AP Psych Unit 3

Nature v. Nurture

The debate about how much genetic (nature) or environmental factors (nurture) determine the characteristics of an individual

Stability v. Change

The debate about how much the traits and characteristics of a person remain the same or change throughout life

Continuous v. Discontinuous Stages of Development

The debate is development is gradual and a continuous process or are there distinct changes throughout development

Cross-Sectional

Comparing people or groups of different ages at one point in time

Longitudinal

Comparing the same people over time

Prenatal Development

Caused by teratogens, possible effects could be prematurity, low birth weight, and intellectual disabilities 

Teratogens

An agent that produces abnormalities

Infancy

Earliest period of postnatal life (from birth-1)

Rooting Reflex

Automatic and unlearned response of a newborn 

Maturation

Naturally occurring time-related changes

Developmental Milestones

Any physical, cognitive, social, or environmental change that is predictable throughout the world

Fine Motor Coordination

Coordination of small muscles to control precise/fine movements

Gross Motor Coordination

Activities or skills that require large muscles to move

Sensorimotor

• Birth-2 years old

• Basic reflexes

• Object permanence: The ability to understand that objects continue to exist even when they are not perceived

Preoperational

• 2-6

• Little awareness of the perspective of others

• Pretend Play: Make-believe fantasy play

• Mental Symbols: An Internal symbol that represents an external reality

• Animism: The belief that inanimate objects are alive

• Egocentrism: Believing that others understand from your view

Concrete operational

• 7-11

• Logical thinking

• Conservation: Something does not change even when its psychical appearance changes

• Reversibility: Reverses a sequence of events to restore something to its original condition

• Theory of Mind: Others have different thoughts and beliefs of their own

Formal Operational

• 12-adulthood

• Logical and abstract thinking

• Abstract Logic: Being able to understand concepts that can’t be experienced

Critical Period

A stage in life where a person is open to learning and development

Imprinting

Animals attach to and follow the first moving object they see as a survival mechanism

Adolescence

• 9-25

• Lasts from puberty and ends with physiological maturity

Puberty

Stage of development when genital organs mature

Primary Sex Characteristics

Testes in males and ovaries in females

Secondary Sex Characteristics

Not directly involved in reproduction (facial hair, breast size)

Menarche

• First time you menstruate

• Marks puberty 

Spermarche

A male’s first ejaculation of semen

Adulthood

One becomes fully mature in everything

Menopause

Reproductive capacity decreases in women and stops due to estrogen and progesterone

Sex vs. Gender

Sex: biological

Gender: preference, social expectations

Sociocultural Theory

Children observe their culture, environment and language and make it part of themselves

Internalization

Fixing/assimilating parts of a culture into one’s sense of self 

Zone of Proximal Development

The difference between a child’s ability to learn working alone versus working with someone older/experienced

Crystallized Intelligence

Knowledge of vocabulary and general information

Fluid Intelligence

Dealing with novel (new) tasks

Dementia

Deterioration of memory and cognitive function

Language

A communication system that uses spoken or written symbols

Phonemes

The smallest sound a spoken language

Morphemes

The smallest unit of language that carries meaning

Syntax

A set of rules that explain how people should arrange words and phrases into grammatical sentences

Semantics

Part of language that deals with meaning

Nonverbal Manual Gestures

Form of communication without words

Overgeneralization of Language Rules

Applying standard grammatical rules to multiple situations

Microsystem

People you have direct contact with (parents, friends, teachers)

Mesosystem

Interactions between the individual’s microsystem 

Exosystem

Societal structures that do not interact with the individual but still affect them (an example is the government)

Macrosystem

Larger society such as language

Chronosystem

Continuity and change

Authoritarian

Parenting style that involves strong punishment, obedience, and no collaboration

Permissive

Parenting sytle that is neglectful, makes few demands, and avoids punishment

Authoritative

Encourages autonomy but still places limitations, involves discipline but allows exceptions

Attachment

Emotional bond between an infant and their parent

Strange Situation 

An experiment uses to test the quality of attachment

Secure Attachment

Positive parent-child relationship

Insecure Attachment

Negative parent-child relationship

Separation Anxiety

Child’s expression of fear/anxiety

Disruption of Attachment

Moving from one caretaker to another

Deprivation of Attachment

Neglect during the critical period

Temperament

Biologically determined aspects of personality such as mood and energy level

Harlow’s Monkey Experiment

A baby monkey was placed into a cage with a wire mother monkey and a mother monkey with a fuzzy blanket

Trust v. Mistrust

Needs are met or not

Autonomy v. Shame and Doubt

Learning to do things on your own or doubting your abilities 

Initiative v. Guilt

Initate and carry out tasks independently or feeling guilty because you can’t 

Industry v. Inferiority

Pleasure doing tasks or feeling inferior

Identity v. Role Confusion

Testing roles and identities and developing sense of self or becoming confused about who they are

Intimacy v. Isolation

Gaining the capacity for intimate love or feeling socially isolated

Generativity v. Stagnation

Sense of contributions to the world or having a feeling of no purpose

Integrety v. Despair

Period of reflection when one feels satisfied with what they have done or a sense of failure

Diffusion 

Emerging from adolescence with an uncertain view of oneself

Foreclosure

Commiting to an identity before one is ready

Moratorium

The adolescent separates from family when discovering who they are

Learning

Acquiring new behaviors and knowledge

Associative Learning

Acquiring new behaviors and knowledge through connections between elements

Behaviorism

According to John B. Watson, can only be studied through behavior and not cognitve behaviors

Classical Conditioning

Developed by Ivan Pavlov, its a type of conditioning in which one associates a stimulus with an involuntary response

Neutral Stimulus

A stimulus that does not trigger a response

Unconditioned Stimulus

• Not learned

• Causes an unconditioned response (natural response)

Conditioned Stimulus

A response after repeated exposure to and unconditioned stimulus

Conditioned Response

Learned response to a conditioned stimulus

Acquisition

Process of learning association (The neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus come together)

Extinction

The conditioned response disappears if the Conditioned stimulus is not present

Spontaneous Recovery

The reaperance of a conditioned response after it was extinct

Generalization

The effects of the conditioning of the initial stimulus spread to other stimulus

Discrimination

Being able to distinguish between stimuli and respond differently

Habituation

Becoming used to a stimulus after repeated exposure to it

Tase Aversion

• Food is paired with an unconditioned response

• The thought of smell a food can cause you to throw up

• Highly resistant to extinction

One-Trial Learning

Learning after only one paring of the neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus 

Biological Prepardness 

Animals are programmed to learn specific stimulus-response pairings more quickly than others

Higher Order Conditioning 

The conditioned stimulus acts as and unconditioned stimulus 

Operant Conditioning 

• Developed by B.F. Skinner

• Behavioral change occurs as a response to the consequences of that behavior

Law of Effect

• Developed by Edward L. Thorndike

• The consequences of the behavior will change the behavior happening again

Positive and Negative Punishment

Positive: adding something unpleasent to decrease a behavior 

Negative: subtracting something pleasent to decrease behavior

Positive and Negative Reinforcement

Positive: adding something pleasant to increase behavior

Negative: subtract something unpleasant to increase behavior

Primary Reinforcers

These increase the chance of a behavior happening again without needing the stimulus

Secondary Reinforcers

A past neutral stimulus acquires the ability to influence the future probability of a behavior 

Token Economy

Currency

Shaping

Reinforcing behavior

Instinctive Drift

Animal research demonstrates that some behaviors learned through operate conditioning become innate behavior

Superstitious Behavior

Learned behavior when one associates reinforcement or punishment with unrelated behavior

Learned Helplessness

Repeated exposure to stressors cause individual to not attempt control even when they are capable of when options become available

Continuous Reinforcement 

Reinforcement every time the behavior occurs

Partial Reinforcement

Only some responses are reinforced