Learning and Human Development

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering classical and operant conditioning, prenatal and lifespan physical growth, cognitive development theories, and psychosocial milestones.

Learning

A relatively permanent change in an organism's behavior or thought as a result of experience.

Habituation

The process of responding less strongly over time to repeated stimuli that are safe or worth ignoring.

Sensitization

The process of responding more strongly over time, typically to a stimulus that is dangerous, irritating, or both.

British Associationists

A group of thinkers who proposed that knowledge is acquired through conditioning and paired association, requiring only one element of a pair to retrieve the other.

Ivan Pavlov

A Russian physiologist and $1904$ Nobel Prize winner who discovered classical conditioning while studying digestive processes in dogs.

Classical Conditioning

A form of learning in which animals come to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that naturally elicits an automatic response.

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

A stimulus that does not naturally elicit a target response prior to conditioning (such as a metronome).

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

A stimulus that biologically and automatically elicits a reflexive, unconditioned response (such as meat powder).

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

An automatic, unlearned reaction to a nonneutral stimulus that occurs naturally (such as salivation to meat powder).

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a conditioned response as a result of its repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Response (CR)

A response previously associated with a nonneutral stimulus that is now elicited by a previously neutral stimulus.

Acquisition

The learning phase during which a conditioned response is established by pairing the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus.

Extinction (Classical Conditioning)

The gradual reduction and eventual elimination of the conditioned response after the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented alone without the unconditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous Recovery

The sudden reemergence of an extinguished conditioned response after a delay following an extinction procedure and a period of rest.

Stimulus Generalization

The process by which conditioned stimuli that are similar, but not identical, to the original conditioned stimulus elicit the conditioned response.

Stimulus Discrimination

The process by which an organism displays a conditioned response to a specific stimulus, but not to other distinct stimuli.

Latent Inhibition

The phenomenon whereby prior exposure to a conditioned stimulus alone many times makes it difficult to subsequently condition it to another stimulus. ex: if a dog hears a bell many times it understands food is there so it salivates. Its hard to get the dog to hear another sound and associate it with food

Operant Conditioning

Learning controlled by the consequences (rewards or punishments) of an organism's voluntary behavior, also referred to as instrumental conditioning.

Law of Effect

A principle asserting that if a stimulus is followed by a behavior and a satisfying consequence, the association between stimulus and response ($\text{S-R}$) is stamped in and strengthened.

Thorndike's Puzzle Box

An experimental apparatus developed by E.L. Thorndike in which cats learned through trial and error to pull a string and open a door to access food.

Skinner Box

An operant chamber designed by B.F. Skinner containing a bar/lever to press, food/water dispensers, and recording devices to study animal behavior automatically.

Positive Reinforcement

An outcome that strengthens the probability of a behavior by administering or presenting a desirable stimulus.

Negative Reinforcement

An outcome that strengthens the probability of a behavior by removing or subtracting an unpleasant or aversive stimulus.

Positive Punishment

An outcome that weakens the probability of a behavior by administering an unpleasant stimulus that the organism wishes to avoid.

Negative Punishment

An outcome that weakens the probability of a behavior by removing a pleasant or rewarding stimulus.

Discriminative Stimulus

A stimulus that signals the presence or availability of reinforcement following a specific behavior. EX: snapping fingers or whistling at dog

Extinction Burst

A brief, initial increase in the frequency or intensity of a target behavior shortly after reinforcement is withdrawn.

Continuous Reinforcement

A reinforcement schedule in which a behavior is reinforced every single time it occurs, resulting in faster initial learning.

Partial Reinforcement

A reinforcement schedule where responses are reinforced only some of the time, producing behaviors that are more resistant to extinction.

Fixed Ratio (FR) Schedule

A schedule in which reinforcement is provided after a regular, predetermined number of correct responses.

Variable Ratio (VR) Schedule

A schedule in which reinforcement is provided after a fluctuating, unpredictable number of responses, yielding the highest rates of responding.

Fixed Interval (FI) Schedule

A schedule in which reinforcement is provided for the first response emitted after a specific, predetermined amount of time has elapsed.

Variable Interval (VI) Schedule

A schedule in which reinforcement is provided for the first response emitted after fluctuating, unpredictable time intervals.

Shaping

Conditioning a target behavior by reinforcing successive approximations that get progressively closer to the desired behavior.

Token Economy

A therapeutic system where neutral objects (secondary reinforcers) are earned for target behaviors and later exchanged for primary reinforcers.

Two-Process Theory of Anxiety

A model stating that anxiety and phobic responses are acquired via classical conditioning and maintained through operant negative reinforcement by avoidance. I am bitten (UCS) by a dog (CS), resulting in fear (CS) I then avoid any dogs I see, which makes my anxiety decrease (negative reinforcement)

Latent Learning

Learning that is not directly observable in performance until an incentive or reinforcement is introduced, as demonstrated in Tolman and Honzik's maze experiments.

Cognitive Map

A mental spatial representation of one's environment acquired without the necessity of explicit reinforcement.

Observational Learning

Learning that occurs by watching others and their outcomes rather than directly engaging in trial and error.

Mirror Neurons

Cells located in the prefrontal cortex near the motor cortex that activate both when an animal performs an action and when it observes another performing the same action.

Insight Learning

The sudden grasp of a problem's solution without trial and error, observed by Wolfgang Köhler in chimpanzees utilizing sticks to retrieve fruit.

Conditioned Taste Aversion

A learned avoidance of a taste paired with nausea that can develop after only one trial, survive delays of $6-8\,\text{hours}$, and exhibit narrow generalization.

Equipotentiality

The claim that an organism can classically condition any conditioned stimulus equally well to any unconditioned stimulus, a notion contradicted by biological preparedness.

Instinctive Drift

The tendency of animals to return to innate, biologically predisposed behaviors following repeated reinforcement.

Developmental Psychology

The study of how behavior and mental processes change across the human life span.

Bidirectional Influences

The reciprocal, two-way relationship in human development where children's development influences their experiences, and their experiences simultaneously influence their development.

Cohort Effects

Systematic differences observed across groups of individuals who lived during different historical time periods rather than differences resulting from age alone.

Cross-Sectional Design

A developmental research design that examines individuals of different ages at a single, identical point in time.

Longitudinal Design

A research design that tracks and assesses the development of the same cohort of participants repeatedly over an extended period of time.

Infant Determinism

myth that infants that have early experiences (within the first $3\,\text{years}$ of life) are almost always more influential than any later life experiences.

Childhood Fragility

The mistaken assumption that children are delicate and easily damaged by adversity, contradicted by findings showing substantial resilience.

Gene Expression

The biological phenomenon in which environmental experiences actively turn specific genes on and off. EX: predisposition to anxiety caused by death of a parent

Gene-Environment Interaction

A situation where the developmental impact of genetic factors depends directly on the environment, such as the interaction between the low MAO gene and violent behavior.

Zygote

The single fertilized egg cell formed at conception when a sperm fertilizes an egg, possessing $23\,\text{pairs}$ of chromosomes.

Blastocyst

A ball of rapidly dividing cells formed during the germinal stage that will eventually differentiate to take on specific anatomical functions.

Embryo

The developing human organism from the $2\text{nd}$ to the $8\text{th}\,\text{week}$ of gestation, during which limbs, facial features, and major organs form.

Fetus

The developing human organism from the $9\text{th}\,\text{week}$ of gestation until birth, focused on major organ establishment, physical maturation, and bulking up.

Proliferation (Neural Development)

The rapid development of neurons between day $18$ and the $6\text{th}\,\text{month}$ of gestation, at times reaching rates up to $250{,}000\,\text{neurons per minute}$.

Phenylketonuria (PKU)

A genetic condition in which an individual cannot produce an enzyme required for normal development, leading to toxic chemical buildup and intellectual disability if untreated by diet.

Sickle-Cell Anemia

A genetic condition characterized by abnormally shaped red blood cells that leads to pain episodes, yellowish eyes, stunted growth, and vision problems.

Down's Syndrome

A chromosomal disruption caused by the presence of an extra chromosome at chromosome $21$, linked to maternal age and resulting in intellectual disability.

Teratogens

Environmental factors—such as drugs, alcohol, smoking, maternal illnesses, and X-rays—that can exert a negative impact on prenatal development.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Consumption of alcohol leads to learning disabilities, facial malformations, and behavioral disorders resulting from maternal alcohol intake.

Rooting Reflex

An automatic motor reflex in neonates characterized by turning the head toward a touch on the cheek.

Babinski Reflex

A primitive reflex where an infant's toes fan out when the outer edge of the sole of the foot is stroked.

Attachment

The strong emotional connection we share with those to whom we feel closest, representing the primary form of social development in infancy.

Sensitive Period

A developmental window in intelligent mammals (such as around $6\,\text{months}$ in humans) during which social input is most influential, differing from rigid critical periods.

Contact Comfort

The positive emotional security afforded by reassuring tactile contact, demonstrated by Harry Harlow's experiments with infant rhesus monkeys.

Strange Situation Task

A standardized laboratory procedure designed to evaluate infant attachment styles by observing reactions to separations and reunions with a primary caregiver.

Secure Attachment

An infant attachment style characterized by distress upon caregiver departure and enthusiastic greeting or seeking of comfort upon reunion.

Avoidant Attachment

An infant attachment style characterized by little distress when the caregiver leaves and avoidance or detachment when the caregiver returns.

Ambivalent Attachment

An infant attachment style marked by intense panic upon separation and conflicted reunion reactions, such as seeking closeness while kicking or hitting.

Disorganized-Disoriented Attachment

An attachment style characterized by confused, inconsistent, and contradictory reactions to the caregiver's departure and return.

Stranger Anxiety

A developmental fear of unfamiliar adults that emerges at $8-9\,\text{months}$ and peaks at $12-15\,\text{months}$ across cultures.

Temperament

An early-appearing, largely genetic emotional and social style characterized as easy ($40\%$), difficult ($10\%$), or slow-to-warm-up ($15\%$).

Behavioral Inhibition

A temperament trait found in approximately $10\%$ of children involving fearfulness and withdrawal to novelty, conferring risk for shyness and anxiety disorders.

Gender Identity

An individual's internal psychological sense of being male or female, as distinguished from biological sex.

Gender Role

The set of culturally defined behaviors, interests, and expectations typically associated with being male or female.

Authoritarian Parenting

A parenting style characterized by strict demands, punitive discipline, and low levels of affection.

Authoritative Parenting

A parenting style that combines supportive warmth and affection with firm, consistent limits and reasonable expectations.

Permissive Parenting

A parenting style characterized by high affection and warmth but lax discipline and few rules or restrictions.

Average Expectable Environment

An environment that provides basic parental affection and appropriate discipline, sufficient for typical child development.

Menarche

The onset of menstruation in females, representing a major marker of physical maturity during puberty.

Spermarche

The first ejaculation in males, signaling the achievement of reproductive capability during puberty.

Assimilation

Piaget's cognitive process of absorbing new experiences into current knowledge structures and schemas.

Accommodation

Piaget's cognitive process of altering and updating existing schemas to make them compatible with new experiences.

Sensorimotor Stage

Piaget's first stage ($\text{birth to } 2\,\text{years}$), focused on here-and-now physical interactions, ending with the attainment of mental representation.

Object Permanence

The cognitive realization that objects continue to exist even when they are hidden from physical sensory view.

Preoperational Stage

Piaget's second stage ($2\text{ to } 7\,\text{years}$), marked by symbolic representation and language, but limited by egocentrism and a lack of conservation.

Egocentrism

An inability in preoperational children (2-7 yrs old) to perceive situations and physical viewpoints from perspectives other than their own.

Lack Conservation

a child's inability to understand that an object's quantity, mass, volume, or length stays the same even when its shape or appearance changes.

Concrete Operations Stage

Piaget's third stage ($7\text{ to } 11\,\text{years}$), during which children can perform mental operations on tangible physical objects but struggle with abstract concepts.

Formal Operations Stage

Piaget's final stage ($11\,\text{years to adulthood}$), characterized by the capacity to perform hypothetical reasoning and systematic abstract thought.

Scaffolding

Vygotsky's learning mechanism in which instructors provide initial learning support and structure, gradually withdrawing it as competence increases. EX: riding a bike

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Vygotsky's developmental range between what a child can achieve independently and what they can achieve with guidance from a knowledgeable partner. Phase when children are receptive to learning a new skill, but aren’t yet successful at it

Theory of Mind

The cognitive ability to reason about and understand that other people hold mental perspectives and knowledge distinct from one's own.

Personal Fable

An adolescent cognitive phenomenon involving feelings of uniqueness and invincibility, which can lead to risk-taking behaviors.

Psychosocial Stages (Erikson)

An eight-stage model spanning from infancy to old age, in which each stage poses a distinct psychosocial crisis concerning our relations with others.

Preconventional Morality

Kohlberg's first level of moral reasoning, in which moral decisions are focused entirely on direct punishment and reward.

Conventional Morality

Kohlberg's second level of moral reasoning, characterized by an emphasis on upholding social order, laws, and societal values.