Part of Piaget’s cognitive development theory, this is a mental process whereby individuals adjust their existing schemes to fit new experiences and information, often creating new schemes as a result.

Accommodation allows individuals to learn about and adapt to the world around them. 

It is in contrast to the term “assimilation”. 

This process continues throughout life.

Under the umbrella of gender role classification, this is the idea that a person can possess both prominent masculine & feminine traits. 

It is in sharp contrast to the dictates of stereotypical gender roles.

Sandra Bem, an expert in the area of gender roles, argues that it is more psychologically healthy to be androgynous than to be the stereotypical male or female.

Bem has also created a sex-role inventory that can determine how masculine, feminine, or androgynous an individual is.

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A frequently used measure for assessing the health of a newborn baby. The test is used on infants immediately following birth.

Infants are given a score of 0, 1, or 2 on each of the five scales–heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, body color, & reflex irritability. 

A score of 7 to 10 indicates the baby is healthy; a score of below 3 indicates an emergency.

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Part of Piaget’s cognitive development theory, this is a mental process whereby individuals force new information or experiences to fit into their existing schemes, instead of creating new schemes when appropriate. The new information is shaped to fit the schemes, rather than the schemes being shaped to fit the new information. 

Assimilation allows individuals to make assumptions about how the world around them works without having to relearn during every experience.

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A close emotional bond between two individuals. The attachment between a child and their initial caregiver is considered to be of particular importance to development.

Mary Ainsworth developed the strange situation test to measure and assess infants’ attachments to their caregivers, using a series of introductions to strangers, separations from, and reunions with caregivers.

4 types of attachment found–securely attached, where the infants used the caregiver as a secure base; insecure avoidant, where the infants avoided the caregiver; insecure resistant, where the infants alternated between clinging to and resisting the caregiver; and insecure disorganized, where infants were disoriented and seemed confused. 

Ainsworth believes that a securely attached infant is more likely to have positive socioemotional development as a whole than an insecurely attached child.

Ex: Mary brings her 1 1/2 year old child, Tyler, to a child psychologist, who notes that the child refuses to be parted with Mary, and when Tyler is parted with her, their reunion is marked by him fighting and struggling against her. The psychologist believes that an insecure attachment may be a part of the problem, perhaps that of the insecure resistant type, due to alternation in clinging & resisting behaviors.

Also known as “Child Maltreatment”, abuse is the harming of a child, and may be physical, sexual, emotional/psychological, or may be neglect, or ostracism. 

Abuse may be the result of caregivers taking out their anger or stress on children, or may be physical punishment taken too far. 

In particular, they are likely to have greater difficulty in forming and maintaining relationships. 

Counselors are mandated to make a report to the Department of Social Services if they suspect child abuse.

Ex: Marianne came to therapy reporting difficulty in her relationships, especially with her boyfriend. During the initial session, she told the therapist that she had been physically and sexually abused as a child. The therapist postulated that this abuse has contributed to her current struggle with close relationships.

Or “Respondent Conditioning”, was initially discovered by Pavlov during his experiments with dogs. Respondent conditioning deals with instincts & reflexes that are beyond an individual’s control.

A stimulus (unconditioned stimulus) that elicits an unconditional response is paired with a neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus), eventually giving the conditioned stimulus the ability to form this association. 

Ex: Pam comes to therapy complaining of phobia of the dark. She tells the therapists that, when she was little, she was sexually molested by her uncle, who would come to her room when it was completely dark. The molestation, which elicited fear, came to be associated with the dark, which then elicited the same response.

A group of individuals born in the same year or time period.

Individuals in a cohort have experienced similar historical events and typically have a similar timetable for when certain key events in a person’s life (i.e. getting married, having a baby) should occur. 

Cohort effects can make predicting a middle-aged adult’s development difficult, as the social clock for their generation and the context they were born into can influence the direction their development takes. 

Intergenerational conflicts may also result from cohort effects. 

Ex: Colleen comes to therapy complaining of stress, anxiety, and guilt. She is a 34 year old highly successful real estate agent with, in her own words, a great life. However, her 58 year old mother is constantly berating her for not being married or having children, saying that it is “wrong” for a woman her age to be unmarried & childless.

Debate in the realm of developmental psychology as to whether development is continuous, i.e. occurs gradually at a steady rate, or whether it is non-continuous, i.e., developing in stages. 

There are many psychologists who have developed theories in which individuals develop in stages, an inherently non-continuous way of developing; notable ones include Freud, Erikson, & Piaget. 

Typically, psychologists who support the continuous view of development, also support the idea that it is the environment (nurture) which shapes us, while psychologist who believe in the non-continuous view also generally believe that it is genetics & biology (nature) which shapes our development.

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In an experimental research design, the control group is the group which is not subjected to the independent variable. 

Control group may be subject to a variety of conditions–they may receive no treatment whatsoever, they may receive a placebo (and believe they are receiving the independent variable), or they may receive an attention treatment. 

The goal is to make all conditions of the control group the same as that of the experimental group, with the sole difference being the independent variable.

Random assignment to condition assures that everyone in a study has an equal chance of being in the control group or the experimental group.

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This is a form of research design that determines whether there is a relationship between two variables an, if so, what the strength of that relationship is. 

Correlational studies yield a correlation coefficient (a number btw 1.00 & -1.00) which tells the strength of the relationship between the two variables. 

Correlational research cannot establish causation, but rather can establish the existence of a relationship and the strength of that relationship.

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In developmental psychology, a critical period is a fixed point of time in development during which experiences or events that occur or do not occur may have lasting effects. 

The ethological perspective in developmental psychology especially stresses critical periods.

If the right events or experiences do not happen during a critical period, the individual may not develop certain abilities or skills (i.e. language), or may only develop them with great difficulty. 

For fetuses, critical periods may also signify times when they are especially vulnerable to teratogens. 

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This is a form of research design in which groups of individuals of different ages are compared to each other.

Typically, several dependent variables are measured and the study itself rarely takes more than a few months to complete.

Cross-sectional designs are advantageous because they take less time and therefore less money, but are disadvantageous because they give little information about the stability of the dependent variables and the change in them over time.

Ex: Jean opted to perform a cross-sectional study comparing groups of 6 yr olds, 10 yr olds, and 14 yr olds on intelligence, peer relations, and relationships with parents. Her study was preliminary and as a result she was unable to receive funding for a longer study, making this the most practical start, given the lack of funding.

A time in an individual’s life marked by certain milestones or features, also known as developmental periods.

Dividing an individual’s life into developmental periods provides a frame of reference for when it is “normal” for events to take place (i.e. a child normally walks by this age, talks by this age). 

Although individual differences in when specific events occur are frequent, without developmental levels it would be difficult to know when something was really wrong with an individual’s development

Ex: Abigail brought her 5 yr old son, Bruce, in to a psychiatrist because he was not yet talking and her doctors had found no physical reason why he wasn’t. The psychiatrist agreed that speech would typically have occurred at this developmental level.

In Piagetian developmental psychology, egocentrism is a child’s belief that their perspective and knowledge is everyone’s perspective and knowledge. 

It is characteristic of the preoperational stage.

Piaget used the “three mountain task” to test for egocentrism, where a child is shown a model of three distinct mountains and then asked what someone on the opposite side of the model might see. 

Some have criticized this task, saying that it tests a child’s spatial skills rather than assessing for egocentrism.

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A principle of learning, extinction occurs both in respondent (classical) and operant conditioning. 

In respondent conditioning, if the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus for several trials, the conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus will gradually lessen. 

In operant conditioning, extinction refers to the procedure of disconnecting a reinforcement contingency and the effects of this on behavior. Sometimes extinction in operant conditioning is initially accompanied by an extinction burst, in which the behavior occurs more often for a time.

Ex: Bessy was accustomed to her parents giving her anything she wanted any time she threw a tantrum in a public place. After a behaviorist recommended placing the behavior under extinction, Bessy began throwing even worse tantrums for a while, before the behavior finally began to subside.

A concept in biology, a genotype is an individual’s actual genetic material, their genes. Not all of a person’s genetic material is manifested in observable characteristics. 

The parts of a person’s genotype that are expressed and observable are known as the phenotype.

It can be important to know one’s genotype in order to know what characteristics may be passed on to one’s offspring.

Ex: Martha and Carl came to marriage counseling because they are at odds about whether or not to have a child. Carl has a history of a debilitating disease in his family, and knows that he may have the information for that disease in his genotype, and may pass it down to his children. Martha thinks that since Carl doesn’t have it, their children won’t.

This refers to the complex interaction between a person’s genetics and the environment outside them. 

A person’s genes may influence the kind of environments and situations they find themselves in. Sandra Scarr has described three types of interactions between the genotype & the environment. 

The first, passive genotype-environment interactions, are those that happen if the biological parents of the children raise them, and tend to provide and environment that enhances the genes they have passed on to their children.

The second, evocative genotype-environment interactions, are those that occur as a result of the child’s characteristics eliciting certain types of responses from their environment. 

The third type, active or niche-picking genotype, are those in which the child actively seeks out certain environments or activities as a result of their genotype

Ex: One of the concerns that brought Laura to therapy is her children–one child, Tim, is very outgoing and friendly, has a large circle of friends, but prefers to spend time alone, a fact which worries Laura considerably. The therapist speculates that this is an example of an active genotype-environment interaction–the two children, with different genotypes and characteristics, have sought out environments to suit those differences.

The process by which an individual becomes less responsive to a stimulus after repeated exposure. 

Habituation is typically used to determine if young children and babies who cannot yet communicate verbally can distinguish the difference between two stimuli.

If a different stimulus is presented and the child does not become interested again, it is assumed that the child cannot tell the difference between the new stimulus and the one they habituated to.

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A term used in biology and particularly Mendelian genetics, heterozygous is when the two alleles for a gene are different.

One of the alleles will be dominant and therefore be expressed in the phenotype, while the other allele will be recessive and will not be expressed. 

Having heterozygous alleles leads to differences between genotype and the phenotype.

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A term used in the field of biology and particularly Mendelian genetics, a gene is homozygous if the two alleles for a gene are the same.

The only time a recessive trait will be expressed is when the gene is homozygous for the recessive alleles.

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James Marcia, a researcher in the area of Erikson’s identity development during adolescence, postulates that there are four identity statuses, or ways of resolving the identity crisis in Erikson’s theory. 

Identity achievement is considered the optimal status, where an individual has gone through a period where they explored alternatives (crisis), and have made a commitment to a particular path.

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A part of adolescent egocentrism, this is the belief that adolescents believe that they are invulnerable to certain things.

This belief may lead adolescents to participate in risky behaviors, such as unprotected sex, driving recklessly or while drunk, and binge drinking, all with the idea that the consequences of their actions could never happen to them.

It also may explain why adolescents continue to engage in risky behaviors despite seeing the consequences that their peers suffer as result of the same behaviors. 

Ex: Janna is dragged to therapy by her mother, who is concerned about her. Her mother knows that she is having unprotected sex, but Janna maintains that she won’t get pregnant and scoffs at her mother’s insistence on either abstinence or safe sex.

Occurring during a child’s physical development, this is the process by which cetain functions become specialized to one hemisphere of the brain. 

This process begins at birth and continues throughout childhood.

While certain things such as grammar or humor may be processed in one hemisphere or the other, most neuroscientists agree that complex functions are carried out by both hemispheres working together.

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This is a form of research design.

In a longitudinal design, one group of people is studied over an often long period of time.

While this is beneficial because it provides a large amount of data and allows researchers to study developmental trends and track changes, it is also hard to do because it requires large amounts of both time and money.

In addition, there is often a high rate of drop out in longitudinal studies.

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Alternate–awareness of one’s own cognitive processes often involving a conscious attempt to control them.

Metacognition allows people to develop strategies that enable them to learn things quicker & better.

An expert in the field of children’s cognitive development, Deanna Kuhn, believes that schools should put more emphasis on teaching children about metacognition, or knowing about knowing. Encompassed in the idea of metacognition is that of understanding how to best remember things and how to execute strategies in learning. Instead of simply teaching knowledge, Kuhn believes that children should be taught the best ways to learn.

Ex: Bobby was referred to the school counselor for help with his study skills. Although he was bright, he had not learned the best strategies for learning. Using the idea of metacognition, the counselor was able to help Bobby understand the best ways for him to study. (head injury example?)

Stage theorists such as Erikson and Levinson maintain that midlife represents a time of crisis for individuals as they struggle to reconcile what they hoped their lives would be with what their lives currently are. 

Erikson offers a hopeful perspective with a successful resolution of this crisis leading to a focus on the younger generation and providing wisdom to them. 

Levinson believes that adults must reconcile several internal conflicts, many of which cause psychological pain.

However, research has indicated that reports of midlife crisis are exaggerated, and that many adults complete the transition into middle and later adulthood quite happily.

Ex: Tina came to therapy tormented by the idea that her husband would through a midlife crisis and leave her, as her father had done to her mother. The therapist provided her with information about the many adults who successfully move into midlife without crises.

The process in nervous system development during which the axons of neurons become encased in fat cells, which begins prenatally and can continue into adolescence. 

The myelin sheath insulates the axons and helps electrical signals travel faster.

It also may assist in providing energy to neurons and in communication.

Abnormalities in this process may be a contributing factor to some mental illnesses.

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Part of Bandura’s social cognitive theory, this is learning that occurs through watching what other people do. 

Like behaviorists, Bandura believed that behavior is strongly influenced by environmental influences; but unlike them, he believed that much of it was learned through watching other people, a process he called “modeling”. This process allows individuals to learn from other people’s mistakes.

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Adult disorders arise from childhood traumas or anxieties.

Childhood-based anxieties are unconscious and are repressed through defense mechanisms because they are too threatening to face.

The psychodynamic approach includes all the theories in psychology that see human functioning based upon the interaction of drives and forces within the person, particularly unconscious, and between the different structures of the personality.

Notable theorists: Freud (psychoanalytic), Psychodynamic: Jung, Adler, & Erikson

Making excuses for one's mistakes, and by doing so avoiding self-condemnation or condemnation by others

Originally coined in psychoanalytic theory, largely by Anna Freud, this refers to an unconscious process by which a person attempts to preserve the integrity of their self-image and keep their ego from experiencing anxiety by distorting reality, through the defense mechanism of rationalizing.

Characteristic of tests & assessments

Consistency with which the test will deliver the same results after repeated trials. 

Tests should not be trusted until their reliability has been proven.

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As infants typically develop fear around six months, they will begin displaying signs of anxiety when they are separated from their primary caregivers.

Separation anxiety typically manifests after the six month point and peaks at approximately fifteen months in infants from several different cultures.

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Recessive traits which are influenced by genes on the sex chromosomes, typically on the X chromosome.

Certain traits, such as color blindness, are more likely to occur in males because they only have one X chromosome. 

Females, who have two X chromosomes, have one to compensate for the defective or damaged gene.

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A term related to an infant’s socioemotional development, this is an infant’s ability to detect other people’s emotions and use them to decide how to act. 

This ability develops towards the end of the 1st year of a child’s life and becomes more advances during their 2nd year. 

The infant will take most of their cues about how to behave in a situation from their mother and her facial expression. 

This ability continues into adulthood, and an impaired ability to socially reference may result in a lack of social skills.

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A concept put forth by Benice Neugarten, the social clock refers to a time frame in which individuals feel that they need to accomplish certain things, such as getting married or having a baby.

The social clock for each generation is typically different. If an individual does things at a time not dictated by the social clock, they may experience a significant amount of stress and pressure from society to conform.

Ex: 15 year old Tabitha was hospitalized after a suicide attempt. She gave birth a few months ago and reports feeling depressed after people at school have mercilessly harassed her. The social clock of her generation does not permit for having children so early.

Refers to the wariness infants have around people they have not met before. 

It begins around the age of 6 months, when infants first begin to feel the emotion of fear.

Typically stranger anxiety peaks at the end of the first year of life and then decreases. 

Stranger anxiety is influenced by the context in which the stranger appears and also the characteristics of the stranger. If the infant encounters the stranger in a familiar environment, or if the stranger is friendly and smiling, they are less likely to be feared.

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Temperament is a an individual’s characteristic way of responding to their environment, both emotionally and behaviorally.

Research on temperament in children has led psychologists to believe that temperament is displayed early in development and is typically fairly stable over time. 

Most psychologists believe that temperament is formed through a combination of biological, environmental, and cultural influences.

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In Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of children’s cognitive development, the zone of proximal development is the range of tasks that are too difficult for children to do by themselves, but which they can accomplish if assisted by someone who has more skills in that area.

Through the use of scaffolding, where the more skilled individual adjusts the amount of help they provide to the child according to the child’s current performance, the zone of proximal development can gradually move upwards. 

Each child’s zone of proximal development is different and also changes as they develop.

Ex: (Amazon child-rearing)