Chapter 4 Part 1 ..I Just Wanna Poo Flashcards
Developmental psychology
A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout 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
are 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 pregnant woman’s heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions
Rooting reflex
A baby’s tendency, when touched on the cheek, to turn toward the touch, open the mouth, and search for the nipple
Habituation
is 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
Jean Piaget
Famous developmental psychologist. Studied children. Studied four development stages
Schemas
A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
Assimilation
Interpreting ones new experience in terms of one’s existing schemas
Accommodation
Adapting one’s current understanding (schemas) to incorporate new information
Cognition
All the mental activities associated with thinking knowing remembering and communicating
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
Conservation
The principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects
Pre operational 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 of concrete logic
Egocentrism
In Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty in 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 behavior these might predict
Autism
A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others’ states of mind
Concrete operation stage
In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (6-7 to 11) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events
Formal operation 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
Stranger anxiety
is the fear of strangers that develops at around 8 months. This is the age at which infants form schemas for familiar faces and cannot assimilate a new face
