Language Development and Psychological Concepts
CHAPTER 6 VOCAB
1. The Building Blocks: Sounds and Structure
These terms deal with the mechanics of how we hear and organize speech.
Phonemes:
Definition: The smallest units of sound that can change the meaning of a word.
Example: The "p" in "pat" versus the "b" in "bat".
Morphemes:
Definition: The smallest units of meaning.
Components: Includes roots (e.g., "dog") and prefixes/suffixes (e.g., "-s" for plural).
Example: The word "dogs" has two morphemes: "dog" + "s".
Prosody:
Definition: The "melody" of speech, incorporating rhythm, stress, and intonation that convey emotion or meaning.
Syntax:
Definition: The "grammar" rules for how we combine words into sensible sentences.
Voice Onset Time (VOT):
Definition: The length of time between when air passes through the lips and when the vocal cords start vibrating.
Example: This helps distinguish sounds like "b" (short VOT) from "p" (long VOT).
2. Early Milestones & Production
How babies go from "goo-goo" to "I want juice."
Babbling:
Definition: Repetitive consonant-vowel sequences (e.g., "bababa") produced by infants typically around 6–10 months.
Language Comprehension vs. Production:
Explanation: A classic "input vs. output" situation. Infants almost always comprehend (understand) words before they can produce (speak) them.
Telegraphic Speech:
Definition: The "text message" phase of toddlerhood, characterized by short sentences that leave out non-essential words.
Example: Saying "Read book" instead of "Please read the book to me."
Narratives:
Definition: Descriptions of past events that have a beginning, middle, and end, usually developing as children's memory and language skills improve.
3. Learning the Meanings (Semantics)
How kids figure out what on earth we are talking about.
Word Segmentation:
Definition: The process of discovering where one word ends and the next begins in a stream of speech.
Distributional Properties:
Explanation: The realization that certain sounds are more likely to appear together than others, helping infants find word boundaries.
Overextension:
Definition: Using a word too broadly.
Example: Calling every four-legged animal a "doggie."
Underextension:
Definition: Using a word too narrowly.
Example: Thinking "dog" only refers to the family pet and no other dogs.
Overregularization:
Definition: Applying a grammatical rule even to exceptions.
Example: Saying "I goed" or "foots."
Note: It's a good sign that the child has learned the rule!
Cross-situational Word Learning:
Definition: Figuring out what a word means by tracking what remains constant across different instances the word is used.
4. Mechanisms of Learning
The "shortcuts" and theories used to acquire language.
Categorical Perception:
Definition: The tendency to perceive sounds as belonging to distinct categories (like "b" or "p") rather than a continuous blur of sound.
Syntactic Bootstrapping:
Definition: Using the grammatical structure of a sentence to figure out what a new word means.
Example: If I say "The duck is frumming the rabbit," you know "frumming" is an action.
Pragmatics:
Definition: The social rules of language—knowing how to take turns in conversation or use a different tone with a baby than a boss.
Pragmatic Cues:
Definition: Using social context, such as where a speaker is looking, to help determine the meaning of a word.
Infant-Directed Speech (IDS):
Definition: The high-pitched, exaggerated, emotional way adults talk to babies.
Note: It's not just "baby talk"; it actually helps them learn!
5. Higher Concepts & Theories
The "Nature vs. Nurture" discussion related to language acquisition.
Universal Grammar:
Theory by Noam Chomsky asserting that humans are born with an innate, hard-wired set of rules for language.
Generative:
Definition: The idea that through a finite set of words and rules, we can create an infinite number of unique sentences.
Connectionism:
Definition: A theory suggesting that language is learned through general-purpose learning mechanisms (such as neural networks) rather than a specific "language brain chip."
Dual Representation:
Definition: Understanding that a symbol can be both an object itself and a representation of something else.
Example: A map is a piece of paper, but it represents a city.
Symbols:
Definition: Systems for representing our thoughts, feelings, and knowledge, and communicating them to others.
Bilingualism:
Definition: The ability to use two languages fluently.
Dialect:
Definition: A regional or social variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.
CHAPTER 9 VOCAB
1. Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud)
These terms focus on unconscious drives and the progression through childhood stages based on "psychosexual" development.
Id, Ego, and Superego: The three parts of personality. The Id is driven by the pleasure principle (infantile), the Ego is the rational component (reality principle), and the Superego is the internalized moral standards (conscience).
Erogenous Zones: Specific areas of the body that become the focal point of the id’s pleasure-seeking energy during different stages.
The Psychosexual Stages:
Oral Stage: (0–1 year) Focus on the mouth (sucking, biting).
Anal Stage: (1–3 years) Focus on toilet training and control.
Phallic Stage: (3–6 years) Focus on the genitalia and the discovery of gender differences.
Latency Period: (6–12 years) A time of "quiet" where sexual energy is channeled into social and intellectual skills.
Genital Stage: (Puberty+) Re-emergence of sexual impulses directed toward peers.
2. Bioecological Model (Bronfenbrenner)
These terms describe the various environmental layers that influence a child's development.
Microsystem: The immediate environment the child interacts with (e.g., family, school, peers).
Mesosystem: The connections between the microsystems (e.g., how a child’s home life affects their school performance).
Exosystem: Environmental settings that the child does not experience directly but that affect them indirectly (e.g., a parent’s workplace or local government).
Macrosystem: The larger cultural and social context (e.g., laws, customs, social class).
Chronosystem: The element of time, including life transitions and historical changes.
3. Social Cognition & Motivation
These terms explain how children think about themselves and others, and what drives their behavior.
Self-socialization: The idea that children play an active role in their own development through their preferences and choices.
Role Taking: The ability to adopt the perspective of another person to understand their thoughts and feelings.
Reciprocal Determinism: Bandura's concept that a person’s behavior, their environment, and their personal characteristics all influence each other in a loop.
Hostile Attributional Bias: The tendency to interpret ambiguous actions by others as having hostile intent (e.g., "He bumped into me on purpose!").
Achievement Motivation: The drive to succeed and meet high standards of excellence.
Theories of Intelligence:
Entity Theory: Believing intelligence is fixed (leads to an Entity/Helpless Orientation, where failure causes the person to give up).
Incremental Theory: Believing intelligence can grow with effort (leads to an Incremental/Mastery Orientation, where challenges are seen as opportunities).
4. Learning & Behaviorism
How behavior is shaped by rewards, punishments, and observation.
Intermittent Reinforcement: Rewarding a behavior only some of the time. This makes the behavior very resistant to "extinction" (stopping).
Vicarious Reinforcement: Learning by observing someone else receive a reward for their behavior.
Behavior Modification: A type of therapy based on learning principles (like reinforcement) to change maladaptive behaviors.
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A clinical condition involving difficulty sustaining attention and/or impulsivity and hyperactivity.
5. Ethology & Evolutionary Psychology
How biological history and survival instincts shape development.
Ethology: The study of behavior within an evolutionary context.
Imprinting: A form of learning in which the young of certain species (like geese) become attached to the first moving object they see.
Parental-Investment Theory: The idea that parents are motivated to invest time and energy into their offspring to ensure their genes survive to the next generation.
CHAPTER 10 VOCAB
1. The Nature of Emotions
These terms define what emotions are and how they are expressed from infancy through childhood.
Emotions: Neural and physiological responses, subjective feelings, and cognitions that motivate action.
Discrete Emotions Theory: The theory that humans are born with a specific set of basic emotions (like anger, disgust, fear, happiness) that are biologically programmed.
Functionalist Perspective: The theory that the basic function of emotions is to promote action toward achieving a goal (e.g., fear prompts the goal of self-protection).
Social Smiles: Smiles directed at people; these first emerge around 6 to 7 weeks of age.
Separation Anxiety: Distress due to separation from a parent or primary caregiver, typically peaking around 13 to 15 months.
Self-Conscious Emotions: Emotions like guilt, shame, embarrassment, and pride that relate to our sense of self and our consciousness of others' reactions.
Display Rules: A social group's informal norms about when, where, and how much one should show emotions and when they should be suppressed or masked.
2. Emotional Regulation & Socialization
How we learn to manage our feelings and how others help us do it.
Emotion Regulation: The process of initiating, inhibiting, or modulating internal feeling states and related physiological processes.
Co-regulation: The process by which a caregiver provides the needed comfort or distraction to help a child reduce their distress.
Self-Comforting Behaviors: Repetitive actions that regulate arousal by providing a mildly positive physical sensation (e.g., thumb sucking).
Self-Distraction: Looking away from an upsetting stimulus in order to regulate one's level of arousal.
Social Competence: The ability to achieve personal goals in social interactions while maintaining positive relationships with others.
Emotion Socialization: The process through which children acquire the values, standards, and knowledge of their culture regarding emotions.
Emotion Coaching: A method of parenting where caregivers monitor their children's emotions, view them as opportunities for teaching, and assist them in labeling and dealing with emotions.
Social Referencing: The use of a parent’s or other adult’s facial expression or vocal cues to decide how to deal with novel or ambiguous situations.
Emotional Intelligence: The ability to cognitively process information about emotions and to use that information to guide both thought and behavior.
3. Temperament & Environment
The intersection of biological "wiring" and life experiences.
Temperament: Constitutionally based individual differences in emotional, motor, and attentional reactivity and self-regulation that are consistent across situations and over time.
Goodness of Fit: The degree to which an individual’s temperament is compatible with the demands and expectations of their social environment.
Differential Susceptibility: The concept that some individual temperaments make them more sensitive to both positive and negative environmental conditions.
Stress: A physiological reaction to some change or threat in the environment.
Toxic Stress: The experience of overwhelming levels of stress without support from adults, which can lead to long-term brain changes.
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Traumatic events occurring before age 18, such as abuse or neglect, which are linked to long-term health and wellness.
4. Clinical Concepts & Mental Health
Terms related to psychological disorders and pathways to development.
Mental Health: A state of well-being in which an individual realizes their own abilities, can cope with normal stresses, and can work productively.
Mental Disorder: A syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior.
Equifinality: The concept that various different developmental paths can lead to the same outcome (e.g., different types of trauma all leading to depression).
Multifinality: The concept that certain initial experiences can lead to very different outcomes (e.g., two children experiencing the same trauma but one developing anxiety and the other showing resilience).
Anxiety Disorders: A set of mental disorders involving excessive fear and worry.
Depression: A mental disorder characterized by persistent sadness and a loss of interest in activities.
Rumination: A focus on one’s own negative emotions and their causes and consequences, without engaging in efforts to improve the situation.
Co-rumination: Extensively discussing and self-disclosing emotional problems with another person (usually a peer).
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): A form of "talk therapy" that helps people change negative thought patterns and behaviors.
CHAPTER 11 Vocab
1. Attachment Theory
These terms describe the emotional bond between infants and caregivers, originally developed by John Bowlby and expanded by Mary Ainsworth.
Attachment Theory: The theory that an infant's ability to thrive depends on a secure emotional bond with a primary caregiver.
Secure Base: The idea that a trusted caregiver provides a "home base" from which a child can explore the world and return to for comfort.
Internal Working Model of Attachment: A mental representation of the self, of attachment figures, and of relationships in general that children develop as a result of their experiences with caregivers.
Strange Situation: A laboratory procedure used to assess infant attachment by observing the child's response to a series of separations and reunions with the caregiver.
Parental Sensitivity: Caregiving behavior that involves expression of warmth and contingent responsiveness to children’s needs; this is the biggest predictor of secure attachment.
The Four Attachment Styles
Secure Attachment: A high-quality relationship where the infant is upset when the caregiver leaves but is easily comforted upon their return.
Insecure-Avoidant Attachment: The infant seems indifferent toward the caregiver and may even avoid them after a separation.
Insecure-Resistant (Ambivalent) Attachment: The infant is clingy and stays close to the caregiver rather than exploring; they are very upset when the caregiver leaves and remain upset/angry when they return.
Disorganized/Disoriented Attachment: A pattern where infants have no consistent way of coping with stress; they often appear dazed or confused in the Strange Situation.
2. Developing the Self
How children and adolescents perceive their own qualities and worth.
Self-Concept: A conceptual system made up of one's thoughts and attitudes about oneself (e.g., physical being, social roles, internal characteristics).
Self-Esteem: An individual's overall subjective evaluation of their own worth and the feelings they have about that evaluation.
Social Comparison: The process of comparing one's own appearance, abilities, and opinions with those of others to evaluate oneself.
Personal Fable: A form of adolescent egocentrism that involves the belief that one's own thoughts and feelings are unique and special (e.g., "You just don't understand what it's like to be me!").
Imaginary Audience: The adolescent's belief that everyone else is as focused on their appearance and behavior as they are.
3. Identity Construction
Terms related to the process of figuring out "who am I?" during adolescence and young adulthood.
Identity: A definition of the self that is often externalized through choices in career, relationships, and beliefs.
Intersectionality: The idea that various social identities (race, gender, class, etc.) overlap and interact to create unique experiences of discrimination or privilege.
Acculturation: The process of adjusting to a new culture, often involving a balance between the original culture and the majority culture.
Ethnic and Racial Identity: An individual’s sense of belonging to an ethnic or racial group, including the thoughts and feelings associated with that membership.
James Marcia’s Identity Statuses
Identity Diffusion: The individual does not have firm commitments and is not making progress toward them.
Identity Foreclosure: The individual has not engaged in any identity experimentation but has established an identity based on the choices or values of others (often parents).
Moratorium: The individual is exploring various occupational and ideological choices but has not yet made a clear commitment.
Identity Achievement: The individual has explored options and has committed to an identity based on their own choices.
4. Sexual Identity & Orientation
Sexual Orientation: A person’s enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction to another person.
Sexual Identity: One’s self-labeling or self-identification regarding their sexual orientation.
Sexual Minority Youth: Young people who experience same-sex attractions or who do not identify as exclusively heterosexual.