Psych Unit 3 - Development and Learning

Longitudinal Studies

A research method where the same group of participants are studied repeatedly over a long period of time.

Cross-Sectional Studies

A research design where data is collected from a diverse group of individuals at a single point in time.

Teratogen

Any substance or agent that can cause abnormalities in a developing fetus when a pregnant woman is exposed to it, potentially leading to birth defects.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

A developmental disorder in a child caused by heavy alcohol consumption by the mother during pregnancy.

Reflexes

Involuntary, automatic responses to a stimulus, occurring without conscious thought or effort, often serving to protect the body from harm.

Visual Cliff Apparatus

A specially designed experimental setup used to study depth perception in infants and animals.

Maturation

The process of biological growth and development that occurs naturally over time, enabling orderly changes in behavior.

Critical Period

A specific time window during development where an organism is highly sensitive to environmental stimuli.

Sensitive Period

A specific developmental window where an individual is particularly receptive to learning certain skills or acquiring specific knowledge.

Imprinting

A rapid learning process where a newborn animal forms a strong attachment to the first moving object it encounters shortly after birth.

Gross Movement

Large, coordinated body movements that utilize large muscle groups, like walking, running, or jumping.

Fine Motor Skills

The ability to control small muscle groups, primarily in the hands and fingers, to perform precise movements.

Crystallized Intelligence

The accumulated knowledge, skills, and facts a person has acquired throughout their life.

Fluid Intelligence

The ability to solve new problems, reason abstractly, and think flexibly in novel situations without relying on previously learned knowledge.

Dementia

A significant decline in cognitive functions like memory and reasoning abilities that disrupts daily life.

Piaget's 4 Stages of Development

Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages of cognitive development.

Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development

The gap between what a learner can accomplish independently and what they can achieve with guidance.

Language

A complex system of communication using symbols, words, or signs to express thoughts, ideas, and emotions.

Phonemes

The smallest distinctive unit of sound in a language.

Morphemes

The smallest unit of language that carries meaning.

Grammar

The set of rules governing how words are combined to form meaningful sentences.

Cooing Stage

An early stage of infant language development involving soft, vowel-like sounds, typically occurring between 2-3 months old.

Babbling Stage

A developmental period where infants combine consonants and vowels like 'ba-ba' or 'ma-ma,' typically between 6 and 9 months old.

One-Word Stage

The developmental period when a child uses single words to communicate entire thoughts, usually around 12-18 months old.

Two-Word Stage

A developmental phase where a child starts to combine two words to communicate, typically between 18-24 months.

Overgeneralization of language rules

When a child applies a grammatical rule too broadly, resulting in incorrect usage.

Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development

A theory by Erik Erikson outlining eight distinct stages each characterized by a psychosocial crisis.

Associative Learning

A type of learning where an individual forms a connection between two stimuli or a stimulus and a response.

Habituation

A decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated exposure.

Classical Conditioning

A type of learning where an organism learns to associate two stimuli together, forming a new learned response.

Conditioned Response

A learned behavior occurring when a conditioned stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Stimulus

A previously neutral stimulus that triggers a conditioned response after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

Acquisition

The initial stage of learning in classical conditioning where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus.

Higher Order Conditioning

A process in classical conditioning where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an already established conditioned stimulus.

Extinction

The gradual weakening or disappearance of a learned behavior when it is no longer reinforced.

Spontaneous Recovery

The reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a period without exposure.

Generalization

The tendency to respond in the same way to different but similar stimuli.

Discrimination

The act of behaving negatively towards an individual based on their group membership.

Operant Conditioning

A type of learning where a behavior is strengthened or weakened based on its consequences.

Reinforcement

A consequence that strengthens the likelihood of a behavior occurring by providing a desirable outcome.

Law of Effect

Behaviors that produce satisfying outcomes are more likely to be repeated.

Shaping

A technique in operant conditioning where a desired behavior is gradually taught by reinforcing successive approximations.

Instinctive Drift

The tendency of an animal to revert back to instinctual behaviors despite being trained to perform a different learned behavior.

Superstitious Behavior

A behavior repeated based on the mistaken belief that it causes a desired outcome.

Learned Helplessness

A psychological state where an individual feels powerless to change their situation due to repeated exposure to uncontrollable events.

Reinforcement Schedules

A set of rules determining how often a desired behavior will be reinforced.

Continuous

A gradual and ongoing process of change in development without distinct stages.

Partial

A type of reinforcement schedule where a desired behavior is rewarded occasionally.

Fixed Interval

A reinforcement schedule where a response is rewarded after a specific amount of time has passed.

Fixed Ratio

A reinforcement schedule where a behavior is rewarded after a specific number of responses.

Variable Interval

A reinforcement schedule where a response is rewarded after unpredictable amounts of time.

Variable Ratio

A reinforcement schedule where a behavior is rewarded after an unpredictable number of responses.

latent learning

knowledge that only becomes clear when a person has the incentive to demonstrate it.

observational learning

the process of learning by watching others and imitating their behavior.

insight learning

a type of learning that occurs when a solution suddenly becomes apparent after a period of contemplation. It often involves a mental rearrangement of the components of a problem.