Middle Childhood and Adolescence Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards for review.

Concrete Operational Thought

Piaget's term for the ability to reason logically about direct experiences and perceptions

Rehearsal

Repeating information to oneself as a memory aid.ex. flashcards

Organization

Grouping related items together as a memory aid.

Elaboration

Creating a relationship between pieces of information not in the same category as a memory aid.

IQ

Mental age/chronological age x 100

Normal Curve

A statistical distribution where ⅔ of all scores fall between 85 and 115.

Creative Dimension

Ability to create new things and discover.

Analytic Dimension

Ability to solve one specific problem with one correct answer.

Practical Dimension

New solutions to problems and the ability to handle new and complex tasks.

Industry vs. Inferiority

Erikson's fourth developmental crisis where children master skills or feel inferior.

Resilience

The capacity to develop optimally by adapting positively to significant adversity.

Family Function

The way a family works to meet the needs of a child.

Parental Alliance

A harmonious relationship between parents that supports parenting efforts.

Relational Aggression

Spreading rumors or embarrassing secrets, ridiculing victims through mockery of clothes or behavior.

Adolescence

The period after puberty begins and before adult roles are taken on.

Primary Sex Characteristics

Traits that are directly involved in reproduction.

Secondary Sex Characteristics

Physical traits that are not directly involved in reproduction.

Menarche

A girl's first menstrual period, signaling the start of ovulation.

Spermarche

A boy's first ejaculation of sperm.

Limbic System

An emotional and impulsive part of the brain.

Prefrontal Cortex

The rational, logical part of the brain.

Anorexia Nervosa

Self-starvation that leads to physical problems and potentially death.

Bulimia Nervosa

Repeatedly overeating and then purging via laxatives or vomiting.

Adolescent Egocentrism

Adolescents wrongly think that they are the focus of others’ thinking.

Imaginary Audience

Feeling that one is constantly being watched and that others are constantly interested in what they are doing.

Personal Fable

The tendency to believe that one's experiences and feelings are unique.

Illusion of Invulnerability

The belief that misfortune only happens to other people.

Formal Operational Thought

Logical thought, hypothetical thoughts, abstract thought, deductive reasoning.

Dual-Process Model

The notion that two networks exist within the human brain; one for emotions and one for analytical processing of stimuli.

Analytical Thought

Thought that results from analysis; systematic ranking of pros and cons.

Intuitive Thought

Thought that arises from an emotion or a hunch, beyond rational.

Identity Achievement

Establishing a clear and definite sense of who you are and how you fit into the world around you.

Identity Diffusion

Failure to form a stable and secure identity.

Possible Selves

Various intellectual fantasies about what the future might bring if one or another course of action is chosen.

False Self

A set of behaviors that is adopted by a person to combat rejection, to please others, or to try out as a possible self.

Peer Pressure

Social pressure to conform to one's contemporaries.

Selection

Peers choose one another due to their morals.

Facilitation

Peers encourage one another to do things they wouldn't do alone.

Clinical Depression

An overwhelming, enduring feeling of sadness and hopelessness.

Internalizing Problems

Emotional problems that are manifested inward, when troubled individuals inflict harm on themselves.

Externalizing Problems

Emotional problems that are manifested outward, when people "act out", injuring others, defying authority, or destroying property.