Behavioural Science Flashcards
Charles Darwin and the Study of Emotion
Built on his idea that humans evolved from lower mammals. (Human emotion is an evolved emotion from mammals)
His evidence was universal emotions which all mammals and humans express
Universal Emotions
Include surprise, fear, contempt, disgust, anger, happiness and sadness
William James and Karl Lange and Emotion
Turned the study of emotion upside down.
Questioned what would be left of the feeling of fear if we didn’t have the physiological response of a pounding heart and so on.
Concluded that emotion starts in the body. (example how can you be scared without a bodily response)
James-Lange Theory
Believed that physiological changes trigger conscious emotions. (You become happier when you smile).
Only when the body responses do you feel emotion
- Detect emotional stimulus
- Activate sympathetic nervous system
- Feel physiological changes
- Feel conscious emotions
Walter Cannon and Philip Bard
Contradicted the James-Lange Theory. (Physiologists that studied the thalamus and the SNS)
They claimed that someone for example with a pounding heart, trembling lips, weakened limbs way be scared, in love, happy, or just working out.
How can physiological changes cause conscious emotions when the same physiological changes are associated with so many different circumstances.
They thought that the conscious experience of emotion and the physiological changes were separate and simultaneous phenomenon.
Cannon-Bard Theory
They studied the thalamus and believed that emotion comes from the thalamus, up to the cortex, conscious experience of emotion, down to the body and physiological changes simultaneously.
Key Concept:
Claims physiological changes and conscious emotion occur simultaneously.
Neuroanatomy and Limbic System
During the experience of emotion, the thalamus (which is part of the limbic system) communicates physiological changes to the body and emotional cognition to the upper cortex.
Three other structures within the limbic system are the:
Amygdala: Best known for its role in fear and aggression.
Septal nuclei: sometimes called the brain’s pleasure centers because of its role in the dopaminergic reward system
Hippocampus: Memory formation
Schacter-Singer Theory (1962)
Cognitive appraisal refers to environmental cues to help assign emotional states.
In a way rescues the James-Lange theory since sometimes people may misinterpret a physiological change in their body as something different. For example if you have butterflies in your stomach representing a feeling of nervousness, some athletes view it as excitement before a race.
Their theory claims that cognitive appraisal is used to distinguish between emotional states. (they will experience whatever emotion their subconscious has chosen)
Theories of Emotion Summary
Schacter-Singer: Cognitive appraisal is used to distinguish between emotional states.
Cannon-Brad: Physiological changes and conscious emotions occur simultaneously
James-Lange: Physiological changes trigger conscious emotions
Freud: Psychosexual Development
Human psychology and human sexuality were inextricably linked.
Made the assertion that far from lying dormant until puberty, the libido (sex drive) is present at birth.
Believed that libidinal energy and the drive to reduce libidinal tension were underlying dynamic forces that accounted for human psychological processes.
Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development
Fixation: When a child is overindulged or overly frustrated during a stage of development, which causes anxiety. The child develops a personality pattern based on that particular stages, which persists into adulthood as a functional mental disorder known as neurosis.
Orangutans Always Play With Little Gorillas
Oral (0-1 years): Libidinal energy centered on the mouth; fixation can lead to excessive dependency
Anal (1-3 years): Toilet training occurs during this time; fixation can lead to excessive orderliness or messiness
Phallic (3 to 5): Oedipal or Electra conflict is resolved during this stage
Latency (lasts until puberty): Libido is largely sublimated during this stage
Genital (once puberty starts): begins during puberty; if previous stages have been successfully resolved, the person will enter into normal heterosexual relationships. If sexual traumas of childhood are not resolved then homosexuality, asexuality or fetishism may result.
Erikson: Psychosocial Development
Theorizes that personality development is driven by the successful resolution of a series of social and emotion conflicts.
For example as new borns we learn trust when our parents are providing us support; however in some circumstances that may not happen and they have mistrust and Erikson’s theory is that individuals can move onto the next stage and learn trust later on in life.
Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
Kohleberg’s Theory of Moral Reasoning
Focuses not on urges or on resolving conflicts, but the development of moral thinking.
Reasoned that as our cognitive abilities grow, we are able to think about the world in more complex and nuanced ways, and this directly affects the ways in which we resolve moral dilemmas and perceive the notion of right and wrong.
Kohlberg’s Phases and Stages of Moral Development
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Preconventional Morality: Is typical of preadolescent thinking and places an emphasis on the consequences of the moral choice
- Stage 1: obedience is concerened with avoiding punishments
- Stage 2: Self-interest is about gaining reward. Often called the instrumental relativist stage because it is based on the concepts of reciprocity and sharing.
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Conventional morality: Beings to develop in early adolescence when individuals begin to see themselves in terms on their relationships to others. Based on understanding and accepting social rules.
- Stage 3: Conformity places emphasis on the “good boy, nice girl” orientation in which a person seeks the approval of others.
- Stage 4: Law and order maintains the social order in the highest regard
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Postconventional Morality: Describes a level of reasoning that Kohlberg claimed not everyone was capable of and is based on social mores, which may conflict with laws
- Stage 5: Social contract views moral rules as conventions that are designed to ensure the greater good, with reasoning focused on individual rights
- Stage 6: Universal Human Ethics reasons that decisions should be made in consideration of abstract principles.
Vygostsky: Cultural and Biosocial Development
Known for his concept of the zone of proximal development, referring to those skills and abilities that have not yet been fully developed by are in the process.
Gaining these skills successfully require the help of someone more knowledgeable. For example when a parent is helping a child learn to ride a bike, the child may be successful and Vygotsky would say that this skill is within the child’s zone of proximal development.
The Influence of Others on Identity
- Children copy others behaviours such as their parents, older siblings, teachers, or even people on the media
- As they get older they may realize that their identity and personality is different from their own
Theory of Mind
- The ability to sense how another’s mind works - for example, understanding how a friend is interpreting a story while you tell it.
- Once we develop a theory of mind, we begin to recognize and react to how others think about us.
- We become away of judgments from others and learn to react to them.
Looking-Glass Self
Our understanding of how others see us, which relies on perceiving a reflection of ourselves based on the words and actions of others
Reference Group
- The group that we use as a standard to evaluate ourselves.
- Our self-concept often depends on whom we are comparing ourselves to.
Positive Punishment
A type of operant conditioning, proposed by B.F Skinner. It is a form of punishment in which you add something to the environment to deter a particular behaviour.
Positive Reinforcemement
The addition of a reinforcing stimulis following a behaviour that makes it more likely that the behaviour will happen again in the future
Negative Punishment
Another concept by B.F Skinner’s theory on operant conditioning. The goal is to decrease unwanted behaviour by taking something good or desirable away to reduce the occurrence of a particular behaviour.
Positive Punishment
When you add a consequence to unwanted behaviour, but the outcome is good. Example, car beeping until you put a seatbelt on.
Population Bottleneck
- An event that dramatically reduces the size of a population.
- May be caused by various events, such as environmental disaster, the hunting of a species to a point of extinction, or habit destruction that results in the death of organisms
Foraging Behaviour
- The behaviour of foraging, or seeking out and eating food is driven by biological, psychological, and social influences.
- Includes all the methods by which an organism acquires and utilizes sources of energy and nutrients.
- Can be described by game theory
- Game theory describes behaviour that is similar to an organism competing in a game.
Positive and Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia
- This disorder consists of positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms add something to behaviour, cognition, or affect and include disorganized speech delusions, hallucinations and disorganized behaviours.
- The negative symptoms include apathy, lethargy, and withdrawal from social events or settings
Borderline Personality Disorder
This disorder involved instability in relationships, mood and self-images
Bipolar I disorder
This disorder consists of at least one manic episode
Narcissistic personality disorder
This disorder involves a grandiose sense of importance and need for admiration
K-Complexes
- Two functions
- Suppressing cortical arousal in response to stimuli that the sleeping brain evaluates not to signal danger
- Aiding sleep-based memory consolidation
- Have a drastic drop in voltage during stage 2 sleep
Theta Waves (voltage reading of an EEG)
- Lower frequency, high voltage waves found in EEG reading during sleep but do not have a drastic drop
Sleep Spindles (Voltage Reading)
Are not drastic drops but smaller and more rapid oscillations in voltage readings on the EEG
Paradoxical sleep
IS not a specific voltage reading on an EEG, but a term that describes how EEG reading during REM sleep mimic those of someone who is awake
Social Facilitation
- Is the tendency that people perform better on simple tasks when in the presence of others.
- Supports the idea that people naturally exhibit a performance response when they know that they are being watched.
- According to the Yerkes-Dodson law of social facilitation, being in the presence of others will significantly raise arousal which enhances the ability to perform tasks one is already good at (or simple tasks) and hinders the performance of less familiar tasks (or complex tasks).
- For example, an expert pianist may perform better in concert than when alone in practice sessions; however, someone with very limited knowledge of music would perform worse in a social setting than when alone.
Synesthesia
Signal Detection Theory
Bottom-up Processing
Morphology
Refers to the structure of words.
Phonology
Refers to the actual sound of language which varies according to regional dialects
Syntax
The same word can often carry multiple meanings depending on word order. This caries according to placement
Pragmatics
Refers to the context and sounds of a word used in speech and is fluid quality of a word which means that it changes with context.
Maslow’s Humanistic Theory of Motivation
- Suggests that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other more advanced needs.
- Physiological Needs: Food, Water, warmth, rest
- Safety Needs: Security, safety
- Belonging and Love needs: Intimate relationships, friends
- Esteem Needs: Prestige and feelings of accomplishment
- Self-Actualization: Achieving one’s full potential, including creative activities
State-Dependent Memory
Refers to improved recall of specific episodes or information when cues relating to emotional and physical state are the same during encoding and retrieval. State retrieval clues may be based on state-the physical or psychological state of the person when information is encoded and retrieved.
Hippocampus
- Deep into the medial temporal lobe and connected with the amygdala
- Major role in controlling emotional memory and regulation, as well as memory.
- Signals are relayed from the olfactory bulb via the olfactory tract to higher reactions of the brain including the hippocampus which helps from and retrieve memories. This allows for the linking of smell with memory and emotion.
Major Depressive Disorder
- Is a mood disorder characterized by at least one major depressive episode, which is a period of at least two weeks with at least five symptoms.
- The symptoms of major depressive disorder (Sadness + SIG E. CAPS)
- Sleep
- Intrest
- Guilt
- Energy
- Concentration
- Appetite
- Psyschomotor symptoms
- Suicidal thoughts
Stereotype Content Model
- Admiration Stereotype
- Contemptuous Stereotype
- Paternalistic Stereotype
- Envious Stereotype
Admiration Stereotype
- Those in which the group is viewed with pride and other positive feelings.
- High status, not competitive (e.g, ingroup, close allies)
Contemptuous Stereotypes
- Those in which the group is viewed with resentment, annoyance or anger.
- Low status, competitive. (e.g, poor people, welfare recipients).
Paternalistic Stereotype
- Those in which the group is looked down upon as inferior, dismissed or ignored
- Low Status, not competitive (e.g., housewives, elderly people, disabled people)
Envious Steryotye
- Those in which the group is viewed with jealousy, bitterness or distrust.
- High status, competitive. (e.g., Asians, rich people, feminists, Jews.
Assimilation
The process of classifying new information into existing schemata
Recognition
The process of identifying a piece of information that was previously learned
Accommodation
The process of adjusting existing schemata to encompass new information
Top-Down Processing
- refers to object recognition
- Involves higher-level cognitive functions, such as thinking and memory, which allows us to utilize information that has previously been taken in by out sensory systems,.
Threshold of conscious perception
Refers to a stimulus that arrives at the central nervous system but does not reach the higher-order brain regions that control attention and consciousness
Signal Detection Theory
Focuses on the changes in our perception of the same stimuli depending on both internal (psychological) and external (environmental) context. The meaning changes as the stimulus perception is changed
Vestibular Sense
- Enables the nervous system to detect changes in linear and rotational acceleration of the head.
- It is important to keep out body balances and tell our brain where our head is in space (proprioception)
Feature Detection
- There are specialized cells in out visual pathways that allow us to detect either colour, shape, or motion.
- They do NOT allow us to detect names
