Intro to Psych - Human Development and Personality

Developmental psychology

Subfield that examines how humans change over the course of their lives and considers which changes are shared across people

Zygote

Sperm and egg combination, first cell of a new baby (zero to two weeks)

Embryo

Organs and internal systems begin to form (two weeks to two months)

Fetus

After two months of prenatal development, all organs are formed and the heart begins to beat

Synaptic pruning

‘Use it or lose it’ - brain preserves connections needed to function in a given context and eliminates others, allows adaptation to environments - occurs as people grow

Teratogens

Agents that harm the embryo or fetus and impair development in the womb (ex: drugs, bacteria, viruses, etc.)

Grasping reflex

Survival mechanism that has persisted from primate ancestors, young apes hold onto their mothers to allow them to be carried from place to place

Rooting reflex

Turning and sucking that infants automatically engage in when a nipple or similar object touches an area near their mouths

Sucking reflex

Helps infants nurse

Dynamic systems theory

Views development as a self-organizing process in which new forms of behavior emerge from the process of an organism repeatedly engaging and interacting with its environment

Preferential-looking technique

Researchers show an infant two things - if an infant looks longer at one of the things, the researchers know the infant can distinguish between the two and finds one more interesting

Habituation technique

Infants are presented with a series of pictures until the time they spend looking at the images decreases. Then infants are shown a new picture that is from the same or different category as the habituated images. Infants will spend a longer time looking at the picture if they perceive it as belonging to a different category - can learn about how infants categorize different stimuli

Infantile amnesia

Inability to remember events before the age of three or four years old

Attachment

Strong, intimate, emotional connection between people that persists over time and across circumstances

Imprinting

Birds attach themselves to an adult (usually to their mothers) and follow the object of their attachment (Konrad Lorenz)

Strange-situation test

In a playroom, the child, the caregiver, and a friendly but unfamiliar adult. Caregiver would leave, response from child was observed upon the caregiver leaving and returning - attachment styles

Secure

Strange-situation test, child is distressed when the attachment figure leaves, but is quickly comforted when the attachment figure returns

Insecure/avoidant

Strange-situation test, child is not distressed when the attachment figure leaves, avoids the attachment figure when they return

Insecure/ambivalent

Strange-situation test, child is inconsolably upset when the attachment figure leaves, and will both seek and reject caring contact upon return

Oxytocin

Hormone, related to social behaviors (including infant/caregiver attachment) - plays a role in maternal tendencies, such as nursing

Assimilation

A new experience is added to an existing scheme (Piaget)

Accommodation

A new scheme is created or an existing one is dramatically altered to include new information that otherwise would not fit (Piaget)

Sensorimotor

• 0-2 years

• Differentiates self from objects

• Begins to act intentionally, recognizes self as agent of action

• Achieves object permanence

• Piaget

Preoperational

• 2-7 years

• Learns to use language and to represent objects with images and words

• Thinking is still egocentric

• Classifies objects by a single feature

• Piaget

Concrete operational

• 7-12 years

• Can think logically about objects and events

• Achieves conservation of number and mass (age 7) and weight (age 9)

• Classifies objects by several features and can order them in a series along a single dimension

• Piaget

Formal operational

• 12+ years

• Can think logically about abstract propositions and test hypotheses systematically

• Becomes concerned with the hypothetical, the future, and ideological problems

• Piaget

Object permanence

The understanding that an object continues to exist even when it is hidden from view

Egocentrism

Tendency for preoperational thinkers to view the world through their own experiences

Theory of mind

Ability to infer what another person is feeling or thinking. We predict others’ behavior from that inference (Premack and Woodruff). Development coincides with maturation of the brain’s frontal lobes.

Prosocial behavior

Any voluntary action performed with the specific intent of benefiting another person

Moral reasoning

Process of thinking about what is right or wrong

Moral emotions

Linked to societal interests as a whole, motivate people to do good things and avoid doing bad things. Shame, guilt, pride, etc.

Preconventional level

Level of moral reasoning, people classify answers in terms of self-interest or pleasurable outcomes

Conventional level

Level of moral reasoning, people’s responses conform to rules of law and order or focus on other’s disapproval

Postconventional level

Level of moral reasoning, responses center around complex reasoning about abstract principles and the value of all life

Inequity aversion

Increases in strength throughout childhood, dislike of unfairness

Puberty

Onset of sexual maturity and thus the ability to reproduce

• Adolescent growth spurt

• Primary sex characteristics

• Secondary sex characteristics

Stage: Infancy

• Age: 0-1

• Psychosocial crisis: trust vs mistrust

• Successful resolution: children learn that the world is safe and people are loving and reliable

Stage: toddler

• Age: 1-3

• Psychosocial crisis: autonomy vs shame and doubt

• Successful resolution: encouraged to explore their environment, children gain feelings of independence and positive self-esteem

Psychosocial crisis: initiative vs guilt

• Age: 3-6

• Stage: preschool

• Successful resolution: children develop a sense of purpose by taking on responsibilities but also develop the capacity to feel guilty for misdeeds

Stage: childhood

• Age: 6-12

• Psychosocial crisis: industry vs inferiority

• Successful resolution: by working successfully with others and assessing how others view them, children learn to feel competent

Stage: adolescence

• Age: 12-18

• Psychosocial crisis: identity vs role confusion

• Successful resolution: by exploring different social roles, adolescents develop a sense of identity

Psychosocial crisis: intimacy vs isolation

• Age: 18-29

• Stage: young adulthood

• Successful resolution: young adults gain the ability to commit to long-term relationships

Psychosocial crisis: generativity vs stagnation

• Age: 30s-50s

• Stage: middle adulthood

• Successful resolution: adults gain a sense that they are leaving behind a positive legacy and caring for future generations

Stage: old age

• Age: 60s and beyond

• Psychosocial crisis: integrity vs despair

• Successful resolution: older adults feel a sense of satisfaction that they have lived a good life and developed wisdom

Erikson’s theory

• Theory of human development, emphasized age-related, culture-neutral psychosocial challenges and their effects on social functioning across the life span

• Eight stages

• Lacks empirical evidence, but provided a starting point for psychology researchers

Gender identity

One’s sense of being male, female, or nonbinary

Gender roles

Norms that differentiate behaviors and attitudes according to maleness and femaleness

Socioemotional selectivity theory

As people grow older, they view time as limited and therefore shift their focus to emotionally meaningful events, experiences, and goals (developed by Carstensen)

Personality

People’s characteristic thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviors

Personality trait

A pattern of thought, emotion, and behavior that is relatively consistent across situations and over time

Temperaments

General tendencies to feel or act in certain ways (broader than personality traits)

Activity level

One of the three basic characteristics that can be considered temperaments, overall amount of energy and action a person exhibits

Emotionality

One of the three basic characteristics that can be considered temperaments, describes the intensity of emotional reactions

Sociability

One of the three basic characteristics that can be considered temperaments, general tendency to affiliate with others

Gene-environment correlation

Genes and environment affect not only behavior but also each other

Inhibited

The 15-20 percent of newborns that react to new situations or strange objects by becoming startled and distressed, crying, and vigorously moving their arms and legs. Showing signs at two months predicts shyness later in life fairly well. Connected to amygdala function/activation. However, approximately one quarter of ______ children are not shy later in childhood (due to parenting)

Trait approach

Focuses on how individuals differ in personality dispositions, such as sociability, cheerfulness, and aggressiveness

Five-factor theory

Identifies five basic personality traits: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Continuum from low to high for each factor, each factor describes a broad trait that is made up of several related traits (facets)

Biological trait theory

Developed by Eysenck, proposed that personality traits had three major dimensions: extraversion/introversion, emotional stability (consistency in a person’s mood and emotions), and psychoticism (mix of aggression, poor impulse control, self-centeredness, and lack of empathy)

Behavioral approach system (BAS)

Revised reinforcement sensitivity theory of personality, consists of the brain structures that lead organisms to approach stimuli in pursuit of rewards (go system)

Behavioral inhibition system (BIS)

Revised reinforcement sensitivity theory of personality, cautiously inhibits or slows behavior when there are signs of danger, threats, or pain (slow down system)

Fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS)

Revised reinforcement sensitivity theory of personality, promotes behaviors that can protect the organism from harm, such as remaining motionless or escaping (stop or escape system)

Humanistic approaches

Emphasize personal experience, belief systems, the uniqueness of the narrative of each human life, and the inherent goodness of each person

Person-centered approach

Humanistic approach, Carl Rogers - emphasized people’s subjective understandings of their lives

• Encouraged parents to raise children with unconditional positive regard (parents should accept and prize their children no matter how the children behave)

Redemption

Things start out badly but transform for the better

Contamination

Things start out well, but them some person or event causes them to turn bad

Meaning-making

An event or episode yields a deep insight about life

Locus of control

Refers to how much control people believe they have over what happens in their lives

Internal locus of control

People believe they bring about their own rewards

External locus of control

Believe rewards (and therefore their personal fates) result from forces beyond their control

Personal constructs

Personal theories of how the world works

Reciprocal determinism

Bandura, argued that three factors influence how a person acts → personality is explained by the interaction of all three factors

• Environment

• Person factors (characteristics, self-confidence, and expectations)

• Behavior

Need for cognition

Reflects how much a person enjoys and tends to engage in complex thought

Situationism

Behaviors are determined more by situations than by personality traits

Person/situation debate

Rift between social psychologists (emphasize situational forces) and personality psychologists (focus on individual dispositions)

• Conclusion: both sides are right → personality is a measure of average/overall behavior, though response may vary depending on the situation (ex: shy people may not be shy all the time, but on average they are shy in more situations than people who aren’t shy)

Cognitive affective processing system

People react in predictable ways to specific conditions.

• People will exhibit stable behavior if they find themselves in similar situations over time

• Personality is reflected in the fact that most people tend to respond in the same way to similar situations

Strong situations

Tend to mask differences in personality because of the power of the social environment

Weak situations

Tend to reveal differences in personality

Interactionism

Behavior is determined jointly by situations and underlying dispositions

Idiographic approaches

Assessment of personality, person centered, focus on individual lives and how various characteristics are integrated into unique persons

Nomothetic approaches

Assessment of personality, focuses on characteristics that are common among all people but vary from person to person (same metric to compare all people)

Projective measures

Map out some of the response patterns to stimuli by having people describe or tell stories about ambiguous stimulus items (ex: Rorschach inkblot test or Thematic Apperception Test)

Self-concept

Web of information that you know and believe about yourself

Self-schema

Consists of an integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalizations about the self that helps us efficiently perceive, organize, interpret, and use information related to ourselves

Working self-concept

Part of the self-concept that is available during immediate experience, shifts slightly from situation to situation as different aspects of the self become more or less relevant

Self-esteem

Indicates a person’s emotional response to contemplating personal characteristics

Reflected appraisal

Process of learning about oneself through the eyes of others

Sociometer theory

Self-esteem is a mechanism for monitoring the likelihood of social exclusion

Narcissism

Associated with inflated self-esteem, people who are self-centered, view themselves in grandiose terms, feel superior to others and entitled to special treatment, and are manipulative

Psychopathy

General lack of caring for the welfare of others

Machiavellianism

Describes people who are especially manipulative of others for their own gain and lack concern with moral norms against harming others (ex: lying and cheating as an effective tool in politics)

Dark triad

Narcissism, psychopathy, machiavellianism

Light triad

Humanism, faith in humanity, Kantianism

Humanism

Valuing the worth and dignity of every person as an individual

Faith in humanity

Believing in the inherent goodness of humans

Kantianism

Categorical imperative of moral action requires that we never use other people only as a means but always as ends unto themselves

Social comparison

Occurs when people evaluate their own actions, abilities, and beliefs by contrasting them with other people’s

Self-serving bias

Tendency to take credit for success but blame failure on external factors