Developing Through the lifespan
a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the lifespan
developmental psychology
the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.
sensation
the process of acquiring through experience new and relatively enduring information or behaviors
learning
a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior
motivation
feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.
attitude
the developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the second month
embryo
information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations
top-down processing
a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning
neutral stimulus
excessive self-love and self-absorption
narcissism
adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard
conformity
physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In severe cases, sings include a small, out of proportion head and abnormal facial features.
fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
the minimum stimulus needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time
absolute threshold
the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response
spontaneous recovery
Maslow's pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active
hierarchy of needs
the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable
social loafing
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information
schema
below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness
subliminal
an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior
shaping
the body's resting rate of energy output
basal metabolic rate
the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity
deindividuation
Piaget's theory: a preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view
egocentrism
an organized whole. emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes
gestalt
in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals
variable-interval schedule
a problem that consistently impairs sexual arousal or functioning at any point in the sexual response cycle
sexual dysfunction
the tendency for people to believe that the world is a just place and that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get
just- world phenomenon