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Chapter 4
Developing Through the Life Span
42
Psychology
12th Grade
03/07/2013

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Term
developmental psychology
Definition
A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.
Term
zygote
Definition
The fetilized egg; it enters a two-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo.
Term
embryo
Definition
The developing human organism from about two weeks after fertilization through the second month.
Term
fetus
Definition
The developing human organism from a nine weeks after conception to birth.
Term
teratogens
Definition
Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
Term
fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
Definition
Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions.
Term
rooting reflex
Definition
A baby's tendency, when touched on the cheek, to turn toward the touch, open the mouth, and search for the nipple.
Term
habituation
Definition
Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposures to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes, and they look away sooner.
Term
maturation
Definition
Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
Term
schema
Definition
A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.
Term
assimilation
Definition
Interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schemas.
Term
accommodation
Definition
Adapting one's current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.
Term
cognition
Definition
All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
Term
sensorimotor stage
Definition
In Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about two years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.
Term
object permanence
Definition
The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
Term
preoperational stage
Definition
In Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2-6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.
Term
conservation
Definition
The principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and numbers remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects.
Term
egocentricism
Definition
In Piaget's theory, the preoperational difficulty taking another's point of view.
Term
theory of mind
Definition
People's ideas about their own and others' mental states - about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts and the behavior these might predict.
Term
autism
Definition
A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind.
Term
concrete operational stage
Definition
In Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about conrete events.
Term
formal operational stage
Definition
In Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.
Term
stranger anxiety
Definition
The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age.
Term
attachment
Definition
An emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation.
Term
critical period
Definition
An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development.
Term
imprinting
Definition
The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life.
Term
basic trust
Definition
According to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responseive caregivers.
Term
self-concept
Definition
A sense of one's identity and personal worth.
Term
adolescence
Definition
The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.
Term
puberty
Definition
The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.
Term
primary sex characteristics
Definition
The body stuctures (ovaries, testes, and external genitals) that make sexual reproduction possible.
Term
secondary sex characteristics
Definition
Nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breats and hips, male voice quality, and body hair.
Term
menarche
Definition
The first menstrual period.
Term
identity
Definition
One's sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent's task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles.
Term
intimacy
Definition
In Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood.
Term
menopause
Definition
The time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines.
Term
Alzheimer's disease
Definition
A progressive and irreversible brain disorder that's characterized by gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and, finally, physical functioning.
Term
cross-sectional study
Definition
A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.
Term
longitudinal study
Definition
Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period.
Term
crystallized intelligence
Definition
One's accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.
Term
fluid intelligence
Definition
One's ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood.
Term
social clock
Definition
The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirements.
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