Psychology: Developmental Theories

Developmental Psychology Concepts

• Self-socialization: An active process where children's cognitions lead them to perceive the world and act according to their expectations and beliefs.

Hormonal Influences on Development

• Organizing influences: Certain sex-linked hormones affect brain differentiation and organization during prenatal development or at puberty.
• Activating influences: Fluctuations in sex-linked hormone levels affect the contemporaneous activation of the nervous system and corresponding behavioral responses.

Gender Development

• Gender schema theory: Children's motivation to enact gender-typed behavior begins when they can label others' and their own gender (around 3 years old).
• Gender identity: Self-identifying as a boy, girl, or possibly as both or neither.
• Gender stability: Awareness that gender remains the same over time.
• Gender constancy: Realization that gender is invariant despite superficial changes in appearance or behavior.

Social Cognition and Interaction

• Ingroup bias: Evaluating individuals and characteristics of the ingroup more positively than or superior to those of the outgroup.
• Ingroup assimilation: Process where individuals are socialized to conform to the group's norms, demonstrating the characteristics that define the ingroup.
• Intersectionality: Interconnection of social identities (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class) and overlapping experiences of discrimination and disadvantage.

Learning and Social Interaction

• Opportunity structure: Economic and social resources offered by the macro system, and people's understanding of those resources.
• Friend: A person with whom an individual has an intimate, reciprocated, positive relationship.
• Social cognitive theory: An individual's knowledge acquisition is directly related to observing others within the context of social interactions, experiences, and outside media influences.

Learning Theories

• Habituation: Decrease in response to a repeated stimulus over time.
• Classical conditioning: Associating a neutral stimulus with a reflexive response through repeated pairings with an unconditioned stimulus.
• Generalization: Eliciting a conditioned response with stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus.
• Instrumental conditioning (operant conditioning): Learning through consequences, where behaviors are strengthened or weakened based on their outcomes or consequences.
• Statistical learning: Detecting patterns and regularities in the environment through exposure to statistical information.
• Rational learning: Making decisions based on logic, reasoning, and prior knowledge to achieve desired outcomes.
• Social learning: Acquiring knowledge, skills, and values through observing and interacting with others in their social environment.
• Imitation: Copying or replicating behaviors observed in others.
• Social referencing: Looking to others for guidance or cues on how to respond in unfamiliar or ambiguous situations.
• Social scaffolding: Providing support and guidance to a learner, gradually transferring responsibility until they can perform the task independently.
• Internalization of values and standards: Children internalize their parents' and caregivers' values and standards, guiding their behavior and decision-making.
• Peer influence: Peers, teachers, and other adults contribute to shaping children's values and standards through social learning.