Developmental Psychology Flashcards

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers fundamental concepts, biological influences, major psychological theories, and lifespan developmental stages based on lecture notes.

Human Development

The scientific study of processes of change and stability throughout the human lifespan, which is described as systematic and adaptive.

Cephalocaudal Principle

The developmental principle stating that development proceeds from the head to the lower part of the trunk ("head to tail").

Proximodistal Principle

The developmental principle stating that development proceeds from parts near the center of the body to outer ones ("near to far").

Plasticity

The capacity for adaptive reorganization at the neurological, psychological, and behavioral levels throughout life.

Social Construction

A concept or practice that is an invention of a particular culture or society, such as the concept of adolescence.

Behavioral Genetics

The scientific study of the extent to which genetic and environmental differences among people and animals are responsible for differences in their traits.

Epigenesis

The mechanism where genes are turned off or on as they are needed by the developing body or when triggered by the environment.

Mitosis

A process by which the non-sex cells divide in half over and over again, allowing the DNA to replicate itself so each new cell has the same DNA structure.

Meiosis

The process which sex cells undergo when developing, resulting in each sex cell having only $23$ chromosomes.

Alleles

Two or more alternative forms of a gene that occupy the same position on paired chromosomes and affect the same trait.

Multifactorial Transmission

The combination of genetic and environmental factors to produce certain complex traits.

Reaction Range

A wide range of possibility that a trait might exhibit differently depending on environmental context.

Passive Gene-Environment Correlation

A situation where the environment parents provide for their children is influenced partly by the parents' own genotypes.

Normative Age-Graded Influences

Biological or environmental influences that are highly similar for people in a particular age group, such as puberty or formal schooling.

Normative History-Graded Influences

Significant events, such as the COVID-19 Pandemic, that are experienced by a majority of people within a culture at a similar point in history.

Critical Period

A specific time when a given event, or its absence, has a specific, potentially irreversible impact on development.

Sensitive Period

An extended period during development when an individual is particularly receptive to specific types of experiences, though learning can still happen later.

Libido

In Freud's theory, the psychic energy or sexual drive that motivates human behavior and shifts focus to different erogenous zones.

Id

The province of the mind that operates on the pleasure principle, seeking immediate gratification of all desires, regardless of social norms.

Superego

The province of the mind that acts as our conscience, containing internalized moral standards acquired from authority figures and society.

Crisis (Erikson)

A major psychosocial challenge emergent at a particular stage of development that must be resolved to develop a corresponding virtue.

Adaptation (Piaget)

A cognitive process involving assimilation (incorporating new info into existing structures) and accommodation (adjusting structures to fit new info).

Object Permanence

The realization that an object or person continues to exist when out of sight.

Transduction

A child's tendency in the preoperational stage to mentally link particular phenomena, whether or not there is a logical causal relationship.

Theory of Mind

The awareness of the broad range of human mental states (beliefs, intents, desires) and the understanding that others have their own distinctive ones.

Personal Fable

An adolescent belief that they are special, their experience is unique, and they are not subject to the rules governing the rest of the world.

Levels of Morality (Kohlberg)

The three levels are Preconventional (obedience/self-interest), Conventional (societal norms), and Postconventional (universal principles of justice).

Scaffolding

The temporary support or guidance provided to a learner within their Zone of Proximal Development ($ZPD$).

Strange Situation

An assessment technique developed by Mary Ainsworth to observe attachment patterns between infants and caregivers.

Social Referencing

The act of seeking emotional information to guide behavior in an ambiguous, confusing, or unfamiliar situation.

Anaclitic Depression

A condition resulting from the loss of an attachment figure, characterized by passive behavior, limited exploration, and physical deterioration.

Self-Efficacy

In Bandura's Social Learning Theory, the confidence in one's own ability to achieve a desired outcome or master a task.

Reciprocal Determinism

The concept that the person, behavior, and environment act as bidirectional forces that influence development.

Zygote

A one-celled organism resulting from fertilization that duplicates itself through cell division.

Organogenesis

The period during the embryonic stage ($2$ to $8$ weeks) characterized by the rapid growth and development of major body systems and organs.

Teratogen

An environmental agent such as a virus, drug, or radiation that can interfere with normal prenatal development and cause abnormalities.

Lanugo

A fuzzy prenatal hair found on some newborn babies.

Vernix Caseosa

A "cheesy" oily protection found on newborns that against infection and dries within the first few days.

Fontanels

Areas on a neonate's head where the bones of the skull do not meet, covered by a tough membrane to allow flexibility during birth.

APGAR Scale

A standard measurement of a newborn's condition assessing Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration at $1$ and $5$ minutes after birth.

Fluid Intelligence

The ability to solve novel problems that require little previous knowledge, typically found to peak in young adulthood.

Crystallized Intelligence

The ability to remember and use information acquired over a lifetime, depending largely on education and cultural experience.

Senescence

The period of the life span marked by declines in physical functioning associated with aging.

Hayflick Limit

The biological limit where human cells divide no more than approximately $50$ times before reaching the end of their telomeres.

Ambiguous Loss

A loss that lacks clarity or closure, divided into Type $1$ (physical absence/psychological presence) and Type $2$ (physical presence/psychological absence).

Reciprocal Interweaving

Arnold Gesell's term for the developmental process where opposing tendencies (like hand preference) alternate and eventually balance.

Functional Asymmetry

A natural part of development where one side of the body or a specific behavior is more active or dominant than the other.

Cohort

A group of people born at about the same time who experience similar historical events.

Fictive Kin

Friends who are considered and treated as family members.

MAMA Cycle

The progression of identity development characterized by moving between moratorium and achievement states.