PSYC 3206 Ray Taylor Chapters 4-8

Vocabulary practice flashcards generated from PSYC 3206 lecture notes covering Chapters 4 through 8.

Reflexes

Unlearned, organized, involuntary responses that occur automatically in the presence of certain stimuli; they represent behavior with survival value.

Infancy

A developmental period that starts at birth and continues until the age of two.

Proximal Distance Principle

The principle stating that physical development proceeds from the center of the body outward.

Cephalocaudal Principle

The growth pattern that begins with the head and upper body parts and then proceeds down to the rest of the body.

Brain Weight at Birth

At birth, the brain weighs 1 pound.

Brain Weight at 2 Years Old

At 2 years old, the brain triples its birth weight to 3 pounds and reaches 3/4 of adult size.

Neurotransmitters

Chemical messengers by which neurons communicate.

Synapses

Small gaps between membranes where neuronal communication occurs; billions form during the first two years of an infant's life.

Plasticity

The degree to which a developing structure or behavior is modifiable or changeable due to experience.

Sleep-Wake Transition

A state where behaviors of both wakefulness and sleep are evident; eyes may close and open, but close rapidly.

Active Sleep

A state of sleep characterized by closed eyes, uneven respiration, and intermittent rapid eye movements.

Rooting Reflex

A baby's tendency to turn its head towards things that touch its cheek; disappears around 3 weeks of age.

Moro Reflex

A reflex activated when support for the neck and head is suddenly removed, causing the infant's arms to thrust outward as if to grasp something; disappears at 6 months.

Gross Motor Skills

Motor skills involving large body movements, such as sitting, crawling, and walking.

Myelin

A fatty substance that helps insulate neurons and speeds the transmission of nerve impulses.

Schema

Organized patterns of adapting and change that evolve with mental development.

Assimilation

The process of understanding an experience in terms of one's current stage of cognitive development and current ways of thinking.

Accommodation

Changes in existing ways of thinking that occur in response to encounters with new stimuli or events.

Substage 1: Simple Reflexes

A sensorimotor substage where reflexes determine the infant's interactions with the world and are at the center of their cognitive life.

Substage 2: First Habits and Primary Circular Reactions

A sensorimotor substage where infants begin to coordinate what were separate actions into similar integrated activities.

Substage 4: Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions

A sensorimotor substage where infants use calculated approaches to producing events by coordinating several schemas; object permanence is achieved here.

Substage 6: Beginning of Thought

A sensorimotor substage whose major achievement is the capacity for mental representation or symbolic thought.

Bayley Scales of Infant Development

An assessment focusing on infant development between 2 and 42 months across two main areas: mental abilities and motor abilities.

Prelinguistic Communication

Communication through sounds, facial expressions, gestures, imitation, and other nonlinguistic means.

Babbling

Making speech-like, meaningless sounds.

Telegraphic Speech

Speech in which words that are not critical to the message are left out.

Learning Theory of Language Acquisition

The perspective that language acquisition follows the basic laws of reinforcement and conditioning.

Discontinuous Cognitive Change

Cognitive development that occurs in a stair-step like fashion, involving both quantitative and qualitative changes.

Age of First Memory Retrieval

Age 3 is the earliest age from which a child can remember their first memories.

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

A hypothesized neural system of the brain that permits the understanding of language.

Stranger Anxiety

Natural caution and wariness displayed by infants when encountering an unfamiliar person, common after 6 months of age.

Separation Anxiety

Natural distress displayed by infants when a usual care provider departs.

Mirror-and-Rouge Test

A task used to test self-awareness where most infants touch their nose to attempt to wipe off rouge between 17 and 24 months.

Mary Ainsworth Strange Situation

A sequence of staged episodes that illustrates the strength of attachment between a child and typically their mother.

Secure Attachment Pattern

An attachment style where children use the caregiver as a home base, feeling comfortable in their presence.

Avoidant Attachment Pattern

An attachment style where children do not seek proximity to the mother.

Ambivalent Attachment Pattern

An attachment style where children display both positive and negative reactions toward the mother.

Disorganized Attachment Pattern

An attachment style where children approach the mother upon return without looking at her; represents the least securely attached children.

Hallmark of Securely Attached Infants

Caregiver sensitivity to the infant's needs and desires.

Trust vs. Mistrust Stage

Erikson's stage in infancy where infants develop trust or mistrust depending on how caretakers meet their needs.

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt Stage

Erikson's stage where toddlers develop independence if granted freedom to explore, or shame and doubt if restricted and overprotected.

Temperament (Thomas & Chess)

Patterns of arousal and emotionality that are consistent, enduring individual characteristics; refers to how children behave as opposed to what they do or why.

Sensorimotor Stage

Piaget's initial stage of cognitive development focused on gaining knowledge through the five senses.

Preschool Health Risks

Accidents and injuries represent the greatest health risks for the preschool age group.

Corpus Callosum

The large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres that thickens during development with 800 million fibers to coordinate functioning.

Centration

The tendency to concentrate on one limited aspect of a stimulus while neglecting other relevant features of a situation.

Conservation

Learning that appearances are deceiving and understanding that quantity is unaffected by changes in shape or appearance.

Egocentric Thought

Thinking that does not take into account the viewpoint of others.

Intuitive Thought

Thinking that reflects preschoolers' use of primitive reasoning and eager acquisition of knowledge about the world.

Infantile Amnesia

The inability to retrieve memories from much before age 3.

Scaffolding

Support for learning and problem solving that encourages independence and growth, such as one-on-one assistance that is gradually withdrawn.

Educational Effects of Sesame Street

Child viewers show positive results including being better prepared for school and performing higher on verbal and math measures at ages 6 and 7.

Psychosocial Development (Erikson)

Developmental changes encompassing individuals' understanding of themselves and of others' behavior.

Initiative vs. Guilt Stage

Erikson's stage lasting from age 3 to 6 where children face conflicts between the desire to act independently and guilt from failure.

Self-Concept

A person's identity or set of beliefs about what one is like as an individual.

Gender Schema

A cognitive framework organizing gender-relevant information that leads children to perceive the world in terms of gender; appears before gender constancy.

Gender Constancy

The understanding that gender is permanent and unchanging, typically understood by age 4 or 5.

Functional Play

Simple, repetitive activities typical of 3-year-olds.

Preschoolers' Theory of Mind

The cognitive framework through which preschool children generate explanations for how others think and behave.

Authoritarian Parenting Style

A parenting style high in control and low in responsiveness; rigid, cold, requiring strict obedience with stern discipline and harsh punishment.

Permissive Parenting Style

A parenting style low in control and high in responsiveness; rarely sets rules or says 'no', leading to worst child outcomes like poor self-control.

Authoritative Parenting Style

A parenting style high in control and high in responsiveness; firm with clear rules, open reasoning, resulting in the best child outcomes.

Uninvolved Parenting Style

A parenting style low in control and low in responsiveness; shows almost no interest in children, leading to impulsivity and poor emotional regulation.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Another term for child abuse and neglect.

Cycle of Violence Theory

The theory that abuse and neglect experienced as children disposes individuals to abuse and neglect their own children as adults.

Psychological Maltreatment

Mental or emotional abuse using verbal and non-verbal communication to control or harm someone emotionally.