Development and Learning key terms AP Psych

Theory of mind

• People's ideas about their own and others' mental states—about their feelings, perceptions, and thoughts, and the behaviors these might predict.

• A psychological concept that explains how individuals can predict future events based on past experiences.

• The ability to understand and interpret non-verbal cues in social interactions.

• A theory that suggests all human behavior is driven by unconscious motives.

Teratogens

• Agents that promote healthy fetal development.

• Agents that can reach the embryo or fetus during prenatal development and cause harm.

• Agents that are exclusively genetic in nature.

• Agents that are only present in the environment.

Variable-ratio schedule

• A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after a fixed number of responses.

• A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses.

• A reinforcement schedule that provides reinforcement at regular time intervals.

• A reinforcement schedule that does not provide any reinforcement.

Telegraphic speech

• A stage where children use full sentences and complex grammar.

• An early speech stage where a child speaks like a telegram—'go car'—using mostly nouns and verbs.

• A form of speech characterized by the use of only adjectives and adverbs.

• A speech pattern where children only repeat what they hear without understanding.

Universal grammar

• A theory by Noam Chomsky that all the world's languages share a similar underlying structure.

• A concept that suggests all languages are completely different from one another.

• A linguistic theory that focuses solely on the phonetics of languages.

• A hypothesis that claims language is learned through imitation alone.

Schema

• A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

• A type of database management system.

• A method for data encryption.

• A visual representation of data flow.

Maturation

• Biological growth processes that enable orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience.

• A process of learning that is heavily influenced by environmental factors.

• The ability to adapt behavior based on past experiences and learning.

• A stage of development that occurs only in early childhood.

Morpheme

• A type of sentence structure

• The smallest unit that carries meaning in a language

• A grammatical rule governing word formation

• A synonym for a word

Fetal alcohol syndrome

• A genetic disorder caused by a mutation in the DNA.

• A group of physical and cognitive abnormalities in children caused by a pregnant woman's heavy drinking.

• A condition resulting from exposure to environmental toxins during pregnancy.

• A type of developmental delay unrelated to maternal behavior.

Secondary reinforcer

• A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; also known as a conditioned reinforcer.

• A stimulus that is inherently rewarding without any prior learning.

• A stimulus that decreases the likelihood of a behavior when removed.

• A stimulus that has no effect on behavior or learning.