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developmental psychology
a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social emotional development throughout the lifespan.
cross sectional study
research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time.
longitudinal study
research that follows and retests the same people over time.
teratogens
agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
physical and cognitive function deficits in children caused by their birth mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy. In severe cases, symptoms include a small, out of proportion head and distinct facial features.
habituation
decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.
maturation
biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
critical period
an optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development.
adolescence
the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.
puberty
the period of sexual maturation, during which a person usually becomes capable of reproducing.
menopause
the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines.
sex
in psychology, the biologically influenced characteristics by which people define male, female, and intersex.
gender
in psychology, the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex.
intersex
possessing male and female biological sexual characteristics at birth.
aggression
any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.
relational aggression
an act of aggression (physical or verbal) intended to harm a person’s relationship or social standing.
X chromosome
the sex chromosome found in females and males. Females typically have two chromosomes; males typically have one. An _ chromosome from each parent produces a female child.
Y chromosome
the sex chromosome typically found only in males. When paired with an X chromosome from the mother, it produces a male child.
testosterone
the most important male sex hormone. Males and females have it, but the additional testosterone in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs during the fetal period, and the development of male sex characteristics during puberty.
estrogens
sex hormones, such as estradiol, that contribute to female sex characteristics and are secreted in greater amounts by females than by males.
primary sex characteristics
the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible.
secondary sex characteristics
nonreproductive sexual traits, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair.
spermarche
the first ejaculation.
menarche
the first menstrual period.
role
a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.
gender role
a set of expected behaviors, attitudes, and traits for men and for women.
sexual aggression
any physical or verbal behavior of a sexual nature that is unwanted or intended to harm someone physically or emotionally. Can be expressed as either sexual harassment or sexual assault.
gender identity
our personal sense of being male, female, neither, or some combination of male and female, regardless of whether this identity matches our sex assigned at birth, and the social affiliation that may result from this identity.
social learning theory
the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished.
gender typing
the acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role.
androgyny
blending traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine psychological characteristics.
transgender
an umbrella term describing people whose gender identity or expression differs from that associated with their birth. assigned sex.
sexuality
our thoughts, feelings, and actions related to our physical attraction to another.
asexual
having no sexual attraction toward others.
social script
a culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations.
sexual orientation
according to the APA (2015), “a person’s sexual and emotional attraction to another person and the behavior and/or social affiliation that may result from this attraction.”
cognition
all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
schema
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.
assimilation
interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.
accommodation (in developmental psychology)
in developmental psychology, adapting our current schemas (understandings) to incorporate new information.
sensorimotor stage
in Piaget’s theory, the stage (from birth to nearly 2 years of age) at which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.
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) at which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.
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.
egocentrism
in Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view.
concrete operational stage
in Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 7 to 11 years of age) at which children can perform the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete (actual, physical) events
formal operational stage
in Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) at which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.
scaffold
in Vygotsky’s theory, a framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking.
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.
language
our agreed upon systems of spoken, written, or signed words, and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.
phoneme
in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.
grammar
in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. Semantics is the language’s set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is its set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.
universal grammar (UG)
humans’ innate predisposition to understand the principles and rules that govern grammar in all languages.
babbling stage
the stage in speech development, beginning around 4 months, during which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds that are not all related to the household language.
one word stage
the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words.
two word stage
the stage in speech development, beginning about age 2, during which a child speaks mostly in two word sentences.
telegraphic speech
the early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram “go car” using mostly nouns and verbs.
aphasia
impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding).
Broca’s area
a frontal lobe brain area, usually in the left hemisphere, that helps control language expression by directing the muscle movements involved in speech.
Wernicke’s area
a brain area, usually in the left temporal lobe, involved in language comprehension and expression.
linguistic determinism
Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think.
linguistic relativism
the idea that language influences the way we think.
ecological systems theory
a theory of the social environment’s influence on human development, using five nested systems (microsystem; mesosystem; exosystem; macrosystem; chronosystem) ranging from direct to indirect influences.
stranger anxiety
the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age.
attachment
an emotional tie with others; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to caregivers and showing distress on separation.
imprinting
the process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life.
strange situation
a procedure for studying child caregiver attachment; a child is placed in an unfamiliar environment while their caregiver leaves and then returns, and the child’s reactions are observed.
secure attachment
demonstrated by infants who comfortably explore environments in the presence of their caregiver, show only temporary distress when the caregiver leaves, and find comfort in the caregiver’s return.
insecure attachment
demonstrated by infants who display a clinging, anxious attachment; an avoidant attachment that resists closeness; or a disorganized attachment with no consistent behavior when separated from or reunited with caregivers.
temperament
a person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.
basic trust
according to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers.
self concept
all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?”
identity
our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles.
social identity
the “we” aspect of our self concept; the part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships.
intimacy
in Erikson’s theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in young adulthood.
emerging adulthood
a period from about age 18 to the mid twenties, when many persons in prosperous Western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults.
social clock
the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement.
learning
the process of acquiring through experience new and relatively enduring information or behaviors.
associative learning
learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequence (as in operant conditioning).
stimulus
any event or situation that evokes a response.
respondent behavior
behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.
operant behavior
behavior that operates on the environment, producing a consequence.
cognitive learning
the acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language.
classical conditioning
a type of learning in which we link two or more stimuli; as a result, to illustrate with Pavlov’s classic experiment, the first stimulus (a tone) comes to elicit behavior (drooling) in anticipation of the second stimulus (food).
behaviorism
the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).
neutral stimulus (NS)
in classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning.
unconditioned response (UCR)
in classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) (such as food in the mouth).
unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally naturally and automatically triggers an unconditioned response (UCR).
conditioned response (CR)
in classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS).
conditioned stimulus (CS)
in classical conditioning, an originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR).
acquisition
in classical conditioning, the initial stage when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. (In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.)
higher order conditioning
a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus. For example, an animal that has learned that a tone predicts food might then learn that a light predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone. (Also called second order conditioning.)
extinction
in classical conditioning, the diminishing of a conditioned response when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus. (In operant conditioning, when a response is no longer reinforced.)
spontaneous recovery
the reappearance, after a pause, of a weakened conditioned response.
generalization
(also called stimulus generalization) in classical conditioning, the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses. (In operant conditioning, when responses learned in one situation occur in other, similar situations.)
discrimination (in classical conditioning)
in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have not been associated with a conditioned stimulus. (In operant conditioning, the ability to distinguish responses that are reinforced from similar responses that are not reinforced.)
preparedness
a biological predisposition to learn associations, such as between taste and nausea, that have survival value.
operant conditioning
a type of learning in which a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely to recur if followed by a punisher.
law of effect
Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable (or reinforcing) consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable (or punishing) consequences become less likely.
operant chamber
in operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pecking.
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