Sac revision Flashcards
Hereditary and Environmental factors
Hereditary
The passing on of genes or genetic information from parents to offspring
e.g from your parent to you
Environmental
Different external factors within a person’s environment
e.g the way a child is raised
The interactive influences of hereditary and environmental factors on a person’s psychological
development
A child’s genotype may represent a plan of how they should develop, environmental factors influence whether specific genes are expressed or not.
e.g IQ your parents might pass down an IQ gene but if you can’t afford good education it might not be expressed
The biopsychosocial approach as a model for considering psychological development and mental well-being
A way of describing how a person’s mental health is influenced by the interaction of biological, psychological and social factors
Bio, Psycho and Social in the biopsychosocial model
Bio
psychologically based or determined influences, often not under our control
e.g inherited genes, balances or imbalances in brain chemistry
Psycho
influences associated with mental processes
e.g beliefs, attitudes and ways of thinking
Social
Our interactions with others, the range and quality of our interpersonal relationships, support from others etc
What is psychological development
Changes in an individual social, emotional and cognitive abilities
Emotional, Cognitive and Social development
Emotional
- Involves changes in how an individual experiences different feelings and how these feelings are expressed
- How you react now to anger vs how you reacted to anger when you were 4
Cognitive
- Involves changes in an individual’s mental abilities
- Includes, Reasoning, Problem-solving, Decision making and Memory
Social
- Involves changes in an individual relationships with other people
- It includes things such as the ability to form and maintain close relationships with others
Sensitive periods
- Time periods during development where an individual is more responsive to certain environmental experiences
- ‘optimal’ times for some types of learning. If it is missed, it can be learned later on, but it will be harder
Critical periods
- A limited period of time where an organism has heightened sensitivity to external stimuli, that is compulsory for the development of a certain skill
- If it’s not learned during this time, it is almost impossible to learn in the future
Give examples of critical and sensitive periods in a person’s development
Critical- Imprinting (newborn animal forms an attachment to a moving object that it sees shortly after hatching or being born)
Sensitive- Language (roughly up to age 12)
Psychological criteria to categorise behaviour as typical or atypical
- Cultural perspectives
- Social norms
- Statistical rarity
- Personal distress
- Maladaptive behaviour
Cultural perspectives and limitations
Consideration of cultural norms or standards to consider what’s acceptable for that culture.
Whats often viewed as normal, acceptable or typical behaviour in one culture can be considered atypical in another.
e.g showing affection and eye contact
Limitations
- No universal agreement on what typical or atypical
- Some countries are culturally diverse, so there may be conflicting ideas on what is acceptable
- Difficult to differentiate between atypical/abnormal
Social norms and limitations
Social norms are shared standards or social beliefs on what is typical, acceptable behaviour
e.g giving up your seat for the elderly
Limitations
- Social norms change over time (e.g same-sex marriage and drunk driving)
- Social norms can change depending on context (e.g cannibalism)
- No universal agreement on social norms
Statistical rarity and limitations
Behaviours that deviate significantly from the ‘mean’ are atypical
Behaviours that are common are the ‘mean’ anything significantly different is atypical (e.g 7hrs of sleep)
Limitations
- even though they might be different from the ‘mean’ they are quite frequent and common (anxiety)
- The cut-off point is subjective (IQ of 69 vs 70)
- When viewing behaviour according to this criteria, both ends of the behaviour are considered atypical (anxiety vs no anxiety)
Personal distress and limitations
Does this behaviour cause someone personal distress? If it does, the behaviour is atypical
Unpleasant emotions (e.g sadness, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, or causing some psychological pain/suffering
e.g excessive alcohol consumption -> alcohol dependency -> shame, anxiety and sadness
Limitations
- Sometimes maladaptive behaviour might not cause stress
- Normally must be in conjunction with other criteria because distress alone does not make something atypical (e.g losing a loved one)
Maladaptive behaviour and limitations
Considered unhelpful, dysfunctional and non-productive
Interferes with a person’s ability to adjust appropriately and effectively to their environment
e.g test coming up, instead of cutting back on work hours to study, you pick up more shifts to distract yourself
Limitations
- The level of maladaptive behaviour is subjective it depends on the psychologist
- The context of the behaviour matters (e.g stealing for a reason)
