Chapter 5 terms | |

adolescence | the transition period between childhood and adulthood. | | | | Alzheimer's disease | a degenerative disease marked by progressive cognitive decline and characterized by a collection of symptoms, including confusion, memory loss, mood swings, and eventual loss of physical function. | | | | animistic thinking | belief that inanimate objects are alive. | | | | anxious-avoidant | attachment style characterized by infants who stay calm when their primary caregiver leaves and who ignore and avoid her when she returns. | | | | anxious-resistant attachment | attachment style characterized by infants who are ambivalent when separated and reunited with their caregiver. | | | | attachment | the strong emotional connection that develops early in life between infants and their caregivers. | | | | concrete operational stage | Piaget's third stage of cognitive development, which spans ages 6–11, during which the child can perform mental operations—such as reversing—on real objects or events. | | | | conservation | recognition that when some properties (such as shape) of an object change, other properties (such as volume) remain constant. | | | | conventional level | the second level in Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning, during which the person values caring, trust, and relationships as well as the social order and lawfulness. | | | | critical period | specific period in development when individuals are most receptive to a particular kind of input from the environment (such as visual stimulation and language). | | | | dementia | a loss of mental function, in which many cognitive processes are impaired, such as the ability to remember, reason, solve problems, make decisions, and use language. | | | | egocentrism | viewing the world from one's own perspective and not being capable of seeing things from another person's perspective. | | | | embryo | the term for the developing organism from 2 weeks until about 8 weeks after conception. | | | | embryonic stage | the second prenatal stage, from 2 weeks to 8 weeks after conception, when all of the major organs form. | | | | emotional competence | the ability to control emotions and know when it is appropriate to express certain emotions. | | | | fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) | a consequence of prenatal alcohol exposure that causes multiple problems, notably brain damage. | | | | fetal stage | the third prenatal stage, which begins with the formation of bone cells 8 weeks after conception and ends at birth. | | | | formal operational stage | Piaget's final stage of cognitive development, from age 11 or 12 on through adulthood, when formal logic is possible. | | | | generativity | a term Erik Erikson used to describe the process in adulthood of creating new ideas, products, or people. | | | | germinal stage | the first prenatal stage of development which begins at conception and lasts two weeks. | | | | human development | the study of change and continuity in the individual across the life span. | | | | imprinting | the rapid and innate learning of the characteristics of a caregiver very soon after birth. | | | | menarche | the first menstrual period. | | | | neural migration | the movement of neurons from one part of the fetal brain to their more permanent destination; occurs during months 3–5 of the fetal stage. | | | | object permanence | the ability to realize that objects still exist when they are not being sensed. | | | | peers | people who share equal standing or status and are at the same level, in terms of age, gender, skill, or power. | | | | personality | the unique and relatively enduring set of behaviors, feelings, thoughts, and motives that characterize an individual. | | | | preconventional level | the first level in Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning, focusing on avoiding punishment or maximizing rewards. | | | | prenatal programming | the process by which events in the womb alter the development of physical and psychological health. | | | | preoperational stage | the second major stage of cognitive development (ages 2–5), which begins with the emergence of symbolic thought. | | | | postconventional level | the third level in Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning, in which the person recognizes universal moral rules that may trump unjust or immoral local rules. | | | | pruning | the degradation of synapses and dying off of neurons that are not strengthened by experience. | | | | puberty | the period when sexual maturation begins; it marks the beginning of adolescence. | | | | secure attachment | attachment style characterized by infants who will gradually explore new situations when the caregiver leaves and initiate contact when the caregiver returns after separation. | | | | sensorimotor stage | Piaget's first stage of cognitive development (ages 0–2), when infants learn about the world by using their senses and by moving their bodies. | | | | separation anxiety | the distress reaction shown by babies when they are separated from their primary caregiver (typically shown at around 9 months of age). | | | | social referencing | the ability to make use of social and emotional information from another person—especially a caregiver—in an uncertain situation. | | | | spermarche | the first ejaculation. | | | | temperament | the biologically based tendency to behave in particular ways from very early in life. | | | | teratogens | substances that can disrupt normal prenatal development and cause lifelong deficits. | | | | theory of mind | ideas and knowledge about how other people's minds work. | | | | zygote | the single cell that results when a sperm fertilizes an egg. |