Unit 6 Flashcards
pt. 1 (29 cards)
a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.
Developmental Psychology
the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo.
Zygote
the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month.
Embryo
the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.
Fetus
agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
Teratogens
physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman’s heavy drinking. In severe cases, symptoms include noticeable facial misproportions.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
Reflex in which a newborn fans out the toes when the sole of the foot is touched
Babinski reflex
clenching of the fingers upon stimulation of the palm of the hand when an infant is touched.
Grasping reflex
a reflex in the newborn in which stimulation of the side of the cheek or upper or lower lip causes the infant to turn the mouth and face to the stimulus.
Rooting reflex
an infantile reflex of spreading out the arms in response to a sudden loss of support.
Moro reflex
the diminishing of a physiological or emotional response to a frequently repeated stimulus.
Habituation
biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
Maturation
Jean Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development in children-sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages.
Cognitive Stages of Development
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.
Schema
interpreting our new experience in terms of our existing schemas.
Assimilation
Development - adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.
Accommodation
the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
Object Permanence
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.
Sensorimotor Stage
in Piaget’s theory, the stage (from 2 to about 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.
Preoperational Stage
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.
Conservation
in Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view.
Egocentrism
people’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states—about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict.
Theory of Mind
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.
Concrete 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.
Formal Operational Stage
