Studying Child Development Flashcards
accommodation (development)
In Jean Piaget’s theory, the act of altering a previously existing schema in response to new information.
Asperger disorder
A developmental disorder associated with deficits in social skills and transitions, and a preference for sameness or predictable events. This is a separate disorder under the category of autism spectrum disorder.
autism
A severe neurologically based developmental disorder where one shows impaired social interactions, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, repetitive behavior, and narrow interests.
Erikson’s psychosocial stages
A theory of eight stages of social development throughout the lifespan. These include trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. doubt, initiative vs. guilt, competence vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair.
formal operations
Jean Piaget’s fourth stage of cognitive development, from 11 years of age through the life span. The formal operations stage involves the capability for abstract thought, and the application of logical reasoning processes to abstract ideas.
gender identity
Our sense of being male or female.
gender role
The behaviors and attitudes expected of people because they are male or female.
Harry Harlow
Harlow did experiments on forming attachment, where monkeys would rather go to a cloth mother than a wire mother that provided nourishment.
object permanence
The understanding that objects and people exist even if they are not in our presence.
permissive
One of Diana Baumrind’s styles of parenting, which is characterized by a high degree of responsiveness and a low degree of control.
psychosexual
Sigmund Freud’s term for the child’s developmental stages in which sexual gratification and pleasure are focused on a particular area of the body. Fixation at one of these psychosexual stages occurs when the tasks associated with that stage are not completed.
reciprocal determinism
The interaction of heredity and environment in determining personality; each affects the other.
schema (development)
An internal model or mental representation that serves as a guide to perception, interpretation, or problem solving.
sensorimotor
The first stage in Jean Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory, from ages 0 to 2. During this stage, infants are learning about the environment primarily by using their senses and motor abilities.
social referencing
A phenomenon in which an infant looks to significant adults for cues about how he or she should feel in a given situation.
