Studied by 16 people
developmental psychology
a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span
Zygote
the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo.
Embryo
the developing human organism about 2 week after fertilization through the second month
fetus
the developing human organism from 9 weeks after contraception to birth.
Teratogen
(literally monster makers) agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm (drugs, alcohol etc.)
Fetal Alcohol syndrome
Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In severe cases, signs include out of proportion head and abnormal facial features.
Habituation
decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus. Their interest wanes and they look away sooner.
Maturation
biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
Jean Piaget
believed that children construct their understanding of the world while interacting with it. In his view, psychology consisted of four major stages-sensorinmotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.
Schema
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.
Assimilation
interpreting our new experiences in turns of our existing schema.
Accommodation
adapting our current understandings (schema) to incorporate new information.
Sensorimotor stage
in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to nearly two years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.
object permanence
the awareness that things continue to exist
stranger anxiety
the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age
preoperational stage
in Piagets theory, the stage (from about 2 to 6 or 7) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.
Theory of Mind
People's ideas about their own and other's mental states-about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts and the behaviors these might predict.
egocentrism
in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view.
concrete operational stage
in Piaget's theory the stage of cognitive development (from about 7-11) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about abstract concepts.
conservation
the principle (which piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects.
Formal operational stage
In Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning at age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.
Lev Vygotsky
A Russian psychologist. He emphasized how a child's mind grows through interaction with the social environment.
Autism
A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors.
cognition
all the mental abilities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
scaffold
In Vygotsky's theory, a framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking.
attachment
An emotional time with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to their caregiver and showing distress upon separation.
Heritability
involves variation among individuals in a group that we can attribute to genes. Depends on populations and changes in the environment. (how do genes cause a behavior?)
Molecular genetics
a subfield of biology that studies the molecular structure and function of genes.
Epigenetics
is above or in addition to genetics. The study of environmental influences on gene expression that occur without DNA change.
Gender Roles
are experiences behaviors, attitudes, and traits for males or females. Cultures shape our behaviors to behave in a particular social position.
Gender Identity
is one's own perception or sense of being male or female. NOT sexual orientation. (a person's feeling about their gender)
Adrogyny
involves displaying both traditional masculine and feminine psychological characteristics.
Transgender
refers to individuals who have chosen to adopt dress and/or lifestyle that is opposite to their birth gender.
rooting reflex
a tendency for an infant, when strokes on the side of the face, to move it's face in the direction being strokes, open it's mouth, and search for a nipple.
Grasping reflex
an involuntary bending of the fingers in response to tender stimulation on the palm producing a grasp.
Moro reflex
an inborn extremely rapid response to a sudden unexpected stimulus.
Babinski reflex
occurs when the bottom of the foot is stimulated by having a blunt instrument run across it.
sudden infant death syndrome
occurs when infants have been known to mysteriously die in their sleep. Takes more lives than any other cause of infant death.
stranger anxiety
the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by around 8 months of age.
Visual cliff
involves apparent, but not actual drop from one surface to another. This tool was originally developed to determine if infants had developed depth perception
Depth Perception
the ability to see objects in 3 dimensions although images that strike retina are 2 dimensional; allows us to judge distance
Harlow's monkey studies
Took monkeys away from their birth mothers and placed with two surrogate mothers. It was concluded that the monkeys were more likely to cling to the fluffy mother instead of the wire one even though the wire mother had food. Bonds because of bodily contact NOT nourishment
John Bowlby
discovered that attachment is characterized by specific behavior in children, such as seeking proximity with the attachment figure when upset or threatened.
Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation experiment
Places a child under stress to test their attachment to their caregiver/mother. A child would begin to play with their mother, then a stranger would enter. After some engagement, the mother would leave and the child would cry. After some time the mother would come back and the reaction of the child (to either calm down, continue to cry, etc.) would determine the type of attachment to their mother.
Zone of proximal development
is the difference between what a learner can do without help and what they can do with help.
Konrad Lorenz
developed the idea of imprinting after experimenting with geese.
Imprinting
The process by which certain animals form attachments during the critical period very early in life.
Self-concept
a sense of one's identity and personal worth emerges gradually around 6 months. Around 15-18 months, children can recognize themselves in the mirror. By 8-10 years, their self image is stable.
facial recognition
an individual's understanding and interpretation of the face, particularly the human face, especially in relation to the associated information processing in the brain.
conscious memory/sense of self
the earliest age of conscious memory is around 3 1/2 years. A 5-year-old has a sense of self and an increased long-term memory, thus organization of memory is different from 3-4 years.
Secure attachment
when a child shows distress when a care giver leaves and is able to quickly compose themselves when the care giver returns.
Insecure avoidant attachment
in which people experience discomfort getting close to others and use avoidant strategies to maintain distance from others.
Insecure ambivalent attachment (anxious)
when people constantly crave acceptance but remane vigilant to signs of possible rejection.
Insecure attachment
marked by anxiety or avoidance. The infants will cling to their mothers and not look through the space. When their mothers leave they will become distressed and the baby will stay mostly the same when when the mother returns(in distress)
Authoritarian parenting
parents are coercive. They impose rules and expect obedience
Permissive parenting
parents are unrestraining. They make few demands, set few limits, and use little punishment
Negligent parenting
parents are uninvolved. They are neither demanding nor responsive. They are careless, inattentive, and do not seek a close relationship with their children.
Authoritative parenting
parents are confrontative. They are both demanding and responsive. They exert control by setting rules, but, especially with older children, they encourage open discussion and allow exceptions.
frontal cortex
neurons in the ______ ______ grow myelin, which speeds up nerve conduction. The ______ ______ lags behind the limbic system's development. Hormonal surges and the limbic system may explain occasional teen impulsiveness.
Lawrence Kohlberg Moral development
a study of development that analyzes how children develop morality and moral reasoning.
preconventional stage of morality
before age 9, children show morality to avoid punishment or gain reward.
conventional stage of morality
By early adolescence, social rules and laws are upheld for their own sake.
postconventional stage of morality
affirms people's agreed-upon rights or follows personally perceived ethical principles.
Trust vs. mistrust
stage of infancy, if needs are dependably met, infants develop a sense of basic trust.
autonomy vs. shame and doubt
toddlerhood, toddlers learnt to exercise will and do things for themselves, or they doubt their abilities.
initiative vs, guilt
preschooler, preschoolers learn to initiate tasks and carry out plans, or they feel guilty about efforts to be independent.
competence vs. inferiority
elementary school, children learn the pleasure of applying themselves to tasks, or they feel inferior.
identity vs. role confusion
teenagers work at refining a sense of self by testing roles and then integrating them to form a single identity
intimacy vs. isolation
young adults struggle to form close relationships and to gain capacity for intimate love, or they feel socially isolated
generativity vs. stagnation
in middle age, people discover a sense of contributing to the world, usually through family and work, or they may feel a lack of purpose.
Integrity vs. despair
when reflecting on his or her life, the older adult may feel a sense of satisfaction or failure.
Group identity vs. alienation
the idea that early adolescents either belong to a group or feel lost
Juvenile delinquency
are individuals who are repeated violators of the law by those aged 17 and younger. Income alone is not a factor, poor communication and abusive relationships, substance abusers, little affections or support from parents and no enforcement of rules
Social clock
is a set of norms governing the ages at which particular life events such as beginning school, leaving home, getting married etc. are expected to occur.
ageism
prejudice against the elderly
Alzheimer's disease
a neurological disease which strikes 3% of the population by age 75. Causes memory and muscle impairment.
cross sectional research
s a type of research design in which you collect data from many different individuals at a single point in time. In ____ __________ research, you observe variables without influencing them.
Longitudinal research
researchers do not interfere with their subjects. However, in a ____________ ________, researchers conduct several observations of the same subjects over a period of time, sometimes lasting many years.
nature vs. nurture
describes the question of how much a person's characteristics are formed by either “nature” or “nurture.” “Nature” means innate biological factors (namely genetics), while “nurture” can refer to upbringing or life experience more generally.
social-cognitive theory
describes the influence of individual experiences, the actions of others, and environmental factors on individual health behaviors.
down syndrome
is a condition in which a person has an extra chromosome. Chromosomes are small “packages” of genes in the body. They determine how a baby's body forms and functions as it grows during pregnancy and after birth. Typically, a baby is born with 46 chromosomes.Nov
Eleanor gibson
an American psychologist who focused on reading development and perceptual learning in infants. Conducted the visual cliff experiment.
self-recognition
refers to recognizing the “self” as separate from others
logical thinking
analyzing a situation or problem using reason and coming up with potential solutions. ________ thinkers gather all the information they can, assess the facts, and then methodically decide the best way to move forward.
abstract thinking
s a conceptual process wherein general rules and concepts are derived from the usage and classification of specific examples, literal signifiers, first principles, or other methods.
Sigmund Freud
was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts in the psyche, through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst
psychosexual stages
n Freudian psychology. development is a central element of the psychoanalytic sexual drive theory. Freud believed that personality developed through a series of childhood stages in which pleasure seeking energies from the child became focused on certain erogenous areas.(anal, oral, latent, gentile)
Diana Baumrind
was a clinical and developmental psychologist known for her research on parenting styles and for her critique of the use of deception in psychological research
adolescence
s a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood.
Carol gilligan
s an American feminist, ethicist, and psychologist, best known for her work on ethical community and ethical relationships.
Erik Erikson
was a German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on psychological development of human beings. He coined the phrase identity crisis.
Emerging adulthood
is a term used to describe a period of development spanning from about ages 18 to 29, experienced by most people in their twenties in Westernized cultures and perhaps in other parts of the world as well.
dementia
impaired ability to remember, think, or make decisions that interferes with doing everyday activities. Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia. Though dementia mostly affects older adults, it is not a part of normal aging.
parkinson's disease
neurological ailment whose symptoms include tremors and later difficulty walking, is caused by the inability to produce acetylcholine. Memory and thinking suffer
fluid intelligence
the ability to reason quickly which declines with age
crystallized intelligence
accumulated knowledge and skills which does NOT decline with age
Kubler ross stages of dying
Denial(most consistent, a little is not bad), anger(feeling of injustice. Struggle over control), bargaining(if you cure me, I will go to church), depression(mourn themselves, loss of control), acceptance(letting go, making plans, detachment).
Integrity
people who reach ________ in life (in Erickson's terms) see life sa meaningful and worthwhile.
