AP PSYCH Unit 3: Learning Classical Conditioning and Developmental Psychology

Teratogens

toxic substances that can harm the embryo or fetus if ingested or contracted by the mother.  Examples are alcohol, drugs, nicotine, HIV, AIDS, etc.

Rooting

Reflexive action. The turning of an infant's head toward a stimulus such as a breast or hand.

Teratogens

toxic substances that can harm the embryo or fetus if ingested or contracted by the mother.  Examples are alcohol, drugs, nicotine, HIV, AIDS, etc.

Rooting

Reflexive action. The turning of an infant's head toward a stimulus such as a breast or hand.

Visual Cliff

a psychological experiment used to study depth perception in infants and animals by creating the illusion of a drop-off

Critical Periods

the period of time when an organism has heightened sensitivity for the development of a particular skill

Imprinting

recognition of and attraction to members of one’s own species or to surrogates

Adolescence

the period of time between puberty and adulthood when people experience physical, social, and moral changes

Puberty

the physical beginnings of sexual maturity

Primary Sex Characteristics

the organs needed for reproduction (ovaries in the female, testes in the male, and external genitalia)

Secondary Sex Characteristics

non-reproductive traits (enlargement of the hips and breasts in females, facial hair and deepening voice in males, the development of pubic and underarm hair in both females and males)

Menarche

a girl’s first menstrual period

Spermarche

the ability to produce sperm

Sensorimotor Stage

Lasts from birth to 2 years. Children use senses and motor abilities to learn about the world and develop object permanence.

Object Permanence

the understanding that objects and people continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched. Develops in the sensorimotor stage.

Preoperational Stage

Lasts from 2 to 6 years. Children use symbolic thinking to understand the world but remain egocentric and lack the mental operations that allow logical thinking.

Conservation

the understanding that two equal quantities remain equal even though their form or appearance is rearranged. Ex. understanding that your sandwich is the same size if it is cut into halves or quarters.

Egocentrism

the inability to consider another person’s point of view.  Ex. thinking daddy wants a toy truck for his birthday because that is what you would like. Found in the preoperational stage.

Concrete Operational Stage

Last from 6 to 12 years. Children gain cognitive operations for logical thinking about concrete events, understand conservation, and can perform mathematical operations, but they cannot reason abstractly.

Formal Operational Stage

Lasts from 12 years through adulthood. Further development of cognitive operations enables adolescents to engage in abstract thinking and hypothetical-deductive reasoning.

Lev Vygotsky

Russian psychologist who developed the theory of mind.

Scaffold

a process that helps people learn and solve problems by providing temporary support and structure

Babbling Stage

a period in a child's development, usually between 6 to 9 months old, where they experiment with uttering articulate sounds but do not yet produce any recognizable words

Telegraphic Speech

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—"go car"—using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting auxiliary words.

Overgeneralization

when the rules of grammar are applied too broadly beyond exceptions. Children often make these mistakes when learning language.

Authoritarian Parenting

a parenting style that has rigid rules, enforces strict punishments, and rarely, listens to the kids’ viewpoints. According to Baumrind, kids who grow up under this parenting style tend to be moody, aggressive, and often lack good communication skills.

Authoritative Parenting

a parenting style that sets firm rules, makes reasonable demands, and listens to the kids’ viewpoints while insisting on responsible behavior.  According to Baumrind, kids who grow up under this parenting style tend to be well-adjusted, goal oriented, and socially competent.

Permissive Parenting

a parenting style that sets few rules, makes minimal demands, and allows the kids to reach their own decisions.  According to Baumrind, kids who grow up under this parenting style tend to be impulsive, immature, and often fail to respect others, especially authority.

Neglectful Parenting

a parenting style in which the parent is non-existent.

Secure Attachment

forms when parents or caregivers consistently meet the infant’s needs by being warm and responsive. These infants tend to be well-adjusted, form successful social relationships, and perform better at school. During the Strange Situation test, they freely explore the environment, show moderate anxiety in the presence of strangers and some separation anxiety but are easily comforted upon the caregiver’s return (the reunion).

Insecure Attachment

forms when parents or caregivers fail to fully meet the infant’s needs by being neglectful and inconsistent. These infants tend to form shallow relationships, appear withdrawn and sometimes display an insatiable need for affection.

Avoidant Attachment

 during the Strange Situation test, the infant shows little distress in the absence of the caregiver and in the presence of a stranger.  Upon the return of the caregiver (the reunion), the infant does not seek contact.

Anxious Attachment

(also known as ambivalent attachment) during the Strange Situation test, the infant shows a great deal of anxiety, engages in little exploration, becomes distressed in the absence of the caregiver and in the presence of a stranger.  Upon the return of the caregiver (the reunion), the infant is difficult to console

Disorganized Attachment

a type of insecure attachment style where a child exhibits inconsistent and confusing behaviors towards their caregiver, often stemming from a frightening or unpredictable caregiving environment, leading to a lack of clear attachment patterns and difficulty forming secure relationships

Strange Situation

is a procedure devised by Mary Ainsworth to observe attachment relationships between a caregiver and child.

Separation Anxiety

distress experienced by individuals (typically infants or young children) when separated from their primary caregivers.

Stranger Anxiety

a form of distress that children experience when exposed to people unfamiliar to them.

Imaginary Audience

a psychological concept that refers to the belief during adolescence that others are constantly observing and judging one's appearance, behavior, and actions, even when they actually aren't.

Personal Fable

the belief held by adolescents that they are unique and invincible, leading them to think that their experiences and feelings are completely distinct from others. This can result in a sense of being special or exceptional, as well as a disregard for potential consequences.

Social Clock

the culturally prescribed timing of major life events, such as marriage, having children, and retirement. These timelines are influenced by societal norms and expectations.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

traumatic events or adverse conditions experienced in childhood that can have negative effects on mental and physical health in adulthood.

Learning

a relatively permanent change in behavior resulting from experience or practice

John Locke

an early philosopher who said at birth our minds are a blank slate, a tabula rasa.

Environmental Determinism

Influenced by John Locke's tabula Rosa, everything the individual becomes is the result of experience

John Watson

founder of Behaviorism who conducted the famous and controversial “Little Albert” experiment.

Little Albert

baby who was conditioned to fear white rats by being startled when interacting with the rats. Eventually, the baby became scared of everything white and fluffy.

Phobias

irrational fears of specific objects or situations that lead to avoidance behavior.

Ivan Pavlov

Discovered classical conditioning and conducted the famous salivating dog experiment.

Classical conditioning

associate an involuntary response and a stimulus

Neutral stimulus

another stimulus that happens close in time with the unconditioned stimulus, but has nothing to do with it.

Associative learning

learning that two events are linked together, incorporates both classical and operant conditioning

Stimulus response learning

process where an individual learns to associate a specific stimulus with a particular response

Acquisition

the initial stage of learning or conditioning when a response is first established and gradually strengthened.

Unconditioned stimulus

an original stimulus that causes a response — something that elicits a natural, reflexive response

Unconditioned response

the unconscious response to the original stimulus

Conditioned stimulus

the once neutral stimulus; it is associated with the unconditioned stimulus, thus learned to cause the same response

Conditioned response

the unconscious response to the conditioned stimulus

Contiguity

the shorter the time between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus, the quicker and stronger the association

Taste aversion

also known as the “Garcia Effect.” A unique conditioned aversion accomplished rapidly by a single paring of illness / nausea and a specific food

John Garcia

Discovered the idea of taste aversion.

Stimulus discrimination

learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and other similar stimuli

Stimulus generalization

similar stimuli elicit similar responses

Higher order conditioning

A learned response to previously neutral but now conditioned stimulus. Like salivating at bell sound because it has been associated with food before.

Extinction

when a conditioned response no longer follows a conditioned stimulus

Spontaneous recovery

reappearance of an extinguished response after a rest period