AP Psych Unit 3 Vocab

Object permanence

the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived

Secure attachment

a relationship in which an infant obtains both comfort and confidence from the presence of his or her caregiver

Conservation

the principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects

Teratogens

agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm

Fine motor coordination

involves small muscle groups; usually includes finger dexterity and/or skilled manipulation of objects with the hands

Gross motor coordination

Ability to coordinate large muscle movements as in running, walking, skipping, and throwing.

Egocentrism

in Piaget's theory, the preoperational child's difficulty taking another's point of view

formal operational stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts

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

sensorimotor stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2 years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities

preoperational stage

in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to 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

crystallized intelligence

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

fluid intelligence

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood

authoritarian parenting

style of parenting in which parent is rigid and overly strict, showing little warmth to the child

authoritative parenting

parenting style characterized by emotional warmth, high standards for behavior, explanation and consistent enforcement of rules, and inclusion of children in decision making

permissive parenting

A parenting style characterized by the placement of few limits on the child's behavior.

avoidant attachment

infants who seem unresponsive to the parent when they are present, are usually not distressed when she leaves, and avoid the parent when they return

anxious attachment

demonstrated by babies who seem constantly afraid of potential separation from the caregiver; they cling to caregivers in strange settings and display intense distress upon separation

disorganized attachment

a type of attachment that is marked by an infant's inconsistent reactions to the caregiver's departure and return

Habituation

decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.

positive reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food.

negative reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock.

positive punishment

adding an undesirable stimulus to stop or decrease a behavior

negative punishment

the removal of a good stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior's recurring

latent learning

learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it

shaping

an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

modeling

learning by imitating others; copying behavior

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

learned helplessness

the tendency to fail to act to escape from a situation because of a history of repeated failures in the past