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PSY 201: Chapter 11
Development
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Developmental psychology | The study of continuity and change across the life span |
Zygote | A fertilized egg that contains chromosomes from both a sperm and an egg |
Germinal stage | The 2-week period of prenatal development that begins at conception |
Embryonic stage | The period of prenatal development that lasts from the second week until about the eighth week |
Fetal stage | The period of prenatal development that lasts from the ninth week until birth |
Myelination | The formation of a fatty sheath around the axons of a neuron |
Teratogens | Agents that damage the process of development, such as drugs and viruses |
Fetal alcohol syndrome | A developmental disorder that stems from heavy alcohol use by the mother during pregnancy |
Infancy | The stage of development that begins at birth and lasts between 18 and 24 months |
Motor development | The emergence of the ability to execute physical action |
Reflexes | Specific patterns of motor response that are triggered by specific patterns of sensory stimulation |
Cephalocaudal rule | The "top-to-bottom" rule that describes the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the head to the feet |
Proximodistal rule | The "inside-to-outside" rule that describes the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the center to the periphery |
Cognitive development | The emergence of the ability to think and understand |
Sensorimotor stage | A stage of development that begins at birth and lasts through infancy in which infants acquire information about the world by sensing it and moving around within it |
Schemas | Theories about or models of the way the world works |
Assimilation | The process by which infants apply their schemas in novel situations |
Accommodation | The process by which infants revise their schemas in light of new information |
Object permanence | The idea that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible |
Childhood | The stage of development that begins at about 18 to 24 months and lasts until adolescence |
Preoperational stage | The stage of development that begins at about 2 years and ends at about 6 years, in which children have a preliminary understanding of the physical world |
Concrete operational stage | The stage of development that begins at about 6 years and ends at about 11 years, in which children learn how various actions or "operations" can affect or transform "concrete" objects |
Conservation | The notion that the quantitative properties of an object are invariant despite changes in the object's appearance |
Formal operational stage | The stage of development that begins around the age of 11 and lasts through adulthood, in which people can solve nonphysical problems |
Egocentrism | The failure to understand that the world appears differently to different observers |
Theory of mind | The idea that human behavior is guided by mental representations |
Joint attention | The ability to focus on what another person is focused on |
Social referencing | The ability to use another person's reactions as information about the world |
Imitation | The ability to do what another person does (or what another person intends to do) |
Attachment | The emotional bond that forms between newborns and their primary caregivers |
Stranger situation | A behavioral test developed by Mary Ainsworth that's used to determine a child's attachment style |
Internal working model of relationship | A set of beliefs about the self, the primary caregiver, and the relationship between them |
Temperaments | Characteristic patterns of emotional reactivity |
Preconventional stage | A stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by its consequences for the actor |
Conventional stage | A stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by the extent to which it conforms to social rules |
Postconventional stage | A stage of moral development at which the morality of an action is determined by a set of general principles that reflect core values |
Adolescence | The period of development that begins with the onset of sexual maturity (about 11-14 years) and lasts until the beginning of adulthood (about 18-21) |
Puberty | The bodily changes associated with sexual maturity |
Primary sex characteristics | Bodily structures that are directly involved in reproduction |
Secondary sex characteristics | Bodily structures that change dramatically with sexual maturity but that are not directly involved in reproduction |
Adulthood | The stage of development that begins around 18-21 and ends at death |