Psychosocial Development, Peers, Conditioning, and Reinforcement Schedules
Peers
Peers exert the greatest influence during adolescence; adolescents are more likely to be influenced by peers than parents.
In childhood, parents play the biggest role in shaping an individual; peers are mainly for activities and socialization.
As people age, peers are present for intimacy, liking, and support, albeit with reduced influence.
There's a concerning trend in the United States where fewer adults in their late twenties report having close friends compared to previous decades; this is linked to increased depression and anxiety.
More social relationships and friends are positively correlated with greater life and health satisfaction.
Close friends, not just acquaintances or work colleagues, are crucial.
Religiosity (regardless of the specific religion, except for cults) is connected to longevity and happiness because it provides:
A social network for support.
A sense of meaning and purpose in life.
There's a growing number of people with no religious affiliation, referred to as "nones" (n-o-n-e-s).
However, there has been a decrease in the number of "nones" since the COVID-19 pandemic, with people returning to spirituality or a moral compass.
Erik Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development
These stages represent the interaction between an individual's social environment and psychological development.
Each stage presents a conflict or crisis that must be resolved, influencing later development.
Stage 1: Trust vs. Mistrust
Focuses on attachment, where the question is whether an infant trusts their parents to meet their needs.
Example: A couple raising their children using attachment theory promptly responds to their children's cries to build trust.
Contrasting approach: The Ferber method involves letting a child cry for increasing intervals to teach them to fall asleep independently, which some might see as conflicting with building trust.
The lecturer emphasized that the best approach is subjective and depends on what each family deems suitable.
Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
Occurs during potty training and exploration of the body.
Shaming a child during this stage can lead to shame and doubt.
Using correct anatomical terms for private parts is important so a child can communicate effectively if they've been sexually assaulted or molested.
Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt
Involves children trying to do things on their own and how they are reacted to by the world around them.
Example: A child trying to help with dinner might accidentally break something, and the parental response can either encourage initiative or instill guilt.
Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority
Concerns feelings of competence and the ability to work hard to achieve things, versus feelings of inferiority.
Stage 5: Identity vs. Confusion (Role Formation)
Involves trying on different roles to eventually settle on a version of oneself, typically by age 18.
Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation
Focuses on finding a mate or facing isolation.
Stage 7: Generativity vs. Stagnation
Involves the question of finding a purpose and creating something meaningful.
Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair
Involves looking back on life with either a sense of fulfillment and acceptance or regret and despair.
These stages don't necessarily happen in chronological order; individuals facing terminal illness in their twenties, for example, may jump to the stage of integrity vs. despair.
Identity Formation in Adolescence
Involves a dynamic between exploration and commitment.
Four potential outcomes:
Foreclosure: Committing without exploring options (e.g., following a parent's career without considering alternatives).
Identity Confusion (Diffusion): Not exploring or committing to anything ("I don't know, and I don't care.").
Identity Achievement: Exploring options and making a decision (e.g., deciding to become a pharmacist after thorough consideration, as in the example of "miss Smith").
Moratorium: Exploring but postponing commitment (e.g., taking a gap year to explore options).
Classical Conditioning
A type of associative learning in which two things in the environment are paired: a stimulus and a response. The conditioning is mostly involuntary.
Involves creating conditions for an experience that leads to learning.
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): Something unlearned and innate that happens naturally.
Example: air blown into the eyes, or Dave's hot chicken
Unconditioned Response (UCR): The natural response to the unconditioned stimuli.
Example: Blinking, or salivating
Neutral Stimulus (NS): A stimulus that has no predetermined or determined biological response.
Example: The sound of a metronome
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): The previously neutral stimulus after it has been associated with the unconditioned stimulus.
Example: The sound of the metronome after being associated with food
Conditioned Response (CR): The learned response to the conditioned stimulus.
Example: Salivation after only hearing the metronome.
Acquisition: The point at which the conditioned response and the conditioned stimulus have been paired. Pair the neutral stimulus, then the unconditioned stimulus repeatedly over and over again.
Stimulus Generalization: The tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus.
Example: Little Albert was conditioned to be afraid of all white, fuzzy things, not just rats.
Stimulus Discrimination: The ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli.
Extinction: The weakening of the conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the unconditioned stimulus.
Spontaneous Recovery: The reappearance of the conditioned response after a period of extinction.
Higher Order Conditioning: Pairing a new neutral stimulus with the conditioned stimulus to create a second conditioned stimulus.
Example: Pairing a light with the metronome, eventually leading the dog to drool at the light alone.
The first pairing will always be the most effective predictor of what is going to happen.
Operant Conditioning
A type of associative learning in which a behavior is paired with a consequence; the order is response followed by a stimulus that is either added or subtracted.
Uses reinforcements and punishments.
Reinforcement: Designed to increase the targeted behavior.
Punishment: Designed to decrease the targeted behavior.
Positive: There is some kind of additional stimulus that is added.
Negative: Something is being taken away or removed.
Positive Reinforcement: Increasing a behavior by adding something wanted (a reward).
Example: Giving students stickers for answering questions correctly
Negative Reinforcement: Increasing a behavior by removing something unwanted (pain, distress, or discomfort).
Example: Taking Tylenol to remove a headache, or wearing deodorant to remove the possibility of embarrassment
Positive Punishment: Decreasing a behavior by adding something unwanted (typically pain).
Example: Spanking, detention, or suspension
Negative Punishment: Decreasing a behavior by removing something wanted.
Example: Grounding, or ghosting someone
Schedules of Reinforcement
Fixed: Is the reward predictable?
Variable: Is the reward unpredictable?
Ratio: The number of times that you have to perform a behavior to get the reward.
Fixed Ratio: Rewards are given after a fixed number of responses.
Example: A stamp card
Variable Ratio: Rewards are given after a variable number of responses.
Example: Gambling
Continuous Reinforcement: A reward is given every time a behavior is demonstrated.
Fixed Interval: Rewards are given after a fixed amount of time.
Example: Paychecks every two weeks.
Variable Interval: Rewards are given after a variable amount of time.
Example: Pop quizzes
Extinction is most susceptible in anything of the fixed schedule of reinforcement.
If someone knows that they are going to get a reward every time they do something, and that reward stops, they will quit after a few times.