PSY356 EXAM: Chapter 13,12

What are some criticisms of Freud?

-Excessive Complexity -Occam's Razor: theoretical belief that all else being equal, a good theory is the simplest theory -untestable: can develop hypotheses but difficult to disconfirm his belief's -sexist: treatment of woman very poorly, hysterical girl

What is the therapeutic alliance/transference?

-Therapeutic alliance: belief that an emotional, trusting bond must be developed between therapist and patient -Transference: the tendency to bring ways of thinking, feeling and behaving that developed towards one important person into a later relationship with a different person (usually parents-> therapist, teacher, boss, etc)

What are the principles of Evo. Psych?

1.certain biological traits are inherited by genetic means 2.Variation in those traits 3. better fitness

What is hypnosis, why does it work?

1900's means of treating psychological disorders -would have patients in a trance and they would "block memories" and make up reasons thinking they were cured

How might genes explain culture? Culture explain genes (5HTT & Oxy. Gene)

5-HTT: found that people have either a short or long allele -short allele: higher neuroticism, greater amygdala activity -people that have short allele are at risk of having a tougher childhood trauma and anxiety -75% of Japanese have short allele

Why do we need to be cautious about genetic research?

Eugenics: the belief that humanity could (and should) be improved through selective breeding -genes= not a fixed outcome Caution: nature vs nurture (both matter)

What are some criticism of evo. psych?

Methodology; no manipulation but can test hypotheses , too broad can it explain everything? -mismatch: what was adaptive then might not be adaptive now

What are some critiques of psychoanalysis?

Not a good criticism- subjects are unable to repost they have a problem (clearly they articulate an issue) -Epistemological problem: what is the truth? too many unknown, subjective interpretations of dreams/unconscious -evidence problem- examples chosen are all correct, no count of the "incorrect" (no reporting)

How does psychoanalysis work?

Speaking your thoughts without editing, streams of consciousness Theme chasing- finding the hidden layer in the conversation ex: tell me about urself (goes from normal to sharing very personal information)

What does fitness mean? How does it relate to "altruisim"

Survival and reproduction (sexual selection and natural selection

What is hereditability?

The degree of variation in a trait due to genetic variation between individuals in that population... how much variability attributed to genetic factors as opposed to environment

What are transcription factors?

They are molecule complexes that control which genes are turned on and transcribed to mRNA -is affected by environment

What are the defense mechanisms (can you give an example of each)?

Ways of dealing with stress Denial, repression, reaction, projection, rationalization

In general what are the estimated estimates of hereditability of various psychological features?

finger-low wearing earrings to a dance-high

What are the Id, Ego, Superego?

id: irrational, emotion self (bad) superego: moral part of the self (goody two shoes) ego: seat of the (everyday) self (me)

What are epigenetic effects?

life experiences after whether or not a gene expresses

What is psych determinism/how does it relate to Freud?

psych determinism is everything that happens in a person's mind has a specific cause -dreams, forgetting, remembering -"nothing is accidental" -> reveals something

What are genes?

sequences of DNA

How do the three structures (id, ego, superego) interact?

superego and Id in constant tension -ego's job is to find a middle ground between motivations, morality and practicality -failure is the unconscious taking over -Compromise function: under times of stress or cognitive load, we are less able to inhibit our base behavior

What is Evolutionary Psychology

the study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection

How do we study gene's influences on personality?

twin studies studying if they would grow up the same or different if placed in different environment