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42 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Developmental Psychology |
The study of continuity and change across the lifespan |
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Zygote |
A fertilized egg that contains chromosomes from both a sperm and an egg |
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Germinal Stage |
The 2-week period of prenatal development that begins at conception |
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Embryonic Stage |
The period of prenatal development that lasts from the 2nd week until about the 8th week |
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Fetal Stage
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The period of prenatal development that lasts from the 9th week until birth |
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Myelination |
The formation of a fatty sheath around axons of a neuron |
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Teratogens |
Agents that damage the process of development, such as drugs an viruses |
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Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) |
A developmental disorder that stems from heavy alcohol use by the mother during pregnancy |
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Infancy |
The stage of development that begins at birth and lasts between 18 and 24 months |
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Motor Development |
The emergence of the ability to execute physical action |
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Reflexes |
Specific patterns of motor response that are triggered by specific patterns of sensory information |
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Cephalocaudal Rule |
The "top-to-bottom" rule that describes the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the head to the feet |
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Proximodistal Rule |
The "inside-to-outside" rule that describes the tendency for motor skills to emerge in sequence from the center to the periphery |
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Cognitive Development |
The emergence of the ability to think and understand |
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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 |
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Schemas |
Theories about the way the world works |
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Assimilation |
The process by which infants apply their schemas in novel situations |
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Accommodation |
The process by which infants revise their schemas in light of new information |
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Object Permanence |
The belief that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible |
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Childhood |
The stage of development that begins at about 18 to 24 months and lasts until adolescence, which begins between 11 and 14 years. |
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Preoperational Stage |
The stage of cognitive development that begins at about 2 years and ends at about 6 years, during which children develop a preliminary understanding of the physical world. |
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Concrete Operational Stage |
The stage of cognitive development that begins at about 6 years and ends at about 11 years, during which children learn how various actions or "operations" can affect or transform "concrete" objects. |
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Conservation |
The notion that the quantitative properties of an object are invariant despite changes in the object's appearance. |
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Formal Operational Stage |
The final stage of cognitive development that begins around the age of 11, during which children learn to reason about abstract concepts. |
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Egocentrism |
The failure to understand that the world appears differently to different people. |
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Theory of Mind |
The understanding that human behavior is guided by mental representations. |
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Joint Attention |
The ability to focus on what another person is focused on. |
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Imitation |
The tendency to do what an adult does, or what an adult is meant to do. |
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Social Referencing |
The ability to use another person's reactions as information about how we should think about the world. |
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Attachment |
The emotional bond that forms between newborns and their primary caregivers. |
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Strange Situation |
A behavioral test developed by Mary Ainsworth that is used to determine a child's attachment style. |
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Attachment Style |
Four patterns: 1) Secure (may or may not be distressed - but can be conforted) 2) Avoidant (will not be distressed - does not acknowledge parent) 3) Ambivalent (will be distressed - inconsolable) 4) Disorganized (no consistent pattern) |
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Temperaments |
Characteristic patterns of emotional reactivity. |
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Internal Working Model of Relationships |
A set of belief about the self, the primary caregiver, an the relationship between them. |
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Preconventional Stage |
A stage or moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by its consequences for the actor. |
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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. |
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Postconventional Stage |
A stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is determined by a set of general principles that reflect core values. |
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Adolescence |
The period of development that begins with the onset of sexual maturity (about 11 to 14 years of age) and lasts until the beginning of adulthood (about 18 to 21 years of age). |
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Puberty |
The bodily changes associated with sexual maturity. |
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Primary Sex Characteristics |
Bodily structures that are directly involved in reproduction. |
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Secondary Sex Characteristics |
Bodily structures that change dramatically with sexual maturity but that are not directly involved in reproduction. |
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Adulthood |
The stage of development that begins around 18 to 21 years and ends at death. |