Cognitive, Motor and Social Development in Toddlerhood

Vocabulary flashcards covering the biological, cognitive, motor, and socio-emotional milestones of toddlerhood based on developmental psychology lecture material.

Toddlerhood

The developmental phase of childhood spanning from approximately $12$ (or $18$) months to $30$ (or $36$) months of age.

Deferred Imitation

The ability to recall and reproduce a previously observed, complex action sequence after a delay, reflecting advanced memory and representational capacity.

Subjective Self

A dimension of self-concept emerging around $12\text{--}18\text{ months}$ characterized by self-referent emotions, progress in self-regulation, and an insistence on one's own will and autonomy.

Bladder and Bowel Control

Voluntary control over excretion that toddlers become biologically capable of beginning around $18\text{ months}$, typically achieved between $24\text{ and }48\text{ months}$ of age.

Reflexive Stage

Piaget's first substage of sensorimotor intelligence ($0\text{--}2\text{ months}$), characterized by simple reflex activities such as grasping and sucking.

Primary Circular Reactions

Piaget's second sensorimotor substage ($2\text{--}4\text{ months}$), where reflexive behaviors are repeated in controlled, stereotyped actions focused on the infant's own body, such as repetitively opening and closing fingers.

Secondary Circular Reactions

Piaget's third sensorimotor substage ($4\text{--}8\text{ months}$), marked by the repetition of chance actions to reproduce interesting external consequences, such as kicking to move a suspended mobile.

Coordination of Secondary Reactions

Piaget's fourth sensorimotor substage ($8\text{--}12\text{ months}$), where schemes are coordinated into intentional, goal-directed sequences, such as moving a barrier to obtain a hidden object.

Tertiary Circular Reactions

Piaget's fifth sensorimotor substage ($12\text{--}18\text{ months}$), in which toddlers deliberately and systematically vary schemes involving multiple objects to discover new effects and solve problems through active trial and error.

Invention of New Means Through Mental Combination

Piaget's sixth sensorimotor substage ($18\text{--}24\text{ months}$), in which schemes are internalized into mental representations, allowing toddlers to solve problems mentally without relying on overt trial and error.

Pretend (Symbolic) Play

The voluntary transformation of the here-and-now, in which an action, image, object, or word stands for something else.

Understanding Intentions (Meltzoff, 1995)

The social-cognitive capacity observed at $18\text{ months}$ where toddlers understand human goals and imitate what an adult intended to do rather than the adult's accidental or unsuccessful action.

Subjectivity of Desires

A social-cognitive realization that other individuals can possess personal likes, dislikes, and emotional motives that differ from one's own.

Rouge Mark Test

A visual self-recognition test typically passed between $18\text{ and }24\text{ months}$, indicated when a toddler touches a mark on their own face rather than on the mirror image.

Cultural Variation in Mirror Self-Recognition (Keller & Kärtner, 2013)

The finding that mirror self-recognition develops earlier in urban middle-class settings that emphasize psychological autonomy than in rural-agricultural contexts that emphasize hierarchical relatedness.

Self-Evaluation (Kagan, 1981)

The process emerging around $18\text{ months}$ wherein toddlers evaluate the self against adult standards and experience emotional distress before failing an unachievable task.

Self-Conscious Emotions

Emotions such as embarrassment, pride, shame, and guilt that develop alongside self-awareness and an understanding of social rules and norm violations.

Separation Anxiety

A behavioral indicator of attachment consolidated by the end of the first year, evident when an infant protests or becomes distressed upon a caregiver's departure.

Prosocial Behavior

Voluntary actions intended to benefit or comfort another, typically emerging around $2\text{ years}$ of age in response to another person's distress.

Instrumental Aggression

Physical aggression employed by toddlers as an instrument or tool to enforce personal will, claim ownership, and resolve interpersonal conflicts.