Unit 4 combines developmental psychology (how we change from birth through old age) with social psychology (how others influence our behavior). Both sections generate FRQ scenarios frequently — Piaget application and social influence application are staple AP Psych FRQ types.
Developmental Psychology
Piaget's Cognitive Stages:
- Sensorimotor (0–2): Learns through senses and motor activity; develops object permanence (objects exist even when not visible) around 8–9 months.
- Preoperational (2–7): Language emerges; egocentrism (can't take others' perspective — three mountains task); lacks conservation (doesn't understand that volume/number doesn't change with appearance change).
- Concrete Operational (7–11): Masters conservation; logical thinking about concrete objects; understands reversibility.
- Formal Operational (12+): Abstract and hypothetical thinking; systematic problem-solving; not everyone fully reaches this stage.
Vygotsky: Social learning; Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) — what a child can do with help but not alone; scaffolding. Erikson's Psychosocial Stages (8 stages): 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 (old age). Attachment theory (Ainsworth): Secure (explores freely, distressed when parent leaves, soothed on return), Anxious/Ambivalent (clingy, not soothed), Avoidant (indifferent to parent). Harlow's monkeys — contact comfort more important than food for attachment.
Social Psychology
Conformity (Asch): People agree with obviously wrong group answers to avoid standing out; conformity drops with one ally. Obedience (Milgram): 65% of participants administered apparent maximum shocks to a stranger when ordered by an authority figure; situational power > personal morality. Bystander effect / Diffusion of responsibility: More bystanders present → less likely any individual helps (Kitty Genovese). Fundamental attribution error: Overestimating dispositional causes (personality) and underestimating situational causes for others' behavior. Self-serving bias: Attributing successes to ourselves, failures to situations. Social loafing: People exert less effort in a group than alone. Groupthink: Desire for group harmony overrides critical thinking; leads to poor decisions. Cognitive dissonance (Festinger): Discomfort from holding conflicting beliefs → change one belief or justify the inconsistency.
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