Applications Flashcards 1-4

What is intelligence?

What is intelligence?

• Defining intelligence can be difficult to define

• Talk about it being measured

  • Circular reasoning

• Draws into question whether it is a broad or narrow category

• Commonly intelligence is viewed as

  • Problem solving ability

  • Knowledge about the world

• However intelligence is

  • Multi-faceted

  • Culturally defined

• Intelligence refers to the application of cognitive skills and knowledge to learn, solve problems and obtain ends that are valued by an individual or culture

Cultrally Defined:

• Intelligent behaviour serves a function

• Cultural practices teach [people how to solve problems relevant to that culture

  • Western cultures (capitalist, individualistic) verbal and arithmetic

  • Indigenous cultures (non-capitalist, collectivist) spiritual, interpersonal and bodily (kinaesthetic)

  • Is intelligence a property of an individual or is it socially constructed?

• But some attributed are valued in many cultures

  • Quick thinking

  • Problem solving

  • Capacity for learning

Theories of intelligence:

• Not all people are:

  • Equally intelligent (inter-person)

  • Equally intelligent at all things (intra-person)

• Many different approaches to defining intelligence

  • Psychometric approach

  • Information-processing approach

  • Biological

  • Contemporary theories of practical and multiple intelligences

Psychometric approach:

• Identify item groups which correlate highly with each other

  • If correlate highly this is indicative of underlying skill

  • Analysed used factor analysis

  • Statistically analyse whether one score (verbal reasoning) is related to another score (receptive language)

  • If correlated they have a comparable underlying skill (e.g comprehension)

  • Called a factor

Spearmans Two-Factor Theory

• Charles Spearman (1863-1945)

  • Used factor analysis to look at correlations between performance on multiple tests

  • Concluded that all mental abilities share core factor

• Two Factors

  • General intelligence (g factor)

    • Arithmetical ability, general knowledge and vocab

  • Specific intelligence ( s factors)

• Influential work but challenged

• Spearman proposed an s-factor to explain the differences in correlations between pairs of measures

• S-factor reveal specific abilities unique to certain tests or shared only be a subset of tests

• Individuals vary in overall g factor but some people are better at math's and others verbal s-factor

Thurstone

• Thurstone (1938) applied:

  • More extensive test

  • Found seven primary mental abilities

    • Veral comprehension

    • Verbal fluency

    • Numerical ability

    • Spatial ability

    • Memory

    • Perceptual speed

    • Reasoning

3 Strattum Theory

• Carrols three-stratum theory differentiated cognitive abilities into stratus

  • Representing narrow, broad and general cognitive abilities

  • Stratum 1 - narrow

  • Stratum 2 - broad abilities incorporating Cattel and Horns Gf Gc factors

  • Stratum 3 represents a general factor of intelligence involved in high order cognition

    • Encompassing both stratum 1 and 2 abilities

Gf-Gc theory

• Gf-Gc Theory

  • Desire to have skill specific scores rather overall intelligence score

  • Two general intelligence factors

    • Fluid intelligence (Gf)

      • Reasoning, memory and processing speed

      • Approaching novel problems

      • Decrease with age

    • Crystallized intelligence (Gc)

      • Store and application of knowledge

      • Increases with age

• At a lower hierarchal level are 7 more specific factors

  • STM, LTM, visual processing, auditory processing, processing speed on simple tasks, decision speed and quantitative knowledge

• Gf-Gc theory has two advantages

  • It makes theoretical sense in the light of research such as distinction between LTM and WM

  • It distinguished components of intelligence that change over lifespan

Information Processing Approach

• Psychometric approach quantified basic abilities and uses these to compare people

• Information processing tries to understand the processes of intelligent behaviour (Sternberg, 1999)

  • How it happens rather than how much is present

  • Process rather than something measurable

  • Focus on three variables

    • Speed of processing

      • Correlates to IQ

      • Test of mental quickness

      • Difference is speed of memory search

      • Correlates with academic achievement

    • Knowledge base

      • Differences in intelligence often reflects knowledge base

      • Amount of knowledge, organisation and accessibility for retrieval

      • Person with broad knowledge base may seem intelligent within their area of expertise

    • Ability to acquire apply cognitive strategies

      • Correlates with measures of intelligence

      • Cognitive strategies help solve tasks

        • Chunking, Mnemonics, visualisation

        • If taught these tasks performance can improve

Biological Theories

• Evolutionary perspective

• Intelligence is a trait that allows for behavioural flexibility

  • Supports survival in the changing world

  • Hereditary

• Link between brain size and intelligence

  • Enlarged target areas rather than overall increase

  • Prefrontal cortex

  • Broca and Werinkies area

• Neubauer (2000) suggests that some brains may function more efficiently

  • More intelligent people = less brain activity

• However, biological theories may not fully explain intelligence

Triachic theory of intelligence:

• Three factors for successful intelligence

  • Analytical intelligence

    • Reasoning and evaluation

    • Assessed in school work and IQ tests

  • Creative intelligence

    • Generate new ideas

  • Practical intelligence

    • Ability to tackle everyday life problems

    • Tacit knowledge: implicit knowledge needed to work in an environment

• According to Sternberg we use knowledge acquisition components to learn new facts

• We use performance components to develop problem solving strategies

• We use metacognitive components for selecting problem solving strategies and evaluating progress

• These three components provide ability to recognise a problem, find a strategy and then consider result

Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligences:

• Intelligence is an ability or set of abilities that is used to solve problems or fashion products that are of consequence in a particular cultural setting

• Can excel in only one intelligence of multiple

• Explains how people can be skilled in one area but not others

  • Human behaviour is rich in a variety of skills and abilities

  • Broadens conceptualisation of intelligence

• Musical

• Bodily/Kineathetic

• Logical Mathmatixal

• Linguistic

• Spatial

• Interpersonal

• Intrapersonal

• Naturalist

• Spiritual

• Existential

• Gardners theory has been criticised

  • Multiple intelligences of multiple talents?

  • Descriptive based on case studies: Gardener does not support traditional testing

• Has been praised

  • Intelligence should be broad

  • Recognised importance of cultural context

  • Can analyse intelligence ins school and other environment

Historical Perspectives:

• Physiognomy - way of characterising peoples based on physical features

• Phrenology - looking at shape of head gave indication on characteristic

• Binet and Simon (1905)

  • Alfred Binet was asked to formulate a test

  • Children performing poor in school

  • Which children need support?

    • Developed 30 item test

      • Language skills

      • Comprehension

      • Reasoning

      • Memory

      • Digit span - working memory

      • IQ = MA/CA X 100Assumed cognitive abilities increase with age

  • Categorised each item according to age child had to be to get it correct

  • The Binet-Simon incorporated the concept "mental age" - comparison to other children and to their chronological age

Binet-Simon Test

• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

• Extended the age range to adult (2-85)

• Added arithmetic reasoning skills

• Rather than mental age, he used intelligence quotient (IQ)

  • Compare intelligence across age groups given their chronological age

  • Mental age / chronological age x 100

  • Average IQ is 100

• Good predictor of academic performance

  • Move to view IQ as a general measure of intelligence

  • Test continues to be used

    • Fluid reasoning

    • Knowledge

    • Quantitative reasoning

    • Visual spatial processing

    • Working memory

Yerkes Army WW1

• Robert Yerkes developed two tests alongside Goddard

• Army Alpha - literate

  • Following directions, arithmetical reasoning, judgement, pairs, analogies

• Army Beta - illiterate and non English speaking

  • Visual-perceptual and motor tests, group testing, gestural instructions

    • Many recruits unable to see or hear examiner well

    • Had never taken a test before

• Wechsler Army Testing WW2

  • Administered as screening tool

  • Felt Stanford-Binet too heavily weighted on verbal items

    • Child orientated

    • Only global score

  • Developed test which included performance skills

  • Combination of verbal and performance would be more valid

Weschler

• Items grouped by content: verbal

  • Information

  • Similarities

  • Arithmetic

  • Digit span

  • Vocab

  • Comprehension

• Items grouped by content: Performance

  • Picture completion

  • Picture arrangement

  • Block design

  • Object assembly

Weschler Intelligence History

Weschler Intelligence Scales

• Altered how IQ was assessed

• Originally completed using MA/CA x 100

• Worked for children

• For adults their CA increased but MA remained constant

• IQ takes a normal distribution

  • Position to peers at same sage

  • Most participants close to mean

  • Less than 2% below 70 or above 130

Intelectual Disability

• Low IQ score indicates intellectual disability

• Significantly below average - 70

• Impairments first presenting in childhood in more than one setting

• Difficulty in learning and reasoning

• Some cultures emphasize social deficits while others emphasize intellectual abilities

• More males

• Many have biological causes

  • General abnormalities - down syndrome, fragile X syndrome

  • Cerebral palsy

• Some are environmental

  • FAS/FASD

  • Deprived environment

  • Children with mild disability often have parents with low IQ and often come from poverty

Giftedness

• High IQ score indicates giftedness

• Relates to specific talent

• Above 130/140

  • Can include social, musical and athletic ability

• Been recognised for centuries

• People try to detect this early to nourish talent

• Renzulli (2002) considers three factors to demonstrated giftedness

• Above average ability

•  commitment

• Creativity

• Gifted children are thought to require specific opportunities to develop the skills

Creativity

• Creativity is moderately related to giftedness

  • Creativity not found in all gifted people

• Creativity is difficult to measure as not displayed in same way

• Measure divergent thinking

  • Does not correlate well with actual creativity as divergent thinking is a general trait of creativity

  • May be vert creative in one area but not others

  • Not a general trait

• measuring creativity done in divergent thinking

Criticisms of IQ testing

• Cause child to be labelled

• Compare child to peers

• Part of academic record

• Labelling promotes expectations to be generated

• Influences how people interact with children

• practical intelligence, creativity, social skills

• cultural bias

• Are IQ tests Useful?

  • Can be highly predictive and useful in supporting students who require additional support

Use of Intelligence Test

• The outcome of intelligence tests can be used in a variety of situations

• Classifications: assigning to categories, sorting into programs appropriate to needs, certification (identifying a minimum proficiency)

• Diagnosis and treatment planning: determining nature of abnormal behaviour, classifying within diagnostic categories, diagnosis should involve strengths and weaknesses

• Self knowledge: useful for decision making

Meaning Gardners theory of intelligence

• Linguistic intelligence -   use language effectively through communication

• Logical-Mathematical Intelligence - recognise relationships and patterns between concepts and things, to think logically, calculate numbers, and to solve problems scientifically and systematically

• Visual-Spatial intelligence - r think in images and orient oneself spatially. In addition, spatially intelligence people are able to graphically represent their visual and spatial ideas

• Musical Intelligence -to appreciate a variety of musical forms as well as being able to use music as a vehicle of expression. Musically intelligent people are perceptive elements of rhythm, melody and pitch

• Bodily-Kinaesthetic intelligence - using ones own body skilfully and a means of expression or to work with ones body to create or manipulate objects

• Interpersonal (Social) Intelligence - to appropriately and effectively communicate with and respond to other people. The ability to work cooperatively with others and understand their feelings

• Intrapersonal intelligence - to know ones self, including the knowledge of ones own strengths, motivations, goals and feelings. To be capable of self-reflection and to be introverted and contemplative are also traits held by persons with Intrapersonal intelligence

• Naturalistic intelligence -identify and classify the components that make up our environment. This intelligence would hae been especially apt during the evolution of the human race in individuals who served as hunters, gatherers and farmers.

Weschler Intelligence Scale

• WAIS-IV and WISC-V, IQ is derived from subtests including;

  • Verbal comprehension

  • Perceptual reasoning

  • Working memory

  • Processing speed

• The subtests within a scale are used to derive the corresponding index score

• Verbal IQ and Performance IQ from the WAIS 3 have been replaced with Verbal Comprehension Index and Perceptual Reasoning Index

• WAIS-IV and WISC V yield the General Ability Index (GAI) as an optional composite score

• GAI is derived from the sum of scaled scores for the 33 verbal comprehension and 3 perceptual reasoning subtests

• Verbal Comprehension Index includes 3 core subtests and one supplement subtest

• These subtests require facility with symbolic thought and language

Disability

• Most severe intellectual disability reflect biological causes

  • Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a genetic disorder

  • In PKU the body does not produce enough quantities of an enzyme that converts the amino acid phenylalanine into another amino acid

  • Not all cases of intellectual disability are genetic

  • Some environmental causes are biological - drug and alcohol exposure

  • Alcohol is a teratogen which can cause malformation or death of fetus - FAS

  • FAS babies have malformations in nose and eyes and restricted intellectual abilities and agitated personality

IQ tests and cultural bias elimination

• The Koori IQ test developed by James Wilson-Miller

• Koori is a tongue and cheek acronym for Knowledge of Operative Reflective Intelligence and a name used for ATSI

• It is a 20 question test is designed for ATSI

• The aim is to show how the value of knowledge is culturally constructed

• IQ tests are valid, highly predictive tests

• Comparing members of different cultures is problematic

Information processing approach

• The psychometric approach seems to quantify basic abilities and to compare individuals with respect to abilities

• The information processing or cognitive approach tries to understand the processes that underlie intelligence behaviour

• It defines intelligence as a process rather than a quantity

• Suggests that individual differences in intelligence reflect differences in cognitive operations people use

• Researchers have focused on 3 variables of importance when explaining individual differences seen on tests

  • Speed of processing, knowledge base and ability to apply and acquire mental strategies

Speed of processing

• Processing speed is an important aspect of intelligence and a strong correlate of IQ

• Measuring processing speed done through pairs of letters and the among of time taken to decide if letters are same physically or identical in name

• The participant must judge whether they look the same but also search LTM for the name of each letter form

• The difference in response time between AA and Aa provided index of speed of memory search

• Speed of processing improves during childhood and decreases during late adulthood

Knowledge Base

• Knowledge base is the information stored in LTM

• Differences in knowledge base include the amount of knowledge, the way its organised and its accessibility for retrieval

• People with expertise in knowledge domain have good schemas that facilitate encoding, retrieval and mental manipulation

• People with broad knowledge base appear intelligence when talking about their topic because they are good at categorising and retrieving information

Limitations IQ testing

• Time of day test is done

• Pre-existing attention disorders

• Cultural contexts/ considerations

What do they measure?

• Verbal Comprehension

  • Similarities, vocabulary

• Visual Spatial

  • Block design, visual puzzles

• Fluid Reasoning

  • Matrix reasoning, figure weights

• Working Memory

  • Digit span, arithmetic

• Processing Speed

  • Symbol search, coding

Motivation

a driving force or reason for behaviour

Motivation: Pyshcodynamic Perspective

• Behaviour the result of unconscious thoughts, wishes, desires

• Freudian drives

  • Sex drive - love, intimacy, lust

  • Aggression drive - urges towards others and control

• Post Freudian

  • More drives - self esteem, relatedness to others

  • Raher than drives: wishes and fears

• Evidence for unconscious motivation

  • Themes reflected in TAT predictive of LT behaviour (implicit motivations) - stories

  • Explicit motivations predict short term behaviour

Motivation: Behaviorist

• Behaviour is learned, mental states are of no interest

• Drive reduction theory (motivated by internal body states)

  • Animals motivated to keep homeostasis

  • Optimal temp, blood sugar, fluid level

  • Biological need (low blood sugar levels) - drive/motivation (hunger) - behaviour (eat) - homeostasis

  • Primary Drive - motivation from internal imbalance

  • Secondary Drive - neutral stimuli associated with primary drive

    • Money to buy food and shelter

  • Cant explain all behaviours

    • Motivation to eat when not hungry

  • External goal that motivates behaviour

  • Incentive theory

    • Drives from social and environmental factors

    • Obtain a degree, buy a car

  • Operant conditioning: Motive for positive outcomes (rewards) and to avoid negative outcomes (punishment)

  • Observational learning

Motivation: Cognitive Perspective

• Behaviour is the result of mental processes

  • Expectancy-Value theories

    • Motivation = importance of the outcome (value) X the likelihood of the outcome (expectancy)

      • Influenced by self-efficacy = belief in ability to carry out a behaviour

  • Goal Setting theory

    • Lists the different conditions of motivation - have/want discrepancy, goal high enough to maintain motivation

      • Applied for creative problem solving/workplace

  • Intrinsic motivation

    • Motivation from satisfaction/enjoyment/interest in task

  • Implicit motivation

    • Overtime perform the task out of habits, rather than explicit motivation

Goal-setting theories:

• Cognitive approaches to motivation often focus on goals - desires outcomes established through social learning

• Goal setting theory is that conscious goals regulate much of human behaviour - performance on work tasks

• Goals represent desired outcomes that differ in some ways from a persons current situations

• Goals activate old solutions that have worked in the past and encourage efforts to create new solutions if old ones fail

• This theory suggest that maximum job performance occurs only under certain conditions

• People must

  • Experience a discrepancy between what they have and want

  • Define specific goals rather than general ones

  • Receive continuing feedback that allows them to gauge progress towards the goal

  • Believe they have the ability to attain the goal

  • Set a high enough goal to remain motivated

  • Have a high degree of commitment to the goal

Self-determination theory and intrinsic motivation

• Does reward increase peoples intrinsic motivation - their enjoyment or and interest in an activity for its own sake

• Or does it make them more likely to perform the behaviour when they can expect an external reward

• Deci said that reward can actually stifle intrinsic pleasure of learning

• The self determination theory suggests that people have 3 innate needs

  • Competence, autonomy and relatedness to others

• Intrinsic motivation flourishes when these needs are fulfilled rather than compromised

• Rewards (threats/deadlines) tend to compromise peoples sense of autonomy

• They may develop competence in a domain they are likely to see the motivation as forced on them and hence to lose intrinsic interest

Motivation: Humanistic

• Focus on uniqueness of people and emphasis on personal growth

• Maslow Hierarchy of needs

  • First 4 levels motivated by deficits

• Self-actualisation

  • Reaching ones full potential

  • Developing skills and abilities

  • Growth motivation

• Focus on achieving lower levels before self-actualisation

• ERG Theory

  • Existence, relatedness, growth

Self Actualisation

Self Esteem

Love and Belonging

Saftey and Security

Physiologucal Need

Hunger

• Hunger

  • Homeostasis - set point of ideal of blood-glucose level

    • Initiating hunger

    • Glucose receptors in the brain

    • Glucose and fat receptors in liver

  • Satiety mechanism

    • Stech receptors in stomach

    • Nutrient detectors in stomach and intestines

• Eating influenced by food variables:

  • Palatability

  • Availability

  • Variety

  • Food cues (smells, images, places)

• Eating influenced by social factors

  • Presence of others

  • Cultural learning

Metabolism

• Metabolism refers to the process by which the body transoms food into energy for muscles

• Also maintaining body heat, operating NS, and building and maintaining organ tissue

• Much energy comes from glucose

• Metabolism is complex because the body has to maintain energy ay all times

• Metabolism has two phases - absorptive and fasting

• In absorptive phase the person is ingesting food

  • The body runs on some of the food it is absorbing but puts additional reserved into short and long term stores

  • Short term store carbs by converting glucose into glycogen - liver storage

  • Long term energy tanks located under skin and abdomen contain lipids

  • Fat cells are capable of expanding when reserves are high

  • Good for evolution

  • The fasting phase occurs when person is not earing

  • Body converts short and long term reserves into energy

  • In starvation both sources of fuel become depleted, body converts protein into fuel, breaking down muscle

What turns hunger on?

• Feelings of hunger derive from dropping levels of glucose and lipids in bloodstream

• As the body draws on long term stores

• As NS can use glucose it has glucose detectors - brain barrier

• Detects falling blood sugar levels

• Body has additional detectors that monitor glucose and fats in liver - sends info to brain

• Signals from liver and brain converge in brainstem and play role in feeling hunger

• Glucose levels play most important role in producing hunger

• Subjective sensations of hunger increase as glucose levels decrease

• The lateral hypothalamus plays a central role in initiating eating

• Neuropeptide Y is important in turning on earing

• The ventromedial hypothalamus if important in producing off signals

What turns hunger off?

• The mechanisms that stop eating are not the same as the ones that start it

• Signal to stop eating begins with taste and smells

• And noticing out plate is empty or that other people are no longer eating

• Feelings of fullness begin in stomach and intestines

• Stomach has stretch receptors that send message to brain signally its full

• Receptor also detect levels of nutrients

• Knowing when to stop is regulated by leptin which is secreted by well-stocked fat cells

Sexual Motivation

• Sexual gratification

  • Motivation based on biology

    • Hormones

    • Sexual arousal and hormonal levels are positively correlated

      • More in males

  • Influenced by culture

    • E.g first age of sexual activity, number of sexual partners over a lifetime

• Sexual orientation

  • Direction and degree of romantic and/or sexual attraction

  • Heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual

    • Homosexual, bisexual - 21%

    • Previously considered disorder

    • Kinsey: Homosexuality and heterosexuality as a continuum

    • Fails to account for gender identity and asexu

Motivation for reladness

• Attachment

  • Physical and psychological close to another person

  • First relatedness motivation to develop (also, seen in adult love)

• Intimacy

  • Self-disclosure, warmth, mutual caring

• Affiliation

  • Interactions with others

• Low levels of relatedness = poorer mental and physical health outcomes

• Motivation for Agency

  • Achievement, autonomy, mastery and power

Motivation Goals and Self esteem

• Motivation for self-esteem

  • View self in positive life

  • Fundamental motivating force

• Motivation for achievement (succeed and avoid failure)

  • High in achievement motivation

    • More persistence in task and pride in achievement

    • Attribute success to ability and failures the uncontrollable factors

    • Chose moderately difficult task

    • Motivation might not encompass different domains

  • Performance goals

    • Performance- approach goals - motivated to obtain goal

      • Success but little intrinsic enjoyment

    • Performance- avoidance goals - motivated by fear of not obtaining goal

      • Less success and little intrinsic enjoyment

    • Mastery goals - motivated to increase competency or skill

      • Success and intrinsic enjoyment

• Influenced by parenting and culture

Emotion

• Physiological arousal

  • Flight or fight

    • Activation of sympathetic NS

      • HR, respiration, blood flow to muscles and internal organs, perspiration

  • Overt behavioural expression (display of emotions others can see)

    • Facial expression and body posture

  • Subjective conscious experience

    • Thoughts and feelings

• Affect

  • Observable behaviours that signify emotion

• Mood

  • Longer lasting emotional state

Emotion:

• Superordinate - universal

  • Positive emotions

  • Negative emotions

• Basic category - universal

• Subordinate - varies across culture

Emotions Behavioural

• Body posture

• Facial expression

• Identifying facial expression

  • Easily identifiable

  • Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust

    • Evidence to suggest these are innate

      • Facial expressions expressed by blind infants

      • Some evidence for shame and interest as well

  • Less accurate: contempt, embarrassment, shame, amusement, sympathy

  • Influenced by Culture and Context

  • Females slightly better than males at identifying emotions

  • Botox decreases ability to identify facial expressions

• Actions

  • Approach/avoidance orientation

    • Positive emotions = approach orientation

    • Negative emotions = avoidance orientation

      • Anger is the exception

James-Lange Theory

• Experience physiological arousal and/or behaviour which leads to the conscious feeling of emotion

• Autonomic specificity - physiological arousal differs for each emotion

  • Cold hands with fear but warm with anger

• Facial feedback hypothesis

• States that emotions originate in PNS responses that the CNS interprets

Cannan-Bard

• Cannon raised concerns

  • Physiological arousal doesn’t always lead to change in emotion

    • After physical assertion

  • Very little difference in autonomic arousal in some emotions

  • Physiological changes are slow and conscious experience may occur before them

• Cannon-Bard Theory (1927,1934)

  • Physiological arousal and subjective experience occur at the same time

  • Physiological differences are not important

Cognitive Theory - Schachter Two factor theory

• Experience physiological arousal which leads to evaluation of the environment which leads to emotion

• Change the appraisal - not scared but feeling pumped up

• Emptions have an impact on cognitive functioning

  • What information is remembered and recalled

  • judgements and decision making

Compare:

Behavioural

• Emotions are the results of learned associated

Psychodynamic

• Unconscious emotions can have a big impact on functioning

Evolutionary

• Emotions are important for communication

Neuropsychology for emotion

• Cortex

  • Interpreting context and physiological sensations

  • Positive emotions/approach orientation = Left frontal

  • Negative emotions/avoidance orientation = Right frontal

  • Plays a central role inn regulating facial displays of emotion for social purposes

  • Limbic system

  • Amygdala

    • Linking emotions to stimuli, understanding others emotions

    • Fear response

  • Thalamus

    • Relaying information to cortex and amygdala

  • Hypothalamus

    • Autonomic and endocrine response

Slow and Fast pathways

Slow and fast pathways

• Fast

  • Thalamus - amygdala

• Slow

  • Thalamus - visual cortex

  • Then sent to amygdala

• Show a fear response before recognition

Sexual Responce Cycle:

• Masters and Jonhson discovered similar physiological changes take place during sex in both makes and females - sexual response cycle

• The sexual response cycle begins with excitement - increased muscle tension, engorgement of blood vessels, erection and lubrication of vagina, skin flush

• Maximum arousal occurs in plateau phase

• In this stage, HR, respiration, muscle tension and blood pressure reach peak

• The third phase orgasm characterised by vaginal contractions and expulsion of semen

• Female sex hormones are oestrogen and progesterone

• Male sex hormones are androgens - testosterone

Feeling Happy

• Suggests that happiness stems from being satisfied with life, positive feelings

• Seligman suggests happiness derided from PERMA - pleasure, engagement, relationships, meaning, accomplishment

Basic emotions:

• Basic emotions are common to human species with charactertic physiological, subjective and expressive components

• Most classifications include 5-9 emotions

  • Anger, fear, happiness, sadness and disgust

    • Suprise, contempt ,interest, shame, guilt, joy, trust and anticipation are someone's included

    • Cultures vary the extent to which they elaborate and distinguish emotional states

• Approach orientated feelings and motives are processed in left frontal

• Avoidance feelings and motives are associated with right frontal

Anger:

• Anger is an approach-orientated emotion - leads people to approach and attack the object of their anger

• Anger is more akin to positive affect

• or that asymmetry between left and right frontal  functioning has less to do with emotion itself with the tendency to approach or avoid

Reframing and Suppression:

• People often reframe the meaning of an event before it occurs

• They may try to supress emotion after the fact

• Reframing events before they occur can lead to diminished feelings, suppression does not

• Suppression leads to more sympathetic NS activity

Psychodynamic perspecive + cognitive on emotion:

Psychodynamic perspective:

• People can be unconscious of their own emotional experience

• Unsconious emotional process can influence thought, behaviour and health

• Psychodynamic theory also suggests that we delude ourselves about our own abilities and attributed to avoid unpleasant consequences

• Participants with illusory mental health exhibited psychological distress

 

Cognitive perspective:

• Western thinkers viewed emotion as a disruptive force in human affairs

Personality

is how our motives, emotions and self-concept, views of others and world views interact with situations to produce our way of responding

Psychodynamic Theories of Personality

• First comprehensive theory of personality

  • Based on clinical observation

  • Observed hysteria

    • Hypnosis could temporarily alleviate hysterical symptoms

  • Something uncurious must be overriding their conscious desire

    • Psychological difficulty

  • Led to theory of psychodynamics

Topographic Model

• Freuds first model

• Divided mental process into three

  • Conscious: Rational, goal-directed thoughts

  • Preconscious: Information easily made conscious

  • Unconscious: Repressed irrational thoughts

Drive/ Instinct Model

• What motivates people

  • Sexual drive: pleasure seeking, sensuality and love

    • Daydreaming about romance

  • Aggressive Drive:

    • Sports

• He selected these two drives because:

  • Inconsistent messages about what is appropriate or not

  • Thwarted more regularly than other drives (thirst)

Freud Psychosexual Development Model - OAPLT

• Personality is strongly shaped by dilemmas of childhood

• Fixations at particular psychosexual stages cause distinctive neurotic behaviours in adulthood

  • Stages:

    • Oral

    • Anal

    • Phallic

    • Latent

    • Genital

Oral Stage

• Age: 0-18 months

• Conflict: Children become aware of their dependence on their mothers and the vulnerability associated with this, namely managing separation anxiety

• Fixation: Clingy needy personality profile, with a strong need for approval (neurotic habits involving mouth - biting nails, cigarettes)

Anal Stage

• Age: Around 2 Years

• Conflict: Children become aware of the value judgements associated with the waste their bodies produce, priming concerns of cleanliness, order control and compliance

• Fixation: either extreme neatness and fussiness (retentive), or extreme messiness and laziness (expulsive)

Phallic Stage

• Age: 4-6 years

• Conflict: Children begin to parse gender identity, identify with same-sex parent covet attention of other parent, Oedipus/Electra Complex, castration anxiety, or penis envy

• Fixation: Differs with gender role, makes who cannot move past Oedipal conflict asserting their masculinity is brash, destructive ways, whereas women grow emotional/histrionic

Latent Stage

• Age: 7-11 Years

• Conflict: Children begin to learn to sublimate and supress their Eros desires, focusing on maintaining a dispassionate Ego as a safety mechanism

• Fixation: Excessive comfort found in the neutrality of proportional self-denial can become a crutch, stunting later psychosexual development, leading to asexuality and dullness

Genital Stage

• Age: 12 Years and up

• Conflict: Children begin the slow process of sexual maturity, parsing the new intense desires, as well as sources of anxiety and possible failures/rejections

• Fixation: Various sexual obsessions or resurgence of earlier partial fixations

Structual Model

• Desires versus conscious and reality

  • Causes psychological distress

• Three mental forces:

  • Id: Sexual and aggressive energy

  • Ego: Balance between desire and reality

  • Superego: Conscious

Defence Mechanisms:

• People cope with emotional problems using defence mechanisms

  • Conflict of id, ego and superego can cause anxiety

  • Offer protection from unpleasant emotions

• Repression: Keep threatening thoughts or emotions from awareness

• Denial: Refuse to acknowledge external realities or emotions

• Projection: See own negative traits in others

• Reaction formation: Change unacceptable feelings into the opposite

• Sublimation: Changing sexual and aggressive impulses into socially acceptable activities

• Rationalisation: Explain actions in a way to avoid uncomfortable feelings

• Regression: Immature response

• Passive aggression: Indirect expression of anger

Evaluation Psychodynamic Theories

• Pros:

  • Freud work pointed to the importance of

    • Unconscious Processes

    • Conflict

    • Influence of childhood experiences

    • Capacity to learn to control impulses

• Cons:

  • Not based on controlled, scientific study

  • Aggression is not considered a main drive

  • Overemphasis on sexual motivation

    • Wishes and fears

Trait Theories:

• Trait: Words people use to describe themselves

  • Emotional, cognitive and behavioural tendencies

• For Allport (1937), trait has two meanings

  • Observed behavioural tendency

  • Underlying personality that causes the tendency to act in a particular way

    • Sad (observed) - Tendency for negative thoughts (underlying)

• To measure traits:

  • Questionnaire completed by close individual

  • Self report questionnaire

Trait Theories Allport:

• Allport believed each person has a set of personality traits (personal dispositions)

  • Three categories

    • Cardinal trait: Whole personality reflects the trait

    • Central trait: Traits which characterise interactions

      • Most people have 5-10

    • Secondary trait: Characteristics in response to particular situations

• Trait list began at 18,000 words

  • Reduced to 16

Catteks 1990 traits

• Warm

• Emotionally stable

• Cheerful

• Suspicious

• Intelligence

• Tense

• Imaginative

• Sensitive

5 Factor Model

• Factor analysis commonly yields five overarching personality, with a series of facets

• Big 5 (OCEAN)

  • Openness to experience

    • Fantasy, intellectual ideas, flexible, emotionally open

  • Conscientious

    • Order, Self-discipline, Dutifulness

  • Extroversion

    • Warmth, Excitement seeking, Assertiveness

  • Agreeableness

    • Trust, Altruism, Tenderness

  • Neuroticism

    • Anxiety, Depression, Self-consciousness

Assessing Personality Traits

• Non-projective (objective) tests

  • NEO-PI-R

    • Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Personality Inventory

  • MMPI-2

    • Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

• Objective personality tests used in recruitment

Biological basis of Personality Traits:

• Eysenck's Theory:

  • Well-researched theory

  • Hierarchal structure

• Identified three super-traits

  • Extroversion-Introversion

    • Tendency to be sociable

  • Neuroticism - Emotional Stability

    • Anxious, moody, low self-esteem'

  • Psychoticism - Impulse Control

    • Impulsive, anti-social

• This can be viewed as a biological theory

  • Heritability

  • Genes - traits mapping

Genes and Traits:

• Relationship between personality and brain structure

  • Individual differences in personality may relate to differences in brain structure

  • Examined big 5

    • MRI exploration

      • Lager brain area relating to reward in extroverts

      • Neuroticism correlated with areas relating to punishment

      • Conscientiousness related to areas associated with planning

• Evolutionary perspective suggests that evolution favoured particular personality traits

  • Reproductive fitness

• Noticing the big 5 has adaptive significance

  • Extraversion: Relationship formation

  • Agreeableness: Cooperation

  • Openness: Problem Solving

  • Neuroticism: Helped avoid danger

Evaluation of Trait Theories

• Pros:

  • Traits can be measured and tested empirically

  • Allows heritability to be assessed

  • Allows for individual differences

  • Evidence that biological factors relate to personality

• Cons:

  • Self report

  • Barnum effect - accurately evaluate ourselves

  • Test interpretation is so broad it can apply to many people

  • Does not discuss the underpinning factors (how and why)

  • Descriptive (how much)

Social Cognitive theories:

• Basis in behavioural and cognitive psychology

• Personality development mostly explained by:

  • Learning mechanisms - classical and operant conditioning

  • Social/observational learning

• Our everyday behaviours (which form our behavioural tendencies) are all managed by cognitive evaluations and beliefs

• Including mental reprentations (schemas) of significant people, places and things relevant to self - how we expect the world to work

Banduras Social-Cognitive Theory:

• Bandura felt it is necessary to include cognition

• Social learning theory

  • Humans observe, think and imitate

  • Learn both appropriate and inappropriate behaviours

• Observational learning:

  • Vicarious learning: We observe others classical and operant conditioning

  • Peoples behaviour is shaped by models

    • Imitate parents

    • Imitate those you like and respect, find attractive or similar to ourselves

Social-Cognitive Approach:

• Personality (behavioural repertoire) depends on:

  • Behaviour- Outcome Expectancies - beliefs about what is possible

  • Self-Efficacy Expectancies - confidence accrued from past successes

  • Competencies - acquired skills useful in problem solving (procedural)

  • Self-Regulation - managing new gaps in expectancies and competencies

Evaluation of Social Cognitive Theories:

• Pros:

  • Based on empirical research

• Cons:

  • Criticised for denying free-will

  • Did not always include cognitive processes, thus behavioural approach diluted

Humanistic theories:

• Therapeutic movement - affirming the character of the individual, empowering choices and personal progress, and supporting peoples on their path towards self-actualisation

• Thus, personality development focused primarily on growth by choice

• Human nature and human character are fundamentally good

• Desire and capacity to survive, grow and improve

• Intentional choices and free will shape our self perceptions - helps us become who we wish to become

3 Selves

• Self perception is thought to produce 3 versions of the self

• The True Self - our true inner being what is most fundamentally to us, untainted and always good by default

• The False Self - the typical view of the self, created by personal experienced and worldly limitations, distorts the true self

• The Ideal Self - the imagined best version of ourselves, who we can picture ourselves one day being, and aspire to become

Evaluation of Humanistic Theories:

• Pros:

  • Taking into consideration subjective views of reality was a progressive move forward

    • Positive view of human growth laid the foundations for Positive Psychology

• Cons:

  • Difficult to empirically test hypotheses

Trait overreaching psychological types

• Eysenck identified three overreaching psychological types

  • Extroversion

  • Neurotisim

  • Psychotism

• The HEXACO model of personality comprises of 6 factors:

  • Honesty-Humility (H)

  • Emotionality (E)

  • Extraversion (X)

  • Agreeableness (A)

  • Conscientiousness (C)

  • Openness to Experience (O)

Jungian psychotherapy

• Jung like Freud has an understanding of the significant role of the unconscious

• Jung examined the role of symbolism in unconscious psychology

• Jungian psychotherapy aiked to focus on the relationship between conscious and unconscious

• Jungian theories are based on experience - both outer world and inner world - fantasies, dreams

• Jungs work on the psyche which was the dialogue between conscious states

• Psyche represents the interaction between interacting systems - ego, personal and collective unconscious

• According to Jung the psyche is a self-regulating system and strives to maintain a balance between internal opposites

Object relation theories:

• Object relation theories attempt to account for the difficulties of people with high impairment in love and work

• Who may show extreme inability to maintain commitment or trust in relationship

• Object relations refers to enduring patterns of behaviour in intimate relationships to the motivational, cognitive and affective processes that produce those patterns

• Object relations theory postulates that humans are born seeking relationships and set out to fulfill this need

• People who have difficulty maintain relationships tend to view themselves and others in more negative ways

Contributions of Psychodynamic theories:

• Emphasised 5 aspects of personality that have received support

  • Unconscious cognitive, emotional and motivational processes

  • Ambivalence, conflict and compromise

  • Childhood experiences in shaping adult interpersonal patterns

  • Mental representations of the self, others and relationships

  • Development of the capacity to regulate impulses and shift from immature dependant state to adulthood

• Psychodynamic approaches emphasis human thought and action have meaning

Cognitive Social Theories conditions:

• According to cognitive social theories several conditions must be met for a behaviour to occur

  • Person must encode situation as relevant to goals

  • Situation must have enough meaning or value

  • Individual must believe that preforming the behaviour will lead to desired outcomes

  • Person must have ability to carry out behaviour

  • Person must be able to regulate ongoing activity in a way that leads to goal fulfilment

Expectancies:

• A behaviour outcome expectancy is a belief that a certain behaviour will lead to an outcome

• A self efficacy expectancy is a persons conviction that they can perform the actions necessary to produce the desires outcome

• Bandura argues that self-efficacy expectancies are the most important determinant of successful task performance

Competences:

• Competencies are the skills and abilities used for solving problems

• Social intelligences has competences that help people talk comfortably and to end arguments

• Individuals develop skills through operant conditioning, observational learning and practice

Self regulation:

• Self regulation refers to setting goals, evaluating performance and adjusting behaviour to achieve these goals

• Cognitive social theorists take a problem solving or decision making approach to personality

• People are constantly setting goals and applying skills to achieve them

• Meaning personality is nothing more or less than the problem solving efforts of people trying to fulfill their life tasks

Reinforcement Sensitivty Theory:

• Jeffery Gray's Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) proposed that brain structures have evolved in response to reinforcement and punishment

• The behavioural approach system (BAS) in the structure that is attuned to rewards and leads people to seek arousal

• The behavioural inhibition system (BIS) is the structure that is attuned to punishment

• Extroverts have stronger BAS then BIS are more influenced by rewards than losses

• Introverts have stronger BUS more influenced by failure

Critisisms 5 factor model

• Provides a statis account of personality

• The construct validity of the model and the underlying genetic determinants of the traits are questionable

• The utility of the FFM in applied areas of psychology is uncertain

Existential approaches to personality:

• Existentialism is focused on subjective experience

• The individual is alone throughout life and must confront what it means to be human and what values to embrace

• People have no fixed nature and must create themselves

The culture pattern approach

• The culture pattern approach asserts that individual psychology reflects cultural practices

• The culture pattern approach sees culture as an organised set of beliefs, rituals and institutions that shape individuals

• Some cultures stress pursuit of common good and members to internalise this

• Others foster a paranoid attitude