Psychology terms in Human development

Potentially traumatic events or conditions in the first 18 years of life, such as abuse, neglect or household dysfunction, that are associated with poorer health and well-being later in life.

A close, enduring emotional bond between an infant and a caregiver, shown by seeking closeness to that person, especially when distressed, and using them as a source of comfort and security.

A characteristic pattern of attachment behaviour and expectations in close relationships, such as secure, avoidant, resistant or disorganised, in infancy or adulthood.

Bowlby’s theory that infants have an innate, evolved tendency to form an emotional bond with a caregiver, which keeps them close to protection and provides a template for later relationships.

A lifelong neurodevelopmental condition characterised by differences in social communication and interaction and by restricted or repetitive behaviours and interests, varying widely between individuals.

The biologically driven sequence of changes in brain structure from before birth to early adulthood, including synaptogenesis, synaptic pruning and myelination, which proceeds roughly from the back of the brain to the front.

The understanding that a quantity such as number, mass or volume stays the same when its appearance changes, as long as nothing is added or taken away.

The comfort an infant gains from soft physical contact with a caregiver, which Harlow’s research with monkeys suggested is a more important basis for attachment than feeding.

A model proposing that development is a gradual, cumulative process of quantitative change in knowledge, skills and processing capacity rather than a sequence of distinct stages.

A limited window in development during which a specific experience is necessary for a function to develop normally; if the experience is missing, the function cannot develop fully later.

The psychological tools (such as language, number systems and writing) and material tools (such as calculators or maps) that a culture provides and that shape how its members think.

The loss of, or prolonged separation from, an attachment figure after an attachment has formed, for example through bereavement, hospitalisation or parental absence.

The process by which a person comes to understand who they are, including their self-concept, self-esteem and identity, shaped by attachment, culture, peers and childhood experiences.

The branch of psychology that studies how and why behaviour, thinking, emotions and the self change across the lifespan, especially from infancy to adolescence.

A pattern of indiscriminate friendliness in which a child approaches and seeks comfort from unfamiliar adults without the wariness usual for their age, often after institutional care.

An attachment type in which the infant shows contradictory, confused or frightened behaviour towards the caregiver, lacking a consistent strategy for seeking comfort.

Culturally learned norms about which emotions may be shown, how strongly, and to whom in a particular situation.

The proposal that difficulties in understanding between autistic and non-autistic people run in both directions, because each group finds the other’s ways of thinking and communicating hard to read.

A model of adolescent risk-taking in which a reward system that becomes highly responsive at puberty matures earlier than a prefrontal control system that develops gradually into the twenties.

Bronfenbrenner’s model in which development is shaped by interacting environmental systems nested around the child: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem.

In Piaget’s theory, the young child’s difficulty in distinguishing their own point of view from that of others, so that they assume others see and think as they do.

The ability to understand and share another person’s feelings; often divided into cognitive empathy (understanding what others feel) and affective empathy (responding emotionally to it).

A set of higher-order cognitive processes, including inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility, that allow people to plan, control attention and regulate their behaviour.

A belief that does not match reality; understanding that someone can hold a false belief and will act on it is the standard test of theory of mind in children.

A set of behaviours, attitudes and activities that a culture considers appropriate for males or for females, learned through socialisation from early childhood.

A cognitive theory that children build mental frameworks of what their culture links with each gender and then use them to guide attention, memory and their own behaviour.

Harris’s theory that children are socialised mainly by identifying with and adapting to their peer groups outside the home, rather than by the way their parents bring them up.

A person’s sense of who they are as an individual and as a member of social groups, including the values, roles and commitments that give them continuity over time.

One of four positions in Marcia’s model of adolescent identity (diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, achievement), defined by whether a person has explored options and made commitments.

A view of the self as a separate, unique individual defined by personal traits, preferences and achievements, more common in individualist cultures.

An attachment type in which the infant explores with little reference to the caregiver, shows little distress at separation and ignores or avoids the caregiver on reunion.

An attachment type in which the infant explores little, is very distressed by separation, and on reunion both seeks contact with the caregiver and resists being comforted.

The placement and upbringing of children in residential institutions such as orphanages, and the effects of that care, which can include delayed development and attachment difficulties.

A view of the self as connected to others and defined by relationships, roles and group memberships, more common in collectivist cultures.

A mental representation of the self, of attachment figures and of relationships, built from early caregiving experiences, that guides expectations and behaviour in later relationships.

A stage theory proposing that moral reasoning develops through three levels (preconventional, conventional and postconventional), each with two stages, in a fixed and universal order.

A caregiver’s ability to notice an infant’s signals, interpret them correctly and respond to them promptly and appropriately, proposed by Ainsworth as the main cause of secure attachment.

Bowlby’s idea that an infant has an innate tendency to form one primary attachment, usually with the mother, which is more important than any other bond.

The distinction between moral rules, judged to be wrong everywhere because they concern harm, rights or justice, and conventional rules, judged to be local customs that authorities could change.

Any person, or tool, with greater understanding or skill than the learner for a particular task, who can guide the learner through the zone of proximal development.

The process in which axons become covered in a fatty myelin sheath, which speeds up and synchronises signals between brain regions; it continues into the twenties, with frontal pathways among the last.

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard or touched; in Piaget’s theory it develops in the sensorimotor stage.

Siegler’s continuous model in which children use several strategies at the same time and gradually shift towards more efficient ones, so each strategy’s frequency rises and falls like a wave.

A parent’s general pattern of child-rearing, usually described by warmth and control; for example authoritative, authoritarian, permissive or uninvolved.

A group of people of roughly the same age and social status who interact regularly and influence one another, such as classmates or friends.

The effect that people of similar age and status have on an individual’s attitudes, values and behaviour, through direct pressure, example or the wish to fit in.

The developmental process in which infants lose the ability to tell apart sounds or faces they do not experience, while becoming better at those they do, mainly between 6 and 12 months.

A stage theory proposing that children construct knowledge through assimilation and accommodation, passing through sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages in a fixed order.

The lack of any attachment bond, because a child never had the opportunity to form one, for example in an institution with many changing carers.

A characteristic of a person, family or community that reduces the likelihood of a negative outcome in the presence of risk or adversity, such as a caring adult.

A test of adult theory of mind in which participants view photographs of the eye region of faces and choose which of four words best describes the person’s mental state.

Positive adaptation and development despite serious adversity or risk, arising from the interaction of individual qualities with supportive relationships and environments.

Temporary, adjustable support from a more knowledgeable person that lets a learner complete a task they could not complete alone, gradually withdrawn as the learner becomes competent.

An attachment type in which the infant explores freely using the caregiver as a secure base, may be distressed by separation, and seeks and is quickly comforted by the caregiver on reunion.

A caregiver whose availability gives a child enough security to explore the environment, and to whom the child returns for comfort when threatened.

A person’s overall set of beliefs about who they are, including their characteristics, abilities, roles and relationships.

The evaluative part of the self-concept: how positively or negatively a person judges their own worth.

A window in development when the brain is especially responsive to a type of experience, so learning is easiest then, though some learning remains possible afterwards.

Vygotsky’s theory that cognitive development results from social interaction with more knowledgeable people and from learning to use the cultural tools of one’s community, such as language.

A theory proposing that development passes through a fixed, universal sequence of qualitatively different periods (stages), each with a distinct way of thinking or behaving.

A controlled observation, developed by Ainsworth, in which an infant’s responses to two separations from and reunions with a caregiver, and to a stranger, are coded to classify the type of attachment.

The elimination of synapses that are used little, while frequently used connections are strengthened; it peaks in childhood and adolescence and makes neural networks more efficient.

The formation of new synapses between neurons, which is fastest before birth and in infancy, when the brain produces far more connections than it will keep.

The view that an infant’s inborn temperament, such as how easily they become distressed, shapes their attachment behaviour more than the sensitivity of their caregiver.

The ability to attribute mental states such as beliefs, desires, intentions and emotions to oneself and others, and to understand that they can differ from one’s own and from reality.

Strong, frequent or prolonged activation of a child’s stress response without the buffering support of a caring adult, which can disrupt brain development and later health.

A false-belief task in which a familiar container holds something unexpected and the child is asked what another person, or they themselves earlier, would think is inside.

A false-belief task in which an object is moved while a character is absent and the child is asked where the character will look for it, such as the Sally-Anne task.

A region deep in the forebrain, including the nucleus accumbens, that forms part of the brain’s reward system and responds to anticipated and received rewards, including social ones.

A method used with infants in which looking times to expected and unexpected events are compared; longer looking at an unexpected event is taken as evidence of a violated expectation.

The gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can do with guidance from a more knowledgeable person; the range in which teaching is most effective.