PSYC 1101 Chapter 4.1-4.4

Developmental psychology

A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social development throughout the life span.

Cross-sectional studies

Research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time.

Longitudinal studies

Research that follows and retests the same people over time.

Zygotes

The fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo.

Embryo

The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month.

Fetus

The developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.

Teratogens

Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)

Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman’s heavy drinking.

Habituation

Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation; infants lose interest in familiar stimuli.

Maturation

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

Critical period

An optimal period early in life when exposure to certain stimuli produces normal development.

Cognition

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

Schemas

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

Assimilate

Interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas.

Accommodate

Adapting current schemas to incorporate new information.

Sensorimotor stage

The stage (from birth to nearly 2 years) where infants know the world through sensory impressions and motor activities.

Object permanence

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.

Preoperational stage

The stage (from about 2 to 6 or 7 years) where a child learns to use language but lacks concrete logic.

Conservation

The principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in object forms.

Egocentric

The preoperational child’s difficulty in taking another’s point of view.

Concrete operational stage

The stage (from about 7 to 11 years) where children can think logically about concrete events.

Formal operational

The stage (beginning about age 12) where people think logically about abstract concepts.

Scaffold

A framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking.

Theory of mind

Ideas about one’s own and others’ mental states, feelings, perceptions, and thoughts.

Stranger anxiety

The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning around 8 months.

Attachment

An emotional tie with others, shown by seeking closeness to caregivers and distress on separation.

Imprinting

The process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life.

Temperament

A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.

Basic trust

A sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy, formed during infancy by responsive caregivers.

Adolescence

The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.

Puberty

The period of sexual maturation when a person becomes capable of reproducing.

Identity

Our sense of self; the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing various roles.

Social identity

The “we” aspect of our self-concept that comes from group memberships.

Intimacy

The ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in young adulthood.

Emerging adulthood

A period from about age 18 to the mid-twenties when individuals are no longer adolescents but not yet fully independent.

Menopause

The time of natural cessation of menstruation and biological changes as a woman's ability to reproduce declines.