Human Development: A Life-Span View (Chapters 1–5)

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the biological foundations, prenatal development, physical and cognitive milestones, and early socioemotional development from Chapters 1 through 5 of Human Development: A Life-Span View.

Biopsychosocial Framework

An integrated approach organizing human development into four interactive forces: biological forces, psychological forces, sociocultural forces, and life-cycle forces.

Life-Cycle Forces

Developmental forces reflecting how the same event affects people differently depending on their age and stage of life.

Psychodynamic Theories

Theories rooted in Sigmund Freud's work proposing that development is largely determined by how well people resolve internal conflicts at different ages.

Psychosocial Theory

Erik Erikson's comprehensive life-span theory proposing that personality development occurs across eight successive stages, each characterized by a distinct crisis or challenge.

Self-Efficacy

People's beliefs about their own abilities and talents, which influence whether they choose to imitate modeled behaviors.

Information-Processing Theory

A cognitive-developmental perspective proposing that human thought develops analogously to a computer, with increasing efficiency in mental hardware and mental software.

Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory

An ecological approach proposing that the developing child is embedded within a series of interactive environmental systems: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.

Competence-Environmental Press Theory

Lawton and Nahemow's theory proposing that adaptation is optimal when a person's abilities (competence) are balanced with environmental demands (press).

Selective Optimization with Compensation (SOC) Model

A developmental model stating that successful development involves selecting elective or loss-based goals, optimizing resources to achieve them, and compensating when resources diminish.

Life-Span Perspective

A view of human development characterized by lifelong aging from conception to death, multidirectionality, plasticity, historical context, and multiple causation.

Correlational Study

A research design that examines relations between variables as they exist naturally by calculating a correlation coefficient ($r$), which ranges from $-1.00$ to $+1.00$ but cannot prove causation.

Cohort Effects

Differences between age groups in research that result from unique historical or environmental experiences rather than true developmental change.

Sequential Study

A developmental research design that combines cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches by tracking multiple cohorts over time to minimize cohort effects.

Autosomes

The first $22$ pairs of human chromosomes that do not determine the individual's sex.

Sex Chromosomes

The $23\text{rd}$ pair of chromosomes determining biological sex assigned at birth, consisting of $XY$ in males and $XX$ in females.

Genotype

The complete set of genes that an individual inherits from their parents.

Phenotype

The observable physical, behavioral, and psychological traits produced by the interaction of a genotype and environmental factors.

Incomplete Dominance

A genetic inheritance pattern where one allele does not completely dominate another, causing the phenotype to fall intermediate between dominant and recessive traits (e.g., sickle-cell trait).

Polygenetic Inheritance

The pattern of inheritance in which a physical, psychological, or behavioral phenotype is governed by the combined action of multiple pairs of genes.

Niche-Picking

The process by which individuals actively choose or create environments and experiences that match their genetic predispositions.

Period of the Zygote

The first $2$ weeks of prenatal development, extending from fertilization through cell division and travel down the fallopian tube to complete implantation in the uterine wall.

Germ Disc

A small cluster of cells located near the center of the zygote that develops into the baby.

Cephalocaudal Principle

A prenatal growth principle stating that structures located toward the head develop before structures located toward the lower parts of the body.

Proximodistal Principle

A prenatal growth principle stating that structures near the center of the body develop before those located farther out.

Age of Viability

The developmental point between $22$ and $28$ weeks of gestation when a fetus's bodily systems are mature enough to make survival outside the womb possible.

Teratogens

External substances or environmental hazards—such as drugs, diseases, and pollutants—that can cause abnormal prenatal development.

Stages of Labor

The three phases of childbirth consisting of cervix dilation to approximately $10\,\text{cm}$ (Stage 1), crowning and delivery of the baby (Stage 2), and expulsion of the placenta (Stage 3).

Hypoxia

A dangerous birth complication occurring when a newborn baby receives an inadequate supply of blood and oxygen.

Infant Mortality Rate

The percentage or proportion of newborn babies who die before reaching their first birthday, typically measured as deaths per $1{,}000$ live births.

Reflexes

Unlearned, involuntary motor responses to specific stimuli that provide survival value and serve as developmental precursors to voluntary motor movements.

Apgar Score

A rapid physical assessment of a newborn evaluated at birth on five parameters (breathing, heartbeat, muscle tone, reflexes, skin tone), each scored $0$ to $2$, where $7$ or above indicates good health.

Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS)

A specialized evaluation of a newborn's functional capacity assessing $28$ behavioral items and $18$ reflexes across autonomic, motor, state, and social systems.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

The sudden, unexplained death of an apparently healthy infant during sleep, associated with stomach sleeping, overheating, low birth weight, and parental tobacco smoke.

Effortful Control

Rothbart's temperament dimension referring to an infant's capacity to focus attention, resist distraction, and inhibit impulsive responses.

Neuron

A fundamental nerve cell consisting of a cell body, dendrites, an axon, and terminal buttons that release neurotransmitters to communicate with other cells.

Synaptic Pruning

The developmental biological process occurring after a peak around $12$ months in which unnecessary neural synapses are gradually eliminated.

Experience-Expectant Growth

Brain organization that relies on exposure to environmental stimuli common to virtually all human infants during critical periods of development.

Dynamic Systems Theory

A motor development theory proposing that motor milestones emerge from the continual organization and reorganization of multiple distinct skills to achieve task goals.

Intersensory Redundancy

The simultaneous presentation of identical sensory information across multiple modalities (e.g., sight and sound), enhancing perceptual learning in infants.

Mirror Test

A benchmark assessment of self-awareness where a child with a red mark on their nose is placed before a mirror; reaching for their own nose indicates an established sense of self.

Theory of Mind

A developing child's intuitive, naïve understanding of the relations between internal mental states (desires, beliefs, and knowledge) and overt human actions.

Schemes

Mental structures in Piaget's theory that organize information, make sense of experience, and regulate behavior, developing from sensorimotor actions into abstract concepts.

Assimilation

The cognitive process of integrating new experiences and perceptions into preexisting mental schemes.

Accommodation

The cognitive process of modifying existing schemes or creating new schemes when newly encountered information does not fit current structures.

Equilibration

Piaget's process whereby cognitive disequilibrium between current schemes and new reality prompts cognitive reorganization into higher, more mature developmental stages.

Object Permanence

The cognitive understanding that objects continue to exist even when hidden from view, emerging around $8$ months and solidifying by $18$ months.

Centration

A preoperational cognitive limitation characterized by focusing exclusively on one salient aspect of a situation while neglecting other relevant features.

Animism

The preoperational tendency to attribute lifelike properties, feelings, and intentions to inanimate objects.

Essentialism

The belief appearing in young children that living things possess an internal, invisible essence that defines their identity and properties.

Autobiographical Memory

Memories of significant personal events from one's own past that emerge in early childhood as the child develops a cohesive sense of self.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Vygotsky's concept describing the difference between what a child can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance and collaboration from a skilled partner.

Scaffolding

A teaching strategy where instructional assistance is calibrated to the learner's current competence and progressively reduced as the child masters the skill.

Private Speech

Audible self-directed speech used by young children to guide and regulate their thinking and behavior, serving as an intermediate step toward silent inner speech.

Infant-Directed Speech

A style of speech used by adults toward infants characterized by slower tempo, exaggerated variations in pitch, and clear pronunciation, which aids infant language processing.

Fast Mapping

The cognitive capacity of young children to rapidly attach a novel word to its corresponding referent after minimal exposure.

Telegraphic Speech

Early two- and three-word utterances emerging around $18$ months (such as agent + action) that contain only essential content words while leaving out grammatical morphemes.

Hope

The psychosocial strength emerging in Erikson's first stage when an infant achieves an optimal balance between basic trust and mistrust.

Bowlby's Phases of Attachment

The four stages of socioemotional bonding: preattachment (birth to $6\text{--}8$ weeks), attachment in the making ($6\text{--}8$ weeks to $6\text{--}8$ months), true attachment ($6\text{--}8$ to $18\text{--}24$ months), and goal-corrected partnership ($18$ months onward).

Strange Situation Paradigm

Mary Ainsworth's standardized observational procedure involving brief mother-infant separations and reunions to classify attachment relationships.

Disorganized (Disoriented) Attachment

An insecure attachment pattern seen in approximately $25\%$ of infants, characterized by confused, contradictory behaviors upon parental reunion, such as approaching while looking away.

Internal Working Model

An infant's cognitive framework of expectations concerning the availability, reliability, and responsiveness of their primary caregivers.

Social Smile

An intentional smile emerging at around $2$ months of age in response to seeing a human face, often accompanied by cooing.

Stranger Wariness

The first distinct indication of fear that appears at $7\text{--}8$ months of age when infants become cautious or distressed around unfamiliar adults.

Social Referencing

The behavioral tendency of infants to look toward a trusted caregiver for emotional and behavioral cues when facing unfamiliar or ambiguous situations.

Parallel Play

A form of play beginning around $12$ months where children play independently side by side while closely observing each other's activities.

Simple Social Play

A play stage beginning at $15\text{--}18$ months in which toddlers engage in similar activities while conversing, pointing, and smiling at each other.

Cooperative Play

A sophisticated play pattern emerging around $24$ months featuring shared themes, coordinated goals, and distinct complementary roles.

Prosocial Behavior

Any voluntary behavior aimed at helping or benefiting another person, such as comforting an individual in distress or sharing resources.

Gender Roles

Culturally defined social expectations, behaviors, and personality traits associated with being male (instrumental/agentic) or female (expressive/communal).

Gender-Schema Theory

A cognitive model proposing that children form cognitive schemas regarding gender-appropriate activities and objects, which guide their subsequent attention, learning, and behavior.

Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH)

A genetic condition in which the adrenal glands produce unusually high levels of androgens, influencing physical traits and sex-typed play preferences in children.