AP Psych Unit 6 Vocab

Accommodation

 adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information

AIDS

(acquired immune deficiency syndrome) 

life-threatening sexually transmitted infection. it depletes the immune system leaving a person vulnerable to infections

Assimilation

 interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

Attachment

an emotional tie with another person

Autism spectrum disorder

a disorder that is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction along with fixated interests and repetitive behaviors

Basic Trust

 a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; formed during infancy

Concrete operational stage

stage of cognitive development (6-11) when children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events 

Critical period

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

Egocentrism

the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view

Fetal alcohol syndrome

physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman’s heavy drinking 

Formal operational stage

the stage of cognitive development (age 12+) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts

Gender

 the socially constructed roles and characteristics by which a culture defines male and female 

Gender role

a set of expected behaviors for males or for females

Identity

our sense of self

Imprinting

the process by which certain animal forms strong attachments during an early life critical period 

Intimacy

 the ability to form close, loving relationships

Maturation

 biological growth process that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively influenced by experience

Menarche

The first menstrual period

Menopause

the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines

Object Permanence

 the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

Preoperational stage

 the stage (2-6) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic 

Primary sex characteristics

the body structures that make sexual reproduction possible

Puberty

 the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing

Schema

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

Secondary sex characteristics

nonreproductive sexual traits

Self concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in an answer to the question “Who am I?”

sensorimotor stage

 the stage (birth-2) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

Sexual Orientation

 an enduring sexual attraction toward members of either one’s own sex, the other sex, or both sexes

Social Identity

the “we” aspect of our self concept; the answer to the question “Who am I?” that comes from group memberships

Social Learning theory

the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished

Teratogens

agents that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm

Testosterone

 a steroid hormone that stimulates development of male secondary sexual characteristics, produced mainly in the testes, but also in the ovaries and adrenal cortex

Theory of mind

people’s ideas about their own and other’s mental states

Transgender

denoting or relating to a person whose gender identity does not correspond with the sex registered for them at birth

X chromosome

a sex chromosome, two of which are normally present in female cells (designated XX) and only one in male cells (designated XY)

Y chromosome

a sex chromosome that is characteristic of male cells in species