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unit 3 psych
vocab
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| stability | refers to the consistency of traits and behaviors over time |
| change | describes how these traits and behaviors evolve |
| nature vs. nurture | the debate about whether human traits, behaviors, and personality are determined more by inherited genetic factors or by life experiences, environment, and learning |
| continuous stages of development | a gradual, cumulative process where skills and abilities build smoothly over time, like a ramp, rather than in distinct stages, with changes being quantitative (e.g., increasing height or vocabulary size) and happening constantly throughout the lifespan |
| discontinuous stages of development | a series of distinct, sudden, qualitative stages, like climbing steps, where each stage is fundamentally different and cannot be skipped |
| cross-sectional research | research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time. |
| longitudinal research | research that follows and retests the same people over time. |
| teratogens | agents, such as chemicals and viruses, that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm. |
| maternal illnesses | any disease, infection, or chronic health condition experienced by a pregnant woman that can cross the placental barrier, adversely affecting prenatal development and increasing the risk of congenital defects, neurological disorders, or developmental dela |
| genetic mutations | a random, permanent alteration in the DNA sequence of a gene or chromosome that introduces new genetic variation |
| rooting | an innate, involuntary newborn response where an infant turns their head and opens their mouth to search for a nipple when their cheek or mouth is touched |
| visual cliff | a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals. |
| critical periods | an optimal period early in the life of an organism when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces normal development. |
| imprinting | the process by which certain animals form strong attachments during early life. |
| adolescence | the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence. |
| puberty | the period of sexual maturation, during which a person usually 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 beginning of a girl’s menstrual cycle, usually occurring between ages 9 and 16, typically around 12.5 year |
| 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. |
| sex | in psychology, the biologically influenced characteristics by which people define male, female, and intersex. |
| gender | in psychology, the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex |
| Jean Piaget | was a Swiss psychologist famous for developing the theory of cognitive development, which posits that children actively construct a unique, age-related understanding of the world through distinct stages. He defined intelligence not as fixed, but as a dyn |
| Schema | a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information. |
| Assimilation | interpreting our new experiences in terms of our existing schemas. |
| Accommodation | ) in developmental psychology, adapting our current schemas (understandings) to incorporate new information. |
| Sensorimotor Stage | in Piaget’s theory, the stage (from birth to nearly 2 years of age) at 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 | in Piaget’s theory, the stage (from about 2 to 6 or 7 years of age) at which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the mental operations of concrete logic. |
| 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. |
| Reversibility | the cognitive ability to understand that actions, numbers, or objects can be changed and then returned to their original state. Developed during Piaget’s concrete operational stage (ages 7–11), this mental capacity is essential for mastering conservation, |
| Egocentrism | in Piaget’s theory, the preoperational child’s difficulty taking another’s point of view. |
| Theory of Minds | people’s ideas about their own and others’ mental states — about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict. |
| Concrete Operational Stage | in Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (from about 7 to 11 years of age) at which children can perform the mental operations that enable them to think logically about concrete (actual, physical) events. |
| Formal Operational Stage | in Piaget’s theory, the stage of cognitive development (normally beginning about age 12) at which people begin to think logically about abstract concepts. |
| Lev Vygotsky | was a Russian psychologist who developed sociocultural theory, which posits that cognitive development is inherently social and culturally mediated. He argued that learning precedes development, occurring first through social interaction with "more knowle |
| Scaffold | in Vygotsky’s theory, a framework that offers children temporary support as they develop higher levels of thinking. |
| Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) | introduced by psychologist Lev Vygotsky, is the range of tasks a learner cannot yet perform independently but can accomplish with guidance from a "More Knowledgeable Other" (MKO). It represents the gap between actual development (independent capability) |
| Crystallized Intelligence | our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age. |
| Dementia | an umbrella term for a range of progressive, neurodegenerative syndromes characterized by a severe decline in cognitive functions—such as memory, reasoning, language, and behavior—that interferes significantly with daily functioning and independence |
| Language | our agreed-upon systems of spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning. |
| Phonemes | in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit |
| Morphemes | in a language, the smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word (such as a prefix). |
| Semantics | the study of meaning in language, focusing on how meaning is stored, understood, and represented in the mind, including the literal sense of words (denotation) and their associated feelings or ideas (connotation) |
| Grammar | in a language, a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and understand others. Semantics is the language’s set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds, and syntax is its set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences |
| Syntax | the cognitive rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences, determining how words and phrases are arranged to form grammatically coherent, meaningful communication |
| Cooing | the earliest stage of infant language development (around 6–8 weeks to 4 months), characterized by producing soft, melodic, vowel-like sounds (e.g., "ooo", "aah") to express contentment or pleasure. |
| Babbling | the stage in speech development, beginning around 4 months, during which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds that are not all related to the household language. |
| One-Word Stage | the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words. |
| Two-Word Stage | beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements. |
| Telegraphic Speech | the early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram — “go car” — using mostly nouns and verbs. |
| Overgeneralization | a cognitive distortion, or thinking error, where a person draws broad, negative, and often inaccurate conclusions based on a single, isolated event |
| Ecological Systems Theory | a theory of the social environment’s influence on human development, using five nested systems (microsystem; mesosystem; exosystem; macrosystem; chronosystem) ranging from direct to indirect influences. |
| Microsystem | the innermost layer of Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, representing the immediate, direct environment where an individual lives and interacts face-to-face |
| Mesosystem | defines the interconnections and relationships between two or more of an individual's microsystems—such as home, school, peer group, or neighborhood. It highlights how interactions between these settings influence development, with strong connections pote |
| Chronosystem | the fifth and final layer of Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, representing the influence of time, historical context, and life transitions on an individual's development. |
| Attachment | an emotional tie with others; shown in young children by their seeking closeness to caregivers and showing distress on separation. |
| Authoritarian Parenting | a strict, high-demand, low-responsiveness child-rearing style defined by psychologist Diana Baumrind that emphasizes obedience, rigid rules, and punitive discipline over nurturing |
| Authoritative Parenting | a balanced approach where parents set clear, consistent boundaries and expectations (high demandingness) while also being warm, responsive, and supportive (high responsiveness), encouraging independence and open communication, and using reasoning over har |
| Permissive Parenting | a, psychology-defined, indulgent, and lenient parenting style characterized by high warmth and responsiveness combined with low demands and few, if any, enforced rules. |
| Secure Attachment | demonstrated by infants who comfortably explore environments in the presence of their caregiver, show only temporary distress when the caregiver leaves, and find comfort in the caregiver’s return. |
| Insecure Attachment | demonstrated by infants who display either a clinging, anxious attachment or an avoidant attachment that resists closeness. |
| Avoidant Attachment | an insecure attachment style characterized by a deep-seated fear of intimacy, a high value on independence, and emotional self-protection |
| Anxious Attachment | an insecure attachment style defined by a deep-seated fear of abandonment, a high need for intimacy, and constant insecurity about a partner's responsiveness |
| Disorganized Attachment | an insecure attachment style characterized by a lack of coherent coping strategies, where a child views their caregiver as both a source of fear and comfort |
| Separation Anxiety | a clinical condition involving excessive fear or distress when separated from attachment figures (like parents), going beyond normal age-appropriate worry, causing significant impairment through refusal to go to school/work, nightmares, or physical sympto |
| Stranger Anxiety | characterized by distress, fear, or wariness—such as crying, clinging, or hiding—when encountering unfamiliar people, indicating healthy cognitive development and attachment to primary caregivers |
| Temperament | a person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity. |
| Parallel Play | a developmental stage, usually in toddlers aged 2–3, where children play independently in close proximity to others using similar materials, but without direct interaction, conversation, or shared goals |
| Pretend Play | a cognitive and social activity in child development where children use imagination to engage in nonliteral actions, such as role-playing or object substitution |
| Imaginary Audience | a psychological concept, primarily affecting adolescents, characterized by the mistaken belief that others are constantly observing, scrutinizing, and judging their appearance and behavior |
| Personal Fable | the belief that one is unique, special, and invulnerable to dangers that affect others |
| Social Clock | the culturally preferred timing of social events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement. |
| Emerging Adulthood | a period from about age 18 to the mid-twenties, when many persons in Western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults. |
| Psychosocial Stages of Development | eight sequential stages from birth to death, where individuals navigate specific social and emotional conflicts that shape personality and identity |
| Trust and Mistrust | infants learn to view the world as safe and reliable or unpredictable and fearful based on caregiver consistency |
| Autonomy and Shame and Doubt | s the second stage of Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, occurring between 18 months and 3 years old. Toddlers strive to gain independence over physical skills and tasks, such as toilet training, feeding, and dressing themselves |
| Initiative and Guilt | involves the conflict between a child's desire to assert control through play/initiating activities and the guilt resulting from failures, excessive criticism, or over-controlling caregivers |
| Industry and Inferiority | the fourth stage of Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, occurring from ages 5-12. It focuses on children developing a sense of competence through skill mastery or feeling inadequate |
| Identity and Role Confusion | It involves a core conflict where teens struggle to establish a consistent, personal identity—integrating values, beliefs, and goals—versus experiencing "role confusion" (identity diffusion), where they feel uncertain about their purpose, place in society |
| Intimacy and Isolation | It involves the conflict between forming deep, trusting, and committed relationships and experiencing fear of vulnerability, resulting in loneliness, social withdrawal, or emotional detachment |
| Generativity and Stagnation | It involves the conflict between nurturing the next generation/contributing to society () and feeling self-absorbed, unproductive, or stuck () |
| Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) | potentially traumatic events occurring before age 18—such as abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction—that severely impact brain development, emotional regulation, and long-term physical/mental health |
| Identity | our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles. |
| Achievement (of Identity) | the final stage of James Marcia’s theory of identity development where individuals have actively explored various alternatives, ideologies, and careers, subsequently making a firm, personal commitment to their own set of values and life goals |
| Diffusion (of Identity) | the failure to develop a firm sense of self, characterized by a lack of exploration and commitment to life goals, values, or roles |
| Foreclosure (of Identity) | a state where adolescents commit to an identity (such as career, religion, or values) prematurely without undergoing exploration or crisis |
| Moratorium (of Identity) | one of James Marcia's four identity statuses, representing a state of high exploration but low commitment. It is a temporary "time-out" during adolescence where individuals actively experiment with different roles, beliefs, and values without committing t |
| associative learning | learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequence (as in operant conditioning). |
| behavioral perspective | focuses on how external environmental stimuli and conditioning (learning) shape observable behaviors, intentionally ignoring internal mental processes |
| classical conditioning | a type of learning in which we link two or more stimuli; as a result, to illustrate with Pavlov’s classic experiment, the first stimulus (a tone) comes to elicit behavior (drooling) in anticipation of the second stimulus (food). |
| acquisition | in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response. |
| unconditioned stimulus | in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally — naturally and automatically — triggers an unconditioned response UCR). |
| unconditioned response | in classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) (such as food in the mouth). |
| conditioned stimulus | in classical conditioning, an originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR). |
| conditioned response | in classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS). |
| extinction | in classical conditioning, the diminishing of a conditioned response when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus. (In operant conditioning, when a response is no longer reinforced.) |
| spontaneous recovery | the reappearance, after a pause, of a weakened conditioned response. |
| stimulus discrimination | the learned ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and other, similar stimuli, resulting in a response only to the specific, trained stimulus. It is the opposite of stimulus generalization and helps organisms adapt by responding only |
| generalization | in classical conditioning, the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses. (In operant conditioning, when responses learned in one situation occur in other, similar situation |
| higher-order conditioning | a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus. |
| counterconditioning | behavior therapy procedures that use classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; include exposure therapies and aversive conditioning. |
| one-trial conditioning | a concept in classical conditioning where an association between a stimulus and a response is formed after just a single pairing, often seen in phenomena like taste aversion, where a single bad experience with a food leads to lasting avoidance |
| biological preparedness | the innate, evolutionary predisposition for organisms to learn specific associations (e.g., taste and sickness) or fears (e.g., snakes, spiders) faster than others because they enhance survival |
| habituation | decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner. |
| operant conditioning | a type of learning in which a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely to recur if followed by a punisher. |
| the law of effect | behaviors followed by satisfying consequences are more likely to be repeated, while behaviors followed by discomfort or unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated |
| reinforcement | in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows. |
| punishment | an event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows. |
| positive reinforcement | increasing behaviors by presenting a pleasurable stimulus. is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response. |
| negative reinforcement | increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing an aversive stimulus. is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. is not punishment.) |
| positive punishment | an operant conditioning principle where an unpleasant or aversive stimulus is added immediately following a behavior, decreasing the likelihood of that behavior occurring again. "Positive" refers to adding a stimulus, while "punishment" means reducing beh |
| negative punishment | an operant conditioning technique used to decrease an unwanted behavior by removing a desirable, positive stimulus following that action. It reduces the likelihood of the behavior recurring by taking away something valued, such as privileges |
| primary reinforcers | an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need. |
| secondary reinforcers | a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power—the ability to strengthen a behavior—through association with a primary reinforcer |
| reinforcement discrimination | the learned ability to distinguish between stimuli, responding to cues that signal reinforcement is available and not responding to similar cues where reinforcement won't occur, allowing behaviors to be applied appropriately in specific situations, like k |
| reinforcement generalization | the tendency for a learner to perform a reinforced behavior in response to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus. It allows behaviors learned in one context to transfer to similar situations. |
| shaping | an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior. |
| instinctive drift | the tendency of learned behavior to gradually revert to biologically predisposed patterns. |
| learned helplessness | the hopelessness and passive resignation humans and other animals learn when unable to avoid repeated aversive events. |
| continuous reinforcement | reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs. |
| partial 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 schedule | in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed. |
| variable-interval schedule | in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals. |
| fixed-ration schedule | in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses. |
| fixed-interval schedule | in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses. |
| social learning theory | the theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished. |
| vicarious conditioning | a form of observational learning where individuals learn new behaviors, emotions, or attitudes by watching the consequences of others' actions rather than through direct experience |
| model | is an individual whose behavior is observed and imitated, central to observational learning |
| insight learning | solving problems through sudden insight; contrasts with strategy-based solutions. |
| latent learning | learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it. |
| cognitive maps | a mental representation of the layout of one’s environment. For example, after exploring a maze, rats act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it. |
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