dev psych

ADOLESCENCE

The developmental transition between childhood and adulthood entailing major physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes

PUBERTY

Process by which a person attains sexual maturity and the ability to reproduce

PRIMARY SEX CHARACTERISTICS

Organs directly related to reproduction, which enlarge and mature during adolescence. In the female, the sex organs include the ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, clitoris, and vagina. In the male, they include the testes, penis, scrotum, seminal vesicles, and prostate gland.

SECONDARY SEX CHARACTERISTICS

Physiological signs of sexual maturation (such as breast development and growth of body hair) that do not involve the sex organs. Other secondary sex characteristics are changes in the voice and skin texture, muscular development, and the growth of pubic, facial, axillary, and body hair

ADOLESCENT GROWTH SPURT

Sharp increase in height and weight that precedes sexual maturity.

SPERMARCHE

Boy’s first ejaculation. The principal sign of sexual maturity in boys is the production of sperm

MENARCHE

Girl’s first menstruation. The principal sign of sexual maturity in girls is menstruation,

SECULAR TREND

Trend that can be seen only by observing several generations, such as the trend toward earlier attainment of adult height and sexual maturity, which began a century ago in some countries.

BODY IMAGE

Descriptive and evaluative beliefs about one’s appearance. one’s perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about one’s body

ANOREXIA NERVOSA

Eating disorder characterized by self-starvation. People with anorexia have a distorted body image and, though typically severely underweight, think they are too fat. They often are good students but may be withdrawn or depressed and may engage in repetitive, perfectionist behavior. They are extremely afraid of losing control and becoming overweight

BULIMIA NERVOSA

Eating disorder in which a person regularly eats huge quantities of food and then purges the body by laxatives, induced vomiting, fasting, or excessive exercise. People with bulimia are usually not overweight, but they are obsessed with their weight and shape. They tend to have low self-esteem and may become overwhelmed with shame, self-contempt, and depression

BINGE EATING DISORDER (BED)

Eating disorder in which a person loses control over eating and binges huge quantities of food. Not surprisingly, people who binge frequently tend to be overweight and to experience emotional distress and other medical and psychological disorders.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Repeated, harmful use of a substance, usually alcohol or other drugs.

SUBSTANCE DEPENDENCE

Addiction (physical, or psychological, or both) to a harmful substance.

BINGE DRINKING
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Consuming 5 or more drinks (for men) or 4 or more drinks (for women) on one occasion. MRI-based studies have revealed that binge drinking in teenagers may affect thinking and memory by damaging sensitive “white matter” in the brain

VEHICLE CRASHES

are responsible for the greatest percentage of deaths among teens aged 15 to 19 years old, followed by suicide and homicide.

FORMAL OPERATIONS

Piaget’s final stage or highest level of cognitive development, characterized by the ability to think abstractly. This development, usually around age 11, gives them a new, more flexible way to manipulate information. They can use symbols to represent other symbols (for example, letting the letter X stand for an unknown numeral) and thus can learn algebra and calculus.

HYPOTHETICAL-DEDUCTIVE REASONING

Ability, believed by Piaget, to accompany the stage of formal operations, to develop, consider, and test hypotheses.

PRECONVENTIONAL MORALITY

People act under external controls. They obey rules to avoid punishment or reap rewards, or they act out of self-interest. This level is typical of children ages 4 to 10.

CONVENTIONAL MORALITY (OR MORALITY OF CONVENTIONAL ROLE CONFORMITY)

People have internalized the standards of authority figures. They are concerned about being “good,” pleasing others, and maintaining the social order. This level is typically reached after age 10; many people never move beyond it, even in adulthood.

POSTCONVENTIONAL MORALITY (OR MORALITY OF AUTONOMOUS MORAL PRINCIPLES)

People recognize conflicts between moral standards and make their own judgments on the basis of principles of right, fairness, and justice. People generally do not reach this level of moral reasoning until at least early adolescence, or more commonly in young adulthood

IDENTITY

According to Erikson, a coherent conception of the self, made up of goals, values, and beliefs to which a person is solidly committed.

IDENTITY VERSUS IDENTITY CONFUSION

Erikson’s fifth stage of psychosocial development, in which an adolescent seeks to develop a coherent sense of self, including the role she or he is to play in society.

Identity,

according to Erikson, forms as young people resolve three major issues: the choice of an occupation, the adoption of values to live by, and the development of a satisfying sexual identity.

FIDELITY

Sustained loyalty, faith, or sense of belonging that results from the successful resolution of Erikson’s identity versus identity confusion psychosocial stage of development

CRISIS

Marcia’s term for period of conscious decision making related to identity formation. _______within the context of Erikson’s theories, does not refer to a stressful event such as losing your job or not being able to pay your bills. Rather, it refers to the process of grappling with what to believe and who to be.

COMMITMENT

Marcia’s term for personal investment in an occupation or ideology (system of beliefs). Commitments can be held after they have been deeply considered, after crisis, or can be adopted without much thought put into them

IDENTITY ACHIEVEMENT

(crisis leading to commitment)

IDENTITY ACHIEVEMENT

Identity status, described by Marcia, that is characterized by commitment to choices made following a crisis, a period spent in exploring alternatives.

IDENTITY ACHIEVEMENT

, in high school, she considered her interests and talents, and decided to become an engineer. She then chose a college on the basis of its engineering and internship program, and she is doing well. Her parents have encouraged her to make her own decisions; they have listened to her ideas and given their opinions without pressuring her.

FORECLOSURE

(commitment without crisis)

FORECLOSURE

Identity status, described by Marcia, in which a person who has not spent time considering alternatives (that is, has not been in crisis) is committed to other people’s plans for his or her life.

FORECLOSURE

, Isabella’s mother, a union leader at a plastics factory, arranged for Isabella to enter an apprenticeship program there. Isabella never considered doing anything else

MORATORIUM

(crisis with no commitment yet)

MORATORIUM

Identity status, described by Marcia, in which a person is currently considering alternatives (in crisis) and seems headed for commitment.

MORATORIUM

Josh is actively grappling with his identity and trying to decide the path he wants his life to take. Should he attend a community college or join the army? He is lively, talkative, self-confident, and scrupulous but also anxious and fearful. He is close to his mother but resists her authority. He will probably come out of his crisis eventually with the ability to make commitments and achieve identity

IDENTITY DIFFUSION

(no commitment, no crisis)

IDENTITY DIFFUSION

Identity status, described by Marcia, that is characterized by absence of commitment and lack of serious consideration of alternatives.

IDENTITY DIFFUSION

Jayden has not seriously considered options and has avoided commitments. He is unsure of himself and tends to be uncooperative. His parents say it’s up to him. He figures he can get some sort of a job and make up his mind about the future when he is ready. People in this category tend to be unhappy and often lonely

CULTURAL SOCIALIZATION

Parental practices that teach children about their racial/ethnic heritage and promote cultural practices and cultural pride

CULTURAL SOCIALIZATION

talking about history or historical figures, reading culturally relevant books, celebrating cultural holidays, and encouraging children to use their native language.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Focus of consistent sexual, romantic, and affectionate interest, either heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS (STIS)

Infections and diseases spread by sexual contact

INDIVIDUATION

Adolescents’ struggle for autonomy and personal identity.

RISKY DRINKING

Consuming more than 14 drinks a week or 4 drinks on any single day for men, and more than 7 drinks a week or 3 drinks on any single day for women.

ALCOHOLISM

is a long-term physical condition characterized by compulsive drinking that a person is unable to control causing interference with normal functioning and fulfillment of obligations.

PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME (PMS)

Disorder producing symptoms of physical discomfort and emotional tension for up to 2 weeks before a menstrual period. Symptoms may include fatigue, headaches, swelling and tenderness of the breasts, swollen hands or feet, abdominal bloating, nausea, cramps, constipation, food cravings, weight gain, anxiety, depression, irritability, mood swings, tearfulness, and difficulty concentrating or remembering.

INFERTILITY

Inability to conceive a child after 12 months of sexual intercourse without the use of birth control.

REFLECTIVE THINKING

Type of logical thinking that becomes more prominent in adulthood, involving continuous, active evaluation of information and beliefs in the light of evidence and implications. Reflective thinkers continually question facts, draw inferences, and make connections. In other words, they frequently and spontaneously engage in critical thinking

POSTFORMAL THOUGHT

Mature type of thinking that relies on subjective experience and intuition as well as logic and allows room for ambiguity, uncertainty, inconsistency, contradiction, imperfection, and compromise.

Emotional intelligence

Salovey and Mayer’s term for the ability to understand and regulate emotions; an important component of effective, intelligent behavior. It refers to four related skills: the abilities to perceive, use, understand, and manage, or regulate, emotions—our own and those of others—so as to achieve goals. _______________enables a person to harness emotions to deal more effectively with the social environment.

SUBSTANTIVE COMPLEXITY

Degree to which a person’s work requires thought and independent judgment —and a person’s flexibility in coping with cognitive demands

SUBSTANTIVE COMPLEXITY

refers to how much intellectual and cognitive functioning is needed to perform a job.

SPILLOVER HYPOTHESIS

Hypothesis that there is a carryover of cognitive gains from work to leisure that explains the positive relationship between activities in the quality of intellectual functioning.

SPILLOVER HYPOTHESIS

suggests that affect or behavior transfers directly from one setting or relationship to another within a family system

RECENTERING

Process that underlies the shift to an adult identity

NORMATIVE-STAGE MODELS

theoretical approaches that hold that adults follow a basic sequence of age-related psychosocial changes. At what age should people marry? Have children? Decide on a career?

NORMATIVE-STAGE MODELS

typical challenges that need to be mastered for successful adaptation to each stage of life

INTIMACY VERSUS ISOLATION

Erikson’s sixth stage of psychosocial development, in which young adults either form strong, long-lasting bonds with friends and romantic partners or face a possible sense of __________________ and self-absorption.

TIMING-OF-EVENTS MODEL

Theoretical model of personality development that describes adult psychosocial development as a response to the expected or unexpected occurrence and timing of important life events.

normative life events

In the timing-of-events model, commonly expected life experiences that occur at customary times —such events as marriage, parenthood, grandparenthood, and retirement

normative life events

life events that are typical and based on chronological age. These are things that everybody in your culture kind of expects. People start driving around 16, graduating high school around 18, getting married in their 20s and having babies

social clock

Set of cultural norms or expectations for the times of life when certain important events, such as marriage, parenthood, entry into work, and retirement, should occur.

social clock

Members of society are told explicitly and implicitly when it's “appropriate” to start their first job, get married, have a baby, purchase a home, and retire.

Theoretical models of personality development that focus on mental, emotional, temperamental, and behavioral traits, or attributes.

TRAIT MODELS

FIVE FACTOR MODELS

Theoretical model of personality, developed and tested by Costa and McCrae, based on the “Big Five” factors underlying clusters of related personality traits: openness to experiences, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism.

TYPOLOGICAL APPROACH

Theoretical approach that identifies broad personality types, or styles. Typological research seeks to complement and expand trait research by looking at personality as a functioning whole.

TYPOLOGICAL APPROACH

the global perception of the person with the following reduction of variety of individual forms to a small number of the groups uniting around the representative type

Dynamic capacity to modify one’s level of ego-control in response to environmental and contextual influences. Ego-resilient people are well-adjusted: self-confident, independent, articulate, attentive, helpful, cooperative, and task-focused

EGO RESILIENCY

EGO CONTROL

Self-control and the self-regulation of impulses.

FICTIVE KIN

Friends who are considered and behave like family members.

TRIANGULAR THEORY OF LOVE

Sternberg’s theory that patterns of love hinge on the balance among three elements: intimacy, passion, and commitment.

MIDDLE ADULTHOOD

in chronological terms as the years between ages 40 and 65

PRESBYOPIA

Age-related, progressive loss of the eyes’ ability to focus on nearby objects due to loss of elasticity in the lens.

MYOPIA

Nearsightedness

PRESBYCUSIS

Age-related, gradual loss of hearing, which accelerates after age 55, especially with regard to sounds at higher frequencies.

BASAL

is the minimum amount of energy, typically measured in calories, that your body needs to maintain vital functions while resting. As people age, the amount of energy needed to maintain the body goes down, particularly after age 40.

VITAL CAPACITY

the maximum volume of air the lungs can draw in and expel—may begin to diminish at about age 40 and can drop by as much as 40 percent by age 70

MENOPAUSE

Cessation of menstruation and of ability to bear children

PERIMENOPAUSE

Period of several years during which a woman experiences physiological changes of menopause; includes first year after end of menstruation; also called climacteric

ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION

Inability of a man to achieve or maintain an erect penis sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance.

HYPERTENSION

(Chronically high blood pressure) is an increasingly important concern from midlife on as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and kidney disease

DIABETES

in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone that converts sugar, starches, and other foods into energy needed for daily life

OSTEOPOROSIS

Condition in which the bones become thin and brittle as a result of rapid calcium depletion. Common signs of osteoporosis are marked loss in height and a hunchbacked posture that results from compression and collapse of a weakened spinal column

MAMMOGRAPHY

Diagnostic X-ray examination of the breasts.

HORMONE THERAPY (HT)

Treatment with artificial estrogen, sometimes in combination with the hormone progesterone, to relieve or prevent symptoms caused by decline in estrogen levels after menopause.

STRESS

Response to physical or psychological demands.

STRESSORS

Perceived environmental demands that may produce stressor

FLUID INTELLIGENCE

Type of intelligence, proposed by Horn and Cattell, that is applied to novel problems and is relatively independent of educational and cultural influences.

CRYSTALLIZED INTELLIGENCE

Type of intelligence, proposed by Horn and Cattell, involving the ability to remember and use learned information; it is largely dependent on education and culture.

ENCAPSULATION

in Hoyer’s terminology, the process that allows expertise to compensate for declines in information-processing ability by bundling relevant knowledge together.

ENCAPSULATION

This process makes that knowledge easier to access, to add to, and to use. It may take middle-aged people longer than younger people to process new information. But when it comes to solving problems within their field of expertise, their encapsulated knowledge compensates and allows them to rapidly and effectively solve a problem

LITERACY

In an adult, ability to use printed and written information to function in society, achieve goals, and develop knowledge and potential.

GENERATIVITY VERSUS STAGNATION

Erikson’s seventh stage of psychosocial development, in which the middle-aged adult develops a concern with establishing, guiding, and influencing the next generation or else experiences stagnation (a sense of inactivity or lifelessness).

GENERATIVITY

Erikson’s term for concern of mature adults for finding meaning through contributing to society and leaving a legacy for future generations

MIDLIFE CRISIS

In some normative-crisis models, stressful life period precipitated by the review and reevaluation of one’s past, typically occurring in the early to middle forties.

TURNING POINT

Psychological transitions that involve significant change or transformation in the perceived meaning, purpose, or direction of a person’s life. Turning points may be triggered by major life events, normative changes, or a new understanding of past experience, either positive or negative, and they may be stressful

MIDLIFE REVIEW

MIDLIFE REVIEW
Introspective examination that often occurs in middle age, leading to reappraisal and revision of values and priorities. involves recognizing the finiteness of life and can be a time of taking stock, discovering new insights about the self, and spurring midcourse corrections in the design and trajectory of one’s life

EGO-RESILIENCY

The ability to adapt flexibly and resourcefully to potential sources of stress.

IDENTITY PROCESS THEORY (IPT)

Whitbourne’s theory of identity development based on processes of assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation is the interpretation of new information via existing cognitive structures. Accommodation involves changing cognitive structures to more closely align with what is encountered