| accommodation | Piaget's term for changes in a cognitive structure to include new information
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| adaptation | Piaget's term for integration of knowledge into systems
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| assimilation | Piaget's term for adjustment to new information about the environment
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| behaviorism | learning theory that emphasizes the predictable role of environment in causing observable behavior.
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| bioecological theory | Brofenbrenner's approach to understanding processes and contexts of development.
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| case study | study covering a single case or life.
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| chronosystem | Bronfenbrenner's term for effects of time on other developmental systems.
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| classical conditioning | learning based on associating a stimulus that does not ordinarily elicit a particular response with another stimulus that ordinarily does elicit a response.
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| cognitive neuroscience approach | approach to the study of cognitive development that links brain processes with cognitive ones.
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| cognitive perspective | view that thought processes are central to development
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| contextual perspective | view of development that sees the individual as inseparable from the social context.
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| control group | in an experiment, a group of people similar to the people in the experimental group who do not receive the treatment whose effects are to be measured.
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| correlational study | research design intended to discover whether a statistical relationship between variables exists.
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| cross sectional study | study design in which people of different ages are assessed on one occasion
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| dependent variable | in an experiment, the condition over which the experimenter has direct control
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| equilibration | Piaget's term for the tendency to seek a stable balance among cognitive elements.
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| ethological perspective | view of development that focuses on biological and evolutionary bases of behavior.
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| ethnographic study | in-depth study of a culture, which uses a combination of methods including participant observation.
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| exosystem | Bronfenbrenner's term for linkages between two or more settings , one of which does not contain the child.
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| experiment | rigorously controlled, replicable procedure in which the researcher manipulates variables to assess the effect of one on the other.
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| experimental group | in an experiment, the group receiving the treatment under study.
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| ethnographic study | in-depth study of a culture, which uses a combination of methods including participant observation.
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| hypotheses | possible explanations for phenomena, used to predict the outcome of research
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| independent variable | in an experiment, the condition over which the experimenter has direct control.
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| information-processing approach | approach to the study of cognitive development by observing and analyzing the mental processes involved in perceiving and handling information.
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| laboratory observation | research method in which all participants are observed in the same situation, under controlled conditions.
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| learning perspective | view of development that holds that changes in behavior result from experience, or adaptation to the environment.
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| longitudinal study | study design to assess changes in a sample over time
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| macrosystem | Bronfenbrenner's term for overall cultural patterns.
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| mechanistic model | model that views development as a passive, predictable response to stimuli.
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| mesosystem | Bronfenbrenner's terms for linkages of two or more Microsystems.
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| microgenetic study | study design that allows researchers to directly observe change by repeated testing over a short time.
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| microsystem | Bronfenbrenner's term for a setting in which a child interacts with others on an everyday, face-to-face basis.
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| naturalistic observation | research method in which behavior is studied in natural settings without intervention or manipulation.
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| observational learning | learning through watching the behavior of others.
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| operant conditioning | learning based on reinforcement or punishment.
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| operational definition | definition stated in terms of operations or procedures used to produce or measure a phenomenon.
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| organismic model | model that views development as internally initiated by an active organism and as occurring in a sequence of qualitatively different stages.
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| organization | Piaget's term for integration of knowledge into systems.
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| participant observation | research method in which the observer lives with the people or participates in the activity being observed.
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| psychoanalytic perspective | view of development as shaped by unconscious forces
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| psychosexual development | in Freudian theory, an unvarying sequence of stages of personality development during infancy, childhood, and adolescence. In which gratification shifts from the mouth to the anus and then to the genitals.
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| psychosocial development | in Erikson's eight-stage theory, the socially and culturally influenced process of development of the ego, or self.
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| punishment | in operant conditioning, a stimulus that discourages repetition of a behavior
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| reinforcement | in operant conditioning, a stimulus that encourages repetition of a desired behavior.
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| sample | group of participants chosen to represent the entire population under study.
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| scaffolding | temporary support to help a child master a task.
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| schemes | Piaget's term for organized patterns of behavior used in different situations
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| scientific method | system of established principles and processes of scientific inquiry.
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| Sequential study | study design that combines cross-sectional and longitudinal techniques
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| social learning theory | theory that behaviors are learned by observing and imitating models. Also called social cognitive theory.
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| sociocultural theory | Vygotsky's term for the difference between what a child can do along and with help.
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| theory | coherent set of logically related concepts that seeks to organize, explain, and predict data
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| zone of proximal development (ZPD) | Vygotsky's term for the difference between what a child can do alone and with help.
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