Study questions PSYC 102

Why does where you live affect your health?

Multiple factors explain why where you live affects your health. Where you live will affect how you live. In a more rural region, you will use your car more and be less active, and your access to socialisation is less because you don’t meet as many people. How easy it is to access healthcare facilities and the air quality can also affect your overall health.

Describe the relationship between stress and physical health.

Short-term stress can briefly strengthen the body, but chronic or repeated stress harms the immune system, the cardiovascular system, and long-term health. The release of epinephrine, noepinephrine and cortisol can help in the short term to respond to stress by boosting the immune function, but when they become too elevated, they become harmful for the body, especially in the long term, where they suppress the immune system.

When can positive thinking help us and when can it hurt us?

Positive thinking can be good when we are realistic optimists, hoping for the best while staying tuned into potential threats. It can lead to a better overall health, boosting our immune system and leading to a greater life expectancy. It becomes harmful when we are unrealistically optimistic, which leads us to ignore potential threats and results in greater risk than benefit.

Compare and contrast social facilitation with social loafing. Why does the presence of others sometimes improve performance and other times impair it?

Social facilitation - enhanced performance due to the presence of others.

Social loafing - tendency for people to work less hard in a group than when working alone.

If you are working in the presence of others in a simple task (social facilitation) performance is often improved whereas if you work together on something more complicated (social loafing) your performance may be impair.

Describe cognitive dissonance. How can it be used as a form of persuasion?

Cognitive dissonance occurs when beliefs are inconsistent with our actions, which we are compelled to reduce. It can be used as a form of persuasion in cases like the foot-in-the-door technique, low-balling, justifying effort, and postdecisional dissonance.

Foot-in-door - complying with a small request and then agreeing to a much larger one

Low-balling - a salesperson makes you wait while they confirm with the manager

Justifying effort - hazing and initiation rituals

Post-decisional dissonance - we focus on the positive aspect of our choice

Describe the biases that can affect attributions.

Fundamental attribution error - too much emphasis on dispositional factors when attributing causes of other’s behavior

Actor-observer discrepancy - we tend to make the fundamental attribution error judging other’s but not our own behaviors

The self-serving bias - Actor-observer discrepancy only holds for negative behaviour

The “Just-world” bias - we (defensively) assume that the world is fair

Describe the “Big 5” theory of personality traits.

Openness to experience - Imaginative vs. down to earth, Likes variety vs. likes routine, Independent vs. conforming

Conscientiousness - Organized vs disorganized, careful vs careless, self-disciplined vs. weak-willed

Extraversion - Social vs retiring, fun-loving vs. sober, affectionate vs. reserved

Agreeableness - Softhearted vs. ruthless, trusting vs. suspicious, helpful vs. uncooperative

Neuroticism - worried vs. calm, insecure vs. secure, self-pitying vs, self-satisfied

Compare and contrast objective and projective personality tests.

Objective measures - Relatively direct assessments of personality.

Projective measures - Attempts to examine unconscious processes by having people interpret ambiguous stimuli.

Compare and contrast Francis Galton's theoretical and psychometric approach to intelligence with Alfred Binet's theoretical and psychometric approach to intelligence.  

Francis Galton's approach emphasized the hereditary nature of intelligence and the use of psychometric testing to measure individual differences, while Alfred Binet focused on the practical application of intelligence testing to identify children needing educational assistance, advocating for a constructivist view of intelligence as influenced by environmental factors.

Identify, compare, and contrast crystalized and fluid intelligence

Fluid intelligence - processing ability, learning new abilities, solving novel problems

Crystalized intelligence - reflects the knowledge gained through experience and the ability to use that knowledge

Describe the strange situation test. What are the three types of attachment described by Ainsworth and how does each type of child react during the test?

Strange situation test - caregiver leaves infant, then is reunited

Secure attachment - distressed when mom leaves, quickly comforted when mom returns

Avoidant attachment (insecure) - Do not cry when left alone, avoids/ignores mom when she returns

Ambivalent attachment (insecure) - Becomes very upset when mom leaves, continues to cry when mom returns

Describe each of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

Sensorimotor stage (Birth to 2 yrs) - internalize schemes of action. Object permanence

Preoperational stage (2 to 7 yrs) - Language development, use of symbols, pretend play. Egocentrism. Need to master conservation of quantity

Concrete operational stage (7 to 12 yrs) - Operation (an action that can be undone) Schemes involve operation performed on objects

Formal operational stage (12 years-adulthood) Ability to think in the abstract, Hypothetico-deductive reasoning.

Compare and contrast the James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, and Schachter-Singer theories of emotion

James-Lange theory: Emotions arise from physiological responses (Stimulus - Physiological response - emotion)

Cannon-Bard theory: Emotions and physiological responses occur simultaneously but independently. (Stimulus - brain processes - emotions and physiological response)

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor theory: Emotion results from combination of physiological arousal and cognitive interpretation (Stimulus - physiological arousal - cognitive appraisal - emotion)

Describe Erikson’s stages of identity development.

Infancy (0-1) Trust vs mistrust - Children learn that the world is safe and that people are loving and reliable

Toddler (1-3) Autonomy vs shame and doubt - Encouraged to explore their environment, children gain feelings of independence and positive self-esteem

Preschool (3-6) Initiative vs guilt - Children develop a sense of purpose by taking on responsibilities but also develop the capacity to feel guilty for misdeeds.

Childhood (6-12) Industry vs inferiority - By working successfully with others and assessing how others view them, children learns to feel competent.

Adolescence (12-18) Identity vs role confusion - By exploring different social roles, adolescents develop a sense of identity.

Young adulthood (18-29) Intimacy vs isolation - Young adults gain the ability to commit to long-term relationships

Middle adulthood (30s-50s) Generativity vs stagnation - Adults gain a sense that they are leaving behind a positive legacy and caring for future generations.

Old age (60s +) Integrity vs despair - Older adults feel a sense of satisfaction that that they have lived a good life and developed wisdom

What is physiological homeostasis? What are the four features of a negative feedback system?

Physiological homeostasis: The tendency for bodily functions to maintain equilibrum (e.g., body temperature, blood sugar level, hydration, etc.)

Four features of a negative feedback system:

1. system variable: the characteristic to be regulated

2. set point: the optimum value of the system variable

3. Detector: monitors the value of system variable

4. correctional mechanism: a process to reset the system variable back to its set point.

Describe Maslow’s hierarchy of needs including criticisms of the theory.

Its a pyramid of what we need as humans in order of priority, we need what at the bottom to achieve the next level. Physiological needs - safety needs - Sens of belonging and love needs - esteem - self actualization. The problem is its a zombie psychological effect, there is no empirical support, it is oversimplified (not hierarchical) and its a quite individualistic approach.

Describe the five categories of anxiety disorders.

Specific phobia - fear of something that is disproportionate to the threat

Social anxiety disorder - fear of being negatively evaluated by others in a social settting

Generalized anxiety disorder - nearly constant anxiety not associated with a specific thing

Panic disorder - sudden attacks of overwhelming terror

Agoraphobia - Fear of being in a situation from which one cannot escape

Compare and contrast the positive symptoms and negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia

Positive symptoms - presence of maladaptive behaviour such as thought disorders, hallucinations, loosening of associations, disorganised behaviour, delusions

Negative symptoms - Absence of normal behaviour such as flat emotional response, poverty of speech, inability to experience pleasure, withdrawal from other people, impaired working memory

Compare and contrast autism spectrum disorder with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

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