unit 3 psych

Mod 12: 

  • Zygote

    • Fertilized egg 

  • Genes

    • Biochemical units of heredity that make up chromosomes 

  • Embryo

    • A developing human organism from about 2 weeks after fertilization through the end of the eighth week 

  • Fetus 

    • A developing human organism from 9 weeks after conception to birth 

  • Teratogens 

    • Substances that cross the placental barrier and prevent the fetus from developing normally 

  • FAS fetal alcohol syndrome 

    • Physical and cognitive abnormalities that appear in children whose mothers consumed large amounts of alcohol during pregnancy 

  • Rooting reflex 

    • A baby’s tendency when touched on the cheek to open the mouth and search for the nipple 

  • Temperament 

    • A person’s characteristic emotional excitability 

  • Maturation

    • Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior  

  • Developmental psychology 

    • A subfield of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span

  • Cognition 

    • All mental processes associated with thinking, knowing, and remembering 

  • Schemas 

    • Concepts or mental frameworks that organize and interpret information 

  • Assimilation 

    • Interpreting new experience in terms of existing schemas 

  • Accommodation 

    • Adapting current schemas to incorporate new information 


Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development (4 Stages)

  • Sensorimotor stage 

    • In piaget’s theory,

      • The stage (birth - 2 years old) during which infants learn about the world through their sensory impressions and motor experiences

  • Preoperational stage 

    • In a piaget’s theory 

      • The stage (2-6/7 years) during which a child learns to use language but cannot yet think logically

  • Concrete operational stage 

    • In piaget’s theory 

      • The stage of cognitive development (ages 6/7-11 years) during which children gain the mental skills that let them think logically about concrete events 

  • Formal operational stage

    • In piaget’s theory

      • The stage of cognitive development (age 12 and above) during which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts and form strategies about things they may not have experienced 

  • Conservation 

    • The principle (which piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning) that properties such as mass volume and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects 

  • Egocentrism 

    • In piaget’s theory

      • The inability of the preoperational child to take another person's point of view or to understand that symbols can represent other objects 

  • Object permanence 

    • The awareness that things continue to exist even when u cannot see or hear them 



Theories on Attachment

  • Stranger anxiety 

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

  • Attachment 

    • The emotional tie with another person shown by seeking closeness to the caregiver and showing distress when separated 

  • Critical period 

    • The optimal period shortly after birth when an organisms exposure to certain experiences procure proper development

  • Imprinting 

    • The process of which certain animals form attachments during a critical period early in life 





Parenting Styles (4 main types)

  • Authoritarian parenting 

    • A style of parenting marked by imposing rules and expecting obedience 

  • Permissive parenting 

    • A style of parenting marked by submitting to children's desires making few demands and using little punishment

  • Authoritative parenting 

    • A style of parenting marked by ,making demands on the child being responsive, setting and enforcing rules, and discussing the reasons behind the rules 

  • Neglectful Parenting 

    • Parents provide for the child’s physical needs but are often distant or disengaged emotionally, usually low in warmth and love 



  • Jean Piaget: 

    • Pioneer in the study of developmental psychology who introduced a stage theory of cognitive development that led to better understanding of children's thought processes 

  • Konrad Lorenz 

    • Researcher that focused on critical attachment periods in baby birds a concept he called imprinting 



Mod 13: 

  • Adolescence

    • The transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence 

  • Puberty 

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

  • Primary sex characteristics   

    • The reproductive organs 

      • Ovaries, testes, and external genitalia 

  • Secondary sex characteristics 

    • Nonreproductive sexual characteristics such as breasts and hip development in females and voice and facial quality in males 

  • Sexual orientation 

    • Enduring sexual attraction towards the people of the opposite/same/both sexes

  • Identity 

    • One sense of self - according to erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles 

  • Intimacy

    • In erikson’s theory, ability to form close loving open relationships, a primary task in early adulthood 





  • Lawrence Kohlberg 

    • Created a three stage theory of moral development 

      • Post conventional level 

        • Primitive level of moral reasoning is characterized by a desire to avoid punishment or gain rewards 

          • Mostly kids under 9 show this type or normal reasoning 

      • Conventional level 

        • Reasoning to fit in and play the role of a good citizen 

          • Strong desire to follow the rules and laws of society 

      • Pre-conventional level 

        • References to universal ethical principles that represent the rights or obligations of people

          • Most don't reach this level 

  • Erik erikson 

    • Created a 8-stage theory of social development: 

      • Trust vs. Mistrust 

        • If needs are dependly met, infants basically develop sense of basic trust 

      • Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt 

        • Toddlers will learn to exercise their will and do things for themselves or they doubt their abilities 

      • Initiative vs. Guilt 

        • Preschoolers learn to initiate tasks and carry out plans or they feel guilty about efforts to be independent 

      • Industry vs. Inferiority 

        • Children learn the pleasure of applying themselves to tasks or they feel inferior 

      • Identity vs. Role Confusion 

        • Teenagers work at refinishing a sense of self by testing roles and then integrating them to form a single identity or they become confused about who they r 

      • Intimacy vs. Isolation 

        • Young adults struggle to form close relationships and to gain the capacity for intimate love or they feel socially isolated 

      • Generativity vs. Stagnation 

        • Middle aged people discover a sense of contributing to the world, usually through family and work, or they may feel a lack of purpose 

      • Integrity vs. Despair

        • When reflecting on his or her life, the older adult may feel a sense of satisfaction or failure 







  • The 4 stages of “The Search for Identity”

    • Experimentation 

      • Exploring and taking advantage of a variety of opportunities 

    • Rebellion

      • Healthy development builds some independence 

    • “Self”-ishness

      • Increasingly enough, teens learn about their uniques selves and they move in and out of friendships/romances, new interactions 

    • Optimism and energy 

      • Armed with new and fresh powerful cognitive skills view the world with a fresh perspective 

  • Adulthood

    • the period in the human lifespan in which full physical and intellectual maturity have been attained

  • “Stages of Adulthood”

    • Early adulthood 

      • 20-35

    • Middle adulthood 

      • 36-64

    • Late adulthood 

      • 65+ 

  • Social clock

    • The culturally preferred time of social events of marriage, parenthood, and retirement 

  • Emerging adulthood

    • A period from the late teens to the mid twenties bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood 



  • “The Five Marks”

    • Age of identity exploration

      • Process of deciding who u are and what u would like to get otu school love work, etc 

    • Age of instability 

      • Marked by moving from place to place, the force moves usually end a career family in place

    • Age of self focus 

      • Deciding who to be with, where to go, and what to do without being concerned about parental restrictions

    • Age of feeling between 

      • Even though u are taking responsibility for your decisions u dont feel like a adult 

    • Age of possibilities

      • Full of optimism, emerging adults believe they will live better than their parents and find their soulmate 




  • Menopause

    • When the menstrual cycle ends; when a woman basically experiences her ability to reproduce her ability to reproduce decline 

  • Mid-Life Crisis

    • a psychological phenomenon often associated with the transition from early adulthood to middle age, usually loss of self of identity and sense of self 

  • Neurocognitive Disorders


  • Alzheimer’s Disease

    • A progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory reasoning language and finally physical functioning 

  • Dementia

    • Mental disintegration that accompanies alcoholism, tumor, stroke, aging and most often AD

  • Fluid intelligence

    • Ability to reason speedily and abstractly 

      • Decreases with age 

  • Crystallized Intelligence

    • Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills 

      • Increases with age 



  • The two basic aspects of our lives that dominate adulthood

    • Intimacy  

      • Intimacy is the needs that make people want to develop a deep and meaningful connection with another individual

    • Generativity

      • generativity is the needs that make people wants to do something useful and create a positive impact for the people around them

  • Erikson vs. Freud




Mod 14 

  • Social clock 

    • Culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage parenthood and retirement 

  • Emerging adulthood 

    • A period from late teens to mid twenties and sometimes later bridging the gap between the adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood 

  • Menopause 

    • When the menstrual cycle ends also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to decline refuses, 

  • Alzheimer’s Disease

    • A progressive and irreversible brain disorder characterized by gradual deterioration of memory reasoning language and finally physical functioning 

  • Senile dementia 

    • Mental disintegration that accompanies alcoholism tumor stroke aging and most alzheimer's disease

  • Fluid intelligence

    • Ability to reason speedily and abstractly 

      • Decreases with age 

  • Crystallized Intelligence

    • Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills 

      • Increases with age 




Mod 15 

  • Language

    • Our spoken written or edited words and the way we combine them to communicate meaning

  • Phoneme

    • In language the smallest distinctive sound unit 

  • Morpheme 

    • In language the smallest unit that carries meaning `

  • Grammar 

    • System of rules that can combine phonemes morphemes and words to produce meaningful communication 

  • Noam Chomsky (1928-) 

    • Linguist who argues that children have a predisposition to learn language as thought their brains were hardwired to pick up vocabulary and rules of grammar 

  • BF Skinner (1904-1990)

    • Psychologist who argued that children learned language through associations imitation and reinforcement



Mod 16 

  • Learning 

    • The process of gaining through experience relatively permanent and information and behaviors 

  • Classical conditioning

    • A type of learning in which a stimulus gains the power to cause a response  

  • Stimulus 

    • Anything in the environment that can responded too

  • Response

    • Any behavior or response 

  • Unconditioned stimulus (US)

    • A stimulus that triggers a response relatively and automatically 

      • Salivating at food, smell of onion making ur eyes water, hot object cause reflex to move away 

  • Unconditioned response (UR) 

    • An automatic response to the unconditioned stimulus 

      • Reflex to move away from hot stuff

  • Conditioned stimulus (CS)

    • A previously neutral stimulus that through learning gains power to cause a response

      • Sound of a bell = means food

  • Conditioned response (CR) 

    • The response to conditioned stimulus

      • Sound of bell = means food = salviates for food 

  • Acquisition 

    • The process of developing a learned response 

  • Extinction 

    • In classical conditioning the diminishing of a learned response after repeated presentation of the conditioned stimulus alone 

  • Generalization 

    • Producing the same response to two similar stimuli 

  • Discrimination 

    • The ability to distinguish between two signals or stimuli and produce different responses 

  • Behaviorism 

    • The theory that psychology should be only studied in observable behaviors not mental processes 

  • Cognition

    • All mental processes associated with thinking knowing and remembering 

  • Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

    • Russian physiologist and learning theorist famous for the discovery of classical conditioning in which learning occurs through association 

  • John B Watson (1878-1958) 

    • Founder of behaviorism

  • Robert Rescorla (1940-)

    • Developed along with Allan Wagner a their that emphasized the importance of cognitive processes in classical conditioning

  • John Garcia




Mod 17

  • operant conditioning

    • A type of learning in which the frequency of a behavior depends on the consequence that follows that behavior 

  • Reinforcement

    • Any consequence that increases the future likelihood of a behavior 

  • Punishment

    • Any consequences that decreases the future likelihood of that behavior 

  • positive reinforcement

    • In OC, anything that increases the likelihood of that behavior by following it with a desirable state or event 

  • Negative reinforcement 

    • In OC, anything that increases the likelihood of a behavior by following it with a removal of a undesirable event or state 

  • Primary reinforcement 

    • Something that is naturally reinforcing

      • Food = if ur hungry

      • Water  = if ur thirsty 

      • Warmth = cold

  • Secondary reinforcement

    • Something u learned to value 

      • Money = important

  • Shaping 

    • Reinforcement of behaviors that are increasingly similar to the desired one, the operant technique used to establish new behaviors. 

  • Continuous reinforcement 

    • In OC, a schedule of reinforcement in which a reward follows every correct response

      • Chores done every day = 2 stars

  • Partial reinforcement schedule 

    • In OC, a schedule of reinforcement in which a reward follows only some correct responses 

      • Did good on math = 2 stars

      • Bad on science = 1 star for trying 

  • Fixed interval schedule 

    • In OC, a partial reinforcement schedule that rewards only the first correct response after some defined period of time

      • 3 first questions wrong = no stars

      • 1 right answer after = 1 stars

  • Variable interval schedule

    • In OC, partial reinforcement schedule that rewards the first correct response after an unpredictable amount of time 

  • Fixed ratio schedule 

    • In OC, a partial reinforcement that rewards a response only after some defined number of correct responses 

  • Variable ratio schedule

    • In OC, a partial reinforcement schedule that rewards after unpredictable of correct answers 

  • Latent learning 

    • Learning that occurs but is not apparent until the learner has a incentive to demonstrate it 

  • Cognitive map 

    • The mental representation of a place 

  • Overjustification effect 

    • The effect of promising a reward for doing what one likes to do

      • The reward may lessen and replace the person’s original natural motivational so that the behavior stops, the reward is eliminated

  • Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)

    • Author of the law of effect

  • LAW OF EFFECT 

    • The principle that forms the basis of operant conditioning 

      • In other words; Behavior with 

        • Favorable consequences will occur more frequently 

        • Unfavorable will occur less frequently 

Mod 18

  • Observational Learning

    • Learning by observing others 

  • Model

    • The person observed in observational learning 

  • Modeling

    • The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior 

  • Vicarious learning

    • Learning by seeing the consequences of another person’s behavior 

  • Mirror neurons

    • Brain cells located in the front of the brain that activate when a person performs a certain action/s or when the person observes another do so

  • Antisocial behavior

    • negative , destructive unhelpful behavior 

  • Prosocial behavior

    • Positive, constructive, helpful behavior