unit 3 - development & learning

developmental psychology

examines our physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development across the lifespan

cross sectional studies

research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time

longitudinal studies

research that follows and retests the same people over time

cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating

assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas

accommodation

adapting our current schemas to incorporate new information

sensorimotor stage

infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

• birth - 2yrs

preoperational stage

children learn to use language but don’t yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic

• 2 - 6/7yrs

egocentric

the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view

concrete operational stage

children can perform the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events

• 7 - 11yrs

formal operational

people begin to think logically about abstract concepts

• 12yrs

object permanence

the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

conservation

the principle that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects

scaffold

a framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking

theory of mind

people’s ideas about their own and other’s mental states

phonemes

in a language, the smallest unit of distinctive sound

morphemes

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning

universal grammar (UG)

humans’ innate predisposition to understand the principles and rules that govern grammar in all languages

babbling stage

an infant spontaneously utters various sounds that are not all related to the household language

• around 4 months

one-word stage

a child speaks mostly in single words

• 1-2yrs

two-word stage

a child speaks mostly in two-word statements

telegraphic speech

a child speak like a telegram using mostly nouns and verbs

aphasia

impairment of language

broca’s area

speech production and grammar

wernicke’s area

language comprehension and meaning

linguistic determinism

whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think

linguistic relativism

the idea that language influences the way we think

ecological systems theory

a theory of the social environment’s influence on human development, using 5 nested systems ranging from direct to indirect influences

stranger anxiety

the fear of strangers that infants commonly display

• begins around 8 months

attachment

a powerful survival impulse that keeps infants close to their caregivers

imprinting

the process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life

the strange situation

a procedure for studying child - caregiver attachment; a child is placed in an unfamiliar environment while their caregiver leaves and then returns, the child’s behavior is observed

secure attachment

infants who comfortably explore environments in the presence of their caregivers, show only temporary distress when the caregiver leaves, and finds comfort in their return

• comforted, trusts caregiver

insecure-avoidant attachment

infants who show little distress when their caregiver leaves and avoids/ignores their caregiver when they return

• inconsistent trust

insecure ambivalent/resistant

distress upon caregiver separation and difficulty being soothed upon return

• clingy, angry, resists closeness

disorganized attachment

confused, erratic behaviors; may freeze or show fear

• linked to abuse or neglect

temperament

a person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity

authoritative

a parent who is communicative with clear rules, but willing to talk things out

authoritarian

a parent who has strict rules with no explanation

• because i said so

permissive

a parent who has few rules, is lenient, and avoids confrontation

uninvolved

a parent who is neglectful

basic trust

a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy

self-concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in answer to the question “who am i?”

identity

our sense of self

social identity

the ‘we’ aspect of our self-concept

emerging adulthood

a period from 18 to mid twenties; no longer teens but not fully independent adults

social clock

the culturally preferred timing of social events

learning

the process of acquiring through experience new and relatively enduring info or behaviors

• relatively permanent change in behavior

habituates

responsiveness decreases with repeated stimulation

associative learning

learning that certain events occur together

stimulus

any event that evokes a response

respondent behavior

behavior that occurs as an automatic response to stimuli

operant conditioning

learning to associate a response with its consequence

• trial and error

cognitive learning

the acquisitions of mental info, by observing events, watching others, or through language

classical conditioning

the first stimulus elicits behavior (drooling) in anticipation of the second stimulus (food)

behaviorism

the view that psych should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes

neutral stimulus

a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning

unconditioned response

an unlearned naturally occurring response to an unconditioned stimulus

unconditioned stimulus

a stimulus that naturally triggers a response

conditioned response

a learned response to a previously neutral stimulus

conditioned stimulus

an originally neutral stimulus comes to trigger a response

acquisition

when one links a neutral stimulus to an unconditioned stimulus

higher-order conditioning

a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a previously conditioned stimulus

extinction

diminished responding when the conditioned stimulus no longer signals the unconditioned stimulus

spontaneous recovery

the reappearance of a weakened conditioned response

generalization

the tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus

discrimination

only responding to a specific stimulus

• pitbulls instead of all dogs

preparedness

a biological predisposition to learn associations that have survival value

law of effect

thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

reinforcement

any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

shaping

reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

positive reinforcement

increasing behaviors by presenting a pleasurable stimulus

negative reinforcement

increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing something negative

primary reinforcers

innately reinforcing