Wk 5-8 Flashcards
(161 cards)
1
Q
What is a stimulus?
A
an object or event that can trigger a response
2
Q
What is classical conditioning?
A
- 2 stimuli are repeatedly paired together, so, after pairing them, S1 becomes a signal that S2 is coming
- S1 can elicit responses related to S2
- eg. S1 is clouds, S2 is rain, response would be to bring an umbrella; if we see clouds, we may still bring an umbrella even without S2
3
Q
Define: Neutral Stimulus (NS)
A
- a stimulus with originally no meaning
- eventually, it becomes a conditioned stimulus when there is training (eg. the metronome in Pavlov’s dog)
4
Q
Define: unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
A
a meaningful stimulus without training, physiologically hard-wired (eg. food)
5
Q
Define: unconditioned response (UCR)
A
the ‘natural response’ to the unconditioned stimulus without training (eg. salivating when you see food)
6
Q
Define: conditioned response (CR)
A
the response to the conditioned stimulus that is acquired through training (eg. salivating to the metronome rather than food only)
7
Q
What is higher-order conditioning?
A
- initially, a conditioned stimulus (CS1) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus many times to get a strong conditioned response
- you can pair CS1 with another conditioned stimulus (CS2) to get the same conditioned response, but the response is weaker
- you can continue this with CS3 and CS4, but the conditioned response is weaker each time
8
Q
What is an aversive stimulus like a phobia?
A
- phobias may begin with the pairing of a neutral stimulus with an aversive event (UCS), so the NS becomes a CS which elicits teh same unpleasant feelings as the UCS
9
Q
Explain what happens with fear conditioning
A
- a shock (UCS) is paired with a certain environment (CS1, blue box) and a tone (CS2, bell)
- CS1 and CS2 come to signal the UCS
- when re-exposed to CS1 or CS2, the animal expects the UCS, so the anticipation of the UCS is reflected in freezing behaviour (similar to fear)
10
Q
What is stimulus generalization?
A
- stimulus generalization asks whether a similar CS can trigger the same CR
- it depends on the similarity in physical characteristics to the original CS
- in the case of Little Albert (baby) anything white and furry brought on the conditioned response
11
Q
Define: preparedness
A
We may be genetically hardwired for certain CS-UCS associations (prepared to learn them)
12
Q
What is latent inhibition?
A
- if we’ve experienced a stimulus alone many times in a neutral context we might have difficulty pairing that stimulus with anything else in the future
- familiar stimuli are more difficult to condition than unfamiliar stimuli; our prior learning can inhibit our future learning
13
Q
What is blocking?
A
- after a UCS has been paired with one CS, it may be difficult to pair that UCS with other CS in the future
- eg. a sound-food (CS1-UCS) pairing first learned may mean it is difficult to learn to pair light with food ; if an animal hears a sound and sees light, they salivate for food, but when they just see the light, they don’t salivate
14
Q
What is extinction?
A
- the unreinforced presentation of the CS that results in a decline (or elimination) of the CR
- extinction results in the inhibition (not loss) of learned associations (memories still there, just suppressed)
15
Q
Define: reinstatement
A
after extinction, the CR can return to full strength following a single UCS-CS repairing
16
Q
Define: spontaneous recovery
A
- a rebound increase in the CR a prolonged time after extinction (time dependent effect, no CS-UCS repairing involved)
- acquisition–> CR nearly gone after extinction –> time delay with no CS presentation –> increase in CR after time delay
17
Q
What are the 3 phenomenon that are observable following extinction? (list them)
A
reinstatement, spontaneous recovery, renewal
18
Q
Define: renewal
A
- extinction is highly specific to context so, even if you extinguish a CS-UCS pairing (eg a bell shock) in one context (eg a green box), the CS can still elicit a CR in other novel contexts (eg a purple box)
19
Q
What may be similar to extinctions in therapy?
A
- fear/anxious reactions may have been acquired through experiences, so they can be suppressed by experience too
- in therapy, repeated exposure to triggers in a safe environment may diminish fear/anxiety, known as exposure therapy
20
Q
Define: operant conditioning
A
- where classical conditioning is concerned with stimulus-stimulus associations, operant conditioning is when the frequency of a behaviour is controlled by its consequences
- stimuli may also be associated with behavioural responses (S-R associations)
- R associated with positive stimuli (S+) are performed frequently, R associated with negative stimuli (S-) are performed rarely
21
Q
Compare and contrast classical conditioning and operant conditioning
A
- CC: target behaviour is elicited automatically; behaviour is a function of stimuli that precede behaviour; behaviour depends primarily on autonomic nervous system
- OC: target behaviour is emitted voluntarily; behaviour is a function of consequences that follow the behaviour; behaviour depends primarily on skeletal muscles
- many situations where OC and CC occur together (eg. development of phobias, CC, might be followed by the avoidance of phobic stimuli to preserve mood, OC)
22
Q
Define: reinforcement
A
increasing or maintaining behaviour
23
Q
Define: punishment
A
decreasing behaviour
24
Q
Define: positive reinforcement
A
adding a pleasant stimulus to increase/maintain behaviour
25
Define: negative reinforcement
removing aversive stimulus to increase/maintain behaviour
26
Define: positive punishment
adding an aversive stimulus to decrease behaviour
27
Define: negative punishment
removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease behaviour
28
What do positive and negative refer to in operant conditioning terminology?
- positive refers to the addition of a stimulus
- negative refers to the removal of a stimulus
29
In punishment, behavioural frequency ______; in reinforcement, behavioural frequency ___________
In punishment, behavioural frequency GOES DOWN; in reinforcement, behaviour frequency INCREASES OR STAYS CONSTANT
30
What are the 5 kinds of reinforcement schedules (1 is not as known as the others)
1) continuous (reinforcer follows every response)
2) fixed interval
3) variable interval
4) fixed ratio
5) variable ratio
31
Define: ratio schedule
the responses determine the schedule
32
Dfine: fixed ratio
exact amount of responses must occur before reinforcement (eg. every 3 responses earns an award)
32
Define: variable ratio
a varying number (average) of responses must occur before reinforcement
32
Define: interval schedule
reinforcement given after a time
33
Define: fixed interval
response after specific time period is enforced
34
Define: variable interval
response after varying period of time (an average) is reinforced
35
What are 3 important points about fixed and variable schedules?
- all fixed schedules have a post-reinforcement pause
- all variable schedules have steady response rates
- variable ratio schedules have the highest response rates, followed by fixed interval, then fixed ratio and variable interval have roughly the same
36
What is observational learning?
- an animal learns through witnessing the behaviours of other animals
- Bandura's studies of aggression (children who watch videos of aggressive acts are more likely to engage in them immediately after, but this was specifically on a clown balloon)
37
Define: latent learning
- learning that is not being expressed, usually bc of a lack of incentive (if incentives are present, learning could be revealed)
38
List 4 ways to maximize learning
- longhand note-taking over laptop note-taking
- pair note-taking with mental imagery (dual coding theory)
- testing yourself (retrieval learning)
- spacing out your learning
39
What can be said about the "different learning styles"?
- people might study in different ways (ie visual, auditory, reading, kinesthetic), but there is no way to only study in one of these 4 ways
- enforcing study methods doesn't improve performance (ppl study the exact same way and often don't do the maximizing ways of studying)
- visual learners perform better
40
Are learning styles supported by evidence?
No, neither idea (ppl might study in different ways; ppl perform best using their preferred method) is well-supported
41
Define: memory
process whereby info is stored, consolidated, and retrieved
42
What are the 3 types/stores of memory we looked at?
- sensory
- short-term (STM)
- long-term (LTM)
43
What is the suggestion of serial processing in memory?
- suggests order of processing memory matters
- incoming info --> sensory memory --> short-term memory --> elaborative rehearsal --> long-term memory
44
Define: duration (in memory)
length of time info can be stored without rehearsal (limited by decay)
45
Define: capacity (in memory)
amount of info that can be stored
46
What are the properties of sensory memory?
- diff for each type of sensory memory (iconic has a much shorter duration than echoic)
- v short duration (in the order of seconds, sometimes fractions of a second)
- capacity is theoretically large, but functionally small, as you can only attend to/report on a few stimuli
47
What is short-term memory?
- "mental sketchpad" where info is kept
- duration is technically short (seconds to minutes) but is notably longer than sensory memory
- info stored here decays unless it is emotionally salient and/or mentally rehearsed
48
What are the 2 forms of rehearsal for STM?
1) maintenance (simple repetition)
2) elaborative (involves relating the info to other concepts; more effective)
49
What is the digit span for STM?
- 7 CHUNKS (not 7 items; chunking involves dividing a body of info into several meaningful groups)
- if chunking and rehearsal are prevented, it's 3
50
What are some properties of STM?
- cognitive psychologists consider duration to be 15-30 sec
- decay of info and interference are both problems
- capacity is thought to be around 7 items
51
What is a limitation of the STM model?
- multi-tasking is difficult to explain
- if we had a single STM store, we would expect poor performance whenever 2 tasks are performed simultaneously, but we can perform certain tasks simultaneously without problems (eg reasoning and holding digits)
52
What is working memory?
- several processes that work together to manage info (visuospatial sketchpad, phonological loop, and central executive)
- involves manipulating info
53
What is the primacy/recency effect or serial position effect?
When given a short list, you will generally remember the first part and last part well
54
Define: declarative memory
- things you know that you can tell other people (involves hippocampus)
- episodic (a person's unique memory of an event from their perspective)
- semantic (general knowledge that anyone could know, almost like trivia)
55
Define: non-declarative memory
- things you know that you can show by doing (hippocampus independent)
- experience influences future behaviour
- involuntary, no awareness of memory being utilized
- contents of implicit memories cannot be reported
56
What is the 'tip-of-the-tongue' phenomenon?
- LTM retrieval failure
- a memory but we can't retrieve it fully
- often, a subtle hint can retrieve the full memory (known as **priming** )
57
What are the 3 kinds of non-declarative LTM?
skill-learning, priming, conditioning
58
Is memory retrieving something from the past?
- no, we reconstruct a mental representation of a memory
- construction is influenced by our current goals, expectations, knowledge, and schemas (schemas are a cognitive framework developed through experience; memory gaps may be filled in by schemas)
- memories may change every time we recall them
59
What can be said about source-monitoring in memory?
- attributions of info are often schema-based (especially when we lack time/details)
- sometimes we have trouble identifying whether or not the source is ourselves (may explain some cases of artistic theft)
60
Are people correct to believe their memories are accurate?
- memories for everyday and emotionally arousing events become inaccurate over time, though confidence in arousing memories remains high
- memory for certain details of arousing experiences is excellent (eg. unlikely to forget who won the game, a weapon at the crime scene)
- but memory for many other details is normal (ie poor)
- the physiological state of arousal affects memory storage (changes in cortisol and noradrenaline are particularly meaningful)
61
Define: priming
being more likely to use a word you heard recently (involves the cortex)
62
What is the misinformation effect?
- when someone's memory is modified by other events
- individual traits may matter (high empath and low intelligence are linked to increased vulnerability to the misinformation effect)
63
What are misleading memories?
encoding (one event) --> post-event information (questions) --> retrieval (2 alternative forced choice recognition)
64
What are false memories?
- having memories that didn't actually happen; may be inadvertently created by interactions with law enforcement, media, or therapists
- can have serious implications (ie in law)
65
What is g theory?
- ppl get similar marks in every class
- ppl get similar scores on cognitive tests (ie similar scores on measures of vocab, comprehension, and arithmetic)
- for any individual, performance in diff subjects and cognitive tests are positively correlated
- we're not examining diff abilities in each test, but we're examining diff parts of the same ability (all tests could be driven by a single factor, g factor)
- g is a statistical creation that is correlated with other abilities
- in addition to g, which drives all abilities, each ability may be driven by it's own specific factor
66
How do we get from genes to behavioural traits?
DNA --> RNA --> proteins/peptides --> biological process in the nervous system --> trait
67
What is heritability?
- there may be phenotypic variation within a population (ie traits differing significantly)
- variability in traits may be due to changes in genetic factors or changes in environmental factors
- heritability is the proportion of phenotypic variation explained by genetic factors, such that: h2 = Vg/Vp
68
What is heritable?
- many psychological traits (including personality, intelligence, ideology and even religiosity)
- psychological disorders are also (more so) heritable
- apart from genes, environment and randomness play a role
69
What can be said about heritability scores?
- mathematical abstraction (doesn't exist; it is an estimate only)
- based on certain assumptions and is context-specific (estimates in one group may not apply to another)
70
Why do traits become common?
- certain traits are assoc with reproductive fitness (more offspring; sexual selection), so genes for these traits will become more common
71
What do different h2 estimates say?
- in twin studies, h2 scores were higher (approx 0.4-0.5)
- in molecular heritability methods, lower scores (approx 0.1-0.2)
- h2 is almost never 100%
- a typical trait is influenced by many genes, each explaining a small portion of variability (<1%)
72
73
What are the mean and standard deviation for IQ?
- mean=100
- SD=15
- UofT students likely rank between 100-115
74
What may IQ be correlated with?
- believed to be related to success and job performance
- **positively correlated with longevity and height/weight**
- **negatively correlated with criminal behaviour and divorce rate**
- **only modestly correlated with income and weakly with wealth (many other non-cognitive variables like creativity, personality, and attractiveness to consider**
- when looking at IQ and leadership, to an extent, higher IQ is good for leadership, but, past a certain point, v high IQ scores are assoc with lower perceived leadership ability (curvilinear)
75
Is IQ heritable? What can be said about the heritability of IQ?
- heritability increases with age (from 0.4-0.8)
- theory that high IQ allows us to enter into specialized environments that will further reinforce IQ ( **genetic mediation of environmental effect** ) (ie, genes for IQ might attract you to activities that maximize IQ; might maximize benefits from these environments)
- another theory: genes for IQ may take effect later in life ( **innovation** ) and become increasingly important over time ( **amplification** )
76
What is the Flynn effect?
- suggests that environment matters to IQ
- genetics not favoured as an explanation
- various potential factors: nutrition, changes at home, world complexity, test complexity
- many have argued that the Flynn effect has already stopped and may be reversing
- reasons unclear (possible that a ceiling effect of environment exists)
77
What can be said generally about good vs bad environments?
- there is a debate on how impactful a good environment is and why or why not
- no debate: bad environments are NOT good
78
What is the growth mindset related to intelligence?
- the belief that intelligence can be changed
- ppl who have the growth mindset exert more effort, take on new challenges, and may respond better to mistakes
79
What can be said about reaction time and IQ?
- reaction time (RT) is negatively correlated with IQ
- RT is a predictor of dementia
- ppl with high IQ show more efficient brain activity during working memory tasks of moderate difficulty
80
What can be said about parts of the brain and IQ?
- IQ correlated with white matter integrity, brain size, neuron number, and cortical thickness
- cortical thickness declines with age, and this may contribute to age-related cognitive decline
- education is assoc with less cognitive decline
81
What is scarcity mentality?
- scarcity (lack of resources) and being worried about scarcity may impair cognition
- poor cognition in turn can lead to further financial difficulties and stress (feedback of poverty --> impaired cognition -->)
82
What is Cattel and Horn's model of crystallized and fluid intelligence?
- crystallized increases with age (tests of vocabulary)
- fluid decreases with age (rests requiring speed, tests of reasoning ability, memory tests)
83
What is Sternberg's theory of intelligence?
- 3 types of intelligence: analytical intelligence (academic problem solving and computation; measured by IQ tests), creative intelligence (imaginative and innovative problem solving), practical intelligence (street smarts and common sense)
84
What are some critiques of Sternberg's theory of intelligence?
- practical intelligence is not independent of g
- difficult to prove a causal relationship between job performance and practical intelligence
- suggestion of "creative intelligence" is especially controversial, as most researchers consider creativity and intelligence separately
85
Describe Gardner's theory of intelligence and its criticisms
- 8 intelligences (naturalist, spatial, linguistic, intra-personal, interpersonal, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic)
- no specific guidelines for defining a specific intelligence
- no way to test theory, so unfalsifiable, and can't predict anything
- possibility that these abilities overlap with g has never been assessed
86
What is emotional intelligence?
- ability to perceive, understand, facilitate, and manage emotions
- many ppl believe emotional intelligence contributes to success (ie leadership, caretaking roles, relationships)
- strongest early proposal from Goleman
- multiple models, including the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT)
- controversial bc difficult to define and study
- may have predictive value beyond that offered by personality tests and standard intelligence tests
87
what are the 4 branches of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) *not v important*
1) perceiving emotion
2) understanding emotion
3) facilitating thought with emotion
4) managing emotion
88
Describe the theory of emotion in words of a language
- phonemes (elementary sounds in a language) may have inherent emotional meaning
- phomene /l/ tends to occur in pleasant, soft, tender scripts as well as in passive words
- phoneme /r/ tends to occur in unpleasant and active words
- attempts to produce a dictionary of affect
- valence (negative - positive) on x axis, activation (high to low on y axis)
89
Define: Broca's aphasia
difficulty in speech production, but comprehension can be intact
90
Define: Wernicke's aphasia
difficulty in both comprehension and speech production
91
Define: Alexia/Dyslexia
difficulty in reading, but comprehension and speech production may be preserved
92
What can be said about the commonality of aphasias?
pure aphasias are rare, mixed aphasias are more common
93
How does ability to learn language change over time?
- abt 7 months, babies babble; 10-12 months, common words
- language acquisition easiest at 3-7yrs, challenging after around 18yrs
- idea that acquisition becomes much more difficult with age is generally believed, but difficult to test (motivation for 2nd lang learning is different; context in which second lang is learned varies)
94
What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?
- postulates that the structure of lang determines a native speaker's perception and categorization of experience
- mixed support for theory
- v difficult to test (can't separate lang from culture; lang is invariable accompanied by culture; hard to teach lang in a lab)
- our learned social attitudes influence our thoughts (ie social psych) -- evidence for theory
95
What are the different things that are impacted after a brief emotion-like state?
- psychological (subjective feelings, motivation)
- physical (posture, facial expression)
- physiological (heart rate, bp)
- (adaptive) behaviours (defensive behaviour)
96
What is integral emotion and impact bias?
- **integral emotion** is doing something to make you feel more happy/sad in the future
- **impact bias** states that we often overestimate intensity and duration of our future emotional states
- overestimation of the potential emotional impact of losses is particularly great, leading to **loss aversion**
97
According to Ekman's theory, what are the 6 discrete emotions?
- angry, afraid, surprised, happy, sad, disgusted
- each emotion is tied to a diff facial expression
98
what do newer models of emotions often include?
hybrid or mixed emotional states, and consider the importance of cognition and experience and culture
99
What can be said about emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System?
it's difficult to distinguish emotions based on ANS bc one reaction could mean many different emotions
100
What can be said about physical expressions and showing emotion?
- possibly innate, but environment also matters (unlikely to smile alone), diff between cultures in meaning, and display rules
101
If emotion influences facial expression, can facial expression influence emotion?
one study found ppl thought cartoons were funnier when they smiled, but replication efforts failed
102
What is Facial Action Coding System (FACS)?
- taxonomize facial movements (w/ codes)
- combinations of movements associated with emotions
- understand facial movements, understand emotions (reading faces)
103
What is an RMET test?
- Reading Minds through The Eyes test where you infer emotion from the eyes
- females generally slightly outperform males
- ppl with autism or other disorders may perform poorly
- validity criticized recently
104
What are power poses?
idea that postures changed risk-taking, emotion, and physiology
105
Can expressing emotions and postures be pancultural?
- possibility of this being innate (tribes isolated from human contact show similar expressions; ppl who are blind show similar expressions)
- environment matters (some expressions are situational; differences between cultures in meaning, as a smile can mean different things, and display rules are different per culture)
106
List the names of the 3 older theories of where emotions come from
James-Lange Theory, Cannon-Bard Theory, Schachter Singer's Two-Factor Theory
107
What is the James-Lange Theory?
- origin of emotion
- event --> arousal --> interpretation --> emotion
- problem: we might expect that emotions have distinguishable physiological states, but the physiology of emotions is highly similar, and often arises after emotion becomes evident
108
What is the Cannon-Bard theory?
- origin of emotion
- event --> arousal + emotion
- problem: theory suggests that emotion is cortical in origin and separate from physiological arousal, but emotions are blunted when the capacity for physiological changes is reduced (as in spinal cord injury)
109
What is Schachter Singer's Two-Factor Theory?
- origin of emotion
- event --> arousal --> cognitive labels --> emotion
- cognitive lables means the joint understanding of context of what's happening in front of a person and to the body
- problem: interpretation of the event is key, but we're not always aware of the event (misattribution)
110
What is the modern view of the origin of emotion?
- emotion is a product of complex, reciprocal influences
- tremendous variety (not purely innate) affected by experience
- no one neural signature, no one behavioural signature
111
What are some reasons why people lie?
- avoid punishment
- avoid embarrassment
- maintain privacy
- obtain a reward otherwise unobtainable
- win admiration
- protect another person
- protect oneself from physical harm
- escape a social situation
- exercise power
112
How often do people lie?
- avg: ppl lie about 2 times per day, BUT, this avg is high bc of a handful of prolific liars; most people never or rarely lie
- individual differences matter, as lying is the highest in young (especially adolescent) men
- we are poor at recognizing lies (approx 55%); lie detection is unrelated to confidence, age, sex, experience, or education
113
What tools can be used to detect lying?
- polygraph
- measures physiological changes when someone lies, but, at best, 80-88% accuracy (risk of false positives)
- physiological responses happen when aroused, even if not lying
114
List and explain the 2 different theories of motivation
1) drive reduction, DR (we are driven towards balance; ie, we eat to maintain blood sugar and/or bodyfat)
2) incentive value, IV (we are driven towards pleasure; ie, we eat bc eating is fun and get cravings for food)
- still, neither theory explains everything
115
Personality traits are _____ _______ that we measure by ______ _____.
Personality traits are CONCEPTUAL VARIABLES that we measure by PERSONALITY TESTS
115
Define: personality
an enduring pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving
116
What is the Five Factor Model of Personality (FFM)?
- *Openness to experience* (imagination, artistic interests, emotionality, adventurousness; most desired)
- *Conscientiousness* (self-efficacy, orderlines, dutifulness, achievement-striving, self-discipline, cautiousness)
- *Extraversion* (friendliness, gregariousness, assertiveness, activity level, cheerful)
- *Agreeableness* (trust, morality, altruism, cooperation, modesty, sympathy)
- *Neuroticism* (anxiety, anger, depression, self-consciousness, immoderation, vulnerability)
116
What can be said about personality traits as predictors?
- these traits exist on a scale
- high Conscientiousness, especially, low Neuroticism, and high Agreeableness predicts strong job performance
- Openness is positively correlated with A and negatively correlated with perceived leadership ability
- O is negatively correlated with family size (reduced reproductive fitness)
- we tend to overestimate the stability of traits in others and underestimate the stability of our own traits
117
What can be said about heritability and personality traits?
- for most personality traits, h2 is 0.4-0.55
- trade-offs sometimes exist (traits valuable in one context may be problematic in another), so it is unlikely that there will be aggressive selection for extreme values of any trait
- neuroticism, openness, and agreeableness correlated between partners
118
Does one's personality traits change? How so?
- personality traits aren't completely fixed and may be sensitive to dvlpmental factors (like age) and the environment (esp culture)
- younger individuals show strong interest in changing personality (more E and O; volitional personality change is possible but limited)
- with aging, there is a slight increase in A and C, and decreases in E and O
- certain environments might affect personality (drugs like psilocybin and paxil are associated with small personality changes)
119
How does culture impact personality?
- in some cultures, certain factors may be less evident (particularly O)
- in other cultures, there may be additional factors (eg Traditional Factors in Chinese culture, wherein there is an emphasis on harmony)
120
what can be said about heritability and religiosity?
- h2 of religiosity and conservatism increases w age
- rlg is heritable, but specific kind of rlg style isn't
121
What is MMPI?
- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
- assesses psychopathy in adults; 500+ items across multiple scales, selected based on ability to differentiate healthy controls from those ppl with a disorder
- test is written so ppl can't tell what the questions are asking and can't fake answers
- test has built-in mechanisms to detect abnormal patterns of responding (validity scales)
- 50 is avg score
122
What is MBTI?
- introversion vs extraversion
- Sensation vs intuition
- thinking vs feeling
- judging vs perceiving
- results somewhat correlated with other tests, but criticized for lower validity
123
What are projective tests?
- thought to reveal unconscious processes by having ppl project them on to items (like inkblot test)
124
Define: Barnum effect
tendency to believe that descriptions are specific to them, even though they could describe almost anyone
125
What are the 2 main study designs for developmental psych?
1) cross-sectional (observe individuals of different ages at the same time; concerns of cohorts, as age OR generation could impact the results)
2) longitudinal (observe the same ppl at diff ages; risk of attrition; practice effects possible bc you can't give the same test each time on cognition, for instance, so test 1 has to be diff from test 2)
126
Most developmental psychology studes are ______ because ___________
Most developmental psychology studies are CORRELATIONAL because WE CANNOT RANDOMLY ASSIGN THE VARIABLES OF AGE OR ENVIRONMENT
127
What are 3 prenatal events that can impact development?
- maternal cortisol levels
- maternal immune activation
- Valproic acid exposure
128
What are the ages of self-concept development?
- by 2, awareness of sex and gender
- by 4, awareness of physical features
- by 6, identification with attributes (start of social comparison)
129
List the 4 stages of Piaget's stages of development
1) sensorimotor (birth - 2)
2) preoperational stage (2-6 yrs)
3) concrete operational stage (6-12)
4) formal operational stage (12+)
130
Explain the sensorimotor (SM) stage
- concentration on the 'here and now'
- can only process physical objects that are present
- cannot represent objects which are not present (mental representations)
131
Explain the preoperational stage (PO Stage)
- can create mental representations but lack the ability to do mental operations/transformations on them
- fail to understand the principles of conservation (ie if cup C is long and thin, they think it holds more water than cup A and cup B, even though they all hold the same)
- begin to appreciate the mental states of others (theory of mind); continues to develop throughout life, but declines in late adulthood; Sally-Anne Test
132
explain the concrete operational stage (CO Stage)
- can create mental representations of physical objects and perform transformations/operations on them
- cannot perform transformations/operations on abstract concepts (like algebra)
- mastery of conservation problems
133
Explain formal operational stage
- can create mental representations of physical objects and abstract concepts
- can perform mental operations/transformations upon these representations (ie algebra)
- can work with hypotheticals
134
What are 5 critiques of Piaget's Theory?
- dvlpmt does not occur in discrete stages
- dvlmpt is not domain-general (abilities emerge at diff times)
- did not address culture or socioeconomic status
- methodological limitations of question method
- children are smarter than originally expected
135
Explain Erikson's theory of development
- focus is not cognition but idenity and social relationships
- 8 stages at different ages extending from infancy into late adulthood
- each stage is characterized by diff challenges and relationships
- completion of each stage would result in specific life changes (resolution)
- overall: there is a virtue/stage at an age, a challenge to be learned, a relationship within this challenge, and a resolution
136
Explain social comparison
- starts at around age 6, kids compare themselves to others in different ways (life, but declines with age)
- social comparison is not always a bad thing (depends on the number and type of comparisons)
- upward social comparison (to ppl perceived as greater) is linked with social media use and low self-esteem
137
What is Kohlberg's Stages of Morality?
- with the Heinz Dilemma (stealing drug to save wife)
- young children are at the stage of preconventional morality (only see the punishment as showing what is wrong)
- adolescents have conventional morality (care about how actions affect others and want acceptance; would say that he shouldn't steal drug bc wife wouldn't want him to go to jail)
- adults have postconventional morality (behaviour based on chosen principles; man should steal drug and turn himself in)
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What are 3 critiques of Kohlberg's theory?
- doesn't address cultural or sex differences
- confound of verbal intelligence (wording matters)
- poor correlation with moral behaviour (just bc someone understands morality, doesn't mean they are moral, so construct validity concern)
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What is Attachment Theory?
- emotional and physical attachment to the primary caregiver is critical
- 3 main types of attachment suggested:
1) secure
2) insecure -- avoidant
3) insecure -- resistant (insecure -- anxious/ambivalent in the textbook)
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What is the strange situation?
- parent and infant play in new surrounding (parent as secure base)
- stranger enters and talks to parent (stranger anxiety)
- parent leaves, infant plays and stranger offers comfort if needed (separation anxiety)
- parent returns and greets infant (reunion behaviour)
- secure attachment: some discomfort when mother leaves, positively greet mother when she returns
- avoidant-insecure: unconnected with mom's absence, uninterested in mother when she returns
- resistant-insecure: intense distress when mother leaves, rejects mother when she comes back
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What can be said about attachment theory and outcomes?
- secure attachment correlated with better outcomes
- attachment style can vary, particularly if the parent's job changes (reliability concern)
- children can have diff attachments with parents
- cultural differences could exist
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What is the most common attachment style?
- secure (70%), avoidant (20%), resistant (10%)
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What is authoritative parenting?
high demandingness, high responsiveness
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What is authoritarian parenting?
high demandingness, low responsiveness
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What is permissive parenting?
low demandingness, high responsiveness (indulgent)
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What is rejecting-neglecting parenting?
low demandingness, low responsiveness (uninvolved)
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List 4 different parenting styles. Which style is most preferred? Which is the worst?
- authoritative (high demandingness, high responsiveness)
- authoritarian (high demandingness, low responsiveness)
- permissive/indulgent parenting (low demandingness, high responsiveness)
- rejecting-neglecting/uninvolved parenting (low demandingness, low responsiveness)
- authoritative favoured slightly (higher achievement and esteem, fewer behavioural problems)
- uninvolved/rejecting-neglecting is the worst
- culture matters for how common and effective a style is
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List and explain the 2 developmental periods
- **critical period** (time interval where an experience MUST occur for proper development)
- **sensitive period** (time interval where an experience has a relatively greater effect on development)
- critical periods for dvlpmt of the visual system have been identified with deprivation studies (if you don't get necessary visual input, you never get the right system dvlpmt)
- sensitive periods are more common and exist for many psychological functions, including lang (lang is easier to acquire when young, but possible to acquire when older)
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What can be said about environmental enrichment and development?
- controversey over extent of benefits of environments which exceed normal quality
- worth looking at animal studies bc enrichment in rodents assoc with brain changes
- bad environments have SEVERE effects (Harlow's monkeys; children in low quality orphanages without reliable caretakers showed developmental delays)
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What happened in the Genie case study?
- severely isolated and physically abused
- at 13, she could not use lang (even after intense training, never fully acquired fist lang)
- shows importance of developmental windows
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How can we predict outcomes of children?
- Mischel Marshmallow Test (ability to delay gratification)
- linked to test scores, social success, stress reactivity
- related to family background, cognitive ability, home environ
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What are neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs)?
- disorders wherein there is abnormal development of the nervous system, leading to abnormal cognition and behaviour
- often emerge in early life (high heritability, strong role of genetic factors)
- considered distinct from acquired disorders, which usually emerge in adulthood and are the result of brain changes
- anxiety disorders are the most common (followed by depressive disorders)
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What are some changes in memories with aging?
- free recall (ie without help) declines noticeably, but cued recall and recognition (ie multiple choice) remain good
- we look back on our past positively and imagine more positive futures (positivity bias)
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What are some changes to personality with aging?
increases in Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, decreases in Extraversion and Openness
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What is the socioemotional selectivity theory?
older adults have fewer relationships which are based on diff motives -- relationships based more on emotion rather than info
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What are 3 points about well-being and aging?
- older adults who are able to stay active tend to be as happy as when they were younger
- job satisfaction follows a U curve, peaking early when u get a job and later when you leave it
- mid-life crisis and empty nest syndrome are likely exaggerations (effects of children leaving depend on the person)
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