NS2: PS Flashcards
Jean Piaget’s theory
- four stages
proposed that cognitive development occurs in four discrete stages
sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2): individual experiences the world exclusively through sensing and moving through their environment → development of object permanence, the understanding that objects continue to exist even though we are not looking at them
preoperational stage (ages 2-7): individual develops symbolic thinking, or the idea that things and ideas can be represented through symbols such as words or gestures → development of centriation (focus on a single aspect of a thing or experience); unable to comprehend conservation (idea that a quantity remains the same despite a change in shape); and are egocentric ( they do not understand that other people have thoughts or perspectives different from their own)
concrete operational stage (ages 7 to 11): develop an understanding of conservation and begin to understand mathematics; become less egocentric and can think logically about concrete events and objects, but they still have not developed a full capacity for abstract thought
formal operational stage (age 12+): development of the abilities of abstract and moral reasoning
Erikson’s Eight Stages of psychosocial development
posited that each developmental stage is marked by a key conflict; resolution of this conflict promotes healthy development, while a lack of resolution can lead to related problems later in life
0 to 1 years: trust vs mistrust
1 to 3 years: autonomy vs shame/doubt
3 to 6 years: initiative vs guilt
6 to 12 years: industry vs inferiority
12 to 20 years: identity vs role confusion
20 to 30 years: intimacy vs isolation
40 to 65: generativity vs stagnation
65+: ego integrity vs despair
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
individuals must fulfill the lower needs (like physiological or safety needs) before being free to work towards fulfilling the higher needs, of which self-actualization is the highest
Pyramid shape, where the bottom layers are larger → (bottom to top): physiological, safety, love / belonging, esteem, self-actualization
Define the following:
- cultural relativism
- health behaviors
Cultural relativism is the principle that a person’s beliefs and health behaviors should be understood in the context of their own culture.
Health behaviors (like seeking help for an acute medical illness) are standards of behavior that are necessary for the well-being of everyone; if a person does not seek help, they may be shunned by family members or friends
Sigmund Freud’s Structural Model of the Psyche
Id: basic human instinctual drives; unconscious
Ego: contains preconscious, conscious, and unconscious elements; evolve from the id and deals w its impulses as soon as an adequate response is found
Superego: forms the organized part of the personality structure; mostly but not entirely unconscious
Gordon Allport’s three basic traits
Cardinal traits are those around which people organize their entire lives.
In contrast, central traits are defining characteristics of a person that can be easily inferred from that person’s behavior.
Finally, secondary traits are those that only occur sometimes, particularly when a person is in a certain social situation
Quick Key Psychologist’s and their Experiments:
- Watson
- Bandura
John B. Watson’s Little Albert experiment involved the use of classical conditioning and stimulus generalization to cause a healthy young boy to fear furry animals and objects.
Albert Bandura, a social cognitive psychologist, famously conducted his “Bobo doll” experiments, which showed that children can display observational learning for aggressive behavior when they watch adults exhibit such behavior.
Quick Key Psychologist’s and their Experiments:
- Zimbardo
- Milgram
Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment focused on the effects of power and authority on individuals. Participants designated as “guards” were given power over participants designated as “prisoners,” and over time, the guards began to exhibit progressively more abusive and problematic behavior.
Milgram’s electric shock experiment also relates to authority. This experiment indicated that participants were willing to administer painful stimuli to others if instructed to do so by an authority figure. In reality, the “others” in the study were actors who were simply pretending to be shocked.
Solomon Asch Experiment
Solomon Asch’s conformity experiment demonstrated that individuals often conform to a group view, even when the group view differs from a clearly correct answer.
Asch used a task in which a participant, along with several of Asch’s confederates, were told to judge the relative lengths of drawn lines.
The confederates would give a clearly-incorrect opinion regarding which line was shorter or longer, causing the participant (who did not know that the others in the room were “in on it”) to conform to this incorrect view in some cases.
Quick Key Psychologist’s and their Experiments:
- Eysenck
- Harlow
- Sharif
Hans Eysenck studied personality with a strong focus on the biological perspective, which considers personality differences to be the result of biological factors.
Harry Harlow examined parent/child attachment, social isolation, and dependency in rhesus monkeys.
Muzafer Sharif’s Robber’s Cave experiment examined the intergroup conflicts that arise in response to competition over limited resources.
Key Brain Structures
- Brainstem
- Cerebellum
- Basal Ganglia
Brainstem: midbrain, pons, and medulla oblongata, and provides the connection from the brain to the spinal cord
– regulates crucial functions basic to the survival of the organism, such as like heart rate, respiration, sleep, and overall activation of the rest of the CNS
Cerebellum: found just underneath the occipital lobe; serves to direct complex coordinated movement, such as walking or playing the piano
Basal Ganglia: located just under the cortex and connect to both the brainstem and the cortical lobes; involved in several functions, including voluntary movement, habitual behaviors, learning, and emotion
Key Brain Structures
- four lobes of the cortices
The frontal lobe is associated with making judgments and regulating behavior as a part of executive functioning
The occipital lobe is most closely related to visual processing, as data from the optic nerves are sent directly there
The parietal lobe is associated with integrating various sensory input
Both the parietal and temporal lobes are important for language.
Key Brain Structures:
- five parts to the forebrain
amygdala, which processes memory, emotions, and decision-making
the hippocampus, which consolidates short-term memory into long-term memory
the hypothalamus, which is the major link between the nervous and endocrine systems via the pituitary gland
the pineal gland, which modulates sleep through melatonin productions
the thalamus, which relays sense and motor signals and regulates sleep and awareness
Limbic vs mesolimbic pathway
The limbic system includes the hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, and several other structures, and plays a major role in emotions, memory, and motivation.
It is distinct from the mesolimbic pathway (or reward pathway), which is located in the midbrain and plays a role in addiction.
Types of validity (4)
Internal validity refers to the degree to which causal conclusions can be drawn from a study, which can include accounting for potential confounding variables
External validity describes the degree to which the findings of a study are generalizable to the population as a whole. Typically, this involves issues regarding the size and representativeness of the sample.
Face validity describes the extent to which a study appears to assess what it is intended to assess—that is, more or less, the degree to which it “seems right” to participants and researchers.
Content validity refers to whether a study comprehensively accounts for all the relevant facets of the phenomenon it is intended to investigate.
Types of Imaging:
- EEG
An EEG measures electrical impulses in the brain by covering the scalp with small sensors. Researchers can then present the subject with various stimuli and record which areas of the brain demonstrate increased electrical activity. Instead of measuring electrical activity, scientists can watch the level of blood flow in parts of the brain. By injecting a tracer molecule, scientists are able to image which parts of the brain are more active in response to certain stimuli. More active brain areas will see an increase in blood flow, and thus an increase in the tracer molecule.
