Developmental Psychology Overview

These flashcards cover essential terms and concepts in developmental psychology, focusing on stages of development, theories, and types of learning.

Developmental psychology

The scientific study of how and why human beings change over the course of their life.

Nature and nurture

The debate concerning the relative importance of genetics (nature) and environment (nurture) in determining behavior.

Prenatal development

The process of development of the fetus during pregnancy.

Teratogens

Substances that can cause malformation or harm to a developing fetus.

Rooting reflex

An innate reflex in infants to turn their heads toward anything that strokes their cheek.

Visual cliff

An experiment designed to test depth perception in infants and young animals.

Imprinting

A rapid and irreversible learning process that occurs in a specific time frame.

Puberty

The period of sexual maturation during which a person becomes capable of reproduction.

Primary sex characteristics

The reproductive organs and structures directly involved in reproduction.

Secondary sex characteristics

Non-reproductive sexual characteristics, such as breasts and body hair.

Menarche

The first occurrence of menstruation in females.

Spermarche

The first occurrence of sperm production in males.

Menopause

The end of a woman's reproductive period, characterized by the cessation of menstruation.

Jean Piaget

A Swiss psychologist known for his theory of cognitive development in children.

Assimilation

The process of taking new information and fitting it into existing cognitive schemas.

Accommodation

The process of altering cognitive schemas to fit new information.

Object permanence

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be observed.

Conservation

The understanding that quantity does not change even when its shape does.

Egocentrism

The inability to differentiate one's own perspective from that of others.

Theory of mind

The cognitive ability to understand that others have thoughts, beliefs, and perspectives different from one's own.

Lev Vygotsky

A Russian psychologist known for his sociocultural theory of cognitive development.

Zone of proximal development

The difference between what a learner can do without help and what they can achieve with guidance.

Crystallized intelligence

The ability to use learned knowledge and experience.

Fluid intelligence

The capacity to think logically and solve problems in novel situations.

Phonemes

The smallest units of sound in a language.

Morphemes

The smallest meaningful units of language.

Semantics

The study of meaning in language.

Grammar

The set of rules that govern the structure of sentences.

Syntax

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences.

Cooing

The early stage of language development in infants characterized by prolonged vowel sounds.

Babbling

The stage of language development where infants produce repetitive consonant-vowel combinations.

Telegraphic speech

Two-word phrases that convey a complete thought, common in early language acquisition.

Overgeneralization

The phenomenon where children apply grammatical rules too broadly.

Ecological systems theory

A framework for understanding the multiple influences on individual development.

Microsystem

The innermost level of ecological systems theory, encompassing immediate environments such as family and school.

Macrosystem

The outer level of ecological systems theory that includes cultural and societal influences.

Authoritarian parenting

A restrictive style of parenting characterized by high demands and low responsiveness.

Authoritative parenting

A parenting style characterized by high demands and high responsiveness.

Secure attachment

A strong emotional bond characterized by comfort and safety in relationships.

Anxious attachment

A type of insecure attachment marked by dependency on others for validation and support.

Disorganized attachment

A lack of a clear attachment behavior, often seen in children with inconsistent caregiving.

Harry Harlow

A psychologist known for his studies on attachment in rhesus monkeys.

Erik Erikson

A developmental psychologist known for his theory on psychosocial development across the lifespan.

Trust vs mistrust

The first stage in Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, occurring in infancy.

Identity achievement

A stage in identity development where individuals feel a sense of clarity about who they are.

Diffusion of identity

A state in which an individual has not yet made a commitment to an identity.

Foreclosure of identity

An identity status in which an individual has made a commitment without undergoing an identity crisis.

Social constructs

Concepts or perceptions that are created and accepted by a society or culture.

Behaviorism

A psychological perspective that focuses on observable behaviors and the ways they're learned.

Classical conditioning

A learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus.

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response.

Conditioned Response (CR)

A learned response to a previously neutral stimulus.

Extinction

The diminishing of a conditioned response when the reinforcement is no longer presented.

Positive Reinforcement

Adding a stimulus following a desired behavior that makes the behavior more likely to occur.

Negative reinforcement

Removing an aversive stimulus to increase the probability of a behavior.

Shaping

A technique in which successive approximations of a desired behavior are reinforced.

Learned helplessness

A state where an individual feels unable to control or change a situation based on previous experiences.

Social learning theory

The theory that people learn from one another through observation, imitation, and modeling.

Insight learning

A type of learning that occurs suddenly through understanding relationships.

Latent learning

Learning that occurs without obvious reinforcement and is not immediately reflected in behavior.