| A | B |
|---|
| The fertilized egg that is formed from the union of the sperm and egg cells in human reproduction | Zygote |
| The basic unit of genetic instruction | Gene |
| Molecules of DNA that hold genetic instructions for every cell in the body | Chromosomes |
| Twins that originate from the same zygote | Identical (monozygotic) twins |
| Twins that originate from the fertilization of two eggs at approximately the same time | Fraternal (dizygotic) twins |
| Environmental agents such as drugs and viruses, diseases, and physical conditions that impair prenatal development and lead to birth defects and sometimes death. | Teratogens |
| A sndrome affecting infants whose mothers consumed large amounts of alcohol during pregnancy, resulting in a range of severe effects including mental retardation and facial abnormalities. | Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) |
| An innate human reflex that leads infants to suck anything that touches their lips. | Sucking reflex |
| An innate human reflex that leads infants to turn their mouth toward anything that touches their cheeks toward anything that touches their cheeks and search for something to suck on | Rooting reflex |
| A decrease in the physiological responding to a stimulus once it becomes familiar. | Habituation |
| The smallest distinctive speech sounds in a language. | Phonemes |
| The different format of speech that adults use when talking with babies that involves the use of shorter sentences with a higher, more melodious pitch | Baby talk (parentense) |
| The rhythmic repetition of various sylables including both consonants and vowels | Babbling |
| A word used by infants to express a complete idea | Holophrase |
| The application of a newly learned word to objects that are not included in the meaning of the word | Overextension |
| The failure to apply a new word more generally to objects that are included within the meaning of the word | Underextension |
| Using two-word sentences with mainly nouns and verbs | Telegraphic Speech |
| Piaget's term for the interpretation of new experiences in terms of present schemas | Assimilation |
| Piagent's term for the modification of present schemas to fit with new wxperiences | Accommodation |
| The first stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development, from birth to about age two, during which infants learn about the world through their sensory and motor interactions with it and develop objects permanence. | Sensorimotor Stage |
| The knowledge that an object exists independent of perceptual contact with it | Object permanence |
| The second stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development, from age two to six, during which the child's thinking becomes more symbolic and language based, but remains egocentric and lacks the mental operations that allow logical thinking. | Preoperational Stage |
| The inability to distinguish one's own perceptions, thoughts, and feelings from those of others | egocentrism |
| The knowledge that the quantitative properties of objects (such as mass and number) remains the same despite changes in appearance | Conservation |
| The knowledge that reversing a transformation brings about the conditions that existed before the transformation | Reversibility |
| The tendency to focus on only one aspect of a problem at a time | Centration |
| The third stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development, from age 6 to 12, during which children gain a fuller understanding of conservation and other mental operations that allow them to think logically, but only about concrete events. | Concrete operational stage |
| The last stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development, starting at age 12 or so, during which a child gains the capacity for hypothetical-deductive thought | Formal Operational Stage |
| An approach to studying cognitive development that assumes cognitive development is continous and improves as children become more adept at processing information | Information-processing approach to cognitive development |
| According to Vygotsky, the difference between what a child can actually do and what the child could do with the help of others. | Zone of Proximal development |
| According to Vygotsky, a style of teaching in which the teacher adjests the level of help in relation to the child's level of performance while orienting the child's learning toward the upper level of this or her zone of proximal development | Scaffolding |
| A study in which the performances of groups of participants of different ages are compared to one another | Cross-sectional study |
| A study in which performance of the same group of participants is examined at different ages | Longitudinal Study |
| People of a given age (cohorts) are affected by factors unique to their generation, leading to differences in performance between generations | Cohort effects |
| The first level of reasoning in Kohlberg's theory of moral development in which moral reasoning is based on avoiding punishment and looking out for your own welfare and needs | Preconventional level of moral reasoning |
| The second level of reasoning in Kohlberg's theory of moral development in which moral reasoning is based on social rules and laws | Conventional level of moral reasning |
| The last level of reasoning in Kohlberg's theory of moral development in which moral reasoning is based on self-chosen universal ethical principles and the avoidance of self-condemnation for violating such principles | Postconventional level or moral reasoning |
| The lifelong emotional bond between infants and their mothers or other caregivers, formed during the first six months of life | Attachment |
| The type of attachment indicated by the infant exploring freely in the presence of the mother in the Ainsworth strange situation procedure, displaying distress when the mother leaves, and responding enthusiastically when she returns | Secure attachment |
| The type of attachment indicated by the infant exploring with little interest in the mother in the Ainsworth strange situation procedure, showing only minimal distress when the mother leaves, and avoiding her when she returns | Insecure-avoidant attachment |
| The type of attachment indicated by the infant not exploring but seeking closeness to the mother in the Ainsworth strange situation procedure, showing high levels of distress when the mother leaves, and ambivalent behavior when she returns - by alternately clinging and pushing away from her | Insecure-ambivalent attachment |
| The type of attachment indicated by the infant's confusion when the mother leaves and returns in the Ainsworth strange situation procedure. The infant acts disoriented, seems overwhelmed by the situation and does not demonstrate a consistent way of coping with it | Inssecure-disorganized (disoriented) attachment |
| The set of innate tendencies or dispositions that lead a person to behave in certain ways | Temperment |
| A style of parenting in which the parents are demanding, expect unquestioned obedience, are not responsive to their children's desires and communicate poorly with their children. | Authoritarian parenting |
| A style of parenting in which the parents are demanding, but set rational limits for their chirdren and communicate well with their children | Authoritarian parenting |
| A style of parenting in which the parents make few demands and are overly responsive to their children's desires, letting their children do pretty much as they please. | Permissive parenting |
| A style of parenting in which the parents minimize both the time they spend with their children and their emotional involvement with them and provide for their children's basic needs, but little else | Univolved parenting |
| The understanding of the mental and emotional states of both ourselves and others | Theory of mind |
