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3.12: Glossary

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    384886
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    Key Terms

    • Accommodation: Changing an existing schema to incorporate new information that does not fit. 
    • Adaptation: The process of adjusting schemas through assimilation and accommodation. 
    • Assimilation: Incorporating new information into existing schemas. 
    • Attachment: The emotional bond between an infant and caregiver. 
    • Cephalocaudal development: Growth pattern that starts at the head and progresses downward. 
    • Cognitive development: Changes in thinking, problem-solving, and memory over time. 
    • Concrete operational stage: Piaget’s third stage (about 7–11 years): children think logically about concrete events. 
    • Conservation: Understanding that even if appearance changes, quantity remains the same if nothing is added/removed. 
    • Critical (sensitive) period: Time during fetal growth when specific parts or organs develop 
    • Developmental milestone: A significant skill or event marking progress in development. 
    • Discontinuous development: View that development takes place in distinct stages at specific times. 
    • Egocentrism: Difficulty in seeing the world from another person’s perspective. 
    • Embryo: Multicellular organism in its early stages of development. 
    • Emerging adulthood: Newly defined period (late teens to mid-20s) when young people take longer to assume adult roles. 
    • Fine motor skills: Small muscle movements such as grasping and manipulating objects. 
    • Formal operational stage: Piaget’s final stage (age 11+): able to think abstractly and hypothetically. 
    • Gonadarche: Maturation of the sex glands. 
    • Gross motor skills: Large muscle movements such as crawling and walking. 
    • Nutrition: Dietary intake critical to early growth and health. 
    • Object permanence: Understanding that objects continue to exist when out of sight. 
    • Placenta: Structure delivering nourishment and oxygen to the developing baby during pregnancy. 
    • Prenatal care: Medical care during pregnancy for monitoring maternal and fetal health. 
    • Primary circular reactions: Repetitive actions centered on the infant’s own body. 
    • Proximodistal development: Growth pattern that starts at the center of the body and moves outward. 
    • Reflexes: Automatic responses present at birth, such as sucking and grasping. 
    • Schema: A mental framework for organizing and interpreting information. 
    • Secondary circular reactions: Repetitive actions involving objects in the environment. 
    • Sensorimotor stage: Piaget’s first stage of cognitive development (birth to 2 years), where infants learn through sensory experiences and motor actions. 
    • Separation anxiety: Distress experienced when a caregiver leaves. 
    • Shame vs. doubt: Infant’s crisis when developing autonomy (Erikson’s stage 2). 
    • Stranger anxiety: Fear of unfamiliar people, typically emerging around 8 months. 
    • Tertiary circular reactions: Deliberate variation of actions to explore consequences. 
    • Trust vs. Mistrust: Erikson’s first psychosocial stage, where infants learn whether the world is safe and reliable. 
    • Vocabulary spurt: Rapid increase in word learning, typically around 18–24 months. 
    • Wechsler definition of intelligence: The ability to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment. 
    • Zygote: Structure formed when sperm and egg merge at conception. 

    3.12: Glossary is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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