Psychology Final, Test #3, Broadwell
describe two factors discussed in class that might influence motor development
(baby weight, swaddling)
Describe what "g" is?
- "g" factor=general intelligence - People good at one mental task tend to be good at all of them
What is the difference between crystallized and fluid intelligence and when each type of intelligence is higher in the lifespan?
- Crystallized= accumulated knowledge - Fluid= quick, abstract knowledge figuring; agile thought
What are the results of the "pinball experiment" and what does it say about the interaction between personality and situations?
- Experimental group: told their scores will not be known by the experimenters - Control group: told their scores will be known by the experimenters - Which will be more important in predicting who will lie? The condition they're in or their answers to an honesty trait questionnaire? - 80% of experimental group lied - Only 10% of control group did - Experimental condition predicted lying far better than personality measures of honesty
How do early IQ tests compare chronological age with mental age, and how that relates to someone's IQ score (don't need to know the math, just the general process)?
- First IQ test compared "chronological age" (CA) with "mental age" (MA) - IQ = MA/CA x 100 - IQ = 5/4 x 100 - IQ = 1.25 x 100 - IQ = 125
what is the lexical approach to personality?
- Found adjectives related to personality and used the lexical approach to develop a list of 16 personality factors - A benefit of the trait approach: easier to measure change over time
list a few of the factors that might affect IQ, besides genetics?
- Heredity/genetics - Culture - Family environment - Diet - Prenatal environment - Accidents - Effects of socioeconomic class & culture can be profound - For low-SES children, genetic factors explain less of the IQ variance than in high-SES children - Poor environments can restrict the IQ range - What about cultural effects? - IQ tests often critiqued for being biased toward high SES white individuals - Can create "culturally fair" tests
what is the difference between the manifest and latent content of a dream?
- Manifest content: what the dream is literally about (the events and people in the dream) - Latent content: what the dream is actually about at a deeper level (the unconscious meaning of the dream)
What does modern-day IQ score mean?
- Next version of the IQ test developed by Lewis Terman of Stanford - Translated, revised and standardized the Binet version for the U.S. (i.e., how a score of 100 means you're at the average of the population, not that your mental age matches your chronological age)
list the five domains of the Big Five
- Openness to Experience/Intellect - Conscientiousness - Extraversion - Agreeableness - Neuroticism - Can remember using the acronym OCEAN
list and describe at least two of Freud's defense mechanisms
- Rationalization - A person's unconscious comes up with a plausible reason why something didn't work out the way they wanted it to - Your flight home for Thanksgiving gets cancelled: "Well, I really didn't want to listen to my family argue about politics anyway." - Projection - Attributing one's own upsetting thoughts and feelings to others - If you secretly want to do drugs, you might assume everyone else does too - Sublimation - When someone puts their negative energies into a socially acceptable activity - Someone feels like punching someone, but hits a pillow instead - Reaction Formation - A person whose beliefs and desires are in conflict acts in a way to support their beliefs even more strongly - Example: Larry Craig scandal - Displacement - Redirecting emotions about one person to a different person or object - Denial - When someone ignores reality in the face of clear evidence - Regression - When a person reverts to earlier, childlike forms of behavior to cope with stress
what was the therapist is supposed to do in humanistic person-centered therapies?
. Reveal his or her own reactions & be genuine • 2. Express unconditional positive regard • 3. Relate to clients with empathic understanding • One successful variation of person-centered therapy: motivational interviewing • Help clients recognize what they want to change about their lives, what they don't want to change, and why • Shown to be effective at treating problems related to health behaviors and alcohol consumption
Know generally how antianxiety, antidepressant, and antipsychotic medications work (do they slow the nervous system? Stabilize serotonin? Increase serotonin?)
Antianxiety: Work to slow the nervous system and reduce heightened fear responses, stabalize seratonin Antidepressant: Typically work by either inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin (SSRIs) OR inhibiting the enzymes that metabolize serotonin and norepinephrine (MAOIs) • Goal is to increase brain activity and increase available neurotransmitters Antipsychotic: Goal is to block dopamine activity, stabilize serotonin activity • Used to treat schizophrenia, dissociative identity disorder and other perceptual disorders • Sometimes used for autism (off-label)
what is the difference between a type approach to personality and a trait approach?
Approach: Category Based: Fitting into something "4 Humors" approach Astrology Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) - Oversimplistic - Usually rely on Barnum effect - Don't allow nuances or inconsistencies - Lump people into groups but don't consider uniqueness - Can lead to stereotyping Trait: - A benefit of the trait approach: easier to measure change over time - Can use longitudinal studies: measure the same people again and again at different ages over long periods of time -Longitudinal research and factor analysis both support the Big Five model
describe what the DSM is and how it lists symptoms of psychological disorders (but not their causes)
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM) is created by the American Psychiatric Association • Standard for diagnosing mental illnesses • Provides some objectivity • Lists syndromes: groups or clusters of symptoms • Allows for comorbidity and dual diagnoses • But remember: • The DSM is still somewhat subjective • Only lists symptoms, not causes
what does personality consist of?
Dispositional traits or a person's natural tendencies (like the Big Five traits) - 2. Characteristic adaptations or a person's desires, beliefs, concerns and coping mechanisms - 3. Life stories, or explanatory narratives that give our lives a sense of purpose
list and describe the roles of the id, ego and superego
Ego: morals, mediator between external world and unrealistic Superego: The superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are learned from one's parents and others. ID: your straight up desires and wants, no morals, primitive
give at least two examples of psychotherapy approaches that DON'T work
Facilitated communication • Recovered-memory techniques • Dissociative identity disorderoriented psychotherapy • Coercive restraint therapies (ex: "rebirthing")
What are the results of the Perry et al. and Cano et al. studies about knowledge in college students?
Freshmen: prefer clear black and white answers, might answer "it depends" or with nuance on a test, but resist thinking of knowledge that way • Seniors: willing to accept that many questions don't have clear right/wrong distinctions, most knowledge is nuanced and can be understood from different perspectives
Which is the most common anxiety disorder?
Know that GAD is the most common anxiety disorder
What is the most common eating disorder?
Know that binge eating is the most common eating disorder (more than bulimia and anorexia)
What is MMPI?
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory - Derived empirically from personality descriptors matched to real-world outcomes - Can be used to clinically diagnose people or decide whether to hire them for a certain job
Know roughly how much time someone with bipolar spends in a normal mood state, a depressed mood state, a manic mood state and a cycling mood state (just relative to one another - don't need to memorize percentages)
Most of the time there are no symptoms, Next largest is depression. Next is the manic, and lastly is mixed episodes
What is the differences between humanism and type/trait models of personality?
Not derived scientifically • Focus is on becoming, not being born a certain way or gaining traits through nurture • Viewpoint that personality is changeable and can be altered • Viewpoint that personality will (hopefully) differ during the stages of childhood and adulthood • Personality is not a point on a spectrum of other individuals, but is unique to the self
What is the difference between flooding and systematic desensitization
One behavioral example: Systematic desensitization • A type of counter-conditioning that works well for anxiety and phobias • First, client is taught to relax • Then instructed to remain calm and relaxed during an increasing hierarchy of fear-inducing stimuli • Can be done mentally or in real life An opposite approach to conquering phobias and anxiety: flooding therapy • Theory is that fears get worse through avoidance • Have to provoke anxiety again and again to show the client that negative outcomes won't occur
Generally describe Big Five, including characteristics of people high in that domain (i.e. know that the statements "Loves to socialize" and "Am assertive during work meetings" would be characteristics of someone high in Extraversion)
Openness/Intellect: - Rate yourself on a 1-5 scale (1 not at all like me, 5 very much like me) - Love to reflect on things. - Enjoy the beauty of nature. - Avoid philosophical discussions. (Reverse scored) - Need a creative outlet. - Have a rich vocabulary. - Get deeply immersed in music. - Two Big Five Aspect Scale (BFAS) subsets: Openness & Intellect Conscientiousness: - Keep things tidy. - Leave my belongings around. (Reverse scored) - Find it difficult to get down to work. (Reverse scored) - Follow a schedule. - See that rules are observed. - Want every detail taken care of. - BFAS subsets: Orderliness & Industriousness Extraversion: - Make friends easily. - Lack the talent for influencing people. (Reverse scored) - Wait for others to lead the way. (Reverse scored) - Have a strong personality. - Have a lot of fun. - See myself as a good leader. - Two BFAS subsets: Enthusiasm & Assertiveness Agreeableness: - Insult people (Reverse scored) - Love a good fight (Reverse scored) - Feel others' emotions - Inquire about others' well-being - Like to do things for others - Take an interest in other people's lives - Two BFAS subsets: Politeness and Compassion Neuroticism: - Seldom feel blue (Reverse scored) - Am filled with doubts about things - Feel threatened easily - Rarely feel depressed (Reverse scored) - Worry about things - Become overwhelmed by events - Am not embarrassed easily (Reverse scored) - Two BFAS subsets: Volatility & Withdrawal
list at least three myths about suicide
People who talk about suicide won't really do it. 2. People who try to kill themselves must be crazy. 3. Nothing can stop people determined to kill themselves. 4. People who commit suicide were unwilling to seek help. 5. Talking about suicide may give someone the idea.
What are the differences between the Freudian and humanistic worldviews?
Psychoanalytic/Freudian theory: people are innately governed by hard-to-control unconscious impulses and driven by their id • "People are selfish and impulsive" • Humanistic theory: people are innately motivated to become better people and want to develop their personalities more fully • "People are purposeful and rational"
explain rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) in detail, including applying the ABCDE model to a situation you think up
Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) • A cognitive-behavioral therapy developed by Albert Ellis • Very effective form of therapy • Ellis proposed that everyone responds to unpleasant "activating" internal or external events (A) with different emotional and behavioral consequences (C) EXAMPLE: A (activating event): I found out a friend of a friend thinks I'm annoying and doesn't want to hang out in groups with me. • B (irrational belief): "That's horrible! Everyone should like me because I'm a nice person, and if they don't, it's a catastrophe. I bet they all secretly dislike me." • C (consequences): You start avoiding that group of friends, and talk badly about the person who said you were annoying. to fix: D (disputing irrational beliefs): "Why does everyone have to like me? There's no law that says everyone I meet has to become friends with me or think I'm great. That's a pretty egotistical viewpoint, after all. In addition, I don't even like some people I know, so why would I expect that everyone will like me?" • E (effective and rational belief): It would be preferable if this person liked me, but since they don't, it's not a catastrophe. It doesn't mean I'm unlikeable or that my other friends don't like me."
describe two examples of projective tests (Rorschach, TAT)
Rorschach(Inkblot) and TAT(This was were people were shown images, and were told to make up a story.)
What are Piaget's four stages and what types of knowledge might be lacking or present in each one
Sensorimotor Period • Infancy (birth to 2 yrs.) • Focus on sensing and movement • Absence of object permanence • Out of sight, out of mind • Preoperational Period • Preschool (2 to 6/7 years) • Absence of operational thinking • Egocentric, illogical, focus on one thing at a time • Unable to solve conservation problems • Concrete Operational Period • School-aged (6/7 to 11/12 years) • Capable of mental operations such as conservation but only when the problem is concrete or easily imagined • Absence of abstract, hypothetical thinking • Begin to understand transitivity, or recognizing relationships among things in a serial order • Example: Arrange the books on your shelf from tallest to shortest or in rainbow color order • Formal Operational Period • Adolescence (11/12 years and beyond) • Able to think beyond the concrete • Abstract thinking • Hypothetical thinking • Scientific reasoning • Example: Pendulum task • Which factor is most important for determining the speed of the pendulum: heaviness of the weight, strength of the push or the length of the string?
What are teratogens? and how would they maybe affect development?
Teratogens: environmental factors that negatively affect prenatal development • Drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, air pollution, X-rays, mental illness in the mother, chemicals in foods...the list goes on • Can result in premature births (anytime before 36 weeks) and low birth weight
What are the results of Walter Mischel's famous "marshmallow study"?
What factors would predict children's self-control abilities as adults? - Surprisingly, found that willingness to wait for more marshmallows (delay gratification) predicted greater success and self-control in adulthood -Kids who ate the marshmallow right away: less controlled, less successful academically, financially, and personally. Also more likely to end up in jail, be obese, and use drugs
describe what ECT is and when it might be used
electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), With ECT, an electrical shock is administered to the brain for one minute after the patient has been sedated • Results in an epilepticstyle seizure • May stimulate serotonin production and growth of brain cells in the hippocampus
What are the three stages of prenatal development?
germinal, embryonic and fetal
What is repression?
the process of pushing ideas and thoughts out of conscious awareness
What were three approaches to treating depression?
vagus nerve stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and deep-brain stimulation are three approaches to treating depression
what are the symptoms of PTSD are
• 10 percent of individuals suffering trauma will experience long-lasting symptoms like flashbacks, insomnia, sleep problems/nightmares, physical symptoms similar to GAD, and panic attacks
define and give examples of assimilation and accommodation in childhood learning
• Assimilation: absorbing new information into one's current understanding • Example: Child thinks cats are the same kind of animal as dogs • Parent says no, that's a cat • Child assimilates this knowledge by thinking that maybe a cat is a type of dog • Allows child to retain original belief and only change it slightly • Accommodation: altering one's beliefs to make them more compatible with experience • Example: Child thinks cats are a subtype of dog • Parent reads them a book where it's clear the cats are a different species and have different characteristics than dogs • Child can no longer live in a world where cat=dog • Has to adjust their beliefs to fit this new knowledge
describe how asylums and mental hospitals used to operate in the past
• Asylums • Used to keep those with mental illness separate from the main population • Also used to civilly commit problematic relatives... Term "bedlam" derived from Bethlem Royal Hospital in London • Tourists could visit the "lunatics" to laugh at them, and were even given sticks to poke them • Weren't called "patients" until 1700s
describe Korsakoff's syndrome and what it's caused by ?
• Caused by alcohol abuse resulting in Vitamin B deficiency • Confabulation • Anterograde amnesia • VII. Neurocognitive Disorder
What are the symptoms of unipolar depression and bipolar disorder?
• DSM symptoms for unipolar depression: • Low mood, loss of interest, eating, sleep, & movement problems, fatigue, indecision, feeling worthless, suicidal • Cycles of mania followed by depression • Mania includes: flight of ideas, impulsivity, irresponsibility, insomnia, hyperactivity
Wha are the four Ds used to diagnose a mental disorder?
• Deviance (rare in the population) • Dysfunction (markedly interferes with the individual's life) • Distress (the individual feels upset and anxious about their symptoms) • Danger (the disorder is likely to cause harm to the individual or others)
What is the diathesis-stress theory of schizophrenia development?
• Diathesis=genetic potential • Stress=environmental event like head injury, trauma, virus, drugs • Both have to be present to develop schizophrenia • Study of genetic errors • Found controls had on average 5% errors in DNA transcription • People with schizophrenia had 15% • But not many common mutations...
What are Erik Erikson's psychosocial stages? And how do they differ from Freud's approach?
• Erik Erikson updated Freud's psychoanalytic theories and lessened the focus on sexuality • 5 psychosexual stages à 8 psychosocial stages • Each stage represents a personal crisis that must be resolved Failures or successes at each stage result in adult personality characteristics 1st year 2nd year 3rd-5th year 6th-puberty adolescence early adult middle age aging years
What are the symptoms of both antisocial and narcissistic personality disorder?
• Individuals with these types of personality disorders will frequently engage in manipulation, lying, mirroring (taking on the traits of others) and splitting (everything is black or white) • They often have trouble holding down relationships, being alone, or developing a good self-image
How many people will experience a psychological disorder in their lifetime?
• Know that almost 1 in 3 people will experience a psychological disorder in their lifetime
what a lobotomy was and why it was used?
• Lobotomies • Prefrontal lobotomies; transorbital lobotomies • Remove part of patient's frontal lobe with metal pick • Performed frequently in the 1930s-19502 Sometimes resulted in improvement (i.e. patient was quiet, subdued) • But also could lead to death or worsening of condition • Famous example: Rosemary (Rose) Kennedy • Even so, inventor of the lobotomy won the Nobel Price and they were performed even into the 1980s
list a few of the empirically supported benefits of meditation
• Meditation has been empirically shown to help reduce: • Anxiety • Addictive behaviors • Depression • Studies also suggest it can lower blood pressure, heart attack risk, pain responses and levels of stress hormones like cortisol, while boo
What is the difference between a "compulsion" and an "obsession" in OCD?
• Obsessions = uncontrollable, intrusive, horrible thoughts • Compulsions = ritualistic behaviors
What was carl Rogers' distinction between the ideal and real self and how self-actualization ties into that?
• People have an ideal self: the person you're striving to be who embodies all the best aspects of your personality • But we also all have a real self: our inner concept of what kind of person we actually are at this moment, with both our good and bad traits • Goal of self-actualization: bring your real self as close to your ideal self as you can
how do pessimists and optimists differ on the three factors of pervasiveness, permanence and use of dispositional/situational explanations?
• Pessimists: • Bad events are permanent • Good events are temporary • Bad events are pervasive • Good events are limited • Bad events have dispositional causes • Good events have situational causes • Optimists: • Good events are permanent • Bad events are temporary • Good events are pervasive • Bad events are limited • Good events have dispositional causes • Bad events have situational causes
list and describe at least three risk factors that contribute to autism
• Risks: 75% male, older parents, neurological diseases • Gene mutations • Pesticides, hormone disruptors, plastics, heavy metals, pregnancy complications, viral infections • G x E (epigenetics) e.g., MET gene mutation + prenatal air pollution
describe the results of Rosenhan's experiments on whether psychiatric hospitals could distinguish between individuals with and without mental illnesses
• Three women and five men (including Rosenhan) pretended to experience auditory hallucinations to get admitted to 12 different psychiatric hospitals • Then, after admission, began to act normally and said they no longer experienced the hallucinations • However, all were forced to admit to having a mental illness (most diagnosed with schizophrenia) and assigned to take antipsychotic medications as conditions of their release second: Told one hospital they would send them pseudopatients • Out of 193 patients, hospital staff identified 41 as potential pseudopatients (people who were pretending that they had a mental illness) • Actually, Rosenhan hadn't sent any pseudopatients at all! • Concluded that even hospital staff can't reliably distinguish between people who need treatment and people who don't
what is the the usual age range when schizophrenia develops, and risk factors that might make it more likely?
• Usual onset age is 15-26 years • Genetics • Nurture/environment • Psychological and social environment • Drug triggers
describe panic disorder and know how long one episode generally lasts
• Usually subside within 20-30 minutes and rarely last more than an hour
What are the myths about what schizophrenia is not, and also be able to describe its actual symptoms?
• What is schizophrenia NOT? • Not split or multiple personality disorder (that's Dissociative Identity Disorder) • Is not a side effect of low IQ and is not related to intelligence • Is not the same in all cases - lots of individual variation • Is not necessarily a sign that someone is dangerous • So what IS schizophrenia? • A severe disorder of thought, communication, perception, emotion and movement • Impacts all the ABCs of psychology (affect, behavior, cognition) • Symptoms: • Breakdown of logical thought • Deficit of emotional responses or inappropriate emotional responses • Hallucinations (false perceptions) • Delusions (false beliefs) • Paranoia • Disorganized speech and thought
