developmental psychology

Question 1

operant conditioning

Answer 1

used to make behaviour fit social conventions as we develop. operant conditioning is important in our social development as people around us constantly reinforce and punish our behaviour, often in order to make our behaviour more conventional.
for example, schools use house points/ praise from teachers or punishment through detentions. this continues into adulthood where the legal system uses the threat of punishment to regulate behaviour.

Question 2

social learning theory

Answer 2

can explain how people learn their gender identity from observing the world around them. firstly, a child is more likely to imitate someone perceived as similar to themselves and is therefore more likely to model the behaviour of a same sex role model. through the process of vicarious reinforcement, if this behaviour is reinforced the child will be motivated to imitate it in the future.

Question 3

phobias

Answer 3

phobias are learnt and develop over time due to experience. we gradually learn to associate a stimulus that creates a natural feared response. ( unconditioned stimulus) with a previously unfeared object. (neutral stimulus)