KEY TERMS

Match each of the terms on the left with its definition on the right. Click on the term first and then click on the matching definition. As you match them correctly they will move to the bottom of the activity.

Question

emerging adulthood
organ reserve
homeostasis
allostasis
allostatic load
extreme sports
drug abuse
postformal thought
stereotype threat
massive open online courses (MOOCs)
intimacy versus isolation
cohabitation
linked lives
helicopter parent
The ingestion of a drug to the extent that it impairs the user’s biological or psychological well-being.
The capacity of organs to allow the body to cope with stress, via extra, unused functioning ability.
Forms of recreation that include apparent risk of injury or death and that are attractive and thrilling as a result.
A dynamic body adjustment, related to homeostasis, that affects overall physiology over time. Homeostasis requires an immediate response, whereas allostasis requires longer-term adjustment.
The balanced adjustment of all the body’s systems to keep physiological functions in a state of equilibrium.
The label used for parents who hover (like a helicopter) over their emerging adult children. The term is pejorative, but parental involvement is sometimes helpful.
Lives in which the success, health, and well-being of each family member are connected to those of other members, including members of another generation, as in the relationship between parents and children.
The possibility that one’s appearance or behavior will be misread to confirm another person’s oversimplified, prejudiced attitudes.
The period of life between the ages of 18 and 25. Emerging adulthood is now widely thought of as a separate developmental stage.
The stresses of basic body systems that combine to limit overall functioning. Higher allostatic load makes a person more vulnerable to illness.
An arrangement in which a couple live together in a committed romantic relationship but are not formally married.
The sixth of Erikson’s eight stages of development. Adults seek someone with whom to share their lives in an enduring and self-sacrificing commitment. Without such commitment they risk profound loneliness and isolation.
A course that is offered solely online for college credit. Typically, tuition is very low, and thousands of students enroll.
A proposed adult stage of cognitive development, following Piaget’s four stages. Postformal thought goes beyond adolescent thinking by being more practical, more flexible, and more dialectical (i.e., more capable of combining contradictory elements into a comprehensive whole).