Psych Vocab Quiz 3.1-3.4

0.0(0)
studied byStudied by 0 people
learnLearn
examPractice Test
spaced repetitionSpaced Repetition
heart puzzleMatch
flashcardsFlashcards
Card Sorting

1/53

encourage image

There's no tags or description

Looks like no tags are added yet.

Study Analytics
Name
Mastery
Learn
Test
Matching
Spaced

No study sessions yet.

54 Terms

1
New cards

Developmental psychology

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

2
New cards

Stability

The concept that we retain many of the traits that shape our identities throughout our lives.

3
New cards

Change

The concept that the traits that shape our identities evolve over our lifetimes.

4
New cards

Nature

The idea that our behaviors and thoughts are a result of inborn factors like our genetic makeup.

5
New cards

Nurture

The idea that our behaviors and thoughts are a result of our sensations of the world around us.

6
New cards

Continuity

The concept that sees maturation as a gradual process where changes happen steadily over time.

7
New cards

Discontinuity

The concept that emphasizes distinct steps in the maturation process, with significant changes happening between those stages.

8
New cards

Cross-sectional study

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

9
New cards

Longitudinal study

Research that follows and retests the same people over time.

10
New cards

Teratogens

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

11
New cards

Maternal illnesses

Illnesses, or symptoms of illness like severe fever, that affect the fetal environment and can impact prenatal development.

12
New cards

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

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

13
New cards

Genetic mutations

A permanent change in an organism's DNA sequence that can alter genetic information and affect fetal development.

14
New cards

Maturation

Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.

15
New cards

Rooting

A reflex movement in newborns where stimulation of the cheek leads the baby to turn its head in search of food.

16
New cards

Critical period

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

17
New cards

Sensitive period

A time during which exposure to a specific environmental condition has the potential for the greatest influence.

18
New cards

Gross motor skills

Movements involving large muscle body structures like hips and legs.

19
New cards

Fine motor skills

Movements involving the small muscles like fingertips.

20
New cards

Adolescence

The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.

21
New cards

Puberty

The period of sexual maturation when a person becomes capable of reproducing.

22
New cards

Primary sex characteristics

Body structures that make sexual reproduction possible, such as ovaries and testes.

23
New cards

Secondary sex characteristics

Nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and male body hair.

24
New cards

Menarche

The first menstrual period.

25
New cards

Spermarche

The start of sperm production.

26
New cards

Menopause

The time of natural cessation of menstruation and biological changes in a woman as reproductive ability declines.

27
New cards

Sex

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

28
New cards

Intersex

Possessing male and female sexual characteristics at birth.

29
New cards

Gender

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

30
New cards

Gender role

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

31
New cards

Gender identity

Our personal sense of being male, female, neither, or some combination alone, regardless of birth sex.

32
New cards

Androgyny

Blending traditional masculine and feminine psychological characteristics.

33
New cards

Transgender

When a person’s personal identity of gender does not correspond with their birth sex.

34
New cards

Sexual orientation

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

35
New cards

Cognition

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

36
New cards

Jean Piaget

Swiss psychologist who proposed theories of children's cognitive stage development.

37
New cards

Schema

A concept developed through experience that helps to organize and interpret unfamiliar information.

38
New cards

Assimilation

Interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas.

39
New cards

Accommodation

Adapting current schemas to incorporate new knowledge.

40
New cards

Sensorimotor stage

The stage (from birth to about 2 years) when infants know the world mostly through sensory impressions and motor activities.

41
New cards

Object permanence

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.

42
New cards

Preoperational stage

The stage (from 2 to about 6 or 7 years) during which a child learns to use language but does not comprehend mental operations.

43
New cards

Conservation

The principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in form.

44
New cards

Reversibility

A mental operation that restores a changed state of affairs to the original condition.

45
New cards

Egocentrism

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

46
New cards

Theory of mind

Ideas about one’s own and others’ mental states and the behaviors these might predict.

47
New cards

Concrete operational stage

The stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years) when children think logically about concrete events.

48
New cards

Formal operational stage

The stage of cognitive development (normally beginning at age 12) when people think logically about abstract concepts.

49
New cards

Lev Vygotsky

Russian psychologist who emphasized cognitive development through social-cultural interaction.

50
New cards

Scaffold

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

51
New cards

Zone of proximal development

The gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance.

52
New cards

Fluid intelligence (Gf)

The ability to reason speedily and abstractly with new information; tends to decrease with age.

53
New cards

Crystallized intelligence (Gc)

Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.

54
New cards

Dementia

A chronic disorder that deteriorates parts of the brain responsible for thinking, memory, and behavior.