DSE212 Terminology - Exam Part 1 Bullet Points

Question 1

Core Identity

Answer 1

Erikson

Psychosocial

Sense of self

Remains stable

8 stages

+ Psychosocial Theory

+ Issue of debate

+ Not shared with other theorists

+ SIT contests notion

+ Adoption

• Culturally specific

Question 2

Social Constructionism

Answer 2

Diverse range of ideas

Not one theorist

Fluid and dynamic

Language

Example Gergen and housewife

Qualitative methods

+ Newly emerging perspective

+ Alternative to more established approaches

+ SIT and Psychosocial

Question 3

Social Identity Theory

Answer 3

Tajfel

Division

Personal - Social

In-groups

Self-esteem

Sufficient for prejudice

Social mobility

+ Ideas led to technqiues challenging prejudice

+ Elliot’s A Class Divided (blue/brown eyes)

• Lab based
• Trivialises social differences eg race, gender

Question 4

Minimal group

Answer 4

Minimal basis

Random allocation

Tajfel

SIT

Groups = prejudice

Prejudice/out group/self-esteem

Positive social identity

+ Provides evidence possible cause of prejudice

+ Implications ways to reduce prejudice

+ Blue/brown eyed study - experiencing prejudice

• Robust findings but lab based
• Oversimplifies social differences eg gender and race

Question 5

Natural Selection

Answer 5

Darwin

Key terms

Evolution

Genetic variation

Competing for resources

Better chance of survival

Inherit good characteristics

Survival of the fittest

+ Leads to adaptions

+ Concept of Darwin

+ Explains why adaption first emerged eg TOM

Question 6

Sexual Selection

Answer 6

Special form of natural selection

Reproductive success rather than sexual

Traits (reproductive success passed on)

Intrasexual

Intersexual

+ Determines reproductive success

+ Greater possibility of passing on advantageous traits

+ Explains differences in male/female attributes

+ Important concept in Darwin’s theory

Question 7

Reciprocal Altruism

Answer 7

Benefiting another

Not kin - at cost to self

Direct reciprocity

Contrasts with other forms of altruism

Kin selection

Indirect reciprocity

Prisoner’s Dilemma

+ Requires TOM

+ Evolutionary psychology found altruism in apes hence apes may have rudimentary TOM

• Prisoner’s Dilemma - low ecological validity and cultural bias

Question 8

Behaviourism

Answer 8

Proposed by Watson

Comparative approach

Behaviour in one species may be generalised to others

Rat Human

Focused on learning

Classical instrumental

Skinner

Law of Effect

+ Hugely influential

+ Practical uses

+ Behaviour modification

+ Systematic desensitisation, CBT, phobias

• Ignoring cognitive factors
• Underestimating innate biases in terms of what is learned

Question 9

Genotype

Answer 9

All genes in a cell

Laid down at fertilisation

Identical in all cells except sex cells (gametes)

Static across life-span

Interacts with cellular and environmenal factors

Create phenotype

Phenotype develop in number of ways

Plant and environment

+ Demonstrates the need to consider environment plus biology

+ Subsequent environmental interaction will influence phenotype

Question 10

Phenotype

Answer 10

Genes influence structure and function of body

Interaction

Phenotype created

Features of phenotype change (muscles)

Phenotype differs between identical twins

+ Phenotype/genotype distinction highlights that environment AND biology need to be considered when investigating development and behaviour

Question 11

Action Potential

Answer 11

Brief sudden change

Electric voltage

Frequency - pain/fast

Sensory neurons send information from site of stimulus to CNS

Motor neurons send information from CNS to muscles

Trigger excitation or inhibition

+ Role in understanding nervous system

+ One way of measuring how info is transmitted to the nervous system

Question 12

Brain Lesions

Answer 12

Damage

Roger Sperry

Separated brain hemispheres (split brain experiments)

Freeman treated mental illness

Electrodes/Parkinson’s diseases

+ Source of info for brain function

+ Penfield used electric stimuli to elicit childhood memories which provides basis for biological theories of memories

• Lesions made using lab animals (sham lesions) provide precise information but raise ethical issues

Question 13

Neurotransmitter

Answer 13

Chemical messenger

Trigger excitation in post-synaptic neuron or inhibition

Gap between neurons is called synapse

Neurons characterised by neurotransmitter stored eg serotonergic neurons store serotonin

+ Malfunctions at synapse associated with mental illness

+ SSRI drugs eg Prozac help depression - leave serotonin in the synapse for longer

Question 14

Bottleneck Theory of Attention

Answer 14

Broadbent

Small amount of information early in system

Contrast with Treisman who says it is late

Lavie suggests early or late depending on perceptual load

+ Bottleneck theories stimulate research in how attention system works

+ Explains why processing of incoming info may happen in different ways

• early selection (dichotic listening experiments/split span procedures)

Question 15

Gibson’s Direct Perception

Answer 15

Incoming sensory info sufficient

Contrasts with Gregory

Dynamic ever changing scene

Frog and fly

+ May help describe different facets of perception

+ Complementary with Gregory

• Illusions seem to require stored knowledge in order to explain how they work

Question 16

Attentional Spotlight

Answer 16

Posner metaphor

Outside area sensed but not perceived

Zoomed in and out

Auditory attention

Lavie heavy load

Engel attentional tunnelling

+ Way to conceptualise how we pay attention

+ How and why different levels of concentration are appropriate

Question 17

Top-Down Processing

Answer 17

Prior knowledge

Experience

Contrasts with bottom-up

Emphasised by Gregory’s constructivist

Schemas/stereotypes eg of cognitive structures that explain it

Bete

Muller-Lyer

+ Provides an explanation for some aspects of perception

Question 18

Stereotype

Answer 18

Mental representation

Over-generalises

Emphasise characeristics of group rather than individuals

Darley and Gross study rich children - high academic achievers

+ Exaggerates similarities between categories and differences with others

+ Tajfel in-group out-group

+ Allows fast efficient cognitive processing

Question 19

Fundamental Attribution Error

Answer 19

Others behaviour internal

Reverses for own behaviour

Actor/observer effect

Bias rather than eror

+ Demonstrates cultural differences

+ Biases our explanation of people’s behaviour

+ Storms change in perceptual perspective changed the reasons people gave for behaviour

Question 20

Self Serving Bias

Answer 20

Tendency to attribute own behaviour

Internal success (dispositional)

External failures (situational)

Could be cognitive bias if we expect to succeed

Motivational bias if we need to feel good

+ Identifies ways we distort judgment

+ Could help people with low self esteem (if incorrect attributions can be shown)

+ Opportunities to improve

Question 21

Attribution Theory

Answer 21

Explanation of behaviour

Selves and others

Justify behaviour

Useful for predicting future behaviours

Cause and effect = regularity and predictability

+ Helps to explain social cognition (how people think about people in society)

Question 22

Autobiographical Memory

Answer 22

Own life

Subjective

Not always accurate

Experience in earlier part of life

Include factual

Linton diary study

+ Reminiscence bump birth to 30 years

+ Important type of memory along with semantic, episodic and procedural which all complement each other and add to overall understanding

Question 23

Flash-bulb Memory

Answer 23

Vivid

Autobiographical

Brown and Kulik

Unexpected shock

9/11

+ Detailed and durable compared to other autobiographical memories

+ Show memory can be very accurate (topic of debate)

Question 24

Encoding Specificity Principle

Answer 24

Tulving

Similar cues at retrieval and encoding help remember

Remember through different retrieval routes ie who was present at the time

Elaborate encoding = association pre-existing knowledge = overlapping retrieval cues

+ Police cognitive interview technique

Question 25

Episodic Memory

Answer 25

Long term

Personal events

Spatio-temporal = where and when

May be in advance of semantic memory

+ Differ from semantic memories which do not have details of where etc

+ Explains how semantic information eg conceptual categories are acquired

Question 26

Levels of Processing

Answer 26

Depth info is processed

Retention dependant upon depth

Kraike & Lockhart

Maintenance rehearsal = shallow or rote

Elaborate rehearsal = deeper associate with pre-existing knowledge

+ Encoding affects how effectively we store info

+ Generation effect (self generation)

Question 27

Defence Mechanism

Answer 27

Unconscious process

Avoid inner conflict

Freud

Psychodynamic theory

Everyday events

Displacement

Reaction

Repression

Sublimation

Projection

+ Psychodynamic theory

+ Explain behaviour

+ Past experience and the way we deal with conflict influences the type of person we become

Question 28

Personal Constructs

Answer 28

Way individuals explain their world

Kelly

Use bi-polar dimensions

Data captured on a repertory grid

Three elements of important people

+ Using a repertory grid enables associations about how a person thinks about types of people

+ Can be used in fixed role therapy

+ Constructive alternativism any situation can be construed in any number of ways

Question 29

Psychodynamics

Answer 29

Freud’s Theory

Explanation of unconscious interaction of elements of psyche

Id - primitive uncontrolled demands

Superego - conscience

Ego - moderator

+ Freud explained anxiety using concept of intrapsychic conflict and interpreted behaviour in terms of defence mechanism

+ Forms the basis for psychoanalytic psychology and psychoanalytic theory

Question 30

Category Learning

Answer 30

Cognitive approach to learning

Brunner et al

Successive scanning and conservative focussing

Kaplan & Murphy - prior knowledge has strong effect on people’s ability to spot themes

+ Emphasises the role of cognitive processes in learning

+ Demonstrates influence of past experience

+ Suggests different aspects to learning

Question 31

Operant Conditioning

Answer 31

Form of instrumental conditioning

Skinner

Creates link between natural behaviour and desired outcome through reinforcement

Positive reinforcement

Negative reinforcement

Law of Effect

+ Animal being conditioned does most of the work itself

+ Quick and efficient compared to other instrumental conditioning

+ Flexible - can be used to test discrimination and expectancy

Question 32

Socio-cultural Perspective

Answer 32

Proposes learning always involves cultural tools

Saljo ‘all learning involves tools’

Interpersonal relationships

Jointly constructed - appropriation and enculturation
(Mercer who observed school children)

Keogh mixed children and computer

+ Alternative to behavioural and cognitive perspectives

+ Emphasises practical applications and educational intervention which aim to make learning more effective

Question 33

Oedipal Conflict

Answer 33

Psychodynamic theory

Phallic phase

Father rival

Psychosexual

Penis envy

+ Critical part of Freudian explanation in childhood development

+ Freud uses this theory to explain how parental values were passed on and how children’s personalities are influenced by parents