Development and Social Psychology

Question 1

Mere-exposure effect

Answer 1

The tendency to prefer stimuli that have been seen before over novel ones. There also is a generalized mere-exposure effect shown in a preference for stimuli that are similar to those that have been seen before.

Question 2

Habituation

Answer 2

When participants demonstrated decreased attention (through looking or listening behavior) to repeatedly-presented stimuli.

Question 3

Object permanence

Answer 3

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be directly observed (e.g., that a pen continues to exist even when it is hidden under a piece of paper).

Answer 4

Psychophysiology
Parent-report questionnaires
verbal report paradigms and Vignette
A short story that presents a situation that participants are asked to respond to.

Question 5

Vignette

Answer 5

A short story that presents a situation that participants are asked to respond to.

Question 6

Research methods vs Research design

Answer 6

research methods are the tools that are used to collect information. Research design is the strategy or blueprint for deciding how to collect and analyze information. Research design dictates which methods are used and how.

Question 7

attrition

Question 8

Sequential research designs

Answer 8

A research design that includes elements of cross-sectional and longitudinal research designs. Similar to cross-sectional designs, sequential research designs include participants of different ages within one study; similar to longitudinal designs, participants of different ages are followed over time.

Question 9

Need to belong theory

Answer 9

The need to belong is as important to humans as food and shelter

In order for this need to be satisfied, two aspects of relationships must be met:
-Have POSITIVE and PLEASANT interactions with others
-Interactions in the context of being STABLE, LASTING relationships

The need to belong is not the same for everyone–> high need characterized by a strong desire to be accepted into social interactions+ strong reactions to exclusion

Question 10

Satiation and Substitution
(Need to Belong Theory)

Answer 10

Once people have reached a certain minimum number of social contacts that have a minimum quality level, their motivation to seek new relationships diminishes. When they lose relationships, though, they may want new ones

Question 11

Social Identity Theory

Answer 11

The groups we belong to are important to how we feel about ourselves

Social Identities: Charactersitics we share because we belong to this group, that differnetiate us from others

Personal identities: The characteristics that differnetiate us from other members of the group–> the role we play within relationships

There are three important components to the Social Identity Theory:
Categorisation
Identification
Comparison

Question 12

Categorisation
(Social Identity Theory)

Answer 12

You are grouping other people into groups based on observable charcteristics

Question 13

Identification
(Social Identity Theory)

Answer 13

Groups that we perceieve ourselves to belong to

Question 14

Comparison
(Social Identity Theory)

Question 15

In-groups and out-groups
(Social Identity Theory)

Answer 15

In-groups are the ones we identify with, it commands our esteem and loyalty

Out-groups are the social groups which we do not identify

Social Identity Theory states that the In-group will discriminate the out-group to enhance their self image

Question 16

Group prototypes
(Social Identity Theory)

Answer 16

Group-prototypes are a collection of attributes used to define a particular group

Eg if all in-group members are democrats and someone doesnt vote democrat then this is strange behaviour

In-group members will act in accordance with the prototypes that define our in-group

Question 17

Groups, belonging and health

Answer 17

When we belong to groups and indetify with them–>
- Connectedness (youre part of smth bigger)
-Purpose and worth (shared sense of purpose, members feel valued as well as their contributions)
-Social support (more likely to give and receive help to people you feel connected to eg Italians rather donate to Italy but when UK in crisis we speak of help to the “europeans” putting us all into one connected group)

Question 18

More groups = better?

Answer 18

Having many groups is good as long as your role/ the nature of your group memberships are in accordance/in harmony with one another

harmony between identities is important, otherwise inner conflict and having many groups is no longer beneficial

Important to chose the one that fits YOUR identity, you as a person

Question 19

Non-verbal behaviour and communication

Answer 19

Form of communication in which thoughts and feelings are sent and received without the use of words

Examples:
-Use of touch
-Facial expressions
-Gestures
-Eye gaze
-Posture

Question 20

Emotions vs Moods vs Emotional conditions

Answer 20

Emotions:
Brief
Response to specific events

Moods:
Can last for days and sometimes even longer
Cause of moods is unclear, could be anything really

Emotional condition:
Lasting weeks, months to years

Question 21

Encoding vs Decoding

Answer 21

Encoding: You are EXPRESSING/emitting non-verbal behaviour

Decoding: you are INTERPRETING the meaning/ behaviour from other –> eg deciding that the pat on back you just received is condescneding rather than with kind intent

Question 22

Discrete vs Dimensional emotions

Answer 22

Discrete: Like in movie Inside Out where “fear” is separate from “disgust” or “sadness”

Dimensional: Emotions exist on a spectrum eg unpleasant to pleasant

Question 23

Looking at faces/expressions: Forced Choice Paradigm?

Answer 23

You are told to state what kind of emotion a person is feeling based on their expression, then youre givne 5 options (not just choosing what u think it is, but rather the best out of the 5 given options)

Question 24

Factors that decrease decoding accuracy: disguising/emotional surpression

Answer 24

People try to hide or disguse their emotions in certain situations

Question 25

Factors that decrease decoding accuracy: Cultural

Answer 25

There are cultural "display rules" that govern what emotions people in the society are allowed to show--> governs behavioural norms in society Example: In US--> suspcious if someone does not look you in the eye In Thailand, Nigeria and Puerto Rico--> direct eye contact considered disrespectful

Question 26

Affiliation

Answer 26

Tendency to form social bonds with others

Question 27

Ostracism

Answer 27

Exclusion of someone from a society or a group Also a powerful threat to our needs of belonging, control and self esteem

Question 28

Privacy regulation Theory (Theories of Affiliation)

Answer 28

We adjust the levels/amount of time we want for ourselves eg if youve had a lot of interactions with people, u wanna calm things down so u leave ir sturday free and exerting control

Question 29

Social Affiliation Model (Theories of Affiliation)

Answer 29

Amount/Need of affilitation changes over time depending on our circmstances

Question 30

Dunbar Number

Answer 30

Mainting friendhsips requires cognitive resouces--> we have a limit According to Dunbar, we can maintain about 150 casual relationships out of these 50 will be good friends of these 15 will be confidants and of these 5 are our close support group So if you make anew close friend, then someone from this "close friend" group will be kicked out into the lower level so to speak

Question 31

Determinants of attraction: target centered

Answer 31

1. Physical characteristics 2. Similarity to self: Similar age, race, attitude, education, beliefs etc 3. Reciprocity: tendency to like people who like us and dislike people who dislike us. Give back to others what you receive from them generally 4. Proximity: tendency to be attracted to people we come into contact with. Proximity provides moticatioin and more liekly to meet ppl who share smth in common with u

Question 32

Attractiveness ofn physical characteristics--> two theories of attractivenesss

Answer 32

1. Dimorphism 2. Averageness

Question 33

Dimorphism (Theory of attractiveness)

Answer 33

How masculine or feminine a face is found to be Female faces that have more feminnes features found to be more attractive for both men and women Males have mixed evidence Limitation: study was conducted on striaght people--> sexual orientation makes a difference

Question 34

Symmetry (Theory of attractiveness)

Answer 34

Left and right side of the face symmetry is more attractive Average faces also more attractive because people like familiartiy--> avwrage represents fcial features we jhave seen many times before, we develop a preference for things we have seen many times

Question 35

Halo Effect--> attractiveness

Answer 35

"What is beautiful is good" More attractive => higgher rating on positive and lower rating on negaitve traits This is consistent across cultures

Question 36

Attractiveness stereotype

Answer 36

The relationship between attractibvness and personality/intelligence/self-esteem etc However THERE IS NO RELATIONSHIP Though there could be a self fulfilling prophecy--> people deemed more attractive might be more confident and have better social skills BECAUSE of how ppl treat them. Theyre treated that way so can act that way

Question 37

Prosocial behaviour

Answer 37

actions that are geenrally valued b y other peoiple in a particular society May have some benefit to the person doing it

Question 38

Helping bejaviour

Answer 38

act where people voluntarily and intentionall behvae in a way they believe will benefit others

Question 39

Altruism

Answer 39

specfici type of prosocial behaviour that will beneefit others without any expectation that it expected to have oersoal benefits

Question 40

Evolutionary basis (why do people help)

Answer 40

Biologically predisposed to help others? Young children demonstrated sympathetic arousal changes when they hekpled someone but ALSO when someone else is being helped--> humans have motivation from young age

Question 41

Social Norms (why do people help?)

Answer 41

Reciprocity--> "Ill help you if you help me". Increases likelihood of getting help in the future so this interaction is almost like an investment Social responsibilty --> Helping those who are dependant on us eg children unwritten soceital rules and expectations about behaviour that are considered appropriate and acceptable Social justice--> we should help others who deserve help (i.e "good people" in trouble)

Question 42

Modelling (why do people help?)

Answer 42

Obserbving and copying helping behaviour, which shows us how to behave when we come across a certain situation BUT We dont always act in the ways weve observed others helping AND people stil help in situations theyve never come across before

Question 43

Social Exchange Theory

Answer 43

Its the costs and benefits of helping/relationship

Question 44

Social Exchange Theory: Benefits of helping

Answer 44

Benefits: +can be rewarding eg repicropicty increases the likelihood of you getting help in the future, so someone will heklp you when YOu need i +Relief of bysrander distress: distubing to see others in distress, so to relieve our own "second hand" distress, we help, so we dont need to see experience it +Gain rewards such as feelings of self worth and self presentation

Question 45

Social Exchange Theory: Costs

Answer 45

Costs: -Physical danger, pain, embarassment, rejection (they dont want ur help), time etc. Helping behaviour decreases when costs are high Social Exchnage Theory argues that true altruism doesnt exist becaus people will only help if benefits outweigh the costs

Question 46

Empathy vs Altruism

Answer 46

Empathy: Ability to understand and share feelings of other person Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis When we feel empaht for a person, we will attempt to help that person if we do not feel empathy, we will follow the Social Exchange Theory

Question 47

Bystander Effect

Answer 47

The presence/ absence of other people will affect how likely it is that someone will help When people believe that there are more people vaiable to help, the less likelly it is that YOU will be the one to take action

Question 48

Pluralistic Ignorance

Answer 48

Concept relevant to the bystander effect When a situation is ambigous, people will look around them to see what others are doing/ how they are reacting. But everyone else is also doing the same thing--> leading to no one helping out

Question 49

Bystander effect decision tree

Answer 49

1. notice the event 2. Interpret as an emergency (or pluralistic ignorance) 3. Assume responsibilty (or diffuse responsibilty) 4. Know how to help (if you feel you dont have the kjnpwldege or skills required to help yu prpbably wont do it) 5. Decide to help People wil only help in an emergency if they successfuly go through all 5 of these steps

Question 50

Nature (Recurring debates in human development)

Answer 50

The hereditary information present at the moment of conception that may affect later development Stability--> individuals high or low in a certain characteristic will remain so at later ages Babies already primed to interact and connect with their caregivers and a lot of info and ability is already present in terms of facila recognition and discrimination of faces, facila experessions

Question 51

Nurture (Recurring debates in human development)

Answer 51

All external elements that may influence development Early experiences --> powerful events in the first few years that cannot be fully overcome in later years All humans skills cannot be innate because some skills involve human inventions

Question 52

Plasticity (Recurring debates in human development)

Answer 52

Nature vs Nurture/ stability vs early experiences => change is possible and liekly if new expeirences support it

Question 53

Continuity or Discontinuity (Recurring debates in human development)

Answer 53

Continuous growth like eg plant Child is just a small human and it grows bigger and bigger Discontinous growth like eg butterfly, where caterpillar is siginifcantly different from the chrysalis and that itself is significantly difffernet from the butterfly If development is discontinous like a butterfly, then children cannot be treated like mini adults as they are probably in a completely different phase than we as adults are

Question 54

Active or Passive? (Recurring debates in human development)

Answer 54

Rousseaus "NOBLE SAVAGE" describes the development of a child to be helpless against the corrupt and evil and insincere society. That is childhood The TRANSACTIONAL MODEL argues that the child affects the environment as much as the environment affects the child.

Question 55

Sensitive and Critical Periods

Answer 55

Critical Period: Significant brain development can happen if necessary experience i s availablem if not the DEVELOPMENT NOT POSSIBLE, or just very difficult Sensitive Period: softer version of critical period--> there is a period of time where declopemtn happens more easily/better chances of it happening, but that doesnt mean it cant happen at a later stage, it will just be more difficult

Question 56

Involuntary response (Research methods in human development)

Answer 56

Measuring eg heart rate or brain activity Child too young to make voluntary decisions and cannot talk to voice its opinions

Question 57

Voluntary responses (Research methods in human development)

Answer 57

As children develop and gain more motor control and independance, they can choose between different toys, food etc. Researches can study their behavioural choices

Question 58

Standardized questionnaires (Research methods in human development)

Answer 58

Asking parents/teachers to report on behalf of the child

Question 59

Longitudinal (Research design in human development)

Answer 59

Used to study same children over longer period of time Practice effects High attrition Costly Optimal for studying stability and change

Question 60

Cross-sectional (Research design in human development)

Answer 60

Used to study different age groups at the same time Faster data collection No practice effects Results dont promise change indicate development, only that age difference exist on average

Question 61

Sequential (Research design in human development)

Answer 61

Incorporates elements of both longitudinal and cross- sectional design Children of different ages are followed over a certain amount of time Allows researcher to examine age related and development related changes in the children as they grow and age

Question 62

BPS Ethical Principles ( Ethics in studying human development)

Answer 62

Respect for autonomy of participant, right to privacy, making decisions Competence: Every professional has their limits and its important for the researcher to acknowledge this and stay within their comptence/limits. Eg working with adults rather than children is also a specific competence/limit Responsibility: researchers responsibilty to avoid causing harm to the participant, the profession, the geenral piblic (dont pblish bullsheit and make sure ur taking care of the participant well) Integrity: Honesty, openness and trying to avoid bias

Question 63

Child assent

Answer 63

Seeing whether the child looks sufficinetly content to proceed/take part in the experiment. If child is no longer comfrotable you must stop the experiment

Question 64

Child assent

Answer 64

Seeing whether the child looks sufficinetly content to proceed/take part in the experiment. If child is no longer comfrotable you must stop the experiment

Question 65

1. Sensorimotor (Piagets stages of cognitive development)

Answer 65

From birth to 2 years 1. Development of means ends behaviour: If i touch this, it will make a sound or when I cry this person brings me milk--> ability to influence the person taking care of them 2. Gradual sepraration of self from environment: Playing with feet like playing with a toy, no understanding that it os part of their body. So in this stage they become able to distinguish between "me" and "outside of me"/external environment 3. Object permanence: understanding that something stilll exists even when you cant see it End of stage sognalled by DEFERRED IMITATION (doing/copying something someone did when model is not present)

Question 66

2. Preoperational Stage (Piagets stages of cognitive development)

Answer 66

1. Semiotic functions: Child devlops ability to find a way to represent the things they want to talk about using objects symbols or words This ability allows the child to atart thinking about the past, present and future and use language 2. Children in this stage are egocentric: inability to seprate their persepctive from that of others-- not much exists outside of "your" world. So eg if parent go through searation or illness, child might attribute it to themselves 3. Unable to use logic to problem solve

Question 67

3. Concrete Operational Stage (Piagets stages of cognitive development)

Answer 67

About 7-12 years Children enter this stage when they are able to solve conservation tasks correctly Begin to think logically but not not hypothetically: physicsal components of problem must be present

Question 68

4. Formal Operational Stage (Piagets stages of cognitive development)

Answer 68

12+ Thinking both logical and abstract Can reason hypothetically Think about the natture and their role in society/ philosophical thinking Covers huge range of development

Question 69

Factors influencing the Stages of Development (Piagets stages of cognitive development)

Answer 69

Speed of propgression determined by environment Stages occur in an invariable sequence When child begins a new stage, schemes/thoughts are somewhat disorganized and unstable, whereas when ending a stage the are well formed and organized (like leaving highschool and entering uni)

Question 70

Schemes

Answer 70

Basic mental structures Coordinated and systematic pattern of action/way of reasoning At all stages of cognitive development, children and adults apply schemes as a means of interacting with their environment

Question 71

Key concepts (Piagets stages of cognitive development)

Answer 71

Assimilation: interpreting an experience through your current ways of thinking/schemes Example- you used to have a dog so now you "know" how to act around such a concept/animal or a child assimilating rattle into "graspable things" scheme Accomodation: modification of behaviour when you realize your schemes are not longer fitting Example- you meet another dog but its not like the big friendly one you have at home, its small and aggressive so ur not too sure how to go about the situation --> existing scheme doesnt fit this new experience or child must also accomodate novel factors into grasp action when in contact with eg newer, heavier rattle i.e weight Equilibration: Through innate self regulatory process of assimilation and accomodation you create a more organised, powerful and complex scheme for adapting to the environment

Question 72

Nurture vs Nature? (Piaget)

Answer 72

Interaction between nurture and nature: innate desire to be part of environmtn and learn from it but there needs to be smth to interact with

Question 73

Cognitive Conflict & Equilibration (Piaget)

Answer 73

Self regulatory process of trying to achieve a balance in physically responding to & mentally understanding objects, events and relationships between them

Question 74

Active or Passive? (Piaget)

Answer 74

Knowledge is constructed, created and formed by continuous REVISIONS and REORGANISATIONS of intellectual STRUCTURES in conjunction with experience Children are active participants in what they learn (Constructivist view--> child are little scientists and participate in

Question 75

Continuous or discontinuous (Piaget)

Answer 75

In earlier writing, emphasized distinctive discontinuous stages but later described it as more constantly occurring, like a spiral

Question 76

Critical or sensitive periods? (Piaget)

Answer 76

Piagets stages represent SENSITIVE periods i.e approximate times for optimal learning But believed that development was a lifelong process

Question 77

Strengths and Limitations of Piagets Stages of cognitive Development

Answer 77

+Discovered surprising features of childrens thinking eg object permanence + Ecological validity Piaget focussed on childrens adaption to the world they encounter every day + Recognized central role of cognition -culturally contained/westernized bias -little emphasis on individual differences -lack of attention to whole lifespan (a whole lot happens after 12 years of age no??)