Psych 201 Flash Cards- Test 1

What causes development?

1. Nature

2. Nurture

3. Interaction of nature and nurture.

What are the 3 developmental domains?

1. Biological: eg. brain maturation, puberty

2. Cognitive: eg. learning, reasoning

3. Psychosocial: eg. emotions, self regulation

What are the 3 or technically 4 big controversies?

1. Nature/Nurture:

2. Early Determinism: how much is already determined by age 3?

3. Continuity vs Stages: is growth in a continual stage or does it go through stages?

4. Innate Moral Tendency: how much in us is good or bad?

What are the 3 rounds of the nature/nurture debate? How does nature interact with nurture?

Round 1: Ratio Model. 1 part nature to 3 parts nurture.

Round 2: By Sandra Scarr, the interaction between environment and nature is relative.

1) Nature evokes nurture. eg. a cute baby is going to evoke kinder reactions from parents rather than a baby who is not cute or has medical challenges.

2) Niche Picking: a person with a certain genetic package is going to pick a environment that is well suited for their genes. For example, a naturally muscular person might be more likely to choose to be apart of a football team.

3-4) Natures set boundaries (how much and when): *think 130 to 90, nurture can move close to the line but there’s a boundary to how much nature can actually influence us. (genetic ceiling and floor)

Round 3: Epigenome: chemical compounds that surround the genome and tells genes to express themself or not. For example, there is a gene for schizophrenia but it’s not always expressed even if you have the gene.

What is the critical period and some examples?

How much of who we are is determined by our 3rd birthday? The critical development is really important but it’s also very high risk.

Critical period: Period of rapid development when we are very responsive to environmental input -- both beneficial and harmful

Eg. 6-12 weeks prenatal, digits form from webbed feet and hands.

1. Language, eg. Japanese babies have trouble pronouncing R’s and L’s because it is not in their language, so therefore their brains will prune that pathway if it’s not being used.

2. Reactivity/Hyper vigilance: The amount of cortisol in your mother’s womb will determine how much anxiety/vigilant you are.

3. Attachment Tendencies/Conscience: eg. babies who got moved around in foster homes might have issues with attachment.

Explain more in continuity v.s. stages, and the interchangeable language

Continuity: Quantitive. Smooth, gradual slope. Skinner, Bandura

Stages: Qualitatively different, there is a change in a completely different state. Piaget, Erickson, Freud.

Erikson’s 8 Stages of Psychosocial Development

1. Trust v.s. Mistrust (0-1year) focus in others, because there is no such sense of self. keeping a “subconscious tally”

2. Autonomy v.s. Shame/Doubt (1-2 years) Am I component enough to make my body work right? Similar to Freud, can you trust yourself to not throw a tantrum or trust yourself to zip a jacket, trust that your body is supposed to do what it’s supposed to?

3. Initiative v.s. Guilt (2-3 years) Am I component enough to make my mind work right? eg. example of daughter falling down the stairs. Can you initiate a plan, and carry through with it?

4. Industry v.s. Inferiority (6 years to puberty) Am I component enough to learn a hard task, and follow through with it? Can you master difficult tasks if you work at them?

5. Identity v.s. Identity Diffusion (teen years into 20s) Am I component enough to develop a sense of identity and know my character without being dictated by someone else? If there’s something I don’t like about myself, can I accept that limitation? eg. 5’2 feet, cannot become a basketball player.

6. Intimacy v.s. Isolation (20s to early 40s) Am I component enough to trust others to build strong intimate relations? Can I maintain a healthy relationships with my peers? Confident in relationship with those who have a choice.

7. Generativity v.s. Stagnation (40s to 60s) Am I component enough to contribute to the next generation?

8. Integrity v.s. Despair (late 60s and beyond) Am I component enough to die in peace and accept what happened in my life and feel confident that I have done enough? Or will I be in a position where I feel regret?

What are the 2 methodological challenges in developmental science?

1. Limited Control

2. Limited Time

Explain further on having limited control in developmental science

1. Experiment: high degree of control, random assignment. eg. this is the best method but you can’t really randomly assign people to have a certain disease or certain life style.

2. Quasi-Experiment: naturally occurring groups, low degree of control. This isn’t the best method because you cannot draw causation due to too many factors. For example, kids of divorced couples may have a bad GPA due to many other factors not just because their parents are divorced.

Explain further on limited time in developmental science

1. Cross sectional: different aged kids measured at the same time.

2. Longitudinal: same kids but measured over a period of time.

3. Sequential: both cross sectional and longitudinal, combines both methods. can show the impact of a certain time line that impacted something. eg children and their knowledge about death but in regards in 2011 when 9/11 occured.

What is a cohort? What is a cohort effect?

Persons born at the same time who share historical experiences at the same time. With CS and Longitudinal it is hard to see cohort effects, but sequential studies are rarely done.

What are psychoanalytic theories? Who would support this?

Psychoanalytic Theory: Partially unconsious drives motivations/life forces and sometimes we don’t always recognize this and they aren’t always natural.

Frued, Erikson.

Believes in universal stages or a “blue print”. If one page in the blue print in the stage is messed up, then it would mess up the future stages as well.

Epigenetic Principal (what surrounds the genes, social environment): think child a,b,c example. They all have a natural genetic motivation but it can all be satisfied in different ways, and that will then determine what kind of person they will become.

What is the sensory cortex and the motor cortex?

The sensory cortex is responsible for sensory such as for example if a baby kicks you, and the motor cortex is responsible for the action that would happen following that. For example, the motor cortex would be kicking back. Most of the things in the “head band” of this cortex consists of the facial structures as they are the most sensitive.

What are Freud’s psychosexual stages?

1. Oral (0-18 months): (sucking, high curiosity). For a baby, their whole world is in their mouth. Their hands are kind of like wearing rubber gloves so in order to feel things they will just put it in their mouth.

2. Anal (18-36 months): control in their genitals, being able to pee and poop. there is a new found pleasure in control over bladder and stool elimination.

3. Phallic (3-6 years): incestuous sexual feelings, subconscious rivalry with the same sex parent.

4. Latency (3-6 years): dormant (repressed) sexual feelings

5. Genital Stage: (puberty-on): sexual maturation.

^this is where Freud’s controversy comes in because he thinks that once you’ve just reached this final stage it’s over

What does Erikson say if for example, we miss a stage?

Erikson says that we can resolve the stages earlier in a healthy way so that going to the next stage will be easier.

What are some key differences between Freud and Erikson?

Freud:

-psychoSEXUAL stages (5 stages)

-there is a lot of emphasis on physical pleasure and the current growing body part to catch the most “attention”

-believes that a healthy personality consists of a healthy resolution of conflict and opportunities from the newly matured zone of the body

-believes heavily in early determinism and that you can get fixated on a stage if you don’t fix it at that time.

-mostly unconscious

-low accountability (struggle to take responsibility for own choices/actions/feelings)

Erikson:

-psychoSOCIAL stages (8 stages)

-emphasis of competence on the 3 domains (biological, cognitive, psychosocial)

-believes that a healthy personality consists of a healthy resolution of conflict and opportunities from potential.

-doesn’t believe in determinism/fix but instead influence.

-mostly conscious

-low accountability for children, high for adults/adolescents.

What are learning theories? What do they believe in?

Learning theories: nurture trumps nature

Does not believe in early determinism. Believes in the importance of environment, no stages.

What are the 4 things that BF Skinner is credited with?

1. Operant Conditioning: Positive/negative reinforcement and punishment, shaping, etc.

2. Radical Behaviorism: All behavior can be explained by the original thing that can actually be measured and in terms of conditioning. For example, if a bear is chasing you, which illicit fear, which then causes you to run from it, fear isn't the thing that gave you the behavior because you can't measure that-rather it is the bear that caused you to

3. Environmental Determinism: Shows that humans have lots of power to change the environment that we are in to make it better, but ultimately that cycle starts from the environment and not just within us.
   For example, being placed in a dorm with good friends, will make you start behaving more socially which then will lead to making a friend group which will then lead your behavior to be more comfortable and social.

4. Making psychology a science: Behaviorism is a reaction to psychoanalytic theory which emphasized constructs like emotions that cannot be measured. Principles of Operant Conditioning helped people develop positively by changing their behavior.

What is Albert Bandura credited with?

1. Observational Learning: think Bobo dolls. There is a lot of learning that stems from observing other peoples behaviors. Lots of learning occurs without observable/measurable rewards and punishment and without observable/measurable changes in behavior. eg. learning to not do something from your sibling doesn’t have to be an obvious change.

2. Social Cognitive Theory: Bandura thought that Skinner was wrong to dismiss thoughts/cognition that he thought weren’t important just because they weren’t measurable. He also believed in the “self system” which means that thoughts leads to a self system of higher level reasoning and conscience which is what distinguishes humans from animals.

3. Self Efficacy: A person’s learned belief in their own ability to produce desired effects through their own actions. Being able to stand up for yourself and believe in yourself. If I believe that I can do a certain something, can I actually do it? People who believe that they have this capacity and implement positive change, but people who don’t can’t even attempt positive change even if the opportunity is plenty

4. Triadic Reciprocal Determinism: The environment, self system, and behavior all cause/determine each other but the environment has the biggest effect of them all. For example, the soccer player’s own desire/interest in soccer, the soccer team, all plays into each other to. Although humans are not 100% accountable for everything, they do play a little (partial) account for our behavior since self system is one of the causes of behavior.

What are the periods of development from infancy to adolescence?

1. Infancy: birth to 18-24 months

2. Early Childhood: end of infancy to age 5/6

3. Middle and Late Childhood: 6 to 11 years

4. Adolescence: starting from 10-12 and ending around 18 to 22.

How can we evaluate Psychoanalytic Theories? What do they emphasize, what are they flawed in?

A lot of Freud and Erickson’s includes an emphasis on development, family relationships, and especially the unconscious mind. They are criticized for too much emphasis on sexuality and the image that people are too negative. Freud is also criticized for his stages ending at puberty.

How do we evaluate learning (behavioral and social cognitive theories?) What do they emphasize, what are they flawed in?

These theories emphasize science but also more environmental impact. They are flawed in placing too little emphasis on cognition (Bandura) the things that are not measured, and giving inadequate attention to developmental changes as there are no stages in these models.

What is Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory?

Ecological Theory stresses environmental factors, starting from the one most closest to a person to a greater environment of society to show how it affects a person’s development.

Microsystem: the ring in the middle that signifies the setting where the individual lives in like the family, peers, neighborhood, etc.

Mesosystem: relationships within the microsystem so relationships between parent/child, relationships at church, etc.

Exosystem: links between social settings where the individual doesn’t have a direct link to, for example a mother’s busy work schedule affecting how much time she’s able to spend at home with her kids.

Macrosystem: cultural values/traditions that the individual is growing up in.

Chronosystem: environmental events that have to do with time, historical events or major life transitions. eg. a divorce, the great depression, etc.

How can we evaluate Ecological Theory? What does it emphasize, what is it flawed in?

Ecological Theory emphasizes connections between the environmental systems and social contexts like family, culture, tradition, etc. However, it is flawed because it doesn’t place enough emphasis on cognitive factors or biological factors, all of it is purely environmental.

What are cognitive deficits more associated with, a missing or fragile X or a extra X or Y?

A missing or fragile X.

What is a common abnormality that is involved with the 21st pair of a chromosome?

Trisomy-21: Down Syndrome

The 21st set is the second to smallest set of chromosomes. The body can bear this little bit of extra genetic material, however is trisomy occurs in larger pairs, the body cannot handle all of that extra genetic material so the baby is usually miscarried before birth.

Which chromosome number is associated with sex linked abnormalities?

The 23rd pair, sex chromosomes. Females have 2 X chromosomes: XX, and males have XY.

What is the APGAR scale? How is it scored?

The APGAR scale is used to assess the health of newborns at 1-5 minutes after birth. It evaluates the infant’s heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, body color, and reflex irritability.

7-10: newborn’s condition is good

5: developmental difficulties

3 or below: emergency, baby might not survive.

What is an “origins narrative?”

Genesis 1-3. These first chapters establish characteristics that all humans share. “Explains man’s wonder yet flaw.”

What is the author’s likely purpose for Genesis 1? What was the message the priest who wrote Gen 1 was trying to give?

Genesis 1: Humans were made in the image of God.

The priest who wrote Gen 1 was trying to take on the “start of creation” in other cultures which viewed the world and humans as a product of evil, however he countered this by asserting God’s holyness and goodness over evil and chaos and was trying to show that humans are a gift and good representatives of God’s people, in a way the author was trying to give hope to oppressed people.

What is the author’s likely purpose for Genesis 2-3? What was the author of Gen 2-3 trying to explain?

Genesis 2-3: The second creation story, the “fall”

Adam and Eve eating the apple, establishes that humans have sinned and in doing this we damaged our relationships with God, other humans, and for the rest of creation. However, because of the goodness of God we are still able to restore damaged relationships.

Which was written first, Genesis 1 or 2-3? Why are the 2 narratives ordered like they are?

Genesis 1 was written after Genesis 2-3. This placement was intentional as it shows the potential that is built into the person and this is important in developmental psychology because it creates a “basis” for how development is supposed to be right/wrong and to what degree restoration is possible.

What are the 3 aspects of “views” of the Imago Dei?

1. Substantive Aspect: aspects of human nature that are similar to God’s nature. Humans have God like qualities and aspects that can seen in humans capacity for reason, logic, complicated thought.

2. Relational Aspect: humans were designed and created from the image of God, humans are like a mirror where we reflect God. Humans are the only creatures that can participate in spiritual relationships with God, and humans can have relationships and enter into relationships that might transcend just a regular need.

3. Functional Aspect: imago dei is understood as a function of human’s dominion (control, taking care of the planet) is the purpose of imago dei. humans are called to act as God’s representatives, stewards.

What are the 2 views of “creational” gender?

1. Complementarianism: Men and women were created with different but complementary skills, roles, and responsibilities. More “traditional” view like men are supposed to lead, provide, protect, while women are supposed to be affirming, nurturing, etc.

2. Egalitarianism: Men and women were both present at creation and had no different hierarchies but as a result of sin the genders had to be different and now should work to restore equal opportunity.

What are the 2 universal purposes of humankind that can be derived from the origins narratives?

1. Love: purposed to love God, love others

2. Dominion Work: purpose for humans, to take care and rule and manage the Earth.

What is Telos? Why is it difficult to specify a universal human telos?

Telos: inwardly directed progression to grow towards a predetermined end goal. eg. an acorn growing into a oak tree.

It is species level shared but if all Christians have the same telos is unclear, it is a relevant construct.

Never speak of telos as unique to one acorn or one person.

It is difficult to specify a universal human telos because scripture identifies some individuals or groups to be particularly purposed by God, which can vary at what time they were told before or at a later point during development.

Should we view humans as inherently inclined toward good, evil, or both?

The bible makes statements that humans inclinations are both good and evil.

Good: in Genesis ch 1 when humans are very good.

Evil: The fall, humans all fall short of the glory of God.

What is the most explicit statement about moral tendency in Genesis 3?

In Genesis 3, it doesn’t explicitly say that humans natural moral tendency changed from good to evil, but it says that humans gained the capacity to discern from good and evil.

What’s explicit is the moral capacity, not orientation.

What is the difference between how Apostle Paul uses the term nature and how Psychologists use the term nature?

Psychologists: gene

Apostle Paul: group’s condition of habitual tendencies. His nature is more nurture as heredity.

What are the 3 "acquisition processes”, for how humans became evil? What is the issue with Irenaeus’s explanation for original sign and Augustine’s explanation for original sin?

1. Evil as a spiritual agent: Evil posses and enslaves our bodies, even if our inmost self delights in good.

2. Evil as an emergent property: Evil is not a physical thing created by God but it is a negative byproduct. Ireneaus argued that the fall was a necessary thing that had to happen because it let humans have a conscience and cognition. This makes God look responsible for horrible tragedies to “teach us a lesson” which is not His attribute.

3. Evil as changed nature: Evil that we have now is different from the nature that we were created with. Augustine argued about original sin that through Adam all sin was passed through humans.

How do Catholics and Protestants understand the difference of original sin? What does it mean to say the fall deprived or depraved us?

Catholics: deprivation (taken away) of special grace that was granted to humans before the fall. Humans lost alot but not free will, we lost our “super good” things but our nature is still intact.

Protestants: Our nature weren’t taken away, they were just depraved (corrupted, changed)

What mediates the relationship between environmental influences and moral-ethical tendencies?

Trust

What are the 2 factors that inform perspectives on agency/accountability?

1. Capacity: do we have the developmental maturity and enough life experiences to engage in sophisticated discernment?

2. Volition: Are we acting voluntarily or are there unconscious forces that we are being controlled by?

Should we view ourselves as having temporal agency?

Humans have a lot agency because we were created with God like capacities and dominion, however not as much agency as God.

We have temporal (partial) agency to be able to carry out imago dei.

What is Jesus’ approach to social subordinates?

Jesus wanted to increase agency in these social subordinates. There are people with limited temporal freedom and power to choose decisions for themselves, however Jesus was troubled by reduced agency and wants to increase agency.

Eg. Jesus affirmed Mary of Bethany’s boldness to posture herself as a disciple, Jesus denounced the practice of putting away wives (divorce.)

What is the common qualifier of accountability in Scripture?

Knowledge: Jews who have the knowledge of the law will be held to higher standards.

What are the 2 proxies for Knowledge?

1. Developmental Status: because children are not fully mature Jesus wants adults and fathers to encourage their children. They are accountable for obedience.

2. Social Status: if people have higher status to access to education, law, literacy, then God holds them to a higher standard of accountability.

What is the biblical model of moral maturity? How does opportunity to reflect on moral issues change the way God’s people should respond to moral dilemmas? What did God expect from the recently emancipated Hebrew slaves/well educated Pharisees/Sadducees?

The biblical model of moral maturity is rooted in love, which is more superior than the reasoning based off good and evil. Jesus held Pharisees/Sadducees to a higher standard than obedience to the law because they gained so much knowledge so they must be motivated by love.

What are the 2 contributions to Psychology that Erikson is best known for?

1. 8 stages of development

2. Work on identity

What is the significance of the name that Erikson fianlly chose for himself? Erik Homberger Erikson

-Born without a father

-Stepfather’s last name, Homberger

“My identity includes some Homberger, but I am ultimately son of myself.”

What were the 3 particular areas of disagreement between Erikson and Freud?

1. Focus of our primary drives: Freud was focused on sexual development and the development of that certain area of that body driving our behavior, but Erikson was more focused on the social and cognitive changes.

2. Duration of psychological development: Erikson took a lifespan perspective but Freud proposed that development is completed when genitals are done forming. Erikson referred to these developmentally specific events as crisis.

3. Degree to which early experiences determine who we become: Freud thought that if you get stuck on a certain stage then you get “fixated” in that stage, but Erikson believed that early stages are foundational but not necessary determining. Erikson also believed that the faster you resolve an earlier crisis, the more easier it will be to get to the next particular stage to avoid any conflict in the future.

What is the primary principle of genetic perspectives? Do they believe in stages?

Genetic Perspectives do not believe in stages but instead critical periods.

Primary principle: Genes drive development, which predisposes and limits possibilities that can be usually elicited from the environment.

What are the 2 types of genetic perspectives?

1. Individual Differences

2. Focuses on genes that are shared by all humans (or subgroups of humans that function through sex, geographic region, or ethnic groups for example.)

What are the 3 ways to investigate Type 1, individual differences?

1. Temperament Research: *think the study with babies. Temperament can look different, it’s very broad. Can be in extraversion/intraversion, attention/distraction, not just one specific behavior.

2. Behavior Genetics: eg. using math/percentages to calculate how much nature or nurture plays a role with each other. eg. twin studies.

3. Research on Gene Collaboration:

a) Additive: eg. skin color, getting a combined “average” from both parents

b) Nonadditive: one trait trumps the other. eg. brown eyes are always more dominant than blue eyes.