Cram Packet

Scientific Foundations & Biological Basis

  • Psychology: derived from physiology and philosophy.

  • Early Approaches:

    • Structuralism: used introspection to determine mind structures.

    • Functionalism: analyzed the purpose of behavior.

  • Approaches:

    • Psychoanalytic/dynamic: unconscious, childhood.

    • Behavioral: learned, reinforced.

    • Humanistic: free will, choice, ideal, actualization.

    • Cognitive: perceptions, thoughts.

    • Evolutionary: genes.

    • Biological: brain, neurotransmitters (NTs).

    • Sociocultural: society.

    • Biopsychosocial: combo of above.

  • People:

    • Mary Calkins: First Fem. Pres. of APA.

    • Charles Darwin: Natural selection & evolution.

    • Dorothea Dix: Reformed mental institutions in U.S.

    • Stanley Hall: 1st pres. of APA, 1st journal.

    • William James: Father of American Psychology – functionalist.

    • Wilhelm Wundt: Father of Modern Psychology – structuralist.

    • Margaret Floy Washburn: 1st fem. PhD.

    • Christine Ladd Franklin: 1st fem.

  • Terms:

    • Basic research: purpose is to increase knowledge.

    • Applied research: purpose is to help people.

    • Psychologist: research or counseling – MS or PhD.

    • Psychiatrist: prescribe medications and diagnose – M.D.

Research Design

  • Experiment:

    • Adv: controls variables.

    • Disadv: difficult to generalize.

    • Independent Variable: altered by researcher.

      • Experimental Group: received the treatment.

      • Control Group: placebo, baseline.

      • Placebo Effect: behaviors associated with the exp. group when having received placebo.

    • Dependent Variable: measured variable.

      • Double-Blind: neither participant or experimenter aware of conditions.

      • Single-Blind: only participant blind.

  • Operational Definition: clear, precise definition of variables.

  • Confound: error/flaw in study.

  • Random Assignment: minimizes bias.

  • Random Sample: minimizes bias, everyone has a chance to take part.

  • Representative Sample: mimics the general population.

  • Correlation:

    • Adv: identify relationship between two variables.

    • Disadv: no cause and effect (CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION).

      • Positive Correlation: variables increase & decrease together.

      • Negative Correlation: as one variable increases the other decreases.

      • The stronger the # the stronger the relationship REGARDLESS of the pos/neg sign. Cannot be < or > than 1.

      • 3rd variable problem (lurking variable): diff. variable is responsible for relationship.

      • Illusory correlation: belief of correlation that doesn’t exist.

  • Naturalistic Observation:

    • Adv: real-world validity.

    • Disadv: no cause and effect.

  • Case Study:

    • Adv: studies ONE person in detail.

    • Disadv: no cause and effect.

  • Descriptive Stats:

    • Measures of Central Tendency:

      • Mean: Average.

      • Median: Middle #.

      • Mode: occurs most often.

  • Inferential Statistics: establishes significance.

  • Statistical significance: results not due to chance.

  • Ethical Guidelines (APA):

    • Confidentiality: names kept secret.

    • Informed Consent: must agree to be part of study.

    • Debriefing: must be told the true purpose of the study.

    • Deception must be warranted.

    • No harm– mental/physical.

Neuron

  • Neuron: Basic cell of the nervous system (NS).

    • Dendrites: Receive incoming signal.

    • Soma: Cell body (includes nucleus).

    • Axon: AP travels down this.

      • Myelin Sheath: speeds up AP down axon, protects axon, MS destroys this.

    • Terminals: release NTs – send signal onto next neuron.

    • Vesicles: sacs inside terminal contain NTs.

    • Synapse: gap b/w neurons.

  • Action Potential: movement of Na and K ions, electrical charge down axon.

    • All or none law: stimulus must trigger the AP past its threshold, but does not increase the intensity of the response.

    • Refractory period: neuron must rest and reset.

  • Interneurons: cells in the spinal cord. Responsible for the reflex loop.

  • Central NS: Brain and spinal cord.

  • Peripheral NS: Rest of the NS.

    • Somatic NS: Voluntary movement.

    • Autonomic NS: Involuntary (heart, lungs, etc).

      • Sympathetic NS: Arouses the body for fight/flight.

      • Parasympathetic NS: Establishes homeostasis after a sympathetic response.

Neurotransmitters (NT)

  • Neurotransmitters (NT): Chemicals released in the synaptic gap, received by neurons.

    • GABA: Major inhibitory NT.

    • Glutamate: Major Excitatory NT.

    • Dopamine: Reward & movement.

    • Serotonin: Moods and emotion.

    • Acetylcholine (ACh): Memory.

    • Epinephrine & Norepinephrine: sympathetic NS arousal.

    • Endorphins: Pain control.

    • Oxytocin: Love and bonding.

  • Agonist: drug that mimics a NT.

  • Antagonist: drug that blocks a NT.

  • Reuptake: unused NTs are taken back up into the sending neuron.

Areas of the Brain

  • Hindbrain: oldest part of the brain.

    • Cerebellum: movement/balance.

    • Medulla: vital organs (HR, BP).

    • Pons: sleep/arousal.

  • Midbrain

    • Reticular formation: alertness.

  • Forebrain: higher thought processes.

    • Limbic System:

      • Amygdala: emotions, fear.

      • Hippocampus: memory.

      • Hypothalamus: reward/pleasure center, eating behaviors – link to the endocrine system.

    • Thalamus: relay center for all but smell.

    • Cerebral Cortex: outer portion of the brain – higher order thought processes.

      • Occipital Lobe: vision

      • Frontal Lobe: decision making, planning, judgment, movement, personality.

      • Parietal Lobe: sensations.

      • Temporal Lobe: hearing and face recognition

      • Somatosensory Cortex: map of our sensory receptors.

      • Motor Cortex: map of our motor receptors.

    • Left hemisphere only – damage results in aphasia (damaged speech)

      • Broca’s Area: Inability to produce speech.

      • Wernicke’s Area: can’t comprehend speech.

    • Corpus Callosum: bundle of nerves that connects the 2 hemispheres.

      • Split-brain experiments: done by Sperry & Gazzaniga.

      • Image shown to the R eye is processed in the L hemi – patient can say what they saw; image shown to the L eye processed in R hemi, can’t say what was seen.

  • Brain Plasticity: Brain can “heal” itself.

Nature Vs. Nurture

  • Nature vs. Nurture: ANSWER IS BOTH

    • Twin Studies:

      • Identical twins – Monozygotic (MZ).

      • Fraternal twins – Dizygotics (DZ).

    • Genetics: MZ twins will have a higher percentage of also developing a disease.

    • Environment: MZ twins raised in different environments show differences

  • Endocrine system: sends hormones throughout the body.

    • Pituitary Gland: Controlled by hypothalamus. Releases growth hormones.

    • Adrenal Glands: related to sympathetic NS: releases adrenaline.

Brain Imaging

  • Brain Imaging:

    • EEG: brain activity – not specific.

    • XRAY: not useful, doesn’t show tissues.

    • CT / MRI: shows structures (tumors).

    • PET: glucose shows brain activity.

    • fMRI: glucose shows activity: real time

    • Lesion: destruction of brain tissue.

  • States of Consciousness:

    • Higher-Level: controlled processes – totally aware.

    • Lower-Level: automatic processing.

    • Altered States: produced through drugs, fatigue, hypnosis.

    • Subconscious: Sleeping and dreaming.

    • No awareness: Knocked out.

  • Sleep:

    • Beta Waves: awake.

    • Alpha Waves: high amp., drowsy.

    • NREM (non-REM) stages- Stage 1: light sleep Stage 2: bursts of sleep spindles Stage 3 Delta waves: Deep sleep.

    • Rapid Eye Movement (REM): dreaming, cognitive processing. Entire cycle takes 90 minutes, REM occurs in b/w each cycle. REM lasts longer throughout the night.

Sensation & Perception

  • Circadian Rhythm: 24-hour biological clock.

    • Body temp & sleep.

    • Controlled by the Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the brain.

    • Explains jet lag.

  • Sleep Disorders:

    • Insomnia: Inability to fall asleep.

    • Sleep walking/talking: NOT during REM.

    • Night terrors: extreme nightmares – NOT in REM sleep.

    • Narcolepsy: fall asleep out of nowhere.

    • Sleep Apnea: stop breathing suddenly while asleep.

  • Dream Theories:

    • Freud’s Unconscious Wish Fulfillment: Dreaming is gratification of unconscious desires and needs.

      • Latent Content: hidden meaning.

      • Manifest Content: obvious storyline.

    • Activation Synthesis: Brain produces random bursts of energy – stimulating lodged memories in the limbic sys. Dreams start random then develop meaning.

  • Psychoactive Drugs:

    • Triggers dopamine release in the brain.

      • Depressants: Alcohol, barbiturates, tranquilizers, opiates (narcotics).

      • Stimulants: Amphetamines, Cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy), Caffeine, Nicotine.

      • Hallucinogens: LSD, Marijuana.

    • Tolerance: needing more of a drug to achieve the same effects.

    • Dependence: become addicted to the drug.

    • Withdrawal: Psychological and physiological symptoms associated with sudden stoppage.

  • Absolute Threshold: detection of signal 50% of the time.

  • Difference Threshold: two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum proportion (Weber’s Law).

  • Signal Detection Theory

  • Sensory Adaptation: diminished sensitivity as a result of constant stimulation.

  • Sensory Habituation: diminished sensitivity due to regular exposure.

  • Perceptual Set (mental set): tendency to see something as part of a group.

  • Inattentional Blindness: failure to notice something added b/c you’re so focused on another task.

  • Change Blindness: failure to notice a change in the scene.

  • Cocktail party effect: notice your name across the room when its spoken, when you weren’t previously paying attention

Visual System

  • Visual System:

    • Cornea – protects the eye.

    • Pupil/iris – controls amount of light entering eye.

    • Lens – focuses light on retina.

    • Retina – contains rods and cones.

    • Fovea – area of best vision (cones here).

    • Rods – black/white, dim light.

    • Cones – color, bright light (red, green, blue).

    • Bipolar cells – connect rods/cones and ganglion cells.

    • Ganglion cells – opponent-processing occurs here.

    • Blind spot – occurs where the optic nerve leaves the eye.

    • Feature detectors – specialized cells that see motion, shapes, lines, etc. located in occipital lobe.

  • Theories of Color Vision:

    • Trichromatic – three cones for receiving color (blue, red, green).

      • Explains color blindness - they are missing a cone type

    • Opponent Process – complementary colors are processed in ganglion cells – explains why we see an after image

  • Visual Capture: visual system overwhelms all others.

  • Constancies: recognize that objects do not physically change despite changes in sensory input.

  • Phi Phenomenon: adjacent lights blink on/off in succession – looks like movement.

  • Stroboscopic movement: motion produced by a rapid succession of slightly varying images.

  • Monocular Cues:

    • Interposition: overlapping images appear closer.

    • Relative Size: 2 objects that are usually similar in size, the smaller one is further away.

    • Relative Clarity: hazy objects appear further away.

    • Texture Gradient: coarser objects are closer.

    • Relative Height: things higher in our field of vision look further away.

    • Linear Perspective: parallel lines converge with distance.

  • Binocular Cues:

    • Retinal Disparity: Image is cast slightly different on each retina, location of image helps us determine depth.

    • Convergence: Eyes strain more (looking inward) as objects draw nearer.

  • Top-Down Processing: Whole -> smaller parts.

  • Bottom-Up Processing: Smaller Parts -> Whole

Auditory System

  • Auditory system:

    • Pathway of sound: sound --> pinna --> auditory canal --> ear drum (tympanic membrane) --> hammer, anvil, stirrup (HAS) --> oval window --> cochlea --> auditory nerve --> temporal lobes.

    • Outer Ear: pinna (ear), auditory canal.

    • Middle Ear: ear drum, HAS (bones vibrate to send signal).

    • Inner Ear: cochlea – sounds 1st processed here.

  • Theories of Hearing:

    • Place theory – location where hair cells bends determines sound (high pitches).

    • Frequency theory – rate at which action potentials are sent determines sound (low pitches).

Other Senses

  • Touch: Mechanoreceptors --> spinal cord --> thalamus --> somatosensory cortex.

  • Pain (nociception):

    • Gate-control theory: we have a “gate” to control how much pain is experienced

  • Kinesthetic (proprioception): Sense of body position.

  • Vestibular: Sense of balance.

  • Taste (gustation): 5 taste receptors: bitter, salty, sweet, sour, umami (savory).

  • Smell (olfaction): goes to temporal lobe and amygdala ONLY sense that does NOT route through the thalamus 1st..

Gestalt Psychology

  • Gestalt Psychology: Whole is greater than the sum of its parts Gestalt Principles.

    • Figure/ground: organize information into figures objects (figures) that stand apart from surrounds (back ground).

    • Closure: mentally fill in gaps.

    • Proximity: group things together that appear near each other.

    • Similarity: group things together based off of looks.

    • Continuity: tendency to mentally form a continuous line.

Classical Conditioning

  • Classical Conditioning: PAVLOV!

    • Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): causes response w/o needing to be learned (food).

    • Unconditioned Response (UCR): response that naturally occurs w/o training (salivate).

    • Neutral Response (NS): stimulus that normally doesn’t evoke a response (bell).

    • Conditioned Stimulus (CS): once NS that now brings about a response (bell).

    • Conditioned Response (CR): response after conditioning, follows a CS (salivate).

    • Contiguity: Timing of the pairing, NS/CS must be presented .5-1 sec BEFORE the US

    • Acquisition: process of learning the response pairing

    • Extinction: previously conditioned response dies out over time

    • Spontaneous Recovery: After a period of time the CR comes back out of nowhere

    • Generalization: CR to like stimuli (similar sounding bell)

    • Discrimination: CR to ONLY the CS

  • Contingency Model: Rescorla & Wagner – classical conditioning involves cognitive processes

  • Conditioned Taste Aversion (ONE-TRIAL LEARNING): John Garcia – Innate predispositions can allow classical conditioning to occur in one trial

  • John Watson (father of behaviorism) & Little Albert: conditioned a fear in a baby – eventually leads to behavioral treatments for fear (counterconditioning)

Operant Conditioning

  • Operant Conditioning: SKINNER!

    • Law of Effect (Thorndike): Behaviors followed by pos. outcomes are strengthened, neg. outcomes weaken a behavior

    • Principles of Operant Cond:

      • Pos. Reinforcement: Add something nice to increase a behavior.

      • Neg. Reinforcement: Take away something bad/annoying to increase a behavior.

      • Pos. Punishment: Add something bad to decrease a behavior.

      • Neg. Punishment: Take away something good to decrease a behavior.

      • Primary Reinforcers: innately satisfying (food and water).

      • Secondary Reinforcers: everything else (stickers, high-fives).

        • Token Reinforcer: type of secondary- can be exchanged for other stuff (game tokens or money).

      • Generalization: respond to similar stimulus for reward.

      • Discrimination: stimulus signals when behavior will or will not be reinforced

      • Extinction / Spontaneous Recovery: same as classical conditioning

      • Overjustification Effect: reinforcing behaviors that are intrinsically motivating causes you to stop doing them

      • Shaping: use successive approximations to train behavior

      • Continuous Reinforcement schedule: Receive reward for every response

      • Fixed Ratio schedule: Reward every X number of response

      • Fixed Interval schedule: Reward every X amount of time passed

      • Variable Ratio schedule: Rewarded after a random number of responses

      • Variable Interval schedule: Rewarded after a random amount of time has passed

      • Variable schedules are most resistant to extinction

  • Social (Observational) Learning: BANDURA!

    • Modeling Behaviors: Children model (imitate) behaviors.

      • Prosocial – helping behaviors

      • Antisocial – mean behaviors

  • Misc Learning Types:

    • Latent learning (Tolman!) – learning is hidden until useful

      • Cognitive maps – mental representation of an area, allows navigation if blocked

    • Insight learning (Kohler!) – some learning is through simple intuition

    • Learned Helplessness (Seligman!) – no matter what you do you never get a positive outcome so you just give up

Encoding

  • Encoding: Getting info into memory

    • Automatic encoding – requires no effort

    • Effortful encoding – requires attention

    • Shallow, intermediate, deep processing: the more emphasis on MEANING the deeper the processing, and the better remembered

    • Imagery – attaching images to information makes it easier to remember

    • Self-referent encoding – we better remember what we’re interested in

    • Dual encoding – combining different types of encoding aids in memory

    • Chunking – break info into smaller units to aid in memory

    • Mnemonics – shortcuts to help us remember info easier

      • Acronyms – using letter to remember something

      • Method of loci – using locations to remember a list of items in order

      • Peg-word – using a rhyme w/ imagery to remember lists in order

    • Context-dependent memory – where you learn the info you best remember the info

    • State-dependent memory – the physical state you were in when learning is the way you should be when testing

  • Storage: Retaining info over time

    • Information Processing Model – Sensory memory, short-term memory, long term memory model

    • Sensory Memory – stores all incoming stimuli that you receive (first you have to a pay attention)

      • Iconic Memory – visual memory, lasts 0.3 seconds

      • Echoic Memory – auditory memory, lasts 2-3 seconds

    • Short-Term Memory – info passes from sensory memory to STM – lasts 30 secs, and can remember 7 ± 2 items

      • Rehearsal (repeating the info) resets the clock

    • Working Memory Model splits STM into 2 – visual spatial memory (from iconic mem) and phonological loop (from echoic mem). A “central executive” puts it together before passing it to LTM

    • Long term memory – lasts a lifetime

      • Explicit (Declarative): Conscious recollection

        • Episodic: events

        • Semantic: facts

      • Implicit (Nondeclarative): unconscious recollection

        • Classical conditioning

        • Priming: info that is seen earlier “primes” you to remember something later on

        • Procedural: skills

    • Memory organization

      • Hierarchies: memory is stored according to a hierarchy

      • Semantic networks: linked memories are stored together

      • Schemas: pre-existing mental concept of how something should look (like a restaurant)

    • Memory storage

      • Acetylcholine neurons in the hippocampus for most memories

      • Cerebellum for procedural memories

      • Long-term potentiation: neural basis of memory – connections are strengthened over time with repeated stimulation

  • Retrieval: Taking info out of storage

    • Serial Position Effect: tendency to remember the beginning (primacy effect) and the end (recency effect) of the list best

    • Recall: remember what you’ve been told w/o cues (essays)

    • Recognition: remember what you’ve been told w/ cues (MC)

    • Flashbulb memories: particularly vivid memories for highly important events

    • Repressed memories: unconsciously buried memories – are unreliable

    • Encoding failure: forget info b/c you never encoded it (paid attention to it) in the first place

    • Encoding specificity principle: the more closely retrieval cues match the way we learned the info, the better we remember the info

    • Forgetting curve: recall decreases rapidly at first, then reaches a plateau after which little more is forgotten

    • Proactive interference OLD blocks new

    • Retroactive interference NEW blocks old

    • Misinformation effect: distortion of memory by suggestion or misinformation

    • Framing: the way a question is framed impacts how info is recalled / perceived

    • Anterograde amnesia: amnesia moves forward (forget new info)

    • Retrograde amnesia: amnesia moves backwards (forget old info)

    • Alzheimer’s Disease: caused by destruction of acetylcholine in hippocampus

Theories of Language

  • Language

    • Phonemes: Smallest unit of sound

    • Morpheme: smallest unit that caries meaning

    • Grammar: rules in a language that enable us to communicate

    • Semantics: set of rules by which we derive meaning

    • Syntax: rules for combining words into sentences

    • Babbling stage: 1st stage of speech

    • One-word stage: duh

    • Two-word stage: duh duh (telegraphic speech)

    • Theories of language development:

      • Imitation: Kids repeat what they hear – but they don’t do it perfectly

        • Overregularization: grammar mistake where children over-use certain morphemes

      • Operant conditioning: reinforced for language use

      • Inborn universal grammar: Noam Chomsky – says that language is innate; we are predisposed to learn it

      • Critical period: period of time where something must be learned or else it cannot ever happen

      • Linguistic determinism: language influences the way we think developed by Whorf

Theories of Thinking

  • Thinking

    • Metacognition: Thinking about (reflecting upon) the way you think

    • Concepts: mental categories used to group objects, events, characteristics

    • Prototypes: all instances of a concept are compared to an ideal example

    • Algorithms: step by step strategies that guarantee a solution

    • Heuristics: short cut strategy (rule of thumb)

      • Representative Heuristic: make inferences based on your experience – assume someone must be a librarian b/c they’re quiet

      • Availability heuristic: relying on availability to judge the frequency of something – overestimating death due to plane crashes due to recent events.

    • Functional Fixedness: keep using one strategy – cannot think outside of the box

    • Belief bias: tendency of one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning by making invalid conclusions

    • Belief perseverance: tendency to cling to our beliefs in the face on contrary evidence

    • Confirmation bias: look for evidence to support what we already believe

    • Inductive reasoning: data-driven decisions, specific to general

    • Deductive reasoning: driven by logic, general to specific

    • Divergent thinking: ability to think about many different things at once (Creative)

    • Convergent thinking: limits creativity – one answer

Individual Theories About Intelligence

  • Individual Theories About Intelligence

    • Galton: 1st to suggest intelligence was inherited. Intelligence based on muscle strength, size of head, reaction time, etc.

    • Cattell: 2 clusters of mental abilities

      • Crystalized Intelligence: reasoning and verbal skills - what you learn in school – the cold hard (like crystals!) facts, increase w/ time

      • Fluid intelligence: spatial abilities, rote memory, things that come natural to you – can’t learn in school. decrease over time

    • Spearman’s G Factor: said a general intelligence (g) underlies all mental abilities

    • Gardner: multiple intelligences (8): linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal (self), interpersonal (social), naturalist

    • Sternberg: Triarchic Theory

      • Analytical: mental components to solve problems, what IQ tests assess

      • Practical: ability to size up new situations and adapt to real-life demands

      • Creative: intellectual and motivational processes that lead to novel solutions, idea, products

    • Binet: developed 1st intelligence test, combined w/ Terman – developed the Stanford-Binet IQ test

      • Chronological age = actual age

      • Mental age = tested age compared to other of that age

      • 100 is average

    • Wechsler: developed the WAIS and WISC – most commonly used today

    • Flynn effect: IQ has steadily risen over the past 80 years

    • Extremes of Intelligence: high IQ = above 135; intellectually disadvantage = below 70

    • Causes of mild intellectual disadvantage:

      • PKU – liver fails to produce an enzyme needed to breakdown chemicals – leads to brain damage

      • Down syndrome – extra copy of 21st chromosome

      • Fragile X – higher chance in boys due to ONE X chromosome

    • Influence on IQ:

      • Genetics: MZ twins have similar IQ, adopted kids more similar to biological parents

      • Environment: early neglect leads to lower IQ, good schooling to higher IQ

Psychological Testing

  • Psychological Testing:

    • Types of Tests:

      • Aptitude: predicts your abilities to learn a new skill

      • Achievement: tests what you know

    • Test Creation:

      • Standardization: administer a test to a representative sample of future test takers to establish a basis for meaningful comparison

        • Should be reliable: same results over time

          • Split-half reliability: compare two halves of the test

          • Test-retest reliability: use the same test on 2 different occasions

        • Should be valid: test is accurate – measures what it is intended to

          • Content validity: test measures what you want it to

          • Predictive validity: test is able to accurately predict a trait

  • Standardized tests establish a normal distribution

  • Standard deviations are used to compare scores. Standard deviation measures how much the scores vary from the mean. The percentages stay the same in every curve

Prenatal Development

  • Prenatal Development:

    • Zygote: 0 – 14 days, cells are dividing

    • Embryo: until about 9 weeks, vital organs are being formed

    • Fetus: 9 wks to birth, overall development

    • Teratogens: external agents that can cause abnormal prenatal development (alcohol, drugs, etc)

      • Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS): large amount of alcohol leads to FAS, causes deformities, mental disability, death

  • Physical Development:

    • Maturation: natural course of development, occurs no matter what

    • Reflexes: innate responses we’re born with:

      • Rooting, sucking, swallowing, grasping, stepping, babinski

    • Eyes have the most limited development, takes till 1 year

      • Visual cliff: babies have to learn depth perception, so they will cross a “cliff”

    • Other senses are fairly developed

    • Brain development continues for a few years

Theories of Cognitive Development

  • Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Dev.

    • Schemas – concepts or frameworks that organize info

    • Assimilation: incorporate new info into existing schema

    • Accommodation: adjust existing schemas to incorporate new information

    • Sensorimotor Stage: Birth to 2 years: focused on exploring the world around them

      • Lack Object Permanence: Objects when removed from the field of view are thought to disappear

      • Dev. sense of self: by 2 yrs can recognize themselves in the mirror

    • Pre-operational Stage: 2 – 7 years: use pretend play, developing language, using intuitive reasoning

      • Lack Conservation: recognize that substances remain the same despite changes in shape, length, or position

      • Lack Reversibility: cannot do reverse operations

      • Are egocentric: inability to distinguish one’s own perspective from another’s – think everyone sees what they see

    • Concrete Operational Stage: 7-11 yrs: use operational thinking, classification, and can think logical in concrete context

    • Formal Operational Stage: 11-15 yrs: use abstract and idealist thoughts, hypothetical-deductive reasoning

    • Problems with Piaget’s theory: stages to discrete, dev. differs b/w kids

    • Vygotsky’s Theory: cognitive development is a social process too, need to interact w/ others

      • Zone of Proximal Development: gap b/w what a child can do on their own and w/ support. Need scaffolding (teachers)

Socioemotional Development

  • Socioemotional Development

    • Temperament: patterns of emotional reactions and babies (precursor to personality)

    • Imprinting: baby geese believe the first thing they see after hatching is their mom – happens during a critical period (from Lorenz)

    • Harry Harlow: discovered that contact comfort is more important than feeding (monkeys fed on wire or cloth mothers). Monkeys raised in isolation couldn’t socialize

    • Baumrind: parenting styles

      • Authoritarian: rules & obedience, “my way or the highway” – kids lack initiative in college

      • Permissive: kids do whatever – no rules – kids lack initiative in college

      • Authoritative: give and take w/ kids – kids become socially competent and reliable

    • Mary Ainsworth: developed the strange situation paradigm.

      • Secure attachment (60% of infants): upset when mom leaves, easily calmed on return. Tend to be more stable adults

      • Avoidant attachment (20% infants): actively avoids mom, doesn’t care when she leaves

      • Ambivalent attachment(10% infants): actively avoids mom, freaks out when she leaves

      • Disorganized attachment (5%): confused, fearful, dazed – result of abuse

  • Kohlberg’s Moral Dev

    • Preconventional morality: Children: they follow rules to avoid punishment

    • Conventional morality: adolescents: follow rules b/c rules exist to keep order

    • Postconventional morality: adults: they do what they believe is right (even if it goes against society)

  • Carol Gilligan: said moral reasoning and moral behaviors are two different things (what you say isn’t always what you do)

  • Erikson’s Socioemotional Dev.: 8 stages, each stage represents a crisis that must be resolved.

    • Trust vs Mistrust (birth – 18 months): if needs are dependably met infants dev basic trust

    • Autonomy vs shame & doubt (1 -3 yrs): toddlers learn to exercise their will and think for themselves

    • Initiative vs guilt (3-6 yrs): learn to initiate tasks and carry out plans

    • Industry vs inferiority (6 yrs to puberty): learn the pleasure of applying themselves to tasks

    • Identity vs role confusion: (adolescence thru 20s): refine a sense of self by testing roles and forming an identity

    • Intimacy vs isolation: (20s—40s): form close relationships and gain capacity for love

    • Generativity vs stagnation: (40s-60s): discover sense of contributing to the world, thru family & work

    • Integrity vs despair: (60s and up): reflect on your life, feel satisfaction or failure

  • Puberty! (rapid skeletal and sexual maturation)

    • Primary sex characteristics: necessary structures for reproduction (ovaries, testicles, vagina, penis)

    • Secondary sex characteristics: nonreproductive characteristics that dev during puberty (breasts, hips, deepening of voice, body hair)

    • Frontal lobe continuous dev (not fully developed till 25)

  • Gender Development: sex = chromosomes, gender = what you identify yourself as

    • Gender roles: expected behaviors (norms) for men/women

    • Social learning theory: we learn gender roles and identity from those around us

  • Aging:

    • Cellular clock theory: cells have a maximum # of divisions before they can’t divide anymore

    • Free-radical theory: unstable oxygen molecules w/in cells damage DNA

    • Over time skills decrease (reaction time, memory)

  • Cross-sectional Study: studies ppl of different ages at the same point in time

    • Adv: inexpensive & quick
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