PSY1102 (all chapters)

accommodation

according to Piaget, the creation of new cognitive structures to house new information

adolescent egocentrism

Adolescents' perception that others are focused on them, their feelings, and their actions

Alzheimer's disease

a disease marked by the gradual onset of impairment in cognitive functions of memory, reasoning, and judgement

animism

preschooler beliefs that stuffed toys and other inanimate objects have feelings

anxious-preoccupied attachment

In attachment theory, an attachment style of infants and is characterized by a constant need for intimacy, closeness, and reassurance in intimate relationships

assent

in research ethics, the ability of children to indicate their willingness to participate in research

assimilation

according to Piaget, the incorporation of new information into existing cognitive structures

attachment

the patterned behaviour and emotional bond one forms with primary caregivers in infancy, which is associated with later behaviour in adult relationships

blastocyst

during prenatal development, the hollowed-out ball of cells that implants into the uterine wall, ultimately to become the developing organism and its support system

cephalocaudal principle of development

the principle indicating that development occurs from the head to the tail, or from top down, during prenatal development

cognitive reserve

a protective factor against brain deterioration built up by increased neuronal connections through life experiences and in the ability to compensate for neurological decline by recruiting other parts of the brain

concrete operational period

the third stage of cognitive development according to Piaget, lasting from ages 7 to 11, marked by increased cognitive ability in reasoning about concrete events

conventional morality

in Kohlberg's theory of moral development, the second stage of morality in which a child places value on social conventions, social order, and being viewed as "good" or "bad" by others

dementia

deterioration of brain function affecting cognitive processes such as memory, language, and judgement, and includes a range of diseases including Alzheimer's disease, Lewy body disease, and Parkinson's disease

development

growth and change over time, including changes that are progressive and regressive

disequilibration

according to Piaget, states in which cognitive structures do not agree with external reality

dismissive-avoidant attachments

in attachment theory, an attachment style of adults which map onto the avoidant attachment style of infants and is characterized by a strong need for independence and disinterest in close emotional relationships

disorganized attachment

in attachment theory, an attachment style of infants characterized by fear and dissociation in wanting to both approach and avoid an attachment figure; may be born out of parent abuse

dizygotic twins

also known as fraternal twins or non-identical twins. in relatively rare cases a women's ovaries will release more than one egg at a time. dizygotic twins occur when two eggs are each fertilized by separate sperm cells. the level of shared genetics is approximately 50% and is similar to any siblings born apart from the same parents

ectopic pregnancy

a pregnancy that results from the implantation of the blastocyst into one of the fallopian tubes instead of the uterine wall

egocentrism

difficulty of children in adopting the perspective of another individual, as seen in children aged 2 to 7 in Piaget's developmental model

emerging adulthood

a period of development ranging from the late teens to the mid-20s marked by identity exploration, instability, self-focus, and exploring possibilities for one's life

equilibration

according to Piaget, states in which cognitive structures agree with external realities

fearful-avoidant attachments

in attachment theory, an attachment style of adults which, like the dismissive-avoidant style, maps onto the avoidant style of infants and is characterized by a desire for intimacy contradicted by hyperawareness of potential pain associated with close relationships

formal operational period

the fourth stage of cognitive development, according to Piaget, starting at approximately age 12 (although some individuals never reach this level cognitive functioning). this stage is marked by the ability to think abstractly and consider hypothetical situations

Heinz dilemma

in Kohlberg's theory of moral development, a vignette (short story) presenting a moral dilemma to assess moral reasoning

insecure-avoidant

in attachment theory, an attachment style of infants characterized by avoidance of a primary caregiver upon reunion after separation; may be born out of parental disengagement with the infant

insecure-resistant

in attachment theory, an attachment style of infants characterized by being clingy after the parent returns; may be born out of inconsistent parental responsiveness

mental representation

in Piaget's final substage of sensorimotor development (from 18-24 months), infants remember and re-enact situations and events that happened previously without any ongoing perceptual supports

monozygotic twins

also known as identical twins, monozygotic twins have 100% shared genetics. during conception, one egg was fertilized by one sperm and then splits into two separate cells with identical DNA

novelty preference

the preference of infants in looking longer at new information in the environment, as compared to old information

object permanence

an understanding that objects and individuals continue to exist even if they cannot be seen, a development that occurs around 9 months of age

period of the embryo

during prenatal development, the time from when the blastocyst implants into the uterine lining to approximately 8 weeks after conception; the time during prenatal development when teratogens are most impactful

period of the fetus

from 9 weeks after conception to birth, classified as a period of growth and minor refinements

period of the zygote

during prenatal development, the time from conception until approximately 2 weeks later, when the blastocyst implants into the uterine lining; a period of prenatal development mostly driven by genetic factors

post-conventional morality

in Kohlberg's theory of moral development, the final stage of morality in which someone bases moral decisions on abstract principles instead of societal expectations or the judgement of others

pre-conventional morality

in Kohlberg's theory of moral development, the first stage of morality in which children think of morality in terms of punishments and rewards

preoperational period

the second stage of cognitive development, according to Piaget, lasting from ages 2 to 7. this stage is marked by a child's increasing ability to use symbols and engage in logical thinking

primary circular reactions

in Piaget's second substage of the sensorimotor development (from 1 to 4 months), infants learn about the world by repeatedly engaging in actions on their own bodies

proximodistal principle of development

during gestation, development proceeds from the internal organs outward towards extremities

recall memory

the ability to recount specific episodes or events from the past

scaffold

cognitive support offered by a teacher to a learner to assist the learner to acquire new skills or knowlegde. such support is withdrawn when the learner can perform the skill on his/her own

secondary circular reactions

in Piaget's third substage of sensorimotor development (from 4 to 8 months), infants learn about the world by repeatedly engaging in actions outside their own bodies

securely attached

in attachment theory, an attachment style of infants and adults characterized by emotional closeness and a healthy level of independence and exploration

sensorimotor period

the first stage of cognitive development, according to Piaget, lasting from birth to age 2. this stage is marked by learning that occurs through a child's sensory and motor interactions with the physical environment

social clock

cultural norms and societal expectations about the timing of key life events such as marriage, having children, and retiring

socioemotional selectivity theory (SST)

a theory on aging which specifies that one's perception of time impacts selection and pursuit of goals with younger adults favouring information-related goals and older adults favouring emotion-related goals tied to wellbeing and relationships

symbolic thinking

the ability to use symbols to stand for other things

teratogens

environmental substances or agents that negatively impact the developing organism during gestation, particularly during the period of the embryo

tertiary circular reactions

in Piaget's fifth substage of sensorimotor development (from 12 to 18 months), infants learn about the world through their activities as "little scientists" - they actively explore the world using different combinations of items to see how these changes affect their observed outcomes

theory of min

an ability that emerges around age 4, which allows people to understand that others have feelings, thoughts, and desires that differ from one's own

zone of proximal development

in Vygotsky's theory of learning, the distance between what a child can accomplish on his/her own and what he/she can accomplish with some assistance

active open-mindedness

the thinking disposition in which one sensitizes oneself to look for an be more aware of bias in one's thinking and reasoning, and one cultivates habits of counteracting those biases

adaption

according to Binet and Simon, this is one of three basic abilities of intelligence. it is the ability for creating strategies for solving problems and monitoring the progress of those strategies

analytic intelligence

Sternberg's phrase for the kind of intelligence that is used in standard IQ tests such as mathematic reasoning

choice reaction time

a method proposed by Jenson for measuring intelligence by indirectly measuring nerve conductance speed by directly measuring processing speed

chronological age

the number of years someone has lived since their birth

cognitive flexibility

the ability to change how one is formulating a problem and redirect one's attention accordingly. it often involved breaking out of standard and/or automatic forms of behaviour

cognitive revolution

a period of time during the 1950s when psychology underwent a significant revision in its definition as a field and in terms of its methods and practices due to the influence of individuals such as Norm Chomsky and Jerome Bruner. it signaled the eclipse of behaviourism as the dominant paradigm for psychology. instead, psychologists came to emphasize the meaning of stimuli and the internal processing of that meaning to explain behaviour

componential analysis

studying intelligence by determining how complex problems are solved by breaking the complex problems down into their simpler component problems

creative intelligence

this is Sternberg's phrase for the ability to solve problems in novel situations often by demonstrating cognitive flexibility

criticism

according to Binet and Simon, this is one of the three basic abilities of intelligence. it is the ability to reflect on your problem-solving behaviour and find errors and mistakes

crystallized intelligence

the ability to solve problems and reason about situations because of knowledge that one already possesses

deviation IQ

Weschler's solution to the problem of Terman's method of measuring intelligence that one's IQ goes down with age. Weschler replaced comparing mental age and chronological age with comparing one's performance to the average score on a test for a large number of people. how one's score deviated from the average score was used to calculate one's IQ

direction

according to Binet and Simon, this is one of the three basic abilities of intelligence. it is the ability to know what to do and when to do it

domain-general vs domain-specific

a process or function is domain-general if it can be reliably and effectively applied in a wide variety of domains while a process is domain-specific if it is limited in the number or type of domains in which it can be applied successfully

eduction

the process of drawing out or extracting. in the context of studying intelligence, Spearman used it to refer to the ability to make explicit what is implicit and to elucidate was previously unclear

encoding of information

how information is represented so that it can be processed by the functions found within an information processing system

eugenics

a philosophical argument that seeks to improve human society by encouraging reproduction by people with 'desirable' qualities (positive eugenics) and discouraging reproduction by people with 'undesirable' qualities (negative eugenics)

fluid intelligence

this is your ability to think and solve problems in complex and novel situations in a flexible manner without relying primarily on knowledge you already possess

Flynn effect

the finding by Flynn that on average IQ scores were rising even on tests which are supposed to be immune to cultural influences. this result is controversial since it implies that on average, most people several generations back were quite unintelligent

inspection time

a method proposed by Nettlebeck and Lalley for measuring intelligence by measuring the processing speed of human beings

intelligence

the capacity to be a general problem solver and to solve a wide variety of problems in a wide variety of domains through pattern recognition, analogous transfer, and reasoning

IQ

intelligence quotient. a standardized measure of one's intelligence developed by Terman. it is one's mental age divided by one's chronological age multiplied by 100, and creates a standardized measure of one's intelligence so that comparison between individuals is clearer. it is used in the Stanford-Binet test for intelligence. it suffers from the problem that as one ages, one's IQ score will go down even though it is implausible that one is initially becoming less intelligent with age

mental age

according to Binet and Simon, one's mental age indicates the average of children who can solve the set of problems that a particular child is capable of solving

mindfulness

paying attention to how one is paying attention to and thereby interpreting situations. it often requires a suspension of inner speech and inferential processing so that attention can be drawn to what one is finding salient in one's current experience. it can be trained by meditative and contemplative practices

mindset

a mental structure of representations, attitudes, and interpretations that affects how one evaluates information and thereby responds to situations

multiple intelligences

Gardner's theory that there are many intelligences that apply to specific domains of human behaviour. Gardner claims that this is reflected in those domains for which we can find prodigies

practical intelligence

this is Sternberg's phrase for one's ability to solve problems in real-world situations

rationality

the ability to overcome self-deception in one's reasoning and problem solving. it is not simply the same as being logical. it involves being able to recognize and counteract the effect on bias on one's cognition

reverse engineering

a methodological strategy in cognitive science that integrates psychology and computer science in order to explain human behaviour. the strategy involves creating a computer program that is capable of reproducing a particular pattern of behaviour found in human beings, and then one uses the functions and processes within that program as hypothesis for explaining human behaviour

selection effects

the skewing of data so that it does not represent the world accurately. selection effects are often due to biased selection of data

self-enhancement bias

the tendency to judge one's performance as better than average without any evidence of special expertise or training

social Darwinism

a misapplication of Darwin's theory of biological evolution to the supposed explanation of the evolution of culture. it was often expressed by the idea of "the survival of the fittest" in which those on the top of a social hierarchy deserved to be there because they were the most fit while those at the bottom deserved to be there because they were less fit. this is a confusion of a moral argument with the scientific explanation that was often used in conjunction with eugenics for immoral ends

stereotype threat

refers to the risk of confirming negative expectations about one's own social group

successful intelligence

this is Sternberg's phrase for the optimal coordination of analytic, creative, and practical intelligence to be successful at achieving one's goals

wisdom paradox

this is Goldberg's name for the fact that we seem to get wiser with age even though our intelligence goes down with age. this is probably due to the fact that our intelligence is a fixed trait, while rationality and skill are abilities that can be increased with training and practice

16PF

a trait-based personality measure that was developed from a list of personality traits; using factor analysis, a number of personality factors were found. the final measure of the 16PF is composed of items measuring 16 different personality characteristics/traits

actual self

according to Rogers, the actual self is the form of self that a person is currently at

archetypes

all universal knowledge is stored in the collective unconscious by a variety of thought patterns and behaviour rituals that persist over time. Jung proposed three of there archetypes were the persona (patterns of behaviour used in social settings), the shadow (darker, more primitive side to personality), and the self, which is considered important because it unites all aspects of one's personality

basic anxiety

according to Horney, those who don't feel love, feel unsafe, and feel powerless in their relationships develop feelings of anxiety

basic hostility

according to Horney, people feel anger and hostility when in insecure relationships, particularly when one's significant other makes no effort to forge a secure environment

behavioural observation

recording behaviours while remaining as unobtrusive as possible

biological perspective

the perspective on personality assumes personality characteristics are a function of various biological factors, including behavioural genetics, the neurological perspective, and an evolutionary perspective

collective unconscious

according to Jung, the unconscious mind is interconnected with the experiences of past generations of different people throughout the world. as evidence of this, Jung point to universal knowledge and tendencies that people share and shared concepts that he identified as archetypes

concordance rate

the degree to which a characteristic, trait, or disease that occurs in one twin similarly occurs in the second twin

conditional positive regard

when love and acceptance of a person is contingent upon their actions and behaviours

conscious mind

all mental activities that a person is aware of and able to freely access

consistency

how an individual behaves over time in similar situations

defense mechanisms

ways to avert the expression of id impulses without conscious awareness