Psychology Unit 3 Flashcards
(237 cards)
1
Q
Why do scientists think that the evolution of language and evolution of the brain were intertwined?
A
because the development of fully grammatical language is a monumental and unusual step, as our ancestors moved from protolanguage to grammatical language they required brains with greater working memory and a capacity for abstract thought
2
Q
What are the principles of language development discussed in the book?
A
the ability to understand words develops slightly before the ability to produce words, neural commitment - young infants can discriminate phonetic sounds outside of their language where a few months later they can no longer do that meaning the neural networks in brain’s language center wire it to commit to one language
3
Q
What do we know about the babbling stage of language development in humans? How is it defined? When does it end?
A
sounds made as a result of the infant’s experimentation with a complex range of phonemes, including consonants and vowels (starts at 5-6 months old and ends around 12 months), make more sounds than they hear in native language and can hear more sounds than their parents
4
Q
What is mnemic neglect?
A
a pattern of selective forgetting in which autobiographical memories are easier to recall if they are consistent with positive self concept
5
Q
What is the twaddling and cooing stage of language development?
A
first sounds humans make other than crying, consisting of mainly vowels, during first 6 months of life
6
Q
When do babies express one-word utterances?
A
at 12 months
7
Q
What do we mean when we say that children employ the recency effect when learning languages?
A
the tendency to learn the last word in a sentence first
after neural pruning and neural wiring reach their peak, the plasticity of neural connections becomes less flexible
8
Q
According to Uylings (2006), what happens after neural pruning and neural wiring reach their peak?
A
the plasticity of neural connections becomes less flexible
9
Q
What is the optimal learning time for language acquisitions?
A
the first years of your life until about age 12
10
Q
How can you best describe child-directed speech?
A
changes in adult speech patterns - apparently universal - when speaking to young children or infants; characterized by higher pitch, changes in voice volume, use of simpler sentences, emphasis on here and now, and use of emotion
11
Q
According to the book, what is Skinner’s belief on language? What terms does he use to explain the progression of language development in children from birth until the age they are able to utter short phrases and sentences?
A
language exists because it is reinforced and shaped and that we speak not because we want to convey an idea or feeling but because we have been reinforced into doing so. Skinner explains the progression of language development in children as shaping (successive approximations and reinforcement)
12
Q
What is the central tenet of the nativist theory?
A
we discover language rather than learn it, that language development is “native”, or inborn, the brain is structured for language learning
13
Q
How would you describe the language acquisition device?
A
an innate, biologically based capacity to acquire language, proposed by Noam Chomsky as part of his nativist view of language
14
Q
What are Chomsky’s views on language development?
A
nativist, we are not born with a capacity to learn a particular language but rather we are born with a capacity to learn language, single universal grammar underlying all human languages
15
Q
For what reason does linguist Noam Chomsky argue for a built-in language acquisition device (LAD)?
A
how easily and automatically humans learn to do a very complex and difficult thing (speak in complete and grammatical sentences)
16
Q
Describe the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis? What are the basic tenets of this theory?
A
language creates thought as much as thought creates language - language shapes our thoughts and perceptions to such an extent that people who speak languages that lack a common foundation have difficulty directly communication and translating their ideas from one language to the other
17
Q
Describe the linguistic determinism hypothesis? What are the basic tenets of this theory?
A
our language determines our way of thinking and our perceptions of the world, if there are no words for certain objects or concepts in one’s language it is not possible to think about those objects or concepts
18
Q
What is linguistic relativism?
A
the language we speak influences but does not determine how we think
19
Q
What are mental representations?
A
a structure in the mind - such as an idea or image - that stands for something else, such as an external object or thing sensed in the past or future, not the present (more about things we sensed in the past)
20
Q
How is visual imagery defined in the book?
A
visual representations created by the brain after the original stimulus is no longer present
21
Q
How is visual perception described in the book?
A
actually perceiving an image, occurs while stimulus is still present
22
Q
What are the differences between visual perception and visual imagery?
A
visual perception occurs while perceiving an image, visual imagery occurs after the original stimulus is no longer present
23
Q
Which hormone plays a key role in determining the ability to perform better on tests of spatial ability for men, women, and animals?
A
High levels of testosterone and low levels of estrogen are associated with higher scores on spatial tasks
24
Q
What are categories and prototypes?
A
Category - classification created by perceiving similar features in objects, ideas, or events and treating them as if they are the same
Prototypes - best-fitting examples of a category (ie robin is better for bird category than ostrich)
25
How is a concept defined in the book? Why are they useful?
mental grouping of objects, events, or people, help us to organize our perceptions of the world
26
According to the book, what is the importance of concept hierarchy?
an arrangement of related concepts in a particular way, with some being general and others being specific, helps us order and understand our world
27
What is inductive and deductive reasoning? How do they both differ from each other? Which of these two is linked to the confirmation bias and casual inferences?
- Inductive reasoning - reasoning general conclusions from specific evidence, causal inferences and confirmation bias
- Deductive reasoning - reasoning from general statements of what is known to specific conclusions (ie All humans are mortal. Socrates is human. Therefore, Socrates must be mortal.)
28
How is confirmation bias and casual inferences defined in the book?
causal inferences - judgements about causation of one thing by another, confirmation bias - tendency to selectively attend to information that supports one’s general beliefs while ignoring information or evidence that contradicts one’s beliefs
29
What is the rational choice theory?
when given a choice between two or more options, humans will choose the one that is most likely to help them achieve their particular goals
30
According to book what evidence challenges rational theory?
people make economic decisions based on intuition rather than rational choice
31
Define verbal, spatial, quantitative intelligences?
- Verbal intelligence - ability to solve problems and analyze information using language-based reasoning
- Spatial intelligence - ability or mental skill to solve problems such as navigating and visualizing objects from different angles
- Quantitative intelligence - ability to reason and solve problems by carrying out mathematical operations and using logic
32
How did Charles Spearman to arrive at his theory of intelligence?
came to this conclusion after research consistently showed that specific dimensions, or factors, of intelligence were correlated strongly with one another, suggesting they all measured pretty much the same thing, includes verbal intelligence, spatial intelligence, and quantitative intelligence
33
Why is Spearman’s theory known as a g-factor theory? What does the g-factor theory imply?
intelligence is a single general (g) factor made up of specific components, implies that this single number accurately reflects a person’s intelligence - the higher, the better (ie IQ of 115 better than 100)
34
How are Cattel’s fluid and crystallized intelligences defined? How do they differ from each other?
- Cattell's fluid intelligence - raw mental ability, pattern recognition, and abstract reasoning that can be applied to a problem one has never confronted before
- Crystallized intelligence - kind of knowledge that one gains from experience and learning, education, and practice, more stable over time: Influenced by culture, experience, and environment
35
What is the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test used for?
measure of fluid intelligence
36
What is matrix reasoning? Why it is considered as a fluid intelligence?
Matrix reasoning is fluid intelligence, because it does not depend on acquired knowledge and involved the ability to find patterns, matrix reasoning measures visual processing and abstract, spatial perception
37
What are the component of crystallized intelligence?
- General intelligence
- Broad intelligence - includes abilities such as crystallized and fluid intelligence, memory, learning, and processing speed
- Narrow intelligence - includes many distinct abilities (ie speed of reasoning and general sequential reasoning for fluid intelligence and reading, spelling, and language comprehension for crystallized intelligence)
38
How does human intelligence change across the lifespan?
crystallized intelligence improves until middle age and begins to dip after age 65, abstract intelligence peaks during your 20’s
39
When does abstract intelligence peak?
during your 20’s
40
What are the three components of Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence?
1)Analytic - judging, evaluating, or comparing and contrasting information (ie ap person deciphering meaning of an uncommon word from its context in a sentence)
2)Creative - coming up with fresh and useful ideas for solving problems
3) practical intelligence - solve problems of everyday life efficiently, “street” knowledge
41
What are the components of Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences?
1)Naturalistic- ability to recognize, classify and understand plants and animals in one’s environment (ie biologists)
2)Interpersonal intelligence - ability to perceive and understand other people’s intentions, emotions, motives, and behaviors (social workers, psychologists)
3)Bodily-kinesthetic - ability to use one’s body or parts of it to solve problems or create products (athletes, mechanics)
4)Spatial - ability to think about and solve problems in 3D space (navigators, architects)
5) Intrapersonal - ability to be aware of, understand, and regulate one’s own behavior, thoughts, feelings, and motivations (ie psychologists)
6) Musical - ability in performing, composing, or appreciating musical patterns (musicians, song-writers)
7) Logical -mathematical - ability to analyze information and problems logically and to perform mathematical operations (scientists, engineers)
8) Linguistic ability to learn, understand, and use both spoken and written language (poets, writers, lawyers, politicians)
42
define the concept of mental age? Who develop this concept?
equivalent chronological age a child has reached based on his or her performance on an IQ test, developed Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon developed this test
43
What procedure does William Stern use to determine a person's intelligence score?
intelligence ratio (named Stanford-Binet test) - mental age (MA) is divided by chronological age (CA) and multiplied by 100 to determine an intelligence score (aka intelligence quotient (IQ))
44
What was Lewis Terman's contribution to intelligence testing?
established national norms and adopted and applied the ration score of MA/CA to a widely used IQ test
45
What is the difference between the WISC and the WAIS?
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) - measures adult intelligence
- Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) - measures children intelligence
46
How did the K-ABC differ from the Stanford–Binet and Wechsler tests?
1)first IQ test to be more systematically guided by theories of intelligence (fluid and crystallized intelligence and Piaget’s theory of cognitive development 2)different kinds of problems for children of different ages with varied difficulty 3) measured several distinct aspects of intelligence more explicitly and in a more detailed manner than traditional measures of intelligence 4) assessed different types of learning styles, first intelligence test informed by contemporary ideas about how the brain works and developed
47
What was an important aspect of intelligence that aided in solving a problem at hand that was not considered in intelligence tests before 1985?
Working memory
48
In addition to assessing fluid and crystallized intelligence, what does the newest version of the Stanford–Binet test assess?
assesses quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing, and working memory
49
As argued by Sternberg and Gardner, what is a drawback of Wechsler and Stanford–Binet tests?
they measure only verbal, spatial, and mathematical forms of intelligence
50
What is the criteria used to assess the reliability of an intelligence test?
reliability - consistency of results,
-test-retest reliability - consistency of scores on a test over time
- internal reliability- characteristic of an intelligence test in which questions on a given subtest tend to correlate very highly with other items on the subtest
51
What is an adaptive behavior?
adjustment to and coping with everyday life (ie how well can a person feed themself)
52
What is the criteria used to determine intellectual disability?
significant limitations in intellectual functioning as well as in everyday adaptive behavior and the deficits must start before age 18
53
What do we know about familial-cultural intellectual disability?
occurs when environmental deprivation (neglect and poor nutrition) is to blame for some cases of milder intellectual disability, genetics play no role in this form of disability
54
How is prodigy defined?
young person who is extremely gifted and precocious in one area (ie math, music, art, or chess) and at least average in intelligence
55
How is savant syndrome defined?
very rare condition in which people with serious mental handicaps also show isolated areas of ability or brilliance (ie IQ below 70, yet incredible ability for calculating numbers, recalling events, playing music, or drawing)
56
Which part of the brain is involved in solving the problem?
frontal lobe
57
What do we know about the interconnectedness of nature and nurture in intelligence?
- People with higher levels of brain connectivity tend to have higher overall IQs than people with lower connectivity ie Connectome (map of all neural networks in the human brain)
- the more closely people are related genetically, the more similar they are in IQ, environment can also enhance a child’s IQ, “nature” accounts for 50% of variability in intelligence among individuals and nurture account for 40% of variability
58
What is a reaction range?
for a given trait (IQ) the genetically determined range of responses by an individual to his or her environment (ie a reaction range for IQ is 25 points, meaning that a given person may end up scoring anywhere in a 25 point range on an IQ test), a person who was raised in an enriched environment is likely to obtain an IQ score near the upper limit of his or her reaction range
59
How does the prenatal environment affect the growth of the brain and IQ of a child?
toxins ingested by the mother, either intentionally or unintentionally may influence the child’s intelligence, stress, alcohol, drugs, and viral infections in a pregnant woman can lower her child’s overall intelligence
60
What is Arthur Jensen's conclusions regarding IQ?
because IQ is under genetic influence, racial-ethnic differences in IQ must be at least partly genetic in origin
61
What did Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray conclude in their book 'The Bell Curve'?
1) racial-ethnic groups vary on IQ scores 2) difference in IQ contribute to differences in education and income, suggest that group differences in IQ and hence in education and income can be explained in part by genetics
62
According to the book, what is the relationship between gender and intelligence? What are the gender differences described in the book?
Gender and intelligence: most research on overall intelligence and gender has reported no difference between men and women on average
- women more consistently tend to do better than men in writing, reading comprehension ,perceptual speed, and associative memory
- men have better spatial skills and more frequently score at the high or end of the scale on tests of science, math, spatial reasoning, and social studies
63
In the context of cultural views on intelligence, how do Asian cultures differ from American cultures?
have traditionally emphasized humility, awareness, right conduct, and mindfulness as important qualities of intelligence, western cultures emphasize verbal and cognitive skills first
64
What is convergent thinking?
problems that have known solutions and require analytic thinking and the use of learning strategies and knowledge to come up with the correct answer
65
What will an individual applying crystallized intelligence to solve a problem require?
learned strategies and knowledge
66
What is divergent thinking?
problems that have no known solutions and require novel solutions
67
What are the three kinds of strategies that people use to solve different kinds of problems?
1) Algorithms - step-by-step procedure or formula for solving a problem
2) Insight - sudden solution that comes to mind in a flash (Eureka Insight)
3) Thinking outside the box - an approach to problem solving that requires breaking free of self-imposed conceptual constraints and thinking about a problem differently in order to solve it
68
What is functional fixedness?
mindset in which one is blind to unusual uses of common, everyday things or procedures (ie pliers cut things but they could also be used as a weight at the end of a string to cause it to swing like an pendulum)
69
What is cognitive fixation? How does it affect individuals solving problems?
inability to break out of a particular mind-set in order to think about a problem from a fresh perspective, prevents people from seeing possible solutions (ie not thinking in 3D because they believe it has to be solved in 2D)
70
What is a mental set? What happens when people develop mental sets?
tendency to continue to use problem solving strategies that have worked in the past, even if better solutions are available
71
What is creativity?
thinking an/or behavior that is both novel - original and useful - and adaptive
72
Describe the four stages of creative problem-solving?
1) preparation - involves discovering and defining the problem and then attempting to solve it 2) incubation - putting the problem aside for a while and working on something else 3) insight - a Eureka moment when the solution comes immediately to mind 4) elaboration-verification - the solution needs to be confirmed even if it has the feel of certainty and ins confirmed depending on what task is involved
73
Why is elaboration-verification undertaken?
the solution needs to be confirmed even if it has the feel of certainty
74
What do we know about creative insights and creative people?
creative ideas activate frontal and parietal lobe regions of the brain, insights occur in the right hemisphere rather than the left, creative people solving creative problems show more integrated and balanced activity between their right and left frontal lobes
75
What ideational fluency?
ability to produce many ideas
76
What test can a person take to assess one's creativity?
Alternate Uses test measures creativity by J.P. Guilford
77
Can you name a personality trait commonly found among highly creative individuals?
openness to experience, which is the tendency to enjoy and seek out new experiences, new foods, new places, and new ideas
78
What disabilities does Rex have?
blind, can’t tie his shoes or dress himself, or carry on a basic conversational
79
What is a musical savant?
combination of blindness, mental disability, and musical talent
80
What age was Rex when he first became interested in a keyboard?
2
81
How common is Rex’s ability to recognize music notes?
1 in 10,000
82
What is stereotype threat?
people’s perceived risk that they might do something that supports an unfavorable stereotype about their group
83
What do we mean when we say that stereotype threat is a situational threat?
you could be judged based on a stereotype that you have
84
Do stigmatized group members need to believe the stereotypes targeting their groups to experience stereotype threat?
Stigmatized group members do NOT need to believe the stereotypes targeting their groups to experience stereotype threat because it can cause them to fear the stereotype and interfere with their academic achievement
85
How can stereotype threat affect academic performance in women?
Stereotype can affect academic performance in women because when they take a difficult math test the woman taking the test and those seeing the results see the stereotype of women not being good at math as something that is interfering/related to their performance
86
How do Claude Steele’s experiments with women support stereotype threat’s main argument?
Claude Steele’s experiments with women support stereotype threat’s main argument, because when the stereotype threat was taken out of the situation women were able to more accurately match the skills of the men but when the men were there the stereotype threat occurs
87
What factors determined that Black students in Steele and Aronson (1995) diagnostic condition would likely experience stereotype threat? What evidence from Study 3 supports this view?
because they were told it was a diagnostic of intellectual ability on verbal ability and there is a stereotype that blacks have low verbal ability, study 3: Blacks who were told the test was diagnostics were more likely to complete the word fragments in black stereotypic ways while those in non diagnostic conditions did not complete word fragments using stereotypic words, Blacks were also more likely to complete word fragment in ways that indicated self-doubt more likely to distance themselves from stereotypically black activities
88
What are the general features of stereotype threat discussed in the video?
1) stems from situational pressures that bring the stereotype to mind
2) can affect any group for which a negative stereotype exists
3) the nature of the threat varies by the specific context of the negative stereotype
Women - threatened in arena of mathematical ability
Older adults - threatened in the arena of memory
Athletes - threatened on the football field
4) operates by changing the way information is processed - reducing people’s working memory capacity, emotional and cognitive reaction to the possibility of confirming a stereotype about one’s group
89
What do we learn from Inzlicht and Ben-Zeev (2003) study?
women taking math test in a group with women scored higher on a test than when taking it with mainly men
90
What do we learn from Croizet and Claire (1998) study?
lower socioeconomic status participants in diagnostic condition - tried fewer items/answered fewer questions and higher socioeconomic status participant were not influence whether the test was of intellectual ability or lexical memory
91
What conditions are more likely to produce stereotype threat?
more negative stereotypes produce stronger stereotype threat, stronger effects if self-esteem is tied to domain performance, have greater chance for success in area of achievement
92
According to the video, how does information processing is affected by stereotype threat?
Women - threatened in arena of mathematical ability
Older adults - threatened in the arena of memory
Athletes - threatened on the football field
93
What was Francis Galton trying to prove with his research on intelligence?
to demonstrate the hereditary basis of intelligence
94
Originally, what was Alfred Binet’s test designed to assess?
measure intellectual intelligence of school children (to separate normal vs intellectually disabled)
95
According to the video, what was the key of Binet’s approach when testing children’s abilities?
testing children’s abilities was the quantification of a student’s performance (a norm was obtained for children in each age group then a child’s performance was compared to the average score for their age)
96
How can you derive Lewis Terman’s intelligence quotient in the Stanford-Binet Intelligence test (IQ)?
dividing mental age by chronological age then multiplying by 100
97
What is the relevance of David Wechsler’s Adult Intelligence Test? Why this test is less likely to be biased when assessing the intelligence of an immigrant?
developed nonverbal sections to go along with the verbal sections since not everyone could speak English and less likely to be biased when assessing the intelligence of an immigrant because it allows non-english speakers to take it
98
For most people, what are the skills more likely to be associated with intelligence?
analytical reasoning
99
How was Binet able to determine higher school performance in children?
by focusing on memory, attention, and the ability to understand similarities and difference and progress to higher levels of difficulties, he determined that brighter children performed at the same level as an older child, he assigned a mental age to each child
100
According to the video, how was the (Stanford-Binet Intelligence) IQ test misused? What are the disadvantages of using this test?
The IQ test was misused and began to make discriminations among normal levels of high intelligence in society, disadvantages of this test were that it was used to screen certain immigrant populations from access into the US (ie southern Europeans, Jews, Eastern Europeans) and became de facto means of shaping immigration into the US and false conclusions about the intellectuality of nationalities spread, does not reference practical intelligence
101
Which are the components of David Wechsler’s Adult Intelligence Test?
involved verbal tests and performance tests
102
How does David Wechsler define intelligence?
the global capacity to think rationally, to act purposefully, and to deal effectively with the environment
103
Why can we apply Wechsler definition of intelligence more easily to people from different cultural or educational backgrounds?
could be applied to people of widely varying backgrounds
104
What are the universal mental processes that are markers of intelligence, as explained by Dr. Sternberg in the video.
recognizing the existence of a mental problem
105
Which are the different intelligences measured in Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence test?
naturalist intelligence, interpersonal intelligence - understands another’s motives, intrapersonal intelligence - in tune with own feelings, logical-mathematical intelligence, musical intelligence, spatial intelligence (ie artist), bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, linguistic intelligence
106
Which are the different areas that Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence focuses on?
Analytical intelligence - analyzing a math problem
Practical intelligence - ie you learn something in math class and you use it when doing taxes
Creative intelligence - coming up with new ideas
107
Explain the optimal arousal model based on the Yerkes-Dodson law.
we function best when we are moderately aroused, or energize, high or low arousal/energy levels lead to poor performance, argues that humans are motivated to be in situations that are neither too stimulating nor not stimulating enough
108
How does arousal affect performance?
high or low arousal/energy levels lead to poor performance
109
How is term self-actualization defined?
inherent drive to realize one’s full potential
110
What are the different needs in Abraham Maslow’s hierarchical model, how are these needs organized (know the sequence)?
Physiological → safety → love and belongingness →esteem → self actualization
111
Describe the evolutionary model of motivation.
process of natural and sexual selection have shaped motivation over to make all animals, including humans, want those things that help them survive and reproducing, major motivations: hunger, thirst, body-temperature regulation, oxygen, and sex; desires, wants, and needs have been shaped over the course of human evolution to guide behavior toward adaptive actions or away from maladaptive actions
112
What brain structure regulates all the basic physiological needs?
Hypothalamus
113
What hormone is responsible for stimulating hunger and need for food?
Ghrelin
114
What hormone suppresses appetite?
Leptin
115
What is the relationship between glucose levels and insulin?
Rising glucose levels stimulate insulin production, insulin then transports glucose out of the blood and into the cells, and hunger decreases
116
How do you calculate a person’s body mass index (BMI)? What is the optimal body mass index (BMI)?
BMI is calculated by dividing weight by height squared to yield a weight to height ratio, ideal BMI is between 19 and 24, BMIS between 25 and 29 are overweight, and 30 or above are obese
117
Why do dieters find it difficult to keep off weight they have lost by dieting?
because when people diet they are not decreasing the number of fact cells they have rather how much each cell stores, and the number of fat cell stays the same regardless of diet so it is hard to avoid regaining weight that has been lost
118
What food promotes losing weight?
low-glycemic food (fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans)
119
What do we know about high-glycemic foods?
(white bread, pasta, rice, baked goods, and low-fiber cereals) are digested faster the low-glycemic foods so they get hungry faster and those with high-glycemic diets are risk factors for coronary heart disease and adult-onset diabetes
120
What is the relationship between sleep deprivation and eating habits?
people who do not get enough sleep have trouble losing weight more than those who do get enough sleep, 1) sleep deprivation seems to change brain signals making food more appealing 2) sleep deprivation decreases the activity of the appetite-suppressing hormone leptin making them never feel full
121
What is the relationship between social support and losing weight?
the type of social support friends matters more than the amount of social support, supportive comments increases the likelihood of people keeping the weight off compared those who told the support system to given them instructions on how to behave
122
How are anorexia and bulimia defined?
Anorexia: an eating disorder in which people cannot maintain 85% of their ideal body weight for their height, have an intense fear of eating, and have a distorted body image
Bulimia nervosa: an eating disorder characterized by binge eating and a perceived lack of control during the eating session
123
What are the different phases of human sexual arousal?
excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution
124
What are the differences in sexual behavior and sexual responses discussed in the book?
initial excitement phase for women are vaginal lubrication and erection in males, in the plateau phase men do not last long here but orgasm almost always follows but for women it lasts longer than in men but not necessarily followed by an orgasm, some women stay in the plateau phase for a while then pass to the resolution phase without achieving orgasm, women can have multiple orgasms in comparison to men but men always have a refractory period where erection is lost and orgasm is not possible
125
What region of the brain plays a crucial role in sexual arousal?
hypothalamus, somatosensory cortex, nucleus accumbens, limbic system, amygdala, cerebellum, and prefrontal cortex
126
What do we learn in the book about the biology of sexual behavior?
1) for women achieving a real orgasm involved deactivation of the brain regions associated with fear and anxiety in the amygdala and hippocampus as well as parts of the cortex involved in consciousness, for men brain deactivation occurred only in the left amygdala during orgasm 2) immediately after orgasm certain brain regions in men become unresponsive to further stimulation but not in women 3) testosterone controls sex drive in men andwomen 4) male and females with high baseline levels of testosterone are more sexually active at earlier ages and engage in sex more frequently than those with low baseline levels of testosterone 5) sex drive in women is strongest around ovulation and again before menstruation
127
What was the radically new view of sexual orientation proposed by Alfred Kinsey in the 1940s?
it exists on a continuum from exclusively heterosexual to exclusively homosexual
128
What causes a person to be sexually attracted to someone of the opposite or same sex?
1) naturalistic observations of animals suggest same-sex pairing are more common than previously thought 2) research has uncovered brain structure and brain activation differences associated with sexual preference and sexual orientation 3) sexual orientation is partly under genetic influence
129
What are the basic emotions discussed in the book?
What are the basic emotions discussed in the book?
130
Describe Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build model.
positive emotions widen our cognitive perspective, making our thinking more expansive and enabling the acquisition of new skills and enhanced well-being
131
What are self-conscious emotions?
types of emotion that require a sense of self and the ability to reflect on actions; they occur as a function of meeting expectations (or not) and abiding (or not) by society’s rules - shame, guilt, frustrations, embarrassment, pride
132
What is expressive suppression?
a response-focused strategy for regulating emotion that involves a deliberate attempt to inhibit the outward manifestation of an emotion
133
What physiological conditions are associated with the emotions of happiness and sadness?
- Happiness physiological conditions: Duechenne smile - smile that pulls up lip corners diagonally and contraction the band of muscles that circles the eye to create crow’s feet and raise the cheeks, feeling warm and heart beats faster
- Sadness physiological conditions: lump in throat, feeling cold, breathing changes
134
What is the effect of Botox on emotions?
botox reduces the intensity of positive and negative emotions, botox impairs processing of emotional information
135
What is the facial feedback hypothesis?
sensory feedback from the facial musculature during expression affects emotional experience (ie ratings of pleasantness increase when certain key emotion-relevant facial muscles are contracted)
136
What is the role that the amygdala and the anterior cingulate cortex play in the experience of emotions?
- Amygdala in emotion: appraises the emotional significance of stimuli, plays a key role in fear
- Anterior cingulate cortex in emotion: recalls emotions experiences
137
What is the neurocultural theory of emotion?
some aspects of emotion, such as facial expressions and physiological changes associated with emotion, are universal and others, such as emotion regulation, are culturally derived
138
What is the concept of emotional intelligence?
ability to recognize emotions in oneself and others, empathic understanding, and skills for regulation emotions in oneself and others
139
How is motivation related to behavior?
Motivation is related to behavior, because it’s why we act and respond in the way that we do (ie the more a person wants to achieve the harder they will work)
140
Which three basic characteristics of motivation are discussed in the video?
activation,persistence, and intensity
- Motivation activates behavior
- Motivated organism will persist in trying to achieve a goal
- The more intent behaviors are more motivated
141
Which three components of emotion are discussed in the video?
1) subjective experience 2) physiological response 3) expressive response
142
What are Darwin’s views on emotions?
emotions reflect evolutionary adaptations to the problems of survival and reproduction
143
How do emotions help us solve adaptive problems created by our environments?
emotional displays allow the other organism to make inferences about the person’s internal state which is crucial for relationships
144
Which 6 basic emotions are expressed universally?
happiness, fear, sadness, anger, surprise, and disgust
145
Which two dimensions underly emotions?
(high or low) arousal and (positive or negative) valence
146
Who falls in love faster, men or women?
Men fall in love faster
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From Fisher’s perspective, we have developed three different love systems in the brain which result in three different expressions of love. What are these systems and why has the brain developed them? That is, why is the expression of love important to us from an evolutionary perspective?
sex drive - evolved looking for a range of partners
romantic love -evolved focusing your energy on one person at a time
attachment - evolved so you could tolerate the human being
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How does Fisher’s perspective of love fit with what we’ve learned about drive theory?
as you fall in love with someone it drives up dopamine in the brain and suddenly become very sexually attractive to you which is how you start the mating process
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According to Fisher, what are the three main characteristics of romantic (passionate) love?
1) craving for emotional union 2) obsessive thinking 3) involuntary
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What is cognition?
the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
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what is cognitive psychologists?
interested on how we solve problems, make decisions, create categories/ concepts, form judgements, use language
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What is a heuristic?
(rule of thumb) - a simple rule that is intended to apply to many situations
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What is a representative heuristic?
a rule in which judgements are made based on overt appearance: people make decisions regarding the probabilities that govern relationships between entities (people and categories) based on the degree to which one is representative of the other (ie Ducks and quacking or Bob being a librarian because he is quiet and shy and reads a lot)
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What is the problem with representative heuristic?
Perceivers use it in isolation and ignore other information that is relevant - ignore base rate (prior probability, a factual description, or a statistical accounting that describes the situation), base rate more descriptive than the extent to which the few features you know about Bob match a category you have
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What do representative heuristics cause people to ignore?
the phenomenon of “regression to the mean” - unusually great or poor performance is unusual. Players (or people in general) can be expected to drift toward their more typical performance that next time they try a task at hand
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What is a compound event?
2 events happen together so that one event is contingent on the other, or is a subset of it
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What is a conjuction fallacy?
when people choose a compound event to be more likely than one of its components
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What does representative heuristics explain?
why people assume their decisions are more valid than they really are - increase confidence on judgment (if description of a person really sounds like a particular category)
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What is availability heuristic?
judgment rule used in judging the frequency of an event on the basis of how easily it comes to mind
- We make judgments using the first examples explanations, or estimations that we can bring to mind
- We tend to recall absolute numbers and not relative numbers (ie are psychology majors or english majors more likely to become doctors)
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What are anchoring heuristics?
the tendency to adjust judgments insufficiently from an initial anchor or starting point, includes false consensus and correspondence bias
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What is a false consensus effect?
a prominent anchor from which we estimate or judge others’ social behavior is the self (feel most people act or think the way you do)
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What is correspondence bias?
failing to correct for situational constraints in attributing attitudes (fail to take into account situations along with individual characteristics)
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What is motivation?
factors that activate, direct, and sustain goal-directed behavior (ie hunger motivates you to get up to get food after a binge watching time - hunger activates, directs, and sustains the behavior)
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What are the biological sources of motivation?
Instinctive theory, drive theory
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What is the instinct theory?
behavior is motivated by instincts, derived from Freud that human behavior is motivated by sexual and aggressive instincts, instincts find a way to break into our conscious, out of favor because only descriptive it attaches labels to behaviors
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What is drive theory?
behavior is motivated by drives that arise from biological needs that demand satisfaction, based on homeostasis, important role of learning
- Need: a state of deprivation or deficiency
- drive : a state of bodily tension- hunger or thirst - that arises from an unmet need
- Drive reduction: that satisfaction of a drive
Need(food) → drive (hunger) → drive reduction (eating)
Drives and needs are related but no the same thing: A need may exist in the absence of a corresponding drive, Strength of need and drive to satisfy it may differ
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What are the 2 psychological factors of motivation?
incentives and psychosocial needs (social motives)
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What is incentive theory?
our attraction to particular goals or objects (incentives) motivates much of our behavior, unmet needs “push us” in a direction to satisfy them, incentives motivate us by “pulling” us toward them (ie buying desert when we’re not hungry anymore because we like the desert)
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What is incentive value?
the strength of the “pull” of a goal or reward, influenced by an individual’s learning experience and expectancies, cultural influences play a large part in determining incentive value
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What are psychosocial needs?
reflect interpersonal aspects of motivation, such as the need for achievement or friendship
- Need for achievement: a need to excel in one’s endeavors - hard-driving, ambitious, take pride in accomplishing goals, receive higher grades, earn more promotions and money
- Need to belong: desire to establish and maintain social relationships, motivate others needs (ie achievement)
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What is extrinsic motivation?
reflects a desire for external awards, such as money or or the respect of one’s peers or family, “means to an end”
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What is intrinsic motivation?
reflects a desire for internal gratification, such as the self-satisfaction derived from accomplishing a particular goal, “end in itself”
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What is emotion?
a brief, specific response, both psychological and physiological, that helps people meet goals, including social goals
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What role does the autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays in the stress responses?
ANS pumps blood to large muscle groups during times of emergency, and the respiratory system, provides the oxygen that enables those muscles to function
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What are the key structures in the neuroendocrine regulation of stress responses?
hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and adrenal glands
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What hormones are responsible for maintaining the activation of physiological systems during emergencies?
glucocorticoids
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What hormone released by the adrenal gland and controls autonomic nervous system (ANS) activation.
catecholamines
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What is the difference between problem-focused coping and emotion-focus coping? What do these strategies aim to achieve? What are aspects of these coping strategies?
Problem-focused coping: a way of dealing with stress that aims to change the situation that is creating stress, strategies: take assertive action, solve the problems, seek social support (ie roommate’s stereo too loud: focus on how to make it quiet, an assertive act might be to cut the stereo speaker wires)
Emotion-focused coping: a way of dealing with stress that aims to regulate the experience of distress, strategies: reappraise distancing, use escape avoidance, seek social support, exercise self-control, emotional disclosure, accept responsibility, (ie break up with a partner: focus on how to feel better, an escape-avoidance act may be to take a vacation to get away from the former partner)
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What is reappraisal in the context of emotion-focused coping?
the reevaluation of a situation in light of new information or additional thought
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What is distancing and escape-avoidance in the context of emotion-focused coping?
Distancing - attempting to separate oneself from an emotional experience
Escape-avoidance - wishful thinking or doing something to get one’s mind off the situation
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Describe the technique known as emotional-disclosure? Why does it work?
people are encouraged to write about a traumatic, stressful, or upsetting event, works because it helps people to reorganize their thoughts and feeling about traumatic experiences
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When are people more likely to tend to use emotion-focused rather than problem-focused coping strategies?
Use problem-focused coping when we think we can change the situation
Use emotion-focused coping is use when a situation is beyond one’s control
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What are the effects of confession on stress? What physiological changes are seen when a confession occurs?
social support can buffer the effects of stress by providing interpersonal resources for emotional support and problem solving, physiological effects of confession include longer life and reduced susceptibility of colds
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What do we know of social support as a coping strategy?
we share healthful habits as well as unhealthful habits with our friends, social support is beneficial to mental and physical health whether or not the person is under stress
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In the context of the positive psychology of coping, what are the differences between pessimists and optimists?
Pessimists - emphasize the negative, glass is always half empty and the future uncertain
Optimists - emphasize the positive, see the glass as half full and believe things will turn out well
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What is resilience?
a personality trait that means being more flexible and better able to bounce back from difficult situations
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What is the difference between grit and resilience?
grit has a resilient response to adverse situations and a stick-to-to-iveness or a tendency to persevere in one’s passions and interest over long periods of time, grit is not only whether one can bounce back from failure but also how much one sticks to tasks over long periods of time while that is mainly what resilience is
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What do you know about telomeres?
are a part of the chromosome involved in replication during the process of cell division, with age they shorten, Longer telomeres are associated with greater longevity in both men and women, more stress = shorter telomeres
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What is the definition of psychosomatic theory? What is the central tenet of this theory?
idea that emotional factors can lead to the occurrence of worsening of illness, central tenet - stress increases a person’s susceptibility to disease
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How does the book describe the health behavior approach?
an explanation for illness or health that focuses on the role of behaviors such as diet, exercise, or substance abuse
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What does the physiological reactivity model examine?
how sustained physiological activation associated with the stress response can affect bodily systems in a way that increases the likelihood of illness or disease
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What happens when there is a sustained physiological activation in response to stress?
it weakens the body’s defenses and increases the likelihood of illness
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How does sustained activation of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis affect the immune system?
leads to sustained release of cortisol, which inhibits the production of certain immune cells, in the long term makes a person more susceptible to certain diseases
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What are antigens?
any foreign substance that triggers an immune response
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Describe the field of psychoneuroimmunology.
science of how psychological factors relate to changes in the immune system, today examines relationships among brain, thought, feeling, endocrine changes, genetics, and immune system functioning
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What is the relationship between the central nervous system and immune system?
certain changes in immune system can influence brain areas involved in mood regulation
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What are the functions of cytokines?
regulate immune response
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What are the two basic lines of defense for the human body?
natural immunity (form of immunity that is the first response to antigens) and acquired immunity (immunity provided by antibodies produced in the body in response to specific antigens
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What is efferocytosis?
effective clearance of apoptotic cells by professional and non-professional phagocytes
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Describe the Type A Behavior Pattern (TABP)?
a way of responding to challenge or stress, characterized by hostility, impatience, competitiveness, and time urgency
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What were the findings of Matthews' research into the connection between Type-A personalities and heart disease?
hostility was the only component that predicted death from heart disease
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Describe the cardiovascular reactivity model?
hypothesis that hostility can increase the likelihood of heart disease through at least two different causal routes, 1) hostility makes the elicitation of anger more likely and more frequent, leading to frequent cardiovascular reactivity, causing development of coronary artery disease 2)direct path from hostility to how much cardiovascular reactivity certain people experience without the need for anger
203
Which are the main causes of injuries? What segment of the population is likely to die due to a severe injury?
Main causes of injuries: violence in the home and in schools, drug and alcohol use, risk-taking and sensation-seeking, parenting and supervision practices, noncompliance with safety rules
Segment of population is likely to die due to a severe injury: injuries account for 80% of all deaths among young people ages 15 to 24
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How can change behavioral theories help us to reduce behavior that leads to injuries?
preventing unintentional injuries requires the application of health behavior theories to the development and implementation of effective interventions
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According to the Health Belief Model, which factors underly preventing behavior?
people’s beliefs about their susceptibility to the health problem, severity of the health problem, benefits versus costs of adopting the preventative behavior, whether people experience a cue to action, self-efficacy (one’s confidence in one’s ability to perform a specific behavior)
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From a Health Belief Model perspective, why it is important that interventions to help reduce young adults’ injuries be directed towards parents?
so that they can increase parents’ belief in their child’s susceptibility to injury and competency to intervene
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According to the Theory of Planned Behavior, behavior is a function of which four components?
1) behavioral intention
2) Attitudes - beliefs about the consequences of the behavior in question and relative importance of these consequences to the individual (ie I change my diet and I will look better)
3) subjective norms - beliefs about significant others’ preferences and individual’s motivation to comply with their wishes (ie My friends and family think that I should change my diet)
4) perceived behavioral control - individual’s motivation to comply with their wishes (I will be able to change my diet)
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According to studies using the Theory of Planned Behavior, which two factors are more relevant to determine parents’ car safety seat usage?
attitude toward car usage, subjective norm - approval from spouse
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Which five changes are discussed in the Stages of Change Model?
1) Precontemplation - not thinking about changing
2) Contemplation - awareness and thinking about changing
3) Preparation - taking steps necessary for changing
4) Action - making change for short period of time
5) Maintenance - successfully maintaining the change in behavior for 6 months or longer
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What are the theories of emotion?
1) James-Lange: conscious experience of emotion results from one’s perception of autonomic arousal (become afraid because you’re running from the bear), different patterns of automatic activation lead to the experience of different emotions (fear - we tremble, joy or sadness - we cry), “I feel afraid because I tremble”
2) Cannon-Bard: emotion occurs when the thalamus sends signals simultaneously to the cortex (creating the conscious experience of emotion) and to the autonomic nervous system (creating physiological arousal), emotions originate in subcortical brain structures
3) Schatcher’s 2 Factor Theory: situational cues (ie at a birthday party - you become happy), the experience of emotion depends on 1) autonomic arousal and 2) cognitive interpretation of that arousal, “I label my trembling as fear because I appraise the situation as dangerous”
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What are the components of emotion?
1) Appraisal processes - consists of patterns of construal by which we evaluate events in our environments according to their relation to our current goals, leads to pleasant or unpleasant feelings, every emotion involves a distinct appraisal process
2)Physiological response: autonomic nervous system - responsible for the fight or flight response (ie blushing from embarrassment or goose bumps)
3) Expressive behavior: emotions are expressed in “body language” or nonverbal behavior (gestures, tone of voice bodily posture), (smiles, frowns, furrowed brows, clenched fists, slumped shoulders)
4) Subjective feelings: qualities that define what the experience of a particular emotion is like, described with words, metaphors and narratives
5) Actions tendencies: motivation to behave in certain ways (ie parents who lost a daughter in a drunk driver accident promote safety on roads)
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What is misattribution of arousal?
occurs when people incorrectly label the source of the arousal that they are experiencing
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How do emotion involve distinct appraisals?
mind is attuned to threat and uncertainty → core appraisals of fear (even when you hear noises in woods you might think bear is near)
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What happens during the anger condition?
more likely to misidentify neutral object as a gun (but no misidentify gun as a neutral object)
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What is Darwin's perspective on emotional expression?
Emotions evolved because they have an adaptive purpose in helping species to survive and flourish, Expression of emotion has a communication value, he was First to link facial expressions to particular emotions (primates to humans)
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What is the universality perspective on emotional expression?
Ekman and Friesen - recognizing emotions from facial expressions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust)
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What is the culturally specific perspective on emotional expression?
1) Emotion accents: a specific way people from different cultures express a particular emotion
2) Display rules: cultural norms or guideline that dictate what emotions are appropriate in particular emotions
- Intensification - intensify what we experience (like opening gifts from grandparents even if we don’t really like it)
- De-intensification - de-intensify what we are experiencing (ie covering laugh when something embarrassing happens to someone else)
- Neutralizing - hiding emotion
- Masking - experience one emotion but show to others a different emotion (ie losing a pageant contest but having to be happy for the winner while you’re sad)
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What is health psychology?
application of psychology to the promotion of physical health and the prevention and treatment of physical illness
why do we become ill, how do emotions and personality influence our risk of disease, how do we respond when we become ill, ways in which we maintain our health
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What are the 4 ways in which psychology and medical problems are related?
1) organic malfunctioning or tissue damage may be psychogenic
2) problems with no apparent organic basis are physical symptoms of underlying sources of tension and personal problems
3) psychological factors may work indirectly by weakening or strengthening our resistance to disease
4) psychological factors may help cause unhealthy behaviors which in turn causes illness
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What is the immune system?
body’s primary system of defense against infectious diseases or antigens (bacteria or viruses foreign to the body)
Network of cells and organs
- Lymphocytes: B-cells -fight bacterial infections, t-cells - attack cancer cells, viruses and other foreign substances
- Macrophages - identifies, pursues, and ingest harmful invaders and worn-out cells
- Natural killer cells (NK cells) - pursue diseased cells (such as those infected by viruses or cancer)
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What does the body send when there is a bacterial infection?
B cells
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What does the body send when there are cancer cells, a virus, or other foreign susbtance?
T lymphocytes
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What does the body send when there are other harmful cells that intrude or have worn out cells needing to be cleaned up?
Macropahges
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What does the body send when there are disease cells needing to be cleared out?
NK cells
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What does it mean when immune system overreacts or underreacts?
Can overreact - attack own body’s own tissues, underreact - ie allow dormant herpes virus to erupt or cancer cell to multiply (women immunologically stronger than women - women give birth so immune system have to protect baby as well, but also increases chances of lupus or multiple sclerosis (self-attacking diseases)
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What is stress?
an unpleasant state of arousal in which people perceive the demands of an event taxing or exceeding their ability to satisfy or alter those demands
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What are sources of stress?
- Daily hassles - annoyance of daily life that impose a stressful burden
Chronic stress - exhaustion, irritability, depression
- Major life events - significant changes in one’s life circumstances - impose burdens that require adjustment
- Frustration - a negative emotional state experience when one’s efforts to pursue one’s goals are thwarted
- Catastrophes - unpredictable large-scale events considered as threatening
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What does Hans Selye argue for the stress response system?
General Adaptation System - symptoms part of a generalized response to an attack on the body (muscle weakness, loss of weight and appetite, lack of ambition)
- included General Adaptation Syndrome
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What is general adaptation syndrome?
3 stage pattern of responses triggered by the effort to adapt to any stressor
Alarm stage - equivalent to fight-or-flight response, activates the sympathetic nervous system and outpouring of stress hormones (ie temperature goes up so we start sweating, or deer crosses the road and to avoid accident the heart race, butterflies in stomach, blood redirected to muscles, body burns more energy
Resistance stage - body maintains a moderate level of arousal, if new stressors are introduced, ability to resists the demands of the stressors decreases, making you more vulnerable to bacterial infection
Exhaustion stage: demands for adjustment exceeds body’s ability to respond, resources are depleted, result in stress related disorders “diseases of adaptation” (ie kidney disease, heart disease, allergic conditions, digestive disorders, and depression), stress response suppress the body’s immune system
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What does cognitive appraisals by Lazarus and Folkman argue?
Transactional model: we cannot fully understand stress by examining environmental events (stimuli) and people’s behaviors (responses) as separate entities, we need to consider them together as a transaction in which people must continually adjust to daily challenges, emphasizes the ongoing nature of the appraisal process as new information becomes available
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What are the types of cognitive appraisal?
- appraisal of the nature and demands of the situation (primary appraisal- Will this situation create trouble for me?) - seen as irrelevant, benign-positive, or threatening
- Secondary appraisal - resources available to cope with it, What can I do to cope with this situation?, insufficient resources will cause distress
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What is cognitive reappraisal?
the process by which potentially stressful events are constantly being reevaluated (not always result in less stress, can increase stress)
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What are transactional model implications?
situations or events are not inherently stressful or unstressful (depend on individual), cognitive appraisals are extremely susceptible to changes in mood, health and motivational state (you may interpret same event or situation in very different ways on separate occasions), body’s stress response is nearly the same whether a situation is actually experienced or merely imagined
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What is the Diathesis-Stress Model?
certain people have a vulnerability or predisposition (diathesis) that increases certain people’s risk of developing a particular disorder
- Diathesis - a predisposition or vulnerability - genetics
- Stress - environmental stress - prenatal trauma, abuse, family conflict, significant life changes
- Development of the disorder - stronger the diathesis, the less stress is necessary to produce the disorder
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What are attributions?
attributions people make for the positive and negative events of their lives (cause of depression), learned helplessness - a phenomenon in which experience with an uncontrollable event creates passive behavior toward a subsequent threat to well-being, prolonged exposure to uncontrollable events may cause apathy, inactivity, a loss of motivation, and pessimism
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What are explanatory styles?
depression is a state of hopelessness brought on by the negative self-attributions people make for failure, depressive explanatory style - a tendency to attribute negative events to causes that are stable, global, and internal
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What are perceptions of control?
stress affects people differently, commitment, challenge, control, hardiness - control is most important ingredient of hardiness
