Development and Learning
What you must know
Development spans physical, cognitive, and social change. Know Piaget's stages: sensorimotor (object permanence), preoperational (egocentrism, lack of conservation), concrete operational (conservation, logical thought about concrete things), formal operational (abstract reasoning). Distinguish assimilation (fit new info into existing schema) from accommodation (change schema). Know attachment styles (secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-anxious/ambivalent) and parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, neglectful); authoritative is generally linked to the best outcomes. Understand Kohlberg's moral stages and Erikson's psychosocial stages at a recognition level.
Learning covers classical conditioning (Pavlov: neutral stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus; acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, discrimination) and operant conditioning (Skinner: reinforcement increases behavior, punishment decreases it; positive adds a stimulus, negative removes one). Know schedules of reinforcement (fixed/variable ratio and interval; variable ratio is most resistant to extinction). Include observational learning (Bandura) and cognitive maps/latent learning (Tolman).
Traps
Questions swap negative reinforcement (removing something unpleasant to increase behavior) with punishment (decreasing behavior). They confuse assimilation and accommodation. They mislabel variable ratio as interval. They assume preoperational children can conserve.
Worked example
A child stops whining when a parent gives candy, and the parent gives candy more often. For the parent, candy is positive reinforcement (adds a pleasant stimulus, increases behavior). For the child, whining was reinforced by candy. Always ask: whose behavior is increasing or decreasing?
Rule of thumb
Reinforcement increases, punishment decreases; positive adds, negative removes.