Avoidance learning is a learning process in which a person or animal learns to avoid a negative stimulus. For example, cows may learn that an electric fence will cause a shock so, to avoid being shocked, they will walk the long way around the fence to get to their food. By engaging in an adaptive […]
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Centration refers to the child only being able to focus their attention on one aspect of an object or situation. Usually, whichever attribute of the object is the most salient will attract the child’s focus and influence their judgment. For example, imagine a scenario where a father presents his child with two slices of pizza
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Piaget’s concept of conservation refers to the child’s understanding that the properties of objects, such as quantity, volume, or mass, remain the same even when their appearance changes, so long as no additional objects are added or removed. For example, people who have mastered the skill of conservation will recognize that pouring a liter of
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Synchronicity refers to the sensation that coincidences are more than just chance. Carl Jung defined synchronicity as the “acausal connecting principle” – a meaningful coincidence of two or more events that appear to be unrelated but are experienced together. It means that the events do not have a cause-and-effect relationship, but their occurrence together is
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Kinesthetic learning refers to a learning style where a person learns best by utilizing their sense of touch and movement. Their brains are hard-wired to process information through physical sensations, as opposed to listening or reading. In this learning style, learning occurs when a person can engage in an activity that activates these senses or
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Seriation refers to the child’s ability to order objects along a single dimension, such as length, height, or weight. According to Piaget’s theory of child development, children develop this skill around the age of 6 or 7 years old. However, there is a great deal of variation where some children will develop this ability much
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Reversibility refers to the ability to mentally reverse or undo an action, process, or operation. This means that a child can mentally reverse the sequence of steps of an observed physical process. Reversibility is a concept from Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. According to Piaget, children develop reversibility during the concrete operational stage, which occurs
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The theory of mind is a concept in psychology that refers how someone ascribes mental states – such as beliefs, intentions, desires, and emotions – to both oneself and others. This is not limited to only understanding what someone might believe or desire, but it extends to surmising their emotional state and thoughts as well.
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Merton’s Strain Theory is a sociological theory developed by Robert K. Merton in the 1940s. It suggests that an individual’s inability to achieve culturally valued goals causes frustration, which can lead to retreatism, deviant behavior, and often illegal behavior. An example of strain theory is someone turning to crime to earn money after losing their
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Differential Opportunity Theory is a theory of crime that seeks to explain people’s choice of criminal activities. It states that some groups have higher access to “illegitimate means“ than others. As a result, some people are more highly incentivized to commit some types of crimes than other people. The theory explores how illegitimate means of
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