Terms

• Discontinuous Development

  "steps in a staircase" when developing. You go through stages one at a time rather than flowing through each stage.
• Continuous Development

  A process without distinct stages. One "flows through" each stage.
• Nature vs Nurture


  DNA or Environment??
• Zygote


  the fertilized egg
• zygotic period or germinal period


  lasts two weeks, at the end the zygote becomes an embryo
• embryonic stage

  organ development occurs and one month in the heart starts to pump blood and basic brain development occurs.
• placenta 


  blood vessels encase the baby that transfer the nutrients from the mom to the baby.
• teratogens


  tobacco, drugs, and infections that damage cell tissue of the developing baby resulting in physical and mental defects.
• fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)

  alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
• fetal stage

  2 months until gestation. arms, legs, CNS, eyes, and genitalia.
• fetus


  gain weight and strength, build the nervous system
• maturation


  orderly sequential, biological growth of a child or fetus.
• reflex


  an involuntary physical response to a stimulus
• grasping reflex


  when newborns curl their fingers around objects when their palms are touched.
• rooting reflex


  when babies are touched on the cheek and turn their faces towards a stimulus. disappears in about 5 months
• sucking reflex


  drives a baby to suck objects placed in their mouth. roots in getting milk. the sucking reflex is permanent
• moro reflex


  a response to a sudden absence of support, producing a feeling of falling.
• stepping reflex


  the appearance of taking steps when the baby's feet touch a flat surface. fades by 8 weeks
• babinski reflex


  the splaying of the babies toes when the bottom of the foot is stroked
• attachment bond 


  emotional attachment between the infant and the care-giver
• strange-situation behavior


  Aimsworth observed infants through one way glass to observe various forms of attachment and bonding between one-year olds and their mothers.
• insecure attachment bond


  be distressed at a caregivers departure and resentful towards them when they return.
• critical period


  a specific time in which an emotional or social landmark is developed that will not occur at a later date. gosling have an 18 hour period in which they attach themselves to a motherlike figure, it could even be a different species
• imprinting


  instinctive bonding to the first moving object seen within hours after birth
• sensitive period


  this is humans critical period, usually lasts a lot longer for them