Psych Exam 2: Ch 5&6

Developmental psychologists

Interested in nature and nurture, continuity and stages, stability and change

cross-sectional studies

a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another

longitudinal studies

A research method that studies the same participants multiple times over a period of time

Issue: sample will shrink over time making it hard

Nature and nurture

How much of what we see is due to genetics versus the environment

Continuity and stages

jumping from one point to the another, cognitive development, change happens gradually -- so how much of it is a big jump and how much is gradual?

Stability and change

How much are we consistent and how quickly does change occur?

- earliest years of life = biggest changes

- temperament is stable, social attitudes are not

- childhood doesn't determine the rest of our life

zygote (pre natal)

fertilized egg, beginning of life cycle at conception

- 2 wk stage of rapid cell division

embryo (pre natal)

zygotes inner cells become embryo, outer cells become the placenta

- 2 wks - 2 mo.

fetus (pre natal)

in the next 6 weeks, body organs form and function by 9 wks. recognizably human

teratogen

agent such as chemical or virus that can cause harm during pre natal development

newborn

- automatic reflex responses for survival i.e. sucking, swallowing, breathing, tonguing

- cries to elicit comfort, search for sights/sounds that are linked to other humans

- biologically rooted temperament

rooting reflex

Habituation

- fetuses (before even born) are learning while in utero i.e. sound of mothers voice

- prefer face-like images and smell of mother

maturation

- sequence of biological growth which influences many of our commonalities

- brain cells are influenced by both heredity and experience -- we're born prepared, but have to learn too

pruning

the process of eliminating unused synapses (brain connections) during adolescence so that the necessary ones can be strengthened

- "use it or lose it"

cortex

- thinking, memory, and language are last cortical

- more advanced developments during puberty for agility and self control

motor skills

develop during earliest stages of life as the nervous system and muscles mature

- universal in sequence (order), but not timing (age)

Infantile amnesia

- may reflect conscious memory

- non-verbal infant memory, they're capable of learning and remembering

- appears that the infant isn't remembering because we often look at memory in terms of language

Piaget

theorist that developed a series of stages in which an individual passes during cognitive development.

- idea that children are active thinkers, always moving ahead through irreversible stages

Schemas

used and adjusted through assimilation and accommodation (sorting and filtering the physical world)

- an idea or cluster of things used to determine how well things fit in

Assimilation

when things are similar enough we categorize them together

Accommodation

we adapt our understanding and change or modify the schema

Sensorimotor Stage: 0-2 (Piaget)

Awareness that things exist when not in field of vision

- children think like scientists actively searching and learning about the world

Pre operational stage: 2-7 (Piaget)

Children can represent things with words and images, too young to form mental operations

- egocentrism -- children have difficulty viewing the world from another persons POV

Concrete operational stage: 7-11 (Piaget)

Children gain mental operations

They begin to understand math and conservation

Formal operational stage: 12+ (Piaget)

Can ponder hypotheticals and consequences

We now know this happens earlier than he'd thought*

What is different about children?

They don't think like adults, and they think differently at different ages

More gradual development and more understanding than Piaget had realized

Theory of Mind

- Ability to read the mental state of other people

- By 4-5 children can anticipate false beliefs

- Autism and deafness causes difficulty

Attachment

- Children have emotional tie to another person

- Important, anchor for child

- Stranger anxiety at 8 months

Critical period

an optimal period shortly after birth when an organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produces proper development

How do early relationships form the foundation for adult relationships?

Basic trust

Children are resilient after growing up in adversity

Parenting styles

authoritarian (coercive), permissive (unrestraining), neglectful (uninvolved), and authoritative (confrontative) + best outcome

Physical development in adolescence

puberty

sequence is again more predictable than the timing

starting earlier worldwide

early maturers are at risk for health problems

Brain

Synaptic links increase until puberty which starts pruning

- link between frontal lobe and limbic system develops earlier in females

Sensation and perception

understanding typical circumstances, both are parts of one continuous process

sensation

how sensory receptors (nerve endings that respond to stimuli) receive information from the environment

Perception

organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling recognition of meaningful objects and events

Bottom-up

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

Sensory system to brain

Top-down

Making sense of information by using context and what we already know about the situation

Brain to sensory system

All senses:

(1) Receive sensory stimulation, often using specialized receptor cells

(2) Transform that stimulation into neural impulses

(3) Deliver neural information to your brain

Transduction

Involves conversion of one form of energy to another

Psychophysics

the study of relationships between the physical energy (detectable) and its effect of psychological experience

i.e. only light waves that we can pick up are detected

Absolute threshold

Minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus, 50% of the time

Subliminal

Input below the threshold for conscious awareness

Signal detection theory

Predicts how and when a faint stimulus is to be detected amid background noise

first used during WW2 for radar

Difference threshold

The minimum difference between two stimulus 50% of the time (just noticeable difference)

Webers law

principle that to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage

Subliminal sensations

Involves stimuli so weak that these are not consciously noticed

priming

used to activate unconscious associations

subliminal persuasion

may produce a fleeting, subtle, but not powerful effect enduring on behavior

sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

perceptual set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another -- what one feels, sees, tastes, and hears; stereotypes

context effects

given stimulus may trigger different perceptions because of the immediate effect

Motives

provide energy for working toward a goal

Emotions

can move our perceptions in one direction or another

Wavelength

distance from peak to peak which determines hue (dimension of color)

Intensity

the amount of energy in a light wave or sound wave, which influences what we perceive as brightness or loudness. Intensity is determined by the wave's amplitude (height).

Retina

the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information

Accommodation

the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Rods

retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond

cones

retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions.

The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.

Optic nerve

the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

blind spot

the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there

Fovea

the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster

color processing

1. The retina's red, green, and blue cones respond in varying degrees to different color stimuli

2. The cones' responses are then processed by opponent-process cells

Feature detectors

nerve cells in the occipital lobes visual cortex that respond to scenes specific visual features -- particular edges, lines, angles, and movements

Pass this info to other cortical areas where supercell clusters respond to complex patterns

Parallel processing

the processing of many aspects of stimulus or problem (motion, form, depth, color) simultaneously

Fusiform face area

specialized neural network in temporal lobe that enables perception and recognition of faces from varied view points

Gestalt principles

form perception, depth perception, perceptual constancy

Depth perception

Ability to see objects in three dimensions, although images that strike

retina are two-dimensional

Allows us to judge distance

Is present, at least in part, at birth in humans and other animals

Binocular cues

depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes

Retinal Disparity

a binocular cue for perceiving depth

Brain calculates distance by comparing retinal images from two eyes.

Greater the disparity (difference) between two images, the closer the object.

Monocular cue

a depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone

Stroboscopic movement

Occurs when brain perceives rapid series of slightly varying images as

continuous movement

Phi phenomenon

Is illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on

and off in quick succession

Perceptual constancy

Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness,

shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change

Color and brightness constancies

Shape and size constancies

Restored vision and sensory restriction

Effects of sensory restriction on infant cats, monkeys, and humans

suggest that there is a critical period for typical sensory and perceptual

development.

Without stimulation, typical connections do not develop.

Perceptual adaptation

Ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced

or even inverted visual field

Hearing (audition)

detecting sound waves and converting them into nerve impulses

ear drum

a tightly stretched membrane at the end of the ear canal that vibrates when hit by sound waves

bones of the middle ear

the hammer, anvil, stirrup; vibrate with the eardrum

semi-circular canals

Three fluid-filled tubes that detect changes in angular acceleration

Hearing Loss: Conductive

occurs when sound waves are not conducted to the inner ear because of damage to the cochlea

Hearing Loss: Sensorineural

damage to structures of inner ear such as hair cells receptors or auditory nerve

place theory in hearing

links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochleas membrane is stimulated

frequency theory of hearing

the rate of nerve impulses traveling up auditory nerve matches frequency of a tone, and enables us to sense its pitch; explains low pitches

Biological influences

Nociceptors detect hurtful temperatures, pressure, or chemicals

Brain's neural networks process these sensations and produce perceptions of pain

Gate control theory

the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain.

More than a physical sensation, involving cognition and both a bottom-up and top-down stimulation

Sensation is to ___ as perception is to ___

bottom-up processing; top-down processing

3 multiple choice options

The process by which we organize and interpret sensory information is called

Perception

Subliminal stimuli are

below our absolute threshold for conscious awareness

3 multiple choice options

Another term for difference threshold is the

just noticeable difference (JND)

Weber's law states that for a difference to be perceived, two stimuli must differ by

a constant minimum percentage

3 multiple choice options

Sensory adaptation helps us focus on

important changes in the environment

3 multiple choice options

Our perceptual set influences what we perceive. This mental tendency reflects our

experiences, assumptions, and expectations.

3 multiple choice options

By age 65, a person would be most likely to experience a cognitive decline in the ability to

recall and list all the important terms and concepts in a text module

3 multiple choice options

Freud defined the healthy adult as one who is able to love and work. Erikson agreed, observing that the adult struggles to attain intimacy and ___

generativity

Contrary to what many people assume,

positive feelings tend to grow after midlife

3 multiple choice options