Psych/Soc Flashcards
Lawrence Kohlberg
Responsible for introducing a theory of personality development that focused on moral reasoning. He believed that individuals progress through six stages of moral development, with each stage signifying more developed and advanced arguments/reasoning of moral dilemmas.
all the C words
preconventional, conventional and post conventional
Stages of Moral Reasoning
Kohlberg
Pre-conventional: Obedience (avoid punishment) 2-4 and self-interest (seek reward) 4-7
Conventional: conformity (obey social rules) 7-10, Law and Order (obey real rules) 10-12
Post-conventional: social contract (most good for most people) teens, universal ethics (abstract morals) adults
What is attribution theory?
Explaining why someone acts a certain way. Behavior can we seen as intrinsic (dispositional attribution) or extrinsic (situational attribution).
Explain the difference between Fundamental Attribution Error and Self-Serving Bias.
FAE: humans innately explain behavior of strangers/out-groups as dispositional (d>s). Meaning they blame someone’s lack of motivation, poor time management ect… Self-serving bias: We explain behavior of friends/self/family as situational (s>d). This means if a friend is running late for lunch, I am more likely to blame traffic than I am to blame her bad time management skills. We also use this bias to take personal credit for success and blame a situation for our failures.
What are three factors that contribute to whether we deem an act dispositional/situational?
- Consistency: How often does Lucy cancel lunch on short notice? 2. Distinctiveness: Does Lucy cancel lunch on short notice on other people? 3. Consensus: Do other people cancel lunch on short notice?
Deindividuation
Losing sense of individuality, becoming anonymous ex. Participating in mosh pit vs not (being violent when surrounded by many others also being violent)
Bystander Effect
“someone else will do it” help when just a few people around will not help when many people around
Social Loafing
being more lazy in a group (think group projects)
Peer pressure
social influence (pos/neg/net) on an individual (think: at the library, everyone is studying so I should too)
Social Facilitation
Performance of simple tasks becomes better with more people watching (ex. playing trumpet with small crowd vs large crowd)
Difference between top-down processing and bottom-up processing
Both theories are explaining how we make our behaviors. bottom-up: DATA-DRIVEN. Individuals start with the details and then go to the big picture. We take sensory input from our surroundings are make a behavior from that (ex. you hear and see a mosquito, you make a decision to swat it) top-down: CONCEPTUALLY DRIVEN. Looks at big picture first. We use information in our head to influence our behaviors (ex. walking around the house at night, we have an image in our head of how the house conceptually is laid out so we can navigate fairly well)
What are Gestalt principles?
A series of principles that deal with how the mind can infer a complete picture based on incomplete information. (Examples include law of proximity: bunch of red balls grouped together like a triangle-we see a triangle) If we have a whole bunch of things in space we don’t see them as individual, but as groups as long as they are close enough together.
Inclusive fitness
Theory that an organism improves its own generic success (passing of genes to offspring) through altruistic social behavior. Inclusive fitness is the # of offspring an animal has, how they support them, and how offspring support each other. Inclusive fitness is thinking about fitness on a larger scale – evolutionary advantageous for animals to propagate survival of closely related individuals and genes in addition to themselves.
Socialization
The life-long process in which people learn to behave within the accepted confines of social norms.
Primary Socialization
Family/home, Initial Learning actions and attitudes in childhood ex. sneezing into elbow
Secondary Socialization
learning the rules of specific environments during adolescence and into adulthood ex. playground vs. store
Anticipatory Socialization
prepares for future change in adulthood ex. you get a dog to prep for a child, you take cooking classes so you can cook in your own home
Resocialization
The process by which people discard old behaviours in favor for new ones in adulthood ex. go to college and then you return home prison/rehab and back into the world
Conformity
aligning behavior to social norms
Obedience
modifying behavior per authority
Assimilation
One group or individual’s behaviour and culture begin to resemble another culture (somewhat necessary for acceptance/merging into new culture)
Group Polarization
Groups tend to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial ideas of an individual member. Group polarization refers to attitude change on the individual level due to the influence of the group
Choice Shift
Choice shift refers to the outcome of that (group polarization) attitude change; namely, the difference between the average group members’ pre-group discussion attitudes and the outcome of the group decision (ex. Jury)
Groupthink
Thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility. A desire for harmony/conformity results in a group coming to a poor decision
What area of the brain controls/processes negative emotion?
Prefrontal cortex, specifically the right side hemisphere
What area of the brain controls/processes positive emotion?
Prefrontal cortex, specifically the left hemisphere
What is the function of the cerebellum?
Cere-BALANCE primarily coordinated and regulates posture, balance, body movement (muscular activity)
What is the function of the pons?
Primarily involved in arousal and regulating sleep. Pons is an Italian word meaning bridge, it is literally bridging information from the spinal cord to the brain
What is the function of the medulla oblongata?
Regulates breathing, heartbeat and bp (autonomic fnx)
What is the James-Lange theory?
Explain emotion: Stimulus -> Physiological response -> Emotion
What is the Cannon-Bard theory?
Explain emotion: Stimulus-> at the same time a physio and emotional response
What is the Schachter-Singer theory?
Explain emotion: Stimulus -> physio and cognitive response -> emotion
What is the Lazurus theory?
Explain emotion: Stimulus -> cognitive response -> simultaneously have physio and emotional response
What is the attatchment theory?
The theory argues that a strong physical and emotional bond to one primary caregiver in our first years of life is critical to our development.
Briefly explain the Harlow Monkey Experiments
Asked what causes attachment between mother and child? Method Separated monkeys from mothers at young age, then given choice between 2 substitute mothers (vaguely monkey-shaped structures). First option (wire mother)– in middle was feeding tube. Second mother was the cloth mother – had soft cloth blanket around it, so it can provide comfort. Results Baby monkeys overwhelmingly preferred to cloth mother – spent a large majority of time clinging to her. If had to eat, tried to eat while staying attached to cloth mother. Conclusion Cloth mother acts as a secure base – eventually monkey is comfortable enough to explore world on its own, because it knows cloth mother will still be there.
Habituation
Individual has lost sensitivity to stimulus. ex. slug gets shocked and gills withdraw quickly. Then as slug is continuously shocked, slower and slower time to withdraw gills
Dishabituation
Occurs when previously habituated stimulus is removed. (i.e they become sensitive to the stimulus) . Slug example: After being habituated to the shock, we wait one day and then shock the slug again and he withdraws his gills quickly again (like the very start)
Sensitization
Progressive amplification of response to repeated stimulus ex. a kid being bullied at school. Original response=kid is not very bothered by it. The stimulus (bullying) continues and over time, the kid’s response becomes more and more violent
Nonassociative Learning
When someone learned from repeatedly being exposed to ongoing stimuli (sensitization and habituation)
Associative learning
When someone learns one event is connected to another (operant and classical conditioning)
Classical conditioning
Conditioning is produced when the neutral stimulus is presented shortly before the unconditioned stimulus – pairing the two together. Occurs when neutral stimulus is able to elicit the same response as the unconditioned stimulus).
Unconditioned stimulus/unconditioned response
Unconditioned=innate and not learned. ex. Carrot and Lucy being excited about it. We did not teach her to be excited about carrots, she just is.
Neutral stimuli
Stimuli that does not elicit a response on its own (classical conditioning-opening fridge in lucy example)
Conditioned stimulus/conditioned response
When the neutral stimulus evokes a response. Fridge opening is the conditioned stimulus and lucy becoming excited is the conditioned response
Generalization
In classical conditioning, the ability of something similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit the conditioned response, and more similar they are the bigger the response. ex. Lucy responds to opening of desk drawer bc it sounds like opening the fridge door
Discrimination (in classical conditioning)
When you respond to some stimuli but not others i.e Lucy does not get excited when I open my dresser drawer (although she is excited about the desk drawer)
Extinction (in classical conditioning)
If you open refrigerator door and don’t get a carrot anymore, over time she would no longer react
Spontaneous recovery
(when old conditioned stimulus elicits response). Don’t know why it happens, usually infrequently and less strong i.e Lucy randomly responds to opening fridge door after extinction
What is operant conditioning ?
Learning model focusing on the relationship between behaviour and their consequences, and how those in turn influence more behaviour Two ways to accomplish this: reinforcement (increase a behaviour) and punishment (decrease a behaviour)
Explain positive and negative reinforcement
Both increase chance of behavior positive reinforcement: something is being added to increase behaviour (gas card for safe driving) negative reinforcement: something is being taken away to increase behavior (seat belt noise goes OFF when you put your seat belt on)
Explain positive and negative punishment
Both reduce chance of behaviour positive punishment: something is being added to reduce behaviour (speeding ticket given to reduce you speeding) negative punishment : something is taken away to reduce behaviour (license taken away) reduce drunk driving behaviour
Explain operant conditioning: shaping
“I want to learn to do a headstand” – emphasize learn. Learning through practice is shaping. Idea is you successively reinforce behaviours that approximate the target behavior. What is the target behavior? Ex. headstand. Showing up to yoga class, won’t necessarily make you learn it. Next, put hands on mat (downward dog). Then forearms on mat. Each is the reinforced behavior until next step. Finally, put legs up – the target.
Explain operant conditioning: Schedules of reinforcement
Behavior is reinforced only some of the time. More resistant to extinction than continuous reinforcement. Fixed-Ratio – ex. car salesman gets bonus every 5 cars he sells. Reinforcement only occurs after a fixed # of responses. Contingent on # of cars sold regardless of how long it takes. Fixed-Interval – ex. receives pay check every 2 weeks – in this case, time is constant. Doesn’t change if he sells 1 car or 100 cars. Less incentive. Variable-Ratio – Reinforcement is delivered after average # of right responses has occurred. Similar to fixed-ratio, except # changes. Just fixed-ratio but varies. Ex. bonus can be 5 cars for first bonus, 3 for second, 7 for third, 6, then 4 etc. Average is 5. Another example is slot machine. Variable-Interval – Responses are reinforced after a variable amount of time has passed. Ex. bonus can come randomly on different days.
Explain: Innate vs. Learned Behaviours
Innate behavior is performed correctly the first time in response to a stimulus – they innately possess. Simple – reflexes (squint or blinking), taxis (bugs fly towards light, can be towards or away from stimulus – a purposeful movement), kinesis (rats randomly scurrying in different directions – no purpose). Complex – fixed action patterns (mating dance), migration (birds flying south), circadian rhythms (biological clock, waking up early to sing) Learned behaviours are learned through experience. Habituation – response to alarm decreases over time. Ex. curing phobia by repeated exposure to the fear until intensity of emotional response decreases. Classical conditioning – associate alarm with fire Operant conditioning – consequences that follow behavior increase/decrease likelihood of behavior happening again Insight learning – solve a problem using past skills, the “aha” moment is insight learning Latent learning- learned behaviour is not expressed until required
Escape Learning
Type of aversive control (situations where behavior is motivated by threat of something unpleasant ) Form of negative reinforcement in which one reduced the unpleasantness of something that already exist. ex. To make his parents stop beating him, Gabriel Fernandez would admit to being gay
Avoidance Learning
Type of aversive control (situations where behavior is motivated by threat of something unpleasant) Form of negative reinforcement in which one avoids the unpleasantness of something that has yet to happen (learns to avoid the situation). ex. To avoid being put in the cabinet, Gabriel Fernandez would avoid crying
operant conditioning
Functionalism
Macro level approach to answer the question, “Why our society exists the way it does?” Society is made of many parts, with many functions. Parts must work in harmony. All fnx filled=normal state fnx not filled=abnormal state Each action has a manifest (deliberate) and latent (unintended) function Ex. Police strike, deliberate function to increase wages, latent function of increase in crime/state becomes involved
Conflict theory
Macro level approach to answer the question, “Why our society exists the way it does?” Karl Marx Conflict theorist believe race, gender and class are the most predominant conflicts in society. There is a disproportionate share of resources and no shared values, which create a power struggle. ex. Smoking tobacco is bad for you but companies push brands and exploit commoners. People are powerless and are addicted. Their health is bad, companies making money
Symbolic Interactionism
Micro level approach to answer the question, “Why our society exists the way it does?” Chicago school of thought because mass immigration to Chicago. Theory states society can only be understood through the exchange of meaningful communication. (ie facial expressions, hand signals). Concerned with the actions of individuals within a society, not the actions of society on individuals. Three main principles: Humans act on meaning Social interaction is the origin Social action is the product ex. Doctor-pt interaction, pt feels md cares and is committed to taking medication correctly, benefiting his/her health
Social Constructionism
Micro level approach to answer the question, “Why our society exists the way it does?” Cycle between roots of social/cultural life and individual perceptions of society. Focuses on the social construction of reality. People and groups actively create and maintain/re-enforce own perceptions of reality. ex. Department of treasury makes money and assigns value to paper, people use money and the way they interact with money reinforces the socially constructed normals that the paper has any value at all.
What part of the central nervous system is responsible for voluntary movement?
Cerebrum: responsible for integration of sensory input, conscious thought and all voluntary actions
What part of the brain must all sensory input (except smell) go through before being routed to specific cortex areas?
Thalamus
Superior Colliculus
*S*uperior = *S*eeing Superman has supervision: receives visual sensory input: baseball flying at yo and you duck
Inferior Colliculus
Receives sensory information (hearing): heard someone hit the baseball and you weren’t looking, whip your head to see. Your ears are below (inferior) to your eyes
Hypothalamus
The functions of the hypothalamus are the 4Fs: Feeding, Fighting, Flighting, Fucking
Hippocampus
Memory and learning: Hippo on campus? I’d never forget that!
Septal Nuclei
In the forebrain: pleasure center in brain, also known as the addiction center with dopamine receptors
Amygdala
Defensive and aggressive behavior
Describe the nerve cells in the nervous system in order
Sensory neurons (afferent), transmit sensory information from receptors to the spinal cord and brain. Motor neurons (or efferent neurons) transmit motor information from the brain and spinal cord to muscles and glands.
Reflect Arcs
A before E alphabetically Afferent, interneurons, Efferent All reflexes are happening at the level of the spinal cord (involuntary) patellar reflex: special bc it does not have interneurons sensory neuron synapses directly to motor neurons
Parasympathetic vs. Sympathetic
Acetylcholine is responsible for the actions of the parasympathetic nervous system.
Norepi/Epi are part of the sympathetic nervous system response.
Dorsal Root Ganglia
Cell bodies of sensory neurons, associated with the spinal cord
Basal Ganglia
A part of the brain that coordinates muscle movement and routes information to the brain. It is the regulatory control center that regulates the crazy ideas the motor neurons want to do.
Descruction of portions of the basal ganglia are associated with Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s
Confirmation bias
Biase that prevents us from making correct decision
seeking out only confirming facts
ex. only read stories about how wonderful candidate was
Belief perseverance
Biase that prevents us from making correct decision
ignore/rationalize disconfirming facts
ex. during elections ignore facts about someone you like
Ethnocentrism
Occurs when people judge other culture/groups based on the ideas and perceptions from their own culture.
in group/out group, combate this with cultural relativism
Stereotype threat
The fear that results when someone is worried they may confirm a negative stereotype about their group.
Lower personal investment (ie. women in all women math classes did better than women in co-ed classes). The treat being that women are bad at math
Stereotypes, Prejudice, Discrimination
Stereotype: (thought) attributing a certain thought/cognition to a group of individuals, and overgeneralizing
prejudice: +/- attitude you have towards someone before even meeting them. (pre-judge a group)
discrimination: acting on prejudice thoughts
ex. Thought: Asians are bad drivers, when I get in an accident and see it is an Asian driver I am mad at them (feeling), I yell at them (action)
Hawk-Dove theory
An application of game theory, centered upon a struggle between two parties for a shared food resource.
Halo effect
Social Perception: When we like someone, or think highlighlt of them, we are more likely to say/think positively about things they do that we have not experienced)
ex. I think highly of Lucy and have lived with her, so I think she is a great co-worker, even thought I have never worked with her
The reverese halo effect is the same thing but opposite. We dont really like someone so we have negative beliefs about their abilities
The Just World Hypothesis
Karma got yo ass
(tend to victim blame and overemphasize the internal factors over external) ie fundamental attribution error
Primacy and recency bias
Social Perception:
Primacy bias: first impressions are the most important
Recency: Most recent information/interactions are most important than ones before
*memory also have primacy and recency bias
fnx of parietal cortex v occipital cortex
parietal=invovled in somatosensory and spacial processing
occipital= involved in the process of visual stimuli
compare behaviorist approach to….
The behaviorist approach is only concerned with observable stimulus- response behaviors, and states all behaviors are learned through interaction with the environment. Only actual outcomes of a behaviour will determine whether that behaviour is repeated
what is the difference between external motivation and extrinsic motivations?
extrinsic motivation is a broader term that includes external motivations.
Extrinsic motivation refers to any motivation that results from incentives to perform a behavior that are not inherent to the behavior itself.
External motivation is described as social pressure, which is an example of extrinsic motivation.
Roger’s concept of incongruence refers to…
the gap between a person’s actual self and ideal self
(personality theory)
base rate fallacy v. observer bias v. public verifiability
base rate fallacy: errors people make in research when they ignore the base rates (ex. prior probabilities) when evaluating the probabilities (or frequencies) of events
obersver bias: any bias on the part of the observers recording data could contaminate results
public verifiability: scientist replicated the original findings of research
availability heuristics
refers to the tendency to estimate the likelyhood of events based on how easily (and how rapidly) examples of those events can be retrieved from memory.
All doctors are bad bc of x,y.z (most accessable memoties)
what is Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
he was like, there are four stages of cognitive development
sensorimotor (birth to 2): object perminace at end of stage
preoperational: (2-7) kids are imaginative, ego driven, dont understand 2 small pizza slices is the same as 1 big pizza slice
concrete oporational (7-11): logical thought
formal operational (11 on): child can methodically and logically change one variable at a time
cultural capital v social capital
cultural: status derived from what you know, preferences por skills
social: who you know, value of social networks
reference group v primary group v in group v status group
reference groups: the group to which people refer in evaluating themselves, peoples beliefs, dehaviours and decisions. (social influence)
primary groups: close, informal and sustained ties, like close friends and family.
in group: a group that an individual feels affinity towards
status groups: groups formed based on noneconomic characteristics such as prestige
criteria of abnormality: distress, maladaptiveness, statistical deviance and violation of social norms
A psychologist uses this to differentiate between normal and not normal
distress-takes into account whether the behaviour demonstrates unusual or prolonged levels of stress. (depression >2 weeks)
maladaptiveness: takes into account whther the behaviour negatively impacts the person’s life or poses a threat to others (panic attacks)
statistical deviancy: takes into account whether the behaviour is statistically rare
violation of social norms: violate social norms
schema
a mental blueprint containing common aspects of the world, instead of reality
ex. playing violent video games provides individuals with aggressive schemas
what are the big 5 personality traits fround in adulthood?
OCEAN
Openness (independent vs. conforming, imagining vs. practical),
Conscientiousness (careful vs. careless, disciplined vs. impulse, organized or not),
Extroversion
Agreeableness (kind vs. cold, appreciative vs. unfriendly),
Neuroticism.
naming explosion vs overextension vs bootstrapping
naming explosion: around 18 months kids see a dramatic increase in vocabulary
overextension: term applied for one class of objects that only superficially resemble one another (doggie for cow)
bootstrapping: initial stages of gramatical development
binocular v monocular visual cues
binocular: retinal disparity ( eyes 2 inches apart), convergence (things further away=eyes relaxed, things closer=eyes contract
Monocular depth cues: height of an object, overlap of objects, details of object, motion parallax (things further away move slower)
**anomie
Anomie refers to the feeling of detachment from society due to lack of social norms.
Breakdown of social bonds between an individual and community
Social epidemiology
Social epidemiology looks at health disparities through social indicators like race, gender, and income distribution, and how social factors affect a person’s health. Correlation between s_ocial advantages/disadvantages and distribution of health + disease._
medicalization
the process in which a social problem comes to be defined as a disease or disorder
role strain v role conflict
role strain=tensions in the demands from a SINGLE role
role conflict=tensions stemming from MULTIPLE roles
relative deprivation v relative poverty
relative deprivation: expectations surpass the material resources that a group or person has (ex. N95 production)
relative poverty: having fewer resources in relation to the more affluent in one’s society
A drive-reduction and cognitive theorist would argue that depression is most strongly correlated with a deficiency in which component of fulfillment?
AROUSAL
drive-reduction theories suggest that depression stems from a reduction in the motivating forces of arousal. (Drive reduction theory examines the actions we take to fulfill (reduce) basic biological drives, like hunger, thirst, or reproduction.)
A cognitive theorist would argue that arousal is essential to sustaining most behaviors. (the theory holds that people desire consistency between their thoughts, values and actions. The theory seeks to explain the justification people use for actions that do not align with their values ie. cognitive dissonance.)
This would apply to instances of bystanders not intervening (an action), even though they would want others to intervene for them (a value).
reconstruction bias v social desirability bias v attrition bias v selection bias (in a reserch project)
reconstructive bias: Most research on memories suggests that our memories of the past are not as accurate as we think, especially when we are remembering times of high stress.
Social desirability bias: Type of bias related to how people answer research questions. They may respond in a way they felt was most socially acceptable.
attrition bias: occurs when participants drop out of a long term study
selection bias: bias related to how people are choosen to participate in a study
difference btw distress, eustress and neustress
distress: negative type of stress that build over time and is bad for your body
eustress: positive type of stress that typically happens when youperceive a situation as challenging, but motivating. (typically enjoyable)
neustress: neutral type of stress. Neustress happens when you are exposed to something stressful but it does not actively or directly affect you.
normative influence v compliance v ingratiation
normative=influence to conform with the expectations of others to gain social approval
compliance: superficial, public change in behaviour in response to group pressure
ingratiation: an attempt to get someone to like you in order to get them to comply with your requests
folkway
the mildest type of norm, just common rules/manners we are supposed to follow. Traditions individuals have followed for a long time, ex. opening the door, helping a person who’s dropped item, or saying thank you. Consequences are not severe/consistent. No actual punishment.
mores
norms based on some moral value/belief. Generally produce strong feelings. Usually a strong reaction if more is violated. Ex. truthfulness. Don’t have serious consequences.
taboos
completely wrong in any circumstance, and violation results in consequences far more extreme than a more. Often punishable by law and result in severe disgust by members of community. Ex. incest and cannibalism.
difference between psychophysical testing, operational span testing and partial report technique
psychophysical discrimination testing: varying a stimulus slightly and observing the effects on the persons behaviour or experience. measuring perception and performace.
operational span testing: simple test to see capacity of working memory
partial report tech: a method of testing memory in which only some of the total information presented is to be recalled. (ex, show you a string of letters and ask you to recall only some)
Intersectionality
Intersectionality calls attention to how identity categories inersect in social stratification. For example, an individual’s position within a social hirearchy is determined not only by his or her social class, but also race/ethnicity.
Intersectionality can also involve other identity categories like sexual orientation, gender, age…
Looking Glass Self
Socialization describes the process by which people learn the attitudes, behaviours, and values expected by their culture/community.
Can be learned through parents, peers, person at supermarket, celebrity, etc.
Socialization also shapes our self-image, and Charles Cooley used the term “looking glass self” to describe this process – idea that a person’s sense of self develops from interpersonal interactions with others.
Thought this happened in 3 steps
1) How do I appear to others?
2) What must others think of me? (shy, intelligent, awkward)
3) Revise how we think about ourselves (based on correct OR incorrect perceptions).
Critical aspect of this theory is Cooley believed we are not actually being influenced by opinions of others, but what we imagine the opinions of other people to be.
