Unit 9: Developmental Psychology (copy)

Developmental Psychology

A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, emotional,and social change throughout the life span. Examines how people continually develop.

Teratogens

Harmful agents, such as viruses and chemicals, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions. Rats whose mothers drank alcohol while pregnant showed a liking for the smell of alcohol.

Maturation

Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience. Includes rapid development of the cerebellum

Cognition

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Schema

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. Mental molds into which we pour our experience.

Assimilation

Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas. Fitting info into our ideas. (Freshman not moving in hallways)

Accommodation

Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. Adjusting your point ot view to fit in the outside world. (Juniors/Seniors moving in the hallway)

Sensorimotor Stage

Stage in Piaget's theory, from birth to about 2 years of age, during which infants take in the world mostly through sensory impressions and motor activities, through their sense and actions- looking, hearing, touching, mouthing, and grasping. Infants live in the present. If they do not see it, it isn't there. Stranger anxiety and object permanence develop in this stage.

Egocentrism

The preoperational child's difficulty in perceiving things from anothers point of view. They assume that we know what they know. Adults and teenagers also encounter this in texting, we think the sarcasm is as clear to them as it is to us.

Theory of Mind

Peoples ideas about their own and others mental states-- about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict. Children develop the ability to infer others mental states around age four or five. Children with autism have difficulty understanding theory of mind, including their own mental states. Theory of mind shows up gradually. For example, we can appreciate others feelings before we can appreciate their beliefs.

Concrete Operational Stage

In Piaget's theory of cognitive development the stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events, like grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmmetical operations. Conservation and mathematical transformations occur.

Formal Operational Stage

In Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning at about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts. Abstract logic and the potential for more mature reasoning appears.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, repetitive behaviors, and understandings of other's states of mind.

Stranger Anxiety

The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age. At this age, children have schemas for familiar faces; when they cannot assimilate the new face into thes remembered schemas, they become distressed.

Attachment

An emotional tie with another person; shown in young children seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation. As we mature, our secure base and safe haven shifts-- from parents to peers and partnters.

Critical Period

An optimal period shortly after birth, when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development

Imprinting

the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life. Children do not imprint, but they do become attached to traditions, people, ideas, and objects during what's called a sensitive period.

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. Is important it makes people mare able to trust and commit.

Self Concept

Our understanding and evaluation of who we are. Begins with self-recognition, which is thought to begin around 15 to 18 months. Gradually strengthens, and by school age, children begin describing themselves in terms of their gender, group membership, and psychological traits, and compare themselves with other children.

Role

A set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the positions ought to behave.

Gender Identity

Our sense of being male or female

Gender Typing

The aquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role

Social Learning Theory

The theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished. Assumes that children learn gender-linked behaviors through this way, but even when families discourage traditional gender typing, children generally organize themselve into gender roles.

Adolescence

the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence

Puberty

The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.

Identity

Our sense of self; according to Erickson, the adolescents 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 late adolescence and early adulthood

Emerging Adulthood

for some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to mid-twenties, bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood.

Cross-Sectional Studies

A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.

Social Clock

the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement