Development and Learning Vocabulary

Erik Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development

  • Theory states that people pass through stages involving a crisis that must be successfully resolved.

  • Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy - 18 months):

    • Virtue: Hope

  • Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt (18 months - 3 years):

    • Virtue: Will

    • Control over body and environment.

  • Initiative vs. Guilt (3-5 years):

    • Virtue: Purpose

  • Industry vs. Inferiority (5-13 years):

    • Virtue: Competency

    • Gaining accomplishment and pride in schoolwork.

  • Identity vs. Confusion (13-21 years):

    • Virtue: Fidelity

    • Exploring social roles to develop a sense of identity.

  • Intimacy vs. Isolation (21-39 years):

    • Virtue: Love

    • Gaining the ability to commit to long-term relationships.

  • Generativity vs. Stagnation (40-65 years):

    • Virtue: Care

    • Leaving a positive legacy and caring for future generations.

  • Integrity vs. Despair (65+ years):

    • Virtue: Wisdom

    • Sense of satisfaction with life and development of wisdom.

Challenges to Erikson's Theory

  • Carol Gilligan: Women develop identities through relationships, contrasting Erikson's focus on individuality and competitiveness.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

  • Potentially traumatic events that negatively impact a child's development.

  • Examples: abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, poverty.

Identity Exploration

  • Identity Achievement: High exploration, High commitment: "I thought about it and I now know what I should do with my life."

  • Moratorium: High exploration, Low commitment: "I'm thinking about what I should do".

  • Identity Diffusion: Low exploration, Low commitment: "I don't know and I don't care what I'm supposed to do with my life."

  • Foreclosure: Low exploration, High commitment: "I've made a choice without thinking".

Social Identity

  • Definition: Membership in a social group (self-selected or assigned at birth).

  • Examples: age, race, ethnicity, social class, gender, nationality, (dis)ability, sexual orientation, religion.

Behaviorism

  • Focuses on observable behaviors shaped by environmental factors (rewards, punishments).

Associative Learning

  • Definition: Linking two stimuli together

  • Example: celebrity endorsements.

Persuasion

  • Characteristics of persuasive people: authority, expertise, attractiveness, likeability, trustworthiness.

  • Central Route: High effort, evaluate message, lasting change in attitude.

  • Peripheral Route: Low effort, persuaded by cues outside of message, temporary change in attitude.

Classical Conditioning (Pavlov)

  • Learning through association; animal behavior can be learned, not just instinctive.

  • Involves Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS), Unconditioned Response (UCR), Conditioned Stimulus (CS), Conditioned Response (CR).

  • Higher-Order Conditioning: A second conditioned stimulus becomes associated with an initial conditioned stimulus.

  • Acquisition: Pairing natural and neutral stimuli until neutral stimuli elicits a conditioned response.

  • Extinction: Conditioned response decreases when the conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the unconditioned stimulus.

  • Spontaneous Recovery: Reappearance of the extinguished conditioned response.

  • Stimulus Generalization: Responding to stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus.

  • Stimulus Discrimination: Distinguishing between the conditioned stimulus and other stimuli.

  • Contingency model: Conditioning is contingent upon one event reliably predicting another (Robert Rescorla).

  • Counterconditioning: Replacing an undesired behavior with a positive one.

  • Pairing the stimulus that triggers the undesired response with a new, positive stimulus or experience.

Learned Taste Aversions (Garcia Effect)

  • Strong conditioning when food is paired with sickness, even hours apart.

  • One-trial learning.

  • Food must be salient.

Biological Preparedness

  • Inherited abilities to protect oneself; fears of heights, dangerous animals, etc.

Habituation

  • Decreased response to a stimulus after repeated exposure.

Operant Conditioning (Skinner)

  • Learning via rewards and punishments for behavior.

  • Law of Effect (Thorndike): Behaviors followed by satisfaction are more likely to reoccur.

  • Positive reinforcement is more effective than punishment.

Types of Reinforcement

  • Positive Reinforcement: Adding something to encourage behavior.

  • Negative Reinforcement: Removing something aversive to encourage behavior.

  • Positive Punishment: Adding something unpleasant to discourage behavior.

  • Negative Punishment: Removing something desired to discourage behavior.

Types of Reinforcers

  • Primary: Basic needs like food, water, warmth, sex.

  • Secondary: Praise, money.

Reinforcement Schedules

  • Fixed Ratio: Reinforcement after a fixed number of responses (e.g., $25 for every 5 grades over 90%).

  • Variable Ratio: Reinforcement after a varying number of responses (e.g., slot machines).

  • Fixed Interval: Reinforcement after a set time period (e.g., salary every two weeks).

  • Variable Interval: Reinforcement at varying time intervals (e.g., pop quizzes).

Cognitive Learning

  • Acquiring new behaviors and information through observation and information, not just direct experience.

Latent Learning

  • Learning without reinforcement; demonstrated when there is a reason.

  • Cognitive map.