Psychology EXAM PREP

When was Piaget’s theory?

1936

What word could be used to describe Piaget’s theory?

Constructivist because it deems that children are active learners who construct knowledge from experience rather than passively absorbing information.

What are schemas?

An individuals collection of related concepts or situations and how they should respond. When dealing with new situations people categorize information based on their pre-existing beliefs and ideas.

What is assimilation?

The process of taking in new information and adding to a pre-existing schema about what something is and how to act on it. (eg thinking a cat is a dog)

What is accommodation?

When we can’t fir new information into a schema, so we change our pre-existing schema and account for inconsistencies between schema and new information. (eg thinking a cat is a dog and then realises that not all four legged animals are dogs)

What is equilibrium?

It occurs when schemas can explain past experiences and predict new ones.

What is disequilibrium?

It occurs when there are errors in a schema that fail to account for new information. The child then must adapt their own schema through accommodation to return to equilibrium.

Piaget’s First Stage

Sensorimotor Stage 0-2 years old. Infants explore and learn about the world primarily through senses and action. Must learn concept of object permanence, peek a boo very fun.

Test for first stage

Invisible displacement, child plays with toy, toy is hidden under a blanket in front of them. If they have object posits permanence they will look for it, if not they won’t.

Piaget’s second stage

Preoperational stage, 2-7 years. Language development, ability to represent objects as something else, symbolic play. Animism, the belief that inanimate objects can take on life-like qualities and have their own intentions. Centration, the tendency to focus on one variable of change rather than multiple. Egocentrism, children are only capable from seeing from their pov.

Test for second stage

Three mountains task, child sat opposite from doll with a model mountain between them. Child asks to pick a picture that describes the scene they see. Child then asked to select a picture based on what the doll can see.

Piaget’s third stage

Concrete operational, 7-11 years. Children learn to engage in logical thought, but only with physical things, not abstract of hypothetical. Classification, putting objects into categories. Seriation, putting objects in order. Conservation, understanding that quantity/length/number remains constant regardless of the appearance.

Test for third stage

Conservation task, pour water into 2 short glasses and ask if they have the same, then pour one of them into a longer skinnier glass and ask if they have the same. Spread buttons out evenly and ask if they have the same. Spread out one row and condense the other and ask if they have the same amount.

Piaget’s fourth stage

Formal operational stage, 11-15 years. Children can engage in abstract and hypothetical thought and generate creative solutions based on logical reasoning.

Test for fourth stage

Pendulum problem, the child is asked to work out if heavier or lighter objects swing faster on a pendulum. Children capable of scientific thinking will try to test hypotheses by changing one variable at a time.

How is Piaget’s theory both innate and learned?

It is innate as children go through set stages and achieve milestones. It is learned as the children must experience the right experiences and if they do not their development is delayed.

What effect does the pre-frontal cortex have on your brain through adolescence?

There is greater myelination/pruning. There is also better executive functions, response inhibition and decision making.
Pre-frontal cortex is in the front of the brain.

What effect does the amygdala have on your brain through adolescence?

Increased amygdala size increased sensitivity to emotional stimuli and increases emotional dysregulation.
Amygdala is in the middle bottom of the brain.

First stage of neural plasticity

Proliferation, Production of new neurons from stem cells

Second stage of neural plasticity

Migration New cells move to specified/final destinations in the body

Third stage of neural plasticity

Synaptogenesis: Creation of connections between thousands of other neurons by formation of synapses. This creates new neural circuits.

Fourth stage of neural plasticity

Synaptic pruning: Connections that are not used are removed, allows remaining synaptic networks to get stronger.

Fifth stage of neural plasticity

Myelination, Axons become insulated with myeline, speeding up transmission of action potentials.

What is cognitive development?

Cognitive development is the emergence of the ability to think, understand and apply logic.

What are the seven steps of psychological research?

Identify the aims and research the question.

Hypothesise

Method

Collect data.

Analyse data.

Interpret results.

Report findings.

Extraneous Variable, May have an unwanted effect on the DV

Confounding variable, has had an unwanted effect on the DV
Controlled variable, held constant to prevent it from affecting the DV

Types of extraneous variables

Experimenter effect, training of experimenter

Participant, height/weight

Demand characteristics, participants expectations of the outcomes

Environmental, light/visibility

Variables of interest in a controlled experiment

Independent variable, manipulated by the researcher

Dependent variable, measured by the researcher

Directional hypothesis

A prediction that the IV will impact the DV (direction is stated)

Non-Directional hypothesis

A prediction that the IV will impact the DV (direction is unknown)

Null hypothesis

A prediction that the IV will have no impact on the DV.

Population

The group of research interest

Sample

A subset of the group of research interest (population)

Representative

A sample that is representative of the popular will share the same/similar characteristics

Convivence Sampling

Participants are chosen due to their availability and ease of access, for uni students

Snowball Sampling

When researchers identify individuals of interest, who then provide additional names of interest in the population, for niche groups

Qualitive data

Non-numerical data

Quantitative data

Numerical data

Central Nervous System

Brain & spinal cord

Peripheral Nervous System

All the nerves outside the brain & spinal cord

Motor Nervous System

Controls body movement by sending signals from the brain and spinal cord to muscles and glands

Sensory Nervous System

Detecting, processing, and transmitting external and internal environmental stimuli to the central nervous system (CNS).

Autonomic Nervous System

Involuntary, unconscious part of the NS. Responsible for everything you’re not thinking about, eg breathing, heart rate. Made up pf nerves that connect to the cardiac muscle in the heart and all the smooth muscle in the organs.

Somatic Nervous System

Voluntary, conscious part of the NS. Responsible for controlling everything you’re thinking about, moving your limbs. Made up of nerves that connect to skin, sensory organs and skeletal muscles.

How does the somatic NS work?

Messages are sent from sensory neurons to the brain via the spinal cord. Motor neurons send messages from the brain to muscles in order for us to move.

Sympathetic Nervous System

Automatically responds to stressful situations. When neurons in the sympathetic NS fire, it prepares the body for action. Know as the ‘flight or fight’ response. Heart rate increases, breathing rate increases, digestion stops, muscles tense.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Calms the body down when there is no stressful stimuli. Known as the ‘rest and digest’ system. Heart rate down, muscles relax, digestion occurs, breathing rate slows.

Structure of neurons

Dendrites, soma/cell body, nucleus, axon, axon terminals, myelin sheath.

Function of the neuron

A cell which receives or relays info within the nervous system.

Dendrites

Connect the neuron to receptor cells or other neurons, info is passed along the dendrites towards the cell body.

Soma/cell body

Contains a nucleus and other organelles usually found in a cell.

Axon

Responsible for carrying info away from the cell body, and onto other neurons or effectors.

Axon Terminals

Releases neurotransmitters to pass signals to another neuron or cell.

Myelin Sheath

Coats along axons to protect and insulate, increases the speed of transmission and prevents signals in neighbouring neurons from interfering with each other.

Sensory Neurons

 Specialised cells that receive information from both the external environment and from within the body and transmit this information towards the CNS; found primarily in PNS.

Motor Neurons

Transmit messages away from the CNS to the muscles, glands and organs; found primarily in PNS.

 Motor neurons are responsible for enervating muscles to enact a movement or response to a stimulus (i.e. they move you out of the way of danger)

Interneurons

Exist only in the CNS (brain and spinal cord) to provide rapid neural links between motor and sensory neurons.

Direction of neurotransmission

Neural transmission flows in one direction: from the dendrites/cell body of a neuron, down the axon, to the axon terminals, and across the synapse to the next cell.

Electro-chemical signal

Neural transmission is an electro-chemical process where signals travel electrically within a neuron (action potential) and chemically between neurons (neurotransmitters).

Role of the synapse

Refers to the site where a neuron connects to another cell.
Synapse= presynaptic terminal + synaptic cleft + postsynaptic terminal

Role of neurotransmitters

Chemical messengers that allow neural messages to be transmitted from one neuron to another, enabling the brain and nervous system to regulate essential functions.

Stage 1 of how impulses are passed from neuron to next neuron

Storage, the neurotransmitter is stored in the presynaptic neuron in vesicles

Stage 2 of how impulses are passed from neuron to next neuron

Release, vesicles move towards the synaptic cleft and fuse with the presynaptic membrane, releasing neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft.

Stage 3 of how impulses are passed from neuron to next neuron

Diffusion, neurotransmitters diffuse across the synaptic cleft

Stage 4 of how impulses are passed from neuron to next neuron

Binding, neurotransmitters bind to specific receptors on the postsynaptic neuron, ‘lock and key’ model,

Stage 5 of how impulses are passed from neuron to next neuron

Response, triggers an action potential in the postsynapic neuron

Stage 6 of how impulses are passed from neuron to next neuron

Reuptake, neurotransmitter is released from receptor and broken down before being take up by the presynaptic neuron

Reflex arc vs brain

Not all sensory information gets processed by the brain. When there is sufficient energy received by afferent/sensory neurons (e.g. you touch a hot pan), a reflex arc may be initiated.

Nerve Impulses

A signal that is transmitted along nerve fibres.
Action potentials, the conduction of a signal with a neuron.
Synaptic neurotransmission, the conduction of a signal between neurons.

Action Potentials

Ions are formed both inside and outside a neuron. When a neuron is at rest the inside has a negative charge. During an action potential ions move across the cell membrane, leading to the inside of the neuron becoming positively charged. Over time the inside of the neuron becomes negative again, returning to its resting state.

Adaptive plasticity

Can be caused by amputation (sudden loss of sensory input), repeated practice (learning the piano) or brain injury (stroke)

Developmental plasticity

Begins from a young age, changes occur as part of a biologically determined developmental process and interaction with the environment.

Reliability

Measure of consistency determined by the extent to which a method produces a similar results every time.

Test-retest reliability

Reflects whether the test taken on separate occasions yields the same result.

Inter-rater reliability

Reflects whether two different testers give consistent estimates of the same behaviour.

Validity

The extent to which your methodology measures what it claims to measure.

Internal validity

Refers to the integrity of the experiment and whether the measures taken actually allow you to draw a link between the IV and DV.

External validity

Refers to whether these results can be generalised and applied to other contexts in the real world.

Socialisation

Act upon us at different stages of life. Family by which we learn to be members of society, provide safety, modelling.

Attachment

Close emotional bond formed between an infant and the primary care giver. Especially important during critical period (0-5y).

Explaining attachment theory (argument 1)

Children associate the primary care giver with feeling of comfort safety etc. Food acts as a reinforcer, increasing contact with care-giver leads to formation of attachment.

Explaining attachment theory (argument 2)

When babies explore, they are exposes to varying levels of responsiveness (eg cuddles when cries vs left alone). Eventually infants can predict care givers repsonse. Attachment increases a babies chance of surviving long enough to re-produce.

Emotion over physiological needs with Rhesus Monkeys (HARLOW 1958)

AIM= to investigate the role of nursing in attachment in rhesus monkeys that had been separated from their mothers at birth.
METHOD= have the 8 rhesus monkeys reared separately in a cage that contained 2 surrogate mothers (one wire one cloth)

FINDINGS= regardless of which surrogate mother had food infant monkeys spent more time clinging to the cloth surrogate
IMPACT= caused long term psychological harm as observed by their inability to socialise with other monkeys
CONTRIBUTIONS= helped people understand impact of abuse and neglect on children

Ethical considerations in animal research

methods which replace the animals

strategies to reduce numbers of animals used

methods that refine research procedure to minimise pain/distress for the animal

Attachment Theory John Bowlby 1969;1988

Interested in how separation from care-givers impacted children. First to theorise that attachment relationships are a two way reciprocal process. Sensitive/critical period 0-5y during which infants and mothers become reciprocally attached.

Maternal deprivation hypothesis

Social, cognitive and emotional difficulties. Separation from attachment relationship.

Monotropy

Emotion need to attach to one care giver who is more important than all the others.

Internal Working Model

1. Model of self as valuable

2. Mode of others as trustworthy

3. Model of self as efficient when interacting

Ainsworth The Strange Situation 1978

Infants recorded in 3 phases.

1. When separated from parents

2. When reunited again

3. In the presence of a stranger

Experiment small room, one way glass.

Infants between 12-18 months.

100 middle class American families.

Hindbrain

First part of brain developed. Functions need to survive eg breathing, most unconscious but some voluntary like muscle movement. Medulla oblongata, cerebellum.

Medulla Oblongata

Part of hindbrain where all nerves from spinal cord connect to the brain. Controls heart rate, breathing and digestion.

Cerebellum

Receives sensory info to regulate posture, balance and fine muscle movement.

Midbrain

Joins hindbrain to forebrain. Screens info from sense to relevant structures in the forebrain to prevent it from being overloaded.

Cerebral Cortex

In the forebrain. Wavey part of the brain. Involved in info processing like perception, language, memory, learning, problem solving and planning bodily movement.

Thalamus

In the forebrain. Filters sensory info and relays to relevant centre of the brain. Regulates arousal.

Hypothalamus

In the forebrain, below the thalamus. Regulates the release of hormones for temperature, circadian rhythm, thirst and hunger.

Corpus Callosum

Allows messages to travel between the left and right hemisphere to improve coordination.

Cerebral Hemispheres

Left and right appear to be separated by a deep grove. Side of brain processes sensory and motor info for opposite side of body happening to.

Frontal Lobe

Located at the front of the cerebrum. Associated with higher order cognitive functions. Attention control, response inhibition and planning & goal orientation. Specialised areas, primary motor cortex & broac’s area.

Primary Motor Cortex

Initiates neural signals that control muscle movement.