A.P Psychology Ch. 5 defs/examples

Developmental Psychology

A branch of Psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the lifespan. Ex: The developmental psychologists study the behavior of his adolescent daughter.

Schema

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. Ex: At two years old, she learned the schema for cow from her picture books.

Autism

A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind. Ex: She has difficulty inferring others' thoughts and feelings. She doesn't not appreciate that playmates and parents might view things differently.

Attachment

A emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation. Ex: When she arrived home from her first day at day care, clung to me tightly, and gave me many hugs and smiles.

*Cross-sectional study

A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another. Ex: When taker intelligence test, researchers have concluded that older adults give fewer correct answers than do younger adults.

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 care givers. Ex: Her mother was very caring to her as an infant so when she grew up she was more secure and trustworthy towards others, than fearful.

Accommodation

Adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. Ex: She accommodates her schema for large shaggy animals and continues to modify that schema to include "mommy moose," "baby moose," and so forth.

Teratogens

Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm. Ex: If she is a heroin addict, her baby will be born a heroin addict.

Cognition

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. Ex: On intelligence test Piaqet became intrigued by children's wrong answers, which were similar among children of a given age.

*Critical Period

An optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development. Ex: For goslings, ducklings, or chicks, that period falls in the hours shortly after hatching, when the first moving object they see is normally their mother.

Maturation

Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience. Ex: Babies roll over before they sit unsupported , and they usually creep on all fours before they walk. These behaviors are not imitation but a maturing nervous system. 3 to 4 mo. hold up your head/3 to 6 mo. roll over/6 to 9 mo. crawling/ 9-12 mo. walking.

*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. Ex: Answers what a baby can see, smell, and think. such as distinguishing a cat from a dog when a cats head is on a dogs body and vise versa.

Emerging Adulthood

For some people in modern cultures, a period from the late teens to early twenties, bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full dependence and responsible adulthood. Ex: When she moved out and went to collage, she still remained dependent on her parents financial and emotional support and returned home on the holidays.

Egocentrism

In Piaget's theory, the pre operational child's difficulty taking another's point of view. Ex: Asked to show Aunt Bailey a picture of herself, 3 year old Emma holds the picture up facing her own eyes.

Preoperational Stage

In Piaget'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 to concrete logic. Ex: For a five year old, the milk that seems "to much" in a tall, narrow glass may become an acceptable amount if poured into a short, wide glass.

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. Ex: Now that she is 7 years old, she can distinguish that even though both glass shapes are different, that the amount of milk in them remains equal, the same.

Formal operational Stage

In Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts. Ex: This is me. I can answer questions like if this, then that. Systematic reasoning.

Sensorimoter Stage

In Piaqet'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. Ex: Stranger anxiety.

Assimilation

Interpreting our new experience in terms of our existing schemas. Ex: She now sees a moose and calls it a "cow". SHe is trying to assimulate this new animal into an existing schema. Her aunt tells her, "no, its a moose."

Secondary Sex Characteristics

Non-reproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair. Ex: When he went through puberty he began to grow a beard.

*Fluid Intelligence

Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adult hood. Ex: Poets who depend on fluid intelligence, reach their peak output earlier than prose authors.

*Crystalized Intelligence

Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age. Ex: After adjustments for education, verbal scores (reflecting crystalized intelligence) held relatively steady from age 20 to 74.

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. Ex: She acts differently at home, then when she is with her friends at school.

Self Concept

Our understanding and evaluation of who we are. Ex:When you put some blush on kids nose and not until about 2 when they look in the mirror will they recognize its them and rub it off.

Authoritative

Parents are both demanding and responsive. They exert control by setting rules and enforcing them, but they also explain the reasons for rules. And. especially with older children, they encourage open discussion when making the rules and allow exceptions. Ex: Her mom allows her to stay out till 10 pm on the weekends, but if she returns after 10 pm, then the following weekend, she cannot go out with her friends.

Authoritarian

Parents impose rules and expect obedience: "Don't interrupt." "keep your room clean." "Don't stay out late or you'll be grounded."Why? Because I said so." Ex: A mother telling her 2 old child to be quite during church, otherwise you will get a spanking.

Permissive

Parents submit to their children's desires. They make few demands and use little punishment. Ex: She let her child stay out late and had very few rules.

Theory of Mind

People's ideas about their own an others' mental states- about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict. Ex: She understood stood what made her friend angry when they played today. Later she knew how to persuade her mom to buy her a toy at the store.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions. Ex: Teens who mothers drank when pregnant are at risk for heavy drinking and alcohol dependence.

*Longitudinal Study

Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period. Ex: Collages began giving intelligence test to entering students to study intelligence longitudinally. They expected to find a decrease in intelligence after about age 30. What they found was that until late in life, intelligence remained stable.

Social Identity

The "we" aspect of our self-concept; the part of our to "who am I?" that comes from our group memberships. Ex: Are you a jock, geek, preppy, gothic etc.

Object Permanence

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived. Ex: When playing peekaboo with a sixth month old, I realized that she really thought that I had disappeared, even though I was hiding behind the blanket.

Primary Sex Characteristics

The body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible. Ex: Female-ovaries, Male-testies.

Social Clock

The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement. Ex: Romantic attraction is often inlfuenced by chance encounters.

embryo

The developing human organism for about 2 weeks for fertilization through the second month. Ex: When organs begin form and function and the hear begins to beat.

Fetus

The developing human organism from about 9 weeks after conception to birth. Ex: During the sixth the fetus is responsive to sound. The baby can hear the sound of its mothers muffled voice.

Stranger Anxiety

The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age. Ex: At 8 months old she began to greet the stranger who wanted to hold her by crying and reaching for her mom'.

Zygotes

The fertilized egg; it enters a 2 week period of rapid cell division and and develops into an embryo. Ex: How identical cells do this- as if one decides "i'll become the brain, you become the intestines.

Menarche

The first menstrual period. Ex: When she had her first period, she had mixture of feelings-pride, excitement, embarrassment, and apprehension.

Puberty

The period of sexual maturity, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing. Ex: When she hit puberty she began to have rapid physical development.

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. Ex: The five year old cannot distinguish that the same amount of milk is in both glasses despite the changes in shape of the glasses.

Imprinting

The process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life. Ex: Stranger Anxiety.

Menopause

The time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines. Ex: When women hit menopause, they may feel that this is a sign of loosing femininity and growing old, or they may view it as liberation from menstrual periods and fear pregnancy.

Adolescence

The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence. Ex: While being an adolescence she felt very stressful, and her peers social approval was imperative, their sense of direction in life was flux, and their feeling of alienation from their parents was deepest.