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.