Critical period
A period of special sensitivity to specific types of learning that shapes the capacity for future development
Cross-sectional method
Measures individuals of various age at one point in time and give information about age differences
Longitudinal method
Measures a single individual or group of individuals over an extended period and gives information about age changes
Maturation
Development governed bu automatic, genetically predetermined signals
Ageism
Prejudice or discrimination based on physical age
Embryonic period
Second stage of prenatal development, which begins after uterine implantation and lasts through the eight week
Fetal period
Third, and final, stage of prenatal development (eight weeks to birth), which is characterized by rapid weight gain in the fetus and the fine detailing of bodily organs and systems
Germinal period
First stage of prenatal development, which begins with conception and ends with implantation in the uterus (the first two weeks)
Puberty
Biological changes during adolescence that lead to an adult-sized body and sexual maturity
Teratogen
Enviromental agent that causes damage during prenatal development; the term comes from the greek word teras, meaning malformation
Accommodation
In Piaget's Theory, adjusting old schemas or developing new ones to better fit with new information
Assimilation
In Piaget's Theory, absorbing new information into existing schemes
Concrete operational stage
Piaget's third stage (roughly age 7-11) the child can perform mental operations on concrete objects and understand reversibility and conservation, but abstract thinking is not yet proven
Conservation
Understanding that certain physical characteristics (such as volume) remain unchanged, even when their outward appearance changes
Egocentrism
The inability to consider another's point of view, which Piaget considered a ballmark of the preoperational stage
Formal operational stage
Piaget's forth stage (around 11 and beyond), characteristic by abstract and hypothetical thinking
Object permanence
Piagetian tern fro an infant's understanding that objects (or people) continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched directly
Preoperational stage
Piaget's second stage (roughly age 2 to 7), characterized by the ability to employ significant language and to think symbolically, but the child lacks operations (reversibly, mental processes), and thinking is egocentric and animistic
Schema
Cognitive structure or patterns consisting of a number of organized ideas that grow and differentiate with experience
Sensorimotor stage
Piaget's first stage (birth to approximately age 2 years), in which schemas are developed through sensory and motor activites