Psychology Chapter 4 and 8

Embryonic period

- The period in prenatal development from 2 to 8 weeks after conception, when the brain, spine, major organs, and bodily structures begin to form in the embryo

Emotional intelligence (EI)

- This form of intelligence consists of four abilities: managing our own emotions, using our emotions to guide our thoughts and actions, recognizing other people's emotions, and understanding emotional language

Reasoning

- Using information to determine if a conclusion is valid or reasonable

Concrete operational stage

7 to 12 years The third stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development; during this stage, children begin to think about and understand logical operations, and they are no longer fooled by appearances

"Rule of thumb"

decisions are generally fine—good enough in our daily lives

Alfred Binet

was a French psychologist who invented the first practical intelligence test, the Binet-Simon scale

Symbolic representations

Abstract mental representations that consist of words or ideas

Restructuring

Thinking about a problem in a new way in order to solve it

Sensory development

- 2-hour-old infants prefer sweet tastes to all other tastes - When infants are born, they can also hear well - Newborns have poor vision

Intelligence and memory

- 3 percent to 5 percent of people will develop Alzheimer's disease by age 70 to 75, and 6.5 percent will develop the disease after age 85 - The initial symptoms of Alzheimer' s are typically minor memory impairments, but the disease eventually progresses to more serious difficulties, such as forgetting daily routines

Defining attribute model

- A way of thinking about concepts. A category is characterized by a list of features that determine if an object is a member of the category

Exemplar model

- A way of thinking about concepts. All concepts in a category are examples (exemplars); together, they form the category

Prototype Model

- A way of thinking about concepts. Within each category, there is a best example—a prototype—for that category

Intelligence tests

- Alfred Binet: Original intelligence test - Lewis Terman: Stanford-Binet test - David Wechsler: The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

Robert Sternberg's triarchic theory

- Analytical intelligence is similar to that measured by standard intelligence tests - Creative intelligence involves the ability to gain insight and solve novel problems - Practical intelligence refers to dealing with everyday tasks

Piaget's theory of cognitive development

- Assimilation: The process we use to incorporate new information into existing frameworks for knowledge - Accommodation: The process we use to create new frameworks for knowledge or drastically alter existing ones to incorporate new information that otherwise would not fit

Behavior genetics

- Behavioral geneticists study the genetic basis of behaviors and traits such as intelligence - Twin and adoption studies

Stereotypes

- Cognitive schemas that allow for easy, fast processing of information about people, events, or groups, based on their membership in certain groups - Gender role stereotypes are the socially prescribed behaviors for females and males

Teratogens

- Environmental agents that can harm prenatal development: smoking, drugs, alcohol, pollutants, and other substances

Sudden insight

- Insight is the metaphorical lightbulb that goes on in your head when you suddenly realize the solution to a problem

Finding meaning in later life

- Meaning often becomes a preoccupation for the elderly - Older adults want to savor their final years by putting their time and effort into meaningful and rewarding experiences

Environmental factors

- Poor nutrition - Prenatal factors (e.g., the parents' intake of drugs and alcohol) - Postnatal factors (e.g., family, social class, education, cultural beliefs, and our own drug and alcohol use) - An enriched environment can aid in the development of intelligence

Schemas and the categorization of concepts

- Schemas are our prior knowledge and experience with information - Schemas are related to the organization of analogical and symbolic representations in our minds - When we use a schema to group things based on shared properties, we create a category

Variations in attachment

- Separation anxiety - Ainsworth created the strange-situation test

Brain changes during adolescence

- Synaptic connections are refined and gray matter increases - The frontal cortex of the brain is not fully developed until the early 20s - An adolescent's limbic system—the motivational and emotional center of the brain—tends to be more active than the frontal cortex

Piaget's theory of cognitive development

- The developmental psychologist Jean Piaget investigated how children's thinking changes as they develop - Piaget proposed that we change how we think as we form new schemas, or ways of thinking about how the world works

Thinking

- The mental manipulation of representations of information we encounter in our environments - Cognitive psychologists study thought and the understanding that results from thinking

Germinal period

- The period in prenatal development from conception to two weeks after fertilization of the egg, when the zygote divides rapidly and implants in the uterine wall

Maturation

-Physical development of the brain and body that prepares an infant for voluntary movement, such as rolling over, sitting, and walking -Motor Skills

Multiple intelligences

-The idea that people have many different types of intelligence that are independent of one another -Bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic (musical), mathematical/logical, spatial, intrapersonal, and interpersonal

Fetal period

-The period in prenatal development from 8 weeks after conception until birth, when the brain continues developing, bodily structures are refined, and the fetus grows in length and weight and accumulates fat in preparation for birth

Developmental psychology

-The scientific study of how humans change over the life span, from conception until death -Developmental changes can be grouped into three domains: 1. Physical 2. Socio-emotional 3. Cognitive

Ainsworth created the strange-situation test

1970s to observe attachment relationships between a caregiver and child. It applies to children between the age of nine and 18 months. Broadly speaking, the attachment styles were (1) secure, (2) insecure (ambivalent and avoidance). Later Mary Main and her husband Erik Hesse introduce the 3rd category, Disorganized.

Preoperational stage

2 to 7 years The second stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development; during this stage, children think symbolically about objects, but they reason based on intuition and superficial appearances rather than logic - Law of conservation - Centration - Egocentrism

the strange-situation test

A child who is securely attached to its mother will explore and play freely while the caregiver is present, using her as a "safe base" from which to explore. The child will engage with the stranger when the caregiver is present, and will be visibly upset when the caregiver departs but happy to see the caregiver on his or her return. The child feels confident that the caregiver is available, and will be responsive to their attachment needs and communications. Securely attached children are best able to explore when they have the knowledge of a secure base to return to in times of need (also known as "rapprochement," meaning in French "bring together"). When assistance is given, this bolsters the sense of security and also, assuming the mother's assistance is helpful, educates the child in how to cope with the same problem in the future. Therefore, secure attachment can be seen as the most adaptive attachment style for learning and making use of resources in a non-threatening environment. According to some psychological researchers, a child becomes securely attached when the mother is available and able to meet the needs of the child in a responsive and appropriate manner. Others have pointed out that there are also other determinants of the child's attachment, and that behavior of the parent may in turn be influenced by the child's behavior.

Anxious-avoidant, insecure

A child with the anxious-avoidant insecure attachment style will avoid or ignore the caregiver - showing little emotion when the caregiver departs or returns. The child will not explore very much regardless of who is there. Infants classified as anxious-avoidant (A) represented a puzzle in the early 1970s. They did not exhibit distress on separation, and either ignored the caregiver on their return (A1 subtype) or showed some tendency to approach together with some tendency to ignore or turn away from the caregiver (A2 subtype). Ainsworth and Bell theorised that the apparently unruffled behaviour of the avoidant infants is in fact as a mask for distress, a hypothesis later evidenced through studies of the heart-rate of avoidant infants. Ainsworth's narrative records showed that infants avoided the caregiver in the stressful Strange Situation Procedure when they had a history of experiencing rebuff of attachment behaviour. The child's needs are frequently not met and the child comes to believe that communication of needs has no influence on the caregiver. Ainsworth's student Mary Main theorised that avoidant behaviour in the Strange Situational Procedure should be regarded as 'a conditional strategy, which paradoxically permits whatever proximity is possible under conditions of maternal rejection' by de-emphasising attachment needs.[3] Main proposed that avoidance has two functions for an infant whose caregiver is consistently unresponsive to their needs. Firstly, avoidant behaviour allows the infant to maintain a conditional proximity with the caregiver: close enough to maintain protection, but distant enough to avoid rebuff. Secondly, the cognitive processes organising avoidant behaviour could help direct attention away from the unfulfilled desire for closeness with the caregiver - avoiding a situation in which the child is overwhelmed with emotion ('disorganised distress'), and therefore unable to maintain control of themselves and achieve even conditional proximity

Concept

A mental representation of objects, events, or relations around common themes

Aptitude test

A psychometric test that is designed to test a person's ability to learn— that is, the person's future performance, SAT

Achievement test

A psychometric test that is designed to test what knowledge and skills a person has learned, ACT

Heuristic

A shortcut (rule of thumb or informal guideline) used to reduce the amount of thinking that is needed to make decisions - The availability heuristic is the tendency to make a decision based on information that comes most easily to mind

Mental sets

A tendency to approach a problem in the same way that has worked in the past, which may make it harder to solve it

Functional fixedness

A tendency to think of things based on their usual functions, which may make it harder to solve a problem

How Do We Develop in Adulthood?

A wide range of research has demonstrated that throughout adulthood, important changes occur physically, socioemotionally, and cognitively

How Do Adolescents Develop

Adolescence starts at the end of childhood around ages 11 to 14, and lasts until ages 18 to 21

Disorganized/disoriented

Ainsworth herself was the first to find difficulties in fitting all infant behaviour into the three classifications used in her Baltimore study. Ainsworth and colleagues sometimes observed "tense movements such as hunching the shoulders, putting the hands behind the neck and tensely cocking the head, and so on. It was our clear impression that such tension movements signified stress, both because they tended to occur chiefly in the separation episodes and because they tended to precede crying. Indeed, our hypothesis is that they occur when a child is attempting to control crying, for they tend to vanish if and when crying breaks through".[10] Such observations also appeared in the doctoral theses of Ainsworth's students. Crittenden, for example, noted that one abused infant in her doctoral sample was classed as secure (B) by her undergraduate coders because her strange situation behavior was "without either avoidance or ambivalence, she did show stress-related stereotypic headcocking throughout the strange situation. This pervasive behavior, however, was the only clue to the extent of her stress".[11] Drawing on records of behaviors discrepant with the A, B and C classifications, a fourth classification was added by Ainsworth's graduate student Mary Main.[12] In the Strange Situation, the attachment system is expected to be activated by the departure and return of the caregiver. If the behaviour of the infant does not appear to the observer to be coordinated in a smooth way across episodes to achieve either proximity or some relative proximity with the caregiver, then it is considered "disorganised" as it indicates a disruption or flooding of the attachment system (e.g. by fear). Infant behaviours in the Strange Situation Protocol coded as disorganised/disoriented include overt displays of fear; contradictory behaviours or affects occurring simultaneously or sequentially; stereotypic, asymmetric, misdirected or jerky movements; or freezing and apparent dissociation. However, despite initial symptoms of disorganized/disoriented behaviors, Lyons-Ruth widely "recognized that 52% of disorganized infants continue to approach the caregiver, seek comfort, and cease their distress without clear ambivalent or avoidant behavior."[13] There is "rapidly growing interest in disorganized attachment" from clinicians and policy-makers as well as researchers.[14] Yet the Disorganized/disoriented attachment (D) classification has been criticised by some for being too encompassing.[15] In 1990, Ainsworth put in print her blessing for the new "D" classification, though she urged that the addition be regarded as "open-ended, in the sense that subcategories may be distinguished", as she worried that the D classification might be too encompassing and might treat too many different forms of behaviour as if they were the same thing.[16] Indeed, the D classification puts together infants who use a somewhat disrupted secure (B) strategy with those who seem hopeless and show little attachment behaviour; it also puts together infants who run to hide when they see their caregiver in the same classification as those who show an avoidant (A) strategy on the first reunion and then an ambivalent-resistant (C) strategy on the second reunion. Perhaps responding to such concerns, George and Solomon have divided among indices of Disorganized/disoriented attachment (D) in the Strange Situation, treating some of the behaviours as a "strategy of desperation" and others as evidence that the attachment system has been flooded (e.g. by fear, or anger).[17] Crittenden also argues that some behaviour classified as Disorganized/disoriented can be regarded as more 'emergency' versions of the avoidant and/or ambivalent/resistant strategies, and function to maintain the protective availability of the caregiver to some degree. Sroufe et al. have agreed that 'even disorganised attachment behaviour (simultaneous approach-avoidance; freezing, etc.) enables a degree of proximity in the face of a frightening or unfathomable parent'.[18] However, 'the presumption that many indices of "disorganisation" are aspects of organised patterns does not preclude acceptance of the notion of disorganisation, especially in cases where the complexity and dangerousness of the threat are beyond children's capacity for response'

Mental age

An assessment of a child's intellectual standing compared with that of same age peers; determined by comparing the child's test score with the average score for children of each chronological age - Normal distribution

Intelligence quotient (IQ)

An index of intelligence originally computed by dividing a child's estimated mental age by the child's chronological age, then multiplying this number by 100

Gender identity

An individual's beliefs about being male or female

Decision making

Attempting to select the best alternative among several options

Early to middle adulthood

Between the ages of 20 and 40, we actually experience a steady decline in muscle mass, bone density, eyesight, and hearing

Sensorimotor stage

Birth - 2 years The first stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development; during this stage, infants acquire information about the world through their senses and motor skills - Object permanence

Anxious-ambivalent/resistant, insecure hairline

Children classified as Anxious-Ambivalent/Resistant (C) showed distress even before separation, and were clingy and difficult to comfort on the caregiver's return.[5] They either showed signs of resentment in response to the absence (C1 subtype), or signs of helpless passivity (C2 subtype). Hans et al. have expressed concern that 'ambivalent attachment remains the most poorly understood of Ainsworth's attachment types'.[6] In particular, the relationship between ambivalent/resistant (C) and disorganisation (D) is still to be clarified.[7] However, researchers agree that the Anxious-Ambivalent/Resistant strategy is a response to unpredictably responsive caregiving, and that the displays of anger or helplessness towards the caregiver on reunion can be regarded as a conditional strategy for maintaining the availability of the caregiver by preemptively taking control of the interaction

Preconventional level

Earliest level of moral development; at this level, self-interest and event outcomes determine what is moral

Integrity versus despair

Eighth stage of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, in which older adults face the challenge of feeling satisfied that they have lived a good life and developed wisdom

Problem solving

Finding a way around an obstacle to reach a goal

Analogy

Finding an appropriate analogy for a problemcan help achieve goals

Language Develops in an Orderly Way

From zero to 60,000 - Language is a system in which sounds and symbols are used according to grammatical rules - Morphemes - Phonemes - Syntax

Robert Sternberg

He created the Sternberg Test of Mental Agility (STOMA), his first intelligence test. This problem of test taking is what sparked Sternberg's interest in psychology.

Postconventional level

Highest level of moral development; at this level, decisions about morality depend on abstract principles and the value of all life

Reliability

How consistently a psychometric test produces similar results each time it is used

Framing

How information is presented affects how that information is perceived and influences decisions

Validity

How well a psychometric test measures what it is intended to measure

Crystallized intelligence

Intelligence that reflects both the knowledge a person acquires through experience and the ability to use that knowledge

Fluid intelligence

Intelligence that reflects the ability to process information, particularly in novel or complex circumstances

Babbling

Intentional vocalization, often by an infant, with no specific meanings

Centration

Is the tendency to focus on one salient aspect of a situation and neglect other, possibly relevant aspects

Wolfgang Kohler

Kohler showed the power of insight learning by placing a banana above the reach of chimpanzees and watching how they attempted to reach the food. In the room there were several boxes, none of which was high enough to enable the chimpanzees to reach the banana. Kohler found that the chimpanzees spent most of their time unproductively rather than slowly working towards a solution. They would run around, jump, and be generally upset about their inability to snag the snack until, all of a sudden, they would pile the boxes on top of each other, climb up, and grab the bananas.

Mental maps

Mental maps include a combination of analogical and symbolic representations

Analogical representations

Mental representations that have some of the physical characteristics of objects

Conventional level

Middle level of moral development; at this level, societal laws and the approval of others determine what is moral

Harlow monkey attachment experiment

Monkeys were separated from their mothers and were given two optional mothers. One of the mothers was hard and cold, but provided the little baby monkey with food. The other "mother" was soft and warm, but did not provide food. Harlow thought that the baby monkeys will run to the cold "mother" but actually they actually went to the mother that provided warmth and was soft.

Insight Learning

Occurs when one suddenly realizes how to solve a problem. Sometimes when you are taking a test you happen upon a problem that you have no idea how to solve. Then all of a sudden, the answer comes to you. Hopefully before you hand the test in, but most of the time the answer comes to you that night in the shower

Kohlberg's three main levels of moral reasoning

Preconventional level, Conventional level, Postconventional level

Cognition Development

Psychologists now think of cognitive development in terms of trends rather than strict stages

Generativity versus stagnation

Seventh stage of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, in which middle-aged adults face the challenge of leaving behind a positive legacy and caring for future generations

Dementia

Severe impairment in intellectual capacity and personality, often due to damage to the brain

Secondary sex characteristics

Sexdifferentiating characteristics that are not directly related to reproduction but develop during the hormonal changes of puberty

Intimacy versus isolation

Sixth stage of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, in which young adults face the challenge of forming committed long-term friendships and romances

Primary sex characteristics

The reproductive organs and genitals that distinguish the sexes and their maturation for reproduction

Intelligence

The ability to use knowledge to reason, make decisions, make sense of events, solve problems, understand complex ideas, learn quickly, and adapt to environmental challenges

- Avoidant attachment (Insecure attachment)

The attachment style for infants who are somewhat willing to explore an unfamiliar environment, but seem to have little interest in the caregiver—they do not look at the caregiver when the caregiver leaves or returns

Secure attachment

The attachment style for most infants, who are confident enough to play in an unfamiliar environment as long as the caregiver is present and are readily comforted by the caregiver during times of distress

Ambivalent attachment

The attachment style for infants who are unwilling to explore an unfamiliar environment but seem to have mixed feelings about the caregiver—they cry when the caregiver leaves the room, but they cannot be consoled by the caregiver upon the caregiver's return

Adulthood

The body and mind start deteriorating more rapidly at about age 50

Theory of mind

The capacity to understand that other people have minds and intentions

Gender roles

The characteristics associated with being male or being female, because of cultural influence or learning

Identity versus role confusion

The fifth stage of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, in which adolescents face the challenge of figuring out who they are

General intelligence

The idea that one general factor underlies intelligence

Triarchic theory

The idea that people have three types of intelligence: analytical, creative, and practica

Egocentrism

The inability to distinguish one's own perspective from that of others, but does not necessarily imply selfishness or conceit.

A senior moment

The inability to remember something we knew a moment before

Puberty

The physical changes in the body that are a part of sexual development

Telegraphic speech

The tendency for toddlers to speak using rudimentary sentences that are missing words and grammatical markings but follow a logical syntax and convey a wealth of meaning

Overregularization

The tendency for young children to incorrectly use a regular syntax rule where they should use an exception to the rule

Raymond Cattell

Was a British and American psychologist, known for his psychometric research into intrapersonal psychological structure and his exploration of many areas within empirical psychology. These multifaceted areas included: the basic dimensions of personality and temperament, the range of cognitive abilities, the dynamic dimensions of motivation and emotion, the clinical dimensions of abnormal personality, patterns of group syntality and social behavior, applications of personality research to psychotherapy and learning theory, predictors of creativity and achievement, and many multivariate research methods including the refinement of factor analytic methods for exploring and measuring these domains.

Charles Spearman

Was an English psychologist known for work in statistics, as a pioneer of factor analysis, and for Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. He also did seminal work on models for human intelligence, including his theory that disparate cognitive test scores reflect a single General intelligence factor and coining the term g factor

The paradox of choice

When too many options are available, especially when all of them are attractive, we experience conflict and indecision

Working backward

Working backward is helpful when the appropriate steps for solving a problem are not clear; it involves proceeding from the goal state to the initial state