Psych Exam III

Developmental psychology

The scientific study of how people change physically, cognitively, socially, and emotionally from infancy through old age

Nature vs. Nurture

Biologically determined developmental change; experience within an environment which produces developmental change

Sensitive periods

specific time frames during development when the individual is particularly receptive to certain environmental stimuli or experiences

Cross-sectional study

A research design that compares individuals of different ages at a single point in time to understand developmental changes

Longitudinal study

A research design that involves repeated observations or measurements of the same variables over an extended period

Sequential study

Combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional models, which tracks development over time in different age groups spontaneously

Neural tube

a tubular structure formed early in the embryonic stage, responsible for the development of the brain

Neurons and Glial cells

The two primary cell types in the nervous system - (a) being responsible for generation and transmittance of electrochemical signals, and (b) being responsible for support, nourishment, and insulation.

Synaptic pruning

Trimming back of unused synapses, also called “use it or lose it”.

Myelination

The insulation of axons in myelin, which allows for faster neural connections

Frontal lobes

Important for roles in judgement, self-control, and intelligence

Teratogens

Environmental agents that can interfere with healthy fetal development (e.g. fetal alcohol syndrome)

Reflexes

Automatic patterns of motor responses that are triggered by specific types of sensory stimulation

Preferences (newborns)

Familiar tastes, smells or voices and most prevalently human faces, which guides learning and development.

William Greenough

Conducted “rich rats and poor rats” experiment, which showed that “rich” rats developed more neural connections, demonstrating that brain structure is not determined by genetics alone.

Johnson and Newport (1989)

Conducted an experiment which analyzed the relationship between age of arrival in US, and English grammatical capabilities of second-language learners - proved that the sensitive period of language learning is before the age of 7.

Jean Piaget

Created the “theory of cognitive development”, which focused on how logical thinking develops with age.

Schemas

mental concepts that structure existing knowledge - part of Piaget’s theory

Assimilation

perceiving or thinking about new objects in terms of existing schemas (e.g. a “camel” being called a “horse with a hump”)

Accomodation

changing existing schemas based on new objects or events (e.g. all-four legged pets being “dogs” being changed after encountering a cat)

Sensorimotor stage (Piaget)

0-2 years old, in which infants construct their understanding of the world through sensory experiences and motor actions. (key milestone = object permanence)

Preoperational stage (Piaget)

2-7 years old, characterized by the emergence of language development, and imaginative play (key milestone = symbolic thought)

Concrete operational stage (Piaget)

7-12 years old, characterized by the development of logical thinking of “concrete” objects or events, while still struggling with more abstract of hypothetical thinking (key milestone = mass conservation)

Formal operational stage (Piaget)

>12 years old, characterized by the ability to think abstractly and to understand hypothetical scenarios and to use reason (mathematics, “justice”, “truth”, etc).

Lev Vygotsky

Created an alternative theory of development which addresses shortcomings of Piaget, which stresses the importance of social and cultural factors in development

Internalization

One of two Vygotsky developmental mechanisms: in which social factors become a part of the individual through “modeling”.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

One of two Vygotsky developmental mechanisms: the gap between current abilities and maximal potential, and the importance of surrounding peers in potential learning and development

Social development

How humans learn to understand and interact with their communities

Personality

The behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and social patterns specific to individuals, which can be measured by how different people behave in the same situation.

Attatchment (infants)

The strong social-emotional bond between a child and a caregiver

Harry Harlow

Conducted an experiment where monkeys were separated from their mothers and deprived of all other social contact, with two artificial “mothers” - one made of metal which provided food, one made of cloth but no food. The findings showed that “soft mother” was preferred most of the time, except when hungry, supporting the attachment theory.

Mary Ainsworth

Created the “strange situation” study for attachment variability in infants: which found that there were three distinct attachment styles.

Secure attachment

(70% of infants) explore when mother is present, upset when mother leaves, calmed when mother returns - leads to infants being more “well adjusted” later in life.

Insecure attachment (ambivalent)

(15% of infants) don’t explore when mother is present, upset when mother leaves, remains upset when mother returns

Insecure attachment (avoidant)

(15% of infants) ignore mother when she is present, and no reaction when she leaves or returns

The 4 Parenting Styles

Permissive, Authoritative, Disengaged, and Authoritarian - the extremes of each parenting style lead to child being either over or under demanding, and over or under responsive.

Social psychology

The study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of people

Sociological and Anthropological factors

Broad social factors, such as culture, politics, economics, etc, which influence the way humans think and behave towards other people

Personality factors

Internal factors within each individual which make us unique and define us, which influences the way we think and behave towards other people

Social neuroscience

Measurable changes in the brain that underlie our social behaviors, and how we think and behave towards other people

Social norms

Patterns of behavior, traditions, beliefs, and preferences that are reinforced by others and influence behavior

Conformity

A change in one’s behavior due to real or imagine influence of other people.

Solomon Asch

Conducted a conformity study in which participants were asked to perform a simple task, however all but one person were confederates who answered incorrectly - resulting in conformity, which shows that some human behavior is driven by other individuals around us.

The Milgram Experiments

An expansion on Asch’s study, which analyzed obedience to authority. Explored how perceived authority led participants to deliver electric shocks even after the “student” expressed refusal. Resulted in more than half fulfilling the experiment and delivering the full shock.

Muzafer Sherif (1936)

Conducted an experiment which displayed that people are more likely to conform when a situation is ambiguous, and they don’t know how to behave.

Social Impact Theory (Latane)

We conform to normative social influence depending on: How important the group is, how much we are in the groups presence, how cohesive the group is, and how big the group is.

Task importance (Baron)

Conformity increases when there is a perceived higher priority against lower priority.

Informational influence

Conforming because we want to be correct due to doubt (Asch), ambiguity (Sherif) and importance (Baron)

Normative influence

Conforming because we want to be liked, due to social acceptance (Latane) or fear of judgement (Asch)

Social perception experiments

Experiments where people report their best guesses about other people (e.g. “How does the person in a photo feel?” or “What does the person in a video want to do?”)

Theory of Mind (ToM)

When humans can understand that other people have a different view of the world, can form a representation of other people’s mind, and take other peoples perspectives. Develops around 4 years old in children, and is impaired with people with autism.

Implicit personality theory

Inferring people’s personality traits and motivation with the use of schemas (e.g. if someone is kind, they’re probably generous as well)

Willis and Todorov (2006)

Conducted an experiment that showed that many humans are shown to form an impression about someone within 100 ms of seeing their face.

The covariation model (Harold Kelley)

Theory that when explaining person A’s actions, people naturally take into account how person A’s actions “covaried” across different context.

Attribution errors

Caused by lack of information, which leads humans to judge behavior incorrectly due to biases (e.g. attributing behavior to personality rather than context).

Stereotypes

Mental representations or schemas about groups

Explicit bias

Attitudes or stereotypes that consciously and intentionally exist in our minds

Implicit bias

Biases that exist outside of conscious awareness, which could unconsciously lead to judgements or perceptions about certain groups of people.

Social identity theory

Theory that people maintain a positive view of ingroups, while viewing outgroups more negatively.

Gordan Allport

Created the contact hypothesis, that direct contact between groups will reduce prejudice if there is mutual interdependence, common goals, or equal status.

Psychopathology / Psychological disorder

Persistent disturbance or dysfunction in behavior, thoughts, or emotion.

Comorbidity

Co-occurrence of two or more disorders (e.g schizophrenia being highly corellated with alcoholism diagnoses)

DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)

Collection of criteria used by all psychiatrists in order to minimize bias in psychopathology diagnoses, with 20 different categories of 200 different mental disorders.

The Rosenhan Experiments

Experiments where people were labeled as “psychotic” despite normal behaviors, which lead to false treatments and perceptions of the people. Demonstrated the dangers of “labeling” socially.

Schizophrenia

Profound disruption of basic psychological processes, a distorted perception of reality, altered or blunted emotion, and other mental disturbances. Afflicts ~0.5% of Americans, likely caused by biological predisposition (increased dopamine in frontal lobe), and psychological/social stress.

Anxiety Disorders

Most common mental disorder - includes specific phobias and panic disorders.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Chronic, excessive worry accompanied by three or more symptoms of relentlessness, fatigue, concentration problems, irritability, etc.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

Characterized by at least one major symptom of depressed mood or loss of interest, and four other minor symptoms such as change in appetite, sleep disturbance, fatigue, etc: symptoms must be present every day for at least TWO weeks according to DSM-5. Comorbid with anxiety.

Bipolar Disorder

A mood-related disorder characterized by both manic and depressive episodes: According to DSM-5 3 or more symptoms such as inflated self esteem, fast talking, distractibility, etc. are required every day for ONE week.

Bipolar I

At least one manic episode, and does not require a depressive episode, but it is common.

Bipolar II

No manic episodes, but at least one “hypomanic” episode, which is a less severe form of mania: must also have a depressive episode.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Exposure to a traumatic event, such as directly witnessing, learning of an event which happened to a family or friend, which leads to intrusion, avoidant, cognition changing, and arousal changing behaviors. At least one symptom of each must be present every day for ONE MONTH for DSM-5 diagnosis.

Trephining/trepanning

Perforation of the skull with a surgical instrument, popular historically due to thought of alleviation of psychological symptoms

Psychogenetic treatment

Psychopathological treatment through experience or discussion - includes methods such as psychoanalysis (Sigmund Freud), which asserts that symptoms arise from childhood conflicts, or modern therapeutic approaches.

Somatogenic/biological treatment

Psychopathological treatment through psychoactive drugs, electromagnetic brain stimulation, or surgery.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Focus on changing the patient's habitual interpretations of the world, and ways of behaving by encouraging thinking differently.

Exposure techniques (therapy)

Systematic desensitization with controlled exposure - “face your fears”

Behavior modification techniques (therapy)

Reinforcement or learning to change behavior, via positive behaviors being reinforced, and negative behaviors being followed by consequences.

Psychoactive drugs

Used in treatment of psychopathologies - use neurotransmitter receptors to alter or effect behavior, but can carry risk of addiction and other side effects.

Psychosurgery

Surgical destruction of specific brain regions - usually to deal with debilitating epileptic seizures

Health psychology

The study of interrelation between behavior, cognition, and physical health

Biopsychosocial Model of Health

Health is a mixture of biology, psychology, and social environment - therefore, psychological factors can influence physical health and vice versa.

Cohen Cold Study (1991)

Study which demonstrated that individuals with higher levels of stress led to a higher change of becoming ill, which shows that immune systems can be weakened by mental stress.

Acute Stress

A stressor which has an end (e.g. final exams) which is usually paired with eustress, or a positive response in order to deal with the stressor.

Chronic Stress

A stressor which is present long-term, and is usually complemented with distress, causing an aversive state.

Sympathetic-Adreno-Medullary System (SAM)

A network of brain regions and body-wide sympathetic nervous systems which governs the bodies immediate physiological response to a stressor

Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal System (HPA)

A network of brain regions and hormone secreting glands that controls the body’s prolonged response to stress

General adaption syndrome (Selye)

The stages of physiological stress response: Immediate alarm reaction followed by a resistance phase, eventually leading to a period of exhaustion if stress is chronic.

Marucha (1998) wound study

An experiment where dental students were intentionally injured, either during a time of no stress and right before exams. The results showed that healing took longer in stress afflicted group.

Hot-Lunstad (2010) study

Experiment where it was found that social isolation increases mortality rates just as much as smoking or obesity.

Easterlin paradox

At a point in time happiness varies directly with income, but over the long term, happiness does not trend upward.

The Big Five (Personality Traits)

CANOE: Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Openness, and Extraversion

Pre-linguistic stage

0-2 months: vegetative sounds, no linguistic meaning

Cooing stage

2-4 months: vowel-like sounds, trills, raspberries, can produce speech sounds of all languages, development of muscles needed for language

Babbling stage

6-12 months, 3 main stages: Reduplicated (repeating vowels), Variegated (Non-reduplicated sounds) and Jargon (close to talking).

One word utterance stage

9-18 months, using holophrases (single word for a complete thought), begin of association between words and objects

Two-word utterance stage

18-24 months, using telegraphic speech and command-type language, includes errors such as over and under-extensions and over-regularizations

Multi-word stage

30+ months, and at this stage children have all necessary tools for language development

B.F. Skinner (Language)

Behavioral theory, in terms of language development children imitate caregivers or those around them, and have no innate ability to learn language on their own.

Jean Piaget (Language)

Cognitive theory, meaning individuals have to understand a concept before they can use language to express it. Children create schemas and apply language into describing it.