PSYC 1010 Chapter Notes -Sex Organ, Sexual Maturity, The Sequence

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Heather Jenkin

Document Summary

It was believed the childhood sets our traits, but psychologists see development as lifelong. Example: @ high school reunions former best friends are surprise at their difference. Psychologists look at how maturation and experience shape us not just in infancy and childhood, but in adolescence. Adolescence: the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence. This includes the physical beginnings of sexual maturity and ends with social achievement of independent status. Adolescence starts with puberty, when we mature sexually. Puberty involves hormones which intensifies moods that trigger a two year period of rapid physical development. Puberty: the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing. Boy"s growth makes them higher than females at the time. During this growth spurt, the primary sex characteristics develop dramatically. Primary sex characteristics: the body structures (ovaries, testes and external genitalia) that makes sexual reproduction possible.