Theories Flashcards
Instinct theory vs arousal theory vs drive reduction theory vs incentive theory
people have motivation due to instincts vs people have motivation due to arousal vs people have motivation to eliminate uncomfortable (internal) positions (ex: seeking homeostasis), involves primary and secondary drives vs behavior = motivated to pursue rewards and avoid punishments; not by need or arousal
self-determination theory
3 universal needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness. These 3 needs must be met in order to have a healthy relationship with self and others
expectancy value theory
amount of motivation needed is determined by a person’s expectations in reaching the goal
opponent process theory
when a drug as been taken too many times –> body will counteract it by changing it physiology —> body eventually builds tolerance
James-Lange vs Cannon-Bard vs Schachter-Singer theory vs Lazarus theory
stimulus + arousal/physiological change –> emotion vs stimulus + simultaneous arousal/physiological change and emotion —> action, aka thalamus theory vs stimulus + arousal/physiological change and environment –> emotion vs interpretation of event happens before simultaneous arousal+emotion –> no physiological response or emotion = elicited; basically storytelling
Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences
intrapersonal, linguistics, logical/mathematical, musical, visuo-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal
nativist (biological) theory vs learning (behaviorist) theory vs social interactionist theory
language = acquired innately vs language acquired due to operant conditioning by BF Skinner vs language acquired b/c we want to communicate with others
Signal detection theory vs feature detection theory
change in perception of same stimuli depending on internal/physiological and external/environmental context; detecting stimuli thru noise in background vs focusing on object’s motion, color or shape separately
self-discrepancy theory
each person has 3 selves; actual, ideal and ought self. The closer the 3 selves are —> the higher self esteem
Thomas theorem
states that if people define situations as real, they become real in their consequences.
Cognitive appraisal theory
Primary: evaluating presence of stressors (ex: if there’s a neg association at all)
Secondary: evaluating if person can cope with the stressors (ex: seeing if there’s harm, threat, challenge or intensity)
Activation-synthesis theory vs problem solving dream theory vs cognitive process dream theory
we dream b/c of random activation of brain circuitry vs we dream to solve problems vs dreams = random stream of consciousness
Conflict theory by Karl Marx
studying inequalities between diff groups in society or power differentials (anti/syn/thesis); social changes aim to reduce inequality, social changes = response to limited resources and how ppl would compete for resources, social changes resolve conflict that are abrupt in nature; consensus = achieved thru power and influence –> coerce agreement to policies –> reinforces inequality
Reductionism
Explaining complex phenomena (usually human processes) by using simpler examples (think the duck example on wiki)
Strain theory by Merton
deviance = natural rxn when there’s a disconnect between social goals and social structure (ex. American dream - goal is good but the structure doesn’t guarantee education or opportunity needed to reach that goal)
Theory of gender schema
Key components of gender identity = transmitted thru cultural and societal means
Theory of mind
Ability to sense how another mind’s work (ex: knowing how a friend might interpret a story while you tell it)
Kurt Lewin’s force field theory
Social situations are at equil by forces that drive change and ppl who resist the change
Attribution theory
Tendency for individuals to infer causes of others’ behavior
Psychoanalytic perspective vs humanistic perspective
Personality results from unconscious urges and desires (ie. Freud and Jung) vs emphasizes internal feelings of healthy individuals as they strive toward happiness and self actualization (ie. Rogers and Maslow); personality and mind results from own free will and self awareness
Bandura’s social cognitive theory vs his social learning theory
People learn how to behavior and shape attitudes by observing others’ behaviors and environment vs involves learning from association of 2 stimuli (classical conditioning), learning behavior from consequences (operant conditioning) and observational learning
Implicit personality theory
Ppl make assumptions about how diff types of ppl, traits and behavior are related
Linguistic relativity hypothesis aka Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Perception of reality = based on content, form and structure of language
Critical theory vs traditional theory
concept that ppl consistently examine and change their society in order to achieve progress w/in community, DOESN’T ADDRESS POWER STRUGGLE LIKE CONFLICT THEORY vs idea of learning and understanding the system w/o proactively making improvements for society
Learning theory of attitude
attitude is gained thru different forms of learning: direct contact, direct interaction, direct instruction, conditioning
Mcdonaldization
refer to a shift in focus toward efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control in societies; from George Ritzer and derived from Max Weber
Social control theory
states that ppl’s relationships, values and beliefs will prevent them from breaking the law or doing deviant behavior and encourages conformity
Dual-coding theory
brain uses multiple cues to process and store information, including both vocabulary or linguistic words and visual memories. The redundancy in being able to recall the same information using multiple examples gives robustness to these memories and allows them to be recalled more easily
Bowlby’s Attachment theory
maintains that parent-child relationships strongly influence the child’s attitudes about the self and the world
Leon Festinger’s social comparison theory
we compare ourselves to others along various dimensions because we have no objective benchmark to compare ourselves to
Carol Gilligan
critiqued against Kohlberg’s morality theory, says his findings did not reflect women’s moral reasoning patterns, which are characterized by relationships, caring, connectedness, and interdependence rather than on principles of justice and autonomy
Diana Baumrind
authoritarian, authoritative, permissive and uninvolved parenting styles
Trace decay theory
all memories fade automatically as a function of time (ie. general decay of memories over time)
