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tetratogens
environmental agents that harm the embryo or fetus; drugs, alcohol, bacteria, viruses, chemicals
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synaptic pruning
a process where the synaptic connections in the brain that are frequently used are preserved, and those that are not are lost ("use it or lose it")
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critical period
biologically determined time period for the development of specific skills
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sensitive periods
the specific points in development at which some skills or kinds of knowledge are learned most easily
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attachment
a strong emotional connection that persists over time and across stimulants (usually between a caregiver and child)
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secure attachment
attachment style for a majority of infants, who are readily comforted when their caregiver returns after a brief separation; one of Ainsworth's three types of child attachments (65%)
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avoidant attachment
attachment style in which infants IGNORE their caregiver when he or she returns after a brief separation; one of Ainsworth's three types of child attachments (20-25%)
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anxious-ambivalent attachment
attachment style in which infants become extremely upset when their caregiver leaves but reject the caregiver when he or she returns; one of Ainsworth's three types of child attachments (10-15%)
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disorganized attachment
attachment style in which infants give mixed responses when their caregiver leaves and then returns from a short absence (smiles at them, but displaying fear or avoidance)
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infantile amnesia
what Freud referred to as the inability to remember events from early childhood
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source amnesia
difficulty knowing where they learned something; prevalent in young children
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assimilation
the process by which a new experience is placed into an existing schema
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accommodation
the process by which a new schema is changed to imcorperate a new experience that doesn't easily fit into an existing schema
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sensorimotor
birth-2 years; differentiates self from objects; recognizes self as an agents of ACTION! and acts intentionally (ex: pulls a string to make mobile move); achieves object permanence: things exist even when they're not present to the senses; one of Piaget's four stages of development
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preoperational
2-7 years; learns to use language/represent objects by images/words; thinking is egocentric (difficulty taking others' viewpoint); classifies objects by a single feature; one of Piaget's four stages of development
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concrete operational
7-12 years; thinks logically about objects/events; achieves conservation of number, mass and weight?; classifies objects my multiple features and can order them in series along a single dimesion; one of Piaget's four stages of development
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formal operational
12 and up; thinks logically about abstract propositions; tests hypotheses systematically; concerned with hypotheticals (future, ideological problems); one of Piaget's four stages of development
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object permanence
the understanding that an object continues to exist even when it is hidden from view
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theory of mind
the ability to explain and predict other people's behavior as a result of recognizing their mental state (knowing that other people have mental states and using that knowledge to recognize their mental states)
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preconventional level
earliest level of moral development, in which self-interest determines what is moral; one of three levels of moral judgement devised by Kohlberg
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conventional
middle stage of moral developement, in which rules and the approval of others determines what is moral; one of three levels of moral judgement devised by Kohlberg
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postconventional
highest stage of moral development, in which decisions about morality depend on abstract principles; one of three levels of moral judgement devised by Kohlberg
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morphemes
the smalest units that have meaning, such as suffixes or prefixes
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phonemes
what makes up morphemes; are basic sounds
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performatives
consist of wordlike sounds that are learned in a context and that a baby may not be using to represent a meaning (ex: saying hello when holding a phone, immitating an observed action but not understanding the meaning of hello)
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true words
clearly meant to represent concepts (cat meaning the concept of a pet)
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telegraphic speech
the tendency for children to speak using rudimentary sentences that are missing words and grammatical marking but follow a logical syntax
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social development
the maturation of skills or ability to enable people to live in a world with other people
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