PSYCH 250: Introduction to Developmental Psychology - Exam 1 Study Guide Flashcards

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering key terms and concepts across Lectures 1 through 7 for PSYCH 250 Exam 1.

Cohort

A group of individuals defined by the shared age of its members, who move through life together and experience the same historical events and cultural shifts.

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

A person's position in society determined by income, wealth, occupation, education, and place of residence.

Independent Variable

In an experiment, the variable that is introduced or manipulated by the researcher to see what effect it has on the outcome.

Dependent Variable

In an experiment, the variable that may change as a result of whatever new condition or treatment the experimenter adds.

Experimental Group

A group of participants in a research study who receive the particular treatment or intervention being tested.

Control Group

A group of participants in a research study who do not receive the experimental treatment, used as a baseline for comparison.

Difference-equals-deficit Error

The mistaken belief that a deviation or difference from a prevailing norm or standard is inherently an inferiority or deficit.

Differential Susceptibility

The idea that people vary in how sensitive or susceptible they are to particular environmental experiences because of genetic or biological factors.

Plasticity

A characteristic of development indicating that human traits can be molded over time, yet people maintain a certain durability of identity.

Id, Ego, and Superego

The three components of personality in Freud's Psychosexual Theory, representing unconscious biological drives (id), realistic decision-making (ego), and internalized moral standards (superego).

Classical Conditioning

A learning process in traditional behaviorism in which a meaningful stimulus is connected with a neutral stimulus that had no special meaning before conditioning.

Operant Conditioning

B. F. Skinner's learning process by which a particular action is followed by something desired (reinforcement) or unwanted (punishment) to alter behavior frequency.

Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura's extension of behaviorism that emphasizes the influence that other people have over a person's behavior through observation and role modeling.

Cognitive Equilibrium

In Piaget's theory, a state of mental balance in which people are not confused because their existing thought schemas can understand new experiences.

Assimilation

In Piaget's cognitive theory, the reinterpretation of new experiences to fit into existing cognitive schemas.

Accommodation

In Piaget's cognitive theory, the restructuring or alteration of old ideas to include new experiences.

Guided Participation

In Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, the process by which people learn from others who guide their experiences and explorations.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

In Vygotsky's theory, a metaphorical arena surrounding a learner that includes all skills, knowledge, and concepts that the person can master with assistance.

Selective Adaptation

The evolutionary process by which living creatures adjust to their environment over generations as genes enhancing survival and reproduction become more prevalent.

Ecological Systems Theory

Urie Bronfenbrenner's perspective that development is influenced by nested environmental systems: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem.

Eclectic Perspective

An approach taken by developmentalists in which they apply aspects of various theories of development rather than adhering exclusively to one.

Genotype

An organism's entire genetic inheritance, or actual genetic potential.

Phenotype

The observable characteristics, behavior, and physical appearance of a person, resulting from genetic and environmental interactions.

Homozygous

Refers to a gene pair where the code of the gene inherited from one parent is identical to the code of the gene inherited from the other parent.

Heterozygous

Refers to a gene pair where the code of a gene inherited from one parent differs from the code of the gene inherited from the other parent.

Dizygotic Twins

Fraternal twins who are formed when two separate ova are fertilized by two separate sperm at roughly the same time.

Monozygotic Twins

Identical twins who originate from one zygote that splits apart very early in development.

Epigenesis

The study of how environmental factors and experiences alter gene expression without changing the underlying DNA structure.

Blastocyst

A fluid-filled sphere of about 100 cells formed about 4 days after conception, consisting of an inner embryonic disk and outer trophoblast.

Embryonic Disk

The inner cell mass of the blastocyst that develops into the human embryo.

Trophoblast

The outer cell layer of the blastocyst that later forms the protective and supportive structures, including the placenta.

Age of Viability

The age (about 22 to 24 weeks after conception) at which a fetus may survive outside the mother's uterus if specialized medical care is available.

Teratogen

Any agent or condition, such as a virus, drug, or chemical, that can cross the placenta and cause prenatal damage resulting in birth defects or death.

Threshold Effect

A situation in which a teratogen is relatively harmless until exposure reaches a specific level or threshold.

Interaction Effect

The combined risk of two or more teratogens acting together, which creates a greater hazard than either would produce individually.

Doula

A trained companion who provides physical, emotional, and informational support to a woman before, during, and after childbirth.

Preterm

A birth that occurs 3 or more weeks before the full 38 weeks of a typical pregnancy.

Low Birth Weight (LBW)

A body weight at birth of less than 5 1/2 pounds ($2,500\,g$).

Small-for-Gestational-Age (SGA)

A term applied to a baby whose birth weight is significantly lower than expected given the gestational age elapsed since conception.

Immigrant Paradox

The surprising finding that low-SES immigrant women often give birth to healthier infants than native-born women of similar socio-economic backgrounds.

Parental Alliance

Cooperation and mutual support between parents in their shared commitment to raising children.

Kangaroo Care

A form of newborn care in which mothers or fathers rest their low-birth-weight infants directly against their bare chests.

Head Sparing

A biological mechanism that protects the brain when malnutrition or temporary illness disrupts physical growth, prioritizing brain growth.

Co-sleeping

A custom in which parents and infants sleep together in the same room or bed.

Transient Exuberance

The rapid and temporary increase in dendrite and neural connection formation during the first two years of life.

Synaptic Pruning

The process by which unused neural connections in the brain atrophy and die, enhancing processing efficiency.

Own-race Effect

The tendency of infants and adults to recognize and distinguish faces of their own ethnic or racial group more readily than faces of other groups.

Experience-expectant Growth

Brain functions and growth patterns that require basic, common experiences in order to develop normally.

Experience-dependent Growth

Brain functions and structures that depend on specific, variable individual experiences.

Intermodal Perception

The integration and coordination of information from two or more sensory modalities, such as sight and sound.

Amodal Sensory Properties

Perceptual information, such as rhythm, rate, or intensity, that is not tied to a single sensory modality.

Gross Motor Skills

Physical abilities involving large body movements and large muscle groups, such as crawling or walking.

Fine Motor Skills

Physical abilities involving small body movements and precise coordination, such as grabbing a object with fingers.

Deferred Imitation

A cognitive sequence in which an infant perceives another person's action and then performs that same action hours or days later.

Object Permanence

The understanding that objects or people continue to exist even when they are no longer visible, audible, or touchable.

Affordances

In James and Eleanor Gibson's contextual view, the perceptual opportunities offered by an environment, object, or place to an individual.

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

Noam Chomsky's term for a hypothesized innate mental structure that prewires human brains to learn language rules and grammar.

Holophrase

A single word that is used by an infant to express a complete, meaningful thought or sentence.

Telegraphic Speech

Early two-word language structures used by young children that omit nonessential words (e.g., 'go car').

Child-directed Speech

The high-pitched, simplified, and repetitive speech pattern used by adults when talking to infants.

Proximal Parenting

Caregiving practices that involve close physical contact with the infant's body, such as frequent holding and cuddling.

Distal Parenting

Caregiving practices that focus on physical distance, face-to-face interaction, talking, and providing toys/objects.

Ethnotheory

An underlying set of cultural beliefs and values about parenting and child development shared by members of a community.

Stranger Wariness

An infant's expression of fear or concern when an unfamiliar person approaches.

Separation Anxiety

Distress, fear, and crying exhibited by infants or toddlers when a primary caregiver leaves.

Goodness-of-Fit

A similarity or alignment between a child's temperament and their social/parental environment.

Synchrony

A coordinated, rapid, and smooth exchange of biological and social responses between a caregiver and an infant.

Still-face Technique

An experimental procedure in which an adult stops responding to an infant and keeps an expressionless face to measure infant reaction.

Secure Base

The role of a trusted attachment figure who provides a sense of security that allows an infant to explore their environment.

Internal Working Model

In attachment theory, a set of mental assumptions and expectations that an individual uses to interpret social interactions and relationships.

Continuity of Caregiving

The ongoing consistency and warmth of caregiving practices over time, supporting attachment security.