PSY100 Lecture 6 Flashcards

What Genes Do

1) Proteins - Genes are instructions for building parts of your body, like proteins 2) Nervous System - Genes influence structure of nervous system

Alleles

Each of a human's thousands of genes have variations, and these variations contribute to variations in thoughts, feelings, and behaviour

Monozygotic vs. Dizygotic

Monozygotic = ~100% genetically identical twins; Dizygotic = 50% genetically identical twins

Heritability

Score that tells us how much of the difference in a trait (like height or shyness) between people in a group comes from the genes they were born with vs. the experiences they had growing up

Phenotypic Variation (Vp)

All the measurable ways people in a group look, act, or think differently from one another (like having different eye colours, heights, or personalities) because of BOTH their genes and life experiences.

Heritability Formulas

Vp = Vg (genetic factors) + Ve (environmental factors); H^2 (Heritability) = Vg/Vp

Mathematical Abstraction

Heritability is a mathematical abstraction because it's a concept we put forth because we thought it would be useful.

Reproductive Fitness

Certain traits associated with more offspring

Sexual Selection

Physical features that are attractive to potential mates

Twin Studies Heritability Range

~0.4-0.5

Molecular Heritability Definition and Range

Molecular Heritability studied actual genetic variations and did NOT focus on twins like normal heritability; range was ~0.1-0.2

Pleiotropy

One gene regulates many traits

G x E (Gene-Environment) Correlations vs. Interactions

G x E Correlations are like genes for creativity attract you to films; G x E Interactions are like genes that affect response to environments

Intelligence

A Conceptual Variable that has many theories like the General Intelligence (g) Theory

The Idea of “g”

“g” stands for General Intelligence, and is related to Positive Manifold

Positive Manifold

Pattern where people who do well on one type of mental test (like math) also tend to do well on completely different mental tests (like vocabulary or puzzles); Can be explained because “They could all be measuring parts of the same trait”, rather than different abilities in each test

Academic Ability

A shared source of variance that relates to why one person can be good or bad at a lot of different things like vocab, grammar, math, etc.

General Intelligence (g) Theory

States that a single, core mental ability (called the g factor) powers how well a person performs on all types of brain tasks. The issue with this theory is NOT ALL COGNITIVE ABILITIES ARE FULLY DRIVEN BY “g”, and instead can be driven by an ability's own specific factor

How to Measure Intelligence

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale; Measures verbal comprehension, working memory, perceptual reasoning and processing speed across various tests

Barriers in Cognitive Testing

Language ability and culture must be taken into account (because tests for one group may not apply to another)

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Uses a Normal Distribution (bell curve), with mean being 100 and Standard Deviation (SD) being 15.

Dunning-Kruger Effect

When people with little knowledge or skill in an area overestimate how much they know or how capable they are

Why People Care about IQ

IQ as predictor of success, IQ and profession, Correlations with IQ, IQ and income/wealth

IQ as Predictor of Success

Terman's study of children with high IQ, named “THE TERMITES” were tracked for 50+ years and went on to be successful.

Correlations with IQ

IQ is POSITIVELY correlated longevity (living long) and height, and NEGATIVELY correlated with criminal behaviour

Non-Linear Relationship Between IQ and Leadership

For example, someone with a very high IQ can be a terrible leader, so high IQ ≠ good leadership immediately

Why Heritability Increase

For G x E Correlation - Genes for IQ might attract you to IQ-maximizing activities like school; For G x E Interaction - Genes for IQ might also maximize the benefits you get from these environments; gene innovation; gene amplification

Gene Innovation and Amplification

Innovation is genes for IQ that may take effect later in life; amplification is when IQ genes become increasingly important over time

Flynn Effect

A gradual increase in IQ scores across a period of several decades. The main reason for what causes this effect is due to the ENVIRONMENT, and NOT genes, because the increase in IQ scores happens TOO FAST for genes to be the valid reason, unless extreme genetic evolution happens and the baseline for IQ increases. Potential environmental factors for the effect include - nutrition, test complexity, etc.

Ceiling Effect

Increasing nutrition, school complexity, etc. only offers a benefit to a certain point until it "reaches the ceiling"; Basically, as you increase quality of environment, performance will go up to a certain point

Far Transfer

Ability to take a skill or idea you learned in one situation and use it to solve a problem in a completely different, unrelated situation; whether Environmental Enrichment improves Far Transfer still remains mixed

Scarcity Mentality

If "times get tough" like resource scarcity in the future, we may see declines in IQ

Reaction Time

IQ test scores are correlated to many things like Reaction Time (higher IQ = faster RT)

Restricted Range

Only looking at a narrow slice of IQ scores, which is a criticism in intelligence since IQ only strongly predicts success across a wide range of scores

Circularity

A criticism of intelligence because it is the idea that IQ tests seem to predict success in school/jobs only because those systems are designed to reward the exact same test-taking skills that IQ tests measure

Variability

Important in IQ tests, because it means different IQ tests give different results rather than identical ones, which is beneficial since it prevents people from treating a single IQ score as a fixed result

Matthew Effect

Advantages will compound onto themselves, and so people who start with advantages early on will be even more successful in the future

Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence

Model created by Cattell and Horn; it CO-EXISTS WITH "g" THEORY by spitting into two parts - Raw problem solving speed (fluid) and learned knowledge (crystallized)

Sternberg's Theory of Intelligence

Unlike Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence, which breaks intelligence down into two parts, this theory breaks it down into THREE - Analytical Intelligence (academic problem solving/computation), Practical Intelligence (Street smarts/common sense), Creative Intelligence (Imaginative problem solving)

Criticisms of Sternberg's Theory of Intelligence

Practical Intelligence is NOT independent of “g” (so this theory doesn't really explain anything new); Difficult to prove causal relationship between job performance and Practical Intelligence; Suggestion of Creative Intelligence is controversial, as researchers consider creativity and intelligence separately

Gardner's Eight Intelligences

Instead of breaking down intelligence into one or two parts, this one breaks it down into EIGHT. One of the biggest tests for CREATIVITY, even though it doesn't test it directly. The Eight Intelligences are - Naturalist, Musical, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Logical-Mathematical, Interpersonal, Intra-Personal, Linguistic, Spatial. Basically, the test is like improv. You're given an object and you have to think of alternative uses for it (e.g. Given newspaper, asked what it does aside from reading news, and you answer "swatting flies")

Criticisms of Gardner's Eight Intelligences

Hard to falsify the theory; possibility these abilities overlap with “g”; no specific guidelines that define specific intelligence (Gardner never made strict rules for what counts as intelligence vs. talent or traits)

Emotional Intelligence

Popularized by Goleman – Ability to perceive, understand, manage emotions; contributes to Leadership roles, caretaking roles, relationships. Many models for Emotional Intelligence, especially the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence test (MSCEIT).

Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT)

Shortcut - after each of the following just put "emotion" - 1) Perceiving 2) Understanding 3) Facilitating Thought With 3) Managing

Phonemes

Contrastive sounds in language (changing first sound in cat to bat completely changes the meaning). They may have an INHERENT meaning, because of how they sound – like soft /l/ sounds feeling calm and pleasant, while harsh /r/ sounds feel intense and unpleasant

Morphemes

Smallest piece of a word that still carries a meaning - if you chop it further, it becomes meaningless sounds (e.g. "dogs" has two morphemes - dog + -s. If you break dog into just the letter "d", it has no more meaning)

Syntax

Set of grammatical rules that control how words are put together; putting words in the right order

Contextual Information

Everything surrounding the words, like voice tone, body language, to help you figure out what someone actually MEANS.

Dictionary of Affect

Words can be grouped by the kind of emotion or feeling they give off (e.g. "lullaby" can be put in the calm group)

Valence and Activation Dimensions

Used to pinpoint and categorize any human emotion. Valence is on x-axis (negative to positive); Activation is on y-axis (high to low/energized to calm)

Language Lateralization

Lateralized to LEFT HEMISPHERE in 70-90% of people

Brain Areas Involved in Language

Four lobes, PLUS Broca's Area and Wernicke's Area

Broca's Aphasia

If damaged, comprehension relatively intact but speech impaired

Wernicke's Aphasia

If damaged, comprehension impaired, speech is fluent but nonsensical

Alexia/Dyslexia

Difficulty reading, but comprehension and speech can be preserved still

Language Development in Children Process

For normal children, ~7 months babbling is common, then ~10-12 months, common words emerge, however for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) these occur much later on average.

Why Ability to Learn Language Changes with Age

Usually it's easier to learn a language earlier than later because of stuff like Motivation and Context in which second language is learned

Saphir-Whorf Hypothesis

Structure of a language affects the speaker's perceptions and categorization of experience (e.g. A language with a lot of words for "snow" means you might be able to categorize and experience snow differently)

Saphir-Whorf Hypothesis Evidence

There is mixed support for the theory, because it's very difficult to test. It cannot separate language from culture, and even if you could, it's hard to teach language in a lab. Lastly - Social Psychology. Language studies are confounded by fact they're paired with cultures. Social Psychology is “The way people perceive things is shaped by learned social attitudes and cultural upbringing, rather than just grammar or structure of language alone”