psych unit 3

Continuity and stages

Continuity: slow and continuous - as you grow and have experience — focuses of nurture

Stages: developmental stages — like age —- focuses on nature (biology)

Change and stability

Temperament tends to remain stable:

• Longitudinal study — study young kids than comparing them years later as adults and showed that temperaments tends to stay relatively the same

Social attitudes are subject to change:

• Much less stable like political and religious views changing as we make our own mind

Life requires both change and stability

Cross sectional research

Groups of people that vary in age but they still measure the same variable

• like measuring sum with kids and adults

• can’t infer causality

Longitudinal research

Stays with the same group and follows them over time

• this is preferred but it takes a very long time

Germinal stage

Conception

• docs identify when the sperm attracts (when conception occurs) with the last menstrual cycle — so it’s still a guess bc u can’t tell the exact moment conception happens

• pregnancy tests don’t usually work until abt 10 days later

Zygote

• less than half make it to this point

• Ppl can become pregnant and lose it without know they were pregnant

• Just the cell (when sperm and egg cell fuse together)

Embryonic stage

Structures

• The inner cells of the zygote become the embryo

• The outer cells of the zygote become the placenta

• Very early stages of organ development (brain and nervous system, webbed toes and feet)

• Damage to embryo (violence, drugs, alcohol, etc) is often irreversible if it occurs in this stage — Still often doesn’t always make it to full term even if healthy

Fetal stage

Around 3rd month

• Sex organs develop so docs can determine sex

Months 4-6

• Huge brain development

• Age of viability: after about 24 weeks/6 months, baby can make it if premature — if before there’s just not enough development to live

Months 6-9

• lungs expand and contract

• Heart, arteries, veins mature

• Gains abt 4.5 lbs in the last 3 months (the most)

• 28th week: baby can hear moms voice and he outside — y when born, babies have music and show preferences but can also be exposed to bad things

Teratogens

• Teratology: study of birth defects

• bad things that effect the baby

• mothers influence: drugs, radiation, pollution, alcohol which causes fetal alcohol syndrome

• Fathers influence: dad needs to keep sperm healthy by exercise, diet, avoid drugs/alcohol, avoid tight underwear (effect the very begging stage)

Birth

Abt 38 weeks after conception

• fetal brain triggers the release of oxytocin (the love hormone)

• labor: hurricane phase (emotional, physical— when water breaks, contractions start and pain and time of contraction Varys

• Delivery: cervix dilates and head goes to vagina

• Afterbirth: placenta delivery (10-20 mins)

Baby characteristics

Reflexes

• rooting: when u tap infants face they turn and try to suck ur finger (hunt for nipple)

• Sucking: already know how to suck (rooting and sucking are important so baby can eat)

• Crying: so baby can communicate

Preferences

• human voices: comes from in the womb (mom and dads voice)

• Faces: preference for human faces bc they see their mother

• Moms smell: prefer moms scent — smell developed faster than sight (olfactory is faster)

Jean Piaget

Believed in developmental stages so nature over nurture (age)

• schema: a concept/framework that’s created mentally to organize info (like u have a mental framework for what a classroom looks like)

• Assimilation: when u see sum new u might assimilate that to a schema (like u see a cat for the first time and think its a dog bc u already have a schema for a dog)

• Accommodation: when u refine a schema — u learn that a cat and dog are different — this lets u refine a schema and create a new one because u learned what a cat was

Sensorimotor

From birth to abt 2 yrs

• babies put things in their mouth which is how they experience the world

• Babies lack object permanence until abt 8 months old — when baby sees object and someone covers it, they think it’s gone (why peekaboo works)

Preoperational

From 2 to 6/7 yrs

• enjoy pretend play

• Egocentric: imagination of themselves — can’t think from other pov (like they’ll say they have a brother but their brother doesn’t have a sister)

• Lack concept and conversation — can’t understand quantity (u show them to identical balls of plado and they’ll say it’s the same, but when u squish it, they say the ball has more plado)

Concrete operational

6/7 to 11 yrs

• See things in black and white (concrete)

• Begin to grasp conversation and math

Formal operational

12 yrs to adulthood

• Capable of abstract thinking

• Older kids can think more formal and know not everything is as it seems

Attachment

Babies go to their parents more for comfort than nourishment (Harlows monkeys)

Mary ainsworth (video in the room with the mother and baby and stranger)

Secure attachment:

• 60% of babies have this

• When mom is present, baby is comfortable doing its own thing

• Baby get upset when mom leaves

• Associated with a a secure and present parent

Insecure attachment:

• when baby’s upset either way

• Associated with neglectful mother — mother doesn’t have baby’s trust

• Anxiety

Authoritarian

Impose rules and expect obedience

Permissive

Submit to their children’s desires (gives them what they want)

Uninvolved

Indifferent and sometimes neglectful

Authoritative

Both demanding and responsive

• sets rules especially when younger but as child ages, they encourage discussion and have exceptions to rules

Adolescence

Begins at puberty

• frontal lobes are still developing until abt 25

• Unused neurons are pruned: why young ppl tend to speak without a noticeable accent when learning a language but when they learn later, u won’t sound native

• Development of reasoning power

• Levels of moral thinking (kohlberg’s levels of moral thinking)

• Pull away from parents

• Selection effect: select ppl that act and think like them

• Positive parent-teen relationship are correlated to positive peer relationships

Adulthood

• Physical health declines but always depends on persons health

• Decline in fertility (men have least amount of testosterone and women go through menopause)

• Sensory abilities decline: eyesight, hearing

• Immune system: colds are less common because of built immunity

• Neuro changes: bad outlook on aging can be rly bad like suicide bad

• Role of expectations

• Memory decline is selective: only certain things are harder to remember

• Skill memory is the last to decline if it ever does (like remembering how to do skills already learned)

• Crystallized intelligence: facts, knowledge, y old ppl have so many stories

• Fluid intelligence: abstract reasoning, problem solving

  
  

Love and intimacy

Key issues of young adult

• marriage is predictive of happiness and health (correlation is not causation) — has to be a happy marriage

• Keys to happy marriage: 5:1 ratio of good moments to arguments, equal chores

Older adults tend to be more positive than young adults

Biopsychosocial approach to successful aging:

• bio: diet, exercise (still predispositions)

• Psych: doing things u like, positive outlook

• Social: friends, support groups

Ericksons stages of psychosocial development

Infancy: trust vs mistrust

Toddler: autonomy vs shame and doubt

Preschool: initiative vs guilt

Elementary: competence vs inferiority

Adolescence: identity vs role confusion (forming id)

Young adult: intimacy vs isolation

Middle adult: generative vs stagnation

Late adult: integrity vs despair

Id

• childlike personality

• Impulsive and will get sum if they want it

• Pleasure principle: immediate gratification

Superego

• moral compass: idealized version of you

• Internalized ideals and standards: rules

• Superego and Id conflict (do I want to party or study) — devil and angel on shoulders

Ego

• Balances Id and superego conflict

• Mediator: u make the decision to study all week so I can party

Psychosexual stages: oral

0-18 months

• pleasure seeking to the mouth

Freud associated sexual behaviors with infants (thought personality developed young)

• Conflict: if gratification is delayed u end up with issues later — if oral fixations are delayed u will develop EDs

Psychosexual stages: Anal

18-36 months

• Freud thought this had to do with babies always talking abt using bathroom

Psychosexual stages: Phallic

3-6 yrs

conflict: accepting social norms

• guys say they want to mar try mom bc they don’t understand (and girls dad)

• Resolved by learning social rules

• Phallic — incestual tendencies

Psychosexual stages: Latency

6yrs - puberty

Conflict: learning gender norms

• Freud though that sexual thought are not conscious

• Now associated with girls wanting to be like mom and boys like dad

Psychosexual stages: Genital

Puberty and on

• sexually mature

• Now u think abt sex

Freud thought each stage had an Id associated with different pleasures (all pleasures related to sex) and each stage had natural conflict that if left unresolved, it manifests later in life

Repression

Banishing anxiety producing thought that the ego pushes down into the unconscious where it might still impact u but ur not aware of that

• basic defense mechanism that undermines the rest according to Freud

• The ego is mostly conscious but the defense mechanisms represent the ego in the subconscious (u don’t know ur in denial or that ur rejecting)

Regression

Going back to behavior when u were young

• like when stressed going back to childhood movie (parent trap)

Reaction formation

When ur mad at someone, ur ego decides to be two faced

• u unrealistically act like ur happy to see them when ur not

Projection

When ur dealing with something that’s embarrassing or sum, u put it in someone else

• Logan Trimble

Rationalization

When u justify what you are doing even if thats not in ur best interest

• I don’t study and rationalize y that’s ok

Displacement

When u take emotions out on something else

• man yelled at during work but can’t punch his boss so he goes home and punches his wife

• Can be him punching the wall too

Denial

When u tell urself it’s not real

• the ego does not produce anxiety producing thoughts

Carl Jung

Freud protege (later had a fallout)

• collective unconscious: every human taps into some reservoir of unconscious thoughts

• Archetypes: name for collective unconscious — a shared reservoir of memories and human experiences that every person inherits

Alfred Adler

Inferiority complex

• victimization starts in childhood bc ur tiny and inferior compared to adults

• Can cause success bc ppl work harder, or can cause them to be narcissistic (Katelynn)

Karen horney

Childhood anxiety trigger the desire for love and security

• struggle to know who u can go to

• Childhood is based on social ordeals and not sexual ordeal like Freud belief

• Coping styles: moving away or going with it

Abraham Maslow

Maslow focused on all ppl not just ppl with problems

Hierarchy of needs

• People need to satisfy their needs (at the bottom) first and then u can satisfy the needs higher up

• Bottom to top: physiological (breathing, sleep, water, sex), safety (security of body, work, morality), love/belonging (friendship, family, sexual intimacy), esteem (confidence, achievement), self-actualization ( creativity, problem solving, spontaneity)

• Research doesn’t always support this hierarchy of needs bc u don’t need sleep don’t need sleep to have good self esteem)

Carl rogers

Everyone is inherently good and those who are bad were made that way

• growth promoting climate: genuineness, acceptance, empathy — needed to stay good

Gordon allport

Thought Freud spent too much time on the unconscious

• personalities are made up of multiple traits: this approach describes personality not explain

Big five personality traits

Conscientiousness: careful and routined (low score means ur the opposite)

• Monica

Agreeable: friendly and more likely to say yes

• Joey proposing to phoebe

Neuroticism: more anxiety (low score means ur more secure)

• Ross

Openness: open to new experiences (low score means ur more into routine)

• phoebe

Extroversion: more open and not shy

• rachel running crazy in public with phoebe

There are genetic factors

• these are good at predicting how u might act about sum

Social cognitive theory: Reciprocal determinism

Reciprocal determinism

• behavior, internal cognition, and environment interact to influence personality

• We choose environments

• Personalities shape how we interpret and react to events

• Personalities help create situations in which we react

• Incorporates both traits and social context

Personality itself is not the best way to predict behavior (looking at past behavior in similar situations is)

Spotlight effect

Ppl tend to focus on themselves

• we assume others r focused on us but they prolly aren’t (their focused on themself)

Self serving bias

We tend to perceive ourself favorably

• take credit for good deeds

• Blame others for the bad

• See ourselves as above avg

Social psychology

Focus on situation a person is in not the person themselves

• scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

Attribution theory

Explaining someone’s behavior by crediting the situation or that persons disposition

• Disposition: you blame a persons behavior on who they are inside (personality, intelligence, mood)

• Situation: blame person behavior on the external environment (circumstances)

Fundamental attribution error:

• underestimates situation and overestimates disposition in others

Peripheral route persuasion

• Does not engage systematic thinking

• Uses uninformative cues

• Fast results

• Instead of critically thinking abt facts, they rely on mental shortcuts to make a fast decision

Central route persuasion

• Offers evidence

• Best when people are involved in the issue

• Produces durable results

• Person is convinced abt sum based on fact and logic

Foot in the door technique

Tendency for ppl who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request

• like u help jump start a car and then u agree later to give them rides everywhere

Corbin the face technique

Tendency for ppl to comply with a request that seems much smaller than the first request

• like u ask for sum ridiculous and then u ask for sum not ridiculous so they say yes (negotiation)

Role playing

Effects attitudes

• Stanford prison study (yikes)

Cognitive dissonance

We often bring out attitudes in line with our actions

• smoking kills u but u say that everyone dies of something so u smoke anyway

Conformity

• Asch’s studies: studied how social pressure from a big group of ppl influences a person to conform

• Normative conformity: person changes themselves to fit in a group to avoid rejection and ridicule

• Informational conformity: when a person looks to a group for info bc they assume the group has better information

Obedience

Milgrams experiment

• Measured the willingness of people to obey an authoritative figure even if it conflicts their beliefs

• People were instructed to answer memory questions and another person was asked to deliver an electric shock if answered wrong — 60% did that

Bystander effect

When ppl are much less likely to help someone in an emergency when other ppl can see

• diffusion of responsibility: people are less likely to help bc they think another person can do it when in public (someone else will help)

• Pluralistic ignorance: in an emergent situation ppl will look around at other people to see how they react

Group polarization

Ppl start off with a mild inclination but when they talk about it with a group of ppl, they end up with a stronger and bolder consensus then what they originally held on their own

Social loafing

When ppl out in less effort when working with a group than on their own

Groupthink

When ppl prioritize agreement among everyone in the group rather than critical thinking and realistic decision making

Explicit prejudice

Conscious and deliberate negative attitudes towards a specific social group and their members

Implicit prejudice

Unconscious negative attitudes towards a social group without knowing it

Prejudice: social roots

Just world phenomenon

• Tendency to believe the world is just and ppl get what they get

We tend to like ppl who r similar to us

• in-group bias

Prejudice: emotional roots

Scapegoat theory

• prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

Prejudice: cognitive roots

• we tend to categorize ppl

• Other-race effect: when ppl are able to recognize ppl of their own racial group easier than others

• Availability heuristic: when ppl judge the likelihood of of an event based on how easily it come to ur mind (like if u see a plane crash u will automatically want to drive even driving is more dangerous)

Aggression

Genetic factors

• having Y chromosome (men)

• MAOA gene (the people who are risk takers and enjoy thrill)

Biochemical factors

• testosterone

• Alcohol

Neural influences

• amygdala (process emotion like fear and anger)

• Less activity in frontal lobe

Attraction

Mere exposure effect

• just being around someone else and make people think they like them. And they develop a crush just from being exposed to them

Similarity

People who like us

Physical attraction

• Not related to self esteem and happiness

• Culturally dependent

Passionate love

• Two factor theory: Physiological arousal and cognitive label

• Physiological arousal and cognitive label

• Bridge study