Ap Psyc unit 3 (updated for 2025)

Case study

Offers in depth, holistic insights into individual behavior and experiences

Cross-sectional study

People of different ages are compared to one another

Longitudinal study

They’re saying people are studied over a long period of time.

Developmental psychology

Studies, physical, cognitive, and social change through a lifespan

Brain development

Your brain develops the whole time you are in embryo

Motor structure development

This development last until about 18 weeks, but it continues to develop for the remainder of the pregnancy through young adulthood

Folic acid

Crucial for the healthy formation of the brain and spinal cord

Teratogens

Agents, such as viruses and drugs that can cause birth defects or developmental abnormalities in a developing embryo or fetus once it is exposed to it during pregnancy

Fetal alcohol syndrome

When the mother drinks alcohol during her pregnancy

Critical/sensitive period

When an organism is most sensitive to environmental stimuli

Positive correlation

Increase in one value leads to an increase in another. Decrease in one value leads to a decrease in another.

Negative correlation

Increase in one value leads to a decrease in another. An inverse correlation.

Maturation

Orderly sequence of biological growth

Rooting reflex

When something touches an infants cheek, it moves towards it

Babinski reflex

When you stroke an infants foot, they fan out, then curl their toes back in

Moro reflex

Start a reflex. Curl out arms and legs, then curled back in when scared

Tonic neck reflex

When a baby turns her head, the arm on that side reaches out

Fine motor skills

Coordination of small actions. One to four months.

Gross motor skills

Coordination of larger movements. 5 to 8 months.

Major milestones

Raising head and chest, rolling over, sitting with support, sitting without support, crawling, walking. 9 to 12 months.

Visual cliff experiment

Infant was placed on a glass surface with the appearance of a drop off, infants hesitated, or refused to crawl over the edge. Indicated ability to perceive depth and biological readiness to perceive spatial relationships.

Critical period hypothesis

Suggest that there is a specific window of time during which humans are most adept at learning languages. It is typically thought to be around the end of the time of puberty

Adolescence

Period that begins with puberty and ends with a transition into adulthood

Sexual development

Physical changes, not directly linked to reproduction, but signal sexual maturity

Neural pruning

The brain eliminates, unnecessary synaptic connections and strengthens necessary ones

Myelienation

Improves efficiency of neural signaling. Makes info travel faster.

Emotional centers

Increased amygdala sensitivity

Reward pathways

Increase sensitivity to social stimuli

Whole fluid intelligence

Ability to think, logically and solve problems

Crystallized intelligence

Accumulation of knowledge learned through learning and experience

Homogeneous grouping

Groups that are determined by some shared characteristics

Experimental hypothesis

Ex: A diet and high fiber decreases blood pressure.

Anxiety causes reduced performance on cognitive tasks

Non-Experimental hypothesis

Ex: higher levels of education lead to higher income levels.

Children raised in bilingual homes develop better cognitive skills

Male students benefit from the guidance of same-sex mentors more than female students

Continuity

describes the development involved in gradual changes in behavior and thought processes

Discontinuity

Describes development involving distinct shifts and behaviors, and thought processing

Assimilation

Taking a new information, but not changing the schema. Placing new information in an existing schema.

Accommodation

Taking a new information and changing the schema to incorporate the new information. Changing a schema or making a new one.

Sensorimotor stage

Birth- 2yrs. Jean Piaget Explore the world using sensing and actions. Develop object permanence around eight months. Separation anxiety is normal at this stage.

Pre-operational stage

2-7 yrs. Jean Piaget. Children are described by what they can do cognitively. Symbolic thought using language. Pretend play. Described by animism and egocentrism.

Egocentrism

A child who thinks others understand how to play their pretend game without explaining. Developed in the pre-operational stage

Theory of mind

Ability to understand that others have different beliefs, wishes, emotions, and perceptions that influenced their behavior. Developed in the pre-operational stage.

Concrete operational stage

7-12 yrs. Jean Piaget. Develop conservation, which is the ability to understand that something remains the same despite changes in appearance, and they learn reversibility.

Formal operational Stage

12+. Jean Piaget. Develop abstract, thinking and hypothetical reasoning. Along with metacognition.

Zone of proximal development

Refers to what a learner can do with help from a more knowledgeable other. Gap between what they can accomplish alone versus with help.

Vygotsky’s social cognitive theory

Believed in the zone of proximal development

Scaffolding

The process in which the more knowledgeable other provides support or mentorship to a learner to help them achieve a new skill

Neurocognitive disorders

A category of disorders that involve problems with mental functioning due to a variety of causes, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Lewy body, strokes, and traumatic brain injury

Phonemes

The smallest individual sounds of any language

Morphemes

The smallest unit of meeting in a language

Ex: root words, prefixes, suffixes

Syntax

The aspect of grammar that refers to the rules used to put words in the correct order of a sentence

Semantics

The component of language that provides meaning of words and how words combine to form meaning

One word stage

When children communicate using single words to often convey complex ideas

Telegraphic speech

Involves the first multi-speech consisting of two or three words expressions. Typical from 18-30 months

Ecological systems theory

Provides a system to identify and explain the different environments that we operate in a social individuals

Microsystem

Friends, families, immediate environment. The things that have direct contact with the child in their immediate environment.

Mesosystem

Interactions in microsystem. Where are persons individual micro systems are connected in a certain influence among one another.

Exosystem

Indirect influences, neighbors, community. Incorporates other formal and informal social structures. Doesn’t direct interact with a child, but still influences Microsystems.

Macrosystem

Social, cultural, geography. How cultural elements affect development. Beliefs, establish norms and values that permeate your micro system.

Chronosystem

Life changes overtime. Shifts and transitions over the child’s lifetime. There are environmental changes that can be predicted or not.

Baumrind Parenting Styles

Authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, neglectful

Authoritarian parenting style

Low and warmth and high expectations of maturity and discipline.

Authoritative parenting style

High in warmth and moderate in expectations and discipline

Permissive parenting style

High in warmth and low expectations of maturity. Discipline is rare.

Neglectful parenting style

Low and warmth, expectations and communication. Discipline is erratic.

Ainsworth’s attachment styles

Secure, anxious, avoidant, fearful

Secure attachment style

Children have trusting relationships with caregivers which often carry over into adulthood

Anxious attachment style

Children are clingy and nervous, but also may show aggression. High anxiety and low avoidance.

Avoidant attachment style

Seemed detached overall, with a little distress about being separated. Low anxiety and high avoidance.

Fearful attachment style

Shows inconsistency. Sometimes showing fear, affection, anger, or even just staring into space and freezing. High avoidance and high anxiety.

Play types

Solitary, onlooker, parallel, cooperative, pretend.

Solitary play

Playing by themselves

Onlooker play

Watch other children playing from a distance, not being involved yet.

Parallel play

When children play near or next to each other, but not together

Cooperative play

When they play together on the same task

Pretend play

Make up and act out scenarios

Eric Erickson‘s psychosocial theory of development

Each stage involves a conflict between two outcomes a positive and a negative. As we progress through the stages, our personality and social groups change.

Trust versus mistrust- stage 1

Learning to trust caregiver. Birth to one and a half years.

Autonomy versus shame and doubt- stage 2

Making own decisions and gaining independence. 1.5 to 3 years

Initiative versus guilt- stage 3

Can I assert myself and control what’s going on? Can I make mistakes without criticism? 3 to 6 years old

Industry versus inferiority- stage 4

How do I compare to others? 6 to 12 years old

Identity versus role confusion- stage 5

Who am I, who will I become. 12 to 18 years.

Intimacy versus isolation- stage 6

Establishing deep and committed relationships. 19 to 40 years.

Generativity versus stagnation- stage 7

Are you being productive with your life. 40 to 65 years

Ego integrity versus despair- stage 8

Reflecting on your life, and if it was meaningful. 65- death

James Marcia’s theory of identity status

Identity achievement, identity foreclosure, identity moratorium, identity diffusion

Identity achievement

There has been exploration and has achieved the answer to who they wanna be

Identity foreclosure

Has commitment, but has not gone through an exploration process. Someone else gave them their identity.

Identity moratorium

Have not committed yet, but is going through the process

Identity diffusion

All over the place and are still figuring everything out

Classical conditioning

Pavlov’s dogs. Pairing an unconditioned stimulus to an unconditioned response to get a conditioned response

Training trials

Order of presentation of the condition stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus is important to successful acquisition

Extinction trials

A conditioned response can become extinct when a condition response is no longer paired with an unconditioned response

Generalization

Responding with a conditioned response, the same way to a similar stimulus to the conditioned stimulus

Extinction

No longer responding to an original stimulus

Spontaneous recovery

Reappearance of the condition response after a period of extinction

High order conditioning

Conditioned stimulus can be used as a new unconditioned stimulus to produce the original conditioned response

Emotional response

Positive or negative emotion when experiencing a stimulus accompanied by a pleasant or painful event

Biological preparedness

Animals are predisposed to learn stimulus response pairing

Habituation

Organisms grow accustomed to in exhibit, a diminished response To a repeated or enduring stimulus

Operant conditioning

Form of learning that involves reward and punishment with the probability that behavior will increase or decrease