ReviewUnit 9 – Developmental Psychology

Fetus

A human organism from after the embryonic stage until birth.

Object Permanence

Awareness that objects still exist when out of sight.

Preoperational Stage

Piaget’s second stage where children learn to use language and demonstrates egocentrism.

Menopause

In women, the ending of the menstrual cycle around age 50.

Conservation

The ability to understand that a quantity does not change even when it is arranged differently.

Attachment

An emotional tie with another person.

Imprinting

The process by which certain animals form attachments during the critical period. Humans do not do this.

Self-concept

A sense of one’s identity and personal worth.

Authoritarian

Parenting style where parents impose rules and expect obedience.

Post Conventional

Kohlberg’s third stage where people promote society’s welfare and look to promote justice.

Crystallized Intelligence

Your accumulated intelligence. This increases up to old age.

Menarche

First menstrual period at about age 12, marks female fertility.

Embryo

The developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the 2nd month.

Love and Work

The two aspects of life that dominate adulthood.

Secondary Sex Characteristics

The non-reproductive sex characteristics (breasts, facial hair, Adam’s apple, etc.)

Formal Operational Stage

Piaget’s fourth stage where children think logically about abstract concepts and reason.

Midlife Transition (Crisis)

A supposed time of great struggle and regret as people enter their 40s.

Lev Vygotsky

Psychologist known for his Zone of Proximal Development.

Rooting Reflex

This occurs when a newborn’s cheek is touched, they look for a nipple to feed.

Permissive

Parenting style where parents submit to kids’ desires, not enforcing limits or standards for child behavior.

Adolescence

The transition period from childhood to adulthood.

Teratogens

Substances such as viruses and chemicals that can damage the developing embryo/fetus.

Assimilation

Process by which we incorporate new information into our existing schemas.

Integrity

Feeling that one’s life has been meaningful and worthwhile.

Jean Piaget

Psychologist known for his Theory of Cognitive Development.

Puberty

The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.

Spermarche

Male fertility milestone marked by first ejaculation of semen with viable sperm at about age 14.

Authoritative

Parents enforce rules, limits, and standards, but also explain, discuss, listen, and express respect for child’s ideas and wishes.

Sensorimotor Stage

Piaget’s first stage where infants explore the world through looking, hearing, touching, mouthing, and grasping.

Disgust

The feeling when you see people doing degrading or subhuman acts.

Cognition

Mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

Critical Period

The period shortly after birth when certain events must take place to facilitate proper development.

Erik Erikson

Psychologist known for his Stages Theory of Psychosocial Development.

Maturation

The stages that all infants goes through which includes sitting unsupported, crawling, beginning to walk, and walking independently.

Lawrence Kohlberg

Psychologist known for his Stages Theory of Moral Development.

Preconventional

Kohlberg’s first stage where people avoid punishment and further self-interests.

Fluid Intelligence

Intelligence in which you have the ability to reason quickly and solve logic problems. This decreases as you age.

Egocentrism

Seeing the world from one’s own perspective and the inability to see reality from the perspective of another person.

Longitudinal Study

A type of study in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period.

Basic Trust

Sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy.

Stranger Anxiety

The fear of strangers by infants beginning at 8 months.

Dementia

Mental disintegration.

Accommodation

Process by which we modify our schemas to fit new information.

Social Clock

The culturally preferred timing of social events like marriage, parenthood, and retirement.

Zygote

A fertilized egg.

Concrete Operational Stage

Piaget’s third stage where children think logically about concrete events. They can now think mathematically.

Conception

The moment an egg and a sperm join to form a zygote.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Abnormalities cause by exposure to alcohol in the fetal stage.

Conventional

Kohlberg’s second stage where people conform, live up to expectations of others and maintain law and order.

Infantile Amnesia

The lack of memory of events from age 1 – 3.

Autism

Disorder marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding others’ state of mind.

Primary Sex Characteristics

The reproductive organs (ovaries, uterus, and testes) and external genitals (vulva and penis).

Morality

To discern right from wrong and to act in the right way.

Elevation

The feeling people get when seeing people show exceptional generosity, compassion, or courage.

Cross-Sectional Study

A type of study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.

Alzheimer’s Disease

A progressive and irreversible brain disorder which reduces memory, reasoning, language, and physical functioning.

Schema

Mental representations that organize and categorize information processed by our brains.