PSYC102 MT2

developmental psychology

*study of continuity and change across the life span*

*prenatal stage* of development ends with

birth and begins at conception

*zygot*

fertilized egg that contains genetic material from both the egg and the sperm

germinal stage

*the 2-week period that begins at conception; it’s the zygot’s lifetime*

Social psychology \n

Study of the causes and consequences of sociality

key priorities for animals

survival and reproduction

Frustration–aggression hypothesis

animals aggress \n only when there is something in the way of their goals

most reliable predictor of aggression

male gender

aggression is a result of which hormone

testosterone, more in younger men, more in violent criminals

womens aggression

more premediated while men are impulsive

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protecting resources

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less likely to provoke

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mens aggression

about protecting their status

cooperation

Behaviour by 2+ individuals that leads to mutual benefit

Discrimination

Positive or negative behaviour \n towards another person based on their group \n membership

prejudice

\n Positive or negative evaluation of \n another person based on their group membership

in-group favoritism

we have a tendency for \n positive evaluation towards members in own group

Common knowledge effect

The tendency for group discussions to \n focus on information that members share

Group polarization

the tendency for groups to make decisions that \n are more extreme than any member would have made alone

groupthink

The tendency for groups to reach consensus in order to \n facilitate interpersonal harmony

Deindividuation

when immersion in a group causes \n people to become less aware of their individual values

Diffusion of responsibility

\n Tendency for individuals to \n feel diminished responsibility for their actions when they \n are surrounded by others who are acting the same way

Social loafing

The tendency for people to expend less \n effort when in a group than when alone

Bystander intervention / bystander effect

The more \n people at the scene, the lesser/higher? the likelihood of help

pleuralistic ignorance

a situation in which a majority of group \n members privately reject a norm, but go along with it because they \n assume (incorrectly) that others accept it \n • If no one is doing anything, onlookers think others believe the action \n is incorrect and thus also won’t act

audience inhibition

people are inhibited from helping for fear \n that other bystanders will evaluate them negatively if they intervene \n and the situation is not an emergency (e.g. embarrassment, fear of \n disapproval)

Altruism

Behaviour that benefits another at own cost

Reciprocal altruism

Behaviour that benefits another with the expectation that those benefits will be returned in the future

Kin selection:

evolution selects for individuals who cooperate with their relatives

3 factors attraction is caused by

situational (proximity breeds fondness)

physical (physiological arousal misinterpreted as attraction)

psychological (making mistakes breeds fondness) (similarities with us make us feel validated, liked, admired)

mere exposure effect

tendency for liking to increase with the frequency of exposure and thus familiarity

Pratfall effect

people are perceived as more likeable after they \n make a blunder... But only if they are viewed as competent; \n opposite effect for less competent individuals

major facctor in attraction

physical attractiveness

which side of brain used to judge sex expression age

right

Passionate love:

Experience involving feelings \n of euphoria, intimacy, and \n intense sexual attraction

compassionate love

Experience involving affection, \n trust, and concern for a \n partner’s well-being

Comparison level:

Cost–benefit ratio that people believe \n they deserve or could attain in another relationship

equity

state of affairs in which the cost–benefit ratios of \n the two partners are roughly equa

social cognition

how we process, store, and apply \n information about other people & social situations

Stereotyping

people draw inferences about others based \n on their knowledge of the categories to which others \n belong

another name for self-fulfilling prophecyq

behavioral confirmation

Perceptual confirmation

When observers \n perceive what they expect to perceive

Subtyping

When faced with disconfirming \n evidence, we tend to modify our \n stereotypes, rather than abandon them

The covariation model claims

e rely on \n consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus \n when making attributions

Attribution

\n Inference about the cause of \n a person’s behaviour

\n •Situational attributions attribute the external \n situation as the cause \n •Dispositional attributions attribute someone’s \n internal disposition as the cause

Correspondence bias, i.e. fundamental attribution \n error

tendency to make a dispositional attribution even \n when a person’s behaviour was caused by the situation \n •Situational causes may be invisible and may be more complex

Actor–observer effect

tendency to \n make situational attributions for our \n own behaviours while making \n dispositional attributions for the \n identical behaviour of others

social influence

ability to change or direct another person’s behavior

3 motivations that make ppl susceptible to social influence

hedonic motive

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approval motive

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accuracy motive

norm of reprocity

unwritten rule that people should benefit those who benefit them

Normative influence: \n

occurs when \n another person’s behaviour provides \n information about what is appropriate \n E.g. If you are not religious and \n you join your friend at church, \n how do you know whether to \n stand, sit, or kneel? \n

door-in-the-face technique

getting someone to deny an initial larger ask so they’ll agree to a more reasonable one later

obedience

tendency to do what powerful people tell us to due to normative pressure

informational influence

occurs when another person’s behavior provides information about what is good or right

\n Persuasion: \n

when a person’s attitudes or beliefs are influenced by a \n communication from another person

types of persuasion

Systematic persuasion: attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to reason \n • Heuristic persuasion: attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to habit or \n emotion \n

People evaluate the accuracy \n of new beliefs by

assessing \n their consistency with old beliefs \n Read but don’t \n memorize

\n

Cognitive dissonance

Unpleasant state that arises when a person \n recognizes the inconsistency of their actions, attitudes, or beliefs \n • Changes can be made to behaviours to alleviate anxiety \n • OR changes can be made to attitudes to alleviate anxiety \n • Inconsistencies can be justified \n

foot-in-the-door-technique

starts with small request, then \n gradually demands are \n increased

Humanistic–Existential Approach

Emphasizes individuals’ inherent drive towards self-actualization \n (i.e. realizing one’s potential) \n • Humans are constantly striving to become the best version of \n themselves that they can be

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Humanistic & existential theorists focus on \n how

healthy choices shape personality

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• Humanistic psychologists emphasize

a positive, \n optimistic view of human nature; e.g. goodness & \n potential for growth

existential psychologists focus on

on the individual as \n a responsible agent, free to create his/her life while \n negotiating issues of meaning & the reality of deat

Self-actualizing tendency: \n

Human motive towards realizing inner potential \n • Major factor in personality development

\n

Existential approach:

Regards personality as governed by an individual’s ongoing \n choices & decisions in the context of the realities of life & death

angst

difficulties we face in life in finding \n meaning in life & death, and in accepting the \n responsibility of making free choices \n Nice one

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social-cognitive approach

views personality in terms of how we think about situations encountered in daily life and behave in response to them

personal constructs

Dimensions people use in \n making sense of their experiences

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\n Differences in perspective in the perceiver’s \n personality are key to personality differences

Outcome expectancies

\n assumptions about likely consequences of a behaviour \n • Direct, vicarious, informational learning \n • Combine with goals to produce characteristic style of behaviour

locus of control

Person’s tendency to perceive the control of rewards as internal to \\n the self or external in the environment (e.g. chance/luck/result of others)

how is personality measured

self-report, can have response bias

MMPI-2-RF

clinical questionnaire used to assess psychological and clinical problems

personality

An individual’s characteristic style of behaving, thinking, \n and feeling

projective test

uses standard series of ambiguous \n stimuli designed to elicit unique responses that reveal \n inner aspects of an individual’s personality \n • relies on analysis of ambiguous information \n • open to subjective interpretation

Rorschach Inkblot Test

\n Individual interpretations of the \n meaning of a set of unstructured inkblots are analyzed \n to identify respondents' inner feelings and interpret their \n personality structure

thematic Apperception Test (TAT):

Respondents reveal underlying motives, \n concerns, and the way they see the social \n world through the stories they make up \n about ambiguous pictures of people

trait

Relatively stable disposition to behave in a particular and \n consistent way \n • A trait may be a preexisting disposition that causes a person’s behaviour \n (personality inventories), or the motivation that guides the behaviour (projective \n tests). \n • Researchers have described and measured hundreds of traits over the \n decades, e.g. authoritarianism

Five factor model

accounts for variability \n without overlap, multiple observer \n agreeability, and is reliable across cultures \n (may be universal)

big 5 personalities

O – openness to experience \n C – conscientiousness \n E – extraversion \n A – agreeableness \n N – neuroticism

We are able to recognize ourselves in mirrors by

18 months

Self-recognition leads to:

• Self-concept: What we think about ourselves, and \n • Self-esteem: How we feel about ourselves

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self-concept

Person’s explicit knowledge of his or her own
behaviours, traits, and other personal characteristics
§ affects behaviour throughout life
§ develops from social experiences
§ the sense of self is largely constructed through relationships with others

how is self-concept organized

1)self-narrative: the story we tell about ourselves \n 2) self-schemas: sets of traits we use to define ourselves

self-verification

Tendency to seek evidence to confirm one’s self-conce

self-esteem

Extent to which one likes, values & accepts the self \n • High self-esteem in people who strongly agree with positive statements, and \n strongly disagree with negative statements about themselves

self-serving bias

People’s tendency to take credit for their successes \n but downplay responsibility for their failures; protects self-esteem

narcicissm

trait that reflects a grandiose view of \n the self alongside a tendency to seek admiration \n from & exploit others \n

implicit egotism

argues that people are \n generally unaware of their preference for \n things similar to themselves (i.e., own name).

greater overlap in genes means

greater similarity in personality

how much does shared family environment impact personality

little

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Changes in personality can be caused b

Brain damage (e.g. Phineas Gage) \n • Brain pathologies (Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, tumors) \n • Pharmaceutical treatments that change brain chemistry

which gender has higher self-esteem

men

Extraversion may be the most relevant to

neurophysiological \n mechanisms; variation in alertness

Two brain systems may be responsible for extraversion and neuroticism: \n

Behavioural activation system (BAS) – approach \n • Behavioural inhibition system (BIS) – inhibition

psychodynamic approach

view that \n personality is formed by needs and \n wants that mostly operate outside of \n conscious awareness \n • developed by Sigmund Freud \n • he used this to explain onset of mental \n disorder

Freud proposed that the mind consists of \n three independent systems that together \n determine the personality’s structure

id, ego, superego

id

Part of the mind containing the drives present \n at birth; the source of our bodily needs, wants, \n desires, and impulses, esp. sexual and aggressive \n drives (operates via pleasure principle

ego

Developed through contact with the external \n world; enables us to deal with life’s practical \n demands (reality principle). Mediator between id \n and superego

superego

Mental system that reflects the \n internalization of cultural rules, mainly learned \n through parental authority (like conscience)

\n

defense mechanisms

Unconscious coping mechanisms that \n reduce anxiety generated by threats from unacceptable \n impulses

psychosexual stages

oral stage (birth to 18 months, pleasure from mouth via eating)

anal stage (18 months to 3 years, pleasure from anus via withholding or expelling feces)

phallic stage (18 months to 4/5 years, gender differences noticed- child relates to same sex parent)

latency stage (4/5 years to adolescence, sexual drives lay dormant)

genital stage (adolescence, sexual urges awaken, interest turns to relationship)

oral stage

\n Experience centers on the pleasures & \n frustrations associated with the mouth, sucking, & being fed