ap psych unit 3

Chronological order of development

study human growth sequentially across life stages

Stability vs change

one of themes; ex. Personality is stable but fluctuates

Nature and nurture

one of themes; ex. Intelligence

Continuous and discontinuous stages of development

one of themes; ex. neuroplasticity vs hippocampus development

Cross-sectional study

research that compares people of diff ages at same time; helpful because everyone’s going through same events

Longitudinal research design

research that follows and retests same people over time; helpful when differentiating diff aspects of people

Teratogens

influence major physical/psychological milestones during prenatal development; ex. Maternal illness, genetic mutation, hormonal factors, environmental factors

Fine motor skills

small, precise movements

Gross motors kills

large movements of limbs for whole body movement

Rotting reflex

when babies touch on mouth/cheek, they turn, open mouth, prepare to suck

Visual cliff- lab device for testing depth perception in infants

Critical/sensitive periods

time period where you are optimally designed for learning

Imprinting

process of morning strong attachments in early life

Primary sex characteristics

structures that make sexual reproduction possible

Secondary sex characteristics

nonreproductive sexual traits

Sex

biological aspect; determined by XY chromosomes

Gender role development

children tend towards them even if discouraged by parents

Gender stereotypes

develop as result of social norms and environmental factors

Sexual orientation

what sex you are attracted to

Asexual

sexual attraction to neither sex

Gender typing

traditional masculine or feminine roles

Androgyny

blending traditionally masculine na feminine characteristics

Testosterone

most important male sex hormone, females have less of it

Estrogen

sex hormones like estradiol, females have more

Piaget’s theory

children develop schemas via continuous and discontinuous processes

Sensorimotor stage

infancy to toddlerhood (0-2)

Object permanence

awareness that things exist even when not perceived; developed in sensorimotor stage

Preoperational stage

toddlers to early children (2-7); engage in pretend play, begin developing theory of mind

Conservation

properties such as numbers/volume remain same despite changes in forms or objects; developed through preoperational stage

Reversibility

being able to recognize that 5+3=8 and 3+5=8 are the same; developed through preoperational stage

Theory of mind

people’s ideas about their own and other's mental states and behaviors those might predict

Animism

children believe nature/natural things are alive and have feelings; exhibited in preoperational stage

Egocentrism

difficulty taking another’s point of view; exhibited in preoperational stage

Concrete operational stage

children (7-12); can use logic but struggle to think systematically

Formal operational stage

aged 12+; gain ability to think abstractly and hypothetically, PIaget suggests nota ll people achieve this

Vygotsky’s Learning theory

children are social learners; scaffolding and zone of proximal development

Scaffolding

ex. Learning dribbling and shooting before playing in a game

Zone of proximal development

what learner can achieve with more knowledgeable other

Cognitive decline

in adulthood crystallized intelligence increases and fluid intelligence decreases

Language

shared system of arbitrary symbols

Phonemes

smallest distinctive sound unit

Morphemes

smallest unit that carries meaning (read-er-s)

Semantics

meanings of words or sentences

Grammar

set of rules for language

Syntax

subcategory of grammar; word order; set of rules for combining words into sentences

Nonverbal manual gestures

used throughout all cultures to communicate and develop formal language

Cooing

0-4 months, noise

Babbling

4-12 months, speaks all phonemes, can speak all of native language’s by 10 months

One-word stage

1 year; often “ma”

Telegraphic speech

2 years, mostly 2 word sentences like “car go”

Overgeneralization of language rules

apply correct rules at incorrect times; ex. I see 2 fishes