Introduction to Psychology - Week 4 Flashcards

Embryonic Stage

A period of prenatal development when a fertilized egg implants in the uterus and begins to develop into an embryo.

Germinal Stage

A period of prenatal development where the division of cells and implantation of the blastocyst occurs.

Fetal Stage

A period of prenatal development when continued growth of organs and physical development in preparation for birth occurs.

Teratogens

Any substance, agent, or process that interferes with normal prenatal development, causing the formation of one or more developmental abnormalities in the fetus.

Habituation

A form of non-associative learning that refers to the decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated exposure.

Cognitive Development

How we learn to think, know, remember, and communicate.

Assimilation

The process of receiving new facts or of responding to new situations in conformity with what is already available to consciousness.

Accommodation

The automatic adjustment of the eye for seeing a different distances effected chiefly by changes in the convex it’s of the crystalline lens.

Sensorimotor Stage

The period of development from birth through age two. During this initial phase of development, children utilize skills and abilities they were born with (such as looking, sucking, grasping, and listening) to learn more about the environment.

Preoperational Stage

The period of development between the ages of 2 and 7. At the beginning of this stage, children do not yet understand concrete logic, cannot mentally manipulate information, and are unable to take the point of view of other people. During the preoperational stage, children also become increasingly adept at using symbols.

Concrete Operational Stage

The period of cognitive development between the ages of 7 and 11 when children begin to think logically and use concrete objects to solve problems.

Formal Operational Stage

The final developmental stage where individuals typically beginning around age 11 or 12 develop the ability to think abstractly, reason logically, and systematically test hypotheses, allowing them to understand complex concepts and hypothetical situations beyond concrete experiences.

Deductive Reasoning

A psychological process that people use to make decisions and solve problems.

Self Concept

A person’s evaluation and description of themselves, encompassing their beliefs, attitudes, and opinions about their existence.

Social Comparison

A psychological process where people compare their own attributes to others.

Attachment

A strong emotional bond that an infant forms with a caregiver (such as a mother) especially when viewed as a basis for normal emotional and social development.

Secure Attachment Style

A healthy pattern of relating to others, characterized by a sense of trust, confidence in relationships, the ability to express emotions openly, and a comfortable balance between dependence and independence, allowing individuals to seek support when needed while maintaining a strong sense of self.

Ambivalent Attachment Style

A type of insecure attachment where a child experiences extreme distress when separated from their caregiver, but then shows mixed reactions like clinging and pushing away when the caregiver returns, often stemming from inconsistent caregiving behaviors from the parent.

Avoidant Attachment Style

An attachment style where a person tends to avoid emotional intimacy and closeness in relationships, often stemming from a childhood experience where their needs for care and attention are not consistently met, leading them to develop a pattern of distancing themselves from others to protect against perceived rejection or vulnerability.

Disorganized Attachment Style

An insecure attachment style where a child displays inconsistent and unpredictable behavior toward their caregiver, often stemming from a childhood where the caregiver was frightening or unreliable, leading to confusion and fear in the child, and usually manifesting as a lack of clear strategy for seek nig comfort in stressful situations.

Temperament

The innate personality traits of the infant.

Moral Development

The process through which individuals acquire and internalize moral values, beliefs, and principles that guide their behavior and decision-making in social contexts.

Aphasia

A neurological impairment of language.

Broca’s Area

A brain center associated with the motor control of speech and usually located in the left side of the frontal lobe.

Wernicke’s Area

An area of the left brain that is located in the posterior left temporal lobe and is associated with comprehension of language.

Psycholinguistics

The study of the mental facilities involved in the perception, production, and acquisition of language.

Phonology

The science of speech sounds including especially the history and theory of sound changes in a language or in two or more related languages.

Morphology

A study and description of word formation (such as inflection, derivation, and compounding) in language.

Syntax

The way in which linguistic elements (such as words) are put together to form constituents (such as phrases or clauses).

Semantics

The historical and psychological study and the classification of changes in the signification of words or forms viewed as factors in linguistic development.

Pragmatics

A branch of linguistics that is concerned with the relationship of sentences to the environment in which they occur.

Universal Grammar

The idea that all humans are born with an innate ability to acquire, develop, and understand language.

Voiceless Consonants

A consonant that is produced without using the vocal cords to vibrate.

Voiced Consonants

Consonant sounds that are made by vibrating the vocal cords.