EXAM 3 PSYCHOLOGY MSU

study well

developmental psychology

study of how peoples brains and behaviors develop from young to old age, study of changes that happen across a lifespan

zygote

first stage of development, single cell that holds the genetic material from a sperm and an egg

embryo

developing human from the time the blastocyst implants in the uterus until the 10th week of pregnancy

fetus

the developing human from the end of the 10th week until birth

how big is the brain at birth?

25% of adult size

how fast does the brain grow from birth-2 years old? 

triples in size 

why does the brain need to be small at birth?

to protect the mother, the baby must be able to fit through the mothers canal

when does a human’s brain grow the most?

in the first 2 years of life

overproduction

early in development, the brain makes many more synapses (which are connections between neurons) than it will eventually need, makes sure the brain is overprepared to adapt to the environment of the child

pruning

later, the brain will get rid of the weaker and unused connection, only using the most useful ones, (helps brain become more efficient, focuses on getting the important ones stronger)

when does the number of neurons in the cell body increase the most? 

from 1 month to 9 months, 9 months to 2 years 

do all brain areas develop at the same rate?

no, they all grow at different rates for growth, overproduction, and pruning. seeing or moving develop faster than reasoning and self control

what is special about the visual cortex

it matures early because it is our dominant sense, it quickly overproduces and prunes synapses to fine tune sight at young age

what is special about the prefrontal cortex 

responsible for decsion making, planning, and self control, develops more slowly, pruning continues into late teens or early 20s, 

grey matter density

cells develop at a different speed in every part of the brain

what did Piaget discover? 

development occurs as a series of stages, and how the world is understood, you must get out of one stage to get out of another, stages are discrete, stages cannot go backwards or forwards (ex: baby alligator just grows consistently) 

how did Piaget construct his theory?

method: have children solve problems and question them about reasoning behind the solution (the way children reason about things don’t make sense)

piagets theory 

children construct their understanding of the world by progressing through 4 universal stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, former operational 

in piagets theory, how does an individual move onto the next stage?

children must fully master one stage to move onto the next, cognitive growth is not continuous or gradual, unlike physical growth

once a child moves from one stage to another, can they move back into the older stage?

no, they dont go backward to earlier ways of thinking

how did Piaget form his theory? 

He closely observed children, used naturalistic observation, noticed that children made consistent mistakes in their reasoning that adults didn’t, says that children’s thinking changes qualitatively, and not just in the amount of knowledge that they gain. 

Sensorimotor stage (birth-2 years)

from birth-2 years old, information gained through senses and actions, child perceives but cannot reason, get information from their senses and what they do, 12 months, experiment with the world and learn about cause and effect, 18-24 months begins with symbolic representation 

sensorimotor stage

think about how actions have consequences, language is a form of symbolic representation, words we use to describe things have no association (ex. a bed being called a bed: there is no connection between the word and the object

what is object permanence

in the sensorimotor stage at the end, knowing that objects continue to exist when they cannot be directly looked at or observed(critical to cognitive development)

when does object permanence begin

around 6 months, a 7 month old failed while a 9 month old suceeded when an object was hidden (child cried thinking that it was gone) 

Preoperational stage (2-7)

symbolic process, learning words rapidly, and pretend to play, sometimes they can cosplay and play games like house or mermaids 

egocentric process (preoperational stage)

can only see their point of view, cannot take others perspectives, they never ask what you want to do and do not understand that you have thoughts different than theirs

conservation test

a test aimed at children to see if they understand that a quantity is the same as another even though it may be spread out or look larger (ex. beaker test, or stack of pennies when the bottom stack was more spread out)

how can you change a conservation test to make it easier for children?

making it meaningful like doing the test with their favorite candy, children cannot do this until around age 4

Theory of mind (preoperational stage) 

the ability to understand that other people have their own thoughts, beliefs, desires, and intention that may be different from their own 

Concrete operational (7-11 years)

children begin to think logically, conservation: the child understands that quantity stays the same even when appearance changes (pouring water into a skinnier taller glass, know that is the same), they can make logical connections between relationships ( if a<c and c<b, than a<b )

formal operational (11+)

thought is logical and abstract, theoretical and philosophical and scientific reasoning, once you enter this stage you have everything that you need, end of qualitative change in cognition (thinking will be the same, but you just improve on it)

what was Piaget wrong about?

• there is no evidence for qualitative different stages, he underestimated children’s abilities, he overestimated age differences in thinking, children move through stages more quickly, stages are gradual

what did piaget’s work correctly show?

that children’s thinking process differs from the thinking of adults

attachment theory 

humans are altricial: they are not fully developed and we rely on our caregiver for survival, early work assumed that young animals needed parents solely for food and protection (WHICH IS FALSE) 

who is Harry Harlow?

The experimenter that ran the experiment that infant attachment is more than just being kept alive, proved that being held as a baby is very important for attachment

what was the monkey test and what did it show?

give monkeys 2 “mothers” one wired, and one with a face, the monkey preferred the cloth mother over the wired one even though they did the same things, when a big scary machine was taken out, the monkey ran to its mother

what happened to monkeys with no mother?

behavior abnormalities, incapable of communicating or leaning from others, incapable of normal sexual behavior

secure attachment 

child explores the room when parent is present, becomes upset when parent leaves, is easily comforted when parent returns 

insecure- avoidant attachment

child ignores or avoids the parent, doesn’t look upset when parent leaves(heart rate goes up), avoids parent when they return

insecure anxious

child stays close or clingy, very upset when parent leaves, when parent returns, child wants comfort but also resists it

caregiving sensitivity- where the attachment comes from 

provision of caregiving response contingent upon internal state of the child, how consistently the caregiver responds to the child’s needs (children learn to expect from their caregiving patterns) 

disorganized attachment 

baby thinking “you scare me but you’re also my source of safety, I don’t know what to do. There are no consistent caregiving patterns so baby is unaware of what to do 

stability of attachment

attachment is stable across the lifespan (secure baby means secure adult), not fixed

internal working model

what to expect from other, and what to expect from yourself in relationships: thoughts (people will help me when i need it), expectations (if i reach out they will respond), biases (i can trust others, people always leave)

self fulfilling nature

if you expect something to go a certain way, your behavior will make that outcome more likely

attachment influences:

romantic relationships, friendships, caregiving

can attachment change? 

yes, but it takes a lot of experience to change it through interpersonal trauma, psychotherapy, healthy romantic relationship 

moral development

the way people learn to decide between behaviors with competing social outcomes, moral reasoning, moral emotions (societal interests as a whole)

preconventional

oriented toward personal consequences (mostly children) “if you’re bad, you are punished)

conventional

oriented towards others standards, extent that the decision conforms to social rules

post conventional

oriented towards abstract values and personal standards, certain moral principles are more important than law, morality of an action is determined by a set of general principles that reflect core values

parents that focus on actions…

the children develop more judgment and emotions more slowly 

parents who comment on impacts of others…

children develop better moral judgement and feel more empathy and guily

what was the trolley problem?

a moral dilemma illustrating the conflict between utilitarian reasoning saving more lives) and emotional aversion

what does it mean that emotions are adaptive?

emotions help us survive and function better, they help with communication and relationship building

how do emotions help communicate from one specie to the same specie 

emotions act as a communication system between members, facial expression, tone, and body language show how we feel, 

how do emotions strengthen interpersonal relationships?

sharing emotional experiences builds trust and closeness, supporting each other through tough or joyful moments deepens bonds,

why are emotions considered adaptive?

they help us read and respond to other peoples emotions

who was darwin and what did he say

He was a psychologist who wrote a book about the epxressions of emotions of humans and animals, he said you can fake emotions if you act like thats how you feel, HE WAS INCORRECT

james lange theory of emotion

emotion results from bodily (psychological changes) caused by an event (event→bodily resposne→ emotion)

what are objections to the james lange theory?

different emotions cause similar response (heart rate looks the same for fear and excitement), emotional response can happen faster than physiological response, people with spinal cord injuries still experience emotions, aren’t always aware of physiological changes

cannon bard theory 

believed emotion resulted from subcortical structures (from the thalamus), thalamic neurons do not require input from the cortex (thalamus is the first stop from all of the sensory information INCORRECT THEORY, THALAMUS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH EMOTION 

what is the cognitive perspective on emotion? 

emphasizes the role of cognition (thinking and interpretation) in emotional experience 

Schachter and singer two factor theory of emotion?

emotion=physiological arousal+cognitive interpretation, first feel arousal, then label it based on the situation (see a grizzly bear in in wild or zoo, interpret as dange or safe, feel happy or fear)

what was schachter and singers experiment and what did it show?

participants were given a stimulant (increased arousal), some people were told the pill would change their emotions, peoples interpretation changed based off of what they were told

difference bt james lange and two factor schachter

james lange said emotion is cuased only by physiological changes, two factor said it involves arousal and cognitive interpretation

why are early theories limited? (james lange) 

they only focused on bodily reaction, and didn’t focus on mental process

primary emotions 

Suprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness, sadness 

secondary emotions

guilt, shame, pride, jealousy, envy

arousal

how energentic someone feels when feeling an emotion, all emotions can be classified as high arousal, low arousal, negative valance, or positive valance on a chart

how are primary emotions similar to the primary colors? 

because they can mix to create secondary emotions 

different expression of emotion

facial expression, vocal tone, gestures, body postures

universality of all facial expressions

basic facial expression can be recognized and expressed the same way across all cultures and ethnic groups

can we detect a lie through facial expression? 

NO, PEOPLE ARENT GOOD AT IT, but it can be learned or taught 

what is evidence that emotional expression is learned?

infants imitate parents expressions, children of depressed mothers have difficulty with discerning facial expressions,

proof that emotional expression is innate

some babies show emotion right after birth, expressions emerge in a fixed developmental sequence, blind people express emotion

what would damage to the amygdala do? 

people wouldn’t be able to recognize emotion in other peoples face (since the amygdala is in charge of emotion) we also wouldn’t be able to feel emotion 

who was patient SM

a woman with damage to her amygdala (brain area damaged involved in processing fear)

what happened when HM was asked to draw faces showing emotion?

she could draw all emotions minus fear

what does SM’s case tell us about emotion and the brain? 

amygdala is essential for detecting fear in others and feeling fear ourselves 

motivation 

moving force that energizes behavior, can effect biological needs, and psychological needs 

evolutionary perspective on motivation

motivation is shaped by evolution to increase survival and reproductive success

inclusive fitness

the idea that youre motivated to pass on your genes

behaviorist perspective on motivation?

DRT, humans have biological needs (hunger and thirst) that can create uncomfortable drives 

cognitive perspective on motivation

focuses on goals, thoughts, and expectations, people are motivated by personal goals,

evolutionary vs behaviorist vs cognitive

evo- motivation comes from instincts, behaviorist- motication reduces drives, cog- motivation guided by goals

intrinsic motivation 

actions are rewarding of themselves 

extrinsic motivation

actions will lead to rewards, but action itself is. not rewarding (running)

homeostasis 

allows organisms to live in unpredictable environments, the body changing to be able to adapt to certain things, requires coordinated changes in both physiology and behavior (taking clothes off if hot)

what does the lateral hypothalamus do

stimulates eating: active when hungry, damage leads to less food intake

vetromedial hypothalamus

restricts eating, damage leads to weight gain

ghrelin

signals hunger, skipping breakfast, ghrelin levels rise

leptin

signals fullness, levels rise after eating 

insulin

helps store excess sugar in the blood as fats and carbohydrates

basal metabolic rate? BMR

the minimum energy the body uses while at rest, determines how quickly your body burns calories when not active

homeostatic set point for weight? 

body’s natural stable weight range maintained with no effort 

what do fat cells do

fat cells stay constant through life

fMRI studies in obesity

the brain responds slower to signals of fullness, obesity rates are increasing among all US states

sex 

biological status as male, female, or intersex. based on sex chromosomes REAL OG GENDER