Nature

A person's inherited traits, determined by genetics

Nurture

A person's experiences in the environment

Expectancy Bias

The researcher allowing his or her expectations to affect the outcome of a study

Single Blind

A testing procedure in which the administrators do not tell the subjects if they are being given a test treatment or a control treatment to avoid bias in the results

Double Blind

When the participants and the psychologists do not know the purpose of the study

Developmental Psychology

A branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social changes throughout a lifespan.

Heredity

The passing of traits from parents to offspring

Adoption Studies

Research studies that assess hereditary influence by examining the resemblance between adopted children and both their biological and adoptive parents

Longitudinal Study

Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period of time

Cross-sectional Study

A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another

Innate

Natural, inborn, inherent; built-in

Prenatal Period

The period from conception to birth, which usually encompasses nine months of pregnancy

Neonatal Period

The first month of life after birth

Infancy

first month to eighteen months

Fetal Stage

The third stage of prenatal development, lasting from three months through birth

Critical Period

An optimal period shortly after birth, when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development

Synaptic Pruning

A process whereby the synaptic connections in the brain that are used are preserved, and those that are not used are lost

Attachment

The process by which certain animals form attachments during the critical period very early in life.

Konrad Lorenz

A researcher who focused on critical attachment periods in baby birds, a concept he called imprinting

Ethology

The scientific study of how animals behave, particularly in natural environments

John Bowlby

A British Psychologist who said that, to lead a normal social life, a child must bond with an adult before age 3. He saw bonding and attachment as having survival value (adaptive significance)

Mary Ainsworth

An American Psychologist who studied infant attachment using the "strange situation" model. She labeled infants "secure" or "insecure" in attachment

Strange Situation Model

Ainsworth's method for assessing infant attachment to the mother, based on a series of brief separations and reunions with the mother in a playroom situation

Secure Attachment

Ainsworth's experiment; infants confidently explore the novel environment while parents are present, are distressed when they leave, and come to their parents when they return

Insecure Attachment

Ainsworth's experiment; infants avoid attachment, marked by anxiety or avoidance of trusting relationships; less likely to explore strange situations and cling to mother or cry when mother leaves

Anxious-Ambivalent Attachment

A style of attachment in which children are uncertain in their response to their mothers, going back and forth between seeking and shunning her attention. These mothers have been characterized as insensitive and less involved

Avoidance Attachment

A style of attachment in which children act as if they are unconcerned about being separated from their mothers. These children may be showing the effects of repeated rejection

Contact Comfort

Harlow's research with Rhesus monkeys indicated that an infant's attachment is due to pleasant tactile sensations provided by a soft, cuddly parent. This experiment contradicted the Cupboard Theory

Harry Harlow

Studied attachment in monkeys with artificial mothers made of wire or cloth

Cupboard Theory

A theory that supported the idea that attachment to the mother was driven by biological needs (food)

Maturation

The natural physical changes that occur due to a person's genetic code

Jean Piaget

Known for his theory of cognitive development in children

Epistemology

The study of knowledge

Cognitive Development

The study of how children acquire the ability to think, learn, reason, communicate, and remember

Schemas

Concepts or mental frameworks that organize and interpret information

Assimilation

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

Accommodation

Responding to a new event or object by changing an existing schema or creating a new schema

Sensorimotor Stage

In Piaget's theory, this stage is from birth to 2 years old. During which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

Pre-Operational Stage

In Piaget's theory, this stage occurs between 2 and 7 years old. During which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete thinking

Concrete Operations Stage

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

Formal Operations

In Piaget's theory, this stage of cognitive development normally begins around age 12. During which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts

Object Permanence

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived. Develops by the first year

Egocentrism

The belief that others perceive the world in the same way that he or she does

Egotistical

Excessively self-absorbed; very conceited

Animistic Thinking

The tendency of a young child to focus only on one feature of an object while ignoring other relevant features

Irreversibility

The inability of the young child to mentally reverse an action

Conservation

The principle (which Piaget believed to be a concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the form of the object

Mental Operations

The mental process of solving problems by manipulating images in one's mind

Theory of Mind

An awareness that other people's behavior may be influenced by beliefs, desires, and emotions that differ from one's own

Lev Vygotsky

A Russian Developmental Psychologist who emphasized the role of the social environment on cognitive development and proposed the idea of the Zones of Proximal Development

Zones of Proximal Development

The distance between what an individual can accomplish independently and what they can accomplish with the guidance and encouragement of a more skilled partner (how quickly or slowly depends on these zones)

Temperament

Basic emotional style that appears early in development and is largely genetic in origin but not written in stone

Parenting Styles

Authoritarian, Permissive, Authoritative

Diane Baumrind

Identified three patterns of parental behavior associated with varying levels of children's competence; She stated parenting styles as authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive

Authoritarian Parenting Style

A style of parenting marked by emotional coldness, imposing rules and expecting obedience

Authoritative Parenting Style

A parenting style in which parents encourage their children to be independent but still place limits and controls on their actions. Extensive verbal give-and-take is allowed, and parents are warm and nurturing towards the child. The parenting style is associated with children's social competence

Permissive Parenting Style

Unclear guidelines for their children; rules are constantly changed or aren't enforced consistently

Lawrence Kohlberg

Studied with Piaget and focused on moral development within cognitive development; presented boys with moral dilemmas and studied their responses and reasoning processes in making these moral decisions. The most famous moral dilemma is "Heinz," who has an ill wife and cannot afford the medication. Should he steal the medication? Why?

Pre-conventional Stage

Kohlberg's stage of moral development, in which moral reasoning is based on reward and punishment from those in authority

Conventional Stage

Kohlberg's stage of moral development, in which the morality of an action is primarily determined by the extent to which it conforms to social rules

Post Conventional Stage

Kohlberg's stage of moral development, in which the individual considers universal moral principles that supersede the authority of the group

Carol Gilligan

Best known for her critique of Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development. She argued that the participants in Kohlberg's basic study were all male. She contended that the scoring method Kohlberg used tended to favor a principled way of reasoning that was more common to boys. According to Gilligan, the moral concerns of women focus on caring and compassion

Fluid Intelligence

Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; it tends to decrease during late adulthood

Crystallized Intelligence

Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; it tends to increase with age

Autism

A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by deficient communication, social interaction, and understanding of others' states of mind

Alzheimer's Disease

A chronic, progressive, degenerative cognitive disorder that accounts for more than 60% of all dementias