Developmental Psychology: Early and Middle Childhood Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development in Early Childhood (ages 3–6) and Middle Childhood (ages 6–11).

Night Terror

Sudden awakening from deep sleep in a state of agitation during early childhood.

Enuresis

Repeated, involuntary urination at night by children (commonly known as bed-wetting).

Food Allergy

An abnormal immune system response to certain foods, which is more prevalent in children than in adults.

Fluoride

A mineral essential for the maintenance and solidification of bones and teeth that reduces the incidence of dental caries at low levels.

Gross Motor Development

Physical development involving skills that engage large muscles, such as running, jumping, climbing, throwing, and balancing.

Fine Motor Development

Physical development involving skills that engage small muscles and eye-hand coordination, such as drawing, using utensils, and handling fasteners.

Systems of Action

Increasingly complex combinations of motor skills that allow a wider, more precise range of movement and greater control of the environment.

Handedness

The preference for using one hand over the other, which is usually evident by the age of 3.

Corpus Callosum

A thick band of nerve fibers connecting both brain hemispheres that continues to undergo myelination throughout childhood to allow rapid interhemispheric communication.

Preoperational Stage

Piaget's second major stage of cognitive development (approximately ages 2–7), characterized by the expansion of symbolic thought and mental representation, but lacking consistent reversible logic.

Symbolic Function

The ability to use mental representations (such as words, numbers, or images) to which a child has attached meaning.

Pretend Play

Play involving imaginary people and situations (also called fantasy play, dramatic play, or imaginative play) that allows children to explore possibilities safely.

Transduction

A preoperational child's cognitive tendency to mentally link particular phenomena together regardless of whether a logical causal relationship exists.

Animism

The tendency to attribute life and lifelike qualities to nonliving objects.

Cardinality Principle

The understanding that the total number of items in a set is defined by the last number counted, regardless of how the items are arranged.

Centration

The tendency of preoperational children to focus on one single aspect of a situation while neglecting all other relevant aspects.

Decenter

The cognitive ability to think about several distinct aspects of a situation simultaneously.

Egocentrism

A form of centration in which a child is unable to consider another person's perspective or spatial vantage point, assuming others see, think, and feel as they do.

Three-Mountain Task

A classic experiment created by Jean Piaget and Bärbel Inhelder using an asymmetrical 3D mountain model to evaluate egocentrism and spatial perspective-taking in children.

Conservation

The understanding that two equal physical quantities remain equal even when their perceptual appearance or shape is altered.

Irreversibility

The preoperational child's failure to understand that a physical action or mental operation can be reversed to return to its original state.

Theory of Mind

The emerging awareness that people have their own distinct beliefs, desires, intentions, and feelings, which helps predict and explain human behavior.

Encoding

The information-processing mechanism by which incoming information is prepared for long-term storage and subsequent retrieval.

Sensory Memory

The initial, temporary storage system that briefly retains incoming sensory information.

Working Memory

Short-term mental storage that actively processes and manipulates information currently being used.

Long-Term Memory

A memory storage system of virtually unlimited capacity that holds information over extended periods.

Recall

The memory retrieval process of reproducing previously learned material directly from memory without external cues.

Recognition

The memory process of identifying a stimulus or item that was previously encountered.

Metamemory

A component of metacognition involving knowledge of and conscious reflection upon one's own memory processes and strategies.

Generic Memory

Memory beginning around age 2 that produces general scripts of familiar, repeated routines to guide daily behavior.

Episodic Memory

Temporary long-term memory of specific personal experiences or events linked to a particular time and location.

Autobiographical Memory

Memory of specific, meaningful events in one's own life history that emerges between ages 3 and 4.

Social Interaction Model

A model based on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory proposing that children construct autobiographical memories through collaborative conversations about shared events with adults.

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (SBIS)

An individual intelligence test for individuals aged 2 and older that measures fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing, and working memory.

Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-IV)

An individual intelligence test with separate batteries for ages 2½–4 and 4–7 that assesses verbal/nonverbal fluid reasoning, vocabulary, and processing speed.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Vygotsky's term for the gap between what a learner can accomplish independently and what they can achieve with guidance from a more skilled partner.

Scaffolding

Temporary supportive assistance provided by a more knowledgeable person to help a child master a task, which is gradually withdrawn as competence grows.

Fast Mapping

The process by which a child rapidly absorbs the meaning of a new word after hearing it only once or twice in conversation.

Pragmatics

The practical social knowledge required to use language effectively for communication in various social contexts.

Private Speech

Talking aloud to oneself without intent to communicate with others, which serves as a developmental tool for self-regulation and learning.

Emergent Literacy

Preschoolers' development of foundational skills, knowledge, and attitudes that precede formal reading and writing.

Self-concept

The total descriptive and evaluative mental picture an individual holds regarding their own traits, abilities, and identity.

Self-definition

The specific way children describe themselves, which shifts around ages 5–7 from concrete physical features to generalized psychological traits.

Real Self

The person an individual actually is in reality.

Ideal Self

The person an individual would like to be.

Self-esteem

The evaluative judgment an individual makes concerning their overall self-worth.

Initiative vs. Guilt

Erikson's third psychosocial stage (early childhood), in which children attempt to balance goal-directed motives with reservations, developing the virtue of purpose.

Gender Identity

The foundational awareness of one's own gender and its cultural implications.

Gender Roles

The behaviors, interests, attitudes, skills, and traits that a specific culture considers appropriate for males or females.

Gender-typing

The socialization process through which young children learn culturally defined gender roles.

Gender Constancy

The realization that a person's biological sex remains fixed and permanent over time regardless of appearance (also called sex-category constancy).

Gender-schema Theory

Theory proposing that children actively socialize themselves into gender roles by organizing cultural information about gender into mental networks.

Functional Play

The lowest cognitive level of play, characterized by repetitive, large muscular movements.

Constructive Play

Play involving the deliberate use of objects, materials, or blocks to build or construct something (also called object play).

Dramatic Play

Play involving imaginary situations, fantasy, or role-playing of characters (pretend play).

Formal Games with Rules

Organized play involving structured games with established rules, procedures, and penalties.

Corporal Punishment

The use of physical force intended to cause pain (but not injury) in order to correct or control a child's behavior.

Inductive Techniques

Discipline strategies designed to encourage desirable behavior by appealing to a child's sense of logic, fairness, and empathy.

Power Assertion

Disciplinary methods aimed at stopping unwanted behavior through direct physical or verbal control and demands.

Withdrawal of Love

Disciplinary tactics that involve ignoring, isolating, or demonstrating coldness and dislike toward a child.

Authoritarian Parenting

A parenting style centered on strict control, unquestioned obedience, and forceful punishment for nonconformity.

Permissive Parenting

A parenting style emphasizing self-expression and autonomy, featuring low demands, few rules, and rare punishment.

Authoritative Parenting

A parenting style blending high warmth and acceptance with firm standards, clear limits, and respect for the child's individuality.

Neglectful Parenting

A parenting style characterized by both low parental warmth and low parental control or involvement.

Middle Childhood

The developmental period spanning ages 6 to 11, commonly referred to as the school years.

Gray Matter

Brain tissue composed of neuronal cell bodies whose volume peaks before puberty and subsequently decreases due to synaptic pruning.

White Matter

Brain tissue made of myelinated nerve fibers that steadily increases through middle childhood to accelerate processing speed and interhemispheric communication.

Rough-and-Tumble Play

Vigorous, physical play involving chasing, wrestling, and play-fighting that helps children measure strength and establish peer social hierarchies.

Body Image

An individual's personal perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes regarding their physical appearance.

Acute Medical Conditions

Short-term illnesses or medical conditions that last for a brief duration.

Chronic Medical Conditions

Persisting health problems or illnesses that endure for at least 3 months.

Asthma

A chronic respiratory disease marked by recurrent episodes of coughing, wheezing, and breathing difficulty.

Diabetes

A chronic metabolic disease marked by elevated blood glucose levels resulting from defective insulin secretion or insulin resistance.

Childhood Hypertension

Abnormally high blood pressure in children that is associated with executive functioning difficulties and learning disabilities.

Concrete Operational Stage

Piaget's third stage of cognitive development (ages 7–11), during which children can reason logically about concrete, real-world situations and decenter.

Seriation

The cognitive ability to arrange items in an ordered sequence according to a quantitative dimension such as length, weight, or size.

Transitive Inference

Inferring a logical relationship between two objects based on their known relationships to a third object (e.g., if A < B and B < C, then A < C).

Class Inclusion

Understanding the hierarchical relationship between a broader category (the whole) and its sub-categories (the parts).

Inductive Reasoning

Logical thinking that moves from specific observations about individual cases to formulate a broad, general conclusion.

Deductive Reasoning

Logical thinking that starts with a general premise or rule and applies it to derive conclusions about specific cases.

Principle of Identity

The cognitive understanding in conservation tasks that an object remains the same substance despite superficial changes in appearance.

Principle of Reversibility

The understanding that physical transformations can be mentally or physically reversed to restore original conditions.

Selective Attention

The executive ability to deliberately focus on relevant stimuli while tuning out irrelevancies or distractions.

Executive Functioning

The conscious cognitive management of thoughts, emotional reactions, and behaviors to solve problems and achieve goals.

Rehearsal

A memory strategy that maintains items in working memory through conscious, repeated practice.

Elaboration

A mnemonic technique of connecting new items to be remembered with existing mental associations or meaningful ideas.

Organization

A mnemonic strategy that involves grouping or categorizing information into structured systems to facilitate recall.

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV)

An individual intelligence test for children aged 6–16 that measures verbal and performance abilities to yield separate and composite scores.

Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT8)

A group-administered standardized intelligence test for kindergarten through grade 12 evaluating verbal, numerical, and conceptual abilities.

Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC-II)

A non-traditional individual intelligence test engineered to provide fair cognitive evaluations for culturally diverse children and students with disabilities.

Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner's framework proposing that individuals possess multiple, distinct forms of intelligence (e.g., linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist).

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Robert Sternberg's model identifying three distinct aspects of intelligence: componential (analytical), experiential (creative), and contextual (practical).

Enrichment Programs

Educational strategies for gifted students that expand and deepen skills through supplementary activities, projects, and mentorship without advancing grade level.

Acceleration Programs

Educational strategies for gifted students that move them through standard curriculum sequences at an accelerated pace.

Dyslexia

A specific learning disability marked by severe impairment in reading decoding, fluency, and spelling accuracy.

Dysgraphia

A specific learning disability characterized by significant difficulties in handwriting, motor execution of writing, and written expression.

Dyscalculia

A developmental learning disorder involving significant difficulty understanding numbers, learning math facts, and performing arithmetic calculations.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

A common childhood neurodevelopmental disorder marked by persistent, age-inappropriate patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

A pervasive developmental disorder defined by persistent social-communication deficits and restricted, repetitive behaviors or interests.

Industry vs. Inferiority

Erikson's fourth psychosocial stage (middle childhood), wherein children must master culturally relevant skills or develop feelings of inadequacy, yielding the virtue of competence.