Psychology Test 2

Sensation

occurs when sensory receptors detect sensory stimuli

Perception

way that sensory information is interpreted, organized, and consciously experienced

Physical development

growth and changes in the body and brain, senses, motor skills, and health and wellness

Cognitive development

learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning and creativity

Psychosocial development

emotions, personality and social relationships

norms

average ages

developmental milestones

crawling, walking, speaking in sentences, starting puberty

continous development

views development as a cumulative process, gradually improving on existing skills

discontinuous development

views development as occurring in unique stages (specific times or ages)

Nature

biology and genetics

nurture

environment and culture

psychosocial theory

founded by Erik Erikson; emphasizes the social nature of development; argues that personality development takes place across the lifespan, not just in childhood; based on his believe that social interactions affect our sense of self (ego identity); in each stage of Erikson’s theory, there is a psychosocial tasks that we must master in order to feel a sense of competence (8 stages)

first stage of psychosocial theory

trust vs mistrust; 0-1 years; trust (or mistrust) that basic needs, such as nourishment and affection, will be met

second stage of psychosocial theory

autonomy vs shame/doubt; 1-3 years; develop a sense of independence in many tasks

third stage of psychosocial theory

initiative vs guilt; 3-6 years; take initiative on some activities; may develop guilt when unsuccessful or boundaries overstepped

fourth stage of psychosocial theory

industry vs inferiority; 7-11 years; develop self-confidence in abilities when competent or sense of inferiority when not

fifth stage of psychosocial theory

identity vs confusion; 12-18 years; experiment with and develop identity and roles

sixth stage of psychosocial theory

intimacy vs isolation; 19-40 years; establish intimacy and relationships with others

seventh stage of psychosocial theory

generativity vs stagnation; 40-64 years; contribute to society and be part of a family

eighth stage of psychosocial theory

integrity vs despair; 65+; assess and make sense of life and meaning of contributions

Cognitive theory

Founded by Piaget; focused on children’s cognitive growth and theorized that cognitive abilities develop through specific stages; Piaget believed children develop schemata to help them understand the world; when children learn new information they adjust their schemata through assimilation and accommodation

Schemata

concepts used to categorize and interpret information

assimilation

incorporates information into existing schemata

accommodation

change schemata based on new information

first stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

sensorimotor; world experienced through senses and actions; 0-2 years; 8 months: object permanence-understanding that even if something’s out of sight, it still exists; stranger anxiety

second stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

preoperational; use words and images to represent things; but lack logical reasoning; 2-6 years; pretend play; egocentrism; language development

egocentrism

unable to take the perspective of others

third stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

concrete operational; understand concrete events and analogies logically; perform arithmetical operations; 7-11 years; conversation, mathematical transformations

fourth stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

formal operational; formal operations; utilize abstract reasoning; abstract logic; moral reasoning

theory of moral development

fathered by Kohlberg; identified 3 stages of moral development

cognitive mile stone for: 6-9 months

can shake their head “no”

cognitive mile stone for: 9-12 months

respond to verbal requests (eg. wave bye-bye)

cognitive mile stone for: 8 months

understand object permanence

cognitive mile stone for: toddlers

understand someone will come back when they leave the room; will look in appropriate places when asked to find objects

cognitive mile stone for: 3-5 years

learn to count, name colors, know their name and age, can make small decisions, understand basic time concepts and sequencing, enjoy pretend play (can think symbolically), become more curious (always asking “why?”), develop theory of mind

cognitive mile stone for: 6-11 years

thinking becomes more logical and organized, understand past, present, and future, can plan and work towards goals, understand cause-and-effect relationships, basic math skills

attachment

a long-standing connection or bond with others; forming healthy attachments is one of the main psychosocial milestones of infancy

name 3 key influential studies conduction on attachment?

Harry Harlow, John Bowlby, and Mary Ainsworth

Harry Harlow attachment study:

Results suggest that feelings of comfort and security are the critical components to maternal-infant bonding

Bowlby (Attachment Theory)

Defined attachment as the affectional bond/tie that an infant forms with the mother; bond must be made with primary care giver in order to have normal social and emotional development; saw attachment as an all-or-nothing process

secure base

parental presence that gives the child a senser of safety as he explores his surroundings

-caregiver must be responsive to the child’s physical, social, and emotional needs

-the caregiver and child must engage in mutually enjoyable interactions

Requirements for a healthy attachment:

Mary Ainsworth

looked to answer the question if children differ in the way they bond, and if so, why?; used a procedure known as the Strange situation

Strange situation

mother (caregiver) and infant are placed in a room together with toys; stranger enters the room and mother leaves; after a few minutes, mother returns to the room to comfort the child

secure

avoidant

resistant

disorganized

List the four attachment styles identified through the strange situation:

secure attachment style

child uses the parent as a secure base from which to explore; child was distressed when mother left, happy to see them when they returned; common when caregivers are sensitive and responsive to needs

avoidant attachment style

unresponsive to parent, does not use the parent as a secure base, and does not care if parent leaves; child was slow to show positive reaction when mother returned; common when caregivers are insensitive and inattentive to needs

resistant

show clingy behavior, but then reject mothers attempts to interact with them; child did not explore the toys, became extremely disturbed and angry when mother left, were difficult to comfort when mother returned; common when caregiver is inconsistent with level of response

disorganized

show odd behavior around caregiver; behaved oddly when mother left (frozen/ran around erratically), tried to run away when mother returned; common when child has been abused

self concept (self awareness)

development of a positive sense of self is the main psychosocial milestone of childhood; children with a positive _______ _____ tend to be more confident, more independent, do better in school and more willing to try new activities; by 18 months a baby can recognized themselves in a mirror; by 24-46 months they can recognize themselves in a photo

age 2-4

enjoy playing with other children; can label themselves as a boy or a girl; through play, children explore and come to understand gender roles

age 4

can cooperate and share; can initiate tasks and carry about plans

age 6

can identify themselves in terms of group membership

authoritative style

parents give children reasonable demands and consistent limits, express warmth and affection, and listen to the child’s point of view

authoritarian style

parents place a high value on conformity and obedience; are often rigid and express little warmth to the child

permissive style

parents make few demands and rarely use punishments

uninvolved style

parents are indifferent, uninvolved, and sometimes referred to as neglectful; they don’t respond to the child’s needs and make relatively few demands

cognitive empathy (theory of mind)

the ability to take the perspective of others and feel concern for others; increases in adolescence; an important part of social problem solving and conflict avoidance

crystalized intelligence

information, skills, and strategies gathered through experience; remains steady or improves during cognitive development

fluid intelligence

information processing abilities, reasoning, and memory; begins to decline during cognitive development

denial

anger

bargaining

depression

acceptance

list the five stages of grief

automatic processing

encoding of details like time, space, frequency, and the meaning of words; usually done without conscious awareness; e.g. remembering when you last studied

effortful processing

encoding of details that takes time and effort; e.g. what you last studied, learning new skills

semantic encoding

encoding of words and their meanings; most effective form of encoding; attaching meaning to information makes it easier to recall later; involves a deeper level of processing

visual encoding

encoding of images; words that create a mental image, such as car, dog, and book, (concrete words) are easier to recall than words such as level, truth, and value (abstract words)

acoustic encoding

encoding of sounds

self-refrence effect

the tendency for an individual to have better memory for information that relates to oneself in comparison to material that has less personal relevance

sensory memory

storage of brief sensory events, such as sights, sounds, and tastes; stored up for a couple of seconds; first step of processing stimuli from the environment; if the information if not important, it is discarded; if the information is valuable then it moves into our short-term memory

short-term memory/working memory

a temporary storage system that processes incoming sensory memory; lasts about 20 seconds; short-term memories are either discarded or stored in long-term memory

7 items + or - 2

capacity for short term memory

memory consolidation

transfer of short term memory to long term memory; one way _________ __________ can be achieved is through rehearsal

rehearsal

the conscious repitions of information to be remembered

long term memory

the continuous storage of information; has no limit and is like the information you store on the hard drive of a computer; there are two components of ________ _______ ______: explicit and implicit

explicit (declarative memory)

memories of facts and events we can consciously remember and recall/declare

semantic memory

type of explicit memory; knowledge about words, concepts, and language; knowing who the president is

episodic memory

type of explicit memory; information about events we have personally experienced; ex: remembering your 5th birthday party, or the what, where, and when of an event; also called autobiographical memory

implicit memory

memories that are not part of our consciousness; formed through behaviors

procedural memory

stores memory about how to do things; skills and actions (tying shoes, driving, etc)

retreieval

the act of getting information out of memory storage and back into conscious awareness; needed for everyday functioning

recall

being able to access information without cues

recognition

being able to identify information that you have previously learned after encountering it again; ex: used for a multiple choice test

relearning

learning information that you previously learned

amygdala

involved in fear and fear memories; process emotional information important in encoding memories at a deeper level and memory consolidation

hippocampus

associated with explicit memory, recognition memory, and spatial memory; damage leads to inability to process new declarative memories

arousal theory

strong emotions trigger the formation of strong memories and weaker emotional experiences from weaker memories

flashbulb memories

a record of an atypical and unusual event that is very strong emotional associations

amnesia

loss of long term memory that occurs as the result of disease, physical trauma, or psychological trauma

anterograde amnesia

inability to remember new information after point of trauma (think 50 first dates)

retrograde amnesia

loss of memory (partial or complete) for events that occurred prior to the trauma

construction

formulation of new memories

reconstruction

process of bringing up old memories

suggestibility

vulnerable to the power of suggestion, especially through specific questions; think eyewitness testimonies

misinformation effect paradigm

after exposure to incorrect information, a person may misremember the original event

false memeory syndrome

recall of false autobiographical memories

forgetting

loss of information from long-term memory

transience

accessibility of memory decreases over time

absentmindedness

forgetting causes by lapses in attention

blocking

accessibility of information is temporarily blocked (aka tip of the tongue phenomena)

misattribution

source of memory is confused

suggestibility

false memories