DevPsy Shaffer: S

Question 1

a common sexually transmitted disease that
may cross the placental barrier in the middle and later
stages of pregnancy, causing miscarriage or serious
birth defects.

Answer 1

syphilis

Question 2

the structure of a language; the rules specifying
how words and grammatical markers are to be combined to produce meaningful sentences.

Answer 2

syntax

Question 3

the notion that young children make inferences about the meaning of words by analyzing the way words are used in sentences and inferring whether they refer to objects (nouns), actions (verbs), or attributes (adjectives).

Answer 3

syntactical bootstrapping

Question 4

generally harmonious interac
tions between two persons in which participants adjust
their behavior in response to the partner’s feelings and
behaviors.

Answer 4

synchronized routines

Question 5

formation of connections (synapses) among neurons.

Answer 5

synaptogenesis

Question 6

the connective space (juncture) between one
nerve cell (neuron) and another.

Answer 6

synapse

Question 7

feelings of sympathy or
compassion that may be elicited when we experience the emotions of (that is, empathize with) a distressed other; thought to become an important mediator of altruism.

Answer 7

sympathetic empathic arousal

Question 8

the ability to use symbols (such as images and words) to represent objects and experiences.

Answer 8

symbolic function

Question 9

the unexplained
death of a sleeping infant who suddenly stops breathing
(also called crib death).

Answer 9

sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

Question 10

Guilford’s factor-analytic
model of intelligence, which proposes that there are
180 distinct mental abilities.

Answer 10

structure-of-intellect model

Question 11

an observational method in
which the investigator attempts to elicit the behavior
of interest and observes participants’ responses in a
laboratory.

Answer 11

structured observation

Question 12

a technique in which all participants are asked the same questions in precisely the same order so that the responses of different participants can be compared.

Answer 12

structured interview or structured questionnaire

Question 13

goal-directed and deliberately implemented
mental operations used to facilitate task performance.

Answer 13

strategies

Question 14

processes involved as one consciously
attempts to retain or retrieve information.

Answer 14

strategic memory

Question 15

a series of eight separation and reunion episodes to which infants are exposed in order to determine the quality of their attachments.

Answer 15

Strange Situation

Question 16

a wary or fretful reaction that infants and toddlers often display when approached by an unfamiliar person.

Answer 16

stranger anxiety

Question 17

when people’s behavior is influenced by a desire to contradict the stereotypes they believe may be applied to them.

Answer 17

stereotype threat

Question 18

the modern descendant of the first successful intelligence test that
measures general intelligence and four factors: verbal
reasoning, quantitative reasoning, spatial reasoning, and short-term memory.

Answer 18

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

Question 19

a bulging of the spinal cord through a gap in
the spinal column.

Answer 19

spina bifida

Question 20

procedures that ask children
to identify those peers whom they like or dislike or
to rate peers for their desirability as companions;
used to measure children’s peer acceptance (or
nonacceptance).

Answer 20

sociometric techniques

Question 21

culturally specific rules specifying how language should be structured and used in particular social contexts.

Answer 21

sociolinguistic knowledge

Question 22

changes that have occurred
in one’s culture and the values, norms, and technologies such a history has generated.

Answer 22

sociohistorical development

Question 23

Vygotsky’s perspective on cognitive development, in which children acquire their culture’s values, beliefs, and problem-solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society.

Answer 23

sociocultural theory

Question 24

the notion that psychological
differences between the sexes and other gender-role
stereotypes are created and maintained by differences in socially assigned roles that men and women play (rather than attributable to biologically evolved
dispositions).

Answer 24

social roles hypothesis:

Question 25

the use of others’ emotional expressions to infer the meaning of otherwise ambiguous situations.

Answer 25

social referencing

Question 26

the process by which children acquire the beliefs, values, and behaviors considered desirable or appropriate by their culture or subculture.

Answer 26

socialization

Question 27

the ability to achieve personal goals in social interactions while continuing to maintain positive relationships with others.

Answer 27

social competence:

Question 28

the process of defining and evaluating the self by comparing oneself to other people.

Answer 28

social comparison

Question 29

thinking people display about the thoughts, feelings, motives, and behaviors of themselves and other people.

Answer 29

social cognition

Question 30

a person’s willingness to engage others in social interaction and to seek their attention or approval.

Answer 30

sociability

Question 31

infants whose birth weight is far below normal, even when born close to their normal due dates.

Answer 31

small-for-date babies

Question 32

a measure of physical maturation based on the child’s level of skeletal development.

Answer 32

skeletal age

Question 33

the tendency to perceive an object as the same size from different distances despite changes in the size of its retinal image.

Answer 33

size constancy

Question 34

compliance based primarily on a parent’s power to control the child’s conduct.

Answer 34

situational compliance

Question 35

a pattern of inheritance in which one allele dominates another so that only its phenotype is expressed.

Answer 35

simple dominant-recessive inheritance

Question 36

a genetic blood disease that causes red blood cells to assume an unusual sickle shape and to become inefficient at distributing oxygen.

Answer 36

sickle-cell anemia

Question 37

the spirit of competition, jealousy, and resentment that may arise between two or more siblings.

Answer 37

sibling rivalry

Question 38

the second information processing store, in which stimuli are retained for several seconds and operated on (also called working memory).

Answer 38

short-term store (STS)

Question 39

an environmental influence that people living together share that should make these individuals similar to one another.

Answer 39

shared environmental influence (SE)

Question 40

an attribute determined by a recessive gene that appears on the X chromosome; more likely to characterize males.

Answer 40

sex-linked characteristic

Question 41

a person’s biological identity: his or her chromosomes, physical manifestations of identity, and hormonal influences.

Answer 41

sex

Question 42

a research design in which subjects from different age groups are studied repeatedly over a period of months or years; usually shorter than a longitudinal study.

Answer 42

sequential design

Question 43

a wary or fretful reaction that infants and toddlers often display when separated from the person(s) to whom they are attached.

Answer 43

separation anxiety

Question 44

the first information processing store, in which stimuli are noticed and are briefly available for further processing.

Answer 44

sensory store (or sensory register)

Question 45

Piaget’s first intellectual stage, from birth to 2 years, when infants are relying on behavioral schemes as a means of exploring and understanding the environment.

Answer 45

sensorimotor period

Question 46

the notion that human beings are most proficient at language learning before they reach puberty.

Answer 46

sensitive-period hypothesis (of language acquisition)

Question 47

the period of time that is optimal for the development of particular capacities, or behaviors, and in which the individual is particularly sensitive to environmental influences that would foster these attributes.

Answer 47

sensitive period

Question 48

detection of stimuli by the sensory receptors and transmission of this information to the brain.

Answer 48

sensation

Question 49

the expressed meaning of words and sentences.

Answer 49

semantics

Question 50

the ability to recognize oneself in a mirror or a photograph.

Answer 50

self-recognition

Question 51

a feeling of personal discomfort or distress that may be elicited when we experience the emotions of (that is, empathize with) a distressed other; thought to inhibit altruism.

Answer 51

self-oriented distress

Question 52

a phenomenon whereby people cause others to act in accordance with the expectations they have about those others.

Answer 52

self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 53

one’s evaluation of one’s worth as a person based on an assessment of the qualities that make up the self-concept.

Answer 53

self-esteem

Question 54

one’s perceptions of one’s unique attributes or traits.

Answer 54

self-concept

Question 55

the combination of physical and psychological attributes that is unique to each individual.

Answer 55

self

Question 56

a method of studying genetic influences by determining whether traits can be bred in animals through selective mating.

Answer 56

selective breeding experiment

Question 57

nonrandom loss of participants during a study that results in a nonrepresentative sample.

Answer 57

selective attrition

Question 58

the capacity to focus on task- relevant aspects of experience while ignoring irrelevant or distracting information.

Answer 58

selective attention

Question 59

the use of a caregiver as a base from which to explore the environment and to which to return for emotional support

Answer 59

secure base

Question 60

an infant–caregiver bond in which the child welcomes contact with a close companion and uses this person as a secure base from which to explore the environment.

Answer 60

secure attachment

Question 61

a trend in industrialized societies toward earlier maturation and greater body size now than in the past.

Answer 61

secular trend

Question 62

the period of the birth process during which the fetus moves through the birth canal and emerges from the mother’s body (also called the delivery).

Answer 62

second stage of labor

Question 63

an initially neutral stimulus that acquires reinforcement value by virtue of its repeated association with other reinforcing stimuli.

Answer 63

secondary reinforcer

Question 64

the third substage of Piaget’s sensorimotor stage; a pleasurable response, centered on an external object, that is discovered by chance and performed over and over.

Answer 64

secondary circular reactions

Question 65

a general representation of the typical sequencing of events (i.e., what occurs and when) in some familiar context.

Answer 65

script

Question 66

the use of objective and replicable methods to gather data for the purpose of testing a theory or hypothesis. It dictates that, above all, investigators must be objective and must allow their data to decide the merits of their thinking.

Answer 66

scientific method

Question 67

a serious form of mental illness characterized by disturbances in logical thinking, emotional expression, and interpersonal behavior.

Answer 67

schizophrenia

Question 68

an organized pattern of thought or action that one constructs to interpret some aspect of one’s experi ence (also called cognitive structure).

Answer 68

scheme

Question 69

the process by which an expert, when instructing a novice, responds contingently to the novice’s behavior in a learning situation, so that the novice gradually increases his or her understanding of a problem.

Answer 69

scaffolding

Question 70

Spearman’s term for mental abilities that are specific to particular tests.

Answer 70

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