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Myers 9 Chapter 5
Bell West / Developing through the Life Span
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| developmental psychology | A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughtout the life span. |
| zygote | 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 | Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions. |
| habituation | Decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner. |
| maturation | Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience. |
| cognition | All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. |
| schema | A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. |
| assimilation | Interpreting our new experience in terms of our existing schemas. |
| accommodation | Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. |
| sensorimotor stage | In Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities. |
| object permanence | The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived. |
| preoperational stage | In Piagate's theory, the stage (from about 2 to 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. |
| conservation | The principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects. |
| egocentrism | In Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view. |
| theory of mind | People's ideas about their own and others' mental states-about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict. |
| concrete operational stage | 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 concrete events. |
| formal operational stage | In piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive developing (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts. |
| autism | A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' state of mind. |
| stranger anxiety | The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age. |
| attachment | An emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the careegiver and showing distress on separation. |
| critical period | An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development. |
| imprinting | The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life. |
| basic trust | According to Erik Erikson a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers. |
| self-concept | Our understanding and evaluation of who we are. |
| adolescence | The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence. |
| puberty | The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing. |
| primary sex characteristics | The body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible. |
| secondary sex characteristics | Nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair. |
| menarche | The first menstrual period. |
| identity | Our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent's task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles. |
| social identity | The "we" aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to "Who am I/" that comes from our group memberships. |
| intimacy | In erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood. |
| emerging adulthood | For some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to early twenties, bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and responsible adulthood. |
| menopause | the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines. |
| cross-sectional study | A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another. |
| longitudinal study | Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period. |
| crystallized intelligence | Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age. |
| social clock | The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement. |
| fluid intelligence | Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood. |