Semester One Exam (APSYCH)

Behavioral Perspective

Emphasizes learning and behavior in explaining thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Developmental psychology

The study of continuity and change across the life span.

Stability & Change

The debate regarding which traits persist through the lifespan and which change.

Continuous development

The view that development is a cumulative process: gradually improving on existing skills.

Discontinuous development

The view that development takes place in unique stages,

which happen at specific times or ages.

Milestones

Important markers of development such as walking, talking,

and grasping objects.

Prenatal Development

The process that occurs between the formation of the zygote and birth.

Cross-sectional research

A study in which people of different ages are compared with one another.

Longitudinal research

Research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period.

Teratogens

Agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause

harm.

Associative Learning

Making connections between events to learn.

Habituation

Becoming less responsive to a repeated stimulus.

Classical Conditioning

Pairing two stimuli to elicit a response.

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

Naturally triggers a response without learning.

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

The natural reaction to an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Initially neutral, triggers a conditioned response.

Conditioned Response (CR)

A learned response to a previously neutral stimulus that becomes conditioned.

Acquisition

Initial learning stage where a response is established.

Extinction

Diminishing of a conditioned response.

Spontaneous Recovery

Reappearance of an extinguished response after a pause.

Stimulus Discrimination

Ability to differentiate between stimuli.

Stimulus Generalization

Conditioned stimulus evokes similar responses.

Higher-Order Conditioning

Pairing a conditioned stimulus with a new one.

Counterconditioning

Uses conditioning to change responses to triggers.

Taste Aversion

Avoidance of food associated with discomfort.

One-Trial Conditioning

Learning with only one pairing of stimulus and response.

Biological Preparedness

Inclination to form associations between stimuli and responses.

Operant Conditioning

Learning through rewards and punishments.

The Law of Effect

Behaviors with favorable consequences are repeated.

Reinforcement

Strengthens behavior it follows.

Primary Reinforcers

Innately reinforcing stimuli satisfying biological needs.

Secondary Reinforcers

Gains reinforcing power through association.

Reinforcement Discrimination

Occurs when an organism learns to make a response in the

presence of one stimulus but not another.

Reinforcement Generalization

The spread of a response to stimuli similar to the one that was conditioned.

Positive Reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by presenting pleasant stimuli, such as food.

Negative Reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing/removing negative stimuli

Positive Punishment

The administration of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior's recurring.

Negative Punishment

The removal of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a

behavior's recurring.

Punishment

Event decreasing behavior it follows.

Shaping

Positive reinforcement of behavior patterns.

Instinctive Drift

Tendency to revert to instinctive behaviors.

Superstitious Behavior

Behavior that increases in frequency because its occurrence is accidentally paired with the delivery of a

reinforcer.

Reinforcement Schedules

A rule stating which instances of a behavior will be reinforced.

Continuous Reinforcement

Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs.

Partial (intermittent) Reinforcement

Reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement.

Fixed Interval

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.

Variable Interval

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at

unpredictable time intervals.

Fixed Ratio

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.

Variable Ratio

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses.

Learned Helplessness

The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive

events.

Fine Motor Coordination

The ability to make small, precise movements, typically involving the coordination of the hands and fingers with the eyes.

Gross Motor Coordination

The ability to make large, general movements, such as crawling and walking.

Maturation

Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.

Reflexes

Automatic responses to sensory stimuli, like grasping a finger tightly with the hands.

Rooting Reflex

A baby's tendency, when touched on the cheek, to turn toward the touch, open the mouth, and search for the nipple.

Visual Cliff

A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.

Critical Periods

Specific time periods during which an organism must experience stimuli in order to develop normally.

Sensitive Periods

Times in development when a person is particularly open to certain kinds of experiences.

Imprinting

The process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life.

Growth Spurt

A rapid increase in growth during puberty.

Puberty

The period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.

Primary Sex Characteristics

The body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that make sexual reproduction possible.

Secondary Sex Characteristics

Nonreproductive sexual traits, such as female breasts and hips, male voice quality, and body hair.

Menarche

The first menstrual period.

Spermarche

The first ejaculation.

Menopause

The time of natural cessation of menstruation; also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduce declines.

Schemas

Frameworks that help organize and interpret information.

Assimilation

The process by which new information is incorporated into

pre-existing schemas.

Accommodation

The process by which schemas are altered to fit new information.

The process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Sex

The biologically influenced characteristics by which people define males and females.

Gender

The socially influenced characteristics by which people define men and women.

Socialization

The process by which people learn the norms, rules, and information of a culture or society.

Jean Piaget

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

Sensorimotor Stage

The first stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development, from birth to about 2 years of age, during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory impressions and motor activities.

Object Permanence

The awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.

Preoperational Stage

The second stage in Piaget's theory, from about 2 to 7 years of age, during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic.

Mental Symbols

Internal depictions of information that the mind can manipulate.

Conservation

The principle (which Piaget believed was a part of

concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects.

Reversibility

The ability to recognize that numbers or objects can be changed and returned to their original condition.

Animism

The belief that objects that are inanimate have feelings,

thoughts, and have the mental characteristics and qualities of living things.

Theory of Mind

The ability to understand that others have their own thoughts and perspectives.

Concrete Operational Stage

The stage of cognitive development (from about 7 to 11 years of age) during which children gain the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete events.

Formal Operational Stage

The stage of cognitive development (normally beginning

about age 12) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts.

Scaffolding

A technique used by a teacher to adapt their support methods to fit the student's current level of performance,

gradually decreasing the guidance as the student becomes more competent.

Zone of Proximal Development

The difference between what a learner can do without help and what they can do with help.

Language

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning

Phoneme

in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

Morpheme

in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix)

Grammar

in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others.

Semantics

the language's set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds

Syntax

its set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences

Cooing stage

Beginning around 2 months, the infant produces repetitive, soft vowel sounds like "oo" and "ah"

Babbling stage

Beginning at 4 months, the infant spontanesouly utters various sounds, like ah-goo & repetitive, consonant-vowel combinations ("ba-ba" and "da-da"); cannot differentiate native language of baby's household

Nonverbal Gestures

manual gestures are hand or arm movements used to communicate without speaking, such as pointing, waving, or making signs, and often convey emotions, intentions, or directions

Overgeneralization of Language Rules

common error in language development where children apply grammatical rules too broadly

Crystallized Intelligence

The accumulation of knowledge, facts, and skills that are acquired throughout life.

Fluid Intelligence

Ability to decipher information and make decisions (especially in new situations), which is more difficult at an

old age, so it decreases as we age (past middle adulthood)

Dementia

decline in cognitive functioning that interferes with daily life, characterized by memory loss, impaired judgment, and difficulties in communication and reasoning, often seen in older adults

One-word stage

the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words

Telegraphic speech

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements