Chapter 2

Question 1

puberty

Answer 1

a brain-neuroendocrine process occurring primarily in early adolescence that provides stimulation for the rapid physical changes that
accompany this period of development

Question 2

hormones

Answer 2

powerful chemicals secreted by the endocrine glands and carried through the body by the bloodstream

Question 3

androgens

Answer 3

the main class of male sex hormones

Question 4

estrogens

Answer 4

the main class of female sex hormones

Question 5

adrenarche

Answer 5

puberty phase involving hormonal changes in the adrenal glands, which are located just above the kidneys; these changes occur from about 6 to 9 years of age in girls and about one year later in boys, before what is generally considered the beginning of puberty

Question 6

gonadarche

Answer 6

puberty phase involving the maturation of primary sexual characteristics (ovaries in females, testes in males) and secondary sexual characteristics (pubic hair, breast and genital development); this period follows adrenarche by about two years and is what most people think of as puberty

Question 7

menarche

Answer 7

a girl’s first menstrual period

Question 8

spermarche

Answer 8

a boy’s first ejaculation of semen

Question 9

precocious puberty

Answer 9

the very early onset and rapid progression of puberty

Question 10

secular trends

Answer 10

patterns of the onset of puberty over

historical time, especially across generations

Question 11

female athlete triad

Answer 11

a combination of disordered eating, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis that may develop in female adolescents and college students

Question 12

adaptive behavior

Answer 12

a modification of behavior that promotes an organism’s survival in the natural habitat

Question 13

evolutionary psychology

Answer 13

an approach that emphasizes the importance of adaptation, reproduction, and “survival of the fittest” in explaining behavior

Question 14

chromosomes

Answer 14

threadlike structures that contain deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA

Question 15

DNA

Answer 15

a complex molecule that contains genetic

information

Question 16

genes

Answer 16

the units of hereditary information, which

are short segments composed of DNA

Question 17

genotype

Answer 17

a person’s genetic heritage; the actual genetic material

Question 18

phenotype

Answer 18

the way an individual’s genotype is

expressed in observed and measurable characteristics

Question 19

behavioral genetics

Answer 19

the field that seeks to discover the

influence of heredity and environment on individual differences in human traits and development

Question 20

twin study

Answer 20

a study in which the behavioral

similarity of identical twins is compared with the behavioral similarity of fraternal twins

Question 21

adoption study

Answer 21

q study in which investigators seek to discover whether the behavior and psychological characteristics of adopted children are more like their adoptive parents, who have provided a home environment, or more like those of their biological parents, who have contributed their heredity - another form of adoption study involves comparing
adopted and biological siblings

Question 22

passive genotype-environment correlations

Answer 22

correlations that occur because biological parents, who are genetically related to the child, provide a rearing environment for the child

Question 23

evocative genotype-environment correlations

Answer 23

correlations that occur because an adolescent’s genetically shaped characteristics elicit certain types of physical and social environments

Question 24

active (niche-picking) genotype-environment

correlations

Answer 24

correlations that occur when children seek out environments that they find compatible
and stimulating

Question 25

shared environmental experiences

Answer 25

siblings’ common experiences such as their parents’ personalities and intellectual orientation, the family’s socioeconomic status, and the neighborhood in which they live

Question 26

nonshared environmental experiences

Answer 26

the adolescent’s own unique experiences, both within a family and outside the family, that are not shared by a sibling

Question 27

epigenetic view

Answer 27

belief that development is the result of an ongoing bidirectional interchange between heredity and environment

Question 28

gene x environment (G x E) interaction

Answer 28

the interaction of a specific measured variation in the DNA and a specif c measured aspect of the environment