Developmental Psychology (Myers AP Edition)

maturation

biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.

cognition

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

schema

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

accommodation

adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporating new information

sensorimotor stage

In Piaget's theory; the stage (from birth to about 2 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 even when not perceived.

preoperational stage

In Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to about 6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.

conservation

The principle (which Piaget believed to be part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects.

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 6 or 7 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.

formal operational stage

In Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.

attachment

an emotional tie with another person, shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation.

critical period

an optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli of experiences products normal development

imprinting

the process by which certain animals form strong attachments during an early-life critical 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

gender

the socially constructed roles and characteristics by which a culture defines male and female

gender role

a set of expected behaviors for males or females

gender identity

our sense of being male or female

social learning theory

the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished

gender typing

the acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role

adolescence

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

identity

our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent's 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.

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.

primary sex characteristics

the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitals) that make sexual reproduction possible

secondary sex characteristics

nonreproductive sexual traits, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair

cross-sectional study

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

longitudinal study

research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period

social clock

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

language acquisition device (LAD)

Chomsky's term for a hypothesized mental structure that enables humans to learn language, including the basic aspects of grammar, vocabulary, and intonation.

universal grammar

Noam Chomsky's theory that all the world's languages share a similar underlying structure

Phonemes

in language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

Morpheme

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)

one-word stage

the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

two-word stage (telegraphic speech)

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly two-word statements

classical conditioning

a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired; a response that is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone.

operant conditioning

the learning of voluntary behavior through the effects of pleasant and unpleasant consequences to responses

positive reinforcement

addition of desired stimulus

positive punishment

addition of unpleasant stimulus

negative reinforcement

removal of an undesired stimulus

negative punishment

removal of a desired stimulus

Skinner Box

Named for its developer, B.F. Skinner, a box that contains a responding mechanism and a device capable of delivering a consequence to an animal in the box whenever it makes the desired response

Pavlov's Dogs

UCS-food

UCR- salivation

CS- bell

CR-salivation

Little Albert

UCS- loud noise

UCR- fear

CS- rat

CR- fear

Stanley G. Hall

one of the first psychologists to describe adolescence; described this time period as a time of "storm and stress"

Moral Development Theory

Kohlberg's theory that human moral development proceeds through clearly defined stages of moral reasoning