AP psych study guide

History and Approaches (2-4%)

Psychology is derived from physiology (biology) and philosophy

EARLY APPROACHES

Structuralism – used INTROSPECTION (act of looking inward to examine mental experience) to determine the underlying STRUCTURES of the mind

Functionalism – need to analyze the PURPOSE of behavior

APPROACHES KEY WORDS

Psychoanalytic/dynamic – unconscious, childhood

Behavioral – learned, reinforced

Humanistic – free will, choice, ideal, actualization

Cognitive – Perceptions, thoughts

Evolutionary – Genes

Biological – Brain, 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 APA1st journal

William James: Father of American Psychology – functionalist

Wilhem Wundt: Father of Modern Psychology – structuralist

Margaret Floy Washburn–1st fem. PhD

Christine Ladd Franklin – 1st fem.

RANDOM TERMS

Basic research – purpose is to increase knowledge (rats)

Applied research – purpose is to help people

Psychologist – research or counseling – MS or PhD

Psychiatrist – prescribe medications and diagnose – M.D.

Research Methods

(8-10%)

EXPERIMENT : Adv: researcher controls variables to establish cause and effect Disadv: difficult to generalize

Independent Variable: manipulated by the researcher

Experimental Group: received the treatment (part of the IV)

Control Group: placebo, baseline (part of the IV)

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

Double-Blind: Exp. where neither the participant or the experimenter are aware of which condition people are assigned to (drug studies)

Single-Blind: only participant blind – used if experimenter can’t be blind (gender, age, etc)

Dependent Variable: measured variable (is DEPENDENT on the independent variable)

Operational Definition: clear, precise, typically quantifiable definition of your variables – allows replication

Confound: error/ flaw in study

Random Assignment: assigns participants to either control or experimental group at random – minimizes bias, increase chance of equal representation

Random Sample: method for choosing participants – minimizes bias

Assignment and sampling can be done via names in a hat, computer generation

Validity: accurate results

Reliability: same results every time

NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION: Adv: real world validity (observe people in their own setting) Disadv: No cause and effect

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

3rd variable problem (lurking variable)– diff. variable is responsible for relationship (breast implants & suicide)

Illusory correlation – belief of correlation that doesn’t exist (old man predicts rain from arthritis)

CASE STUDY: Adv. Studies ONE person (usually) in great detail – lots of info Disadv: No cause and effect

DESCRIPTIVE STATS:shape of the data

Measures of Central Tendency:

Mean: Average (use in normal distribution)

Median: Middle # (use in skewed distribution)

Mode: occurs most often

INFERENTIAL STATISTICS: establishes significance (meaningfulness)

STATISTICAL SIGNIFANCE = 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 (done after for deception)

Deception must be warranted

No harm– mental/physical

Biological Basis

(8-10%)

NEURON: Basic cell of the NS

Dendrites: Receive incoming signal

Soma: Cell body (includes nucleus)

Axon: AP travels down this

Myelin Sheath: speeds up signal down axon, protects axon

Terminals: release NTs – send signal onto next neuron

Vesicles: sacs inside terminal contain NTs

Synapse: gap b/w neurons

Action Potential: movement of sodium and potassium ions across a membrane sends an electrical charge down the axon

All or none law: stimulus must trigger the AP past its threshold, but does not increase the intensity of the response (flush the toilet)

Refractory period: neuron must rest and reset before it can send another AP (toilet resets)

Sensory neurons – receive signals

Afferent neurons – Accept signals

Motor neurons – send signals

Efferent neurons – signal Exits

Interneurons – cells in spinal cord responsible for 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 (generally activates – sympathetic to you getting eaten by a tiger helps you run away)

Parasympathetic NS: established homeostasis after a sympathetic response (generally inhibits)

NEUROTRANSMITTERS (NT): Chemicals released in synaptic gap, received by neurons

GABA: Major inhibitory NT

GlutamatE: Major Excitatory NT (get excited when seeing your mates!

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. SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) block reuptake – treatment for depression

AREAS OF THE BRAIN:

Hindbrain: oldest part of the brain

Cerebellum – movement/balance (picture walking a tightrope balance a bell)

Medulla – vital organs (HR, BP)

Pons – sleep/arousal (Ponzzzzzz)

Midbrain

Reticular formation: alertness

Forebrain: higher thought processes

Limbic System

Amygdala: emotions, fear (Amy, da! You’re so emotional!)

Hippocampus: memory (if you saw a hippo on campus you’d remember it!)

Hypothalamus: Reward/pleasure center, eating behaviors – link to endocrine system

Thalamus: relay center for all but smell (you MUST (thalaMUST) use your thalamus, unless its MUSTY – smell)

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

Occipital Lobe: located in the back of the head – vision – mom’s eyes!

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

Parietal Lobe: located on the top of the head - sensations

Temporal Lobe: located on the sides of the head (temples) – hearing and face recognition

Somatosensory Cortex: map of our sensory receptors –in parietal lobe

Motor Cortex: map of our motor receptors – located in frontal lobe

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

Broca’s Area: Inability to produce speech (Broca – Broken speech)

Wernicke’s Area: Inability to comprehend speech (Wernicke’s what?)

Corpus Callosum: bundle of nerves that connects the 2 hemispheres – sometimes severed in patients with severe seizures – leads to “split-brain patients”

Lateralization: the brain has some specialized features – language is processed in the L Hemisphere

Split-brain experiments: done by Sperry & Gazzanaga.

Images shown to the right hemisphere will be processed in the left (& vice versa), patient can verbally identify what they saw

BRAIN

PLASTICITY: Brain can “heal” itself

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. release growth hormones

Adrenal Glands: related to sympathetic NS: releases adrenaline

BRAIN IMAGING:

EEG: brain activity – not specific

XRAY: not useful, doesn’t show tissues

CT / MRI: shows structures

PET: glucose shows brain activity (when in doubt pick this one)

fMRI: glucose shows activity: real time

lesion – brain damage

Sensation & Perception

(6 – 8%)

ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD: detection of signal 50% of time (is it there)

DIFFERENCE THRESHOLD (also called a just noticeable difference (JND) and follows WEBER’S LAW: two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum proportion. (Can you tell a change?)

SIGNAL DETECTION THEORY

Sensory Adaptation: diminished sensitivity as a result of constant stimulation (can you feel your underwear?)

Perceptual Set: tendency to see something as part of a group – speeds up signal processing

Inattentional Blindness: failure to notice something added b/c you’re so focused on another task (gorilla video)

Change Blindness: failure to notice a change in the scene (door study)

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

VISUAL SYSTEM:

Pathway of vision: light → cornea →pupil/iris → lens → retina → rods/cones → bipolar cells → ganglion cells → optic nerve → optic chiasm → occipital lobe

Cornea – protects the eye

Pupil/iris – controls amount of light entering eye

Lens – focuses light on retina

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 (experiments by Hubel & Weisel)

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 (nauseous in an IMAX theater – vision trumps vestibular)

Constancies: recognize that objects do not physically change despite changes in sensory input (size, shape, brightness)

Phi Phenomenon: adjacent lights blink on/off in succession – looks like movement (traffic signs with arrows)

Stroboscopic movement: motion produced by a rapid succession of slightly varying images (animations)

MONOCULAR CUES (how we form a 3D image from a 2D image)

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 (think railroad tracks)

BINOCULAR CUES: (how both eyes make up a 3D image)

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:

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 – like COCHELLA (sounds 1st processed here)

THEORIES OF HEARING: both occur in the cochlea

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

Kinesthetic: Sense of body position

Vestibular: Sense of balance (semicircular canals in the inner ear effect this)

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

Smell (olfaction): Only sense that does NOT route through the thalamus 1st. Goes through temporal lobe and amygdala

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

States of Consciousness (2 – 4%)

STATES of CONSCIOUSNESS:

Conscious: controlled processes – totally aware

Preconscious: Outside awareness, but can be brought into consciousness (remembering)

Nonconscious: automatic processing (controlling respirations)

Unconscious: Lack of awareness; knocked out

Altered States: produced through drugs, fatigue, hypnosis

Sleep

METACOGNITION: Thinking about thinking

SLEEP:

Beta Waves: awake (you betta be awake for the exam)

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 inb/w each cycle. REM lasts longer throughout the night

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 (due to stress/anxiety)

Sleep walking/talking: (due to fatigue, drugs, alcohol) – NOT during REM

Night terrors: extreme nightmares – NOT in REM sleep – typical in children

Narcolepsy: fall asleep out of nowhere (due to deficiency in orexin)

Sleep Apnea: stop breathing suddenly while asleep (due to obesity usually)

DREAM THEORIES:

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

Latent Content: hidden meaning of dreams

Manifest Content: obvious storyline of dream

Activation Synthesis: Brain produces random bursts of energy – stimulating lodged memories. Dreams start random then develop meaning

HYPNOSIS

It Can: Reduce pain, help you relax

It CANNOT: give you superhuman strength, make you regress, make you do things against your will

PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS:

Triggers dopamine release in the brain

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

Decrease sympathetic NS activation, highly addictive

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

Increase sympathetic NS activation, highly addictive

Hallucinogens: LSD, Marijuana

Causes hallucinations, not very addictive

Tolerance: Needing more of a drug to achieve the same effects

Dependence: Become addicted to the drug – must have it to avoid withdrawal symptoms

Withdrawal: Psychological and physiological symptoms associated with sudden stoppage. Unpleasant – can kill you.

Learning

(7-9 %)

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING: PAVLOV!

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): brings about 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 neutral stimulus that now brings about a response (bell)

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

Contiguity: Timing of the pairing, NS/CS must be presented immediately 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 (food poisoning)

COUNTERCONDITIONING: Little Albert and John Watson (father of behaviorism) – conditioned a fear in a baby (only to countercondition – remove it- later on)

OPERANT CONDITIONING: SKINNER!

LAW OF EFFECT (Thorndike): Behaviors followed by pos. outcomes are strengthened, neg. outcomes weaken a behavior (cat in the puzzle box)

PRINCIPLES OF OPERANT COND:

Pos. Reinforcement: Add something nice to increase a behavior (gold star for turning in HW)

Neg. Reinforcement: Take away something bad/annoying to increase a behavior (put on seatbelt to take away annoying car signal)

Pos. Punishment: Add something bad to decrease a behavior (spanking)

Neg. Punishment: Take away something good to decrease a behavior (take away car keys)

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 (light on means response are accepted)

Extinction / Spontaneous Recovery: same as classical conditioning

Overjustification Effect: reinforcing behaviors that are intrinsically motivating causes you to stop doing them (give a child 5$ for reading when they already like to read – they stop reading)

Shaping: use successive approximations to train behavior (reward desired behaviors to teach a response – rat basketball)

Continuous Reinforcement schedule: Receive reward for every response

Fixed Ratio schedule: Reward every X number of response (every 10 envelopes stuffed get )

Fixed Interval schedule: Reward every X amount of time passed (every 2 weeks get a paycheck)

Variable Ratio schedule: Rewarded after a random number of responses (slot machine

Variable Interval schedule: Rewarded after a random amount of time has passed (fishing)

Variable schedules are most resistant to extinction (how long will keep playing a slot machine before you think its broken?)

SOCIAL (OBSERVATIONAL) LEARNING: BANDURA!

Modeling Behaviors: Children model (imitate) behaviors. Study used BoBo dolls to demonstrate the following

Prosocial – helping behaviors

Antisocial – mean behaviors

MISC LEARNING TYPES

Latent learning (Tolman!) – learning is hidden until useful (rats in maze get reinforced half way through, performance improved

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

Insight learning (Kohler!) – some learning is through simple intuition (chimps with crates to get bananas)

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

Cognition

(8 – 10%)

ENCODING: Getting info into memory

Automatic encoding – requires no effort (what did you have for breakfast?)

Effortful encoding – requires attention (school work)

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 (shoe w/ spaghetti laces)

Self-referent encoding – we better remember what we’re interested in (you’d remember someone’s phone number who you found extremely attractive)

Dual encoding – combining different types of encoding aids in memory

Chunking – break info into smaller units to aid in memory (like a phone #)

Mnemonics – shortcuts to help us remember info easier

Acronyms – using letter to remember something (PEMDAS)

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

Context dependent memory – where you learn the info you best remember the info (scuba divers testing)

State dependent memory – the physical state you were in when learning is the way you should be when testing (study high, test high)

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 life time

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 (octopus, assassin, climate, bogeyman)

Procedural: skills

Memory organization

Hierarchies: memory is stored according to a hierarchy

Semantic networks: linked memories are stored together

Schemas: preexisting 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 (more firing of neurons)

RETRIEVAL: Taking info out of storage

Serial Position Effect: tendency to remember the beginning and the end 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 (9/11 attacks)

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 (which is the real penny)

Encoding specificity principle: the more closely retrieval cues match the way we learned the info, the better we remember the info (like state dependent memory)

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

Proactive interference

OLD blocks new

Retroactive interference

NEW blocks old

Misinformation effect: distortion of memory by suggestion or misinformation (Loftus – lost in the mall, Disney land)

Anterograde amnesia: amnesia moves forward (forget new info – 50 first dates)

Retrograde amnesia: amnesia moves backwards (forget old info)

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: caused by destruction of acetylcholine in hippocampus

LANGUAGE

Phonemes: smallest unit of sound (ch sound in chat)

Morpheme: smallest unit that caries meaning (-ed means past tense)

Grammar: rules in a language that enable us to communicate

Semantics: set of rules by which we derive meaning (adding –ed makes something past tense)

Syntax: rules for combining words into sentences (white house vs casa blanca)

Babbling stage: infants babble 1st stage of speech

One-word stage: duh

Two-word stage: duh duh

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 (I go-ed to the park)

Operant conditioning: reinforced for language use

Inborn universal grammar: theory comes from NOAM CHOMSKY – says that language is innate and we are predisposed to learn it

Critical period: period of time where something must be learned or else it cannot ever happen (language must be learned young – Genie the Wild Child)

Linguistic determinism: language influences the way we think (Hopi people do not have words for the past, thus cannot easily think about the past) developed by WHORF

THINKING

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

Prototypes: all instances of a concept are compared to an ideal example (what you first think of)

Algorithms: step by step strategies that guarantee a solution (formula)

Heuristics: short cut strategy (rule of thumb)

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

Availability heuristic: relying on availability to judge the frequency of something (over estimating 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 → general

Deductive reasoning: driven by logic, general → specific

Divergent thinking: ability to think about many different things at once

Motivation & Emotion

(6-8%)

THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

INSTINCT: complex behaviors have fixed patterns and are not learned (explains animal motivation)

DRIVE REDUCTION: physiological need creates aroused tension (drive) that motivates you to satisfy the need (driven by homeostasis: equilibrium)

Primary drive: unlearned drive based on survival (hunger, thirst)

Secondary drive: learned drive (wealth or success)

OPTIMUM AROUSAL: humans aim to seek optimum levels of arousal –easier tasks requires more arousal, harder tasks need less

HIERARCHY OF NEEDS: theory derived by MASLOW – needs lower in the pyramid have priority over needs higher in the pyramid

Intrinsic motivation: inner motivation – you do it b/c you like it

Extrinsic motivation: motivation to obtain a reward (trophy)

HUNGER

Signals of hunger:

Stomach contractions tell us we’re hungry

Glucose (sugar) level is maintained by the pancreas (endocrine system).

Insulin decreases glucose. Too little glucose makes us hungry.

Orexin is released by the hypothalamus – telling us to eat.

Other chemicals include ghrelin, obestatin, and PPY

Lateral hypothalamus: when stimulated makes you hungry, when lesioned you will never eat again. (I’m LATE for lunch. I’m hungry. The LATEral hypothalamus makes you hungry.)

Ventromedial hypothalamus: when stimulated you feel full, when destroyed you eat eat eat eat (fat woman and cake)

Leptin: leptin signals the brain to reduce appetite

Obesity:

Increased risk of heart attack, hypertension, atherosclerosis, diabetes

Can be genetic – adopted children resemble their biological parents

Set point: there is a control system that dictates how much fat you should carry – every person is different

Eating Disorders:

Anorexia: weight loss of at least 15% ideal weight, distorted body image

Causes: overly critical parents, perfectionist tendencies, societal ideals

Bulimia: usually normal body weight, go through a binge-purge eating pattern (eat massive amounts, then throw up)

Causes: same as anorexia

SEXUALITY

Biology of sex:

Hypothalamus: stimulation increases sexual behavior, destruction leads to sexual inhibition

Pituitary gland: monitors, initiates, and restricts hormones

Males – testosterone

Females - estrogen

Sexual Response Pattern: Excitement phase, plateau, orgasm, refractory period (resolution phase) (cannot “fire” again until you reset, guys only)

Alfred Kinsey: 1st researcher to conduct studies in sex, suggested that people were very promiscuous. Studies lacked a representative sample, created scale of homosexuality

Homosexuality: biological roots: differences in the brain, identical twins more likely to both be gay, later sons more likely to be (hormones from mom)

THORIES OF EMOTIONS

JAMES-LANGE: stimulus →physiological arousal → emotion

CANNON-BARD: stimulus → physiological arousal & emotion simultaneously

SCHACTER TWO FACTOR: adds in cognitive labeling (bridge experiment) stimulus → arousal →interpret external cues → label emotion

Some stimuli are routed directly to the amygdala bypassing the frontal cortex (gut reaction to a cockroach)

Behavioral factors: there are SIX universal emotions (happiness, anger, sadness, surprise, disgust, feat) seen across ALL cultures

Non-verbal cues: gestures, duchenne smile (you can tell a real smile from a fake one)

Facial feedback hypothesis: being forced to smile will make you happier (facial expressions influence emotion)

STRESS AND HEALTH

GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME (GAS): three phases of a stress response (SELYE came up w/ this)

Alarm: body/you freak out in response to stress

Resistance: body/you are dealing with stress

Exhaustion: body/you cannot take any more, give up

Type A Personality: rigid, stressful person, perfectionist. At risk for heart disease

Type B Personality: laid back, nonstressed.

INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCH

Industrial / Organizational Psych: psychological of the workplace – focuses on employee recruitment, placement, training, satisfaction, productivity

Ergonomics / Human Factors: intersection of engineering and psych – focuses on safety and efficiency of human-machine interactions

Hawthorne effect: productivity increases when workers are made to feel important (teacher teaches when principal comes in)

Theory X management: manager controls employees, enforces rules. Good for lower level jobs

Theory Y management: manger gives employees responsibility, looks for input. Good for high level jobs

Employee Commitment:

Affective: emotional attachment (best type)

Continuance: stay due to costs of leaving

Normative: stay due to obligation (they paid for your school)

Meaning of Work:

Job – no training, just do it for . No happiness

Career – work for advancement. Some happiness

Calling – work because you love it. Lotsa happiness

Development

(7-9%)

Prenatal Development:

Zygote: 0 – 14 days, cells are dividing

Embryo: until about 9 weeks, vital organs 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, intellectual disability, death

Physical Development:

Maturation: natural course of development, occurs no matter what (walking)

Reflexes: innate responses we’re born with

Rooting, sucking, swallowing, grasping, stepping

Habituation: after continual exposure you pay less attention – used to test babies

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

JEAN PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEV.

Schemas – concepts or frameworks that organize info

Assimilation: incorporate new info into existing schema (aSSimlation – same stuff)

Accommodation: adjust existing schemas to incorporate new information (ACcommodation - All Change)

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

Lack Object Permanence: Objects when removed from field of view are thought to disappear (peek-a-boo)

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 (girls with juice in glasses)

Lack Reversibility: cannot do reverse operations (count out both 4+2 and 2+4)

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

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

MARY AINSWORTH: developed the strange situation paradigm (children left alone in a room w/ a stranger, then reunited w/ mom – determines your attachment style

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

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

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 SOCIOEMOTINAL DEV. : 8 stages, each stage represents a crisis that must be resolved, results in competence or weakness

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

Disadv: can be differences due to generational gap

LONGITUDINAL STUDY: studies same ppl over time

Adv: eliminates groups differences, lots of detail

Disadv: expensive, time consuming, high drop out rates

Problem-focused coping: solving or doing something to alter the course of stress (planning, acceptance)

Emotion-focused coping: reducing the emotional distress (denial, disengagement)

Personality

(5-7%)

PSYCHODYNAMIC EXPLANATION

SIGMUND FREUD said personality was largely unconscious.

Conscious: immediate awareness of current environment

Preconscious: available to awareness (phone #s)

Unconscious: unavailable to awareness

id: our hidden true animalistic wants and desires – operates on the pleasure principle, all about rewards and avoiding pain (devil on your shoulder – entirely unconscious)

superego: our moral conscious (angel on your shoulder, all 3 consciousness)

ego: reality principle, has to deal w/ society, stuck mediating b/w the id and superego (its you! – conscious and preconscious)

When ego cannot mediate b/w the id and superego, we use defense mechanisms

Repression: push memories back into the unconscious mind (sexual abuse is too traumatic to deal w/ so you repress it)

Projection: attribute personal shortcomings & faults on to others (man who wants to have an affair accuses his wife of having one)

Denial: refuse to acknowledge reality (refuse to believe you have cancer)

Displacement; shift feelings from an unacceptable object to a more acceptable one (can’t tell at teacher, go home and yell at the dog)

Reaction formation: transform unacceptable motive into his opposite (woman who fears sexual urges becomes a religious zealot)

Regression: transform into an earlier development period in the face of stress (during exam week you start to suck your thumb)

Rationalization: replace a less acceptable reasoning with a more acceptable one (don’t get into your college – justify it was a sucky college anyway)

Sublimation: replace unacceptable impulse w/ a socially acceptable one (man w/ strong sexual urges paints nudes. Dexter)

FREUD’S PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES

Oral stage (0-18 months): pleasure focuses on the mouth (id)

Anal stage (18 – 36 months): pleasure involves eliminative functions (ego forms)

Phallic stage (3 – 6 yrs): pleasure focuses on genitals (superego forms)

Oedipal complex: young boys learn to identify w/ their father out of fear of retribution (castration anxiety)

Electra complex: young girls learn to identify w/ their mother b/c they cannot with their father (penis envy)

Latency stage (6 yrs to puberty): psychic time out – personality is set

Genital State (adulthood): sexual reawakening – oedipal and electra “feelings” are repressed, turn sexual wants onto an appropriate person

FIXATION: can become “stuck” in an earlier stage – influences personality (oral stage smokes/drinks, anal is “anal retentive”, phallic is promiscuous)

What’s wrong w/ Freud theory? – unverifiable, descriptive not predictive

What’s good about it? – 1st theory about personality, sparked psychoanalysis

How do we test this approach?

Psychoanalysis: analyze a person’s unconscious motives thru the use of:

Free Association: say aloud everything that comes to mind w/o hesitation

Transference: looks for feelings to transferred to psychoanalyst

Dream interpretation: analyze the manifest (seen message) and latent (hidden messages) content

Projective Tests: ambiguous stimuli shown to look at your unconscious motives (THESE SUCK B/C THEY ARE VERY SUBJECTIVE)

Thematic apperception test (TAT) : tell a story about a picture (when someone has a tattoo (tatt) you ask what it means

Rorschach inkblot: show an inkblot

NEO-FREUDIANS

CARL JUNG: believed in the collective unconsciouss (shared inherited reservoir of memory – explains common myths across civilizations & time)

KAREN HORNEY: said personality develops in context of social relationships, NOT sexual urges (security not sex is motivation, men get womb envy)

TRAIT PERSPECTIVE

Traits are enduring personality characteristics, people can be described by these – have strong or weak tendencies. They are stable, genetic, and predict other attributes.

Use factor analysis to find these: statistical procedure used to identify similar components

TRAIT THEORIES:

Big Five: (by Costa & McCrae) (acronym OCEAN) You vary on each of these

Openness : imaginative, independent, like variety

Conscientiousness: organized, careful, disciplined

Extraversion: sociable, fun-loving, affectionate (opoosite it introversion: shy, timid, reserved)

Agreeableness: soft hearted, trusting, helpful

Neuroticism (emotional stability): calm, secure

What’s wrong with trait theory? – ignores the role of the situation in behavior

What’s good about it? - identifying traits gives us perspectives about careers, relationships, health

How do we test this approach?

MMPI – helpful for mental health and job placement

Myer’s Briggs – gave you 4 letter combo

What’s wrong w/ these tests?

They’re long, social desirability can be an influence, and they’re too broad

HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Emphasized personal growth and free will. You don’t like yourself? So change!

CARL ROGERS: talked about our self-concept (idea of who we are). Your self-concept is the center of your personality

Actual (social) self: what others see

Ideal (true) self: who you WANT to be

A positive self-concept makes us perceive the world positively (optimist)

A negative self-concept makes us feel dissatisfied and unhappy

What wrong with humanistic theory? - too optimistic about human nature, abstract concepts are difficult to test

What’s good about it? – emphasizes conscious experiences and change

Individualistic Cultures: give priorities to own goals over group goals. Define your identify in terms of you (American society)

Collectivistic Cultures: give priority to the goals of the group, your identity is part of that group (China)

SOCIAL-COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

Behavior is a complex interaction of inner process and environmental influence – which influences personality

Emphasizes conscious awareness, beliefs, expectations, and goals

BANDURA! Talked about RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM: interaction of behavior, cognitions, and environment make up you.

{I’m outgoing (behavior), I choose to teach b/c it lets me be outgoing (environment), and I have thought this through which is why I teach despite making less money (cognitive)}

Self-efficacy: belief that one can succeed, so you ensure you do

Internal locus of control: you control your own fate

External locus of control: chance / outside forces control your fate

What’s wrong with social-cognitive? – Too specific, cannot generalize

What’s good about it? – Highlights situations, and cognitive explanations of personality

How do we test it? – Observations & interviews (time consuming)

Testing &

Individual Differences

(5-7%)

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

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

SPEARMAN’S G FACTOR: said a general intelligence (g) underlies all mental abilities (typical IQ of today)

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 (book smarts)

Practical: ability to size up new situations and adapt to real-life demands (street smarts)

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

BINET: developed 1st intelligence test, combined with 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 – probably due to education standards and better IQ tests

Extremes of Intelligence: high IQ = above 135; intellectual disability = below 70

Causes of intellectual disability:

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

Types of Tests:

Aptitude: predicts your abilities to learn a new skill (ASVAB)

Achievement: tests what you know(SAT)

TEST CREATION:

Standardization: administer a test to a representative sample of future test takers to establish a basis for meaningful comparison (test it out 1st)

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 (an IQ test actually measures IQ)

Predictive validity: test is able to accurately predict a trait (high math scores predicts good engineer)

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

Abnormal Behavior

(7 – 9%)

Defining abnormal behavior:

Requires “clinically significant” disturbance in cognition, emotional regulation or behavior AND

Significant distress or disability social situations, occupations or other important activities

Historical causes: biology, psychological issues, supernatural issues (demons)

Medical model: emphasizes treatment of disorders, as they have a biological origin. Came through the reformation of institutions in U.S. (DORTHEA DIX)

Biopsychosocial model: currently used model – stress biological, psychological, and social causes

Diagnosing abnormal behavior:

DSM: manual listing all currently accepted psychological disorders. Classifies them based on criteria – provides no explanation of causes or treatments

ANXIETY DISORDERS

Most common disorders in the U.S.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): person is generally anxious, all the time, for NO REASON

Panic Disorder: person is prone to frequent panic attacks (feeling like you’re having a heart attack). Can come w/ agoraphobia: anxiety about being in places you cannot escape (fear of public spaces / people)

Phobias: irrational fear that disrupts your life

CAUSES OF ANXIETY DISORDERS:

Psychodynamic: repressed thoughts & feelings manifest in anxiety and rituals

Behaviorist: fear conditioning leads to anxiety, which is then reinforced. Phobias might be learned through observational learning

Biological: natural selection favored those with certain phobias (heights). Twins often share disorders. Often see less GABA in the brain

Obsessive-compulsive Disorders (OCD): person sf overwhelmed with both:

Obsessions: persistent unwanted thoughts (did I leave the stove on?)

Compulsions: senseless rituals (hand washing)

Post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD): characterized by flashbacks, problems w/ concentration, and anxiety following a traumatic event (war, natural disasters)

SOMATOFORM DISORDERS

Psychological disorders w/ no apparent physical cause

Conversion disorder: loss of feeling or usage of a limb or body part (sight) – absolutely no physiological cause though

Illness Anxiety Disorder: person interprets normal symptoms as a major disease – must disrupt their life

DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS

Dissociative Identity Disorder: formerly multiple personalities – person fractures into several distinct personalities who normally have no awareness of each other. NOT SCHIZOPHRENIA!

Usually caused by traumatic childhood abuse

Legitimacy is doubted by some, more common in those w/ good health insurance

Treatment involves integration of the personalities

Dissociative Amnesia + Fugue: following a traumatic event a person leaves, taking on a whole new life & personality w/ no memory of the previous one

DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS

Major depressive disorder: extreme sadness and despair, apathy towards life, w/ no known cause

Disruptive mood regulation disorder: Frequent temper tantrums inconsistent with developmental level

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): form of depression that occurs typically winter – found mostly in Northern areas (Alaska, Ireland) UNIQUE TREATMENT = LIGHT THERAPY

BIPOLAR DISORDERS

Bipolar disorder: bouts of severe depression & manic episodes

Mania: heightened mood, characterized by risky behaviors, fast talking, flights of ideas

CAUSES OF DEPRESSIVE AND BIPOLAR DISORDERS

Biology: lower levels of serotonin & norepinephrine linked to depression, higher levels of norepinephrine linked to mania. Runs in families suggesting GENES. Twin studies also support this.

Cognitive: negative thought patterns leads to depression

SCHIZOPHRENIA

NOT MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES! THEY HAVE ONE PERSONALITY!

SYMPTOMS

Positive Symptoms (not good – means something added))

Hallucinations: sensory experiences w/o sensory stimulation (seeing and/or hearing things)

Delusions: fixed, false beliefs (people are out to get them, grandiose thoughts (I am God)

Disorganized thinking, Disorganized speech

Negative Symptoms (something taken away)

Flat affect: lack ability to show emotions

Impaired decision making, inability to pay attention

Catatonia: become frozen over periods of time (exhibit waxy flexibility: can move them into new positions)

CAUSES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

Brain abnormalities: enlarged ventricles (atrophy), smaller frontal cortex

Genetics: runs in families, MZ twins at higher risk

Dopamine hypothesis: too much dopamine in the brain

Diathesis – Stress: individual has a genetic predisposition, disease must be “turned-on” by environmental stimuli (like stress) –most commonly developed during college years

PERSONALITY DISORDERS

Marked by disruptive, inflexible, enduring behavior patterns – makes this very difficult to treat!

Antisocial: NOT “avoidant of socialization” – more like “anti-society” – disregard for others, manipulative, breaks laws

Borderline: instable interpersonal relationships & self-image, “I hate you, don’t leave me”

Histrionic: excessive emotionality & attention seeking

Narcissistic: need for admiration & lack of empathy (who cares about everyone else – look at me!)

Treatment of Psychological Disorders (5-7%)

PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH: SEE PERSONALITY SECTION

HUMANISTIC APPROACH:

Client-centered therapy: (developed by CARL ROGERS) techniques include active listening, accepting environment, focuses on patient growth (you figure out what needs to change and do it)

COGNITIVE APPROACH:

Rational-emotive therapy: (developed by ELLIS) techniques include analyzing self-defeating behaviors to change thought patterns – and then change behaviors associated w/ said patterns

Best for anxiety disorders

Very confrontational

Cognitive therapy: (developed by BECK) illogical thoughts → psychological problems, challenges those thoughts

Best for depression

Self-directed – you figure out your errors

BEHAVIORAL APPROACH (typically used for anxiety disorders / phobias)

Classical Conditioning:

Counterconditioning Little Albert & Watson

Aversive conditioning: associate an unpleasant experience (e.g. nausea) w/ an unwanted behavior (e.g. drinking alcohol)

Exposure therapy: slowly expose people to whatever it is that makes them anxious

Systematic desensitization: associate a pleasant relaxed state w/ gradually increasing anxiety triggering stimuli (create a desensitization hierarchy – ex. List of things about flying that makes you nervous – step through each one till you can do it)

Intensive exposure therapy (Flooding): force someone to experience the fear (afraid of drowning, throw you in a pool)

Operant Conditioning: use behavior modification (reward good behaviors w/ token reinforcers ). Used in schools, w/ autistic children, etc.

OTHER THERAPIES:

Family therapy: treats the family as a system, individual behaviors are influenced by family dynamics

Group therapy: therapy through a group – lets patients see “they’re not alone”

BIOLOGICAL APPROACH: CALLED BIOMEDICAL THERAPIES

Drug therapies (psychopharmacology):

Anti-psychotics: decrease dopamine: treats schizophrenia

Side effects: TARDIVE DYSKINESIA: hand tremors (similar to Parkinson’s- due to lack of dopamine), worsening of negative symptoms, extreme sedation

Drug names: thorazine, clozapine

Anti-depressants: increase serotonin through REUPTAKE inhibition

Side effects: drowsiness, anxiety, can increase suicide risk in teens

Drug names: SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil. SNRIs (selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors) Cymbalta, Effexor

Mood stabilizers: used in the treatment of BIPOLAR disorder : LITHIUM

Anti-anxiety drugs: depress the central nervous system (dangerous in combo w/ alcohol) Xanax, Ativan

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): send electricity to induce minor seizures. Used (rarely) to treat depression (when nothing else works). Thought to “reboot” the brain

Psychosurgery (frontal lobotomy): frontal lobe is surgically destroyed. Used to treat depression or violent individuals – almost never used anymore

Social

(8-10%)

Attribution theory: we explain others behaviors by crediting the situation or the person’s disposition (they only passed b/c they cheated)

Fundamental attribution error tendency for observers to underestimate the importance of the situation and overestimate the impact of personal disposition (that guy cut me off b/c he’s a jerk – not that his wife could be in labor)

Central route to persuasion: change people’s attitudes through logical arguments and explanations. Leads to long term behavior change

Peripheral route to persuasion: change people’s attitudes through incidental cues (like a speaker’s attractiveness). Leads to temporary behavior changes

Foot in the door phenomenon: complying w/ a small request then leads to going along w/ a larger request (can I have $5? Yes. Now can I have $25?)

Door in the face phenomenon: a large request is turned down, when then leads you to be more likely to comply w/ a small request (can I have $100? Heck no! How about $20? Okay)

STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT (ZIMBARDO): classic “experiment” where individuals were assigned to be guards / prisoners. w/in days they took on their roles and went too far. Highly unethical

Cognitive dissonance (FESTINGER): two opposing thoughts conflict w/ each other, causing discomfort (dissonance), which makes us find ways to justify the situation (cult that was going to be abducted by aliens, smokers)

SOCIAL INFLUENCE

Conformity: classic experiment done by ASCH – showed lines of different lengths, confederates gave wrong answers to see if others would go along w/ it

Normative social influence: we conform to gain approval or to not stand out from the group (be part of the norm

Informational social influence: we conform to others b/c we think their opinions must be right

Obedience: classic experiment done by MILGRAM: participants were to “teach” another individual using shocks. 60% of participants would administer lethal shocks to another person simply b/c they were told to

GROUP INFLUENCE

Social facilitation: perform better on simple or well learned tasks in the presence of others

Social loafing: tendency for ppl in a group to exert less effort when pooling their effort together (tug of war)

Deindividuation: loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity (mob mentality)

Group polarization: the more time spent w/ a group the more similar (polarized) their thoughts / opinions will become

Groupthink: desire for harmony w/in a group leads to everyone going along w/ the same thinking, ignoring other possibilities or bad ideas

Risky shift: groups make riskier decisions together rather than alone

PREJUDICE

Ingroup: “US” – ppl w/ whom we share a common identity

Outgroup: “them” – ppl perceived as different or not part of the group

Ingroup bias: tendency to favor our own group

Scapegoat theory: prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone else to blame

Ethnocentrism: tendency to see your own group as more important than others

Just-world phenomenon: tendency for ppl to believe that the world is just and therefore ppl get what they deserve (homeless ppl)

AGGRESION

Genetic influence: runs in families, can breed for in animals

Lower serotonin, higher testosterone

Environmental influence: social learning theory (BANDURA) – observing violence in others makes us more violent for a time

Also: pollution, crowding, heat, humidity

Frustration-aggression hypothesis: frustration creates anger, which leads to aggression

ATTRACTION

Mere exposure effect: repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them (the more time you spend around something the more you like it)

Physical attractiveness: pretty ppl are thought to be more credible, less likely to do bad things

Similarity: we prefer ppl similar to us

Passionate Love: Early stage of romance – intense pos. obsession w/ another (due to arousal)

Compassionate Love: Later stage – deep attachment to someone who your life is intertwined w/ - best with equality and self-disclosure (revealing intimate details about self)

ALTRUISM

Altruism: unselfish regard for the welfare of others

Bystander effect: the more ppl around the less likely we are to help someone in need (Kitty Genovese)

Social exchange theory: social behavior (helping) is an exchange process – aim is to maximize benefits and minimize cost

Reciprocity norm: we give so we can get

CONFLICT

Social trap: conflicting parties pursue their own best interests, which can result in destructive results (prisoner’s dilemma – game theory)

Approach approach conflict: win – win situation; conflict is which win you have to choose (you can eat out at ONE of your two favorite restaurants – you can only choose one though)

Approach avoidance conflict: win – lose situation; outcome has positive and negative aspects (marriage)

Avoidance avoidance conflict : lose – lose; both outcomes are bad but you have to choose one (clean your room or do your homework)

Multiple approach avoidance conflict: two (or more) win-lose situations; conflict is which to choose (College A is good for your major but no scholarship, College B is bad for your major but has a scholarship)

SOCIAL SELF

Self-concept bias: what we consider important in ourselves is what we consider important in others

False-consensus effect: we overestimate the degree to which everyone else thinks / acts the way we do

Self-fulfilling prophecy: a belief that leads to its own fulfillment (I expect you all to pass, you know this, you study – fulfilling my prophecy)

Self-serving bias: readiness to perceive ourselves as favorably

Spotlight effect (self-objectification) : tendency of an individual to overestimate the extent to which others are paying attention to them

FRQ TIPS: Define then Apply the term. B.S. what you don’t know!