Exam 3: Chapters 8-11 Flashcards
Emotion
A temporary state that includes unique subjective experiences and physiological activity, and that prepares people for action
- mental features: what a person thinks, feels, is prepared to do
- physical features: activity of the body and brain
Multidimensional scaling
A scale that estimates the similarity of emotional experience by describing the “distance” between them:
- arousal: how energetic a feeling is; measured from low to high
- valence: how positive a feeling is; measured from negative to positive
Appraisal
Conscious or unconscious evaluations and interpretations of the emotion-relevant aspects of a stimulus or event which ultimately influence the emotions we experience. We evaluate:
- self-relevance
- importance
- ability to cope
- ability to control
- etc.
Action tendencies
A readiness to engage in a specific set of emotion-relevant behaviors; borne from evolutionary purposes, indicating emotion as a survival tactic
- for example: emotion of “fear” associated with action tendency “freezing”
James-Lange Theory
Feelings are simply the perception of ones own physiological responses to a stimulus rather than physical responses that occur due to an emotion; essentially physical response happens first and we perceive that as an emotion
(this is not true)
Two-Factor Theory of Emotion (aka Schacter-Singer Theory)
Revision of James-Lange Theory; every stimuli trigger the same general state of physiological arousal, which is then interpreted as a specific emotion based on context (cognitive appraisal)
Again, not true, but it is true that we can interpret the same physiological response in different emotional ways
Fear pathways
Happen simultaneously, therefore indicating that you can feel fear before you conscious process what you’re afraid of
- slow pathway
- fast pathway
Slow fear pathway
Stimulus processed in thalamus, then cortex (processing), then amygdala (emotion)
Fast fear pathway
Stimulus processed in thalamus then amygdala (emotion), not allowing for processing of the stimulus before emotion is produced
Emotional expression
An observable sign of an emotional state (i.e. facial expressions)
Basic facial expressions
- anger
- fear
- disgust
- happiness
- sadness
- surprise
Universality hypothesis
Darwin argued that all emotional expressions mean the same thing to all people in all places at all times; not true, but the New Guinea study showed significant cross-cultural similarities
Facial feedback hypothesis
Imitating emotional expressions can cause the emotional experiences they typically signify
Display rule
A norm for the appropriate expression of emotion, moderated by techniques such as:
- intensification: exaggerating expression of emotion
- deintensification: muting expression of emotion
- masking: expressing one emotion while feeling another
- neutralizing: showing no expression of emotion
Four features that reveal deceptive expression
- morphology (reliable muscles)
- symmetry
- duration
- temporal patterning
How do certain emotions facilitate social behaviors and relationships?
- guilt helps prevent harmful behavior and demonstrates caring, but can be manipulated to control others
- jealousy signals emotional commitment and protects genetic interests, but is a common cause of partner abuse
- embarrassment represents submission to social group and recognition of social error
Mood disorders
Excessively strong emotions
Alexithymia
Difficulty identifying and expressing emotions; trait of autism
Emotion regulation
Use of cognitive and behavioral strategies to influence one’s emotional experience
- cognitive load
- ego depletion
Reappraisal
Changing one’s emotional experience by changing the meaning of the emotion-eliciting stimulus
Compare the four main theories of emotion
Common sense view:
situation -> emotion -> bodily response
James-Lange Theory:
situation -> bodily response -> emotion
Cannon-Bard Theory:
situation -> subcortical brain activity -> simultaneous bodily response and emotion
Schacter-Singer Theory (two-factor):
situation -> simultaneous cognitive appraisal and bodily response -> emotion
Kluver-Bucy Syndrome
Caused by removal of amygdala; characterized by:
- hypersexuality
- fearlessness
- deficits in response to social cues
- fear is harder to condition
Amygdala
- part of the limbic system
- activates emotional facial expressions
- sensitive to fear expression
damage causes difficulty in interpreting expressions and making judgments
The Limbic System
Important for assessing and responding to emotionally relevant stimuli; amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex
Orbitofrontal Cortex
Processes potential reward value and emotional/social cues
Damage causes:
- inappropriate social behavior
- insensitivity to emotions of others
- excessive aggression
Motivation
The internal psychological causes of purposeful behavior. Emotions motivate us by:
- providing us with information
- being the objectives toward which we strive
Drive
Internal state generated by departure from physiological optimality
Instinct
The natural tendency to seek a particular goal
What is the relationship between drive and instinct?
Instinct provides us with certain desires, and our drives attempt to fulfill them
Homeostasis
The tendency for a system to take action to keep itself in equilibrium; this is a drive
Drive-reduction theory
Developed by Clark Hull; the primary motivation of all organisms is to reduce their drives
Hedonic principle
Developed by Aristotle; people are primarily motivated to experience pleasure and avoid pain
Capgras Syndrome
Damage to the connection between the temporal lobe and the limbic system causes the belief that loved ones are imposters due to lack of emotional connection
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
physiological - safety - love and belonging - esteem - self actualization
When basic needs are met, autonomy and satisfaction with life increase. When basic needs are not met, autonomy makes little difference to quality of life
Orexigenic signals
Turn on when body has insufficient energy; lateral hypothalamus signals hormone ghrelin to release in stomach, switches on hunger
Anorixigenic signals
Ventromedial hypothalamus signals leptin to be released in fat cells, which makes food less rewarding; switched off hunger
Causes of eating disorders
- genetic
- experimental
- psychological
- cultural
Binge-eating disorder (BED)
Recurrent and uncontrolled episodes of eating a large number of calories in a short time
Bulimia nervosa
Binge eating followed by purging
Anorexia nervosa
Intense fear of being fat, resulting in severe restriction of food intake
Obesity
Defined by a BMI over 30
- causes biochemical abnormalities, eating without hunger, nature designing to overeat
- body resists weight loss
- dieting decreases metabolism
Evolutionary mismatch
Traits that were adaptive in an ancestral environment, but now may be maladaptive in a modern environment
How is the human body resistant to weight loss?
Weight gain causes an increase in size and number of fat cells in the body, whereas weight loss only decreases the size of the fat cells but not the total number of fat cells in the body
Dieting causes a decrease in metabolism, which makes the body even better at converting food to fat
DHEA (dihydroepiandosterone)
Hormone responsible for onset of sexual desire
Testosterone
Hormone more responsible for sexual desire in men, but also responsible in women
Estrogen
Hormone more responsible for sexual desire in women
Sexual response cycle
The stages of physiological arousal during sexual activity:
excitement -> plateau -> orgasm -> resolution -> refractory period
Intrinsic motivation
A motivation to take actions that are themselves rewarding (i.e. eating ice cream)
Extrinsic motivation
A motivation to take actions that lead to reward (i.e. brushing teeth)
Conscious motivation
Motivations of which people are aware
Unconscious motivation
Motivations of which people are not aware
Need for achievement
The motivation to solve worthwhile problems; an unconscious motivation
Approach motivation
The motivation to experience positive outcomes; promotion
Avoidance motivation
The motivation to avoid experiencing negative outcomes; prevention
- more powerful that approach motivation
- we take more risks to avoid loss than to add gain
Loss aversion
The tendency to care more about avoiding losses than achieving equal-size gains
Terror management theory
A theory about how people respond to knowledge of their own mortality
- developing a cultural worldview
- mortality-salience hypothesis
Mortality-salience hypothesis
The prediction that people who are reminded of their own mortality will work to reinforce their cultural worldviews
We are motivated to avoid death-related anxiety by working to achieve meaningful immortality through our legacies
Language
A system for communicating with other using signals that are combined according to rules of grammar and that convey meaning
Grammar
A set of rules that specify how the units of language can be combined to produce meaningful messages
How is human language difference from the signaling of other species?
- complex structure allows for a wide range of ideas and concepts with an infinite number of distinct sentences
- we describe intangible things
- we use language in thought to name, categorize, and describe things to ourselves
Phonemes
The smallest units of sound that are recognizable as speech rather than random noises
Phonological rules
Rules that indicate how phonemes can be combined to produce speech sounds
Morphemes
The smallest meaningful units of language; produced by combining phonemes
- content morphemes: things and events (cat, dog, take)
- function morphemes: grammatical functions and time indicators (and, or, but, when)
Morphological rules
Rules that indicate how morphemes can be combined to form words
Syntactic rules
Rules that indicate how words can be combined to form phrases and sentences
Fast mapping
The process whereby children map a word onto an underlying concept after only a single exposure
Telegraphic speech
Aka two-word speech/child speech; develops around 2 years old, is devoid of function morphemes and consists mostly of content words
Behaviorist theory of language learning
We learn language the same way we develop every skill; through reinforcement, shaping, extinction, and operant conditioning
Nativist theory of language learning
Language development is an innate, biological capacity aided by Chomsky’s universal grammar
Universal grammar
Developed by Noam Chomsky; a collection of processes that facilitate language learning and argue that children are born with mental structures that facilitate comprehension and production of language regardless of the ungrammatical structure of regular conversation
Interactionist theory of language learning
Infants are born with an innate ability to acquire language, but social interactions also play a crucial role
Genetic dysaphasia
Inability to learn the grammatical structure of language despite having otherwise normal intelligence
Aphasia
Difficulty in producing or comprehending language caused by and depending on damage to either Broca’s area (production) or Wernicke’s area (comprehension)
Six main characteristics of language development
- children learn language very quickly
- children make few speaking errors apart from overregularizing
- passive mastery develops faster than active mastery
- infants can distinguish between all human phonemes
- comprehension before production
- babbling adapts to native language
Effects of bilingualism
- no significant difference in language development
- increases gray matter
- some cognitive and executive functioning benefits
Linguistic relativity hypothesis
Language shapes the nature of thought
Concept
A mental representation that groups of categorizes shared features of related objects, events, or other stimuli
Necessary condition
Something that must be true of the object in order for it to belong to the category
- for example, an object must be a mammal in order for it potentially belong to the category “dog”
Sufficient condition
Something that, if it’s true of the object, proves that it belongs to the category
- for example, if an object is a German shepherd, it is definitely a dog
Prototype theory
The “best” or “most typical” member of a category is defining
- for example, if a pigeon is your idea of a bird, then a robin is more of a bird than an emu is
Exemplar theory
We make category judgments by comparing a new instance with stored memories of other instances of the category
Category-specific deficit
Inability to recognize objects that belong to a specific category, although the inability to recognize objects outside the category is undisturbed; the category affected depends on the location of the brain trauma
Rational choice theory
We make rational decisions by determining how likely something is to happen, judging the value of that outcome, and multiplying the two
Heuristics
Cognitive shortcuts; fast and efficient strategies that may help facilitate decision-making, but do not guarantee a valid solution is reached
Algorithm
Well-defined sequence of procedures or rules that guarantees a solution toa problem
Availability bias
Items more readily available in memory are judged as having occurred more frequently
Conjunction fallacy
When people think that two events are more likely to occur together than either individual event
Representativeness heuristics
Making a probability judgment by comparing an object or event with a prototype of the object or event
Framing effects
When people give different answers to the same problem depending on how the problem is phased/framed
Sunk-cost fallacy
When people make decisions about a current situation on the basis of what they have previously invested in the situation
For example, you paid $100 for an amusement park ticket, but it happens to be raining. You go anyway as to not “waste” the money and are miserable all day rather than having stayed home - but the money is gone either way
Optimism bias
People believe that, compared with other individuals, they are more likely to experience positive events and less likely to experience negative events in the future.
For example, smokers think they are at a lower risk for lung cancer than other smokers
Prospect theory
People choose to take on risks when evaluating potential losses and to avoid risks when evaluating potential gains because:
1. we simplify available information
2. we choose the prospect that we believe offers the best value
Expected utility
People should make decisions that maximize value/expected utility of a situation
What assumptions does the prospect theory make?
- certainty effect: when making decisions, people give greater weight to outcomes that are a sure thing
- people compare their choices with a reference point to make a decision
- people are more willing to take risks to avoid losses than to achieve gains
Ill-defined problems
No clear goals or well-defined solutions
Well-defined problems
Clearly specified goals and defined solution paths
Means-end analysis
The process of searching for the means or steps to reduce the differences between the current situation and the desired goal
What are the four steps of the means-end analysis process?
- analyze the goal state
- analyze the current state
- list the differences between states
- reduce the list of differences by:
- direct means procedure
- generating a subgoal
- finding a similar problem with a known solution
Analogical problem solving
Solving a problem by finding a similar problem with a known solution and applying it to the current problem
Insight
All insight it incremental, but some is unconscious is fast while some is slow and deliberate
Incremental insight process
The “clues” of a problem activate unconscious relevant information known as compound remote associations that spread and continue to recruit more information and associations until there is enough information and we “suddenly” become aware of the solution
Functional fixedness
The tendency to perceive the functions of objects as unchanging; the string problem, the candle problem, and the nine-dot problem
Reasoning
A mental activity that consists of using logic to organize information or beliefs into a series of steps in order to reach conclusions
Practical reasoning
Figuring out what to do; reasoning directed toward action
Theoretical reasoning
Reasoning directed toward arriving at a belief; also known as discursive reasoning
What is the relationship between the truth of a statement and the validity of an argument?
When all statements are true and the argument relating those statements is valid, a fair conclusion is reached. However, even if all statements are true, an invalid argument can be made, and therefore no sound conclusion is reached
Belief bias
People’s judgments about whether to accept conclusions depend more on how believable the conclusions are then on whether the arguments are logically valid
Syllogistic reasoning
Assesses whether a sound conclusion follows from two statements that are assumed to be true
Illusory truth effect
When repeated exposure to a statement increases the likelihood that people will judge the statement to be true
Illusion of explanatory depth
Overestimation of depth of understanding when we attempt to generate detailed explanations even in absence of expert descriptions
- this generally leads to polarized views
- when we realize that we don’t fully understand the depth we thought we did, out views moderate
Intelligence
The ability to use one’s mind to solve novel problems and learn from experience
The Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
First developed by Binet and Simon to measure aptitude apart from achievement
Developed by Terman and Stern to calculate the ratio of mental age to physical age
Ratio IQ
Statistic obtained by dividing a person’s mental age by their physical age and then multiplying by 100
Deviation IQ
Statistic obtained by dividing a person’s test score by the average test score of people in the same group then multiplying by 100
Three modern intelligence tests
- Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
- Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children
Charles Spearman
Argued that correlations among many cognitive tasks implies higher general abilities
Confirmatory factor analysis
Statistical technique showed that correlations between scores on different tests are best described by a three-level hierarchy; both Spearman and Thurstone contributed to this idea
Two-factor theory of intelligence
Spearman’s theory suggested that every task requires a combination of a general ability (g) and skills that are specific to the task (s)
Three-level hierarchy
- general intelligence (g)
- middle-level abilities (m)
- specific skills (s)
Louis Thurstone
Argued that the clustering of correlations meant that there was no such thing as general ability, just a few primary mental abilities that are stable and independent:
- word fluency
- verbal comprehension
- numerical ability
- spacial visualization
- associative memory
- perceptual ability
- reasoning
Middle-level abilities
Similar to Thurstone’s idea of primary mental abilities; ability clusters between general and specific abilities
Data-based approach
Connects intelligence test performance to ability clusters
Theory-based approach
Broadly surveys human abilities and determines which ones intelligence tests do or don’t measure; allows for the fact that different cultures value different abilities, but doesn’t include emotional intelligence.
Includes:
- analytic intelligence (problem solving)
- creative intelligence (novel solutions)
- practical intelligence (every day)
John Carroll
Developed the eight middle-level abilities:
- memory and learning
- visual perception
- auditory perception
- retrieval ability
- cognitive speed
- processing speed
- crystallized intelligence
- fluid intelligence
Emotional intelligence
Ability to reason about emotions and to use emotions to enhance reasoning and to know what kinds of emotions a particular event will trigger.
- accuracy with which a person can read emotional expressions
- ability to predict emotional responses to external events
Nature vs. nurture in intelligence
Genealogical studies show that people who share all their genes have similar intelligence scores regardless of whether or not they share environments (and a similar pattern for people who share different amounts of genetics/environment)
Genes establish the range in which a person’s intelligence may fall, while environment determines the point in that range where their intelligence actually falls
The heritability quotient
Statistic that describes the proportion of the difference between IQ scores that can be explained by difference in their genes; is about 50%
The Flynn Effect
The accidental discovery that the average intelligence test score rises 0.3% every year
Average IQ
Average IQ is 100
More than 115 is intellectually gifted
Less than 85 is intellectually disabled
Differences in IQ between sexes
Males and females have same average IQ, but males have a more variable distribution
Effects of a very high IQ
High-IQ adults are less prone to mental illness (contrary to popular belief)
High-IQ children are just as well adjusted as peers when provided with appropriate educational opportunities
Cognitive enhancers
Drugs that produce improvements in psychological processes underlying intelligent behaviors; for example, prescription stimulants
- similar neural benefits can be caused by sleep, exercise, nutrition, etc.
Entity Theory of Intelligence
Intelligence is a fixed, innate human characteristic; aka fixed mindset
Implies that only certain people are smart and you must prove yourself as one of them
Correlated with tests and learned helplessness
Incremental Theory of Intelligence
Intelligence is malleable and expandable and can be cultivated with hard work; aka growth mindset
Implies that anyone can be “smart” if they work hard and persist
Correlated with strong negotiating skills and a positive and stable self-esteem
Crystallized intelligence
Ability to apply knowledge that was acquired through experience; impacted by autism and Alzheimer’s
Fluid intelligence
Ability to solve and reason about novel problems; impacted by damage to prefrontal cortex
Zygote
Fertilized egg that contains genetic material from egg and sperm
Germinal period
The first two weeks of pregnancy after conception
Embryonic period
Week 2 to week 8 of pregnancy; forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain, and cells in cortex start forming
Fetal period
Week 9 of pregnancy to birth; myelination begins, and the fetus has a working nervous system by 7 months
Hormonal influence in the womb
- anxiety can transfer from mother to fetus
- hormones may play a role in autism
- androgens/testosterone may affect sexual orientation
- levels of testosterone in the womb may affect certain childhood behaviors
Teratogens
Any substance that passes from mother to fetus and impairs development; these are most harmful during the embryonic stage
- smoking
- alcohol
- thalidomide, etc.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Characterized by abnormal physical and facial features, and certain developmental delays and cognitive deficits
Infancy
State of development that begins and birth and lasts between 18 to 24 months
- muscles and motor development
- brain development
- perceptual development (taste, smell, hunger, hearing, mimicking expressions)
Motor development
The emergence of the ability to execute physical actions
- reflexes
- cephalocaudal and proximodistal rules
Reflexes
Motor responses that are triggered by specific patterns of sensory stimulation, aid in survival, and may pave the way for more complex learning
- grasping
- startle
- rooting
- stepping
- sucking
Cephalocaudal and proximodistal rules
Infants learn to control their bodies from head to feet and center to periphery
Developmental psychology
The study of continuity and change across the life span
Brain development
Myelination occurs in different regions at different stages:
- hearing and balance myelinated at birth
- areas involved in abstract thinking not fully myelinated until after age 20
Cognitive development and learning
Cognitive development
The process by which infants and children gain the ability to think, understand, and learn:
1. specific areas must connect synaptically
2. overgeneration of synaptic connections
3. synaptic pruning
Critical period: the developmental stage during which one can acquire specific skills or knowledge
Visual perception in infancy
- visual acuity is poor at birth, but reaches an adult level by the end of the first year
- depth perception and the development of binocular disparity develops between 3 and 6 months (visual cliff experiments)
Auditory perception in infancy
Newborns can hear and locate source of sounds; hearing approaches full development by 6 months. Infants can remember sound and distinguish between the voices of their mother and a stranger
Piaget’s Cognitive Theory of Development
Four stages of development during which we learn:
1. how the physical world works
2. how our own minds work
3. how other people’s minds work,
Involving:
- schemas
- assimilation
- accommodation
Schemas, assimilation, and accommodation
Schemas: mental patterns or structures that make up theories about how the world works
Assimilation: new experiences are fit into existing schema
Accommodation: schemas are adapted and expanded to handle new experiences
Piaget’s four stages
Stage 1: sensorimotor stage
Stage 2: preoperational stage
Stage 3: concrete operational
Stage 4: formal operational
Sensorimotor stage
From birth until 2 years old:
- perceptual and motor skills developed
- internal schema of people and objects
- sucking reflex
- object permanence (preferential looking time)
Preoperational stage
From 2 to 6 years old:
- develop a preliminary understanding of the physical world
- symbolic thinking
- egocentrism (false-belief task)
- Theory of Mind
Theory of Mind
The idea that human behavior is guided by mental representation; the ability to explain and predict behavior in terms of other people’s mental states and understand that individuals have different perspectives and knowledge based on individual experience
Concrete operational stage
From 6 to 11 years old:
- learn how actions and operations can transform the physical world
- develop an understanding of conservation of numbers, volume, mass, etc. (reversibility)
Formal operational stage
From age 11 onwards; develop abstract reasoning:
- theoretical, hypothetical, counterfactual thinking
- ability to form and test hypotheses
- concepts learned in one context can be applied to another
- strategy and planning
Modern perspective on Piaget’s stages
These stages are continuous, not distinct; some abilities are acquired earlier than proposed:
- physics understood at 4 months
- math is innate
- object permanence understood at 3 months
Lev Vygotsky
Emphasized the importance of interacting with members of their culture for children’s development
Zone of proximal development: things children cannot do alone, but can do with help
Three fundamental cultural skills that help children learn from others
social referencing: “I think what you think” by using other’s reactions as guiding information
imitation: “I do what you do”
joint attention: “I see what you see”
Joint attention
Allows children to learn from others by focusing on what that person is focusing on; specific to gaze
Internal working model
Set of beliefs about the way relationships work; developed in infanthood based on attachment style
Harry Harlow
Conducted attachment experiments with baby rhesus monkeys; found that they prefer comforting attachment over survival-based attachment
Attachment
Emotional bond that forms between newborns and their primary caregivers
- primary caregiver is determined by who responds when a bid for attention is made
Attachment styles
Characteristic patterns of reacting to the presence and absence of one’s primary caregiver, correlated and caused by caregiver’s behavior:
- secure
- avoidant
- anxious-ambivalent
- disorganized
Strange situation
Behavioral test by Mary Ainsworth that is used to determine a child’s attachment style
Secure attachment
Infant may or may not be distressed when caregiver leaves; acknowledges return positively; indicates confidence that caregiver will respond
- most common
Avoidant attachment
Infant not distressed when caregiver leaves; does not acknowledge return; indicated confidence that caregiver won’t respond to needs
- about 20%
Anxious-ambivalent attachment
Infant distressed when caregiver leaves; difficult to calm or responds negatively when returns; indicates uncertainty about whether or not they will respond to needs
- 15%
Disorganized attachment
No consistent pattern of response; infant is confused about relationship with caregiver; sometimes is an indicator of abuse
- most rare
Piaget’s theory of moral development
Moral thinking shifts from:
realism to relativism
prescriptions to principles
outcomes to intentions
Kohlberg’s theory of three stages of moral development
Adapted from Piaget; based on responses to moral dilemmas:
preconventional stage
conventional stage
postconventional stage
Preconventional stage
During childhood, the morality of an action is determined by its consequences for the person
Conventional stage
During adolescence, the morality of an action is determined by the extent to which it conforms to social rules
Postconventional stage
During adulthood, the morality of an action is determined by a set of general preinciples that reflect core values
Temperament
Biologically based pattern of attentional and emotional reactivity; infants are born with it and it remains quite stable over time
Moral intuitionist perspective
Perceptions of right and wrong are evolutionarily emotional reactions; some say that moral judgments are the consequence rather than the cause of emotional reactions
Ethnic identity
Psychological association between people and their ethnic or racial group; understandable by age 4
Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
Each stage of life is based on age and has a crisis that must be resolved:
1. birth-18 months: trust vs. mistrust
2. 18 months-3 years: autonomy vs. shame/doubt
3. 3-6 years: initiative vs. guilt
4. 6-12 years: industry vs. inferiority
5. 12-18 years: identity vs. role confusion
6. 19-40 years: intimacy vs. isolation
7. 40-65 years: generativity vs. stagnation
8. 65 years-death: ego integrity vs. despair
Adolescence
Period of development that begins with the onset of sexual maturity and lasts until the beginning of adulthood; associated with egocentrism, anxiety about appearance and behavior, and self-scrutiny
Puberty
Bodily changes associated with sexual maturity; primary and secondary sex characteristics develop; proliferation, pruning, and lobe connections
Personal fable
Young people believe themselves to be unique and protected from harm
Imaginary audience
Young people believe that other people are just as concerned about their thoughts and characteristics as they themselves are
Adulthood
Stage of development that begins around 18-21 years and ends at death
- abilities and health peak in 20’s and begin to deteriorate by 30
- physical decline of prefrontal cortex leads to general cognitive decline and psychological consequences
- memory declines, but ability to remember positive memories over negative ones becomes stronger
Effects of the deterioration of the prefrontal cortex
- more decline in retrieval accuracy than recognition accuracy
- working memory declines faster than long term memory
- episodic memory declines faster than semantic memory
Socioemotional selectivity theory
Younger adults are oriented toward future-pertinent (useful) information while older adults focus on positive emotional satisfaction in the present
Protracted period of adolescence
The age of puberty has gone down, while the age for social adulthood has gone up; results in recklessness and irresponsibility in this gap between child and adult
Biological and genetic role in sexual orientation
Gynephilic = attracted to women; cerebral hemispheres tend to be or different sizes in relation to each other, regardless of gender
Androphilic = attracted to men; cerebral hemispheres tend to be the same size, regardless of gender
Effects of adolescent sexual activity
Adolescents that begin having sex before age 15 tend to have lower self-worth, high anxiety, depression, aggression, and substance abuse
Brain de-differentiation
The adult brain makes up for deficits by working in other ways
While the young brain has bilateral asymmetry, this disappears as the brain ages, indicating that different neural structures are helping each other in ways they wouldn’t before
