Unit 3- Development and Learning Flashcards
Developmental psychology
the scientific study of how people grow, change, and adapt throughout their lives
Nature vs. Nurture debate
The controversy over the relative contributions of biology and experience.
Stability vs. Change debate
The question of Do our early personality traits persist through life, or do we become different persons as we age?
Maturation
biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.
The Critical/Sensitive period
optimal period shortly after birth when an organism’s exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development.
Teratogens
agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm
Palmar/grasping reflex
Baby reacts to something pressing on its palm by trying to grasp it
Moro reflex
infantile reflex normally present in all infants/newborns up to 4 or 5 months of age as a response to a sudden loss of support, when the infant feels as if it is falling
Sucking reflex
The baby sucks when area around mouth is touched
Temperament
person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.
Easy temperament
Babies are cheerful, relaxed, and predictable in feeding and sleeping
Secure Attachment
a relationship in which an infant obtains both comfort and confidence from the presence of his or her caregiver
Insecure Attachment
characterized by complete dependence on a caregiver and extreme reluctance to explore one’s environment; the result of unresponsive parenting
Avoidant Attachment
children that seek little contact with their mothers and are often not distressed when she leaves
Authoritarian Parenting
parents that impose rules and expect obedience; the strict parents
Authoritative Parenting
parents that are both demanding and responsive; they negotiate and allow flexibility; the typical/sensible parents
Permissive Parenting
parents that submit to the child’s desires; they make few demands and use little punishment
Kolberg’s Preconventional Morality
before age 9; self interest; obey rules to avoid punishment or gain concrete rewards
Kolberg’s Conventional Morality
early adolescence; uphold laws and rules to gain social approval or maintain social order
Kolberg’s Postconventional Morality
adolescence and beyond; actions reflect belief in basic rights and self-defined ethical principles
Gender Identity
psychological sense of maleness and femaleness
Gender Typing
the acquisition of a traditional feminine or masculine gender role
Primary Sex Characteristics
The body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible
Secondary Sex Characteristics
Nonreproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair
Menarche
The first menstrual period
Menopause
The time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines
Social Clock
The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement
Jean Piaget
believed that as children construct their understandings while interacting with the world, they experience spurts of change, followed by greater stability as they move from one cognitive plateau to the next.
Assimilation
We interpret new experiences into terms of our current understanding (schemas)
Schema adjustment
Altering the concepts or mental molds into which we pour our experiences. Done through assimilation and accommodation.
Accommodation
Adjusting or schemas to incorporate information provided by new experiences.
Piaget’s sensorimotor stage
from birth to nearly age 2, babies take in the world through their senses and actions—through looking, hearing, touching, mouthing, and grasping.
Object permanence
the awareness that objects continue to exist when not perceived
Piaget’s pre-operational stage
In Piaget’s theory, the stage (from 2 to about 6 or 7 years of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.
Egocentrism
In Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view.
Piaget’s concrete operational stage
In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development(from about 6 or 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.
Vygotsky’s Theory of Development
Promotes context in which students are actively involved in learning.
Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
The difference between what the learner can do with help and what he/she can do without help.
Scaffolding
Zone of ZPD in which a task is too great for the learner, so it is compared to something they already know and then broken down into smaller, more manageable parts.
Fluid knowledge
Ability to solve problems and think logically.
Independent of acquired knowledge.
Crystallized Intelligence
Ability to use learned knowledge and experience.
Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development
- Trust vs. Mistrust
- Autonomy vs. Shame
- Initiative vs. Guilt
- Industry vs. Inferiority
- Identity vs. Role Confusion
- Intimacy vs. Isolation
- Generativity vs. Stagnation
- Ego Integrity vs. Despair
Trust vs. Mistrust
1st year of life.
Infant fears the world.
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
Between 18 months and 3
Child becomes independent-wandering away from it’s mother
Identity vs. Role Confusion
12-18yrs
Transition from adolescence to adulthood
Intimacy vs. Isolation
18-40 yrs
We begin to share ourselves more intimately with others.
Generativity vs. Stagnation
40-65 yrs
Begin career and family. Look at big picture.
Integrity vs. Despair
65+ yrs
Contemplate life accomplishments
Harlow’s attachment theory
Babies become attached to their mothers because they care for them.
Contact Comfort
Monkeys separated from their mothers at birth suffered severe mental distress. They chose the soft, stuffed animal monkey over the hard, wire monkey with food.
Reversibility of thought
the ability to recognize that numbers or objects can be changed and returned to their original condition.
Conservation
the principle that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape
Piaget’s formal operational stage
In Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development(normally beginning at about age twelve) during which people begin to think logically about abstract events.
Theory of mind
People’s own ideas about their own and other’s mental states- about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behavior these might predict.
genetic mutation
a permanent change in an organism’s DNA sequence, which can potentially alter traits or behaviors due to the change in genetic material
prenatal development
the entire process of a baby’s growth and development within the womb, starting from conception (fertilization) and continuing until birth, encompassing the germinal, embryonic, and fetal stages
infancy
the early developmental stage of a human being, typically considered from birth to around the age of two, characterized by rapid physical and cognitive growth where infants acquire fundamental skills like motor control, perception, and basic social interaction
childhood
a developmental stage in human life that generally spans from early infancy (around age 2) until the onset of adolescence (around age 12 or 13)
physical development
the growth and changes in the body and brain throughout a person’s lifespan, including the development of motor skills, sensory abilities, and physical characteristics like height and weight, encompassing both the physical maturation of the body and the neurological development of the brain
fine motor coordination
the ability to make precise, small movements using the muscles in the hands and fingers
gross motor coordination
the ability to control and coordinate large muscle groups in the body, enabling movements like walking, running, jumping, and reaching
infant reflexes
involuntary, automatic motor responses present in newborns that are triggered by specific sensory stimuli, such as the rooting reflex (turning head towards a touch on the cheek) or the sucking reflex (sucking on an object placed in the mouth), which are crucial for early feeding and survival.
visual cliff
a specially designed apparatus used in experiments to test an infant’s depth perception, where a transparent surface creates the illusion of a sudden drop-off. Most children stop.
imprinting
a rapid learning process where an animal forms a strong attachment to the first moving object it encounters during a critical period early in life, typically right after birth
adolescence
the transitional period between childhood and adulthood, characterized by significant physical, cognitive, and social changes, typically marked by the onset of puberty and encompassing the teenage years where individuals develop a sense of identity and navigate complex social situations
growth spurt
a rapid period of physical growth in height and weight that occurs during adolescence, typically associated with the hormonal changes of puberty, where individuals experience a significant increase in size over a relatively short time frame
puberty
the period of rapid physical and hormonal changes that mark the transition from childhood to adolescence, characterized by the development of secondary sexual characteristics and the ability to reproduce, signifying the biological start of adolescence
spermarche
the first ejaculation a male experiences, marking a significant milestone in puberty and considered the male equivalent of menarche (a female’s first menstrual period). Typically happens during sleep (wet dream).
Sex
based on biological factors like sex chromosomes (XX for female, XY for male) from the father
Sexual Orientation
an individual’s enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction towards men, women, or both
animism
the belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities, meaning they can have feelings, thoughts, and intentions, essentially acting as if they were living beings
dementia
a general decline in cognitive functions like memory, language, and reasoning, severe enough to disrupt daily life activities, often caused by various underlying brain diseases and characterized by significant impairment in multiple cognitive domains, impacting social and occupational functioning
Imaginary audience
a cognitive state where an individual, often an adolescent, believes that a large group of people are constantly watching and paying attention to them, essentially imagining a large audience for their actions, even when they are not in a public setting; it’s a key concept of adolescent egocentrism.
Phonemes
In language, the smallest distinctive sound unit
Morphemes
The smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or part of a word (such as a prefix)
Babbling Stage
Beginning at about 4 months, the stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household sounds.
One-word Stage
The stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words.
Two-word Stage
Beginning at about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in 2 word statements.
Telegraphic Speech
Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram-“go car”- using mostly nouns and verbs.
Semantics
The set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language; also, the study of meaning
Syntax
The rules of combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language
language
a complex system of communication that follows rules (grammar) to convey meaning, including spoken, written, or gestured words, allowing people to express thoughts and ideas to one another
cooing
the early stage of infant vocalization, usually starting around 1-2 months old, where babies produce soft, vowel-like sounds like “oo” and “ah,” often expressing comfort or contentment, and considered a pre-linguistic communication method with caregivers
overgeneralization in language
when a child applies a regular grammatical rule to irregular words, essentially making a mistake by assuming a rule applies universally even when it doesn’t, like saying “goed” instead of “went” or “foots” instead of “feet” - essentially overextending a grammatical pattern beyond its appropriate usage
Ecological Systems Theory
Explains how a person’s development is influenced by various interconnected environmental systems
Microsystem:A person’s immediate environment, such as their family, peers, or school
Mesosystem:The relationships between a person’s microsystems, such as the relationship between a child’s family and school
Exosystem:Indirect influences on a person, such as a parent’s boss who may impact how the parent interacts with their child
Macrosystem:A person’s culture, including their socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and society
Chronosystem:The dimension of time, including major life transitions such as divorce
insecure anxious attachment
an attachment style where an individual experiences a deep fear of abandonment, leading to clingy, needy behaviors in relationships, often stemming from inconsistent caregiving experiences in childhood
insecure disorganized attachment
a child’s attachment style characterized by inconsistent and confusing behaviors towards their caregiver, often displaying a mix of avoidant and anxious behaviors, where the child appears to both seek comfort and simultaneously push away intimacy, usually stemming from a history of unpredictable or frightening caregiving experiences
separation anxiety
a psychological state where an individual experiences significant distress or fear when separated from a primary attachment figure, usually a caregiver, often manifesting as excessive worry and clinging behavior, particularly prevalent in young children
parallel play
a developmental stage where children play alongside each other, using the same toys or materials, but without directly interacting or coordinating their actions with one another; essentially, they are playing near each other, but independently focused on their own activity, typically seen in young toddlers
pretend play
a form of symbolic play where children use their imagination to assign roles and meanings to objects, essentially acting out scenarios and situations, often mimicking real-life experiences
personal fable
an adolescent belief that they are completely unique, invulnerable, and that the rules and experiences of others do not apply to them, often leading to risky behaviors due to their perception of being special and immune to negative consequences; another key concept of adolescent egocentrism
emerging adulthood
characterized by a period of transition between adolescence and full adulthood, where individuals are exploring their identity, navigating instability in life, and often making major decisions about their future in areas like career, relationships, and personal values
“Adverse Childhood Experiences” (ACEs)
potentially traumatic events like abuse (physical, emotional, sexual), neglect, and household dysfunction that occur during childhood, which can have lasting negative impacts on an individual’s mental and physical health later in life
identity achievement
a developmental stage where an individual has actively explored various options related to their identity and has made a firm commitment to a set of beliefs, values, and goals, signifying a well-established sense of self after considering different possibilities
identity diffusion
a state where an individual has not explored or committed to any particular identity, essentially lacking a strong sense of self and not actively working towards defining who they are
identity foreclosure
a state where an individual commits to an identity without exploring other options, essentially accepting the values and roles assigned to them by others like parents or peers, without considering alternative paths for themselves; characterized by a high level of commitment with a low level of exploration in identity development
identity moratorium
a stage in identity development where an individual is actively exploring different options and identities, trying to figure out who they are, but has not yet made a firm commitment to any specific identity; essentially, a period of “trying on different roles” before settling on one
possible selves
an individual’s mental representations of who they could potentially become in the future, encompassing both desired identities (like a successful professional) and feared identities (like a social outcast), essentially acting as a cognitive framework for hopes, goals, and fears that can influence behavior and motivation
Positive Reinforcement
Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.
Negative Reinforcement
Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (negative reinforcement is not a punishment)
Latent Learning
Learning that becomes apparent only when there is some incentive to demonstrate it. Children, too, may learn from watching a parent but demonstrate the learning only much later, as needed. The point to remember: There is more to learning than associating a response with a consequence; there is also cognition.
Insight Learning
Some learning occurs after little or no systematic interaction with our environment. For example, we may puzzle over a problem, and suddenly, the pieces fall together as we perceive the solution in a sudden flash of insight. “Ah ha moment”
Observational Learning
learn without direct experience, through observational learning, also called social learning, because we learn by observing and imitating others. A child who sees his sister burn her fingers on a hot stove learns not to touch it. And a monkey watching another selecting certain pictures to gain treats learns to imitate that behavior. “Monkey see Monkey do”
Learning
A relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience
Classical Conditioning
A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events.
Associative Learning
Learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning)
Unconditioned Response (UR)
In classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus, such as salivation when food is in the mouth.
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
In classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally-naturally and automatically-triggers a response
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
In classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response
Extinction
Diminishing of conditioned response. Occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus
Spontaneous recovery
Reappearance after a pause of extinguished conditioned response.
Generalization
The tendency once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses
Discrimination
In classical conditioning, learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus
Mirror neurons
Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain’s mirroring of another’s action may enable imitation and empathy
Conditioned Taste Aversions
When you get sick after eating food and blame it on the food and don’t want to eat that food anymore
Respondent behavior
Behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.
Operant behavior
Behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences.
Secondary or Conditioned Reinforcers
These get their power through learned association with primary reinforcers. (Ex. Skinner’s rat wants food. It work to turn on the light because it is associated with food.)
Shaping
a procedure in which reinforcers, such as food, gradually guide an animal’s actions toward a desired behavior.
Higher-order conditioning
Procedure where conditioned stimulus is paired with neutral stimulus, creating a second (weaker) conditioned stimulus
Operant conditioning
Type of learning that strengthens with reinforcement or weakens with punishment
Law of effect
Thorndike’s principle that rewarded behavior is likely to continue with favorable consequences, punished behavior is less likely to continue
Skinner box (operant chamber)
A chamber containing a bar an animal can manipulate in order to get food or water
Fixed Interval Schedule
a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a set time has passed
Variable Ratio Schedule
a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses
Variable Interval Schedule
a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals
Superstitious behavior
Type of the reaction to certain situations/impulses that is brought on by a coincidence and gets so embedded in individual’s course of action that he repeats it continuously.
Behaviorists
psychologists that believe in studying behavior while disregarding mental processes
Chaining
reinforcing individual responses occurring in a sequence to form a complex behavior.
Continuous Reinforcement
Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs.
Conditioned Response
in classical conditioning, the learned response to a previously neutral(but now conditioned) stimulus (CS).
Neutral Stimulus
a stimulus that does not produce an automatic response. In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus turns into a conditioned stimulus. ex)a tone before it turns into CS (produces no salivation on response) in Pavlov’s experiment.
Reinforcers
in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.
Acquisition
in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.
Negative punishment
Removing something you like in order to decrease the likelihood of a behavior
Positive punishment
Adding something you don’t like to decrease the likelihood of a behavior. A slap to the face, spanking, squirt of water.
Learned helplessness
The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events.
Primary reinforcer
An innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need.
Partial/Intermittent Reinforcement
responses are sometimes reinforced, sometimes not. Although initial learning is slower, _______ produces greater resistance to extinction than is found with continuous reinforcement
Fixed Ratio Schedule
reinforces behavior after a set number of responses. (Ex. Buy five, get one free.)
Counterconditioning
a behavioral therapy technique where a previously negative conditioned response to a stimulus is replaced with a positive response by pairing that stimulus with a pleasant or relaxing stimulus. Exposure therapy is an example.
Aversive Conditioning
a type of behavioral therapy that aims to decrease an unwanted behavior by pairing it with a negative stimulus, essentially creating a negative association with that behavior, based on the principles of classical conditioning; it’s a method to “condition” someone to avoid a particular behavior by associating it with an unpleasant experience. Adding a nauseating substance to fingernails to condition yourself to stop biting your nails.
One-trail conditioning
a learning phenomenon where a single pairing of a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus is enough to create a conditioned response, meaning learning occurs after just one exposure, without the need for repeated trials; essentially, it’s a rapid and strong association formed with just one experience. Taste aversions often happen with one time getting violently ill after eating something.
Biological Preparedness
the idea that organisms are naturally inclined to quickly learn associations between certain stimuli and responses due to their evolutionary history, meaning they are genetically predisposed to form certain connections that enhance survival chances, like readily fearing snakes or developing a taste aversion to spoiled food.
habituation
a form of non-associative learning where an organism’s response to a repeated stimulus gradually decreases over time, meaning they become less reactive to the stimulus after repeated exposure to it; essentially, “getting used to” a stimulus. If you initially jump at a loud noise, but after hearing it repeatedly, your jump response becomes smaller, this is habituation.
Successive approximation
a method of shaping behavior by reinforcing responses that gradually get closer to a desired target behavior, essentially rewarding steps that progressively approximate the final goal, often used in operant conditioning techniques like shaping; meaning you reward behaviors that are increasingly similar to the desired behavior until the full behavior is achieved.
Instinctive Drift
the tendency for an animal that has been trained to perform a specific behavior to revert back to its natural, instinctual behaviors over time, essentially where learned behaviors are overridden by innate biological predispositions, often interfering with the previously conditioned response. A famous example is a raccoon trained to put coins into a container for food, but eventually starting to rub the coins together instead, as this is a more natural behavior for a raccoon to perform with small objects.
Social Learning Theory
the idea that people learn new behaviors primarily by observing and imitating others, with a key emphasis on the role of observation, modeling, and vicarious reinforcement, most notably developed by psychologist Albert Bandura; essentially, learning occurs through a social context by watching and copying behaviors of others around them.
Vicarious Conditioning
the process of learning a behavior or response by observing the reactions of others to a stimulus, essentially learning through watching how others respond to a situation rather than experiencing it directly; it’s also known as “observational learning” A child might learn to be afraid of dogs by watching another child react fearfully to a dog.
Modeling
the process of learning a behavior by observing and imitating the actions of another person
Cognitive maps
a mental representation of a physical environment, essentially a mental picture or image of the layout of one’s surroundings, which allows individuals to navigate and understand spatial relationships within that environment
