culture
the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next
norm
an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior. "proper" behavior.
individualism
giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of person attributes rather than group identification.
collectivism
giving priority to the goals one one's group.
sex
in psychology, the biologically influenced characteristics by which people define males and females.
gender
in psychology, the socially influenced characteristics by which people define men and women.
aggression
any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.
relational aggression
an act of aggression (physical or verbal) intended to harm a peron's relationship or social standing.
X chromosome
the sex chromosome found in both men and women. Females have two, males have one.
Y chromosome.
the sex chromosome found only in males.
puberty
the period of sexual maturation, when a person becomes capable of reproducing.
primary sex characteristics
the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible.
secondary sex characteristics
non-reproductive sexual traits, such as female breasts and hips, and male voice quality and body hair.
spermarche
first ejaculation
menarche
first menstrual period
disorder of sexual development
an inherited condition that involves unusual development of sex chromosomes and anatomy.
role
a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.
gender role
a set of expected behaviors, attitudes, and traits for males or females.
gender identity
our sense of being male, female, or a combination of the two.
social learning theory.
the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished.
gender typing
the acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role.
androgyny
displaying both traditional masculine and feminine psychological characteristics.
transgender
an umbrella term describing people whose gender identity or expression differs from that associated with their birth sex.
developmental psychology
a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout a life span.
zygote
the fertilized egg; it enters a two week period of rapid cell division and develops into an embryo.
fetus
the developing human organism from nine weeks after conception to birth.
teratogens
agents, such as chemicals or viruses, that can reach an embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.
fetal alcohol syndrome
physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking. In severe cases, signs include small, out of proportion head and abnormal facial structures.
habituation
decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.
maturation
biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
cognition
all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
schema
a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.
assimilation
interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.
accommodation
adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.
sensorimotor stage
in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to nearly two years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activity.
object permanence
the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
preoperational stage
in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about two to about 6 or 7 years old) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.
conservation
the principle (which Piaget' believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the form of objects.
egocentrism
in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view.
theory of mind
people's idea about their own and others' mental states- about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict.
concrete operational stage
in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (from 7 to 11) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.
formal operational stage
in Piaget's theory, the stage o cognitive development (around 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.
autism spectrum disorder
a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors.
stranger anxiety
the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age.
attachment
an emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress on separation.
critical period
an optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to the certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development.
Imprinting
the process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life.
basic trust
according to Erik Erikson, a sense that world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be forming during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers.
self concept
all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "who am I?
adolescence
the transitional period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.
puberty
the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.
identity
our sense of self
social identity
the "we" aspect of self-concept
intimacy
in Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in young adulthood.
emerging adulthood
a period from about age 18 to the mid twenties, when many in Western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults.
sensation
the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment..
perception
the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.
bottom-up processing
information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.
top-down processing
information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.
transduction
conversion of one form of energy to another. In sensation, the transforming the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret.
psychophysics
the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.
absolute threshold
the minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.
signal detection theory
a theory predicting how and when we detect presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulus. Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and alterness.
subliminal
below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness.
priming
the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response.
difference threshold
the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference.
Weber's law
The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage.
sensory adaptation
diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation
perceptual set
a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.