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Psychology Unit 3: Development and learning

We develop physically, cognitively and socially across the lifespan, and we learn through conditioning, observation and cognition.

Covers: Research methods in development, physical, cognitive and social development across the lifespan, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, social and cognitive learning

Study guide

Developmental psychologists study change across the lifespan using cross-sectional studies (different ages at one time) and longitudinal studies (the same people over time). Development reflects nature and nurture, continuity and stages, and stability and change. Prenatal development can be harmed by teratogens like alcohol, and infants show reflexes such as rooting. Physical development continues through puberty, peaks in early adulthood and slowly declines with aging.

Piaget described cognitive stages: sensorimotor (object permanence), preoperational (egocentrism, lacking conservation), concrete operational (logical thinking about concrete events) and formal operational (abstract reasoning). Vygotsky emphasized social learning within the zone of proximal development, supported by scaffolding. Socially, Harlow's monkeys showed the importance of contact comfort, and Ainsworth's Strange Situation identified secure and insecure attachment styles. Baumrind described authoritarian, permissive and authoritative parenting, with authoritative linked to the best outcomes. Erikson proposed psychosocial stages like trust versus mistrust and identity versus role confusion, and Kohlberg described levels of moral reasoning. Adolescence involves identity formation; adulthood involves crystallized intelligence (knowledge) that holds up and fluid intelligence (quick reasoning) that declines.

Learning is a lasting change in behavior from experience. In classical conditioning (Pavlov), a neutral stimulus paired with an unconditioned stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that triggers a conditioned response; key concepts include acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization and discrimination, and Watson's Little Albert study. In operant conditioning (Skinner), consequences shape behavior: reinforcement increases it and punishment decreases it, each positive (adding) or negative (removing). Reinforcement schedules include fixed-ratio, variable-ratio (most resistant to extinction), fixed-interval and variable-interval. Shaping rewards closer approximations. Bandura's Bobo doll study showed observational learning, and cognitive learning includes latent learning and insight.

In classical conditioning, extinction happens when the CS is presented repeatedly without the US, so the CR weakens. Discrimination means responding to the trained stimulus but not to similar ones. Discrimination also occurs in operant conditioning when behavior is reinforced in the presence of one cue but not another. Habituation is a decreasing response to a repeated, harmless stimulus. Seligman found that animals and people exposed to unavoidable bad events stop trying to escape, even when escape later becomes possible. This is learned helplessness, and it is linked to depression. Learning is also shaped by biology: Garcia's taste-aversion studies show some associations form after a single pairing (biological preparedness), and animals drift back toward instinctive behaviors (instinctive drift).

Language is built from phonemes (the smallest sound units), morphemes (the smallest units of meaning), semantics (meaning), syntax and grammar (rules for combining words). Infants move from cooing to babbling at about 4 months, single words around age 1, two-word telegraphic speech by about age 2, and then full sentences. Securely attached children tend to become more socially competent and confident. Kohlberg's moral reasoning moves from preconventional (avoiding punishment or getting rewards) to conventional (following laws and social approval) to postconventional (universal ethical principles). Erikson's eight stages run from trust versus mistrust in infancy through intimacy versus isolation in young adulthood, generativity versus stagnation in middle adulthood, and integrity versus despair in old age.

Primary reinforcers, like food, satisfy biological needs. Secondary (conditioned) reinforcers, like money or tokens, gain value by being linked to primary ones. Token economies use secondary reinforcers to shape behavior.

Key ideas

• Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies each have trade-offs.
• Piaget's stages describe how thinking changes in childhood.
• Secure attachment and authoritative parenting predict better outcomes.
• Classical conditioning pairs stimuli; operant conditioning uses consequences.
• People also learn by observing others (Bandura).

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Thinking negative reinforcement means punishment; it removes something unpleasant to increase behavior.
• Confusing the unconditioned stimulus with the conditioned stimulus.

Words to know

Cross-sectional study

Compares different age groups at one time.

Longitudinal study

Follows the same people over time.

Teratogen

A harmful agent, like alcohol, that can damage prenatal development.

Object permanence

Knowing objects exist when out of sight (sensorimotor stage).

Egocentrism

A child's difficulty seeing others' viewpoints (preoperational stage).

Conservation

Understanding that quantity stays the same despite shape changes.

Formal operational stage

Piaget's stage of abstract reasoning.

Zone of proximal development

What a learner can do with help (Vygotsky).

Scaffolding

Support that helps a learner advance, then fades.

Secure attachment

Confident exploration with a caregiver as a safe base.

Authoritative parenting

Warm but firm parenting with explained rules.

Identity vs. role confusion

Erikson's adolescent stage.

Crystallized intelligence

Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills.

Fluid intelligence

Quick, abstract reasoning, which declines with age.

Classical conditioning

Learning by associating two stimuli.

Unconditioned stimulus

Naturally triggers a response, like food causing salivation.

Conditioned stimulus

A neutral stimulus that comes to trigger a response.

Extinction

Weakening of a learned response when it's no longer reinforced or paired.

Spontaneous recovery

Reappearance of an extinguished response after a pause.

Operant conditioning

Learning through consequences.

Positive reinforcement

Adding something pleasant to increase a behavior.

Negative reinforcement

Removing something unpleasant to increase a behavior.

Variable-ratio schedule

Reinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses.

Shaping

Reinforcing closer and closer approximations of a behavior.

Observational learning

Learning by watching others (Bandura).

Latent learning

Learning that isn't shown until there's a reason.

Sample practice questions

5 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.