Motivation
The wants or needs that direct behavior toward a goal.
Intrinsic motivation
Pursuit of motivation because of internal factors.
Extrinsic motivation
Pursuit of an activity because of external factors.
Drive (reduction) theory
Organisms seek to exist in a state of homeostasis.
Primary Drive
Drive that is biological.
Secondary Drive
Drive that is learned
Optimal arousal theory
Motivated to maintain an optimal level of physiological and psychological arousal.
Self-determination theory
Motivated by Intrinsic goals and want to feel in control of destiny.
Goals should be.
Specific and achievable
Approach goals
goals we seek to aspire.
Avoidance goals
goals we want to avoid
Performance goals
performing well in front of others, be judged well
Mastery goals
increasing competence and skills
Approach-Approach conflict
Choice between two appealing activities or goals (win-win scenario)
Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict
Choice between the “lesser of two evils” (lose-lose scenario)
Approach-Avoidance Conflict
Choice has both positive and negative outcomes.
Personality
The traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways.
Trait
Unit of personality
Attributions
Can be situational or dispositional.
Fundamental Attribution error
Tendency to attribute motivations of others more to personality factors than to situational factors
Projective tests
based on the assumption that the test taker will project unconscious conflicts and motives onto an ambiguous stimulus.
Personality inventories
answers a series of questions about self.
Thematic Apperception test
Person is asked to tell a story about the “Hero” in the picture.
Rorschach Inkblot test
Shows the person an ambiguous stimulus, ask them to explain what they see.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Measures personality across several personality types
Personality Inventories - MBTI
Differing meaning of personalities between people
Focus on outer world or on your own inner world.
Extroversion or Introversion
Focus on the basic information you take in or prefer to interpret and add meaning
Sensing or Intuition
When making decisions, do you prefer to look at logic and consistency or to look at people and special circumstances.
Thinking or Feeling
In dealing with the world, do you prefer to get things decided or do you prefer to stay open to new information and options.
Judging or Perceiving
Factor Analysis
Used to identify how traits cluster together across the population.
Five Factor Model
Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism
Parenting
depends on genetics; parenting will vary according to the child’s personality.
Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
Looks at how children may learn personality through imitation and cognitive processes.
Reciprocal Determinism
addresses how cognitive processes, behaviors and situational factors all interact to reinforce or punish personality traits.
Freud Theory
emphasizes interactions between different components of personality.
Freud’s Developmental Stages
Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency period, Genitial
Humanistic Theory
Focused on personality development as part of our quest for growth and achievement of potential.
Abraham Maslow
Emphasized pursuit of self-actualization
Carl Rogers
Importance of unconditional positive regard, and congruence between real self and ideal self. (led to Positive Psychology)
Cell transformation
Single cell zygote develops into an embryo, then a fetus (require proper care)
Teratogens
external/environmental contaminants that can penetrate the maternal protections of pregnancy and cause harm to the fetus. (drugs and alcohol)
Sight
Stimulation builds quickly; binocular depth perception by 4-5m, 20/20 by 6m
Reflexes
Innate, unlearned, adaptive behaviors (grasping, stepping, basic swim reflex)
Paiget’s Model
Driven by improving skills to organize information.
Piaget Stage #1
(Sensorimotor) Thought is centered around senses and motor skills.
Piaget Stage #2
(Preoperational) Follows the onset of mental representation at end of sensorimotor
Centration
Tendency to focus on only one dimension of a problem.
Egocentrism
Tendency to only be able to reason about a problem from one’s own viewpoint.
Piaget Stage #3
(Concrete Operations) onset of logical but not abstract thought
Piaget Stage #4
(Formal Operations) Ability to think abstractly, sense of self.
Weaknesses of Piaget’s Model
Tasks were too abstract, underestimated the capabilities of young children.
Behaviorism
Gender identity is based on reinforcement and punishment. (Social Learning)
Cognitive
Children categorize or develop gender schemata. (built for input form environment)
Temperament
innate traits that influence how one thinks, behaves, and reacts with the environment.
Authoritarian Parent Style
Strict punishment and rules (Children end up withdrawn and distrustful)
Permissive Parent Style
Not demanding, Rarely punish (Children tend to be disruptive, immature, undisciplined)
Authoritative Parent Style
Use reason in explaining punishment (Children feel more secure, more confident, and exploratory)
Power Assertion-Disciplinary
Physical discipline often stimulates aggression.
Induction-Disciplinary
Attempt to reason with the child
Withdrawal of Love-Disciplinary
ignoring, isolating the child
Adolescence
Changes across all dimensions (Obesity rates increase)
Anorexia and Bulimia
Mainly female (greater emphasis on body appearance)
Adulthood
Metabolism settles post adolescence, important to get exercise and eat well.
Middle Adulthood
Shows decline in sensory/physical performance
Midlife Crisis
Emerged in the 70’s, Research does not support it.
Aging Population
Largest part of population is 85+
Primary Aging
Inevitable process of deterioration
Secondary Aging
Product of abuse, disease, poor care
Functional Age
How old your abilities are relative to your chronological age.
Dementia
Deterioration in cognitive functioning from physiological causes
Alzheimer’s Disease
Highly heritable, progressive, degenerative neurological disorder (Leads to loss of memory)
Norms
Rules that govern our behavior in social context.
Role
Pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group.
Stanford Prision Study
Shows that people can easily fall into roles and become subject to norms.
Milgrim Study
Maximize the authority figure using different methods.
Entrapment
Having the teacher commit first to less dangerous steps.
Deindividuation
Loss of awareness of one’s own identity in a group. (Can lead to mob mentailty)
Diffusion of Responsibility
Tendency of members to avoid taking responsibility for actions (leads to social loafing)
Bystander apathy
People stand and watch rather than taking action
Conformity
Tendency of people to go along with the group (peer pressure)
Group Think
Tendency for all members to think alike and suppress disagreement
Counteract GroupThink
Assign devils advocate, majority rule voting, creating rewarding conditions.
Attitude
Stable opinion based on both cognition and emotion.
Explicit Attitude
You are aware of your attitude
Implicit Attitude
You are not aware of your attitude
Self-perception theory
we infer our attitudes based on internal observation of our own behavior.
Prejudice
an attitude driven by negative feelings about an individual in a group.
Stereotypes
Negative beliefs about an individual based solely on group membership.
Discrimination
Negative behavior toward individuals based on their group membership.
Discrimination (self-fulfilling prophecy)
Discriminator gets acted upon in a negative way from victim.
Persuasion
An effort made to change an attitude.
Direct Persuasion
An effort to persuade based primarily on the merits of an argument.
Peripheral Persuasion
An effort to persuade by using methods other than the direct argument
Cognitive Dissonance
Trying to change the belief only makes the belief stronger.
Validity Effect
More likely to believe something when it is repeated
Mere exposure effect
suggests increased liking based on perceptual fluency (humans are lazy)
Learned Helplessness
Prophecy in which you learn you have no self efficacy, and act accordingly
Ego
Conscience
Superego
Angel on your right shoulder