Psych 001 Final Content

Intelligence

ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

general intelligence (g)

an intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test

Thurstone Test of Mental Alertness

Four Job-Related Tasks assessed: Adjusting to new situations, learning new skills quickly, understanding complex or subtle relationships, thinking flexibly.

Thurstone primary mental abilities

7 clusters of primary mental abilities: word fluency, verbal comprehension, spatial ability, perceptual speed, numerical ability, inductive reasoning, and memory

Those who excelled in one of the 7 clusters generally scored well on the others

fluid intelligence (Gf)

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease with age, esp during late adulthood

Ex: solving novel logic problems

crystallized intelligence (Gc)

our accumulate knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

Ex: vocab and analogies tests

Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory

theory that our intelligence is based on general intelligence (g) as well as specific abilities, bridged by fluid intelligence (Gf) and crystallized intelligence (Gc).

Savant Syndrome

condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing

Sternberg's Three Intelligences

Analytical (academic problem solving) intelligence -> Well refined problems having a single right answer

Creative intelligence

Practical intelligence -> Every day test

Emotional Intelligence

ability to perceive, understand, manage and use emotions

Perceiving Emotions

recognizing them in faces, music and stories and identifying our own emotions

Understanding Emotions

predicting them and how they change and blend

Managing Emotions

knowing how to express them in varied situations

Using emotions

to facilitate adaptive or creative thinking

Intelligence Test

method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores

Achievement Test

a test designed to assess what a person has learned

Ex: final exam

Aptitude Test

test designed to predict a person's future performance

Ex: entrance exam to predict ability to do in college; SAT

Mental Age

measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological age. Thus, a child who does as well as an average 8yo is said to have a mental age of 8

Stanford-Binet IQ Test

widely used US revision of Binet's original intelligence test

IQ

defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100. On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100

IQ = ma/ca * 100

Works well for kids but not adults

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

this and its companion versions for children are the most widely used intelligence test; they contain verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests

15 subtests:

Similarities

Vocab

Block design

Letter number sequence

Standardization

defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group

Flynn effect

Flynn observed that the average person's intelligence test score rose 3 points per decade

Low extreme: intellectual developmental disorder

Test score <70

High extreme:

IQ >135

Reliability

extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on 2 halves of the test, on alternative forms of the test, or on retesting

Ex: researchers test people many times

Ex: measuring peoples height

Validity

extent to which a test measures/predicts what it is supposed to

Predictive Validity

success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior

Ex: intelligence test

Cohort

group of people sharing a common characteristic, such as being from a given time period

Heritability

proportion of variation among individuals in a group that we can attribute to genes

Never applies to an individual, only to why people in a group diff from one another

H = genes/(genes + environment)

NOTE: as environment variation increases, heritability decreases

Finger number: H is low

Remember: "due to genetics" DOES NOT EQUAL genetically determined

Growth Mindset

focus on learning and growing rather than viewing abilities as fixed

Stereotype

self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

Can an invalid test be reliable?

Yes: can measure wrong thing repeatedly

Can an unreliable test be valid?

No: measure something

68-95-99.7 rule for normal distribution

68% will fall within 1SD

95% will fall within 2SD

99.7% will fall within 3SD

So if get 200 (3s.d.s below the mean), only 0.15% (0.3/2) are worse!

HALF ARE ABOVE HALF ARE BELOW

Expectancy effects: Rosenthal & Jacobson (1966)

Pygmalion effect

psychological phenomenon where high expectations from others lead to improved performance, acting as a self-fulfilling prophecy

Dweck's Fixed and Growth Mindsets

Fixed: just show ur performance, Give up if you don't know

Growth: you can always get better at it (want to master it), Keep trying if you don't know

- Performance vs mastery

Stereotype Threat

self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

Psychodynamic Theories

theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious mind and the importance of childhood experiences

Conscious mind vs unconscious mind

Associated motives and conflicts

Psychoanalysis

Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions of unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tension

Unconscious

according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings and memories. According to contemporary psychologist, info processing of which we are unaware

Ex: unexplained deafness -> caused by not wanting to hear something that aroused intense anxiety

Free Association

in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing

Id

reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic and aggressive drives. Operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification

Ex: a newborn infant crying out for satisfaction

Ex: people who focus on the present more than the future — those who misuse alc, or other drugs

Ego

partly conscious, "executive" part of personality that mediates among the demands of id, the superego and reality. Operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain

Contains our partly conscious perceptions, thoughts, judgments and memories

Superego

partly conscious part of personality that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment and for future aspirations

The ideal!

Focuses on how we ought to behave

Strives for perfection, judging actions and producing positive feelings of pride or negative feelings of guilt

- opposite of id

Psychosexual Stages

childhood stages of development during which the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

Oedipus complex

according to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father (during phallic stage)

Development of superego:

1. Love for mother

2. Jealous of father

3. Castration anxiety

4. Identify w/ father -> Adopts morals of father

Resolution: superego

Identification

process by which children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos.

Fixation

lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were resolved

Ex: a person who had been either orally overindulged or deprived might fixate at the oral stage

This orally fixated adult could exhibit either passive dependence (like that of nursing infant) or an exaggerated denial of this dependence by acting tough or uttering biting sarcasm) or the person might continue to seek oral gratification by smoking or excessive eating

Defense Mechanism

ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality (functioned indirectly and unconsciously)

Repression

basic defense mech that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings and memories (conscious)

Collective Unconscious

concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history

Explains why spiritual concerns are deeply rooted and why people in different cultures share certain myths and images

False Consensus Effect

tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors

Ex: people who binge-drink or break speed limits tend to think many others do the same

Terror Management Theory

theory of death-related anxiety; explores people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death

Thematic Appercetion Test (TAT)

projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

Provides a valid and reliable map of people's implicit motives

Projective Test

personality test, such as the TAT or Rorschach, that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection of people's inner dynamics

Rorscharch inkblot test

projective test that seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing how they interpret 10 inkblots

Humanistic Theories

theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth

Hierarchy of Needs

Physiological needs:

Personal safety:

Love:

Self esteem:

Self-actualization:

Self Actualization

one of the ultimate psychological needs that rises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one's potential

Self-transcendence: the striving for identity, meaning and purpose beyond the self

Carl Rogers' Person-Centered Perspective:

Acceptance: when people are accepting, they offer unconditional positive regard (a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Rogers believed would help people develop self-awareness and self-acceptance)

Genuineness: When people are genuine, they are open with their own feelings, drop their facades, and are transparent and self-disclosing

Empathy: when people are empathic, they share and mirror others' feelings and reflect their meaning

unconditional positive regard

according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person

Self-concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in the answer to the question "Who am I?"

Traits

characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act in certain ways, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports

MBTI

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: psychological test based in Jungian theory; four categories

1) Extroversion - Introversion

2) Sensing - Intuition

3) Thinking - Feeling

4) Judging - Perceiving

Eysenck Personality Questionnaire

uses extroversion,introversion,unstable,stable to organize personality

Factor Analysis

identifies clusters of test items that tap basic components of a trait

Extraversion-introversion & emotional stability-instability

Personality Inventory

questionnaire (often with T/F or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits

Self-report

method of recording participants' descriptions of their personality traits, often using surveys, questionnaires, or tests

MMPI

most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders, this test is now used for many other screening purposes

Empirically Derived Test

test created by selecting from a pool of items those that discriminate between groups

Big 5 factors of personality

researchers identified 5 factors that describe personality (Handy acronym = OCEAN):

- openness

"I use difficult words"

I do not have a good imagination" (reversed)

- conscientiousness

"I follow a schedule"

"I make a mess of things" (reversed)

- extraversion

"I am the life of the party"

- agreeableness

"I take time out for others"

"I insult people" (reversed)

- neuroticism

"I get stressed out easily"

"I am relaxed most of the time" (reversed)

Social cognitive perspective

view of behavior as influenced by the interaction between people's traits and their social context

Reciprocal Determinism

interacting influence of behavior, internal cognition, and environment

Self

contemporary psych, assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feeling and actions

Spotlight Effect

overestimating others' noticing and evolution our appearance, performance, and blunders

Defensive Self Esteem

fragile; focuses on sustaining itself, which makes failure and criticism feel threatening

May respond to such perceived threats with anger or aggression

Secure Self-Esteem

less fragile bc it is less contingent on external evaluations

To feel accepted for who we are, and not for our looks, wealth, or acclaim, relieves pressure to succeed and enables us to focus beyond ourselves

Accept their own flaws also more compassionately accept others' flaws

Self-Efficacy

our sense of competence and effectiveness on a task

Self-Serving Bias

readiness to perceive ourselves favorably

Narcissism

excessive self-love and self-focus

Tend to be materialistic, desire fame, have inflated expectations, hook up more often without commitment, and gamble and cheat more

Opposite: humility -> attitude that no matter your accomplishments, you are not entitled to special treatment

Freudian Techniques

Dream analysis

Manifest vs latent content

Free association

Slips of tongue/forgetting

Displacement

(defense mechanism) safer target

Angry at boss but instead shower anger toward spouse

Reaction Formation

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. Thus, people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings.

Projection

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

Rationalization

defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions

Electra Complex (girls)

1. penis envy

2. desire for father

3. jealous of mother

4. identify with mother

resolution: superego

Criticisms of Freud

limited data set

personal bias

penis envy vs womb envy

vague and untestable

nonfalsiable

"sometimes a cigar is just a cigar"

Hot/Cold Empathy Gap

A bias in which people underestimate the influence of their current internal state on their attitudes, preferences, and behaviors

cold state at night, say you will get up at 8am to go for a run

Wake up in hot state and you feel crappy and unmotivated

a bit like id vs ego

Construct Validity

degree to which a test or tool accurately measures the theoretical, non-observable concept

Verbal

Mathematical

Spatial

Barnum Effect

phenomenon where people believe high-accuracy, generic personality descriptions apply specifically to them

Ex: swarthmore sometimes intense

HEXACO

honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience (modified big 5)

Trait theory of personality

Personality consists of a set of traits which are characteristics that vary between people and are STABLE over the course of the lifetime. Key: NO ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES. Very little personal control over personality, and personality is hereditable.

Challenges:

Mischel: poor cross situational consistency

People underestimate situation influence

FAE (fundamental attribution error)

Resolution: interaction

BUT people pick situations

& people change situations

- BUT surprising consistency --> Mischel: delay of gratification in childhood predicts SAT

Health Psychology

a subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioral medicine

- how do psychological states influence physical health

Hans Selye

(1907-1982) Psychologist who researched a recurring response to stress that he called the general adaptation syndrome

worked with rats

Enlarged adrenals glands

Shrunken lymph nodes

Bleeding ulcers

Coins term: STRESS

General Adaptation Syndrome

Seyle's concept that the body responds to stress with alarm, resistance and exhaustion

Phase 1 : alarm --> sympathetic NS is activated

Heart rate zooms

Blood is diverted to your skeletal muscles

You are ready to fight back

Phase 2: resistance --> temp, BP and respiration remain high

Adrenal glands pump epinephrine and norepinephrine into bloodstream

Fully engaged, summoning all resources to meet the challenge

As time passes, with no relief from stress, your body's reserves begin to dwindle

Phase 3: exhaustion --> you become more vulnerable to illness or, in extreme cases, collapse and even death

HPA axis

axis regulating stress response

Cortisol release — suppression of immune system -> illness

Causal Direction

whether X causes Y or Y causes X is not always obvious and may have to be examined carefully

explanatory/attributional style (martin seligman)

3 dimensions:

Internal vs external

Stable vs unstable

Global vs specific

Ex: fail test:

"Im stupid

Hard test

Predicts, cold, accidents, worse

James Pennebaker

writing about traumatic events can influence a variety of academic, social, and cognitive variables. --> no feedback needed

- benefits among professionals and prisoners

- not inhibiting

- multiple instances become one event

- organizes thoughts "narrative articulation"

- getting sense of organization of traumatic events helps with recovery

Emotion

response of the whole organism, involving:

1) physiological arousal

Ex: heart pounding

2) expressive behaviors

Ex: quickened pace

3) conscious experience resulting from one's interpretation

Ex: is this kidnapping?

Ex: panic, fear, joy

James Lange Theory

theory that our experience of emotion occurs when we become aware of physiological responses to an emotion-arousing stimulus

Ex: we are angry bc we strike

Ex: i noticed my racing herat and then, shaking with fright, felt the whoosh of emotion

Feeling of fear followed by body's response