Final Exam Material (Chapter 7 - 11) Flashcards
(135 cards)
1
Q
Attention
A
Attention involves focusing awareness on a narrowed range of stimuli or events.
2
Q
Selective Attention
A
A term used by many psychologists to describe this paying-attention-to-something process, which involves a filter in an information-processing model of memory: the filter screens out most stimuli, while allowing a select few to pass through into conscious awareness
3
Q
Early selection attention model
A
This model proposes that input is filtered before meaning is processed.
4
Q
Late selection attention model
A
This model holds that filtering occurs after the processing of meaning.
5
Q
What are the levels of processing?
A
According to psychologists, whether or not we will be able to remember something depends on how deeply we processed the information. There are three levels at which this occurs: the structural/shallow, phonemic/intermediate, and semantic/deep.
6
Q
Structural/Shallow Level of Processing
A
Emphasizes the physical structure of the stimulus: “is the word written in capital letters?”
7
Q
Phonemic/Intermediate Level of Processing
A
emphasizes what a word sounds like: “Does the word rhyme with ‘weight’”?
8
Q
Semantic/Deep level of processing
A
emphasizes the meaning of the verbal input: “Would the word fit in the sentence: He met a ______ in the street”?
9
Q
Elaboration in encoding
A
Elaboration is linking a stimulus to another at the time of the encoding
10
Q
Visual encoding (Dual-encoding theory)
A
This theory holds that memory is enhanced by forming semantic and visual codes, since either can lead to recall.
11
Q
Self-referent encoding
A
this involves deciding how or whether information is personally relevant.
12
Q
Sensory memory
A
This type of memory preserves information in its original sensory form for a brief time, usually only a fraction of a second.
13
Q
Short-term Memory (capacity, duration)
A
Short-term memory is defined as a limited-capacity store that can maintain unrehearsed information for up to about 20 seconds.
The capacity of short term memory in earlier experiments stated that it was 7+-2 items, but recent show 4+-1.
14
Q
Chunking
A
Mental process used to ‘extend’ our short term memory capacity: A chunk of information is a group of familiar stimuli stored as a single unit.
15
Q
Rehearsal (what are the types?)
A
Rehearsal is the process of repetitively verbalizing or thinking about the information―keeping it in use.
There are two types of rehearsal: Maintenance and elaborative rehearsal.
16
Q
Maintenance rehearsal
A
In using this type of rehearsal you are simply maintaining the information in consciousness.
17
Q
Elaborative rehearsal
A
in using this type of rehearsal you are increasing the probability that you will retain the information in the future, by focusing on the meaning of words in the list you are trying to remember.
18
Q
Working Memory (What is it and its components)
A
it is a limited capacity storage system that temporarily maintains and stores information by providing an interface between perception, memory and action.
Its components are: Phonological loop, executive control system, visuospatial sketchpad and episodic buffer.
19
Q
Phonological Loop
A
This component is active when one uses recitation to temporarily hold on to information.
20
Q
Executive control system
A
this handles the limited amount of information juggled at one time as people engage in reasoning and decision making: for example, at work when you weigh pros and cons for something.
21
Q
Visuospatial Sketchpad
A
It allows temporary holding and manipulation of visual images (e.g., mentally rearranging the furniture in your bedroom).
22
Q
Episodic Buffer
A
Is a temporary, limited capacity store that allows the various components of working memory to integrate information, and that serves as an interface between working and Long-term memory.
23
Q
Long-term memory
A
it is an unlimited capacity store that can hold information over lengthy periods of time.
24
Q
Flashbulb memory
A
This type of memory are unusually vivid and detailed recollections of momentous events.
25
Conceptual hierarchy
It is a multilevel classification system based on common properties among items.
26
Semantic Networks
They consist of nodes representing concepts, joined together by pathways that link related concepts.
27
Memory Retrieval and Recall
The use of various cues or other techniques in order to retrieve pieces of information from memory.
28
Tip-of-the tongue phenomenon.
It is the temporary inability to remember something you know, accompanied by a feeling that it's just out of reach.
29
Memory Reconstruction
Memories are reconstructions of the past, which may not be entirely accurate. Research shows that reconstructions can be influenced by new information―the misinformation effect. Elizabeth Loftus has shown that eyewitness testimony can be influenced by information presented to witnesses.
30
Memory Reconstruction - Source monitoring
the process of making attributions about the origins of memories. People make decisions at the time of retrieval about where their memory is coming from (e.g., did I read that somewhere or think of it on my own? Cryptomnesia is inadvertent plagiarism that occurs when you think you came up with it but were really exposed to it earlier).
31
Reality Monitoring
It is a type of source monitoring that involves determining whether memories are based in actual events (external sources) or your imagination (internal sources). For example, thinking you were kidnapped by aliens is a possible error in reality monitoring.
32
Forgetting and its measurements
To study forgetting empirically, psychologists must measure it precisely. To measure forgetting, we must measure memory. They used 'Retention' to do this.
Retention refers to the proportion of material remembered or retained. Three types of tasks are used to measure retention: recall, recognition, relearning.
33
Forgetting - Recall
It is a measure of retention which requires subjects to reproduce information from their own without any cues.
34
Forgetting - Recognition
It is a measure of retention which requires subjects to select previously learned information form an array of options.
35
Forgetting - Relearning
it is a measure of retention which requires subjects to memorize information a second time to determine how much time or how many practice trials are saved by having learned it before.
36
Interference and interference types
the Interference theory proposes that people forget information because of competition from other material.
There are two types of interference: retroactive and proactive.
37
Proactive interference
This type of interference occurs when previously learned information interferes with the retention of new information.
38
Retroactive interference
This type of interference occurs when new information impairs the retention of previously learned information.
39
Repressed memories
repression refers to keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious.
40
Amnesia and amnesia types
Amnesia is the loss of extensive memory due to a head injury. There are two types of amnesia: retrograde and anterograde.
Retrograde amnesia involves the loss of memories for events that occurred prior to the onset of amnesia.
Anterograde amnesia involves the loss of memories for events that occurred after the onset of amnesia.
41
Types of memory
Implicit vs. explicit;
Semantic vs. episodic;
Declarative vs. procedural;
Prospective vs. retrospective.
42
Implicit Memory vs. explicit memory
Implicit memory involves incidental, unintentional remembering; while explicit memory involves intentional recall.
43
Procedural memory vs. declarative memory
Procedural memory which is memory for actions, skills, operations and conditioned responses; while declarative is memory for factual information and is divided into Semantic and Episodic memory.
It is suspected that the declarative memory system handles explicit memory and procedural implicit memory.
44
Semantic vs. Episodic Memories
Declarative memory can be subdivided into memory for personal facts (episodic) and memory for general facts (semantic).
45
Prospective vs Retrospective Memories
Retrospective memory is memory for past events; whereas prospective memory is remembering to do things in the future.
46
Language and its properties
Language is defined as consisting of symbols that convey meaning, plus rules for combining those symbols, that can be used to generate an infinite variety of messages.
Language is symbolic, semantic, generative and structured.
47
Language - Symbolic
Language is symbolic; that is, people use spoken sounds and written words to represent objects, actions, events, and ideas.
48
Language - Semantic
It is semantic, or meaningful.
49
Language - Generative
It is generative; that is, a limited number of symbols can be combined in an infinite number of ways to generate novel messages.
50
Language - Structured
It is structured; there are rules that govern arrangement of words into phrases and sentences.
51
Phonemes
These are the smallest speech units in a language that be distinguished perceptually.
52
Morphemes
These are the smallest units of meaning in a language.
53
Semantics
This is the area of the language concerned with understanding the meaning of words and word combinations.
54
Syntax
This is a system of rules that specify how words can be arranged into sentences.
55
Important language development stages
Birth - Reflexive communication: vocalizes randomly, coos, laughs, cries, engages in vocal play, discriminates language from non-language sounds.
6 months - Babbling: verbalizes in response to the speech of others; responses increasingly approximate human speech patterns.
1 year - One word sentence stage: Vocabulary grows slowly; uses nouns primarily; over-extensions begin. Over-extensions occur when a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a wider set of objects or actions than it is meant to.
18-24 months - Vocabulary spurt: Fast mapping facilitates rapid acquisition of new words.
end of 2nd year - Two-word and three-word sentence speech use of telegraphic speech (uses more pronouns and verbs) and modifies speech to take listener into account; over-regularization begin (generalizing grammatical rules incorrectly to irregular cases where they do not apply; ”he goed home,” for example.
end of 3rd year - uses complete simple sentences to tell stories that are understood by others. Expanded grammatical forms; expresses concepts with words and uses four-word sentences.
56
Language Acquisition Theory - Behaviourist
According to Skinner and the behaviourists, children acquire language through conditioning and imitation.
57
Language Acquisition Theory - Nativist
Nativist theorists, led by Noam Chomsky, assert that humans have an innate capacity to learn the rules of language, a Learning Acquisition Device, which facilitates language development.
58
Language Acquisition Theory - Interactionist
Interactionist theories hold that biology and experience both make important contributions. Two prominent interactionist theories are the cognitive and social communication theories.
- Cognitive theory asserts that language development is an important aspect of more general cognitive development, depending, like all development, on both maturation and experience.
- Social communication theory holds that interpersonal communication has functional value and emphasizes the social context in which language evolves.
59
Problem types
```
Inducing Structure (Analogy, sequences): where people are required to discover relations among numbers, words, symbols, or ideas.
Arrangement (ropes, rearranging letters to make words): where people arrange the parts of a problem in a way that satisfies some criterion. These types of problems are often solved by insight, a sudden discovery of the correct solution following incorrect attempts based primarily on trial and error.
Transformation (Hobbits and Orcs, water jars): involve carrying out a sequence of transformations in order to reach a specific, stated goal.
```
60
Functional fixedness
it is a tendency to perceive and item only in terms of its most common sense.
61
Mental set
This exists when people persist in using problem-solving strategies that have worked in the past.
62
Unnecessary constraints
Assuming constraints that do not constraint.
63
Problem solving - algorithms
An algorithm is a methodical, step-by-step process for trying all possible alternatives in searching for a solution to a problem.
64
Problem solving - heuristic
A heuristic is a guiding principle or "rule of thumb" used in solving problems or making decisions.
65
Changing problem representation
Many problems can be represented in a variety of ways, such as verbally, mathematically, or spatially. Representing it with a list, table, equation, graph, or a matrix. The best representation will depend on the nature of the problem.
66
Incubation
An incubation effect occurs when new solutions surface for a previously unsolved problem after a period of not consciously thinking about the problem.
67
Field dependence and independence
These refer to individual's tendency to rely primarily on external versus internal frames of reference when orienting themselves in space. Field dependent people rely on external frames of reference and tend to accept the physical environment as a given instead of trying to analyze or restructure it. People from western cultures and nomadic tend to be more field independent.
68
Decision Making
This involves evaluating alternatives and making choices among them.
69
Risky Decision Making
Risky decision-making involves making choices under conditions of uncertainty. There are 3 perspectives:
Expected value - involves what you stand to gain; subjective utility and subjective probability help explain why people engage in activities that violate expected value.
Subjective utility - represents what an outcome is personally worth to an individual; for example, insurance and sense of security.
Subjective probability - involves personal estimates of probabilities. These are often quite inaccurate.
70
Availability heuristic
This involves basing the estimated probability of an event on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind. For example, you may estimate the divorce rate by recalling the number of divorces among your friend`s parents.
71
Representativeness heuristic
This involves basing the estimated probability of an event on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event.
For example, people would think that, when flipping a coin six times, HTHTHT is more likely than HHHHHHH, when in reality the probability of both occurring is the same.
72
Conjunction Fallacy
This occurs when people estimate that the odds of two uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone. For example, a man who is power-hungry, is he a professor or a professor who is also a politician?
73
Theory of bounded rationality
This theory asserts that people tend to use simple strategies in decision making that focus on only a few facets of available options and often result in "irrational" decisions that are less than optimal.
For example, our capacity to keep rationality in economic behaviour (shopping) can be heavily influenced by previous experience.
74
Framing
This term refers to how decision issues are posed or how choices are structured. For example, some oil companies charge gas station patrons more when they pay with a credit card, but in reality there's a discount to paying with cash. These companies understand that customers can forsake a gain but will not absorb losses, thus framing the issue.
75
Unrealistic standard of rationality
Human decision-making emerged to solve adaptive problems such as finding food, shelter, and mates and dealing with allies and enemies.
Consistent with this theory, many reasoning errors disappear when problems are presented in ways that resemble the type of input humans would have processed in ancient times.
76
Gambler's fallacy
This is the belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn't occurred recently.
77
Law of small numbers
The law of small numbers holds that people assume that results based on small samples are representative of the population.
78
Confirmation bias
This is the tendency to seek information that supports one's decisions and beliefs while ignoring discomforting information.
79
Intelligence Tests and aptitude tests
Intelligence tests measure general mental ability.
| Aptitude tests assess specific types of mental abilities.
80
Standardization, test norms and standardization group
Standardization refers to the uniform procedures used in the administration and scoring of a test.
Test norms provide information about where a score on a psychological test ranks in relation to other scores on that test. These allow a psychologist to determine how a person scores relative to other people.
The standardization group is the sample of people that the norms are based on.
81
Reliability and correlation coefficient
Reliability refers to a test’s consistency; that is, repeated measurements should yield reasonably similar results.
Reliability estimates are based on the correlation coefficient. Two sets of scores from two administrations of the same test are correlated; the closer the correlation comes to +1.00, the more reliable the test.
82
Validity and types of measurement
Validity refers to the ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure. It can be estimated in three different ways.
Content validity - this refers to the degree to which the content of a test is representative of the domain it's supposed to cover.
Criterion-related validity - is estimated by correlating subjects' scores on a test with their scores on an independent criterion (another measure) of the trait assessed by the test.
Construct validity - this is the extent to which there is evidence that a test measures a particular hypothetical construct. This is used when trying to test abstract personal qualities, such as creativity, intelligence, extraversion or independence.
83
Hereditary Genius
Sir Francis Galton (1869) published Hereditary Genius, in which he put forth the notion that success runs in families because intelligence is inherited. He developed a crude mental abilities test based on sensory acuity.
84
Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale and mental age
Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon published the first intelligence test in 1905―a test designed to single out youngsters in need of special training. The test expressed a child’s score in terms of mental age; for example, a 4 year old child with a mental age of 6 performed like the average 6-year-old on the test.
85
Stanford-Binet Intelligence scale
Lewis Terman, at Stanford University, revised Binet’s test for use in the U.S: the Stanford-Binet.
Terman used a new scoring scheme, the intelligence quotient, dividing a child’s mental age by chronological age and multiplying by 100; this made it possible to compare children of different ages.
IQ = [mental age] / [chronological age] x 100
86
Wechsler adult intelligence test
David Wechsler was the fist to devise an instrument to measure intelligence in adults. He later devised downward extensions of his scale for children. Wechsler is credited with two innovations in intelligence testing. First, his scales give more emphasis to nonverbal reasoning, yielding a verbal IQ, a performance IQ, and a full-scale IQ. Second, Wechsler devised a new scoring system based on the normal distribution: the deviation IQ.
87
Intellectual disability/mental retardation; range, levels, and environmental vs biological causes
Intellectual disability refers to subnormal general mental ability accompanied by deficiencies in adaptive skills, originating from age 18.
Level, IQ, education and adaptation:
Mild - 55-70; some graduate high school, may need help with stress.
Moderate - 40-55; special education necessary, can be semi-independent in sheltered environment.
Severe - 25-40; Limited speech, toilet habits.
Profound - below 25; little or no speech, no toilet-training. Requires total care.
Origins of mental retardation may include organic syndromes, as 350 biological conditions that can cause mental retardation have been identified.
Cases of mild mental retardation tend to involve unknown origin. Environmental theories hold that unfavourable environmental factors may contribute to the development of mild mental retardation; things like neglect, inadequate nutrition and medical care, and lower quality schooling.
88
Intellectual giftedness; range, stereotypes, achievement orientation
There are discrepancies between ideals and practice regarding how gifted children are identified in the U.S. Usually, identification occurs based on IQ of 130 or higher, although creativity, leadership, and special talents are recommended for use in identification as well.
Gifted individuals are often stereotyped as weak, sickly, socially inept, and emotionally troubled “bookworms.”
Studies of giftedness and achievement in life suggest that more than IQ determines high achievement. Joseph Renzulli theorizes that there is a more rare form of giftedness, based in an intersection of three factors, that leads to genuine greatness: high intelligence, high creativity, and high motivation.
89
Drudge Theory
This theory is captured in the reaction of one talented violinist after a critic termed him a genius ―“A genius! For 37 years I’ve practised fourteen hours a day, and now they call me a genius!” While clearly obsessive hard work is important in this case, it can be argued that inborn ability allowed him to work harder because he found his efforts more rewarding. Simonton proposes an elaborate theory of talent development that gives roles to both innate ability and environmental factors.
90
Heredity of intelligence (twin studies and heritability)
Twin studies provide evidence regarding the role of genetic factors. The basic rationale is that identical and fraternal twins develop under similar environmental conditions, but identical twins share more genes; if identical twins end up more similar on a given characteristic, it must be genetic.
Heritability - it is an estimate of the proportion of trait variability in a population that is determined by variations in genetic inheritance. For example, the heritability of height is estimated to be around 90% and the one for weight is around 85%.
91
Environmental causes of intelligence
Adoption studies provide evidence that upbringing plays an important role in mental ability, as adopted children show some resemblance to their foster parents. Also, siblings reared together are more similar in IQ than siblings reared apart. In fact, entirely unrelated children who are reared together show resemblance in IQ.
The cumulative deprivation - it is a hypothesis that holds that children raised in deprived environments will experience a gradual decline in IQ as they grow older. Conversely, children removed from deprived environments and placed in homes that are more conducive for learning show IQ increases.
The Flynn effect is the trend that performance on IQ tests has steadily increased over generations.
92
Reaction range
This range refers to genetically determined limits on IQ, of which a precise value inside the limits is influenced by environmental factors, increasing or decreasing.
93
The bell curve and intellectual meritocracy
```
Arthur Jensen argued that cultural differences in average IQ are largely due to heredity.
The authors of The Bell Curve, by implying that we are moving toward a meritocracy based on intellect, ignited the same controversy.
These arguments have been challenged on a number of grounds. First, even if IQ is largely due to heredity, group differences may not be. Social class and socioeconomic disadvantage are correlated with ethnicity, so environmental variables are not equal between groups.
```
94
Cornfield analogy for heredity vs environment
Leo Kamin's analogy argues how between-group differences on a trait (the average height of the corn plants) could be due to environment, even if the trait is largely inherited. The same reasoning presumably applies to ethnic-group differences in average intelligence. Average IQ of various human populations could be entirely due to environmental differences, even if within each population all variation were due to genetic differences.
95
Spearman`s g
Increased emphasis is being placed on specific abilities rather than a general mental ability that Charles Spearman labelled g (bad). Spearman used a statistical procedure called factor analysis to determine intercorrelated, specific mental talents (concluding that all cognitive abilities share a common core).
96
Fluid intelligence vs. Crystallized intelligence
Cattell and Horn suggest that g should be divided into fluid intelligence, which consists of reasoning ability, memory capacity, speed of information processing, and crystallized intelligence, which consists of the ability to apply acquired knowledge and skills in problem solving.
97
Biological measures of intelligence
Other psychologists, including Arthur Jensen, are searching for physiological indicators of general intelligence. Reaction time has been used in these studies, although the “fast is smart” idea is modest at best. Other measures studied include inspection time, which is an assessment of how long it takes to make simple perceptual discriminations that meet a certain criterion of accuracy.
98
Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence
This theory consist of three pillars:
- Contextual subtheory: specifies the behaviours considered intelligent in a particular culture.
- Experiential subtheory: specifies how experiences affect intelligence and how intelligence affects experience.
- Componential subtheory: Specifies the cognitive processes that underlie all intelligent behaviour.
There are 3 types of processes inside the Componential subtheory pillar:
- Metacomponents: control, monitor, and evaluate cognitive processing.
- Knowledge acquisition components: encode, combine and compare information.
- Performance components: execute strategies assembled by metacomponents.
All these processes contribute to each of the three aspects of intelligence: practical, analytical and creative intelligence.
99
Gardner's multiple intelligences
According to Gardner, IQ test have generally emphasized verbal and mathematical skills to the exclusion of other important skills that are relatively autonomous and considered 'human intelligences'.
100
Emotional intelligence
This intelligence consists of the ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion.
101
Motives
They involve goal-directed behaviour.
102
Drive theories of motivation
Drive theories apply the concept of homeostasis, a state of physiological equilibrium or stability, to behaviour. A drive is an internal state of tension that motivates and organism to engage in activities that should reduce this tension. Hunger, thrist, sexual drive etc are all internal tension.
103
Incentive theories of motivation
An incentive is an external goal that has the capacity to motivate behaviour. Ice cream, a juicy steak, monetary prize, etc are all external stimuli which can be object of goals instantly.
104
Evolutionary theories of motivation
Evolutionary theories hold that natural selection favours behaviours that maximize reproductive success; this explains affiliation, achievement, dominance, aggression, and sex drive in terms of adaptive value.
105
Primary/biological vs. secondary/social drives
Theories distinguish between biological motives that originate in bodily needs, such as hunger, and social motives that originate in social experiences, such as the need for achievement.
106
Role of hypothalamus in hunger
Research in the 1940s and 1950s showed that the hypothalamus, particularly two areas called the lateral hypothalamus (LH) and the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMH), are important in hunger. The LH was thought to be the hunger centre, while the VMH was thought to be the satiety centre. Subsequent research indicated that this was an oversimplified picture, although the LH and VMH are part of the hunger circuit, they are not the key elements.
The paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus has recently been implicated as another influential part of the hunger circuit.
107
Glucostatic theory of hunger
Other research has focused on the role of blood glucose and digestive regulation on hunger; when blood sugar goes down, hunger goes up. Glucostatic theory proposed that fluctuations in blood glucose level are monitored in the brain by glucostats―neurons sensitive to glucose in the surrounding fluid. It appears likely that hunger is regulated, in part, through glucostatic mechanisms.
108
Learned preferences/habits of eating
Clearly, hunger is related to biology; however, it is also regulated by environmental factors like learned preferences. Studies show that people like foods that are familiar to them; dog meat is a delicacy in some parts of the world. Exposure and observational learning appear to play a part in what we like to eat. Learning also appears to influence when and how much people eat.
109
Food-related hunger cues
Food-related cues are environmental cues that have been associated with eating, such as the appearance or odour of food, the effort required to eat a particular food, etc. Research shows that these external cues influence eating behaviour to some extent, beyond biological hunger.
110
Stress and hunger
Finally, stress has been shown to be related to increased eating, with some research indicating that chronic dieters are more likely to respond to stress with eating. It is unclear whether stress-induced eating is caused by physiological arousal or negative emotion. It is also unclear whether the effects of stress on hunger are direct or indirect.
111
Obesity; evolutionary and genetic causes; settling point; dietary restraint and overeating
The condition of being overweight.
Evolutionary explanations for increases in the prevalence of obesity are based in food supply changes. Whereas most animals evolved in environments where competition for food was fierce and food supplies were unreliable, the vast majority of humans now live in environments where food is abundant and reliable.
Research suggests that some people can eat more than others without gaining weight and that this may have a genetic basis.
Settling-point theory (Pinel et al., 2000) alternatively proposes that weight hovers near the level at which the constellation of factors that determine food consumption and energy expenditure achieve an equilibrium. Thus, according to this theory, weight remains stable as long as there are no durable changes in any of the factors that influence it.
Researchers have also shown that dietary restraint may contribute to obesity. Chronic dieters restrain themselves from eating and go hungry much of the time, but they are constantly thinking about food. When they give in, they become disinhibited and eat to excess: the “I’ve already blown it” problem.
112
Sexual motivation; role of hormones; parental investemnt
Hormones exert considerable influence on sexual behaviour in many animals, but human sexuality is influenced by much more than hormones. Research suggests that hormones do have at least a small role in human sexual behaviour, as testosterone fluctuations are correlated with sexual activity.
Evolutionary factors in human sexual behaviour are theorized to hinge on parental investment, with females being more discriminating in choosing partners and less likely to engage in casual sex. This has been used to explain sex differences such as males thinking about sex more frequently, males emphasizing youthfulness and attractiveness in a potential partner, and females emphasizing status and financial prospects in a potential partner.
113
Stages of sexual response
Excitement - This phase is the initial arousal, which escalates quickly. Muscle tension, respiration rate, heart rate and blood pressure increase.
Plateau - This phase phase occurs when physiological arousal continues to build, but at a slower pace.
Orgasm - This phase occurs when sexual arousal reaches its peak intensity and is discharged in a series of muscular contractions that pulsate through the pelvic area. The subjective experience of orgasm is very similar for men and women, although women can be multiorgasmic. On the other hand, they are more likely to engage in intercourse without experiencing an orgasm.
Resolution - This phase is characterized by subsiding physiological arousal. Men experience a refractory period after orgasm, when they are largely unresponsive to further stimulation. This may last from a few minutes to a few hours and increases with age.
114
Sexual orientation as continuum
Recent conceptualizations of sexuality hold that homosexuality and heterosexuality are endpoints on a continuum.
115
Genetic causes of sexual orientation
Biological research suggests that there is a genetic predisposition to homosexuality, possibly based on the X chromosome.
Some theorists believe that anatomical brain differences such as these may be due to the organizing effects of prenatal hormones on neurological development.
116
Need for affiliation; ostracism
Affiliation motive is the need to associate with others and maintain social bonds.
Ostracism involves being ignored and excluded by others in your social environment.
117
Need for achievement; personality aspects and situational determinants
Achievement motivation involves the need to excel, especially in competition with others.
People who are relatively high in the need for achievement work harder and more persistently, they tend to delay gratification well, and to pursue competitive careers.
Situational determinants are factors that influence the tendency to pursue achievement: probability of success, and incentive value of success (rewards).
118
Thematic Apperception Test and Needs Assesment
Both affiliation and achievement motivation are generally measured using the TAT, a projective test which requires a subject to write or tell stories about what is happening in pictures of people in ambiguous scenes.
119
Components of Emotional Experience
Cognitive - The cognitive component of emotion involves subjective feelings that have an evaluative aspect.
Physiological - The physiological arousal associated with emotion occurs through the actions of the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is responsible for the highly emotional fight-or-flight response.
Behavioural - Behaviourally, emotions are expressed through body language and facial expressions. Research indicates considerable cross-cultural similarities in the ability to differentiate facial expressions of emotion.
120
Theories of emotion
James-Lange`s: Stimulus > Autonomic Arousal > Conscious Feeling; "I feel afraid because I tremble"
Cannon-Bard's: Stimulus > Subcortical Brain activity > Consciouts feeling = Autonomic Arousal; "The dog makes me tremble and feel afraid"
Schachter's: Stimulus > Autonomic Arousal > Appraisal > Conscious Feeling; "I label my trembling as fear because I appraise the situation as dangerous"
121
Happiness and correlation between various aspects
Largely uncorrelated: income, age, parenthood, intelligence and attractiveness.
Modestly correlated: physical health, good social relationships, religious faith, and culture.
Strongly correlated: Love, marriage, work satisfaction, and personality.
122
Development stages
These are the sequences of age-related changes that occur as a person progresses from conception to death.
123
Prenatal development and stages
The prenatal period extends from conception to birth, usually encompassing nine months of pregnancy. It is divided in three stages: Germinal, Embryonic and Fetal stage.
Germinal - encompasses the first two weeks after conception. Rapid cell division occurs and the mass of cells implant themselves into the uterine wall, forming a placenta, which will allow nutrients and oxygen to pass into the fetus during the process
Embryonic - last from two weeks to two months and most vital organs, such as the heart and brain and spine, emerge. Stage of most vulnerability.
Fetal - last from two months to birth. Muscles and bone begin to form, sex organs develop and brain cells multiply.
124
Age of viability
The age at which a baby can survive in the event of a premature birth. Sometime between 22 and 26 weeks.
125
Fetal alcohol syndrome
It is a collection of congenital (inborn) problems associated with excessive alcohol use during pregnancy.
126
Motor development and the principles
Motor development refers to the progression of muscular coordination required for physical activities.
The two principles or trends are:
The cephalocaudal trend - the head-to-foot direction of motor development.
The proximodistal trend - is the centre-outward direction of motor development.
127
Longitudinal vs cross-sectional research design
In a longitudinal design, investigators observe one group of participants repeatedly over a period of time.
In a cross-sectional design, investigators compare groups of participants of differing age at a single point in time.
128
Temperament styles for babies
Easy babies are happy, regularly sleep and eat, are adaptable, and not readily upset.
Slow-to-warm-up children are less cheery, less regular in sleep and eating, and slow adapting to change, with moderate reactivity.
Difficult children were glum, erratic in sleep and eating, resistant to change, and relatively irritable.
Some children exhibited mixtures of all three styles.
129
Inhibited vs uninhibited
Infants can be characterized along the inhibited-uninhibited dimension, with inhibited children exhibiting shyness, timidity, and wariness of the unfamiliar, and uninhibited children exhibiting less restraint with regard to the unfamiliar and little trepidation.
130
Erikson's stages of psychosocial development.
There are 8 stages in total:
1) Trust vs. mistrust - 1st year - Love and support.
2) Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt - 2nd&3rd year - independence
3) Initiative vs guilt - 4th-6th years - children experiment and take initiatives that may conflict with parents' rules Overcontrolling parents may instill senses of guild in the child.
4) Industry vs inferiority - 6th-puberty - competence in school
5) Identity versus confusion - Adolescence - self knowledge and goals
6) Intimacy vs isolation - early adulthood - marriage
7) Generativity vs self-absorption - middle adulthood - "Will I produce something of value?"
8) Integrity vs despair - late adulthood - "Have I lived a full life?"
131
Piaget's stages of cognitive development
Piaget proposed that children’s thought processes go through a series of four major stages:
Sensorimotor - birth to 2 - child progressively develops object permanence, or the recognition that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible.
Preoperational - 2 to 7 - children engage in symbolic thought, with characteristic flaws in their reasoning such as centration, the tendency to focus on just one feature of a problem, and egocentrism, the limited ability to share another’s viewpoint.
Concerete operational - 7 to 11 - the ability to perform operations with symbolic thought such as reversing or mentally undoing an action, and conservation - recognizing that amount of a substance does not change just because appearance is changed.
Formal operational - The formal operational period is marked by the ability to apply operations to abstract concepts such as justice, love, and free will.
132
Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning
Lawrence Kohlberg devised a stage theory of moral development based on subjects’ responses to presented moral dilemmas. Kohlberg was interested in a person’s reasoning, not necessarily their answer. There are 3 levels, with 2 stages each.
133
Kohlberg's Preconventinal stage of moral reasoning
Punishment - Right and wrong are determined by what is punished
Naive reward - Right and wrong are determined by what is rewarded.
134
Kohlberg's Conventinal stage of moral reasoning
Good boy/girl - Right and wrong are determined by close others' approval or disapproval.
Authority - Right and wrong are determined by society's rules and laws, which should be obeyed rigidly.
135
Kohlberg's Postconventinal stage of moral reasoning
Social Contract - Right and wrong are determined by society's rules, which are viewed as fallible rather than absolute.
Individual principles and conscience - Right and wrong are determined by abstract ethical principles that emphasize equity and justice.
