Intro to Psych: Exam 3

What is attachment?

Strong, intimate, emotional connection between people that persists over time and across circumstances

What are the different attachment styles?

Insecure, Secure, and Anxious/Ambivalent attachment styles

How do we asses for the different attachment styles?

We can assess for these styles by performing Ainsworth's strange situation test

How do children display insecure attachment?

children can either completely avoid contact with their caregiver or start actively hitting or displaying angry facial expressions

How do children display secure attachment?

show little distress when their caregiver leaves, and upon return they seek contact and are calmed

How is avoidant/ambivalent attachment formed? How does it effect an adult?

Avoidant/ ambivalent attachment means that no close relationships were formed; an anxious/ambivalent adult becomes possessive and jealous in relationships

What are the different types of insecure attachment?

avoidant and ambivalent attachment

What is avoidant attachment?

they do not get upset or cry at all when the caregiver leaves; may prefer to play with stranger rather than caregiver

What is ambivalent attachment?

may cry a great deal when the caregiver leaves the room but then be inconsolable when the caregiver tries to calm them down upon return.

What are Piaget's stages of development?

Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

What did Harry and Margaret Harlow's research on primate attachment influence our understanding of human attachment?

They observed that a baby monkey prefers a cloth mother to create contact and attachment with rather than a wire mother that has food available to them. When they are stressed, the baby monkey with the wire mother remained stressed where as the baby with the cloth mother found security and comfort.

At what age does the sensorimotor stage occur?

Birth-2 years

At what age does the proportional stage occur?

2-7 years

At what age does the concrete operational stage occur?

7-12 years

At what age does the formal operational stage occur?

12 years to adulthood

What occurs in the sensorimotor stage?

children explore and sense. object permanence is developed

What is object permanence?

The understanding that an object continues to exist even when it is hidden from view

What occurs in the preoperational stage?

Words and symbols represent objects, understanding of " bad" words, thinking is one dimensional, develop Theory of Mind, start the reduction of egocentricism

What occurs in the concrete operational stage?

children learn how to think logically; children in this period are not fooled by superficial transformations; they can reason logically about the problem; they do not have the ability to reason abstractly, or hypothetically, about what might be possible; grasp logical rules in experience and reality

What occurs in the formal operational stage?

they are now able to reason abstractly and evaluate logical problem,s

What are the two ways in which children modify their schemes about the world?

Assimilation and Accommodation

What is Assimilation?

taking new information in terms of existing information

What is Accommodation?

adjusting current schemas by adapting and expanding or creating new ones

What are Kohlberg's stages of moral development?

Level 1-preconventional morality

Level 2-conventional morality

Level 3- post-conventional morality

Pre conventional level:

earliest level of moral development; at this level, self-interest and event outcomes determine what is moral

conventional level:

middle stage of moral dvelopement; at this level, strict adherence to societal rules and the approval of others determine what is moral

postconventional level

highest stage of moral development; at this level, decisions about morality depend on abstract principles in the value of all if

How do children of varying ages differ in their understanding of moral and ethical questions?

Cognitive development leads to moral development and as children describe what they would do in a moral dilemma

What do we mean by Theory of Mind? Why is it important for childhood developmental processes?

Theory of Mind is developed around 4 years of age; it is understanding that there people's minds are different from our own and allows empathy to develop

How are social, cognitive, and moral development related?*

They all impact the capability to make decisions

What is an emotion?

immediate, specific negative or positive response to environmental events or internal thoughts

What is mood?

long-lasting emotional states that do not have an identifiable object or trigger

What is affect?

initial reaction to a stimulus

James-Lange theory of emotion

People perceive specific patterns of bodily responses, and as a result of that perception they feel emotion

(i.e. "You see a tiger it causes fear arousal, and therefore causes you to become scared."

Cannon-Bard theory of emotion

Information about emotional stimuli is sent simultaneously to the cortex and the body and results in emotional experience and bodily reactions respectively

(i.e. The physical change (smiling) caused you to be aware of the emotion (happy)

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory

A person experiences physiological changes and applies a cognitive label to explain those changes.

(i.e. You feel an emotion (happy) and then you use your memory to identify what's making you feel it (smiling)

What are the universal emotions?

anger, fear, happiness, disgust, sadness, surprise, and contempt

Why are the universal emotions considered universal?

They are shared across cultures

What role do emotions play in decision making?

Emotions are tools for cognitive functioning and help us with positive/negative affect

How do we cope with negative emotionality?

We try to cancel out the emotions by either experiencing a positive emotion or dealing directly with the problem

How do emotions motivate us?

Emotion triggers motivation

What is motivation?

Factors that energize and direct behavior

How do Needs and Drives influence our motivation?

needs cause drives that cause us to maintain homeostasis

What is Drive-Reduction Theory?

way for us to always meet our needs and have balance (i.e. you NEED food which causes you to be hungry so you eat)

What do we mean when we say the goal of DRT is homeostasis?

Keeps us in balance; it keeps our levels (hunger, sleep, etc) in check

Why do psychologists focus more on negative than positive emotions?

Negative emotion is stronger; negative emotions are felt longer and deeper than positive; negative emotions need correction whereas positive emotions don't

How do we define personality?

an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

How did Freud explain personality?

he used the psychoanalytic theory which states that the mind is like an iceberg with the conscious mind being very small and pre/unconscious minds being very large

What is Id?

unconscious mind where your desires and wants are

What is Ego?

preconscious mind and balances the Id and Superego

What is Superego?

moral understanding of rules, laws and expectations of society

What are the different defense mechanisms?

Reaction formation, Repression, and Rationalization

What are the criticisms of the psychoanalytic perspecitive of personality?

1. No specific experimentations

2. How can one study the subconscious?

3. The sample studied was predominately wealthy females

How did humanistic perspectives on personality differ from psychoanalytic perspective?*

humanistic perspective is more positive, believing that one can reach the point of self actualization, in this case mentally healthy people are sampled; whereas psychoanalytic perspective focused on those that had dealt with some sort of trauma as a child

What is the Person-centered approach?

Views human beings as having an innate tendency to develop towards their full potential

What is self-actualization?

self- actualization is a stat that is achieved when one's personal dreams and aspirations have been attained

What is Unconditional positive regard?

helping someone find what they love to do and pursue it instead of forcing them to do something you want them to do

(i.e. major in college, the child chooses instead of the parent)

What are the criticisms of the humanistic perspective?

not scientific, vague, believes people are fundamentally good

What is the difference between an idiographic approach and a nomothetic approach?

An idiographic approach believes that each person is completely different from another

A nomothetic approach will compare people

Which personality theories fit under each of these different approaches?

Trait theory

What is a trait?

a stable characteristic pattern of behavior

What do we mean when we say they exist along a continuum?Enduring?

Extroverts act similarly to other extroverts and introverts acts similar to other introverts which allows us to study consistent behaviors along the continuum; enduring means they will generally last your entire lifetime and probably won't experience change

What are the Big Five personality traits?

openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism

How is openness to experience determined?

Imagination and variety

How is neuroticism determined?

Anxiety and insecurity

How is agreeableness determined?

Softhearted and trusting

How is extraversion determined?

social and fun-loving

How is conscientiousness determined?

organized and careful

What would it mean to say that someone is low/high on each these traits?

Low would mean they do not express these traits as much/ as strong

High would mean they strongly express these traits

What are the criticisms of trait theory?

People can act differently in different situations

How do person X situation approaches to personality attempt to explain our behavior?

There could be a 6th sense

What's the difference between a strong and weak situation? How will that influence behavior?

Strong situation= High rule situations; will not behave normally

Weak situation= not many rules and can act as yourself

Smiling when you're happy is an example of____

an emotional response

Does affect or mood last longer?

affect

Cognitive interpretation

how you're feeling is based off of this

Who believed "we are sad because we are crying" "Physical experience leads to emotion"

James- Lange

Arousal/Affect and Cognition are 2 of the components that make up which psychological theory?

Schachtner- to- factor

Do emotions have specific physical experiences/arousal?

No