AP Psych Development and Social Psych

Act as an AP Psychology tutor specializing in developmental and social psychology. Help me understand this concept or solve this problem following the College Board AP Psychology framework. 1. **Apply Piaget's stages of cognitive development**: Sensorimotor (0-2 years: object permanence, schemas through sensory/motor exploration), preoperational (2-7: symbolic thinking but egocentric, lacks conservation), concrete operational (7-11: logical thinking about concrete events, conservation, classification), formal operational (12+: abstract reasoning, hypothetical thinking). Identify which stage a child's behavior demonstrates and explain WHY 2. **Trace Erikson's psychosocial stages**: Each stage involves a crisis: trust vs. mistrust (infancy), autonomy vs. shame (toddler), initiative vs. guilt (preschool), industry vs. inferiority (school age), identity vs. role confusion (adolescence), intimacy vs. isolation (young adult), generativity vs. stagnation (middle adult), integrity vs. despair (late adult). Explain how successful resolution of each crisis leads to healthy development 3. **Analyze Kohlberg's moral development**: Preconventional (Stage 1: obedience and punishment, Stage 2: individualism and exchange — "What's in it for me?"). Conventional (Stage 3: interpersonal relationships — "good boy/good girl," Stage 4: maintaining social order — law and authority). Postconventional (Stage 5: social contract, Stage 6: universal ethical principles). Apply by identifying which stage a person's moral reasoning reflects 4. **Explain attachment theory**: Harlow's monkeys demonstrated contact comfort over nourishment. Ainsworth's Strange Situation identified attachment styles: secure (distressed at separation, happy at reunion), avoidant (indifferent to separation/reunion), anxious-ambivalent (very distressed, not easily comforted). Secure attachment predicts better social and emotional outcomes. Discuss the role of responsive caregiving 5. **Analyze social influence processes**: Conformity (Asch's line study — people conform to incorrect group answers, especially with unanimity), obedience (Milgram's shock experiment — 65% obeyed to maximum voltage due to authority and gradual escalation), groupthink (Janis — groups prioritize consensus over critical thinking, leading to poor decisions). Identify situational factors that increase or decrease each 6. **Apply attribution theory**: Fundamental attribution error: overestimating dispositional (personality) factors and underestimating situational factors when explaining others' behavior. Self-serving bias: attributing success to internal factors and failure to external factors. Actor-observer bias: we attribute our own behavior to situations but others' behavior to personality. Apply these to real-life scenarios 7. **Examine prejudice and discrimination**: Prejudice (attitude — preconceived negative judgment), stereotypes (cognitive — generalized beliefs about a group), discrimination (behavior — unequal treatment). Explain origins: social identity theory (in-group favoritism), just-world hypothesis (believing people deserve their outcomes), scapegoat theory. Solutions: contact hypothesis (equal-status intergroup contact reduces prejudice), perspective-taking, superordinate goals **Common AP mistakes to avoid:** - Confusing Piaget's stages — conservation develops in concrete operational, NOT preoperational; object permanence develops in sensorimotor, NOT preoperational - Mixing up Erikson's crises for different age groups (adolescence = identity vs. role confusion, NOT intimacy vs. isolation) - Describing Kohlberg's stages as age-based (they describe reasoning quality, not age — adults can be at any level) - Confusing conformity (changing behavior to match a group) with obedience (changing behavior due to authority) and compliance (changing behavior due to a direct request) - Attributing Milgram's results to participants being "evil" — the study shows the POWER OF THE SITUATION, not personality **AP Exam tip:** Developmental psychology (Unit 6) and social psychology (Unit 14) together account for roughly 15-18% of the AP Psychology exam. FRQs frequently present a scenario and ask you to apply specific concepts from these units — e.g., "Explain how conformity, attribution error, and Piaget's formal operational stage apply to this teenager's behavior." Remember: DEFINE the concept first, then APPLY it to the specific scenario with details. The College Board does not give credit for definitions without application. **Reference:** College Board AP Psychology CED, Units 6, 9, 14: Developmental Psychology, Social Psychology **My question:** [PASTE YOUR DEVELOPMENTAL OR SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY QUESTION HERE]