory: sense/feeling that the world is predictable and trustworthy, formed in infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers

Self-Concept

Sense of one's identity and personal worth

Adolescence

Transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence

Puberty

Period of sexual maturation, during with an organism becomes capable of reproducing

Primary Sex Characteristics

Body structures (internal organs and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible

Secondary Sex Characteristics

Non-reproductive sexual characteristics such as female breasts and hips, male body hair, etc.

Menarche

The first menstrual period

Identity

Erikson's theory: a sense of self, developed in adolescence by testing and integrating various roles

Intimacy

Erikson's theory: ability to form close, loving relationships, he considered it the primary developmental task of adolescence and early adulthood

Menopause

The natural cessation of menstruation, multiple biological changes a women experiences and her ability to reproduce declines

Cross-Sectional Study

Study in which people of different ages are compared with one another for the same trait or factor

Longitudinal Study

Study in which same people are re-interviewed and retested over a long period of timme

Crystallized Intelligence

One's accumulated knowledge and verbal skills, tends to increase with age

Fluid Intelligence

One's ability to reason quickly and abstractly, tends to decrease following late adulthood

Social Clock

Culturally preferred timing of social event such as marriage, parenthood and retirement

Gender

The biologically and culturally influenced characteristics by which society defines male and female

Gender Role

Set of expected behaviors for male and female

Gender Identity

One's sense of being male or female

Mary Ainsworth

"A Strange Situation" test, measured child's attachment to caregiver (early-late 1900's)

Albert Bandura

Know for social learning theory (early 1900's-present)

Diana Baumrind

Researched parenting styles and huge critic of use of deception is psychological research (early 1900's-present)

Erik Erikson

Coined phrase "identity crisis", research psychological development of humans (early-late 1900's)

Sigmund Freud

Founded psychoanalysis, focused on developmental/influential milestones in childhood (mid 1800's-1900's)

Carol Gilligan

Theory of Moral Development and worked in ethics (mid 1900's-present)

Harry Harlow

Researched into dependency and maternal separation in monkeys (early-late 1900's)

Lawrence Kohlberg

Theory of Stages of Moral Development (early-late 1900's)

Konrad Lorenz

Researched imprinting phenomenon (early-late 1900's)

Jean Piaget

Theory of stages of cognitive development (late 1800's-1900's)

Lev Vygotsky

Theory of human cultural and bio-social development (late 1800's-mid 1900's)

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Physical deformities or cognitive and developmental abnormalities resulting from regularly consuming alcohol during pregnancy

Down's Syndrome

Physical deformities and mental retardation due to extra chromosome 21

Huntington's Disease

Genetic condition that appears mid-life with a decline in cognitive abilities and appearance of psychiatric issues.

Neural Tube Defects

Birth defects of brain, spine, or spinal cord that occur in the first trimester

Dyslexia

Reading disorder where perceptions of letters and numbers appear to grow or move making reading and writing difficult

Autism

Related to brain abnormalities but cause unknown, characteristically unable to experience personal connections and affection like others

Asperger's Syndrome

Mild form of autism with normal mental and physical development but delayed social and emotional development

Dementia/Alzheimer's Disease

Conditions caused by physical breakdown of brain functioning, physical or intellectual decline in excess of normal aging process