Psychology Key Concepts: Piaget, Learning, Development, and Research Methods

Object Permanence

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched. (Develops in infancy; Piaget)

Positive Reinforcement

Adding a stimulus after a behavior to increase the likelihood that the behavior will occur again (e.g., giving praise).

Piaget's Theory

Children develop through four stages of cognitive growth: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.

Assimilation

Interpreting new information using existing schemas (mental frameworks).

Albert Bandura

Psychologist known for social learning theory and the Bobo doll experiment, showing learning through observation

Phonemes & Morphemes

Phoneme Back: The smallest unit of sound in a language.

Front: Morpheme Back: The smallest unit of meaning in a language.

Learned Helplessness

A condition where a person stops trying to change a situation because they believe they have no control.

Generativity

Erikson's stage in adulthood involving contributing to society and helping the next generation.

Parenting Styles

Authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful.

Shaping

Reinforcing successive steps toward a desired behavior.

Neural Conditions vs. Unconscious Stimuli vs. Reinforcers

Front: Neural Conditions Back: Brain processes involved in behavior.

Front: Unconscious Stimuli Back: Stimuli processed without awareness.

Front: Reinforcers Back: Consequences that increase behavior.

Fluid Intelligence

The ability to reason and solve new problems independently of past knowledge.

Primary & Secondary Reinforcers

Primary Reinforcer Back: Naturally reinforcing (food, water).

Front: Secondary Reinforcer Back: Learned reinforcement (money, grades).

Stimulus Generalization

Responding similarly to stimuli that resemble the original conditioned stimulus.

Types of Learning

Classical conditioning, operant conditioning, observational learning, cognitive learning.

Psychosocial Stages (Erikson)

Schedules of Reinforcement

Fixed or variable; ratio or interval—determine how often reinforcement is given.

Continuity vs. Discontinuity

Debate over whether development is gradual or occurs in stages.

Conservation

Understanding that quantity stays the same despite changes in shape or appearance.

Crystallized Intelligence

Knowledge and skills gained through experience and education.

Extinction

The weakening of a conditioned response when reinforcement stops.

Sensitive & Critical Periods

Critical Period Back: A fixed time when development must occur.

Front: Sensitive Period Back: An optimal time for development, but not rigid.

Habituation

Decreased response to a repeated stimulus.

visual Cliff

Experiment testing depth perception in infants.

Harry Harlow

Studied attachment using monkeys; showed importance of comfort over food.

Modeling

Learning by observing and imitating others

Syntax

Rules for combining words into sentences.

Konrad Lorenz

Imprinting in animals

Imaginary Audience

Belief (common in adolescence) that others are constantly watching and judging you.

Teratogens

Harmful agents (drugs, alcohol, viruses) that affect prenatal development.

Law of Effect

Behaviors followed by positive outcomes are more likely to recur (Thorndike)

Vygotsky

Studied social and cultural influences on learning; introduced the zone of proximal development.

Mary Ainsworth

reated the Strange Situation to study attachment styles

Research Methods

Case study, survey, naturalistic observation, experiment, correlational study.

Diffrnece between the styles

Authoritative (high/high) fosters competence; Authoritarian (high/low) creates obedience but less happiness; Permissive (low/high) raises independent but impulsive kids; Uninvolved (low/low) results in low self-control and competence.