Foundations of Development
This debate asks whether development is shaped more by genetics or environment.
What is nature vs. nurture?
This reflex causes infants to turn their head toward touch near the mouth.
What is the rooting reflex?
Piaget’s term for a mental structure that organizes experience.
What is a schema?
In Erikson’s first stage, infants learn whether the world is safe and caregivers are reliable.
What is trust vs. mistrust?
This debate asks whether development happens in gradual, continuous change or in distinct stages.
What is continuity vs. discontinuity?
This framework views development through biological, psychological, sociocultural, and life-cycle forces.
What is the biopsychosocial framework?
A newborn scoring a 5 on this assessment needs medical support but is not in critical danger.
What is the Apgar score?
This concept means understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of sight.
What is object permanence?
In Ainsworth’s Strange Situation, this attachment style is shown when a baby calms quickly after the caregiver’s return.
What is secure attachment?
This newborn reflex causes an infant to grasp objects placed in their hand.
What is the palmar grasp reflex?
His psychosocial theory describes stages like intimacy vs. isolation.
Who is Erik Erikson?
Brain development that depends on universal experiences, such as language exposure, is called this.
What is experience-expectant growth?
Vygotsky’s idea describing tasks a child can do with help but not alone.
What is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)?
Complex emotions like guilt and shame typically begin appearing at this age.
What is 18–24 months?
Piaget’s experiment with the “mountain task” demonstrates this limitation in preoperational thinking.
What is egocentrism?
Piaget and Vygotsky are best known for their theories of this aspect of development.
What is cognitive development?
By 4 years old, children understand that others can hold these incorrect mental representations.
What are false beliefs (theory of mind)?
When a child says “goed” instead of “went,” it’s an example of this error in language development.
What is overregularization?
Playing next to other children without interacting is called this type of play.
What is parallel play?
In Ainsworth’s Strange Situation, a baby that avoids the caregiver when they return is showing this attachment style.
What is avoidant attachment?
This research principle refers to whether a test measures what it claims to measure.
What is validity?
This classic experiment shows that infants become distressed when caregivers suddenly stop interacting with them.
What is the Still Face Experiment?
Children using two-word phrases like “want cookie” are engaging in this type of speech.
What is telegraphic speech?
Prosocial behavior, such as sharing and comforting others, begins to emerge around this age.
What is 18 months?
This type of growth depends on unique individual experiences, such as learning to play the piano.
What is experience-dependent growth?