front 1 Kin Selection | back 1 Biological concept explaining how altruistic behaviors (actions that benefit others at a cost to the individual) can evolve through natural selection |
front 2 Fertile Females Theory | back 2 That women’s mating preferences, behaviors, and perceptions shift during their most fertile ovulatory phase to maximize reproductive success |
front 3 Older-Brother Effect | back 3 The finding that men who have older brothers are more likely to be gay than those with older sisters or no older siblings |
front 4 Cognition | back 4 All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating |
front 5 Schemas | back 5 A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information |
front 6 Assimilation | back 6 Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas |
front 7 Accommodation | back 7 In developmental psychology, adapting our current schemas (understandings) to incorporate new information |
front 8 Sensorimotor Stage | back 8 In Piaget’s theory, the stage (from birth to nearly 2 years of age) at which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities |
front 9 Object Permanence | back 9 The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived |
front 10 Preoperational Stage | back 10 In Piaget’s theory, the stage (from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age) at which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic |
front 11 Conservation | back 11 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 |
front 12 Pretend Play | back 12 A form of imaginative play where children use their imagination to create scenarios, assign roles, and act out events, often mimicking real-life situations or characters |
front 13 Egocentric | back 13 In Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view |
front 14 Animism | back 14 A belief that inanimate objects are alive or have lifelike feelings and motivations |
front 15 Concrete Operational Stage | back 15 In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 7 to 11 years of age) at which children can perform the mental operations that enable them to think logically |
front 16 Formal Operational Thinking | back 16 In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) at which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts |
front 17 Social Cultural | back 17 The interplay and combination of social and cultural factors that influence the behaviors, beliefs, and interactions of individuals and groups within a society |
front 18 Scaffold | back 18 In Vygotsky’s theory, a framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking |
front 19 Zone of Proximal Development | back 19 Place between what a child can and can't do |
front 20 Theory of Mind | back 20 People’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states — about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict |
front 21 Autism Spectrum Disorder | back 21 Any of a group of neurodevelopmental conditions of variable severity having features regarded as characteristic of this disorder (especially difficulties with social interaction and communication) |
front 22 Personal Fable | back 22 Believing they are unique and special and what happens to “most people” would never happen to them |
front 23 Moral Intuitions | back 23 Quick gut feelings |
front 24 Dementia | back 24 A cognitive disorder that impairs memory, cognition, and decision-making |
front 25 Cross-sectional Studies | back 25 Comparing people of different ages |
front 26 Longitudinal Studies | back 26 Restudying same people over time |
front 27 Terminal Decline | back 27 Last 3-4 years of life where cognition rapidly deteriorates |
front 28 Language | back 28 Our agreed-upon systems of spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning |
front 29 Language Acquisition Device | back 29 A hypothetical mental faculty proposed by Noam Chomsky that suggests humans are born with an innate ability to learn language |
front 30 Phonemes | back 30 In a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit |
front 31 Morphemes | back 31 In a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix) |
front 32 Grammar | back 32 In a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. Semantics is the language’s set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is its set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences |
front 33 Universal Grammar (UG) | back 33 Humans’ innate predisposition to understand the principles and rules that govern grammar in all languages |
front 34 Receptive Language | back 34 Babies’ abilities to understand what is said to and about them |
front 35 Productive Language | back 35 Babies’ abilities to produce words |
front 36 Babbling Stage | back 36 The stage in speech development beginning around 4 months, during which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds that are not all related to the household language |
front 37 One-word Stage | back 37 The stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words |
front 38 Two-word Stage | back 38 Beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements |
front 39 Telegraphic Speech | back 39 The early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram — “go car” — using mostly nouns and verbs |
front 40 Aphasia | back 40 Impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding) |
front 41 Broca's Area | back 41 A frontal lobe brain area, usually in the left hemisphere, that helps control language expression by directing the muscle movements involved in speech |
front 42 Wernicke's Area | back 42 A brain area, usually in the left temporal lobe, involved in language comprehension and expression |
front 43 Linguistic Determinism | back 43 Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think |
front 44 Linguistic Relativism | back 44 The idea that language influences the way we think |
front 45 Outcome Simulation | back 45 Using a model or a process to predict or understand the future results of a real-world situation or event |
front 46 Process Simulation | back 46 Involves creating models, both mental and computational, to replicate and analyze behaviors and cognitive processes in a controlled environment, offering insights into how individuals think, reason, and solve problems |
front 47 Ecological Systems Theory | back 47 A theory of the social environment’s influence on human development, using five nested systems (microsystem; mesosystem; exosystem; macrosystem; chronosystem) ranging from direct to indirect influences |
front 48 Separation Anxiety | back 48 A common childhood developmental stage characterized by excessive fear and distress when separated from primary caregivers, such as parents or siblings |
front 49 Stranger Anxiety | back 49 The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age |
front 50 Attachment | back 50 An emotional tie with others; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to caregivers and showing distress on separation |
front 51 Contact Comfort | back 51 The psychological concept that individuals, especially infants, find comfort, security, and well-being from physical contact and closeness with a caregiver or others, rather than solely from nourishment |
front 52 Secure Base | back 52 A caregiver or safe space that provides a child with the comfort and confidence to explore their environment, knowing they can return for reassurance and support when distressed |
front 53 Imprinting | back 53 The process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life |
front 54 Strange Situation | back 54 A procedure for studying child-caregiver attachment; a child is placed in an unfamiliar environment while their caregiver leaves and then returns, and the child’s reactions are observed |
front 55 Secure Attachment | back 55 Demonstrated by infants who comfortably explore environments in the presence of their caregiver, show only temporary distress when the caregiver leaves, and find comfort in the caregiver’s return |
front 56 Insecure Attachment | back 56 Demonstrated by infants who display either a clinging, anxious attachment or an avoidant attachment that resists closeness |
front 57 Disorganized Attachment | back 57 No consistent behavior during separations and reunions with caregivers |
front 58 Temperament | back 58 A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity |
front 59 Basic Trust | back 59 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 |
front 60 Anxious Attachment | back 60 People constantly crave acceptance, remain alert to possible rejection |
front 61 Avoidant Attachment | back 61 Experience discomfort when getting close to others, avoidant to maintain distance |
front 62 Self-Concept | back 62 All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in answer to the question, “Who am I?” |
front 63 Family Self | back 63 What shames the child shames the family, what honors the family honors the self |
front 64 Identity | back 64 Our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles |
front 65 Social Identity | back 65 The “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships |
front 66 Possible Selves | back 66 The versions of adolescents that they may imagine becoming in the future |
front 67 Intimacy | back 67 In Erikson’s theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in young adulthood |
front 68 Selection Effect | back 68 Adolescents seeking out peers with similar attitudes, interests, and traits |
front 69 Emerging Adulthood | back 69 A period from about age 18 to the mid-twenties, when many persons in Western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults |