Psychology 210 Ch 6-10

Emotion vs mood

-Moods typically last much longer than emotions.

-Moods are less intense than our emotions: we attend to our emotional states, whereas moods generally provide background to our everyday activities.

-We know why we are experiencing an emotion, while a mood is usually unclear.

Are women more emotional than males?

Blanket stereotypes about women’ grater emotionality are inaccurate.

Who came up with the universal six emotions?

Ekman and Friesen (1971)

Universal six emotions

Happy, sad, fear, anger, surprise, disgust.

What were the findings of Ekman and Frisen?

Americans and pre-literate villagers in New Guinea could reliably recognize six emotions from facial expressions.

James-Lange theory

Our awareness of our own bodily states is crucially important in determining our emotional experiences.

According to the James-Lange theory, what three stages are involved in producing emotion?

1. Emotional stimulus (e.g, “I see a bear”).

2. The perception produces bodily changes (e.g, “I run away")".

3. Feedback from the bodily changes to the brain leads to the experience of emotion

Introspective sensitivity

Individual differences in accuracy of detecting one’s own internal bodily sensations.

Reactive aggression

An angry response to a perceived provocation (hot-tempered)

Proactive aggression

An act planned deliberately beforehand to achieve a given goal (cold-tempered, premeditated)

Physical aggression

Aggressive behavior designed to cause physical harm to another person

Relational aggression

Aggressive behavior designed to damage another person’s social relationships and/or status

Biological approach- Aggressive behavior

Some individuals inherit genes that make them more likely than other individuals to be aggressive. This approach claims that the greater aggression shown by males is due to biological factors e.g, testosterone

Aggression gender differences

Findings suggest there are no gender differences in anger or relational aggression.

-Men have higher levels of escalation of aggressive behavior.

Situational factors- Aggressive behavior

Aggression is always a consequence of frustration, but frustration doesn’t always lead to aggression

Social learning theory

Much aggressive behavior is influenced by observational learning

-Observers are more likely to imitate aggression if it is rewarded rather than punished

Family process- aggressive behavior

Children’s aggressive behavior depends on the functioning of the whole family rather than simply the child’s behavior or that of the parents.

John Piaget

Most famous development psychologist

Accommodation

The individual adjusts to the outside world by changing their cognitive organization

Assimilation

The individual adjusts their interpretation of the outside world to fit their existing cognitive organization

John Piaget’s theory of cognitive development suggests…

Children move through four different stages of intellectual development

Sensorimotor

Birth-2 years

Understands world through senses and actions

No awareness of the continued existence of objects

Abilities developed in this stage: Object permanence, self-recognition, deferred imitation, and representational play

Preoperational

2-7 years

Understands world through language and mental images

They can think of things symbolically

Have not developed the idea of conservation

It is expected for children to display egocentrism

Concrete operational

7-12 years

Understands world through logical thinking and categories

Begin to understand conservation

Can mentally reverse things

Less egocentrism

Formal operational

12 years+

Understands world through hypothetical thinking and scientific reasoning

Vygotsky’s theory

Culture and social factors and their effects on cognitive development

Zone of proximal development

-Things you can do on your own

-Things you can do with a bit of help

-Things you can’t do, no matter the support you get

Sieglar’s overlapping waves theory

Micro genetic studies consistently show that children’s thinking is highly variable.

-Development is a process of variability, choice, and change

Theory of mind

The understanding that other people may have different beliefs, emotions, and intentions than their own

Receptive language

The understanding of a language

Expressive language

language production

Phonology

The sound patterns of a language

ex. ng will never appear at the beginning of a word

Semantics

The meaning that you draw from words

Syntax

The arrangement of words in a sentence

Pragmatics

“The spy sees the police officer with the binoculars”

who has the binoculars?

Background knowledge and context to understand language

Noam Chomsky

Known for his contribution to and work in linguistics

Who created the inside out theories

Noam Chomsky

Inside out theories

-Language has several unique factors

-Language is innate/biologically determined

-Universal grammar

-Language environment and experience determine which language a child learns only affects acquisition to a limited extent.

Chomsky argued to explain why:

-Only humans developed language fully

-There are similarities among languages

-There is fast acquisition of language despite limited exposure

Tomasello

Components of human morality

Cognitive component (how you think)

Emotional component

Behavioral component

Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental theory

Moral development relies heavily on changes in moral reasoning and on children’s increasing cognitive abilities

-Moving through the stages is not a product of maturity

Level 1 of cognitive developmental theory

Pre-conventional morality

Right and wrong is determined by rewards/ punishments

Stage 1: Punishment/ obedience- whatever leads to punishment is wrong

Stage 2- Rewards- The right way to behave is through what is rewarded

Level 2

Views of others matter

Avoidance of blame

Seeking approval

Stage 3: Good intentions. Behaving in ways that conform to “good behavior”

Stage 4: Obedience to authority

Level 3

Abstract notions of justice. Rights override obedience to rules/ laws

Stage 5- Difference between moral and legal right. Recognition that rules sometimes must be broken.

Stage 6- Individual principles of conscience. Takes account of likely views of everyone affected by a moral decision.