Psychology - Chapter 10 Developmental Psychology - Important Terms

The study of how behaviour changes over the lifespan

False assumption that because one event occurred before another, it must have caused that event.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

Research design that examines people of different ages at a single point in time.

Confound effect due to the fact that sets of people who lived during a certain time period, called cohorts, differ from other sets of people in a systematic way.

Research design that examines development in the same group of people on multiple occasions over time.

Situation in which the effects of genes depend on the environment in which they are expressed.

Tendency of individuals with certain genetic predispositions to seek out and create environments that permit expression of those predispositions.

Activation or deactivation of genes by environmental experiences through development.

Period prior to birth.

Ball of identical cells early in embryonic development (in pregnancy) that haven’t yet begun to take on any specific function in a body part.

A fertilized egg

weeks: 2-9 of prenatal development

Limbs, facial features, and major organs of the body take form

Period of prenatal development from ninth week until birth after all major organs are established and physical maturation is the primary change.

Environmental factor that can exert a negative impact on prenatal development.

Condition resulting from high levels of prenatal alcohol exposure, causing learning disabilities, physical growth retardation, facial malformations, and behavioural disorders.

Bodily motion that occurs as a result of self-initiated force that moves the bones and muscles.

The transition between childhood and adulthood commonly associated with the teenage years.

Also called sexual maturation.

Results in the potential to reproduce.

Physical features, such as the reproductive organs and genetics, that distinguish the sexes

Sex-differentiating character that doesn’t relate directly to reproduction.

ex: breast enlargement, deepening of voices

Onset of menstruation

Boy’s first ejaculation

Termination of menstruation, signaling the end of a woman’s reproductive potential.

Stems in a decrease in estrogen

Study of how children acquire the ability to think, learn, reason, communicate and remember.

Piagetian process of absorbing new experiences into current knowledge structures/schemas.

Piagetian process of altering a belief to make it more compatible with experience.

(i.e. alter current schema to better fit new information)

Stage in Piaget's theory characterized by a focus on the here and now, without the ability to represent experiences mentally.

Birth - 2 years

Lack object permanence

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of view.

Stage in Piaget's theory characterized by the ability to construct mental representations of experience, but not yet able to perform operations on them.

2-7 years of age

Stage hampered by egocentrism

Inability to see the world from other's perspective

Piagetian task requiring children to understand that despite a transformation in the physical presentation of an amount, the amount stays the same

Stage in Piaget's theory characterized by the ability to perform mental operations on physical events only.

7-11 years of age

Stage in Piaget's theory characterized by the ability to perform hypothetical reasoning beyond the here and now.

Vygotskian learning mechanism in which parents (or other care givers) provide initial assistance in children's learning but gradually remove structure as children become more competent

Phase of learning during which children can benefit from instruction.

children are receptive to learning a new skill but aren't yet successful at it

Ability to reason about what other people know or believe.

| ex: ability to understand that someone other than the child may now something, and vice versa

A fear of strangers developing at 8 or 9 months of age

Basic emotional style that appears early in development and is largely genetic in origin.

The strong emotional connection we share with those whom we feel closest.

Phenomenon in which an animal, such as a goose, will follow around the first, large moving object they see

Positive emotions afforded by touch

An environment that provides children with the basic needs for affection and appropriate discipline

Ability to inhibit an impulse to act

People's sense of being male or female

A set of behaviours that tend to be associate with being male or female

Our sense of who we are, and our life goals and priorities.

Period of life between the ages of 18 and 25 during which many aspects of emotional development, identity, and personality become solidified

Supposed phase of adulthood characterized by emotional distress about the aging process and an attempt to regain youth.

Alleged period of depression in mothers following the departure of their grown children from home.