unit 3

Developmental Psychology

• Object Permanence: Knowing things exist even when hidden.

• Imprinting: Rigid, early attachment in some animals (e.g., ducklings).

• Continuity vs. Discontinuity: Growth as a smooth, gradual ramp vs. distinct, sudden steps.

• Conservation: Knowing volume stays the same even if the shape changes.

• Egocentrism: Difficulty seeing things from another person’s perspective.

• Visual Cliff: A tool used to test depth perception in infants.

• Rooting Reflex: Baby turns head toward a cheek touch to find food.

• Secure Attachment: Using a caregiver as a "safe base" to explore.

• Contact Comfort: Physical touch/warmth is more important than food for bonding.

• Imaginary Audience: Teen belief that everyone is watching/judging them.

• Authoritative Parenting: High warmth + clear rules (Demanding but responsive).

• Permissive Parenting: High warmth + no rules (Low demands).

• Industry vs. Inferiority: School-age pride in work vs. feeling "less than."

• Generativity vs. Stagnation: Mid-life desire to give back vs. feeling stuck.

Learning & Behaviorism

• Classical Conditioning: Learning through association (Bell = Food).

• Unconditioned Stimulus (US): The natural trigger (Food).

• Unconditioned Response (UR): The natural reaction (Drooling).

• Conditioned Stimulus (CS): The learned trigger (The Bell).

• Conditioned Response (CR): The learned reaction (Drooling to the bell).

• Stimulus Generalization: Fearing all dogs after one bite.

• Extinction: When a learned behavior fades away.

• Operant Conditioning: Learning through rewards and punishments.

• Positive Reinforcement: Adding something good to increase a behavior.

• Negative Reinforcement: Removing something bad to increase a behavior.

• Shaping: Rewarding small steps toward a final goal.

• Learned Helplessness: Giving up because you feel you have no control.

• Latent Learning: Learning that happens but isn't shown until there's a reward.

• Social Learning Theory: Learning by observing and imitating others.

Intelligence & Cognition

• Crystallized Intelligence: Your "library" of facts (increases with age).

• Fluid Intelligence: Speed of logic and problem-solving (decreases with age).

• Incubation Period: Taking a break from a problem to find the answer later.

• Insight: The sudden "Aha!" moment of solving a problem.

• Overgeneralization: Grammar errors like "I runned" (applying rules too broadly).

Research & Stats

• Operational Definition: Exactly how you measure a variable (e.g., "Weight in lbs").

• Correlational Study: Looking for a relationship (not cause/effect).

• Scatterplot: A graph of dots used to show correlations.

• Mean: The average.

• Range: The distance between the highest and lowest scores.

• Effect Size: The actual strength of a result.

• IRB Board: Group that checks if a study is ethical.

• Cross-Sectional: Testing different age groups at the same time.

Biology & Genetics

• Sex Determination: Determined by the father’s sperm (X or Y).

• Biological Preparedness: We are genetically "wired" to fear certain things (like snakes)