Unit 3 Development and Learning

Development Psychology

a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the lifespan.

Teratogens

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

fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)

physical and cognitive function deficits in children caused by their birth mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy. In severe cases, symptoms include a small, out-of-proportion head and distinct facial features.

habituation

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

maturation

biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.

critical period

an optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development.

adolescence

the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.

menopause

the time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines.

intersex

possessing male and female biological sexual characteristics at birth.

aggression

any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.

relational aggression

an act of aggression (physical or verbal) intended to harm a person’s relationship or social standing.

X chromosome

the sex chromosome found in females and males. Females typically have two __ chromosomes; males typically have one. An ____ chromosome from each parent produces a female child.

Y chromosome

the sex chromosome typically found only in males. When paired with an _____ chromosome from the mother, it produces a male child.

testosterone

the most important male sex hormone. Males and females have it, but the additional ________ in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs during the fetal period and the development of male sex characteristics during puberty.

estrogens

sex hormones, such as estradiol, that contribute to female sex characteristics and are secreted in greater amounts by females than by males.

primary sex characteristics

the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible.

secondary sex characteristics

nonreproductive sexual traits, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair.

spermarche

the first ejaculation.

menarche

the first menstrual period.

gender role

a set of expected behaviors, attitudes, and traits for men and for women.

sexual aggression (sexual harassment)

any physical or verbal behavior of a sexual nature that is unwanted or intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.

gender identity

our personal sense of being male, female, neither, or some combination of male and female, regardless of whether this identity matches our sex assigned at birth, and the social affiliation that may result from this identity.

social learning theory

the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished.

gender typing

the acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role.

androgyny

displaying traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine psychological characteristics.

sexuality

our thoughts, feelings, and actions related to our physical attraction to another.

asexual

having no sexual attraction toward others.

social script

a culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations.

sexual orientation

a person’s sexual and emotional attraction to another person and the behavior and/or social affiliation that may result from this attraction.

cognition

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

schema

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

assimilation

interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas.

accommodation

(1) in sensation and perception, the process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus images of near or far objects on the retina. (2) in developmental psychology, adapting our current schemas (understandings) to incorporate new information.

sensorimotor stage

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

object permanence

the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.

preoperational stage

in Piaget’s theory, the stage (from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age) at which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.

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.

egocentrism

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

concrete operational stage

in Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 7 to 11 years of age) at which children can perform the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete (actual, physical) events.

formal operational stage

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

scaffold

in Vygotsky’s theory, a framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking.

theory of mind

people’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states — about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict.

phoneme

in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit.

morpheme

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix). Examples include the word "dog," the prefix "un-" in "unhappy," and the suffix "-ing" in "running

grammar

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.

universal grammar (UG)

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

babbling stage

the stage in speech development, beginning around 4 months, during which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds that are not all related to the household language.

one-word stage

the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words.

two-word stage

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements.

telegraphic speech

the early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram — “go car” — using mostly nouns and verbs.

aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding).

Wernicke’s area

a brain area, usually in the left temporal lobe, involved in language comprehension and expression.

Broca’s area

a frontal lobe brain area, usually in the left hemisphere, that helps control language expression by directing the muscle movements involved in speech.

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 five nested systems (microsystem; mesosystem; exosystem; macrosystem; chronosystem) ranging from direct to indirect influences.

stranger anxiety

the fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning by about 8 months of age.

attachment

an emotional tie with others; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to caregivers and showing distress on separation.

imprinting

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

strange situation

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

secure attachment

demonstrated by infants who comfortably explore environments in the presence of their caregiver, show only temporary distress when the caregiver leaves, and find comfort in the caregiver’s return.

insecure attachment

demonstrated by infants who display either a clinging, anxious attachment or an avoidant attachment that resists closeness.

temperament

a person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.

basic trust

according to Erik Erikson, a sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy; said to be formed during infancy by appropriate experiences with responsive caregivers.

emerging adulthood

a period from about age 18 to the mid-twenties, when many persons in Western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults.

social clock

the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement.

associative learning

learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequence (as in operant conditioning).

stimulus

any event or situation that evokes a response.

respondent behavior

behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.

operant behavior

behavior that operates on the environment, producing a consequence.

cognitive learning

the acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language.

classical conditioning

a type of learning in which we link two or more stimuli; as a result, to illustrate with Pavlov’s classic experiment, the first stimulus (a tone) comes to elicit behavior (drooling) in anticipation of the second stimulus (food).

behaviorism

the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).

neutral stimulus (NS)

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning.

unconditioned response (UCR)

in classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) (such as food in the mouth).

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally — naturally and automatically — triggers an unconditioned response UCR).

conditioned response (CR)

in classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS).

conditioned stimulus (CS)

in classical conditioning, an originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR).

acquisition

in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.

higher-order conditioning (Also called second-order conditioning)

a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus.

extinction

in classical conditioning, the diminishing of a conditioned response when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus. (In operant conditioning, when a response is no longer reinforced.)

spontaneous recovery

the reappearance, after a pause, of a weakened conditioned response.

preparedness

a biological predisposition to learn associations, such as between taste and nausea, that have survival value.

operant conditioning

a type of learning in which a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely to recur if followed by a punisher.

law of effect

Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable (or reinforcing) consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable (or punishing) consequences become less likely.

reinforcement

in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.

shaping

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

discriminative stimulus

in operant conditioning, a stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated with reinforcement).

positive reinforcement

increasing behaviors by presenting a pleasurable stimulus. A ________ is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.

negative reinforcement

increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing an aversive stimulus. A _________ is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (Note: _______________is not punishment.)

primary reinforcer

an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need.

conditioned reinforcer

a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; also known as a secondary reinforcer.

reinforcement schedule

a pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced.

continuous reinforcement schedule

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs.

partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedule

reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement.

fixed-ratio schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.

variable-ratio schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses.

fixed-interval schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.

variable-interval schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals.

punishment

an event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows.