Developmental Psychology Methods
This research design examines people of different ages at one point in time.
Cross-sectional research
The harmful agents that can cause damage to a developing fetus.
Teratogens
The understanding that objects continue to exist even when not seen.
Object Permanence
Pavlov’s dogs salivating to the sound of a bell is an example of this type of learning.
Classical Conditioning
The parenting style characterized by high warmth and high control, leading to socially competent children.
Authoritative Parenting
A research design that follows the same group of individuals over an extended period to track changes.
Longitudinal Research
The reflex where a baby turns its head toward a touch on the cheek.
Rooting Reflex
Piaget's stage characterized by egocentrism and symbolic thinking.
Preoperational Stage
The type of reinforcement involving the removal of an unpleasant stimulus to increase behavior.
Negative Reinforcement
The attachment style where children feel secure enough to explore but return to their caregiver for comfort.
Secure Attachment
A disadvantage of cross-sectional research where generational differences, not age, affect results.
Cohort Effect
A laboratory device used to test depth perception in infants.
Visual Cliff
The ability to mentally reverse an action or operation, such as understanding that 3 + 2 = 5 and 5 - 2 = 3.
Reversibility
A type of schedule where reinforcement is given after a fixed number of responses.
Fixed-Ratio Schedule
Harlow’s study showed infant monkeys preferred this type of surrogate mother.
Cloth Mother
A disadvantage of longitudinal research involving participants leaving the study over time.
Attrition
The period when a child is most sensitive to language acquisition.
Critical Period
Vygotsky's concept describing the range of tasks a child can perform with guidance but not alone.
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
A form of learning where an association is made after just one pairing of a stimulus and response.
One-Trial Learning
The tendency of adolescents to believe that they are unique and invulnerable.
Personal Fable
The perspective emphasizing that development is lifelong and multidimensional.
Lifespan perspective
The term for a girl's first menstruation, signaling the onset of fertility.
Menarche
The final stage in Piaget’s theory, marked by abstract and hypothetical thinking.
Formal Operational Stage
A schedule where reinforcement is given after a variable amount of time has passed.
A system in Bronfenbrenner’s theory that involves the interconnections between family, school, and peers.
Mesosystem