intro to psych science CHAPTER 11: Cognitive Mind March 16th (after midterm content)

Stage Theory Development: 

* Assumptions of Stage Theories:
* Development is discontinuous: meaning different capacities emerge at each stage 
* Happens in a specific order 
* Related to age 

Development is discontinuous:

meaning different capacities emerge at each stage 

Cognitive Development:

* Cognition: mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating 
* Piaget's perspective:
* A child's mind develops through a series of stages
* Children are active thinkers 
* Constantly try to construct a more advanced understanding of the world. 

Cognition:

mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating 

Piaget's perspective (cognitive):

* A child's mind develops through a series of stages
* Children are active thinkers 
* Constantly try to construct a more advanced understanding of the world. 

Cognitive Development: Piaget's Perspective:

* Schema: Concept or Framework that organizes and interprets information 
* People use and adjust schemas through: 
* Assimilation: interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas 
* Accommodation: adapting current understandings to incorporate new information. 

Schema:

Concept or Framework that organizes and interprets information 

People use and adjust schemas through: 

* Assimilation: interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas 
* Accommodation: adapting current understandings to incorporate new information.

Assimilation:

interpreting new experiences in terms of existing schemas 

Accommodation:

adapting current understandings to incorporate new information.

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

A child's capacity to understand certain concepts is based on the child's developmental stage 

Piaget's Four stages:

* Believed that all children develop according to four stages based on how they see the world
* He thought the age may vary some, but that we all go through the stages in the same order. 

Sensori-motor

(birth-2 years) 

* Begins at birth and lasts until child's second birthday 
* Characterized by active exploration of the environment 
* Object permanence: the ability to form mental representations of objects that are no longer present. Occurs around 8 months of age. 
* The child will: 
* Explore the world through senses and motor activity 
* Begin to understand cause and effect 
* If they can't see something then it doesn't exist. 

Object permanence:

the ability to form mental representations of objects that are no longer present. Occurs around 8 months of age. 

Object Permanence second definition:

Infants younger than 6 months seldom understand that things continue to exist when they are out of sight. 

Preoperational (2-7)

* About 2 to about 7
* Use of symbols, egocentrism, and limits on the ability to reason logically. Includes the belief that appearances are real
* Better speech communication 
* Can imagine the future and reflect on the past 
* Develop basic numerical abilities 
* Still pretty egocentric, but learning to be able to delay gratification
* Can't understand conservation of matter 
* Has difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality (ex: cartoon characters are real people) \*animism\*

Egocentrism:

Assumption that others view the world as one does oneself.

Animism-

The belief that inanimate objects move because of will or spire.

Arificialism -

The belief that natural objects have been created by human beings

Conservation -

Recognition that basic properties of substances such as weight and mass remain the same when superficial features change 

Change objective Responsibility -

Blame assigned based on amount of damage rather than motions

More preoperational:

* Conservation of matter- understanding that something doesnt change even though it looks different, shape is not related to quantity. 
* Ex: are ten coins set in a long line more than ten coins in a pile
* Ex. Is there less water if it is poured into a bigger container 
* \*centration\*

Conservation of matter

understanding that something doesn’t change even though it looks different, the shape is not related to quantity. 

* Ex: are ten coins set in a long line more than ten coins in a pile
* Ex. Is there less water if it is poured into a bigger container 

Piaget test of conservation

* This visually focused preoperational child does not yet understand the principle of conservation. 
* When milk is poured into a tall, narrow glass, it suddenly seems like more than when it was in the shorter, wider glass.

Concrete operational stage: 

* From about 7 to about 11 
* Problems of conservation are easily solved 
* Thinking becomes more logical 
* Decentration: focusing on more than one dimension at a time 
* Reversibility: recognition that processes can be undone.

Decentration

focusing on more than one dimension at a time 

Reversibility:

recognition that processes can be undone.

Formal Operations: 

* From about 12 and onward 
* Be able to think about hypothetical situations 
* Can handle abstract concepts and “what if” types of questions 
* Abstract thinking improves problem solving skills, stimulates burst of idealism 
* Adolescent egocentrism: 
* Imaginary audience 
* Personal fable.

Adolescent egocentrism: 

* Imaginary audience 
* Personal fable.

Alternative Approaches to Cognitive Development

* Lev Vygotsky:

* CULTURE 
* Individuals gain knowledge by interacting socially and collaboratively
* Language is used to initiate social contact and opportunity to learn

information processing

* Extends Piaget's theories by describing specific changes in ability to reason
* Rate of processing information increases as we age

Naive theories:

* Young children understand even before interactive experience

Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development

* Lev Vrgotsky cognitive development is a results from a dynamic interaction between individuals and society
* Development is gradual and continuous thru the interactions of a child with the parent, teachers, and others in society
* Varies from one culture to the next

Major themes of Vygotsky's theory: 

* Social interactions
* The more knowledgeable other (MKO) 
* Zone of proximal development
* Scaffolding 

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

* This is an important concept that relates to the difference between what a child can achieve independently and what a child can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner. According to Vygotsky learning occurs here. 
* Vygotsky sees the ZPD as the area where the most sensitive instruction or guidance should be given, allowing the child to develop skills they will then use on their own, developing higher mental functions. 

The more knowledgeable other (MKO)

* MKO refers to someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept. 
* For example, teachers, other adults, advanced students, sometimes even computers 
* Many times, a child's peers or an adults, children may be 
* The individuals with more knowledge or experience. 
* For example, who would know more about the latest teen music group, how to watch the news black ops game, or what the latest dance moves are, a child or their parents. 

Vygotsky's theory differs from that of piaget in a number of important ways:

1. Vygotsky places more emphasis on culture affecting shaping cognitive development. This contradicts piaget view of universal stages and content of development (vygotsky does not refer to stages in the way that piaget does)
2. Vygotsky places considerably more emphasis on social factors contributing to cognitive development (piaget is criticized for underestimating this)
3. Vygotsky places more emphasis on the role of language in cognitive development (again Piaget is criticized for lack of emphasis on this)

Learning:

process by which life experience causes change in behavior or thinking. 

Associations develop through conditioning:

a process in which environmental stimuli and behavioral responses become connected. 

Nonassociative learning:

learning about a stimulus, such as sight or sound in the external world. 

(nonassociative learning) Habituation:

when our behavioral response to a stimulus decreases 

(nonassociative learning) sensitization:

when our behavioral response to a stimulus increases

Associative learning:

learning the relationship between two pieces of information.

(associative learning) classical conditioning:

when we learn that a stimulus predicts another stimulus.

(associative learning) operant conditioning:

when we learn that a behavior leads to a certain outcome.

Classical conditioning is a

basic form of learning in which a stimulus that produces an innate reflex becomes associated with a previously neutral stimulus which then acquired the power to elicit essentially the same response. 

Ex of classical conditioning: 

* Pavlov and his accidental discovery 
* Classical conditioning 
* Neutral stimulus 
* Unconditioned stimulus 
* Unconditioned response 
* Conditioned stimulus 
* Conditioned response. 

Unconditioned response (UR):

a response that does not have to be learned such as a reflex Ex. Dancing, salvation

Unconditioned stimulus (US):

a stimulus that elicits a response such as a reflex without any prior learning Ex. Music, food

Generalization:

stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus cause the same conditioned response. 

Discrimination:

stimuli that are different from the conditioned stimulus fail to cause the same conditioned response. 

The Little Albert Research method 

* Little Albert (11 months old) was presented with neutral objects (a white rat, rabbit, dog, and costume masks) that provoked a neutral response. 
* During conditioning trials, when albert reached for the white rat (CS) a loud clanging sound (US) scared him (UR)

* Extinction

weakening of a conditioned association in the absence of an unconditioned stimulus or reinforcer. 

Conditioned food aversions:

* a biological tendency in which an organism learns to avoid food with a certain sight, smell, or taste after a single experience. If eating it is followed by illness. 

Operant Conditioning

* (instrumental conditioning): a learning process in which the consequences of an action determine the likelihood that it will be performed in the future.
* B.F Skinner chose the term operant to express the idea that animals operate on their environments to produce effects.

\
Edward Thorndike

performed the first reported carefully controlled experiments in comparative animal psychology using a puzzle box.

* Law of effect: any behavior that leads to a “satisfying state of affairs” is likely to occur again and any behavior that leads to an annoying state of affairs is less likely to occur again.

Law of effect:

y behavior that leads to a “satisfying state of affairs” is likely to occur again and any behavior that leads to an annoying state of affairs is less likely to occur again.

\
* Thirty years after thorndike

, Skinner developed a more formal learning theory based on the law of effect.

Reinforcement ____behavior. 

increases

Skinner believed that

behavior occurs because it has been reinforced. 

* Reinforcer: a stimulus that follows a response and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated. 

Reinforcer:

a stimulus that follows a response and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated. 

\
* Punishment reduces the probability

that a behavior will recur.

* Positive punishment: the administration of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior recurring. 
* Negative punishment: the removal of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior recurring. 

Positive punishment: 

the administration of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior recurring.

Negative punishment:

the removal of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior recurring. 

Reinforcement-

\

positive or negative-increases the likelihood of a behavior. 

* Positive reinforcement: the administration of a stimulus to increase the probability of a behavior being repeated. 
* negative reinforcement: the removal of a stimulus to increase the probability of a behavior being repeated. 

* Positive reinforcement:

the administration of a stimulus to increase the probability of a behavior being repeated.

negative reinforcement:

the removal of a stimulus to increase the probability of a behavior being repeated. 

Primary reinforcers- 

Reinforcers that fulfill basic biological needs or desires such as food and sex, that have an innate basis to an organism.

Sometimes animals take a long time to perform the precise desired action. What can be done to make them act more quickly?

shaping and successive approximations.

shaping:

\
* an operant conditioning techniques that consists of reinforcing behaviors that are increasingly similar to the desired behavior. 

successive approximations:

any behavior that even slightly resembles the desired behavior.

Continuous reinforcement:

a type of learning in which behavior is reinforced each time it occurs. 

\
* Partial reinforcement:

* a type of learning in which behavior is reinforced intermittently. 
* Partial reinforcements' effect on conditioning depends on the reinforcement schedule. 

Partial reinforcements' effect on conditioning depends on

the reinforcement schedule

Partial reinforcement can be administered according to

either the number of behavioral responses or the passage of time.

\
* Ratio schedule:

reinforcement is based on the number of times the behavior occurs.

Interval schedule:

reinforcement is provided after a specific unit of time 

\
* Ratio reinforcement generally leads to____responding than does interval reinforcement.

greater

Fixed ratio:

a set number of occurrences or frequencies

\
* Fixed is

PREDICTABLE

\
* variable interval:

a random time period 

\
* Variable ratio:

a random number of occurrences/frequencies

\
* Variable:

unpredictable

\
Behavior modification:

* the use of operant conditioning techniques to eliminate unwanted behaviors and replace them with desirable ones.
* Token economies operate on the principle of secondary reinforcement. Tokens are earned for completing tasks and lost for bad behavior. Tokens can later be traded for objects or privileges.

* Observational learning:

* the acquisition or modification of a behavior after exposure to another individual performing that behavior (aka social learning). 

observational learning is a powerful adaptive tool for humans and other animals. 

**Defining personality:** 

* A persons distinctive and stable way of thinking, feeling, and behaving
* Our behavior is an interaction between our personality and the situation

**Biological Contributions to personality:**

\

\
* Are you born with you personality?
* Behavioral genetics: the study of the impact of genes (nature) and environment (nurture) on personality and behavior. 

 

 **Psychodynamic theory of personality:**

\
* An explanation of personality, based on the idea of sigmund freud, that emphasizes unconscious forces and early childhood experiences. 
* A controversial theory 
* A controversial theorist.

**Freuds psychoanalytic theory:** 

Four key concepts

* Levels of consciousness 
* Personality structure 
* Defense mechanisms
* Psychosexual stages of personality development

**The structure of personality:** 

\

\
* Id: the animalistic part of the mind that generates our more primal, biologically based impulses such as sex and aggression. 
* Pleasure principle
* Superego: the part of the mind that opposes the id by enforcing rules, restrictions, and morality
* Similar to conscience 
* Ego: the part of the mind that serves as a realistic mediator between the id and the superego
* Reality principle 

\

* Id:

* the animalistic part of the mind that generates our more primal, biologically based impulses such as sex and aggression. 
* Pleasure principle

* Superego:

the part of the mind that opposes the id by enforcing rules, restrictions, and morality

* Similar to conscience 

* Ego:

* the part of the mind that serves as a realistic mediator between the id and the superego
* Reality principle 

**The egos protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality:** 

* Denial 
* Rationalization 
* Reaction formation 
* Regression 
* Repression 
* Sublimation 
* Projection 
* displacement.

**Abraham Masclow and Carol Rogers on the Healthy Personality** 

* Self actualization personalities 
* Healthy individuals who are able to become who they want to be 

**Self actualization:** 

\
* Fully becoming the person you have the potential to be requires positive regard  (warmth, acceptance, and love) 
* Problems arise when conditions of with are imposed 
* Requirements you must meet to earn others positive regard. 

**Incongruence:**

mismatch between realself and ideal self 

* Leads to unhappiness and mental illness 

**Congruence:**

match between real self and ideal self.

**Abraham Masclow and Self Actualization:** 

* The more basic needs (such as food, water, safety, and a feeling of belonging) must be secured before a person attempts to self actualize. 
* We experience more peak experiences the closer we get to self actualization. 
* Described as mystical, ecstatic, harmony, or sense of purpose.

**Trait theory of personality:**

* Emphasizes the discovery and description of the basic components of personality. 
* What versus. Why 
* Traits: stable elements of personality that influence thoughts, feelings, and behavior across most situations.