Influential theories Flashcards
What theory did Freud develop?
Psychoanalysis theory
- Popularized the distinction between the conscious and unconscious mind.
What theory did Skinner develop?
Radical behaviorism
- Idea that behaviors are shaped by their consequences, and that positive consequences make behaviors likely, and negative consequences make them unlikely.
What is a theory?
Interconnected sets of beliefs, knowledge, and assumptions that relate to understanding a phenomenon.
What is a scientific theory?
A set of theoretically related propositions that are empirically testable.
What is the key to any scientific theory?
That they are testable, thus falsifiable.
What makes a theory influential?
- it is formally articulated
- It inspires research
- Predictions have withstood many tests.
What makes a good theory of intimate relationships?
- encompassing the full range of possible predictors
- Specify mechanisms of change
- Account for variability between couples and within couples over time.
What is evolutionary psychology?
a theory that assumes that the brain, like all organs evolved in response to specific selection pressures that led some preferences and capacities to be associated with more successful reproduction, and others associated with less successful reproduction.
What does evolutionary psychology dominated?
Selection and sexuality literature.
What is sexual selection?
Traits and characteristics that are adaptive in helping produce offspring are passed on.
What is the main issue with evolutionary psychology?
Evolution is slow, and human society is young.
in order to understand what is happening today you have to look back about 10,000 years ago.
What are Psychological mechanisms?
Broadly defined as preferences, capacities, responses, and strategies characterizing species.
What is the theory of parental investment?
Sexual selection pressures can vary based on the amount of energy and resources each parent must invest to raise offspring.
Is parental investment high or low for women? for men?
Women - High
Men - very low
Based off of evolutionary psychology what is described as successful behaviors for males?
- having a large number of sexual partners
- Engaging in aggressive behavior to help protect partners and offspring and drive away competition.
Based off of evolutionary psychology what is described as successful behaviors for females?
- attracting genetically fit partners
- providing care for offspring
- ensuring that sexual partners stay with them and defend themselves and their offspring.
- obtaining commitment.
How do the differences successful behaviors for females and males within evolutionary psychology affect partner preference?
- Women prefer string males who have the resources and intention to stay and help care for offspring.
- men prefer women who are likely to only invest in their children
Based off of evolutionary psychology what do men value in women that woman don’t value as much in men?
virginity, This is due to parental uncertainty.
What are men most likely to serve as in a relationship Based off of evolutionary psychology.
Providers, bringing home resources.
What are men more likely to be interested in Based off of evolutionary psychology
Sex, both with their relationship partner and with others.
What are females most likely to serve as in a relationship Based off of evolutionary psychology
Caregivers
What is one thing that women will seek in a relationship to ensure their safety in a relationship Based off of evolutionary psychology
They are likely to seek to ensure their partner does not stray.
True or False:
Sex differences show little variance across societies and contexts due to the common upbringing of humanity.
True
Based off of evolutionary psychology what two processes are linked to create this theory?
Social and biological processes.
What are men more often to find worse?
sexual or emotional cheating?
Sexual
What are women more often to find worse? sexual or emotional cheating?
Emotional
What is a drawback of evolutionary psychology based off of how it sees the human race?
It treats humans as a whole rather than exploring cultural heterogeneity
What is the main focus of Evolutionary psychology?
mostly Attraction and sexual behaviors, rather than maintaining relationships.
True or false?
Evolutionary psychology is rooted in the distant past, rather than the current changes of humans
True.
What is a main flaw in evolutionary psychology when it comes to how it handles variability of gender diffrences?
It focuses on the differences between the two genders rather than difference within the genders
How does evolutionary psychology handle same sex relationships?
it doesn’t
only explains processes within same-sex couples. Not why they happen.
Who invented attachment theory and when?
John Bowlgy in the 1960’s
What is the main pre,is of attachment theory?
Humans evolved an attachment behavior system that monitors and promotes closeness of caregivers.
What are the three observations of attachment theory?
- we pay attention to ourselves ( am I hungry or scared)
- We pay attention to our caregiver ( is MOM close by? )
- We loo k for potential threats in the environment ( is there a monster in the closest )
What is the goal of attachment behavior?
Promote a sense of security and safety to explore the world around you.
Based off of attachment theory how do we behave in response to threats?
If a threat is at hand, we behave in ways to restore safety and security.
in attachment theory what makes us form different types of attachment bonds?
Early experiences in our lives. accumulated early experiences develop into working models
Is my caregiver responsive? If so, am I worthy of love or not. are people trustworthy nor not?
Attachment is conceptualized across two dimensions - those are?
- View of self: (Anxiety)
- View of others (Avoidance)
When someone views themselves as deserving they have….
Low Anxiety of love
When someone views themselves as not deserving they have….
High anxiety of love
People who view their partners as able to provide love have…..
Low avoidance
People who view their partners as unable to provide love have….
High avoidance
Secure - Preoccupied =
Positive view of others and low avoidance
preoccupied - fearful =
negative view of self and high anxiety
Dismissing - fearful =
negative view of others and high avoidance
dismissing - secure =
positive view of self and low anxiety.
The lovers note: speech experiment results
People were put in stressful situation of giving a speech to their class.
- Before speech they were given a “note” from their intimate partner saying “ try not to say anything too embarrassing”
Results:
- Securely attached people saw the note as more supportive
- non securely attached people sat as less supportive
is a persons attachment style related to a persons own behavior or the interactions with their partner?
- A persons own behavior.
Is attachment style stable? or will it change over the course of a persons lifetime?
In general, an attachment style is believed to remain stable throughout life
What is a difficulty within attachment theory?
operationalizing in an intimate relationships.
True or false?
attachment theory provides continuity throughout the life course.
True
Has attachment theory been tested?
Yes in thousands of studies
