AP Psychology Unit 3 Notes

Developmental psychology

The study of how and why human beings change over the course of their life.

Cross-sectional study

A research method that compares participants of different ages at a single point in time.

Longitudinal study

A research method that involves repeated observations of the same variables over a long period of time.

Teratogens

Agents or factors that can cause malformation or defects in an embryo or fetus.

Fetal alcohol syndrome

A condition in a child resulting from alcohol exposure during the mother's pregnancy.

Habituation

A decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated presentations.

Maturation

The process of development in which an individual matures or reaches full functionality.

Critical period

A specific time in development when certain skills or abilities are most easily learned.

Adolescence

The transitional stage from childhood to adulthood, typically between ages 13 and 19.

Puberty

The phase in which adolescents undergo physical changes to reach sexual maturity.

Menopause

The time in a woman's life when menstruation ceases, often occurring in her late 40s to 50s.

Sex

The biological distinction between male and female.

Gender

The roles, behaviors, activities, and expectations that society considers appropriate for men and women.

Intersex

A condition in which an individual is born with physical sex characteristics that don't fit typical definitions of male or female.

Aggression

Behavior that is intended to harm or destroy.

Relational aggression

A type of aggression that harms others through manipulation or damage to relationships.

Carol Gilligan

A psychologist known for her work on gender differences in moral development.

X chromosome

One of the two sex chromosomes; females have two of this kind of chromosome.

Y chromosome

The sex chromosome that determines male biological characteristics.

Testosterone

A hormone primarily produced in testes that influences male sexual development and characteristics.

Estrogens

A group of hormones that play an essential role in the regulation of the female reproductive system.

Primary sex characteristics

The physical reproductive organs and structures directly involved in reproduction.

Secondary sex characteristics

Physical features that develop during puberty but are not directly related to reproduction.

Spermarche

The onset of sperm production in males during puberty.

Menarche

The first occurrence of menstruation in females.

Role

A set of expectations about how people in a given social position are supposed to behave.

Gender role

The role or behavior learned by a person as appropriate to their gender.

Sexual aggression

Any behavior that is sexually coercive or aggressive towards another individual.

Gender identity

A personal conception of oneself as male, female, a blend of both, or neither.

Social learning theory

The theory that people learn behaviors through observation and imitation of others.

Gender typing

The process of acquiring gender role characteristics.

Androgyny

Displaying both traditional masculine and feminine psychological characteristics.

Sexuality

A person's capacity for sexual feelings and their sexual orientation.

Asexual

A person who does not experience sexual attraction.

Alfred Kinsey

A biologist and sexologist known for his research on human sexuality.

Social script

Cultural guidelines on how to behave in different social situations.

Alice Eagly

A social psychologist recognized for her research on gender differences and gender roles.

Sexual orientation

A person's physical, emotional, or romantic attraction to another person.

Jean Piaget

A psychologist known for his theory of cognitive development in children.

Cognition

The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought.

Schema

A cognitive framework that helps organize and interpret information.

Assimilation

The process of integrating new information into existing schemas.

Accommodation

The process of altering existing schemas or creating new ones in response to new information.

Sensorimotor stage

Piaget's first stage of cognitive development, from birth to about 2 years.

Object permanence

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen.

Preoperational stage

Piaget's stage of cognitive development from about 2 to 7 years, characterized by symbolic thinking.

Conservation

The understanding that quantity does not change even when its shape does.

Egocentrism

The inability to differentiate between one's own perspective and that of others.

Concrete operational stage

Piaget's stage from ages 7 to 11, where children begin to think logically about concrete events.

Formal operational stage

Piaget's stage of cognitive development from age 12 onward, characterized by abstract thinking.

Lev Vygotsky

A psychologist known for his sociocultural theory of cognitive development.

Scaffold

Support given to a learner that is tailored to their needs.

Theory of mind

The ability to understand that others have thoughts and perspectives different from one's own.

Language

A system of symbols that enables communication.

Noam Chomsky

Linguist known for his theory of universal grammar.

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound in a language.

Morpheme

The smallest grammatical unit in a language.

Grammar

The set of rules that govern the structure of sentences in a language.

Universal grammar

Noam Chomsky's theory that suggests all languages have a common structure.

Babbling stage

The stage in language development characterized by the production of repeated consonant-vowel combinations.

One-word stage

The stage of speech development where a child speaks mostly in single words.

Two-word stage

The developmental phase in which a child begins to speak in two-word phrases.

Telegraphic speech

Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram, using mostly nouns and verbs.

Aphasia

An impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech.

Paul Broca

A physician known for his research on speech production, particularly Broca's area.

Broca’s area

The region of the frontal lobe associated with speech production.

Carl Wernicke

A physician known for his research on language comprehension, particularly Wernicke's area.

Wernicke’s area

The region of the brain that is important for language comprehension.

Linguistic determinism

The hypothesis that language shapes and limits our thinking.

Benjamin Lee Whorf

Linguist known for his theory of linguistic relativity.

Linguistic relativism

The idea that the structure of a language affects its speakers' world view.

Ecological systems theory

A theory proposed by Urie Bronfenbrenner that describes the complex layers of environment that influence development.

Stranger anxiety

The fear of strangers that infants commonly display, beginning at about 8 months of age.

Attachment

An emotional bond between an infant and caregiver.

Harry Harlow

Psychologist known for his studies on attachment in monkeys.

Margaret Harlow

Psychologist and researcher who worked with Harry Harlow on attachment.

Imprinting

A process by which certain animals form strong attachments during an early-life critical period.

Konrad Lorenz

A zoologist known for his work on imprinting.

Mary Ainsworth

Psychologist known for her work on attachment styles in infants.

Strange situation

A procedure devised by Mary Ainsworth to observe attachment relationships.

Secure attachment

A type of attachment characterized by trust and a healthy balance of intimacy.

Insecure attachment

A type of attachment characterized by anxiety or avoidance.

Temperament

A person's characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.

Erik Erikson

A developmental psychologist known for his theory on psychosocial development across the lifespan.

Basic trust

According to Erikson, the sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy.

Self-concept

The subjective perception of one's own personality.

Diana Baumrind

A developmental psychologist known for her research on parenting styles.

Identity

The sense of self; who you are as a person.

Social identity

The portion of an individual's self-concept derived from their group memberships.

Intimacy

A close familiarity or friendship; closeness.

Emerging adulthood

The transition period from late teens to mid-20s, focusing on identity exploration.

Social clock

The culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement.

Learning

A relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience.

Associative learning

A learning principle that suggests a connection between two stimuli or a behavior and a stimulus.

Stimulus

Any event or object in the environment to which an organism responds.

Respondent behavior

Behavior that occurs as an automatic response to a stimulus.

Operant behavior

Behavior that is influenced by its consequences.

Cognitive learning

Learning that involves mental processes.

Ivan Pavlov

A physiologist known for his work in classical conditioning.

Classical conditioning

A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events.