Chapter 4

38923097	Developmental Psychology	a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span.
38923098	Zygote	the fertilized egg; it enters a 2-week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo
38923099	Embryo	the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month
38923100	Fetus	the developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth.
38923101	Teratogens	agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm
38923102	Fetal Alcohol Syndrome	physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking
38923103	Rooting Reflex	a baby's tendency, when touched on the cheek, to turn toward the touch, open the mouth, and search for the nipple
38923104	Habituation	decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation
38923105	Maturation	biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience
38923106	Schema	a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
38923107	Assimilation	interpreting one's new experience in terms of one's existing schemas
38923108	Cognition	all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
38923109	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
38923110	Object Permanence	the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived
38923111	Preoperational 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
38923112	Conservation	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
38923113	Egocentrism	in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view
38923114	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
38923115	Autism	a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind
38923116	Concrete Operational Stage	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
38923117	Stranger Anxiety	the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age
38923118	Attachment	an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation
38923119	Critical Period	an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development
38923120	Imprinting	the process by which certain animals form attachments during a critical period very early in life
38923121	Basic Trust	according to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers
38923122	Self-Concept	A sense of one's identity and personal worth
38923123	Adolescence	the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence
38923124	Puberty	the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing
38923125	Primary Sex Characteristics	the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible
38923126	Secondary Sex Characteristics	nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair
38923127	Menarche	the first menstrual period
38923128	Identity	one's sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent's task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles
38923129	Intimacy	in Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood
38923130	Menopause	the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines
38923131	Alzheimer's Disease	an irreversible, progressive brain disorder, characterized by the deterioration of memory, language, and eventually, physical functioning
38923132	Cross-Sectional Study	A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another
38923133	Longitudinal Study	Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period
38923134	Crystallized Intelligence	one's accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age
38923135	Fluid Intelligence	one's ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood
38923136	Social Clock	the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement
38923137	Formal 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 objects