unit 6 vocab #1

developmental psychology

a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span

zygote

the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo

accommodation

adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

conservation

the principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects

concrete operational stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events

egocentrism

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

embryo

the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month

fetus

the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth

formal operational stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts

habituation

decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.

maturation

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

object permanence

the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

preoperational stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic

sensorimotor stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

schema

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

stranger anxiety

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

theory of mind

people's ideas about their own and others' mental states—about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict.

teratogens

(literally, "monster maker") agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm

ASD

a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors