AP Psych - Unit 9 Vocab

object permanence

the awareness that things continue to exist when not perceived

Authoritative

a demanding and responsive parent

Schemas

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

Accommodate

adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

Imprinting

the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life

Menopause

the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines

Teratogens

agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm

Conservation

the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects

Authoritarian

a parent who believes in strict rules and that they must be obeyed

Egocentric

in Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view

theory of mind

people’s ideas about their own and other’s mental states – about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict

stranger anxiety

the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age

critical period

an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development

Permissive

a parent who believes that children can learn from their own mistakes, often lenient

gender identity

our sense of being male or female

gender typing

the acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role

Temperament

a person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity

Self-concept

our understanding and evaluation of who we are