Psyc 190 Final Exam Review Notes

Final Exam Review: Psyc 190 Spring 2025

Exam Breakdown

• Content Weighting:

  • ⅔ of the material will come from weeks 9 & 10, including guest lectures.

  • ⅓ of the material will come from midterms 1 & 2, excluding guest lectures.

Parent-Offspring IQ Correlations

• Figure 6:

  • Illustrates correlations between parents' IQ and children's IQ in both adoptive and control (biologically related) families.

  • Data points are provided for ages 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 12, and 16 years (from Plomin et al., 1997).

  • Shows the change in correlation over the lifespan for adoptive vs. biological families.

Heritability of IQ Over Lifespan

• Figure 10:

  • Shows Changes in the heritability of IQ over the lifespan.

  • Includes heritability, shared environment, and un-shared environment.

Genotype vs. Phenotype

• Illustrates how genotypes (genetic makeup) from parents (Mom and Dad) contribute to the phenotype (observable traits) of offspring.

• Punnett Square Example:

  • If 'H' represents a dominant allele and 't' represents a recessive allele, the possible combinations and their probabilities are:

    • ¼ of chicks: HH

    • ¼ of chicks: Ht

    • ¼ of chicks: Ht

    • ¼ of chicks: tt

Twin Studies: Genetic Influence

• Shows the math representation to derive at the effect of genes in twins.

• Where MZ = Monozygotic twins and DZ = Dizygotic Twins

• G1 and G2 represent the genetic variance in two traits, and MZ1, DZ1, MZ2, and DZ2 are the observed variances in monozygotic and dizygotic twins for those traits.

Concordance of Cognitive Traits

• Figure 9:

  • Illustrates the concordance of cognitive traits (Verbal Ability, Spatial Ability, Memory) between identical (monozygotic) and non-identical (dizygotic) twins.

Concordance of Diagnoses

• Figure 8:

  • Illustrates the concordance of diagnoses (Schizophrenia, Criminal Conviction, Panic Disorder, Bulimia, ADHD, Tourette, Autism) between identical (monozygotic) and non-identical (dizygotic) twins.

Material from Midterm 2 (Weeks 5 - 8)

Morality - Week 5

• Freud’s theory of morality:

  • Id, superego, ego.

  • Freud believed children are born selfish and must be taught morality.

  • We are born with the ID in charge.

• Babies' Sensitivity:

  • Even babies are sensitive to fairness and morality.

  • CNN article on The Baby Lab at Yale.

• Moral Struggles:

  • Why do babies sometimes struggle to act “moral”?

    • The development of the prefrontal cortex helps us to manage our emotions and act on moral standards.

• Theory of Mind:

  • Ability to understand other people have different thoughts and perspectives from our own.

  • Typically begins to develop around 3 years old.

Self Control, Family Structure - Week 6

• Self Control and Adult Outcomes:

  • Journal Article: Does the development of self-control affect our behaviors as adults?

  • Childhood self-control significantly predicts adulthood wealth, health, and criminal actions.

• Marshmallow Task:

  • Associated with executive function and inhibition.

  • Predicts adult academic success and well-being.

• Spanking Press Article:

  • Children who are spanked showed increased aggression, behavioral and mental health problems, and reduced cognitive ability and self-esteem.

Autism and Vaccination - Week 7

• DSM-5 Criteria:

  • Includes deficits in social communication and social interaction, as well as repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities.

  • Changes in diagnostic criteria linked to a large uptick in the number of cases.

• Heritability:

  • Autism is highly heritable.

• Neural Signatures:

  • Emerge early in life (6 months) prior to when most vaccinations are given.

• 1998 Wakefield Study:

  • Claimed to show evidence for a connection between the combined measles, mumps, rubella vaccine, or MMR, and autism.

• Wakefield's Flaws:

  • Wakefield used a very small sample size.

  • His paper lacked actual evidence for his claim.

  • His funding was compromised (he did not disclose his competing vaccine patent and payments).

• Table 1: lists studies that fail to support an association between measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and autism.

Sleep, Diet, and Breastfeeding - Week 8

• Ferberizing:

  • Graduated extinction, letting a baby cry for progressively longer intervals before offering comfort, teaching them to self-soothe and fall asleep independently.

• Benefits of Breastfeeding:

  • Higher IQs.

  • Longer education.

  • Increased income in adulthood.

  • But! Breastfeeding is more prevalent among higher socioeconomic groups, who also tend to have better educational and income outcomes. Interpret with caution.

New Material (Weeks 9 - 10)

Achievement Gap & Learning Styles - Week 9

• Methods for Studying U.S. Student Achievement:

  1. TIMSS:

     • U.S. 4th and 8th graders rank in the top 10 in math and science.

  2. PISA:

     • U.S. around 35th in math, below average in science and reading.

  3. NAEP (national report card):

     • Shows gradual improvements in math and reading since the 1970s.

• PISA and TIMSS Differences:

  • One reason could be that TIMSS focuses on formal math (e.g., algebra, geometry) while the PISA emphasizes applied problem-solving (real-world math).

  • 2005 study found that TIMSS and PISA studies include different countries. PISA tends to have more wealthy high performing countries, while the TIMSS do not. When you remove these countries from the PISA, U.S. performance is the same in TIMSS and PISAs.

  • Compared to other countries, U.S. teachers tend to have less specialized mathematical training, and math curriculums do not focus enough on geometry and measurement.

• Inequality in Academic Performance:

  • Across socioeconomic and racial groups.

  • Parental wealth and education are associated with children’s academic achievement.

  • Educational environment impacts academic achievement.

  • Adoption studies highlight the major role that school environment, wealth, affluence, and nutrition have on academic achievement.

• Learning Styles:

  • Visual, Auditory, Reading & Writing, Kinesthetic.

  • While we might have a learning style preference, there is not yet enough evidence that matching a preferred learning style truly improves comprehension.

• Effective Study Methods:

  • Recognition ≠ recall!

  • Important to practice recall; recalling information makes them stronger.

  • Chunking, or spaced repetition, improves memory recall.

Acceleration & Homeschooling - Week 10

• Academic Effects of Acceleration:

  • Accelerated students perform better on math and reading tests on short-term and long-term tests.

  • Note: group is self-selecting; perhaps the confidence and desire to accelerate explains these differences.

• Social Effects of Acceleration:

  • Despite some initial adjustment anxiety and fear, studies generally find similar social and emotional outcomes.

• Homeschooling:

  • Becoming increasingly popular.

• Reasons to Homeschool:

  • Popular among conservative Christian households, allowing for religion in lessons.

  • The primary motivator for homeschooling families is dissatisfaction with public schools and/or a desire to match specific needs of a child.

• Difficulties in Studying Academic Effects:

  • Self-selecting groups: Families who choose to homeschool may differ in many ways from those who do not.

  • SAT and Standardized Test Scores: Homeschooled students tend to outperform their peers, but these results are likely skewed by self-selection.

• Social Effects of Homeschooling:

  • Smaller social networks, but quality of networks strong.

  • Report higher self-esteem.

• Overall Experience of Homeschool Children:

  • Positive social effects and positive academic effects.

Commonly Missed Questions

• Allergens and Infants:

  • Some foods, like peanuts and eggs, are common potential allergens.

  • The National Institutes of Health currently recommends that parents of infants should gradually introduce potential allergens early.

  • Week 8 Journal article: Du Toit et al. (2015).

• Limitations of the DSM-5:

  • One major limitation of the DSM-5 is that it categorizes patients without fully understanding underlying causes.