This branch of psychology examines our physical, cognitive, and social development across the life span

This "use-it-or-lose-it" process shuts down unused links in an infants' neural pathways

All the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age.

In psychology, the socially influenced characteristics by which people define boy, girl, man, and woman.

Fertilized eggs

Why we consciously recall little from before age 4.

Concepts or mental molds into which we pour our experiences

An emotional tie with another person; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to their caregiver and showing distress on separation.

Any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.

Agents such as viruses and drugs that can damage an embryo or fetus.

This explains why we stand before we walk.

Interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

An optimal period when certain events must take place to facilitate proper development

Men are more likely than women to hazard answers than to admit they don’t know,

It leaves chemical marks on DNA that switch genes abnormally on or off

Sit, crawl, walk, run

The awareness that objects continue to exist even when not perceived.

The process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life.

The social expectations that guide our behavior as men or as women.

Physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman’s heavy drinking. In severe cases, signs include a small, out-of-proportion head and abnormal facial features.

Putting babies to sleep on their backs to reduce crib-death risk

The principle that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape

A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.

An umbrella term describing people whose gender identity or expression differs from that associated with their birth-designated sex.