In this video, I'll review AP psychology unit 3 in about an hour. Unit 3 explores developmental psychology. Occasionally throughout the video, I'll refer to the unit 3 study guide and flashcards. You can grab these via the links in the description and pinned comment. The study guide is designed for you to fill out while watching this video so you can thoroughly study this whole unit as fast as possible. Okay, let's dive right into unit 3.1, which looks at themes and methods in developmental psychology. Unit 3.1 explains that there are several major themes that shape human development. Stability versus change, nature versus nurture, and continuous versus discontinuous development. Stability versus change asks whether traits like temperament or intelligence remain consistent or shift as people age. Nature versus nurture explores how much of our development is influenced by genetics compared to environmental factors. You should already have a strong grasp of nature versus nurture because it was thoroughly discussed in unit 1.1. Continuity versus discontinuity refers to the debate about whether humans develop gradually over time or in distinct jumps through stages. Continuity implies that development is a smooth, gradual process. Discontinuity implies that human development occurs in clearly defined steps. As we go through unit 3.1, we'll look at theories that explore both perspectives. To better understand development, psychologists use research methods that allow them to observe patterns over time. Two common designs are cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. In a cross-sectional design, researchers study people of different ages at one single point in time. This helps identify age related differences quickly, but it doesn't show how individuals change over time. In contrast, a longitudinal design follows the same group of people over a long period, tracking how their behaviors or traits change as they age. Although this method takes more time and resources, it provides stronger evidence about how individuals develop. Okay, that's it for unit 3.1. If you're using the study guide available through the link in the description, make sure you check the answer key for the unit 3.1 worksheet before moving on. I've also added all the keywords for this unit to the flashcard set that you can grab through the link in the description. And when you're ready, we'll get started with unit 3.2 titled Physical Development Across the Lifespan. Unit 3.2 looks at how humans develop physically. Note that we're not talking about cognitive or social development yet. That comes later in unit 3. This section is specifically about physical development. We'll cover how humans physically change into four chronological parts. Prenatal development, meaning physical development before birth, infant and childhood development, adolescent development, then changes and decline during the adulthood period. Let's start with prenatal development. AP psychology requires you to know about five factors that can influence a child's development during pregnancy. These are terterodigens, maternal illness, genetic mutations, hormonal and environmental factors. Terratogens are substances like drugs, alcohol, or harmful chemicals that can enter the mother's body and hurt the developing baby. They can cause birth defects or problems with how the baby's brain and body grow. Maternal illness means if the mother has certain infections or diseases during pregnancy, they can affect the baby. For example, viruses like reubella can cause problems with the baby's hearing, vision, or heart. Genetic mutations are changes in the baby's DNA that happen before birth. These changes can lead to conditions like Down syndrome or other developmental disorders. Hormonal factors refer to the balance of hormones in the mother's body, which helps guide the baby's growth. If hormone levels are too high or too low, the baby's development might be affected. Environmental factors include things like pollution, radiation, or even stress in the mother's surroundings. These can interfere with the baby's growth and lead to health or behavior problems later on. Next up, we have physical development in infancy and childhood. Physical development during these years happens in generally the same order for all children, but the timing of the development can vary. For this stage of life, we need to explore five areas of development. motor coordination, infant reflexes, depth perception, critical periods, and imprinting. Let's start with motor coordination, which can be broken down into the development of fine motor skills and gross motor skills. Fine motor skills are the small movements we make with our hands and fingers, like picking up a coin, drawing, or buttoning a shirt. Babies usually start developing fine motor skills around 3 to 4 months when they begin reaching for things. And by age 2 to three, many can feed themselves with a spoon or stack small blocks. Gross motor skills are the big movements that use large muscles like crawling, walking, jumping, and climbing. These skills develop earlier than fine motor skills. Most babies start rolling over by 4 to 6 months, crawling around 6 to 10 months, walking by their first birthday, and running or climbing by age 2 to three. Next, we have infant reflexes. These are automatic movements that help babies survive and grow. These reflexes appear at birth or very soon after. One example is the rooting reflex where a baby turns its head toward a touch on the cheek, helping them find a nipple to feed. This and other reflexes are signs that the baby's nervous system is developing normally. Next, we have emerging depth perception, which is assessed using the visual cliff apparatus. This involves a table that looks like it has a sudden drop, but it's actually covered by clear glass so the baby won't fall. When babies are placed on the table, they often stop or hesitate when they reach the cliff side. This shows that they can see depth and may be afraid of falling, which means their vision and brain are working together to understand space. Most babies around 6 months old start showing this response. Next, we have critical and sensitive periods. Critical periods are specific times in early development when certain experiences must happen for normal growth. For example, between birth and about 3 months, babies need visual stimulation to develop normal vision. Without it, even if their eyes are later corrected, their brains may not process vision properly. Another critical period happens before age 1 when babies need to form an emotional bond with a caregiver. Missing this window can lead to lasting problems with attachment and trust. While critical periods are periods where developments must occur, sensitive periods are times when the brain is especially ready to learn. But learning can still happen later, just with more effort. From birth to around age three, children are especially good at picking up the sounds of their native language. Between ages 2 and 7, vocabulary grows rapidly and grammar skills start to form. Between ages three and eight, kids are especially quick to develop fine motor skills like writing or drawing. From ages 4 to 10, it's much easier to learn a second language and sound fluent. Finally, between ages 5 and 12, children tend to pick up musical or athletic skills more quickly than they would as teens or adults. Lastly, we have imprinting, which occurs in non-human animals like baby ducks or geese. Imprinting occurs when they form a strong attachment to the first moving object they see after birth. This usually happens within hours of hatching and helps them stay close to a caregiver for safety and survival. Okay, let's turn to adolescent physical development. Here we need to know about puberty and the development of sex characteristics. Puberty is the time when a child's body begins to change into an adult body. It involves physical changes like growing body hair, deeper voices in boys, and developing breasts and girls along with changes in emotions and thinking. The adolescent growth spurt is an event that occurs during puberty. It involves a fast increase in height and weight that usually starts around age 10 to 12 for girls and around age 12 to 14 for boys. It can last for a few years. During puberty, adolescence develop primary sex characteristics which are the body parts directly involved in reproduction. For example, girls begin menstruation known as monarch and boys begin producing sperm known as spermark. They also develop secondary sex characteristics which are physical changes not directly related to reproduction like deeper voices in boys, breast development in girls and growth of body hair in both. As people enter adulthood, their physical development begins to level off. The rapid growth and changes seen in childhood and adolescence slow down and the body reaches its peak in strength, speed, and health, usually in the 20s and early 30s. After this peak, physical decline begins gradually. Women experience a decline in reproductive ability with menopause, which usually happens in their late 40s or early 50s, marking the end of menstruation and fertility. Other changes include slower mobility and reaction time, reduced flexibility, and a gradual loss of vision and hearing sharpness as people age. These changes are normal parts of getting older. Okay, so that's the conclusion of the section on physical development. As always, check the answer key for this section before moving on. I've also added all the keywords for this unit into the flashcard set that you can grab through the link in the description. Now let's move on to unit 3.3. Unit 3.3 explores how sex and gender influence development. Sex refers to the biological differences between males and females such as chromosomes, hormones, and reproductive organs. These biological factors influence development by shaping physical traits like height, muscle growth, voice depth, and the timing of puberty. Typically, females start puberty earlier while males tend to gain more muscle mass during adolescence. Gender, on the other hand, refers to the roles, behaviors, and expectations that a society considers appropriate for males and females. It's more about how a person identifies and how they express themselves, which can vary across cultures and over time. Now, let's take a closer look at how gender influences development by exploring gender schema theory and gender socialization. Gender schema theory says that children learn about gender by forming mental categories or schemas of what it means to be male or female. They use these schemas to guide how they behave, what they pay attention to, and how they understand the world. Gender socialization is the process of learning gender roles through interactions with family, peers, and media. Families often shape gender behavior by giving boys and girls different toys or chores and encouraging certain behaviors. Peers reinforce gender roles by rewarding behaviors that match group expectations like teasing boys who cry or praising girls for being polite. Media also plays a big role by showing characters who act in stereotypical ways which children may copy as they form their own gender identity. Okay, that's all for unit 3.3. Let's move on to unit 3.4 titled cognitive development across the lifespan. Cognitive development refers to how our thinking, learning, and problem solving skills grow and change as we get older. For AP psychology, we need to cover three key conceptual frameworks for understanding cognitive development. These are PJ's theory of cognitive development, Vigotssky's socioultural theory, and cognitive development and change in adulthood. Let's start with PG. You will already be familiar with PJ's concepts of assimilation and accommodation from unit 2.2. To briefly recap, assimilation is when a child takes in new information and fits it into what they already know. For example, if a child sees a zebra for the first time and calls it a horse, they're using assimilation. They're fitting the new animal into an existing idea. Accommodation is when a child changes what they know to better understand something new. In the zebra example, the child might learn that not all four-legged animals are horses, so they create a new category just for zebras. These two processes are part of how children build knowledge. Sometimes development feels continuous because kids are constantly adjusting and learning bit by bit, like through assimilation and accommodation. But PJ's stages show that development also happens in discontinuous jumps. Kids think in very different ways at different ages. Let's dive into his discontinuous stages now. The first stage is the sensor motor stage which lasts from birth to about 2 years old. During this time, infants learn through their senses and movements. They explore by grabbing, sucking, and looking. A key milestone in this stage is object permanence, which is when a baby understands that things still exist even when they can't be seen, like knowing a toy is still there after it's been covered. Next is the pre-operational stage from ages 2 to 7. In this stage, children begin using language and symbols like pretend play. However, their thinking is still very limited. They often show egoentrism, meaning they have trouble seeing things from another person's point of view. They may also believe that objects have feelings or thoughts, which is called animism. Two other key emerging cognitive skills during this stage are reversibility and theory of mind. Reversibility is the cognitive ability to understand that objects or numbers can be changed and then returned back to their original condition. This concept helps children grasp that certain processes like addition and subtraction can be logically reversed. Theory of mind is the understanding that other people have their own thoughts, beliefs, desires, and intentions. It allows a child to predict or interpret the behavior of others based on what those others might be thinking or feeling. The third stage is the concrete operational stage which spans ages 7 to 11. Children now start thinking more logically and understand rules, but they still need concrete objects or examples to help them think through problems. A major development here is conservation. The idea that things like volume or number stay the same even when their appearance changes. For example, understanding that a tall, thin glass doesn't hold more water than a short, wide one if both were filled from the same cup. The final stage is the formal operational stage. Beginning around age 12 and continuing into adulthood, at this point, people can think abstractly and reason through hypothetical situations. They can ask big questions, use logic to solve complex problems, and think more deeply about ideas like fairness, justice, and identity. PJ proposed that not all people achieve formal operational thinking, not even adults. Besides PJ, another key theorist of cognitive development is Lev Vagodsky. Vigodsky's theory differs from Pia's by focusing more on how social and cultural interactions shape a child's thinking. While PJ believed cognitive development happens through a child's independent exploration, Vigotssky argued that cognitive development occurs best when children get guidance from others like parents, teachers, or peers. Two key terms from the socioultural theory are scaffolding and the zone of proximal development. Scaffolding, a term devised by theorist Jerome Bruner, refers to the support or help given to a child while they are learning something. This help could be asking guiding questions, giving hints, or breaking a task into smaller steps. As the child gets better, the support is slowly removed, just like scaffolding on a building, is taken down once it's strong enough to stand on its own. The zone of proximal development, a term devised by Vagotssky, is the gap between what a child can do on their own and what they can do with guidance from someone more skilled. It's the sweet spot for learning where a task is not too easy but not too hard either as long as they get the right help. Lastly, let's look at cognitive change in adulthood. For this, we need to know about two key terms. Crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence. Crystallized intelligence is the ability to use knowledge, skills, and experience that a person has built up over time. It includes things like vocabulary, facts, and general knowledge. Crystallized intelligence tends to stay strong or even improve with age because it is based on long-term learning. By contrast, fluid intelligence is the ability to think quickly, solve new problems, and adapt to new situations without relying on prior knowledge. This type of thinking tends to decline with age as the brain's processing speed and working memory becomes slower over time. Another way cognitive decline may occur later in life is through age related cognitive disorders. One example is dementia. People with dementia may forget important information, get confused easily, have trouble speaking or making decisions, and find it hard to do everyday tasks. Okay, so that's the conclusion of the section on cognitive development. As always, check the answer key for this section before moving on. I've also added all the keywords for this unit to the flashcard set that you can grab through the link in the description. Now, let's move on to unit 3.5 titled communication and language development. To cover the required content for unit 3.5, we'll break it down into three segments. First, we'll explore what language is. Next, we'll explore how language is developed. And third, we'll look at common errors people make when learning a language. Let's begin. AP psychology defines language as a shared system of arbitrary symbols that are rulegoverned and generative. This is a complex definition, so let's break it down into its parts. Arbitrary symbols means that the words we use in a language don't have any natural connection to the things they represent. For example, there's nothing about the sound of the word dog that actually looks or feels like a dog. It's just a symbol that everyone agrees to use. These symbols are often expressed as and combined into phonemes, morphes, and semantics. Phonemes are the smallest sounds in a language like the D, O, and G sounds in dog. Morphe are the smallest parts of a word that have meaning. Like dog is one morphe, but dogs has two. Semantics is simply the meaning of words, what they stand for, and how we understand them when we hear or read them. Rulego governed means that language follows specific rules for how words and sentences are put together so we can understand each other. These rules are part of grammar which includes things like how words change to show tense. For example, walk becomes walked to show it happened in the past or number like adding s to make something plural. Syntax is the part of grammar that tells us the correct order to put words in a sentence. For example, in English, we say, "The cat chased the mouse," not chased the mouse the cat. Syntax makes sure the sentence sounds right and makes sense to other people in your language community. Generative means that we can use language to create an endless number of new sentences and ideas, even if we've never heard them before. With just a limited set of words and rules, we can say anything we want, from telling stories to asking questions. Because language lets us combine words in so many different ways. Now let's look at how language is developed. It starts with non-verbal gestures, then moves into four stages. Cooing, babbling, the one-word stage, and telegraphic speech. Non-verbal manual gestures are body movements like pointing or waving that help babies communicate before they can speak. These gestures are used across all cultures and are often one of the first ways babies show what they want or where they are focusing their attention. For example, a baby might point at a toy they want or lift their arms to be picked up. These early gestures are important because they help children connect with others and set the foundation for learning spoken language. Cooing is the first stage of language development and usually starts around 6 to 8 weeks old. In this stage, babies make soft vowel-like sounds such as ooh and ah. These sounds aren't words yet. They're just ways for babies to experiment with their voices and get attention from caregivers. Babbling comes next, starting around 4 to 6 months of age. Babies begin to add consonant sounds to their vocal play, creating sounds like baba or da. While these may sound like real words, at first they don't have meaning. Babbling is an important step because it helps babies practice the sounds they'll need for actual speech. The one-word stage typically begins around 12 months. At this point, babies start using single words to represent whole ideas or needs. For example, saying milk might mean I want milk or there's my milk. Telegraphic speech usually appears around age 18 to 30 months. This is when toddlers start putting two or more words together to form simple sentences, but they leave out smaller, less important words, just like a telegram. For example, they might say want toy or go park. Even though these sentences are short, they show that children are beginning to understand how to combine words to express more complex thoughts. So, that's how language develops. The last thing we need to cover for this section is language learning errors. As people learn a language, they often make mistakes while trying to figure out the rules. One common example is overgeneralization where they apply a rule too broadly. For example, a child might say run instead of ran because they've learned that adding ed makes a verb past tense and are trying to follow that rule, even though ran is an irregular verb. These kinds of mistakes are normal and show that the learner is trying to understand how the language works. That's it for unit 3.5. Here's our list of the key terms and concepts from this section. They're all covered in the study guide and included in our flashcard set. Get them both through the link in the description. Check your answers to this section of the study guide using the provided answer key. Then let's move on to unit 3.6. Unit 3.6 explores social emotional development, which is the process of learning how to understand and manage emotions, build relationships, and interact with others in healthy ways. As you can see, unit 3.6 is a big one. It explores a range of frameworks for explaining social emotional development. So, let's not waste time. We'll dive straight into the first theory. Bronen Brener's ecological systems theory. Ecological systems theory developed by Yuri Bronen Brener explains how a child's development is influenced by different layers of their environment. Each layer called a system is nested inside the next and they all work together to shape the child's growth and experiences. The micro systemystem is the closest layer to the child and includes the people in settings they interact with directly such as family, school, friends, and daycare. This system has the most immediate impact since it includes the child's daily relationships and experiences. The Messo system is made up of the connections between different parts of the micro system. For example, how well a child's parents communicate with their teachers can affect how the child does in school. When these relationships are strong, they can support the child's development. The exosystem includes settings that the child doesn't directly interact with, but that still affect them. This might include a parents workplace, local government policies, or a sibling school. For example, if a parent has a stressful job, it can influence how they act at home. The macro system includes the larger cultural values, laws, customs, and beliefs of the society the child lives in. It shapes how children are raised, what behaviors are seen as acceptable, and what opportunities are available to them. The chronosystem refers to the element of time, both in terms of the child's age and major life events or historical changes. For instance, growing up during a war or a pandemic can have long-term effects on development, just as a family divorce or moving to a new city can. Overall, this theory explains how we don't develop in a vacuum. We are influenced by the people in society around us. The next framework we need to explore for unit 3.6 is the concept of parenting styles. Parenting styles can be placed on a chart using two main dimensions. demandingness, which refers to how much parents expect and control behavior, and responsiveness, which refers to how warm, supportive, and responsive parents are to their child's needs. Each parenting style falls into a different spot based on how high or low it is on these two traits. Authoritarian parenting is high in demandingness, but low in responsiveness. These parents expect strict obedience but are not very emotionally responsive or open to their child's input. Permissive parenting is low in demandingness but high in responsiveness. These parents are warm and accepting but they don't set many rules or limits. Permissive parenting can lead to children struggling with self-discipline, impulsivity, and respecting boundaries. Uninvolved, neglectful parenting is low in both demandingness and responsiveness. These parents provide little structure or support, often leaving children to raise themselves. Uninvolved parenting can result in children feeling insecure and having trouble with emotional regulation, self-esteem, and forming healthy relationships. Authoritative parenting is high in both demandingness and responsiveness. These parents set clear expectations, but also show warmth, listen to their children, and guide them with encouragement. This balanced style is often linked to the most positive outcomes for kids. Our next framework for social emotional development is attachment style. Attachment styles describe how children form emotional bonds with their caregivers and how those bonds affect their behavior and relationships. These styles develop early in life based on how caregivers respond to a child's needs. A secure attachment forms when a caregiver is consistently responsive, comforting, and dependable. Children with secure attachment feel safe exploring the world because they know they can return to their caregiver for support. They tend to trust others and form healthy relationships later in life. An insecure attachment develops when a caregiver is inconsistent, unresponsive, or frightening. These children may struggle with trust, emotional regulation, or close relationships. Insecure attachment comes in three main types: avoidant, anxious, and disorganized. Avoidant attachment happens when caregivers often ignore or reject the child's needs. In response, the child learns to hide their feelings and avoid seeking comfort. They may seem very independent, but often struggle to connect emotionally. Anxious attachment forms when caregivers are inconsistent, sometimes responsive, sometimes not. The child becomes unsure whether they can count on their caregiver, leading them to become clingy, worried, or overly dependent in relationships. Disorganized attachment develops when the caregiver is a source of both comfort and fear, such as in cases of abuse or trauma. The child feels confused and unsafe, often showing unpredictable or fearful behavior. They may have trouble managing emotions and forming stable relationships. Three more elements are connected to attachment styles. temperament, separation, anxiety, and comfort versus food. Each help further explain how attachment forms between children and their caregivers. Temperament is a child's natural style of reacting to the world, such as how calm, active, or sensitive they are. Some babies are naturally more easygoing, while others are more fearful, or intense. A child's temperament can affect how easily they form attachments. For example, a sensitive baby might need extra comfort to feel secure, while a more relaxed baby may bond more easily with a variety of caregivers. Separation anxiety happens when young children become upset or scared when a caregiver leaves or when they are around strangers. It usually starts around 8 to 12 months and is a sign that the child has formed an attachment to their caregiver. It shows that the child sees the caregiver as a source of safety and being apart from them feels stressful. Comfort versus food refers to classic studies with baby monkeys by Harry Harlo who showed that attachment is based more on comfort than just meeting physical needs. The monkeys were given two fake mothers, one made of wire that provided food and one made of soft cloth that offered no food. The monkeys spent much more time with the soft, comforting mother, showing that feeling safe and cared for is more important to attachment than just being fed. The next thing we need to look at for unit 3.6 Six is how peer relationships affect social emotional development. Children and adolescence interact with their peers differently. When children are little, they connect with their friends mostly through play. One type is called parallel play, which is when young children play next to each other, but not really with each other. They might both be building with blocks or coloring, but they're doing their own thing. As kids get a little older, they start using pretend play where they make up stories and act them out, like pretending to be superheroes, animals, or playing house. This kind of play helps them learn how to cooperate, use their imagination, and understand other people's feelings. As kids grow into adolescence, their relationships start to change. They begin to spend more time with their friends and care more about what their peers think. During this time, they also show a special kind of thinking called adolescent egoentrism, which means they often focus a lot on themselves and what others might think of them. One way this shows up is through the imaginary audience. Teens may feel like everyone is watching them or judging them, even when no one is actually paying that much attention. For example, if they trip in the hallway, they might think everyone saw and is laughing even if no one noticed. Another part of adolescent egoentrism is the personal fable. This is when teens believe their thoughts, feelings, or experiences are totally unique and that no one else could possibly understand them. For example, they might think, "No one has ever felt this heartbroken before or nothing bad could ever happen to me." These feelings are normal during adolescence and usually fade as teens grow older and gain more life experience. We've looked at childhood and adolescent relationships, but what about relationships in adulthood? AP psychology requires you know about four elements of the social lives of adults. These are the social clock, emerging adulthood, adult relationships, and attachment styles in adulthood. The social clock is the idea that each culture has its own timeline for when major life events should happen, like finishing school, getting a job, getting married, or having children. For example, in some cultures, adulthood is expected to start right after high school, while in others, it may not be expected until later. If someone follows or falls behind this clock, it can affect how they feel about themselves and how others view them. Emerging adulthood is a stage that some cultures recognize as a time between adolescence and full adulthood, usually from the late teens through the mid20s. During this time, people are still exploring their identity, trying out different jobs or relationships, and gradually taking on adult responsibilities. It gives young people extra time to figure out who they are before settling into long-term adult roles. As people grow into adulthood, they begin to form close relationships with other adults. These relationships can include romantic partners, chosen families, or deep friendships. Healthy adult relationships are built on mutual support and care where both people give and receive help, love, and respect. Lastly, we need to look at adult attachment styles. Earlier in unit 3, we talked about attachment styles in childhood. Those childhood attachment styles follow us into adulthood, affecting how we build relationships as adults. For example, someone with a secure attachment in childhood usually finds it easier to trust others and build stable relationships. On the other hand, someone with an insecure attachment may struggle with trust, closeness, or fear of being abandoned. These patterns don't have to last forever, but they can shape how adults connect with others. From here, unit 3.6 Six pivots to a discussion of another framework that explains social emotional development across the lifespan called the stages of psychosocial development. Eric Ericson's theory of psychosocial development explains how people grow and change socially and emotionally throughout their lives. He believed that as people move through different stages of life, they face specific challenges called crises that help shape their identity, confidence, and relationships. In the first year of life, babies go through the stage of trust versus mistrust. If their caregivers meet their needs with love and care, they learn to trust others and feel safe in the world. But if their needs are often ignored, they may grow up being mistrusting, which can manifest as feeling unsure or fearful. From about 1 to 3 years old, toddlers face the challenge of autonomy versus shame and doubt. During this time, they are learning to do things for themselves like feeding themselves or using the toilet. If adults encourage their efforts, the child feels autonomy, manifesting as pride and independence. But if they are harsh or overly controlling, the child may feel ashamed or unsure of their abilities. Between the ages of 3 and six, children enter the stage of initiative versus guilt. They begin to take more control by asking questions, making plans, and trying new things. When their curiosity and ideas are supported, they learn to take initiative with confidence. But if they are constantly shut down or made to feel annoying, they may feel guilty for trying to take charge. From ages 6 to 12, children go through the stage of industry versus inferiority. At this age, they start focusing on school work, hobbies, and teamwork. If they feel successful and are praised for their efforts, they develop a sense of confidence and capability which Ericson titled industry. If they struggle and feel like they can't keep up, they may start to feel less than others and doubt themselves known as inferiority. The next stage is identity versus role confusion, which happens during the teenage years around 12 to 18. This is when teens start thinking deeply about who they are and what they believe. If they're able to explore different roles and feel supported in the process, they begin to build a strong sense of identity. But if they feel lost, pressured, or unsure, they may struggle with confusion about who they are. In young adulthood, which is from the 20s to early 40s, people face the stage of intimacy versus isolation. This is when they seek close relationships with others, both in friendship and in love. If they've developed a clear identity, they are more likely to build strong, trusting connections. If they haven't, they may feel a sense of isolation, manifesting as loneliness and fear of getting close to people. During middle adulthood, from the 40s to the 60s, people go through the stage of generativity versus stagnation. They often focus on helping others, raising children, contributing to their community, or creating something meaningful. If they feel like they're making a difference, they feel satisfied and useful. If not, they may feel stuck or like their life doesn't matter much. Finally, in ages 60 and up, people reach the stage of integrity versus despair. They reflect on their lives and think about what they've done and who they've become. If they feel proud and fulfilled, they experience integrity manifesting as peace and contentment. If they have many regrets or feel like they missed their purpose, they may feel despair. Manifesting as disappointment and sadness. This theory shows that our emotional and social growth doesn't stop at childhood. It continues through every part of life, helping shape the kind of person we become. The next concept in unit 3.6 is adverse childhood experiences. Adverse childhood experiences are stressful or harmful events that happen during childhood like abuse, neglect, or growing up in a home with violence or substance problems. These early experiences can affect how a person builds relationships later in life, sometimes making it harder to trust others, feel safe, or handle emotions in a healthy way. Different cultures may see certain experiences as more or less harmful. So what one culture considers a serious childhood hardship might not be viewed the same way in another. Lastly, let's dive into James Marsha's identity status theory. Marsha argued that the process of identity development doesn't happen all at once. It can take time and involves different paths. The theory describes four common patterns. Identity achievement, identity diffusion, identity foreclosure, and identity moratorum. Identity achievement happens when a person has explored different options and made clear choices about who they are. For example, someone might explore several career ideas and eventually decide they want to be a teacher after thinking it through. Identity diffusion is when a person hasn't explored their identity much and hasn't made any strong choices. They might feel unsure about what they believe or what they want to do and haven't really tried to figure it out yet. Identity foreclosure is when someone makes decisions about who they are without exploring other options. For instance, a teen might choose the same religion or career as their parents just because it's expected without thinking about what they personally want. Lastly, identity moratorium is the stage where a person is actively exploring but hasn't made a final decision yet. They might be trying out different beliefs, styles, or goals while figuring out what fits them best. Marsha's theory shows that identity is something that is developed through a process of exploration. Through this exploration process, people attempt to integrate many parts of identity such as racial or ethnic identity, which is how they relate to their cultural background. Gender identity, which is how they understand and express their gender. Sexual orientation, which refers to who they are attracted to. Religious identity, which refers to what they believe spiritually. Occupational identity, which is what kind of work they want to do. and familial identity, which is what role they want to play in their family or what kind of family they want to have. Thinking about these possible selves helps people plan, set goals, and make choices that shape their future. That brings us to the end of unit 3.6. It's a long one with a lot of information, so make sure you complete the study guide and check your work using the answer key. Both are linked in the description. As usual, I've also updated the flash cards to include all our key terms, which are also available through the link in the description. Units 3.7, 3.8, and 3.9 explore the behavioral perspective on learning and development. The behavioral perspective focuses on how people learn through observable experiences. It does not consider cognitive or social emotional factors in learning. Rather, its concern is only with how we learn through experience. This perspective includes three main ways of learning. Classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and social learning. Unit 3.7 is all about classical conditioning. In classical conditioning, learning happens when two things are linked together over time. For example, if a child always hears a lullaby before bed, they might start to feel sleepy just from hearing the song. AP psychology requires that you know all the classical conditioning concepts listed on the screen. Now we'll go through them one by one starting with the term acquisition. Acquisition is the first stage of learning something new. It's when a person or animal starts to connect two things together. For example, imagine a dog hears a bell and then gets food right after. At first, the bell doesn't mean anything. But if the bell rings every time food comes, the dog starts to expect food when it hears the bell. That learning process, when the dog starts to make the connection between the bell and the food, is called acquisition. It's when the learning is being acquired or picked up. An unconditioned stimulus is something that causes a natural reaction without the person or animal needing to learn it. For example, if you smell delicious pizza, you might start to feel hungry. You didn't have to be trained to feel hungry when you smell food. It just happens naturally. In this case, the smell of pizza is the unconditioned stimulus because it makes you feel hungry all on its own. An unconditioned response is the natural reaction that happens when you experience an unconditioned stimulus. Using the pizza example again, the hunger you feel when you smell the pizza is the unconditioned response. You didn't learn to feel hungry. It just happens automatically. It's like when you flinch if something comes near your face quickly. That reaction is natural and automatic, which is why it's called unconditioned. A conditioned stimulus is something that starts off as neutral. It doesn't mean anything at first, but after being paired with something important, it begins to cause a reaction. For example, let's go back to the dog and the bell. At first, the bell sound doesn't matter to the dog. But if the bell is always followed by food, the dog starts to expect food when it hears the bell. Now, the bell becomes a conditioned stimulus because the dog has learned to react to it. A conditioned response is the learned reaction to something that used to mean nothing. Using the same example, once the dog hears the bell and starts to drool, even if no food shows up, that drooling is a conditioned response. It didn't happen before. The dog had to learn it by hearing the bell with the food over and over. So now the dog reacts to the bell in the same way it reacted to the food. Extinction is what happens when an association starts to fade away. Let's say the dog hears the bell, but now food never comes after it. Over time, the dog will stop drooling when it hears the bell because it learns that the bell doesn't mean food anymore. The reaction has died out, which is why it's called extinction. It doesn't mean the dog forgot completely. It just stopped responding the way it used to. Spontaneous recovery is when a learned response suddenly comes back after it had faded away. For example, imagine a dog learned to drool when it heard a bell, but then stopped drooling because the bell was no longer followed by food. That's extinction. A few days later, the bell rings again, and the dog suddenly drools even though no food comes. That surprise return of the old reaction is called spontaneous recovery. It's like the brain remembered the connection for a moment. Stimulus discrimination is when a person or animal learns to tell the difference between similar things and only reacts to the one that matters. Let's say a dog learns to drool when it hears a high-pitched bell. If it hears a low-pitched bell and doesn't drool, that means it knows the difference between the two sounds. It has learned that only the high-pitched bell means food is coming. That's stimulus discrimination. Reacting only to the specific thing that was learned. Stimulus generalization is the opposite of discrimination. It happens when someone reacts to things that are similar to the original thing they learned. For example, if a dog learns to drool when it hears a high-pitched bell and then also starts drooling when it hears a phone ring because it sounds kind of the same, that's stimulus generalization. The dog is treating similar sounds as if they all mean food is coming. Higher order conditioning is when something new gets added to the chain of learning. Let's say a dog already learned to drool when it hears a bell because it knows the bell means food is coming. Now imagine you flash a light right before the bell rings. After a while, the dog starts drooling just when it sees the light, even if the bell doesn't ring. The dog has learned that the light predicts the bell and the bell predicts the food. That's higher order conditioning. Learning built on top of a previous learning. Counter conditioning is when you replace a bad or unwanted reaction with a better one by teaching a new connection. Imagine a kid who's scared of dogs. Every time a dog comes close, the kid gets nervous. But if the kid is given something they love, like their favorite candy, whenever a calm dog is nearby, they might start to feel better around dogs. Over time, they stop feeling scared and start feeling okay. That's counter conditioning. Changing the emotion linked to something by teaching a new, more positive reaction. Taste aversion is when you avoid a food because it once made you feel sick, even if the food wasn't the real cause. For example, if you eat spaghetti and then get the stomach flu later, your brain might link the sickness to the spaghetti. After that, just smelling or seeing spaghetti could make you feel queasy. That's taste aversion. Your body learns very quickly to stay away from something that it thinks made you sick, even after just one bad experience. A related term is one trial learning where a reaction to a stimulus was so strong that you developed a learned response after being exposed to that stimulus just once. The association is instantly so strong that it is not strengthened by further pairings. Biological preparedness is the idea that some things are easier for us to learn because our brains and bodies are wired for it. Think about how quickly people develop a fear of snakes or spiders, even if they've never had a bad experience with one. It's like the brain is already on alert for those things because long ago being afraid of them helped humans survive. On the other hand, it's much harder to develop a fear of something like a flower or spoon because those things were never a threat. That's biological preparedness. Our natural built-in readiness to learn some associations faster than others because they helped us stay safe in the past. Habituation is when you stop reacting to something because it keeps happening over and over without anything important following it. Imagine you move to a new house near an airport. At first, every time a plane flies overhead, it's super loud and hard to ignore. But after a few days, you hardly notice it anymore. Your brain has figured out that the train noise doesn't matter, so it tunes it out. That's habituation. Learning to stop responding to something that turns out to be harmless and predictable. Okay, that brings us to the end of our classical conditioning terms and concepts. Check your answers to the classical conditioning section of the study guide using the answer key. I've also added all these terms to the flashcard set. Next up, let's look at our operant conditioning terms and concepts. Classical conditioning is all about associating two events or objects. Through classical conditioning, we learn when one thing triggers another thing, like a bell triggering hunger. But operant conditioning is about learning from consequences. Consequences include things like praise, money, or a punishment. For example, if a student gets praised every time they finish their homework, they might start doing it more often because they've learned that it leads to something good. AP psychology requires that you know all the operant conditioning concepts listed on the screen. Now, we'll go through them one by one, starting with the concept of law of effect. The law of effect is the idea that actions are more likely to happen again if they lead to something good and less likely to happen if they lead to something bad. Think of it like this. If you study hard for a test and get a good grade, you're more likely to study hard again next time. But if you tell a joke in class and nobody laughs, you might not tell jokes in class anymore. This law helps explain how people and animals learn what to do or not do based on the results of their actions. Reinforcement and punishment are ways to change someone's behavior. Reinforcement means you're trying to make a behavior happen more often. Punishment means you're trying to make a behavior happen less often. Each of these can be positive or negative. But here's the trick. Positive doesn't mean good, and negative doesn't mean bad. In this case, positive means you add something, and negative means you take something away. Let's break it down. Positive reinforcement is when you add something good to make the behavior happen more. For example, if you get a cookie for cleaning your room, you'll want to clean your room again. The cookie is a reward that was added. Negative reinforcement is when you take away something bad to make the behavior happen more. For example, if you buckle your seat belt and the loud beeping stops, you're more likely to buckle up right away next time. The annoying sound was taken away, so that's negative reinforcement. Positive punishment is when you add something unpleasant to make the behavior happen less. For example, if you talk back and get extra chores, you'll probably think twice before doing it again. The chores were added, so that's positive punishment. Negative punishment is when you take away something you like to make the behavior happen less. For example, if you stay out too late and your phone gets taken away, you'll be less likely to stay out next time. The phone was taken away, so that's negative punishment. So remember, reinforcement means more of the behavior. Punishment means less of the behavior. Positive means adding something, negative means taking something away. Okay, now let's move on to our next term, reinforcers. A reinforcer is anything that makes a behavior more likely to happen again. It's like a reward. If you do something and then get a reinforcer, you'll probably want to do that thing again. There are two main types, primary reinforcers and secondary reinforcers. A primary reinforcer is something that you naturally like or need. You don't have to learn to want it. It just feels good or helps you survive. Things like food, water, or warmth are primary reinforcers. For example, giving a dog a treat is a primary reinforcer because dogs naturally enjoy food. A secondary reinforcer is something you learn to like because it's linked to a primary reinforcer. Money is a good example. You can't eat money or drink it, but you've learned that money can buy you things you want, like food or games. Praise, stickers, and points in a video game can also be secondary reinforcers because they usually lead to something good. So, in short, primary reinforcers are naturally reward. Secondary reinforcers are learned rewards like money or praise. Okay. Next is reinforcement discrimination. Reinforcement discrimination is when a person or animal learns that a certain behavior only gets rewarded in specific situations, not all the time. It's like learning to tell when it's the right time to do something. For example, imagine a student learns that raising their hand in class gets them praise from the teacher, but they also learn that raising their hand at the dinner table doesn't get them anything. Over time, they figure out that raising their hand only works in class, not everywhere. That's reinforcement discrimination. Learning when a behavior will be reinforced and when it won't. It helps people and animals avoid wasting effort and use their behavior in the right place at the right time. But sometimes we also learn reinforcement generalization. This is when a behavior that gets rewarded in one situation starts to show up in other similar situations even if there's no reward there yet. It's like the behavior spreads. For example, let's say a child gets praised for saying please at home. After a while, they also start saying please at school, at restaurants, and at friends houses, even if no one gives them praise every time. That's reinforcement generalization. The child learned that saying please is a good behavior. So, they start using it in more places. So, while discrimination is about knowing when not to do a behavior, generalization is about trying the behavior in new places. Next up, we have the term shaping. Shaping is a way of teaching someone a new behavior by rewarding small steps that lead to the final goal. These small steps are called successive approximations. Each one gets a little closer to the full behavior you want. For example, let's say you're helping a toddler learn to say the word banana. At first, the child might only say b. You smile and clap to show that it's a good start. After some time, they say banana and you cheer again. Finally, they say the full word banana and you give them a big hug or a sticker. Each of those small improvements, b then banana, then banana, are successive approximations. You're shaping their behavior by reinforcing each step that moves them closer to saying the full word. Instinctive drift is when an animal starts doing its natural behaviors instead of the one it was trained to do. For example, imagine you train a dog to sit still when a small toy rabbit runs past. At first, the dog learns to stay put and gets rewarded with a treat. But after a while, the dog starts chasing the rabbit instead of sitting still. That's instinctive drift. Even though it was trained to stay, its natural instinct to chase small moving things kicks in and it stops following the learned behavior. Superstitious behavior is a learned behavior that occurs when someone thinks their action caused a result even when it didn't. For example, imagine a student wears a red shirt on the day they get an A on a test. They might start believing the red shirt brought them good luck even though it had nothing to do with their grade. So, next time there's a test, they wear the same shirt again, hoping it helps. This is superstitious behavior. When you repeat an action because you think it caused something good or bad, even if it really didn't. Learned helplessness happens when someone gives up because they feel like nothing they do will change the outcome. In other words, they can't identify a reward or punishment following a behavior. Imagine a child who keeps failing math tests no matter how hard they try. Eventually, they stop studying or trying at all because they believe, "Why bother? I'll fail anyway." Lastly, reinforcement schedules are different ways of giving rewards to encourage a behavior. We can break reinforcement schedules down into two categories. Continuous reinforcement and partial reinforcement. Continuous reinforcement is given every single time the behavior happens. For example, a dog gets a treat every time it sits. The benefit of continuous reinforcement is it tends to lead to quick results. But there's a downside. If the treats stop, the behavior can disappear quickly, too. Partial reinforcement is when the reward only comes some of the time. The benefit of partial reinforcement is that it makes the behavior more likely to last, even when rewards don't come often because the person or animal keeps trying in case the reward shows up. The downside is that the behavior may take a longer time to emerge in the first place. There are four key types of partial reinforcement you need to know about for AP psychology. fixed interval schedules, variable interval schedules, fixed ratio schedules, and variable ratio schedules. Interval schedules refer to the passing of time. A reward is given after either a fixed or variable amount of time has passed. Ratio schedules refer to the number of responses shown. A reward is given after either a fixed or variable amount of desirable behaviors have been demonstrated. In the fixed interval schedule, a reward is given after a set amount of time has passed as long as the behavior happened. For example, a student might get a piece of candy for staying on task every 10 minutes. The time stays the same each time, so people often do the behavior more as the reward time gets closer. The next type of partial reinforcement is a variable interval schedule. This means the reward comes after different amounts of time and the person doesn't know when. An example is checking your phone for a message. You might check often because a message could come at any moment. In a fixed ratio schedule, the person or animal gets a reward after a set number of actions. For example, a worker might get paid after assembling five toys. They know exactly how many actions are needed, so they may work fast to reach the reward. In a variable ratio schedule, the reward comes after a changing number of actions, and the person never knows exactly when. Slot machines are a good example. People keep pulling the lever because they might win after five tries or 50. This type of schedule is very strong because the surprise keeps the behavior going for a long time. Okay, that brings us to the end of the operant conditioning section. All these terms have been added to the flashcard set. Make sure you test your knowledge of this section using the study guide and answer key. And when you're ready, we'll move on to our third behaviorist perspective, social learning theory. Social learning theory is the idea that people learn by watching others in a process of observation and imitation. Instead of learning only through rewards and punishments like in traditional behaviorism, social learning theory says we can also learn just by observing what happens to someone else. Key terms in social learning theory include vicarious conditioning, modeling, insight learning, latent learning, and cognitive maps. Vicarious conditioning happens when someone learns by watching what happens to someone else. For example, if a student sees their classmate get praised for answering a question, they might be more likely to raise their hand, too. They didn't get the praise themselves, but they learned from watching it happen to someone else. This includes vicarious reinforcement, which involves learning from seeing other people getting rewarded, and vicarious punishments, which involves learning from seeing other people getting punished. Modeling is when someone copies the behavior of another person called a model. The more similar the model is to the observer, the more likely the behavior is to be copied. For example, a child is more likely to imitate someone close to their age or someone they admire, like an older sibling. People also copy behaviors that seem successful or socially accepted. Insight learning happens when someone suddenly figures out a solution to a problem without being taught, without trial and error, and without watching anyone else. It's like a light bulb moment. For example, a chimpanzeee might suddenly realize it can stack boxes to reach a banana, even if it has never seen anyone do it before. The answer comes from thinking, not from copying or being rewarded. Latent learning is when someone learns something but doesn't show it until there's a reason to use it. For example, a child might learn the layout of their school just by walking around, even if they're not trying to memorize it. Then one day when they need to find the office quickly, they suddenly show they know the way. The learning was there the whole time. It was just hidden or latent until needed. Latent learning is often demonstrated by cognitive maps, which is our last term. Cognitive maps are mental pictures of places or environments that we build in our minds. These maps help us find our way around. For example, after walking through a new mall a few times, you might be able to picture where the food court is, even if you're not looking at signs. You didn't need a reward or someone showing you. You built a mental map just by being there and paying attention. So, you've now got all the key information you need for unit 3, but you'll need to have the ability to apply it in the exam. So, here's what you need to do next. Grab the study guide in the video description to reinforce your knowledge of the information. Become a premium member to get an edge on your studies. You'll get in-depth tutorials and video walkthroughs of common unit 3 questions you could face in the AP exam and advanced study guides to help you ace the exam. And once you feel confident about unit 3, click the video on screen now to watch my full AP psychology unit 4