Unit 3

Development and Learning

8 practice questions · Free response

Notes

Research and physical development

Cross-sectional studies compare different age groups at one time; longitudinal studies follow the same people over time.
Prenatal development can be harmed by teratogens (alcohol causes fetal alcohol syndrome). Newborns have reflexes like rooting and grasping.
Critical periods are windows when certain experiences are needed (language exposure).
Adolescence brings puberty; the prefrontal cortex keeps maturing into the mid-20s.

Cognitive development (Piaget)

Stage	Age	Key ideas
Sensorimotor	0–2	Object permanence develops
Preoperational	2–7	Egocentrism, symbolic play, no conservation
Concrete operational	7–11	Conservation, logical thinking about concrete things
Formal operational	12+	Abstract and hypothetical reasoning

Assimilation fits new information into existing schemas; accommodation changes schemas.
Vygotsky: learning happens in the zone of proximal development with scaffolding from others.
Older adults keep crystallized intelligence while fluid intelligence declines.

Social and emotional development

Attachment: Harlow's monkeys preferred a soft "mother" over a wire one with food. Ainsworth's strange situation found secure, anxious/ambivalent, avoidant and disorganized attachment.
Parenting styles (Baumrind): authoritative (warm and firm, usually best outcomes), authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful.
Erikson's psychosocial stages: trust vs mistrust, ..., identity vs role confusion (adolescence), intimacy vs isolation (young adulthood), generativity vs stagnation, integrity vs despair.
Kohlberg's moral reasoning: preconventional (rewards and punishment), conventional (rules and approval), postconventional (abstract principles).

Learning

Classical conditioning (Pavlov): a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that causes an unconditioned response (UCR). The neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) that causes a conditioned response (CR). Also: acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, discrimination. Taste aversion can form after one pairing.
Operant conditioning (Skinner): consequences change behavior.

	Adds something	Removes something
Increases behavior	Positive reinforcement	Negative reinforcement
Decreases behavior	Positive punishment	Negative punishment

Schedules of reinforcement: fixed ratio, variable ratio (most resistant to extinction, like slot machines), fixed interval, variable interval. Shaping rewards closer and closer steps.
Social learning (Bandura): observational learning and modeling (Bobo doll study).
Cognitive learning: latent learning (Tolman's rats) and insight.

Practice

A child cries when a toy is hidden under a blanket, then looks for it. This shows:

A child thinks a tall, thin glass has more juice than a short, wide glass with the same amount. The child is in which stage?

A dog drools at the sound of a can opener because it has been paired with food. The can opener sound is the:

Taking aspirin to make a headache go away, so you take aspirin again next time, is:

Slot machines pay out after an unpredictable number of plays. This is a:

Children who watched an adult hit a Bobo doll then hit the doll themselves. This shows:

According to Erikson, the main challenge of adolescence is:

Parents who set clear rules, explain them, and are warm and responsive are:

Free response

Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.

Free-response question

Ms. Lee wants her students to turn in homework on time.

(a) Describe how Ms. Lee could use positive reinforcement.

Show the answer and scoring guide

She could give a sticker or bonus point every time a student turns in homework on time, adding something pleasant to increase the behavior.

Check off the points you earned:

1 point: adds a reward after the behavior

(b) Describe how Ms. Lee could use negative punishment.

Show the answer and scoring guide

She could take away free time when homework is late, removing something pleasant to decrease lateness.

Check off the points you earned:

1 point: removes something desirable after the unwanted behavior

(c) Explain why a variable-ratio schedule might keep students turning in homework even after rewards become rare.

Show the answer and scoring guide

Because students don't know which on-time assignment will be rewarded, they keep responding; variable-ratio schedules are the most resistant to extinction.

Check off the points you earned:

1 point: unpredictability and resistance to extinction