Psychology 2e: Chapter 9 - Lifespan Development

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the core concepts, theories, developmental stages, and empirical studies from Chapter 9 Lifespan Development in OpenStax Psychology 2e.

Lifespan Development

The scientific study of how humans change as well as how they remain the same over the course of their entire life.

Physical Development

A developmental domain encompassing growth and changes in the body and brain, senses, motor skills, and overall health and wellness.

Cognitive Development

A developmental domain focusing on mental processes, including learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning, and creativity.

Psychosocial Development

A developmental domain involving emotions, personality, and interpersonal relationships.

Normative Approach

A developmental method where large cohorts of children are studied to identify average ages or norms at which developmental milestones (e.g., crawling, walking, speaking) are typically achieved.

Continuous Development

A perspective viewing development as a gradual, cumulative process of improving upon and expanding existing skills, such as adding height year by year.

Discontinuous Development

A perspective viewing human growth as taking place in unique, distinct stages occurring at specific times or ages.

Nature vs. Nurture

The psychological debate examining the relative influence of biological and genetic predispositions (nature) compared to environmental and cultural surroundings (nurture) in shaping personality and developmental traits.

Psychosexual Theory

Sigmund Freud's discontinuous developmental model positing that childhood pleasure-seeking drives focus on specific erogenous zones across five stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital), where inadequate nurturance can result in fixation.

Psychosocial Theory

Erik Erikson's eight-stage model asserting that social interactions shape our ego identity and sense of competence across the entire lifespan rather than solely in childhood.

Trust vs. Mistrust

Erikson's first psychosocial stage (ages $0-1$ years), where infants learn whether or not their basic survival needs, including nourishment and warmth, will reliably be met.

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

Erikson's second psychosocial stage (ages $1-3$ years), centered around toddlers building independence in everyday tasks versus feeling self-doubt.

Initiative vs. Guilt

Erikson's third psychosocial stage (ages $3-6$ years), wherein children take initiative in planning activities and may feel guilt if unsuccessful or overstepping limits.

Industry vs. Inferiority

Erikson's fourth psychosocial stage (ages $7-11$ years), during which children develop pride and confidence in their skills or experience feelings of inadequacy.

Identity vs. Role Confusion

Erikson's fifth psychosocial stage (ages $12-18$ years), where adolescents explore different roles and values to form a coherent sense of personal self.

Intimacy vs. Isolation

Erikson's sixth psychosocial stage (ages $19-29$ years), focused on establishing committed, loving relationships with others after forming an identity.

Generativity vs. Stagnation

Erikson's seventh psychosocial stage (ages $30-64$ years), involving contributing productively to societal welfare and nurturing family versus self-absorption.

Integrity vs. Despair

Erikson's eighth psychosocial stage (ages $65+$ years), wherein older adults reflect upon their lifetime achievements with either a sense of satisfaction or regrets.

Schemata

Mental models or cognitive concepts used by children and adults to interpret, process, and organize environmental information.

Assimilation

The cognitive adjustment process of integrating new experiences or information into already existing schemata without altering them.

Accommodation

The cognitive adjustment process of modifying or creating new schemata in response to novel incoming information.

Sensorimotor Stage

Piaget's first developmental stage (ages $0-2$ years), in which infants explore the environment through senses and motor movements, learning object permanence and experiencing stranger anxiety.

Object Permanence

The cognitive understanding that objects continue to exist even when hidden from direct physical perception, typically developing around $8$ months of age.

Preoperational Stage

Piaget's second cognitive stage (ages $2-6$ years), characterized by symbolic play, language development, and egocentrism, but lacking concrete logical operations.

Egocentrism

A cognitive limitation in young children during the preoperational stage characterized by the inability to take the perspective or viewpoint of another person.

Concrete Operational Stage

Piaget's third cognitive stage (ages $7-11$ years), where children develop the ability to think logically about tangible events, perform arithmetical tasks, and understand conservation.

Formal Operational Stage

Piaget's final cognitive stage (ages $12+$ years), marked by abstract thinking, hypothetical deductive reasoning, and systematic problem solving.

Kohlberg's Levels of Moral Reasoning

A developmental model consisting of three broad tiers: Pre-conventional (driven by avoiding punishment and seeking self-rewards), Conventional (driven by social approval and maintaining social order), and Post-conventional (driven by social contract and universal ethical principles).

Germinal Stage

The initial two-week prenatal period (weeks $1-2$) following conception, characterized by rapid mitotic division of the zygote before uterine implantation.

Zygote

A single-celled diploid structure formed immediately upon the successful fertilization of an egg by a sperm cell.

Embryonic Stage

The second prenatal stage (weeks $3-8$), marked by uterine implantation of the blastocyst (at approximately $150$ cells), organogenesis, and the start of heart contractions.

Placenta

A vascular organ connected to the uterine wall that transfers nutrients and oxygen from mother to embryo via the umbilical cord while filtering waste products.

Fetal Stage

The final prenatal period spanning weeks $9-40$, characterized by substantial brain growth and rapid bodily physical development until full-term birth.

Teratogen

Any biological, chemical, or physical environmental agent (such as alcohol, nicotine, drugs, or radiation) capable of producing congenital harm to a developing embryo or fetus.

Fetal-Alcohol Syndrome

A spectrum of irreversible birth defects caused by maternal alcohol use during pregnancy, resulting in small head size, abnormal facial characteristics, poor impulse control, and lower IQ.

Rooting Reflex

An instinctive newborn survival reflex where an infant turns its head toward a gentle stroke on the cheek and begins searching for a nipple.

Moro Reflex

An inborn startle response wherein an infant spreads its arms outward and then quickly pulls them back toward the body when startled or sensing a loss of support.

Blooming Period

A phase of early neural development in infancy and toddlerhood during which thousands of new synaptic pathways and connections are rapidly formed.

Pruning Period

A physiological phase during childhood and adolescence in which non-essential neural synapses are systematically eliminated, optimizing brain efficiency.

Fine Motor Skills

Physical coordination focusing on the delicate, smaller muscles of the fingers, toes, and eyes to accomplish precise actions like writing or using scissors.

Gross Motor Skills

Physical coordination governed by large skeletal muscle groups controlling the torso, legs, and arms for actions such as running, jumping, and balancing.

Baillargeon's Truck Experiment (1987)

A habituation study challenging Piaget's timeline by showing that young infants look significantly longer at an impossible event (a truck appearing to roll directly through an obstruction), indicating an early innate understanding of solid objects.

Harlow's Surrogate Mother Study

An investigation by Harry Harlow demonstrating that infant monkeys strongly preferred a soft terry-cloth surrogate mother over a wire surrogate that supplied milk, proving comfort and contact security are essential to attachment.

Secure Base

John Bowlby's concept of a trusted caregiver's supportive presence, which endows an infant with the safety necessary to explore novel environments.

Strange Situation

A structured laboratory observation procedure created by Mary Ainsworth in which infants and mothers experience brief separations and reunions to classify attachment styles.

Secure Attachment

The most common attachment style, where a child uses the parent as a secure base to explore, becomes distressed upon their departure, and shows joy upon their return.

Avoidant Attachment

An insecure attachment pattern marked by indifference to the primary caregiver, lack of distress upon separation, and hesitation to greet or seek comfort upon reunion.

Resistant Attachment

An insecure attachment pattern where an infant clings tightly, fails to explore, displays severe agitation during absence, and resists or exhibits anger toward the returning caregiver.

Disorganized Attachment

An insecure attachment classification characterized by confusing, erratic, or fearful behavior (such as freezing or fleeing) upon the caregiver's return, often seen in abuse contexts.

Self-Concept

An individual's developing awareness and evaluation of their identity, recognizable in mirrors around $18$ months and in pictures by $24-36$ months.

Authoritative Parenting Style

Diana Baumrind's parenting classification characterized by high warmth, open dialogue, reasonable demands, and consistent, fair boundaries.

Authoritarian Parenting Style

A restrictive parenting style emphasizing strict obedience, rigid rules, and punitive consequences while offering minimal emotional warmth.

Permissive Parenting Style

A highly affectionate and indulgent parenting style marked by low behavioral expectations, few demands, and very rare discipline.

Uninvolved Parenting Style

A neglectful parenting style where caregivers make few demands, fail to engage emotionally, and remain indifferent to the child's needs.

Temperament

Biologically based innate behavioral tendencies that dictate how a child emotionally responds and adapts to environmental changes.

Adrenarche

The physiological maturation of the adrenal glands, which occurs during early puberty prior to full gonadal development.

Gonadarche

The developmental maturation of the primary sexual gonads (ovaries in females and testes in males) during puberty.

Menarche

The initial occurrence of menstruation in females, usually happening between the ages of $12$ and $13$ years.

Spermarche

The initial occurrence of ejaculation in males, generally taking place around the ages of $13$ to $14$ years.

Frontal Lobe

The anterior cerebral cortex structure responsible for executive functioning, impulse regulation, planning, and judgment, which matures gradually into the early twenties.

Cognitive Empathy

The cognitive capability, also called theory of mind, to adopt other people's perspectives, understand their feelings, and resolve interpersonal challenges.

Emerging Adulthood

A distinct developmental phase spanning from age $18$ to the mid-$20$s, dedicated to identity exploration, post-secondary education, and career preparation before establishing adulthood obligations.

Crystallized Intelligence

The accumulation of concrete facts, acquired vocabulary, and learned knowledge gained through life experience, which stays stable or improves in middle adulthood.

Fluid Intelligence

Cognitive processing speed, spatial visualization, short-term memory, and abstract reasoning capacity, which gradually decreases in late adulthood.

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

A developmental theory positing that as individuals grow older, they narrow their social networks to focus on smaller numbers of closer, emotionally rewarding ties.

Five Stages of Grief

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's psychological model of the responses to terminal illness and death: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.