Development & Learning

What this unit covers

The topics below follow the published Psychology course framework for Unit 3. This unit is worth 15–25% of the exam, so budget your time against that rather than against how long the unit takes to teach.

Lessons in this unit

• Classical Conditioning13 min · 3 objectivesIdentify the US, UR, CS, and CR in examples of classical conditioning · Explain acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, and generalization · Connect Pavlov, Watson, and biological constraints on learning
• Operant Conditioning & Observational Learning14 min · 3 objectivesDistinguish reinforcement from punishment and positive from negative · Compare reinforcement schedules and their effects on behavior · Explain observational learning and Bandura’s Bobo doll findings
• Cognitive & Moral Development14 min · 3 objectivesDescribe Piaget’s four stages and their defining achievements · Explain Vygotsky’s sociocultural view of cognitive development · Summarize the stages of moral reasoning proposed by Kohlberg
• Attachment & Lifespan Development13 min · 3 objectivesDescribe attachment research by Harlow and Ainsworth and the attachment styles · Summarize Erikson’s psychosocial stages across the lifespan · Compare parenting styles and their associated outcomes

Every term in Unit 3

All 27 terms we publish for Development & Learning, with definitions. Reading them through is the fastest way to find the ones you cannot define — then drill those in cram mode until you can produce them without the prompt.

Classical conditioning

Learning by association: a neutral stimulus paired with an unconditioned stimulus comes to trigger a conditioned response. Pavlov's dogs.

UCS, UCR, CS, CR

The food is the UCS, salivating to food the UCR; the bell becomes the CS and salivating to the bell the CR. The response is the same behavior, differently caused.

Acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery

Acquisition builds the association; extinction weakens it when the CS appears alone; spontaneous recovery is its reappearance after a rest, showing it was suppressed rather than erased.

Generalization vs discrimination

Generalization: similar stimuli evoke the response. Discrimination: learning that only the specific CS predicts the UCS.

Little Albert

Watson conditioned a fear of a white rat in an infant, which generalized to other furry objects — evidence that emotional responses can be learned.

Taste aversion

A single pairing of a flavor with nausea produces lasting avoidance, even hours later. Shows biological preparedness — some associations are learned far more readily.

Operant conditioning

Learning from consequences: behavior followed by reinforcement increases, behavior followed by punishment decreases. Skinner's framework.

Positive vs negative reinforcement

Positive adds something desirable; negative removes something aversive. Both increase behavior — "negative" means subtraction, not punishment.

Punishment vs negative reinforcement

Punishment decreases behavior; negative reinforcement increases it by removing an aversive stimulus. The most commonly confused pair on this exam.

Primary vs secondary reinforcers

Primary reinforcers satisfy biological needs (food, warmth); secondary ones acquire value by association (money, grades).

Fixed vs variable ratio

Fixed ratio reinforces after a set number of responses and produces a pause after reward; variable ratio reinforces unpredictably and produces the highest, most persistent rate — slot machines.

Fixed vs variable interval

Fixed interval reinforces the first response after a set time, producing scalloped responding; variable interval reinforces after unpredictable times, producing steady moderate rates.

Shaping

Reinforcing successive approximations of a target behavior to build a response the organism would never emit spontaneously.

Observational learning

Learning by watching a model. Bandura's Bobo doll study showed children reproduce aggression they have only witnessed.

Latent learning

Learning that occurs without reinforcement and stays hidden until there is reason to show it — Tolman's rats had cognitive maps before they were rewarded.

Learned helplessness

After inescapable aversive events, an organism stops trying even when escape becomes possible. Seligman linked this to depression.

Piaget's stages

Sensorimotor (object permanence), preoperational (egocentrism, no conservation), concrete operational (conservation, logic about concrete things), formal operational (abstract reasoning).

Assimilation vs accommodation

Assimilation fits new information into an existing schema; accommodation changes the schema to fit the information.

Conservation

Understanding that quantity is unchanged by a change in appearance. Its absence is the signature of preoperational thinking.

Vygotsky's zone of proximal development

The gap between what a learner can do alone and what they can do with guidance. Learning happens in that gap, through scaffolding.

Attachment styles

Ainsworth's Strange Situation identified secure, anxious-ambivalent and avoidant attachment, predicting later social functioning.

Harlow's monkeys

Infant monkeys preferred a cloth surrogate to a wire one that fed them, showing attachment rests on contact comfort rather than nourishment alone.

Erikson's psychosocial stages

Eight lifespan conflicts — trust vs mistrust through integrity vs despair — with identity vs role confusion the adolescent crisis.

Kohlberg's moral stages

Preconventional (consequences to self), conventional (social rules and approval), postconventional (abstract principles). The reasoning matters, not the choice.

Authoritative vs authoritarian parenting

Authoritative combines high demands with high warmth and predicts the best outcomes; authoritarian is high demand and low warmth.

Critical vs sensitive periods

A critical period is a window during which a stimulus is required for normal development; a sensitive period is one where learning is easiest but still possible later.

Teratogens

Agents crossing the placenta and harming development — alcohol, certain drugs, some infections. Effects depend on timing and dose.

What examiners penalize here

• On classical-conditioning FRQs, always identify the response type: classical conditioning produces an **automatic, reflexive** response (salivation, fear, nausea) to a stimulus. If the behavior is voluntary and shaped by consequences, it is *operant*, not classical.
• For schedules, decode the two words: first word = predictability (**fixed** = set, **variable** = unpredictable), second word = trigger (**ratio** = number of responses, **interval** = time). **Variable-ratio** = fastest, most persistent responding (gambling).
• Distinguish the two development theorists cleanly: **Piaget** = stages a child moves through largely on their own; **Vygotsky** = learning driven by *social* interaction (ZPD, scaffolding). If a question emphasizes a mentor or culture, think Vygotsky.
• For attachment items, pair each researcher with a takeaway: **Harlow** = contact comfort over food (cloth vs. wire mother), **Ainsworth** = Strange Situation reveals secure vs. insecure styles. For lifespan crises, know Erikson’s adolescence stage — **identity vs. role confusion** — cold.

Practice Psychology

Our practice bank is drawn from across the whole course rather than filtered to one unit, which is closer to how the exam asks anyway — it will not tell you which unit a question is testing.

Questions about this unit

All 5 units of AP Psychology

1. Unit 1 · Biological Bases of Behavior
2. Unit 2 · Cognition
3. Unit 3 · Development & Learning
4. Unit 4 · Social Psychology & Personality
5. Unit 5 · Mental & Physical Health