Developmental concepts

Adverse childhood experiences: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are stressful or traumatic events, including abuse and neglect. ACEs are strongly related to the development and prevalence of a wide range of health problems throughout a person’s lifespan.

Critical period: a maturational stage in the lifespan of an organism during which the nervous system is especially sensitive to certain environmental stimuli.  For some cases it is argued that if a behaviour is not developed during the critical period, it will be difficult - if not impossible - to learn this behaviour later. One example is the ability to learn languages.

Deprivation: Separation from an attached figure, loss of an attached figure and failure to develop an attachment to any figure.

Developmental milestones: behaviors or physical skills seen in infants and children as they grow and develop. Rolling over, crawling, walking, and talking are all considered milestones. The milestones are different for each age range.

Egocentrism: characterized by preoccupation with one's own internal world. Piaget, this explained why a child was not able to understand another perspective than their own.

Empathy: The ability to understand another person's thoughts, feelings, and condition from their point of view, rather than from your own.

Gender constancy: a child's developing sense of the permanence of being a boy or a girl.

Gender identity: the psychological sense of oneself as a man or a woman

Gender role: the extent to which a person approves of and participates in feelings and behaviours considered as appropriate to his or her culturally constituted gender.

Intersex: When ambiguity of genitalia does not allow an individual to be clearly identified as either male or female.

Maturation: physical development. Piaget argued that physical and cognitive development took place together.

Mirror neurons: Mirror neurons are a type of brain cell that fires when you do an action, and also when you simply watch someone else doing the same action. Some psychologists believe that they may play a role in developing empathy.

More knowledgeable other: One of Vygotsky's key concepts. Someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept.

Neuropeptide Y: A hormone released by the hypothalamus that plays a role in regulating the stress response.  Higher levels of NPY may be associated with resilience.

Object Permanence: when a child realizes that things continue to exist even when no longer present. Piaget argued that this is one of a child's first great cognitive achievements.

Oxytocin: A hormone that is released by the pituitary gland and is believed to be responsible for human behaviours associated with attachment and bonding.

Private speech: Vygotsky's idea that when a child speaks to him or herself they are planning activities and strategies and therefore aiding their development. Language is, therefore, an accelerator to thinking/understanding.

Privation: the failure to form an attachment to one's caregiver.

Resilience: the process of avoiding adverse outcomes or doing better than expected when confronted with major assaults on the developmental process.

Scaffolding: a process in which teachers model or demonstrate how to solve a problem, and then step back, offering support as needed.

Sociometric status: a measurement that reflects the degree to which someone is liked or disliked by their peers as a group.

Theory of mind: the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc.—to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that are different from one's own.

Zone of proximal development: Vygotsky defined this as the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help.