unit 3 of AP Psych (consolidated flashcards)

excluding 3.3 because caitlin legally cant make notes for that

Stability and Change

Refers to the extent to which individuals' traits and behaviors remain consistent (stability) or transform significantly (change) over time.

Nature Versus Nurture Debate

Involves the relative contributions of genetic inheritance (nature) and environmental factors (nurture) to human development.

Continuous Development

Suggests that development is a gradual, cumulative process of adding more of the same types of skills that were there to begin with.

Discontinuous Development

Posits that development occurs in distinct stages, with qualitative changes leading to new behaviors and ways of thinking.

Cross-Sectional Research

A research design involving observing or testing different individuals of various ages at a single point in time to compare age-related differences.

Longitudinal Research

Involves studying the same group of individuals over an extended period to track changes and developments within that group.

Advantages of Cross-Sectional Research

Time-efficient and cost-effective; avoids issues related to participant dropout.

Disadvantages of Longitudinal Research

Time-consuming and expensive; susceptible to participant dropout; potential for practice effects.

Teratogens

Substances or environmental factors that can cause congenital anomalies or developmental disruptions during prenatal development.

Gross Motor Skills

Large muscle activities such as crawling, standing, and walking, crucial for exploration and cognitive development in infants.

Reflexes

Involuntary, automatic responses to specific stimuli present at birth that are crucial for an infant's survival and neurological development.

Critical Period

A specific timeframe during development when an organism is particularly sensitive to certain environmental stimuli or experiences.

Imprinting

A rapid learning process that occurs in a critical period of an animal's life, leading to long-lasting behavioral responses to a specific individual or object.

Adolescent Growth Spurt

A rapid increase in height and weight during puberty, affecting self-esteem and body image in adolescents.

Menarche

The first menstrual period in females, marking the onset of reproductive capability.

Spermarche

The first ejaculation in males, indicating the onset of sperm production and reproductive capability.

Secondary Sex Characteristics

Physical traits that differentiate the sexes but are not directly involved in reproduction, such as breast development and voice deepening.

Visual Cliff

An experimental apparatus used to study depth perception in infants, illustrating innate versus learned perceptions.

Schemas

Mental structures or frameworks for understanding the world that children develop via assimilation and accommodation.

Assimilation

The process of integrating new information into existing cognitive schemas without altering them.

Accommodation

The process of modifying existing cognitive schemas or creating new ones in response to new information.

Object Permanence

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched, typically developing around 8-12 months of age.

Egocentrism

The tendency for children to view the world solely from their own perspective, often leading to misunderstandings about others' viewpoints.

Animism

The belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities, such as thoughts and feelings.

Conservation

The understanding that certain properties of objects remain the same despite changes in form or arrangement.

Centration

The tendency to focus on one salient aspect of a situation and ignore others, limiting logical operations.

Decentration

The ability to consider multiple aspects of a situation simultaneously.

Reversibility

The understanding that objects can be changed and then returned back to their original form or condition.

Crystallized Intelligence

The accumulation of knowledge, facts, and skills acquired through life experiences and education.

Fluid Intelligence

The capacity to think logically and solve problems in novel situations, independent of acquired knowledge.

Dementia

A broad term for cognitive impairments that interfere with daily functioning, characterized by a decline in memory and reasoning.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

The range of tasks that a child can perform with help but cannot yet accomplish independently, emphasizing potential for cognitive growth.

Formal Operational Stage

The final stage in Piaget's theory where individuals develop abstract and logical thinking skills, occurring from age 12 through adulthood.

Concrete Operational Stage

The stage in Piaget's theory where children develop logical thinking about concrete events, typically from ages 7 to 11.

Preoperational Stage

The stage in Piaget’s theory where children engage in symbolic play but do not yet comprehend concrete logic, occurring roughly between ages 2 to 7.

Sensorimotor Stage

The first stage in Piaget's theory, occurring from birth to about 2 years, where infants learn through sensory experiences and motor activities.

Phonemes

The smallest units of sound in a language that can distinguish one word from another.

Morphemes

The smallest units of meaning in a language, which can be whole words or parts of words, such as prefixes and suffixes.

Grammar

The set of rules governing the structure of sentences in a language.

Syntax

The rules that govern the arrangement of words in sentences.

Cooing

The production of vowel-like sounds, marking the beginning of vocal experimentation, typically occurring around 2-3 months.

Babbling

The repetitive consonant-vowel combinations produced by infants, usually beginning around 4-6 months.

One-Word Stage

A stage in language development, around 12-18 months, where children produce single words that carry meaning.

Telegraphic Speech

The use of two- or three-word combinations that resemble telegrams, occurring around 18-24 months.

Overgeneralization

A phenomenon where children apply regular grammatical rules to irregular words, such as saying 'goed' instead of 'went'.

Nonverbal Manual Gestures

Movements of the hands and arms that convey meaning without words, used in communication.

Ecological Systems Theory

A framework by Urie Bronfenbrenner that describes how different social environments influence child development through five interrelated systems.

Microsystem

The innermost layer of the ecological systems theory, consisting of the immediate environments directly interacting with the individual, like family and school.

Mesosystem

The relationships between different microsystems in a child's life, such as the interaction between family and school.

Exosystem

Broader social systems that indirectly affect child development, such as parents' workplaces and community services.

Macrosystem

The outermost layer that includes cultural and societal values, laws, and customs impacting a child's environment.

Chronosystem

The dimension of time in the ecological systems theory that reflects environmental changes and life transitions affecting development.

Attachment Theory

Developed by John Bowlby, this theory explains the bond between a child and their caregiver as crucial for social-emotional development.

Secure Attachment

A type of attachment that develops when caregivers are consistently responsive, resulting in children feeling safe and confident.

Authoritative Parenting Style

A parenting style characterized by high demands and high responsiveness, balancing structure with nurturing.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Stressful or traumatic events experienced before age 18 that can lead to lasting negative effects on development and behavior.

Identity Development

The process by which adolescents form a sense of self through stages such as achievement, diffusion, foreclosure, and moratorium.

Separation Anxiety

The distress and fear children feel when separated from primary caregivers, often emerging around 6 to 8 months of age.

Social Clock

Culturally preferred timing of social events, including marriage and parenthood, influencing individual perceptions and experiences.

Classical Conditioning

A learning process in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus, eliciting a conditioned response.

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response, such as food causing salivation.

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

The natural, unlearned reaction to the unconditioned stimulus, for example, salivation in response to food.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that, after association with the unconditioned stimulus, triggers a conditioned response.

Conditioned Response (CR)

The learned response to the conditioned stimulus, such as salivation in response to a bell.

Extinction

The gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous Recovery

The reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a rest period without any new learning trials.

Higher-Order Conditioning

A conditioning process in which a previously neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus after being paired with an established conditioned stimulus.

Counterconditioning

A therapeutic technique that replaces an undesired response to a stimulus with a desired one by associating the stimulus with a new positive unconditioned stimulus.

Taste Aversion

A long-lasting aversion to a particular food associated with illness after consuming it, often resulting from one-trial conditioning.

Biological Preparedness

The innate predisposition of organisms to form certain associations more easily due to evolutionary factors.

Habituation

A decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated exposure, where the organism becomes accustomed to a familiar, repetitive stimulus.

Operant Conditioning

A learning process developed by B.F. Skinner, through which the strength of a behavior is modified by reinforcement or punishment.

Law of Effect

Proposed by Edward Thorndike, it states that behaviors followed by satisfying consequences are more likely to be repeated, while those followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated.

Reinforcement

Any event that strengthens or increases the frequency of a behavior, which can be either positive or negative.

Positive Reinforcement

Involves presenting a pleasant stimulus after a behavior, increasing the likelihood of that behavior being repeated.

Negative Reinforcement

Involves removing an unpleasant stimulus after a behavior, increasing the likelihood of that behavior being repeated.

Punishment

Any event that weakens or decreases the frequency of a behavior, which can involve either positive or negative punishment.

Positive Punishment

Involves presenting an unpleasant stimulus after a behavior, decreasing the likelihood of that behavior being repeated.

Negative Punishment

Involves removing a pleasant stimulus after a behavior, decreasing the likelihood of that behavior being repeated.

Reinforcement Discrimination

The ability to distinguish between different stimuli and respond appropriately to specific stimuli.

Generalization

The tendency for a learned behavior to occur in response to stimuli that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus.

Shaping

A method used in operant conditioning where successive approximations of a desired behavior are reinforced.

Instinctive Drift

The tendency of an animal to revert to instinctive behaviors that interfere with a conditioned response.

Superstitious Behavior

Occurs when an individual associates a behavior with a consequence that is not causally related, due to coincidental reinforcement.

Learned Helplessness

A condition where an individual perceives a lack of control over aversive outcomes, leading to a failure to act.

Aversive Consequences

Negative stimuli used to decrease the likelihood of a behavior recurring.

Schedules of Reinforcement

The timing and pattern of delivering reinforcements after a desired behavior.

Continuous Reinforcement

A schedule where every occurrence of the desired behavior is reinforced; effective for initial learning but leads to rapid extinction.

Partial Reinforcement

A schedule where only some occurrences of the desired behavior are reinforced, which can be based on fixed or variable ratios and intervals.

Scalloped Graph

A characteristic pattern of responding that occurs when behavior is reinforced on a fixed interval schedule.