Untitled Flashcards Set

Developmental psychology

A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development throughout the lifespan.

Cross-sectional study

Research that compares people of different ages at the same time.

Longitudinal study

Research that follows and tests the same people over time.

Teratogens

Chemicals and viruses that can harm an embryo.

Fetal alcohol syndrome

Physical and cognitive function deficits in children caused by their birth mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy.

Habituation

Decreasing responsiveness with repetitive stimulation.

Maturation

Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior.

Critical period

An optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development.

Adolescence

The transition period from childhood to adulthood.

Puberty

The period of sexual maturation.

Menopause

The time of natural cessation of menstruation, occurring in women only.

Sex

The biologically influenced characteristics by which people define male, female, and intersex.

Gender

The attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex.

Intersex

Possessing male and female biological sexual characteristics at birth.

Aggression

Any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.

Relationship aggression

An act of aggression intended to harm a person’s relationship or social standing.

Gossip

Typically associated with women.

Carol Gilligan

Researched gender differences, particularly how girls tend to care more about relationships while boys are more competitive.

Testosterone

A hormone both males and females have, but in higher quantities in males.

Estrogen

A hormone both males and females have, but in higher quantities in females.

Primary sex characteristics

Reproductive characteristics such as ovaries and testes.

Secondary sex characteristics

Non-reproductive characteristics such as breasts and hips in females, and male voice quality and body hair in males.

Spermarche

The first ejaculation.

Menarche

The first menstrual period.

Role

A set of expectations about a social position.

Gender role

A set of expected behaviors, attitudes, and traits for men and women.

Sexual aggression

Any physical or verbal behavior of a sexual nature that is unwanted or intended to harm someone.

Gender identity

Our personal sense of being male, female, neither, or some combination of male and female.

Social learning theory

The theory that we learn social behavior by learning from observing others.

Gender typing

The acquisition of the traditional male or female role.

Androgyny

Blending traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine psychological characteristics.

Sexuality

Our physical attraction to another person.

Asexual

Having no sexual attraction toward others.

Alfred Kinsey

His work led to understanding sexual feelings and behaviors as influenced by both physiological and psychological factors.

Social script

A culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations.

Alice Eagly

Found smaller behavioral differences between women and men and contributed to the understanding of gender differences.

Sexual orientation

A person’s sexual and emotional attraction to another person and associated behaviors.

Jean Piaget

Developed a theory of cognitive development consisting of 4 major stages.

Sensorimotor stage

(birth-2) Infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.

Preoperational stage

(2-6) A child uses language but cannot fully comprehend logic.

Concrete operational stage

(7-11) A child can perform mental operations on concrete events.

Formal operation stage

(12+) People can think logically about abstract concepts.

Cognition

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

Schema

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

Assimilation

Interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas.

Accommodation

Changing schemas to incorporate new information.

Object permanence

The awareness that things continue to exist even if not seen.

Conservation

The principle that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape.

Egocentrism

The preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view.

Lev Vygotsky

Emphasized how a child’s mind grows through interaction with the social-cultural environment.

Scaffold

A framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking.

Theory of mind

People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states.

Language

Our agreed-upon systems of spoken, written, or signed words and their combinations to communicate meaning.

Noam Chomsky

Proposed that language is an unlearned human trait.

Phoneme

The smallest distinctive sound units.

Morphemes

The smallest units of meaning.

Grammar

A system of rules that enables us to communicate.

Universal grammar

Chomsky's theory that humans have an innate predisposition to understand grammar principles.

Stages of language development

The developmental markers for speech such as babbling stage, one-word speech, two-word speech, and telegraphic speech.

Aphasia

Impairment of language.

Broca’s area

Controls speech movement.

Wernicke’s area

Controls comprehension.

Linguistic determinism

Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think.

Benjamin Lee Whorf

Believed that language influences thought processes.

Linguistic relativism

The idea that language influences the way we think.

Ecological systems theory

A theory of the social environment’s influence on human development through five systems.

Microsystem

Immediate groups such as home, school, and community.

Mesosystem

Relationships such as those with parents and peers.

Exosystem

Environments that indirectly affect a person, such as a parent’s workplace.

Macrosystem

Cultural influences like values, beliefs, and politics.

Chronosystem

Life stage, related events such as moving or economic recession.

Stranger anxiety

(8 months) The fear of strangers.

Attachment

An emotional tie with others.

Harry and Margaret Harlow

Studies showed that attachment is based on comfort, not resources.

Imprinting

The process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life.

Konrad Lorenz

Had ducklings imprint on him as a form of attachment.

Mary Ainsworth

Designed the strange situation experiment to study child-caregiver attachment.

Secure attachment

Demonstrated by infants who comfortably explore environments in the presence of their caregiver.

Insecure attachment

A form of attachment with two types: anxious attachment and avoidant attachment.

Temperament

A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.

Erik Erikson

Studied psychosocial development through eight stages.

Trust vs. mistrust

The conflict of infancy (1) stage.

Autonomy vs. shame and doubt

The conflict of toddlerhood (1-3) stage.

Initiative vs. guilt

The conflict of preschool (3-6) stage.

Competence vs. inferiority

The conflict of elementary (6-puberty) stage.

Identity vs. role confusion

The conflict of adolescence (puberty-20s) stage.

Intimacy vs. isolation

The conflict of young adulthood (20s-40s) stage.

Generativity vs. stagnation

The conflict of middle adulthood (40s-60s) stage.

Integrity vs. despair

The conflict of late adulthood (60s+) stage.

Basic trust

A sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy, developed in infancy.

Self-concept

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves.

Diana Baumrind

Studied the four parenting styles.

Authoritarian parenting

Coercive style that expects obedience from the child.

Permissive parenting

Unrestraining style with little punishment.

Neglectful parenting

Uninvolved style that is not responsive.

Authoritative parenting

Confrontive style that is demanding and responsive.

Identity

Our sense of self.

Social identity

The 'we' aspect of our self-concept.

Intimacy

The ability to form close, loving relationships.

Emerging adulthood

A period from about age 18 to the mid-twenties, not yet achieved full independence.