Accommodation

according to Piaget, the process by which existing mental structures and behaviors are modified to adapt to new experiences

Sentence: Piaget thinks humans go through this process of schema creation, assimilation, and accommodation as we develop
cognitively.

Anal stage
Freud's second stage of personality development, from about age 2 to about age 3, during which children learn to control the
immediate gratification they obtain through defecation and to become responsive to the demands of society

Sentence: The anal stage develops during toilet training.

Anxious/ambivalent attachments
the child shows extreme stress when the parents leave but resist being comforted by them when they return

Sentence: Anxious attachments occurred in about 12% of the participants.

Assimilation
according to Piaget, the process by which new ideas and experiences are absorbed and incorporated into existing mental
structures and behaviors

Sentence: Normally, we incorporate our experiences into these existing schemata in a process called assimilation.

Attachment
an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress
on separation

Sentence: Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth are the two most important psychologists when it comes to attachment.

Authoritarian parents
parents who make arbitrary rules, expect unquestioned obedience from their children, punish misbehavior, and value obedience
to authority

Sentence: Obedient attitudes are valued more than discussions about the rationale behind the standards.

Authoritative parents
parents who set high but realistic and reasonable standards, enforce limits, and encourage open communication and
independence

Sentence: The rationale for family rules are discussed with the children old enough to understand them.

Autonomy versus shame and doubt

Erikson's second crisis of psychosocial development. Toddlers either succeed or fail in gaining a sense of self-rule over their
own actions and bodies.

Sentence: In this stage, toddlers begin to exert their will over their own bodies for the first time.

Avoidant attachments
infants with this may resist being held by the parents and will explore novel environment; they don't go to parents for comforts
when they return after an absence

Sentence: Avoidant attachments occurred in about 21% of the participants.

Concepts of conservation
children realize that properties of objects remain the same even when their shapes change. demonstrates how different aspects
of objects are conserved even when their arrangement changes

Example: Volume, area and number.

 Concrete operations
Piaget's stage in which children learn such concepts as conservation and mathematical transformations; about 7 - 11 years of age

Sentence: This stage is when children begin to think more logically.

Conventional stage
a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by the extent to which it conforms to
social rules

Sentence: Children were able to move past personal gain or loss.

Cross-sectional research
a research design that compares groups of people who differ in age but are similar in other important characteristics

Example: A developmental researcher might be interested in how our ability to recall nonsense words changes as we age.

Egocentric
self-centered

Sentence: Many think of Kanye West as egocentric.

Erik Erikson's psychosocial developmental

theory neo-freudian who believed in the basics of freuds theory but adapted it to fit his own observation

Sentence: Erik Erikson was a neo-Fredian.

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)

a group of birth defects caused by the effects of alcohol on an unborn child

Sentence: Children of alcoholic mothers who drink heavily during pregnancy are at high risk for fetal alcohol syndrome.

Formal operations
in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think
logically about abstract concepts

Sentence: This stage occurs from 12 years old into adulthood.

Generativity versus stagnation

Erikson's seventh stage of psychosocial development, in which the middle-aged adult develops a concern with establishing,
guiding, and influencing the next generation or else experiences stagnation (a sense of inactivity or lifelessness)

Sentence: Erikson felt that by the time we reach this age, we are starting to look critically at our life path.

Genital stage
Freud's last stage of personality development, from the onset of puberty through adulthood, during which the sexual conflicts of
childhood resurface (at puberty) and are often resolved during adolescence)

Sentence: Once they enter the genital stage, they remain there for the rest of their lives.

Harry Harlow's attachment research

studied infant attachment using monkey

Sentence: In the 1950s, researcher Harry Harlow raised baby monkeys with two artificial wire frame figures made to resemble
mother monkeys.
 Identity versus role confusion
Erikson's term for the fifth stage of development, in which the person tries to figure out "Who am I?" but is confused as to which
of many possible roles to adopt

Sentence: In adolescence, Erikson felt our main social task is to discover what social identity we are most comfortable with.

Industry versus inferiority

the fourth of Erikson's eight psychosexual development crises, during which children attempt to master many skills, developing a
sense of themselves as either industrious or inferior, competent or incompetent

Sentence: This stage occurs at the beginning of our formal education.

Initiative versus guilt

Erikson's third psychosocial crisis, in which children undertake new skills and activities and feel guilty when they do not succeed
at them

Sentence: In this stage, children ask many questions.

Integrity versus despair

the final stage of Erik Erikson's developmental sequence, in which older adults seek to integrate their unique experiences with
their vision of community

Sentence: Toward the end of life, we look back at our accomplishments and decide if we are satisfied with them or not.

Intimacy versus isolation Erikson's sixth stage of development. Adults see someone with whom to share their lives in an eduring and self-sacrificing
commitment. Without such commitment, they risk profound aloneness and isolation

Sentence: Young adults who established stable identities then must figure out how to balance their ties and efforts between
work and relationships with other people.

Jean Piaget's cognitive developmental

theory children do not think like adults, their thought processes have their own distinct order and special logic

Sentence: Jean Piaget's cognitive developmental theory is the most famous theory of this type.

Lawrence Kohlberg's moral

developmental theory focuses on gender constancy

Sentence: This theory focuses on morality.

Longitudinal research
a research design in which the same individuals are followed over time and their development is repeatedly assessed

Sentence: Longitudinal research takes place over a long period of time.

Mary Ainsworth's strange situation

an experimental method designed to measure the nature of attachment between mothers and babies

Sentence: Mary Ainsworth researched the idea of attachment by placing human infants into novel situations.

Metacognition
thinking about thinking

Sentence: I'm experiencing metacognition while completing these vocabulary words.

Nature versus nurture
a debate surrounding the relative importance of heredity (nature) and environment (nurture) in determining behavior

Sentence: The nature versus nurture debate is one that will probably never be solved.

Newborn reflexes
a newborns reactions to certain stimulus

Sentence: In the past, some philosophers and early psychologists believed that humans are born as blank slates, helpless and
without any skills or reflexes.

Object permanence
the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

Example: Just because we turn around doesn't mean the things behind us aren't there.

Oral stage
Freud's first stage of personality development, from birth to about age 2, during which the instincts of infants are focused on the
mouth as the primary pleasure center

Sentence: In the oral stage, infants seek pleasure through their mouths.

Permissive parents
parents who provide lax and inconsistent feedback and require little of their children

Sentence: Family members may perceive that they can get away with anything at home.

Phallic stage
Freud's third stage of personality development, from about age 4 through age 7, during which children obtain gratification
primarily from the genitals

Sentence: During the phallic stage, babies realize their gender and this causes conflict in the family.

Postconventional stage
a stage of moral development at which the morality of an action is determined by a set of general principles that reflect core
values

Sentence: This stage describes what we mean by moral reasoning.

Preconventional stage
a stage of moral development in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by its consequences for the actor

Sentence: The children avoided punishment.

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

Sentence: This stage occurs form two to approximately seven years old.

Schemata
mental representations of how we expect the world to be

Sentence: These are cognitive rules we use to interpret the world.

Secure attachments
constantly explored when parent was present; distressed when they left and came to parents when they returned

Sentence: Secure attachments occurred in about 66% of the participants.

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

Sentence: This stage occurs from birth to about two years old.

Teratogens
agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm

Sentence: Teratogens can cause harm if ingested or contracted by the mother.

Trust versus mistrust

first stage of personality development in which the infant's basic sense of trust or mistrust develops as a result of consistent or
inconsistent care

Sentence: Babies learn whether or not they can trust that the world provides for their needs.