DSE212 Terminology - Exam Part 1 Bullet Points Flashcards
Core Identity
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
Social Constructionism
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
Social Identity Theory
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
Minimal group
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
Natural Selection
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
Sexual Selection
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
Reciprocal Altruism
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
Behaviourism
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
Genotype
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
Phenotype
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
Action Potential
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
Brain Lesions
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
Neurotransmitter
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
Bottleneck Theory of Attention
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)
Gibson’s Direct Perception
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
Attentional Spotlight
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
Top-Down Processing
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
Stereotype
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
Fundamental Attribution Error
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
Self Serving Bias
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
Attribution Theory
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)
Autobiographical Memory
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
Flash-bulb Memory
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)
Encoding Specificity Principle
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
Episodic Memory
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
Levels of Processing
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)
Defence Mechanism
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
Personal Constructs
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
Psychodynamics
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
Category Learning
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
Operant Conditioning
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
Socio-cultural Perspective
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
Oedipal Conflict
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
