Shared Flashcard Set

Details

Chapter 5
Psych. 105
44
Psychology
Undergraduate 1
12/13/2010

Additional Psychology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Developmental Psychology
Definition
- examines how people are continually developing- physically, cognitively, and socially.
Term
Nature / Nurture
Definition
- how do the genetic inheritance (our nature) and experience (the nurture we receive) influence our development. 
Term
continuity stages
Definition

is development a gradual, continuous process like riding an escalator, or does it proceed through a sequence of seperate stages, like climbing rungs on a ladder

Term
Stability / Change
Definition
- do our early personality traits persist through life, or do we become different persons as we age.
Term
zygote 
Definition
- the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo. 
Term
Embryo
Definition
- the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month
Term
Fetus
Definition
- the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.
Term
Teratogens
Definition
- agent, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm. 
Term
Fetal Alcohol syndrome
Definition
- physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant women's heavy drinking, so cases there has been noticeable facial mis-perportions.
Term
Habituation 
Definition

- decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation.

-as infants gain familiarity and repeated exposure to a visual stimulant their interest wares and they look away sooner.

Term
Cognition
Definition
- refers to all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. 
Term
Maturation
Definition
- as a flower unfolds in accord with genetic instructions, so do we, in the orderly sequence of bio growth process.
Term
Schemas 
Definition
- a concept of framework that organizes and interprets info.
Term
Assimilation 
Definition
- interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.
Term
Accommodation 
Definition
- adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.
Term
Sensorimotor Stage
Definition
- in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms their sensory impressions and motor activities.
Term
Object Permanece 
Definition
- the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
Term
Pre operational 
Definition
- the stages from about 2 to 7 years old during which children learns to use language but does not yet comprehend to mental operations of concrete logic.
Term
Conservation 
Definition
- the principle (which Piaget believed --to be part of concrete operational reasoning), that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects.
Term
 Egocentrism 
Definition
- in Piaget's theory, the proportional child's 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 behaviours these might predict
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 operation that enables them to think logically about concrete events.
Term
Stranger Anxiety
Definition
- the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning at about 8 months old.
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
Attachment
Definition
- an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress separation. 
Term
Critical Period 
Definition
- an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experience produces proper development. 
Term
Imprinting 
Definition
- the process by which certain animals from attachments during a critical period very early in life. 
Term
Basic Trust
Definition
- according to Eric Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experience with responsive caregivers.
Term
Self-concept
Definition
- our understanding and evaluation of who we are.
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 structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible. 
Term
Secondary Sex Characteristics
Definition
- non reproduction sexual characteristics such as female breasts and hips, male voices quality and body hair. 
Term
Menarche
Definition
- the first menstrual period
Term
Identity
Definition
- our sense of self; according to Erickson, the ad-descents task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various rules. 
Term
Social Identity
Definition
- the "we" aspect of our self-concept; part of our answer to "Who am I?" that comes from our group memberships. 
Term
Intimacy
Definition
- some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to early twenties, bridging the gap between adolescents dependance and full independences and responsible adulthood.
Term
Emerging Adulthood
Definition
- some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to early twenties, bridging the gap between adolescents dependance and full independence and responsible adulthood.
Term
Menopause
Definition
- the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a women experiences as her ability to reproduce decline.
Term
Cross sectional study
Definition
- a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.
Term
Crystallized Intelligence
Definition
- our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills: tends to increase with age
Term
 Longitudinal studies
Definition
- research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period of time.
Term
Fluid intelligence
Definition
-our 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 retirement.
Supporting users have an ad free experience!