Midterm 1 Flashcards
What is reliability?
the extent to which a measure yields consistent results, both over time and across observers
What is validity?
the extent to which a measuring instrument accurately reflects what the researchers intended to measure
What are foundations of grievance studies?
When adherents are not willing to subject their ideas to the scrutiny of proper science—they are essentially anti-science. They focus on analysis by ANECDOTE, not by data. If science subjects their ideas to scrutiny, they will likely be shown to be false.
How is social competence defined?
“the ability to achieve personal goals in social interaction while simultaneously maintaining positive relationships”
What is the principle of explosion?
“as soon as you allow a single contradiction in the unity of knowledge, everything can be proven, so everything becomes meaningless . . .” –Eric Weinstein
Erikson stage 0-1
trust vs. mistrust
Erikson stage 1-3
autonomy vs. shame and doubt
Erikson stage 3-6
Initiative vs. guilt
Erikson stage 6-11
industry vs. inferiority
Erikson adolescence stage
identity vs. identity diffusion
Erikson young adulthood stage
intimacy vs. isolation
Erikson middle adulthood stage
generativity vs. stagnation
Erikson old age stage
ego integrity vs. despair
Who was the proprietor of the psychoanalytic theory?
Freud
Who was the proprietor of the psychosocial theory?
Erikson
Who was the proprietor of the personality development theory?
Sullivan
Who was the proprietor of the behaviorism theory?
Watson and Skinner
Who was the proprietor of the cognitive-development theory?
Piaget
Who was the proprietor of the ecological systems theory?
Urie Brofenbrenner
Who was the proprietor of the sociocultural theory?
Vygotsky
What are the major elements of the psychoanalytic theory?
The unconscious has effects on our behavior.
Peers help the adolescent transition to personal autonomy.
Adolescent sexual drives motivate less dependency on parents and more engagement with peers.
What are the major elements of the personality development theory?
At approximately 7-9 years, children become increasingly concerned about their place in the peer group and a sense of belonging to the group. Having friends leads to well-being; lacking them leads to great difficulty and loneliness.
What are the major elements of the behaviorism theory?
Operant Learning Theory- behavior is strictly molded by external stimuli. Children are behavior control and behavior change agents for each other.
What is Bandura’s Cognitive Social Learning Theory?
Reaction to Skinner’s rejection of cognition. Learning informed by anticipated costs/rewards.
What are the major elements of the cognitive-development theory?
Knowledge is never a copy of reality but is rather constructed (and reconstructed) from the interaction of experience and reasoning.
Child as a constructivist- inherently curious; innate desire to make sense of the environment.
What are cognitive schemas?
organized patterns of thought/action a child develops to make sense of the environment.
What is assimilation?
new experiences are interpreted according to current schemas
What is accomodation?
schemas are adapted to be consistent with new experiences
What is disequilibrium?
the feeling experienced when experiences don’t fit schemas, which motivates the child toward accommodation
How does Piaget view child relationships with adults?
symmetrical, vertical.
Marked by more emotional wariness and less openness and spontaneity.
Obedience rather than understanding drives adoption of adult values and perspectives.
How does Piaget see child relationships with peers?
balanced, egalitarian, horizontal.
Children actively explore their ideas without risk of their devaluation and criticism by adult authority.
Best opportunities to examine conflicting ideas and explanations (and cognitive disequilibria) with peers (particularly best friendships devoid of hostility)
What is egocentrism?
Inability to take the perspective of others.
What is the imaginary audience?
A form of adolescent egocentrism in which the adolescent feels that she is constantly “on stage” and everyone around her is just as concerned with and as critical of her actions or appearance as she is.
What is a personal fable?
A belief in the uniqueness of oneself and one’s thinking.
What are the major elements of the ecological systems theory?
detailed analysis of environmental influences. The individual child is embedded in a set of nested environmental structures. Each of the environmental systems interacts with the individual child as well as other systems.
What are the major elements of the sociocultural theory?
Sociocultural context influences the course of development.
Each culture provides its own unique tools of intellectual adaptation to build upon the child’s elementary mental functions.
How and what to think is therefore culturally relative.
Children are “apprentices in thinking.”
Social interactions with more competent associates are a key aspect of development (mentoring)-
zone of proximal development, scaffolding, private speech.
What are the key differences between Piaget and Vygotsky’s ideas?
Vygotsky and Piaget agreed that interpersonal exchange has the
power to drive aspects of cognitive growth and change
Vygotsky believed parents provided much of the necessary interpersonal exchange;
Piaget saw peers as fundamental (horizontal relationships)
Piaget believed peer conflict evoked change, whereas Vygotsky
believed in cooperation and the pooling of ideas
Contemporary research suggests that conflict can actually elicit cooperation, but only if negative feelings do not get in the way of co-construction
What is the role of the child in Vygotsky’s theory?
the child is an “apprentice in thinking”
What is the role of the child in Piaget’s theory?
the child is a constructivist
What are the foundations of ethological perspectives?
We are born with a number of “biologically programmed”
behaviors that are: products of evolution and adaptive in that they contribute to survival
Natural Selection
What is the heritability coefficient?
Heritability= the amount of variability in a trait that is attributable to hereditary factors
What are some limitations of the heritability coefficient?
Based on an inflexible, additive model
Ignores the possibility that genes may function
differently in different environments
Applies to a particular population under particular
environmental circumstances
Does not imply that a trait or disposition is
unchangeable (ignores the potential for
malleability)
Does not equal inheritance
What is a passive-type environment correlation?
Gym pass example. Child has an environment that encourages genetic disposition
What is an evocative-type environment correlation?
Physical attractiveness a great example. People are treated differently.
What is an active-type environment correlation?
Active correlations become more prevalent as we age and become more agentic
What is the “two possibilities” gene-environment interaction?
The expression of a genetic disposition toward a developmental outcome varies as a function of the environment (genes turned on or off, for example). Environmental effect varies by genetic disposition (individual susceptibility)
What is the “trigger process” gene-environment interaction?
The environment triggers or exacerbates a genetic predisposition for a given
outcome, or the environment leads to a given outcome only for those with
predisposing genes. Can be positive—a positive predisposition may be enhanced!
What is the “suppression process” gene-environment interaction?
The environment reduces the role of genetic factors in EXPLAINING interindividual differences in a behavior (environment washes out genetic effect)
What are the three basic principles for using caution with genetic arguments?
If anything is inherited, we inherit predispositions for behavior, not exactly dispositions
Genes possibly contribute to variations in all human behavior but are,
by themselves, responsible for none
Just because a behavior appears to have a genetic foundation does
not mean it is desirable or should be encouraged
What is Social Referencing?
Using emotional cues from significant others to guide
behavior (infer the meaning of ambiguous situations)
What is emotional contagion?
Children’s emotions often match the emotional states of
others, even when the children are not actively involved in the situation that produced the emotion
What is temperment?
Considered the foundation of personality; any traits that relate to the “three A’s of personality”: Affect, Arousal, and Attention
Stability of temperament
Provides early biases for certain feelings, moods, and behaviors that combine with social environment to produce ideas, beliefs, habits, and values (gradually elaborated and woven into personality traits)
How does parenting correlate and interact with temperament?
temperament > self regulation (of attention and emotion) > child psychosocial competence
What are Thomas and Chess’ three temperament profiles?
easy, difficult, slow-to-warm-up, other
What is solitary passive withdrawn behavior?
Engagement in constructive behaviors—objects over people. NOT a sign of unsociability or social disinterest, may overlap with
shyness
Not a problem in early and middle childhood (Why?)
What is solitary active withdrawn behavior?
Dramatic pretend play in the midst of others, yet not interacting directly with anyone
Impulsive and immature; rejected by peers
Bullied by aggressive kids, by age 7 becoming reactively aggressive
What is reticent withdrawn behavior?
Shyness, inhibition, social anxiety (Approach/Avoidance Conflict). Auto manipulative behaviors (e.g., biting nails)
Rejected by peers, even more than aggressive kids (Why?) Worse for boys, more stable for girls (Why?)
What does OCEAN stand for?
O= openness to experience
C= conscientiousness
E= extraversion
A= agreeableness
N= neuroticism
mediation vs. moderation
Moderation is about groups, and whether an effect is different for different groups
Mediation—the mechanism—there’s some variable in the middle
Parenting behaviors related to resistant attachment
Inconsistent parenting—sometimes enthusiastic, sometimes indifferent and
unresponsive
Parenting behaviors related to avoident attachment
Impatient, unresponsive, self-centered, rejecting mothers
Overzealous parents who chatter endlessly and provide high levels of stimulation,
even when unwanted
Parenting behaviors related to disorganized/disoriented attachment
Neglect and physical abuse
Parenting behaviors related to secure attachment
Sensitivity (prompt, appropriate, and consistent responding)
Positive Attitude (warmth and positive affect)
Synchrony (smooth, reciprocal interactions)
Mutuality (attending to the same thing together)
Support (close attention and emotional support)
Stimulation (frequent one-on-one interaction)
Kagan’s temperament hypothesis as it relates to attachment
Infants, not caregivers, are the primary architects of their attachment
classifications
“Easy” temperament children – secure
“Difficult” temperament – resistant
“Slow-to-warm-up” – avoidant
What is the Early Experience attachment hypothesis?
Frequency and intensity of attachment behaviors declines in
childhood (caregiver availability being the central issue)
What is the Universality & Normativity attachment hypothesis?
ALL children are biologically prepared to form attachments
(universality), but the quality of attachments varies considerably
Normativity hypothesis: majority = secure
Effects of early social deprivation
Reactive Attachment Disorder- An inability to bond securely or otherwise, even with caregivers who
have secure working models of attachment relationships
Nonorganic Failure to Thrive- A growth disorder usually present by 18 months of age that is caused
by lack of affection and stimulation
Deprivation Dwarfism- A growth disorder observed between 2 and 15 years of age caused by
severe emotional deprivation
Cooley’s “Looking Glass Self”
We see ourselves according to how we perceive others see us
Self-appraisals are generally more strongly correlated with
what we think others believe about us, not what they actually
believe
Theory of Mind
An understanding that people are cognitive beings with mental
states which are often inaccessible to others and guide behavior
Belief-Desire Theory
- Both beliefs and desires influence behavior; beliefs, even if they are inaccurate, can affect behavior
False-Belief Task
- Sam puts some chocolate in a blue cupboard and goes out to play. In his
absence, his mother moves the chocolate to the green cupboard. When Sam returns, he wants his chocolate. Where does he look for it?
Early indications of self-recognition
The ability to recognize oneself in a mirror or photograph, knowing that the
image is a representation of “me” (as early as 15 months)
Securely attached infants accomplish this sooner
First social categories children identify themselves with
age and sex
Marcia’s four identity status categories
– Identity Diffusion (rare, but varies by focus of exploration)
– Foreclosure
– Moratorium
– Identity Achievement
Parenting influences on identity formation
Pursue the positive (secure attachment)
- Warmth, acceptance, reasonable expectations
Eliminate the negative
- Conditional support (psychological control)
- Coercive parenting
- Overly tolerant, indulgent parenting
