Chapter 4
Development – the age-related physical, intellectual, social, and personal changes that occur throughout an individual’s lifetime
Zygote – the fertilized human egg, containing 23 chromosomes from the father and 23 chromosomes from the mother
Germinal period – the period in prenatal development from conception to implantation of the fertilized egg in the wall of the uterus
Embryonic period – the period of prenatal development lasting from implantation to the end of the 8th week
Fetal period – the period of prenatal development lasting from the 9th week until birth
Teratogens – environmental agents—such as disease organisms or drugs—that can potentially damage the developing embryo or fetus
Puberty – the period during which a person reaches sexual maturity and is potentially capable of producing offspring
Menopause – the period during which a woman’s menstrual cycle slows down and finally stops
Dementia – physically based losses in mental functioning
Longitudinal design – a research design in which the same people are studied or tested repeatedly over time
Cross-sectional design – a research design in which people of different ages are compared at the same time
Habituation – the decline in responsiveness to a stimulus that is repeatedly presented
Schemata – mental models of the world that we use to guide and interpret our experiences
Assimilation – the process through which we fit—or assimilate—new experiences into existing schemata
Accommodation – the process through which we change or modify existing schemata to accommodate new experiences
Sensorimotor period – Piaget’s first stage of cognitive development, lasting from birth to about 2 years of age; schemata revolve around sensory and motor abilities
Object permanence – the ability to recognize that objects still exist when they’re no longer in sight
Preoperational period – Piaget’s second stage of cognitive development, lasting from ages 2 to about 7; children begin to think symbolically but often lack the ability to perform mental operations such as conservation
Principle of conservation – the ability to recognize that the physical properties of an object remain the same despite superficial changes in the object’s appearance
Egocentrism – the tendency to see the world from one’s own unique perspective only; a characteristic of thinking in the preoperational period of development
Concrete operational period – Piaget’s third stage of cognitive development, lasting from ages 7 to 11; children acquire the capacity to perform a number of mental operations but still lack the ability for abstract reasoning
Formal operational period – Piaget’s last stage of cognitive development; thought processes become adult-like, and people gain mastery over abstract thinking
Morality – the ability to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate actions
Preconventional level – in Kohlberg’s theory, the lowest level of moral development, in which decisions about right and wrong are made primarily in terms of external consequences
Conventional level – in Kohlberg’s theory or moral development, the stage in which actions are judged to be right or wrong based on whether they maintain or disrupt the social order
Postconventional level – Kohlberg’s highest level of moral development, in which moral actions are judged on the basis of a personal code of ethics that is general and abstract and that may not agree with societal norms
Attachments – strong emotional ties formed to one or more intimate companions
Temperament – a child’s general level of emotional reactivity
Strange situation test – gradually subjecting a child to a stressful situation and observing his or her behavior toward the parent or caregiver; this test is used to classify children according to type of attachment—secure, resistant, avoidant, or disorganized/disoriented
Personal identity – a sense of who one is as an individual and how well one measures up against peers
Gender roles – specific patterns of behavior that are consistent with how society dictates males and females should act
Ageism – discrimination or prejudice against an individual based on physical age

Chapter 12
Personality – the distinguishing pattern of psychological characteristics—thinking, feeling, and behaving—that differentiates us from others and leads us to act consistently across situations
Trait – a stable predisposition to act or behave in a certain way
Trait theories – formal systems for assessing how people differ, particularly in their predispositions to respond in certain ways across situations
Big Five – the five dimensions of personality—extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness—that have been isolated through the application of factor analysis
Cardinal traits - Allport’s term to describe personality traits that dominate an individual’s life, such as a passion to serve others or to accumulate wealth
Central traits – Allport’s term to describe the 5 to 10 descriptive traits that you would use to describe someone you know—friendly, trustworthy, and so on
Secondary traits – the less obvious characteristics of an individual’s personality that do not always appear in his or her behavior, such as testiness when on a diet
Self-report inventories – personality tests in which people answer groups of questions about how they typically think, act, and feel; their responses, or self-reports, are then compared to average responses compiled from large groups of prior test takers
Projective personality test – a type of personality test in which individuals are asked to interpret unstructured or ambiguous stimuli
Psychodynamic theory – an approach to personality development, based largely on the ideas of Sigmund Freud, that holds that much of behavior is governed by unconscious forces
Conscious mind – the contents of awareness—those things that occupy the focus of one’s current attention
Preconscious mind- the part of the mind that contains all of the inactive but potentially accessible thoughts and memories
Unconscious mind – the part of the mind that Freud believed housed all the memories, urges, and conflicts that are truly beyond awareness
Id – in Freud’s theory, the portion of personality that is governed by inborn instinctual drives, particularly those related to sex and aggression
Superego – in Freud’s theory, the portion of personality that motivates people to act in an ideal fashion, in accordance with the moral customs defined by parents and culture
Ego – in Freud’s theory, the portion of personality that induces people to act with reason and deliberation and helps them conform to the requirements of the external world
Defense mechanisms – according to Freud, unconscious processes used by the ego to ward off the anxiety that comes from confrontation, usually with the demands of the id
Repression – a defense mechanism used to bury anxiety-producing thoughts and feelings in the unconscious
Denial – a defense mechanism characterized by the refusal to believe information that leads to anxiety
Rationalization – a defense mechanism in which one creates explanations to deal with threatening thoughts or actions
Projection – a defense mechanism in which unacceptable feelings or wishes are dealt with by attributing them to others
Reaction formation – a defense mechanism used to transform an anxiety-producing wish into a kind of opposite—people behave in a way that counters the way they truly feel
Sublimation – a defense mechanism used to channel unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable activities
Oral stage – the first stage in Freud’s conception of psychosexual development, occurring in the first year of life; in this stage, pleasure is derived primarily from sucking and placing things in the mouth
Anal stage – Freud’s second stage of psychosexual development, occurring in the second year of life; pleasure is derived from the process of defecation
Phallic stage – Freud’s third stage of psychosexual development, lasting from about age 3 to age 5; pleasure is gained from self-stimulation of the sexual organs
Latency period – Freud’s period of psychosexual development, from age 5 to puberty, during which the child’s sexual feelings are largely suppressed
Genital stage – Freud’s final stage of psychosexual development, during which one develops mature sexual relationships with members of the opposite sex
Collective unconscious – the notion proposed by Carl Jung that certain kinds of universal symbols and ideas are present in the unconscious of all people
Humanistic psychology – an approach to personality that focuses on people’s unique capacity for choice, responsibility, and growth
Self-concept – an organized set of perceptions that we hold about our abilities and characteristics
Positive regard – the idea that we value what others think of us and that we constantly seek others’ approval, love, and companionship
Conditions of worth – the expectations or standards that we believe others place on us
Incongruence – a discrepancy between the image we hold of ourselves—our self-concept—and the sum of all our experiences
Self-actualization – the ingrained desire to reach one’s true potential as a human being
Social-cognitive theories – an approach to personality that suggests it is human experiences, and interpretations of those experiences, that determine personality growth and development
Locus of control – the amount of control that a person feels he or she has over the environment
Self-efficacy – the beliefs we hold about our own ability to perform a task or accomplish a goal
Reciprocal determinism – the idea that beliefs, behavior, and the environment interact to shape what is learned from experience
Person-situation debate – a controversial debate centering on whether people really do behave consistently across situations
Self-monitoring – the degree to which a person monitors a situation closely and changes his or her behavior accordingly; people who are high self-monitors may not behave consistently across situations
Chapter 13
Social psychology – the discipline that studies how people think about, influence, and relate to other people
Social cognition – the study of how people use cognitive processes—such as perception, memory, thought, and emotion—to help make sense of other people as well as themselves
Social schema – a general knowledge structure, stored in long-term memory, that relates to social experiences or people
Stereotypes – the collection of beliefs and impressions held about a group and its members; common stereotypes include those based on gender, race, and age
Self-fulfilling prophecy effect – a condition in which our expectations about the actions of another person actually lead that person to behave in the expected way
Prejudice – positive or negative evaluations of a group and its members
Discrimination – behaviors that are directed against members of a group
Attributions – the inference processes people use to assign cause and effect to behavior
External attribution – attributing the cause of a person’s behavior to an external event or situation in the environment
Internal attribution – attributing the cause of a person’s behavior to an internal personality trait or disposition
Fundamental attribution error – when people seek to interpret someone else’s behavior, they tend to overestimate the influence of internal personal factors and underestimate the role of situational factors
Actor-observer effect – the overall tendency to attribute our own behavior to external sources but to attribute the behavior of others to internal sources
Self-serving bias – the tendency to make internal attributions about one’s own behavior when the outcome is positive and to blame the situation when one’s behavior leads to something negative
Attitude – a positive or negative evaluation or belief held about something, which in turn may affect one’s behavior; attitudes are typically broken down into cognitive, affective, and behavioral components
Elaboration likelihood model – a model proposing two primary routes to persuasion and attitude change; a central route, which operates when we are motivated and focusing our attention on the message, and a peripheral route, which operates when we are either unmotivated to process the message or are unable to do so
Source characteristics – features of the person who is presenting a persuasive message, such as his or her attractiveness, amount of power, or fame
Cognitive dissonance – the tension produced when people act in a way that is inconsistent with their attitudes
Self-perception theory – the idea that people use observations of their own behavior as a basis for inferring their internal beliefs
Social influence – the study of how the behaviors and thoughts of individuals are affected by the presence of others
Social facilitation – the enhancement in performance that is sometimes found when an individual performs in the presence of others
Social interference – the impairment in performance that is sometimes found when an individual performs in the presence of others
Altruism - acting in a way that shows unselfish concern for the welfare of others
Bystander effect – the reluctance to come to the aid of a person in need when other people are present
Diffusion of responsibility – the idea that when people know (or think) that others are present in a situation, they allow their sense of responsibility for action to diffuse, or spread out widely, among those who are present
Social loafing – the tendency to put out less effort when working in a group compared to when working alone
Deindividuation – the loss of individuality, or depersonalization, that comes from being in a group
Conformity – the tendency to comply with the wishes of the group; when people conform, their opinions, feelings, and behaviors generally start to move toward the group norm
In-group – a group of individuals with whom one shares features in common, or with whom one identifies
Group polarization – the tendency for a group’s dominant point of view to become stronger and more extreme with time
Groupthink – the tendency for members of a group to become so interested in seeking a consensus of opinion that they start to ignore and even suppress dissenting views
Obedience – the form of compliance that occurs when people respond to the orders of an authority figure
Reciprocity – the tendency for people to return in kind the feelings that are shown toward them
Passionate love – an intense emotional state characterized by a powerful longing to be with a specific person; passionate love is marked by a combination of intimacy and passion, but commitment may be lacking
Companionate love – a kind of emotional attachment characterized by feelings of trust and companionship; companionate love is marked by a combination of intimacy and commitment, but passion may be lacking