L2 Theories and Research Methods

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering basic theoretical issues, psychological perspectives, moral development, love styles, and research methodology based on lecture notes.

Active Development

A view of development where people create experiences for themselves and are motivated to learn about the world around them, exemplified by Jean Jacques Rousseau's Noble Savages.

Reactive Development

A view where people are shaped by input from their environment, exemplified by John Locke's Concept of Tabula Rasa (blank slate).

Organismic Model

A theoretical model that views people as active, growing organisms that set their own development in motion.

Mechanistic Model

A model that views people like machines that react to their environment, emphasizing the influence of input (experiences) on output (behavior).

Quantitative Change

Continuous development involving gradual and incremental changes that can be measured, such as height and weight.

Qualitative Change

Discontinuous development marked by the abrupt emergence of new phenomena that cannot be easily predicted from past functioning, as seen in stage theories.

Id

The source of primitive drives and impulses, governed by the Pleasure Principle and Primary Process Thought.

Ego

The ethical intermediary that acts according to the Reality Principle, Primary Narcissism, and Secondary Process Thought.

Superego

The ethical component of personality involving the conscience and rewarding/punishing functions.

Anal Triad

A set of personality traits resulting from the Anal Stage: parsimoniousness (stinginess), obstinacy, and orderliness.

Oedipus Complex

A conflict occurring in the Phallic Stage ($3-6$ years) where children develop an attraction to the opposite-sex parent and rivalry with the same-sex parent.

Syntonic vs. Dystonic

In Erikson's Psychosocial Theory, the interaction of opposites where syntonic represents the adaptive/positive outcome and dystonic represents the malignant/negative outcome.

Operant Conditioning

A learning perspective proposed by B.F. Skinner where behavior is modified through the use of reinforcements.

Classical Conditioning

Learning based on associating a neutral stimulus ($NS$) with an unconditioned stimulus ($US$) until the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus ($CS$) that triggers a response.

Reciprocal Determinism

Albert Bandura's concept that development results from an interplay between personality, interpretation of events, and environmental influences.

Schema

A knowledge structure that allows organisms to interpret and understand the world, appearing first as sensorimotor patterns.

Assimilation

The process of taking in new information in light of what is already known.

Accommodation

The process of adjusting one's cognitive structures to fit new information.

Object Permanence

The stage attainment during the Sensorimotor Stage ($0-2$ years) where a child understands that objects continue to exist even when not seen.

Egocentrism

In the Preoperational Stage ($2-7$ years), the inability to see a situation from another person's perspective.

Conservation

The principle that irrelevant changes in the external appearance of objects do not affect the object's quantity, attained in the Concrete Operational Stage ($7-11$ years).

Zone of Proximal Development ($ZPD$)

Lev Vygotsky's term for the gap between what children are able to do alone and what they are not yet ready to accomplish without assistance.

Scaffolding

The temporary assistance or support provided by a more advanced individual to help a child achieve a task within their $ZPD$.

Exosystem

In Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory, social settings that an individual does not experience directly but that still influence their development, such as a parent's workplace.

Inclusive Fitness

An evolutionary concept from Wilson's Sociobiological Theory where traits are passed on if they increase the survival of the individual and their relatives.

Imprinting

A process studied by Konrad Lorenz where infant animals form an innate genetic attachment to the first moving object they see.

Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis

John Bowlby's postulate that continual disruption of attachment could result in permanent long-term cognitive, social, and emotional difficulties.

Separation Anxiety

The level of distress an infant feels when separated from their caregiver, proceeding through Protest, Despair, and Detachment stages.

Strange Situation

A standardized procedure devised by Mary Ainsworth to observe attachment security in children aged $9-18$ months.

Moral Dumbfounding

The phenomenon where an individual knows what is right or wrong but is unable to explain the reasoning behind it.

Heinz Dilemma

A moral scenario used by Lawrence Kohlberg to gather information on how individuals develop moral reasoning regarding justice and fairness.

Intimacy

The emotional component of Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love involving feelings of closeness, connectedness, and bondedness.

Consummate Love

A type of love in Sternberg's theory where all three components—Intimacy, Passion, and Commitment—are present.

Case Study

A research design involving an in-depth study of a single individual to generate hypotheses, though it may not generalize to others.

Cohort Effects

A criticism of cross-sectional research where differences between groups may be due to the specific era participants grew up in rather than age itself.

Attrition

A challenge in longitudinal research referring to the loss of participants over the course of a study.