Exam 1

Question 1

Predictor Variables

Answer 1

In correlational/ regression studies, independent variables are also called predictor variables

Question 2

Criterion Variables

Answer 2

dependent variables are also called criterion variables

Question 3

Correlation coefficients

Answer 3

the closer the value is to -1 or +1, the stronger the correlation, a correlation at a near 0 means that there is no correlation

Question 4

Positive correlation

Answer 4

as one variable goes up, so does the other

Question 5

Negative correlation

Answer 5

as one variable goes up, the other goes down

Question 6

3 Studies that are used to assess developmental trends

Answer 6

1) cross sectional studies
2) longitudinal studies
3) sequential designs

Question 7

Cross Sectional Studies

Answer 7

people of different ages are studied at the same point in time; easy and cheap; does not show development and cohort effect is a confound

Question 8

Longitudinal Design

Answer 8

people of one age group are studied repeatedly over time

advantages: provide data on development of individuals, stability of behavior, sleeper effects
disadvantages: expensive, time consuming, subject loss limits representatives, can’t eliminate the possbility that your results are specific to the cohort you tested

Question 9

Operational Definitions

Answer 9

a definition that you can test in which you can assign a number or a value to

Question 10

Sequential Designs

Answer 10

combines the longitudinal and cross sectional designs ; tests different age groups repeatedly over time

• superior design because it helps you tease apart cohort effects
• helps you examine both the change over time differences as a function of age group

Question 11

Twin Studies

Answer 11

correlations determine the degree of similarity between twins and other siblings on different variables

Question 12

Heritability

Answer 12

a term meaning the degree to which genetics influence behavior

Question 13

4 requirements for True Experiments

Answer 13

1) manipulate at least one IV, measure at least one DV
2) must have at least two groups to compare
3) random assignment
4) control of confounds

Question 14

Quasi-experiments

Answer 14

similar to true experiments, but there is no true random assignment and or manipulation of the independent variable (basically a correlational study)

Question 15

Confounding

Answer 15

a threat to an experiment because it happens easily when and subjects can change their behavior in some way

Question 16

Vulnerable Population

Answer 16

children, pregnant women and older adults are considered this by the IRB

Question 17

Freuds 3 levels of consciousness

Answer 17

1) conscious
2) preciousness
3) unconscious

Question 18

Conscious

Answer 18

what we are thinking about or experiencing at any given moment

Question 19

Preciousness

Answer 19

what we can readily call to consciousnesses (memories, knowledge)

Question 20

Unconscious

Answer 20

thoughts, desires and impulses which we’re not aware of; this is the largest level of consciousnesses

Question 21

Structure of the personality

Answer 21

Id, Ego, Superego

Question 22

Id

Answer 22

only purpose is to satisfy our desires, completely unconscious with no basis in reality, operates according to the pleasure principle

• the only one present from birth
• a child gradually learns that the id can’t always be satisfied

Question 23

Ego

Answer 23

Develops as child realizes that the Id is constrained by reality, abides by the reality principle, mostly conscious
- also houses reasoning,problem-solving and decision making

Question 24

SuperEgo

Answer 24

the moral branch of the personality; our conscious, it can either reward or punish the ego, doesn’t consider the reality; it only considers whether the id’s sexual and aggressive impulses can be satisfied in moral terms
- it can operate on all levels of consciousness, but it’s mostly precoscious

Question 25

Defense Mechanisms

Answer 25

arise because of the anxiety due to conflicts between Id and Superego, too much pressure is put on the ego - protect the ego and reduce the anxiety - unconscious - ex. denial, repression, regression

Question 26

Libido

Answer 26

sexual energy of the sex instinct; sex instinct is the most of life's forces and is the basis for most mental disorders - refers to anything pleasurable - as sex instinct matures, libido moves from one body part to another and the child moves into a new stage of psychosexual development

Question 27

Adult Personality

Answer 27

determined by the way conflicts between early sources of pleasure and constraints of reality are resolves - when conflicts are not resolved adequately person can become "fixated" at that stage of development - fixation occurs when childs needs are either not met, or are overgratified

Question 28

5 stages of psychosexual development

Answer 28

``` oral (birth-1yr) anal (1-3yr) phallic (3-6yr) latency (6-12yr) genital (12-+) ```

Question 29

Oedipal Complex

Answer 29

Freuds way of thinking how and why boys become men because they soon realize they can not over power their fathers, for their mothers attention

Question 30

Eriksons Theory of Psychosocial Development Basic Idea

Answer 30

a psychological conflict determines healthy or maladaptive behaviors at each stage; we are a product of our society - focus is on psychosocial development, rather than psychosexual - conflicts between biological maturation and social demands

Question 31

Characteristics of Eriksons stages

Answer 31

each stage contains a unique crisis, more like a turning point that can strengthen or weaken us, usually social in nature - 8 stages

Question 32

Basic Trust vs. Mistrust

Answer 32

birth-1yr, corresponds to Freuds oral stage - babies must learn to trust caregivers - you can not "spoil" babies, by attending to their every need, you are building trust

Question 33

Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt

Answer 33

1-3yr, corresponds to Freuds anal stage - children are developing new motor and cognitive skills and want to be independent - starts occurring when the child is given a little freedom in making their own decisions - shame and doubt occur when the parents try to do too much for the child or makes fun of him for doing something

Question 34

Initiative vs. Guilt

Answer 34

3-6yr, corresponds to Freuds Phallic stage - children try to act grownup and do things beyond their capability, which may conflict with parents - initiative occurs when parent supports child sense of independence - guilt occurs if the parent demands too much self control from the child

Question 35

Industry vs. inferiority

Answer 35

6-11yr, corresponds to Freuds latency stage -children master social and academic skills. they also compare themselves to others, which then can result in a sense of industry, self confidence, or low self-esteem

Question 36

Identity vs. Identity confusion

Answer 36

adolescence, who am I?, What do I want to do in life? | -many college students are still in this stage

Question 37

Intimacy vs. isolation

Answer 37

young adulthood - task is to forge close relationships with other people, both friendships and romantic relationships - if there is a problem left over from stage 1 (basic trust, vs. mistrust), there will be a problem here too

Question 38

Generativity vs. Stagnation

Answer 38

middle adulthood - generativity: giving to others through childrearing, careers, or caring for others - stagnation: failing to find meaning in life; person feels empty and thinks life is meaningless

Question 39

Ego integrity vs. despair

Answer 39

late adulthood - older person looks back on life and assesses it - if dissatisfied with what they have accomplished, they will fear death more

Question 40

Comparing Freud and Erikson

Answer 40

Eriksons theory is more optimistic (you can always go back and fix things) and his basic concept is social, not sexual -they both defy scientific theory

Question 41

Piaget's Cognitive-Developmental Theory

Answer 41

* most influential theory in child development - he thought kids were NOT just passive creatures who learned only through positive and negative reinforcement - children learn about actively constructing knowledge and manipulating objects - development occurs in stages, it isn't continuous - the key is action

Question 42

The clinical interview

Answer 42

a form of gathering information by asking open-ended questions, flexible questions with follow up questions based on the subjects answers * Piaget formed clinical interviews while giving children standardized IQ tests to follow up on their incorrect answers

Question 43

Organization

Answer 43

integration of knowledge into a system to make sense of the environment

Question 44

Schemas

Answer 44

basic cognitive structures, the building blocks of knowledge and intelligence also consists of organized patterns of behavior called scripts used in different kinds of situations (how to behave at a wedding)

Question 45

Adaption

Answer 45

how a child handles information that he already knows

Question 46

Equilibrium

Answer 46

The force that moves development along - when a child's schemas can handle incoming information comfortably, equilibrium occurs - disequilibrium occurs when information cannot fit into existing schemas

Question 47

Adaption: Two steps

Answer 47

1) Assimilation: the first step; incorporating information into existing structures. Equilibrium occurs at this stage 2) Accommodation: changing cognitive structures to include the new knowledge (a result of disequilibrium). This is the second step and is done only when the child can no longer fit a new idea or object into an existing structure. Must come up with a new category

Question 48

Example of Assimilation:

Answer 48

Child sees a man who is bald on top with frizzy sideburns and says, "Clown!" to his father

Question 49

Accommodation example:

Answer 49

Father explains that the man is not a clown because he's not wearing a clown suit and doing silly things to make people laugh. Child adjusts schema accordingly.

Question 50

4 States of Development

Answer 50

1) Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years 2) Preoperationla Stage 2-7 years 3) Concrete Operations: 7-11 years 4) Formal Operations: 11 + years

Question 51

Sensorimotor stage

Answer 51

infants "think" by acting on the world with their senses - acquire a primitive sense of self and others during this stage; gain self awareness by 18 months - object permanence is the most significant development - by 2, the infant can think and problem-solve

Question 52

Preoperational Stage

Answer 52

Children use symbols to represent earlier sensorimotor discoveries - thought lacks logical qualities of later stages - major errors in thought dominate this stage

Question 53

Concrete Operational Stage

Answer 53

Reasoning becomes logical and grounded in reality - can organize objects into hierarchies of classes and sub classes - thinking isn't yet abstract

Question 54

Formal operations

Answer 54

Characterized by acstract thought - can reason with symbols and do advanced mathematics - can think of all possible outcomes to a scientific problem, not just the obvious - begin to question authority and become frustrated with the lack of an ideal world

Question 55

Limitations of Piaget's Theory

Answer 55

Seriously underestimated abilities of infants and young children - develop mentalist's don't believe development is as stage like as Piaget though and more - children can be to solve Piagetian tasks which Piaget wouldn't have thought possible - children don't reach formal operations by age 11. Some people don't reach it at all. - there may be some post formal though

Question 56

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory

Answer 56

- he is a contemporary version of Piaget - he shared Piaget's view that children actively construct knowledge - gives more emphasis on social interaction and culture on cognitive development - you have to have someone more cognitively knowledgeable than yourself to be taught

Question 57

How a child learns according to Vygotsky

Answer 57

- development can be limited or enhanced based on his culture - knowledge is generated through interaction with others and objects in ones culture - must have cooperation and interaction with more skilled adults and peers in order to grow

Question 58

Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky)

Answer 58

Zone of Proximal Development: all that you could conceivably know (limited by your access to education) Zone of Current Development: all that you currently know

Question 59

Scaffolding (Vygotsky)

Answer 59

the process by which an adult teaches a child (the goal is to keep the child attention and relate it to their age and level) ex. adults help children sound out words when learning to read

Question 60

3 Type of Learning Theories

Answer 60

Classical (dog analogy, Pavlov), Operant (action leads to outcome, Skinner), and Social learning (aka. observational learning)

Question 61

Extinction

Answer 61

when you stop pairing the conditioned stimuli with the unconditioned stimuli

Question 62

Ethology

Answer 62

associated with the European zoologist, Konrad Lorenz - stresses that behavior is biologically determined - early experiences play an important role and can not be reversed

Question 63

Lorenz

Answer 63

worked with geese and hatched goslings -noted that goslings followed the first creature they saw whether it was the goose or not (this behavior is called imprinting)

Question 64

Sensitive Periods

Answer 64

Periods of time in ones life that is crucial to their overall life

Question 65

Natural Selection

Answer 65

``` Adaptive behavior (that which helps us survive) is strengthened over time, and behaviors that hurt us are bred out -Natural selection favors those most fit to survive, so these people pass their "hardy" genes onto their offspring ```

Question 66

Survival of the Fittest and altruism

Answer 66

Kin selection- we are more likely to help our blood in a life or death situation than a bestfriend

Question 67

Mitosis

Answer 67

cells nucleus duplicates itself & the cell divides into two new cells that contain the same DNA as the original cell

Question 68

Meoisis

Answer 68

a cell of the testes or ovaries duplicates its chromosomes, but then divides twice, forming 4 cells with 23 unpaired chromosomes -sperm and egg unite to create a single cell containing a set of 23 paired chromosomes

Question 69

Crossing Over (recombination)

Answer 69

before the chromosome pairs separate, pieces of the two chromosomes in each pair are exchanged, creating a truly unique new genetic combination

Question 70

Genotypes

Answer 70

actual genetic material | -research interests in studying susceptibility genes and longevity genes

Question 71

Susceptibility genes

Answer 71

those that make us more susceptible to disease or acceleration of aging

Question 72

Longevity genes

Answer 72

those that make us less vulnerable to disease and likely to live longer

Question 73

Phenotypes

Answer 73

observable characteristic such as hair or eye color - the way in which our genotype is expressed in observed and measurable characteristics - for each genotype, a range of phenotype can be expressed, giving another source of variability

Question 74

Genetic Mutations

Answer 74

mutated genes are permanently altered segment of DNA | -most are recessive