PSYCH 3 EXAM

CHAP 9-12

Lifespan Development

studies how you change as well as how you remain the same over the course of your life

Physical Development

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

Cognitive Development

learning, attention, memory, language, thinking and reasoning

Psychsocial Development

emotions, personality, and social relationships

Continuous Development

views development as a cumulative process, gradually improving on existing skills (ex: getting taller each year)

Discontinuous Development

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

Evidence for One Course of Development

studies show that children from all around the world reach language milestones in a similar sequence

Evidence for Many Courses of Development

cultural differences in child care practices—different practices can accelerate or inhibit achievement of developmental milestones

Nature

biology and genetics

Nurture

environment and culture

Psychosexual Theory (Frued)

• believed that childhood experiences shape our personalities and behavior as adults

• viewed development as discontinuous

• believed lack of proper nurturance and parenting during a stage could lead to a child becoming stuck in that stage

• claimed that children’s pleasure-seeking urges are focused on different erogenous zones (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital)

Psychosocial Theory (Erikson)

• emphasizes the social nature of development

• argues that personality development takes place across the lifespan, not just in childhood

• based on his belief that social interactions affect our sense of self (ego identity)

• 8 stages of development

Cognitive Theory (Piaget)

• focused on children’s cognitive growth and theorized that cognitive abilities develop through specific stages

• believed children develop schemata to help them understand the world

• when children learn new info they adjust their schemata through assimilation and accommodation

Assimilation

incorporates information into existing schemata

Accommodation

change schemata based on new information

Schemata

concepts used to categorize and interpret information

Germinal Stage (Weeks 1-2)

• conception occurs when sperm fertilizes an egg and forms a zygote

• the zygote divides and cells become more specialized forming organs and body parts

Embryonic Stage (Weeks 3-8)

after the zygote has 150 cells it travels down the fallopian tubes and implants itself in the lining of the uterus which then turns into an embryo

Placenta

structure connected to the uterus that provides nourishment ad oxygen from the mother to the embryo via the umbilical cord

Fetal Stage (Weeks 9-40)

the baby’s brain develops and the body size and weight, until the fetus reaches full-term development

Teratogen

any environmental agent (biological, chemical, physical) that causes damage to the developing embryo or fetus (alcohol, smoking, drugs)

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

collection of birth defects associated with heavy consumption of alcohol during pregnancy

Newborn Reflexes

inborn automatic responses to particular forms of stimulation (help the newborn survive)

Rooting Reflex

baby turns its head towards something that touches its cheek

Sucking Reflex

suck on objects placed by the mouth

Grasping Reflex

cling to objects placed in hands

Moro Reflex

baby spreads arms and pulls them back in when they are startles/feel like they are falling

Blooming Period

neural pathways form thousands of new connections during infancy and toddlerhood

Pruning Period

neural connections are reduced during childhood and adolescence to allow the brain to function more efficiently

Motor Skills

ability to move our bodies and manipulate objects

Fine Motor Skills

focus on the muscles in our fingers, toes, eyes, and enable coordination of small actions

Gross Motor Skills

focus on large muscle groups that control arms and legs and involve larger movements

Psychosocial Development (Harlow)

• separated newborn monkeys from their mothers and presented them with two surrogate mothers (one made of wire mesh and could dispense milk, the other cloth and could not dispense milk)

• monkeys spent time clinging on the cloth monkey and only went to the wire monket for food

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

Attachment Theory (Bowlby)

• defined attachment as the affectional bond/tie than an infant forms with the mother

• bond must be made with primary care giver to have normal social and emotional development

• saw attachment as an all-or-nothing process

Secure Base

parental presence that gives the child a sense of safety as they explore their surroundings

Attachment Theory (Ainsworth)

Strange Situation: mother (caregiver) and infant are placed in a room together with toys. Stranger enters the room and mother leaves. Then after a few minutes, mother returns to comfort the child.—>Identified 4 styles of attachment

Secure

child uses the parent as a secure base from which to explore

Avoidant

unresponsive to parent, does not use the parent as a secure base and does not care if the parent leaves

Resistant

show clingy behavior, but then reject mothers attempts to interact with them

Disorganized

show odd behavior around caregiver

Self-Concept (Self-Awareness)

• development of a positive sense of self is the main psychosocial milestone of childhood

• children with a positive self-concept tend to be more confident, independent and do better in school and try new activities

Authoritative Parenting Style

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

Authoritarian Parenting Style

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

Permissive Parenting Style

parents make few demands and rarely use punishment

Uninvolved Parenting 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

Temperament

innate traits that influence how one thinks, behaves, and reacts with the environment

Easy Temperament

positive emotions, adapt well to change, and capable of regulating emotions (more likely to elicit warm and responsive parenting)

Difficult Temperament

negative emotions, difficulty adapting to change and regulating emotions (more likely to evoke irritation and cause parents to withdraw)

Cognitive Empathy (Theory of Mind)

the ability to take the perspective of others and feel concern for others

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

as we get older, our social support and friendships dwindle in number, but remain close, if not more close than in our earlier years

Denial

patient: questioning a doctors’s beliefs, refusing to discuss prognosis, blaming faulty equipment

grieving: feel numb, “hard to believe they are really gone”

Anger

patient: “why me?”, blaming others for the illness, anxiety

grieving: angry towards the person who dies or the situation

Bargaining

patient: “if me, then not like this”, trying to receive ‘good karma’, regrets

grieving: regrets, compulsions, “what if”

Depression

patient: self-pity, retreating, fatigue and exacerbation of physical symptoms

grieving: sadness, longing, losing meaning

Acceptance

patient: making hospice and death care plans, beginning to look ahead to death positively, looking for opportunities to honor self

grieving: learning to live again and supporting memories

Motivation

the wants to needs that direct behavior toward a goal

Intrinsic Motivation

arises from internal factors and behaviors are performed because they bring a sense of personal satisfaction

Extrinsic Motivation

arises from external factors and behaviors are performed in order to receive something from others

Over justification Effect

intrinsic motivation is diminished when extrinsic motivation is given (doing a job you love then getting paid and losing that passion)

Instinct Theory of Motivation (James)

• asserting that behavior is driven by instincts (which aid survival)

• proposed instincts included a mother’s protection of her baby, the urge to lick sugar and hunting prey

• the theory received criticism for ignoring the role of learning in shaping human behavior

Drive Theory of Motivation

• proposed that the maintenance of homeostasis is important in directing behavior

• deviations from homeostasis create physiological needs resulting in psychological drive states that direct behavior to meet the need and bring the system back to homeostasis

• emphasizes the role that habits play in behavioral responses

Arousal Theory of Motivation

assert that there is an optimal level of arousal that we all try to maintain

under-aroused—>become bored, seek stimulation

over-aroused—> engage in behaviors to reduce arousal

Yerkes and Dodson

the optimal arousal level depends on the complexity and difficulty of the task to be performed

Yerkes-Dodson Law

task performed is best when arousal levels are in a middle range, with difficult tasks best performed under lower levels of arousal and simple tasks best performed under higher levels of arousal

Self-Efficacy

an individual’s belief in their own capability to complete a task

Bandura

• theorized that self-efficacy plays a role in motivating behavior

• argues that motivation derives from expectations held about the consequences of behavior

• beliefs about our abilities will determine what we do and goals we set for ourselves

Need for Achievement

drives accomplishment and performance

Need for Affiliation

encourages positive interactions with others

Need for Intimacy

causes us to seek deep, meaningful relationships

Satiation

feeling of fullness and satisfaction causing eating behavior to stop

Metabolic Rate

the amount of energy that is expanded in a given period of time

Set-Point Theory

each individual has an ideal body weight/set point, which is resistant to change

Obesity Health Risks

• cardiovascular disease

• stroke

• type 2 diabetes

• breast cancer

• infertility

• arthritis

• liver disease

• sleep apnea

• colon cancer

Bariatric Surgery

gastric banding surgery creates a small pouch of stomach, reducing the size of the stomach that can be used for digestion

Bulimia Nervosa

involved engaging in binge eating behavior, followed by attempts for compensate for the large amount of food consumed

Anorexia Nervosa

maintenance of body weight below average through starvation and/or exercise

Binge Eating Disorders (BED)

• involved engaging in frequent and recurrent binging episodes without the compensation seen in bulimia

• binging in both BED and bulimia typically follows a cyclical pattern where a trigger event

Hypothalamus

• plays an important role in motivated behavior, including sex

• involved in activation of the sympathetic nervous system (part of an emotional reaction)

Amygdala and Nucleus Accumbens

• involved in motivation for sexual behavior, but do not affect the ability to engage in it

• damage in rates results in a decreased motivation to engage in sexual behavior, while ability to do so is still intact

Masters and Johnson’s Research

• observed people engaging in sexual behavior

• measured physiological variables

• measured sexual arousal

Sexual Orientation

emotional and erotic attraction toward another individual

What Makes Someone Heterosexual vs Homosexual?

• previously thought to be caused by different socialization and familial experiences but research shows that those experiences can be very similar in homosexuals and heterosexuals

• genetic and biological mechanisms—research has found differences in brain structure and function between heterosexuals and homosexuals

Gender Identity

one’s sense of being male or female

Gender Dysphoria

diagnosis describing individuals who do not identify as the gender that most people would assume they are

Transgender Hormone Therapy

use of hormones to make one’s body looks more like the opposite-sex

Mood

• prolonged, less intense, affective state

• does not occur in response to something we experiences

• may not be consciously recognized or intentional

Emotion

• a subjective state of being that we often use to describe our feelings

• relatively intense and occurs in response to an experience

• consciously experienced and intentional

Components of Emotions

physiological arousal, psychological appraisal, and subjective experiences

James-Lange Theory

• emotions arise from physiological arousal

• see snake—>heart and respiration rate increase—>feeling fear

Cannon-Bard Theory

• physiological arousal and emotional experience occur simultaneously, yet independently—>occur at the same time but are independent of each fear

• see snake—>physiological arousal AND feel fear

Empirical Findings

• individuals with spinal cord injuries could still experience emotion but in some it was less intense

• suppression of facial expression of emotion lowered the intensity of emotions experinced

• these findings suggest that physiological arousal is not necessary to experience emotion but increases the intensity

Schacter-Singer Two-Factor Theory

emotions are composed of two factors: physiological and cognitive

• physiological arousal is interpreted in context leading to the emotional experience

• believed physiological arousal is similar across the different types of emotion, making cognitive assessment important

Lazarus’ Cognitive-Mediational Theory

emotions are determined by our appraisal of the stimulus

• appraisal is immediate and unconscious

Thalamus

sensory relay center, neurons project to both the amygdala and higher cortical regions for further processing

Amygdala

plays a role in processing emotional information and sending it on to cortical structures

Hippocampus

integrates emotional experience with cognition

Cultural Display Rule

culturally specific standards that govern the types and frequencies of displays of emotions that are acceptable

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

facial expressions are capable of influencing our emotions

Personality

the long-standing traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways

Hippocrates

theorized that personality traits and human behaviors are based on four separate temperaments associated with four fluids of the body (choleric, melancholic, sanguine, phlegmatic)