Lifespan Development
the field of study that examines patterns of growth, change, and stability in behavior that occur throughout the entire life span.
Physical Development
development involving the body's physical makeup, including the brain, nervous system, muscles, and senses and the need for food, drink and sleep.
Cognitive Development
development involving the ways that growth and change in intellectual capabilities influence a person's behavior.
Personality Development
development involving the ways that the enduring characteristics that differentiate one person from another change over the life span.
Social Development
the way in which individuals' interactions with other and their social relationships grow, change, and remain stable over the course of life.
Cohort
a group of people born at around the same time in the same place.
Critical Period
a specific time during development when a particular even has its greatest consequences and the presence of certain kinds of environmental stimuli is necessary for development to proceed normally.
Sensitive Period
a point in development when organisms are particularly susceptible to certain kinds of stimuli in their environments, but the absence of those stimuli does not always produce irreversible consequences.
Maturation
the predetermined unfolding of genetic information.
Psycho-sexual Development
according to Freud, a series of stages that children pass through in which pleasure, or gratification focuses on a particular biological function and body part.
Psycho-social Development
the approach that encompasses changes in our interactions with and understandings of one another, as well as in our knowledge and understanding of ourselves as members of society.
Classical Conditioning
a type of learning in which an organism responds in a particular way to a neutral stimulus that normally does not bring about that type of response.
Operant Conditioning
a form of learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened by its association with positive or negative consequences.
Scientific Method
the process of posing and answering questions using careful, controlled techniques that include systematic, orderly observation and the conclusion of data.
Natural Observation
the type of correlation study in which some naturally occurring behavior is observed without intervention in the situation.
Correlation Research
research that seeks to identify whether an association or relationship between two factors exists.
Independent Variable
the variable that researchers manipulate in an experiment.
Dependent Variable
the variable that researchers measure in an experiment and expect to change as a result of the experimental manipulation.
Zygote
the new cell formed by the process of fertilization.
Genes
the basic unit of genetic information.
Chromosomes
rod-shaped portions of DNA that are organized in 23 pairs.
Monozygotic Twins
twins who are genetically identical.
Dizygotic Twins
twins who are produced when two separate ova are fertilized by two separate sperm at roughly the same time.
Dominant Traits
the one trait that is expressed when two competing traits are present.
Recessive Traits
a trait within an organism that is present, but is not expressed.
Genotype
the underlying combination of genetic material present (but not outwardly visible) in an organism.
Phenotype
an observable trait; the trait that is actually seen.
Homozygous
inheriting from parents similar genes for a given trait.
Heterozygous
inheriting from parents different forms of a gene for a given trait.
Down Syndrome
a disorder produced by the presence of an extra chromosome on the twenty-first pair; once referred to as mongolism.
Fragile X Syndrome
a disorder produced by injury to a gene on the X chromosome, producing mild to moderate mental retardation.
Sickle-cell Anemia
a blood disorder that gets its name from the shape of the red blood cells in those who have it.
Genetic Counseling
the discipline that focuses on helping people deal with issues relating to inherited disorders.
Ultrasound Sonography
a process in which high-frequency sound waves scan the mother's womb to produce an image of the unborn baby, whose size and shape can be assessed.
Chorionic Villus Sampling
a test used to find genetic defects that involves taking samples of hair-like material that surrounds the embryo.
Amniocentesis
the process of identifying genetic defects by examining a small sample of fetal cells drawn by a needle inserted into the amniotic fluid surrounding the unborn fetus.
Infertility
the inability to conceive after 12 to 18 months of trying to become pregnant.
Fetus
a developing child, from eight weeks after conception until birth.
Artificial Insemination
a process of fertilization in which a man's sperm is placed directly into a woman's vagina by a physician.
In Vitro Fertilization
a procedure in which a women's ova are removed from her ovaries and a man's sperm are used to fertilize the ova in a laboratory.
Teratogen
an environmental agent that produces a birth defect.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
a disorder caused by the pregnant mother consuming substantial quantities of alcohol during pregnancy, potentially resulting in mental retardation and delayed growth in the child.
Fetal Alcohol Effects
a condition in which children display some, though not all, of the problems of fetal alcohol syndrome due to the mother's consumption of alcohol during pregnancy.
Neonate
the term used for newborns.
Episiotomy
an incision sometimes made to increase the size of the opening of the vagina to allow the baby to pass.
APGAR Scale
a standard measurement system that looks for a variety of indications of good health in newborns.
Anoxia
a restriction of oxygen to the baby, lasting a few minutes during the birth process, that can produce brain damage.
Bonding
close physical and emotional contact between parent and child during the period immediately following birth, argued by some to affect later relationship strength.
Preterm Infants
infants who are born prior to 38 weeks after conception (also known as premature)
Low-birthweight Infants
infants who weigh less than 2,500 grams (around 5 1/2 pounds) at birth.
Very-low birthweight Infants
infants who weigh less than 1,250 grams (around 2.25) or, regardless of weight, have been in the womb less than 30 weeks.
Postmature Infants
infants still unborn 2 weeks after the mother's due date.
Cesarean Delivery
a birth in which the baby is surgically removed from the uterus, rather than traveling through the birth canal.
Stillbirth
the delivery of a child who is not alive, occurring in 1 delivery in 115 in the United States.
Infant Mortality
death within the first year of life.
Reflexes
unlearned, organized, involuntary responses that occur automatically in the presence of certain stimuli.
Habituation
the decrease in the response to a stimulus that occurs after repeated presentations of the same stimulus.