Q3 - Dev, Emotion, Social

Question 1

emotion facets (3)

Answer 1

1. Physiological responses (e.g., changes in heart rate, respiration)
2. Overt behaviors (e.g., smiling, baring teeth)
3. Conscious feelings (e.g,. the actual feeling of the emotion)

Question 2

basic human emotions (6)

Answer 2

1. happiness
2. surprise
3. fear
4. sadness
5. anger
6. disgust

Question 3

physiological component

Answer 3

mediated by automatic NS
- sympathetic NS produces “fight-or-flight” response
- Innervates involuntary muscles and internal organs
- Innervates glands, controlling hormonal system
- stress hormones release (ex. epinephrine/adrenaline, glucocorticoides)

Question 4

emotions theories (3)

Answer 4

1. James-Lange
2. Cannon-Bard
3. Two-factor

Question 5

James Lang

Answer 5

emotional stimulus -> bodily response -> conscious emotional feeling
- emotions start with physiological (autonomic) responses, which are then perceived by the CNS to create conscious emotional feelings
- merely adopting body postures for an emotion can actually lead to conscious experiences of that emotion
ex. holding a pen between the teeth, which mimics a smile, can induce increased happiness in human subjects

Question 6

Cannon-Bard

Answer 6

emotional stimulus:
1. bodiy response
2. conscious emotional feeling
- physiological and conscious components of emotion are actually independent
- physiological arousal does not automatically lead to emotional feelings
ex. running elevates heart rate but doesn’t cause fear

Question 7

Two-Factor

Answer 7

arousal and context are interpreted by the CNS to generate conscious feelings
- Sees emotional feelings as based on interpretation of the situation
–Falling sensation -> in a roller coaster, interpreted as safe, feeling of exhilaration
–Falling sensation -> crashing elevator, interpreted as unsafe, feeling of fear

Question 8

Two-factor interpretation study

Answer 8

1. Participants injected with epinephrine, causing increased heart rate and blood pressure
2. Each participant placed with a colleague instructed to act in a different way: joyful or angry
   results: Participants reported feeling the same emotion as the colleague
   - they interpreted the physiological effects of the injection to be consistent with their expected outcome.

Question 9

animals and emotions

Answer 9

fear behaviors are very similar across many mammalian species.
ex. startle, piloerection (hair standing on end), possible loss of bladder control, release of cortisol, increased heart rate, pupil dilation, and more.
- Neuroethology also suggests similarities in emotions, even for positive emotions such as joy

Question 10

flashbulb memories

Answer 10

Very emotional events can lead to particularly vivid episodic memories (9/11, JFK assassination, challenger disaster)
- emotion can greatly increase memory encoding
- memories for highly emotional events do decay over time, and are prone to misattribution errors (such as other episodic memories)
- confidence is high

Question 11

mood congruence

Answer 11

current mood fosters recall of memories of that mood
ex happy mood = recall of happy memories
- current mood acts as a cue and increases recall and retrieval
- Retrieval is increased if the mood during recall matches the mood during encoding.

Question 12

emotions and brain regions relationship

Answer 12

• A single emotion activates many different brain regions.
• The same brain region can be activated by the more than one emotion

Question 13

amygdala

Answer 13

emotion processing station
- Collection of subcortical nuclei in the anterior temporal lobe
- Collects emotionally relevant information from cortex and thalamus
- Coordinates behavioral and physiological expression of emotion
- Modulates brain centers related to memory and learning

Question 14

central nucleus of the amygdala - emotional response expression

Answer 14

organizes the expression of emotional responses thru stimulation:
- species-typical defensive responses (e.g., in rabbits: freezing and lowered heart rate).
- positive or negative emotions, outbursts of rage
- Disruption leads to impairments of emotional learning in humans and other animals

Question 15

central amygdala - fear-conditioning
bilateral amygdala damage

Answer 15

CS (a colored shape) paired with blast of noise (US)
- In normal and hippocampal patients, CS comes to evoke a strong skin-conductance response (SCR), due to emotional arousal
- In patients with bilateral amygdala damage, the US is effective, but the association with the CS is never learned

Question 16

basolateral amygdala - increase storage of emotional memories

Answer 16

emotional events activate the amygdala
- Degree of amygdala activation predicts memory boost for emotional material.
- Amygdala activation also correlates with stronger feelings of “knowing” emotional material, both at encoding and recall.

Question 17

how basolateral amygdala works

Answer 17

1. Inputs from hormonal system (adrenaline) via the brain stem
2. Outputs to the hippocampus

Question 18

phobia

Answer 18

overwhelming, irrational fear of an object, place, or situation
ex. heights, spiders
- Possibly developed through social transmission (e.g., fear of flying develops after reports of airplane crash)

Question 19

Systematic Desensitization - phobia therapy

Answer 19

present successive approximations of CS while patient stays relaxed.
- Eventually CS no longer elicits reaction

Question 20

Systematic Desensitization procedure

Answer 20

1. Phobic person learns to relax on cue (progressive relaxation).
2. Present anxiety hierarchy—least fearful to most fearful contact with phobic object or event.
3. Apply hierarchy sequentially while the phobic person remains relaxed; apply step gradually.
   - Procedure can be slow but is generally successful and long-lasting.

Question 21

PTSD

Answer 21

Obsessive thoughts, nightmares, or flashbacks persist long after exposure to the traumatic event.
- Individuals with PTSD fail to extinguish normal fear response- amygdala overactivation
- May involve overactive stress hormones.

Question 22

trigger

Answer 22

many different stimuli reminiscent of original trauma.

Question 23

PTSD and physiological reactions

Answer 23

• Cortisol levels remain high and persistent.
• Epinephrine may increase, so fear response lasts longer.

Question 24

PTSD and drug treatment

Answer 24

Drugs like propranolol interfere with epinephrine, reducing stress reaction b/c it reduces emotional reaction to memory.
- the patient may be less likely to develop PTSD

Question 25

Social/observational learning

Answer 25

learner actively monitors events involving other individuals and then chooses later actions based on their observations
- watching others, videos, reading
- more likely to conform with ppl we identify w/

Question 26

True Imitation

Answer 26

Copying specific actions learned from another.
ex. not just hitting Bobo but hitting it the same way the adult did and yelling the same phrases

Question 27

learning theories (4)

Answer 27

1. Emulation
2. Contagion
3. Observational conditioning
4. Stimulus enhancement

Question 28

Emulation

Answer 28

Accomplishing the same overall goal as the model but in a different way.
ex. child might puncture Bobo, which is aggressive, but not in the exact same way as the adult modeled

Question 29

Contagion

Answer 29

Inborn tendency to react to cues from other members of the same species.
e.g., A friend yawns, and then you do too
- complex, natural reflex

Question 30

Observational Conditioning

Answer 30

When cues in the environment become associated with contagion reactions
ex. Monkey freaks out from seeing a snake, even tho has never seen one before, after seeing other monkeys freak out
- reacts to others’ fear and associates it w/ the stimuli

Question 31

Stimulus Enhancement

Answer 31

When a teacher directs the attention of the learner to particular parts of the environment
ex. Parents point out wet spot on floor
- stimulus enhancement just makes associations more obvious

Question 32

True Imitation

Answer 32

Copying specific actions learned from another in the EXACT same way
-Cognitively complex
- challenges behaviorism

Question 33

Cheap knock-offs

Answer 33

Ways of learning that can seem like true imitation, but are actually simple and compatible with behaviorism:
- 4 theories of learning

Question 34

true imitation test (2)

Answer 34

1. two-action test
2. “do-as-I-do”

Question 35

Two-action test

Answer 35

Procedure:
Adult human models opened a box by a) poking pins out of its latch or b) twisting and pulling the pins out of the latch.
Next, young chimps and humans observedto see if they would copy the precisestyle of opening.

results:
Young humans and chimps can exhibit true imitation in this two-action test (though chimps less so than humans

Question 36

Do-as-I-do task

Answer 36

Animals trained on a “do this” command, where reward is given only if the animal repeats the next behavior of the trainer.
ex. Trainer signs “do this,” then claps her hands; monkey must clap hands to get reward.

First, animal is trained on the concept of “do this” by using a standard set of actions.
Next, trainer demonstrates a novel action, never before rewarded.

Results:
Two chimps could complete 30 novel actions (Custance, Whiten, & Bard, 1995).
Dolphins can also learn this game.
Indicates an ability to cognitively represent the model’s arbitrary actions and repeat them!

Question 37

Social transmission of information

Answer 37

observer learns something through experiences involving other agents.
ex. If you see someone lose their money at a soda machine, you probably won’t try that machine yourself.

Question 38

social conformity

Answer 38

tendency to adopt the behaviors of the group
- we learn quickly how to behave

Question 39

violence and media

Answer 39

Children exposed to videos of aggression often behave more aggressively when provoked.
e.g., 7–9-year-old boys who already scored high in aggression were more likely to assault other boys during a hockey game after watching a violent video

Question 40

early social learning theory

Answer 40

Focused on the incentives for a behavior: punishments and reward
ex. Jill observes Bill crying, and sees his mom pick him up to sooth him.
Jill now knows that crying is reinforced and is more likely to try it

Question 41

modern social learning theory

Answer 41

social learning is self-motivated (not needing explicit punishment/reward) and guided by cognitive appraisals

Question 42

Bandura’s account of social learning (4)

Answer 42

1. Presence of a model: increases/focuses attention to the situation
2. Encoding of model’s actions: learner must store memories of the actions in an accessible format for later recall.
3. Action reproduction: learner must be able to reproduce the actions encoded into memory (e.g., must be able to execute the dance move observed).
4. Motivation: learner must have a reason to select the observed behavior

Question 43

Imprinting

Answer 43

forming a close bond with first individual seen after birth.
Bond forms best immediately after birth
- after this critical period, bonds are harder to form

Question 44

sensitive/critical periods

Answer 44

some forms of learning that are only available early in life, which may become difficult/impossible to learn after these periods

Question 45

age-related decline

Answer 45

working memory is the first to decline
- Proactive interference: Older adults have learned much more and may be less able to prevent this from interfering with the formation of new memories

Question 46

use it or lose it

Answer 46

Overall performance is only preserved in skills that are practiced throughout aging
- brain rewires if it feels a skill that was previously learned is no longer needed