Psychology Chapter on Group Dynamics

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Questions and Answers

What effect does dissent have within a group?

It decreases minority influence.

It leads to group polarization.

It promotes conformity among all members.

It serves as a model for independence from the group. (correct)

In which type of culture is higher conformity typically observed?

Collectivistic cultures (correct)

Traditional cultures

Individualistic cultures

Urban cultures

What is the primary focus of arousal approaches in understanding behavior?

Understanding the effects of loss aversion on decision making.

Explaining why behaviors do not reduce drive.

Reducing stimulation to achieve balance.

Explaining behaviors aimed at maintaining or increasing excitement. (correct)

Which theory explains that individuals are more influenced by in-group members during group discussions?

Self-categorisation theory Signup and view all the answers

According to the Yerkes-Dodson Law, what is optimal for performance on a simple task?

High levels of arousal. Signup and view all the answers

What is characterized by the critical period in development?

An optimal age range for learning language Signup and view all the answers

What is the role of the Behavioral Activation System (BAS)?

To stimulate action related to reward and pleasure. Signup and view all the answers

What is the main disadvantage of a cross-sectional design in developmental research?

It cannot measure the same individuals over time. Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes 'cohort effect'?

Variations in experiences rooted in historical context. Signup and view all the answers

Which system is associated with the anticipation of pain and avoidance behavior?

Behavioral Inhibition System. Signup and view all the answers

What does loss aversion suggest about people's perception of losses compared to gains?

Losses loom larger than gains. Signup and view all the answers

What does the continuity vs. discontinuity issue in developmental psychology refer to?

Whether development is gradual or proceeds in distinct stages. Signup and view all the answers

What motivates individuals to adopt more extreme positions in group discussions?

The need for group members' acceptance. Signup and view all the answers

In which context do people generally seek risk according to prospect theory?

When faced with losses. Signup and view all the answers

What are incentives in the context of motivation?

External stimuli that guide organisms towards goals. Signup and view all the answers

How do people generally behave when a situation is framed in a gain context?

They minimize their risks to protect potential gains. Signup and view all the answers

What defines Stage 5 of post-conventional moral development?

Societal laws are recognized but seen as fallible. Signup and view all the answers

What is a key characteristic of moral reasoning in Stage 6?

It emphasizes abstract ethical principles like justice and equality. Signup and view all the answers

How does emotional competence influence children's social interactions?

It helps children manage emotions, leading to better peer relationships. Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following biases is associated with moral reasoning?

Western cultural bias prioritizing collective harmony. Signup and view all the answers

At what age do infants start showing self-awareness?

By 18 months. Signup and view all the answers

What is a likely product of an infant’s temperament?

Varied emotional reactions based on their biological predispositions. Signup and view all the answers

What aspect of emotional development begins to manifest in toddlers after age 2?

Displaying complex emotions like pride and shame. Signup and view all the answers

What does 'emotion regulation' refer to?

The process of evaluating and modifying emotional reactions. Signup and view all the answers

What does the Cannon-Bard theory suggest about emotional experiences?

They occur from signals sent directly from the thalamus to the cortex. Signup and view all the answers

What physiological response did the shaky bridge experiment primarily measure?

Increased heart rate due to fear. Signup and view all the answers

What was a significant finding from the shaky bridge experiment regarding the participants' behavior?

Men on the shaky bridge were more likely to contact the female experimenter afterward. Signup and view all the answers

How does the Misattribution of Arousal concept relate to the findings of the shaky bridge experiment?

Participants misinterpreted physical arousal as romantic interest. Signup and view all the answers

Which aspect was NOT considered an independent variable in the shaky bridge experiment?

Participants' prior emotional state Signup and view all the answers

What denotes the dependent variable in the shaky bridge study?

The number of calls made after the interview. Signup and view all the answers

What conclusion can be drawn about bodily arousal and emotional experiences from the Cannon-Bard theory?

Emotions can occur even without autonomic feedback. Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes the role of the thalamus in the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion?

It sends signals to the cortex without needing feedback from the body. Signup and view all the answers

What is a key difference between imprinting in animals and attachment in humans?

Humans can bond outside of sensitive periods. Signup and view all the answers

According to Bowlby’s theory of attachment, what innate behavior do infants exhibit towards caregivers?

Seeking proximity. Signup and view all the answers

What concept does Freud associate with the formation of attachment?

Secondary drive reinforcement. Signup and view all the answers

What was the main finding from Harlow’s monkey studies regarding attachment?

Contact comfort is more important than provision of nourishment. Signup and view all the answers

In Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, what conflict corresponds with the development of love?

Intimacy vs. isolation. Signup and view all the answers

Which statement best describes the care stage in Erikson's framework?

It concerns the well-being of future generations. Signup and view all the answers

What type of emotional bond develops between infants and their primary caregivers?

Enduring emotional bond. Signup and view all the answers

What does the concept of 'generativity' involve in relation to Erikson's psychosocial stages?

Focus on nurturing and guiding the next generation. Signup and view all the answers

What fundamental concept did Bowlby propose regarding infants' attachment?

Attachment is a biological predisposition. Signup and view all the answers

At which stage of attachment do infants begin to show specific attachment behaviors towards familiar caregivers?

Discriminating attachment behaviour Signup and view all the answers

The Strange Situation paradigm is primarily used to assess which aspect of infant behavior?

Attachment styles and separation anxiety Signup and view all the answers

Which type of anxiety involves distress over contact with unfamiliar people?

Stranger anxiety Signup and view all the answers

In the context of attachment, what behavior do children with secure attachment typically exhibit upon reunion with their caregiver?

They seek physical contact and interaction. Signup and view all the answers

How do anxious-avoidant children typically react when their mother leaves?

They show few signs of attachment. Signup and view all the answers

By what age do children reach goal-directed attachment behavior, where they consider their caregiver's needs?

By 3 years Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic behavior of children with anxious-resistant attachment?

They show distress but are not soothed upon reunion. Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Motivation and Emotion

Motivation is a process directing and energizing animal and human behavior toward goals.
Motivation psychologists try to understand the underlying motives of goal pursuit.
Instinct theory proposes biologically determined, innate behaviors crucial for survival, such as the graylag goose egg retrieval. These are fixed action patterns, completing the behavior even when the stimulus is gone.
Supernormal stimuli are exaggerated versions of natural stimuli that trigger stronger responses, e.g., goose retrieving a larger or more colorful object instead of just an egg.
Instinct theory has problems due to the large number of instincts proposed and the inability to explain many complex learned behaviours.

Drive Reduction

Drive reduction theory suggests that organisms are motivated to reduce internal tension, or drives, that arise from physiological needs. Drive reduction theory is associated with homeostasis.
Needs like thirst or hunger create internal tension (drive), which motivates behaviour to satisfy the need and reduce the tension.
Drive-reducing behaviors are likely to be repeated.
Learned helplessness is a situation in which learning that unpleasant stimuli cannot be avoided results in a lack of drive reducing behaviours.

Arousal Theory

Arousal theory seeks to explain behaviours where the goal is to maintain or increase excitement.
Individuals try to maintain a certain level of stimulation - some like more versus less stimulation.
Too little stimulation -> increase it (e.g., skydiving).
Too much stimulation -> decrease it (e.g., spending time in a quiet environment).
The Yerkes-Dodson Law describes the relationship between performance and arousal; optimal performance occurs at moderate levels of arousal, with high or low arousal levels reducing performance.

Approach and Avoidance

Motivation influences our approach to some things and avoidance from others.
Evolutionarily, motivation is adaptive, in that it helps us seize opportunities and escape danger.
Behavioral activation system (BAS) is aroused by stimuli suggesting rewards and positive outcomes. Associated with the left prefrontal cortex.
Behavioral inhibition system (BIS) responds to stimuli associated with potential punishment or negative consequences. Associated with the right frontal lobe.

Incentive Approach

Incentive approach emphasizes environmental stimuli that pull organisms towards a goal, e.g. expectation of a good grade motivates studying.
Drive and incentive approaches might work together; drives push and incentives pull people towards goals.

This approach proposes that motivation is a product of people's thoughts, expectations, and goals.
Expectancy-value theory suggests that behaviour is a function of the expectancy that a behaviour will lead to a desired outcome and the value one places on that goal.

Biopsychosocial Approach

This approach proposes that many motivation models ignore key human motives such as striving for personal growth.
The hierarchy of needs (Maslow): Basic (physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem) needs must be met before higher-order, growth needs (cognitive, aesthetic, self-actualization, self-transcendence) can be attained.
It stresses the interplay between biology, psychology, and social environments when discussing motivation.

Motivational Conflicts

Motivational conflicts occur when competing motives or goals interfere with decisions.
Approach-approach conflicts involve choosing between two positive outcomes.
Avoidance-avoidance conflicts involve choosing between two negative outcomes.
Approach-avoidance conflicts involve a single goal with both positive and negative aspects (e.g., the desire to be in a relationship with someone who is bad for you).

Hunger and Weight Regulation

The hypothalamus plays a critical role in regulating hunger through hormones like ghrelin (hunger hormone) and leptin (satiety hormone).
Psychosocial aspects of hunger involve learned associations, emotional eating, availability and variety of food, and cultural influences.

Sexual Motivation

Physical factors like hormones (testosterone and estrogen) are crucial to sexual motivation and arousal.
Personal differences, cognitive and emotional factors, and cultural/environmental influences also play a role in sexual motivation.

This refers to the drive to seek and maintain interpersonal relationships.
The need to belong (Baumeister & Leary): Forming and maintaining close relationships is a fundamental human need.

Emotion

Emotions are subjective feelings (affective states) associated with bodily changes and cognitive interpretations.
Moods are similar to emotions, but they are longer-lasting and less intense, with unclear origins. Emotional intelligence includes the abilities to accurately perceive, interpret, express, regulate, and use emotions to guide thoughts and actions.
Functions of emotions include preparing for action (linking environmental events to actions), influencing future behaviour, and shaping social interactions based on understanding emotions.
Models of emotions include categorical models (innate, universal emotions) and dimensional models (representing emotions along two dimensions - arousal and valence), as well as some hybrid approaches using aspects of both models.

Common Sense Theory, James-Lange Theory, Cannon-Bard Theory.

Common-sense theory suggests emotions cause physiological responses; fear causes trembling.
James-Lange theory suggests physiological responses cause our emotional experiences; trembling creates the feeling of fear.
Cannon-Bard theory suggests that the brain creates the emotion and physiological responses simultaneously.

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory

The Schachter-Singer Two-Factor theory proposes that emotions result from a combination of physiological arousal and a cognitive label.
Arousal without knowing a cause might lead to misinterpreting the cause of arousal, leading to an incorrect emotional label. E.g., shaking body -> thinking about a tiger -> fear (Misattribution of arousal).

Happiness

Subjective well-being is a state of satisfaction with one's life, including emotional experiences and life satisfaction.
Happiness and well-being is influenced by biological factors, psychology, social and environmental factors including resources, social support, and cultural variation.
The hedonic treadmill describes how people adapt to changes in their lives, which can have a positive or negative effect on happiness.

Personality

Traits are enduring patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting that characterize a person's responses to situations, distinguishing them from others.
States are temporary emotional states, reflecting changes in the environment or situations.
Measuring personality includes factor analysis (identifying correlated traits to form dimensions).
The Big Five personality factors are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (OCEAN), described similarly across various cultures.

Conformity is adjusting behavior, attitudes, or beliefs to align with group norms. Informational social influence occurs when people conform because they believe others have accurate information. Normative social influence occurs when people conform to avoid rejection.
Obedience is complying with an order from an authority figure, even if it goes against one's personal values.
The bystander effect is the phenomenon where the likelihood of any one person helping in an emergency situation decreases as the number of bystanders increases. This is caused by several factors such as diffusion of responsibility, pluralistic ignorance, and audience inhibition.

Social loafing is a reduction in effort when individuals work in groups compared to working alone. Social facilitation is the improvement in performance in tasks when others are present. The difference is often associated with evaluation apprehension (concern over being judged by others), with social facilitation being observed in simple tasks. Social loafing is more likely to be observed in group tasks when individual performance is not evaluated.

Group Polarization

Group polarization intensifies the opinions and motivations of group members, leading to more extreme views and actions.

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance occurs when there are conflicting attitudes or beliefs, often caused by actions taken that go against those beliefs.
Individuals may experience discomfort/dissonance, motivating them to change their thoughts to reduce the conflict. Self perception theory is the opposing theory to cognitive dissonance. This proposes that behaviour can be used to infer attitudes.

Attitudes and Behavior.

Attitudes are evaluations. They impact behaviour but not consistently, as many factors influence behaviour (situational forces).

Dispositional Optimism

A general tendency to expect good outcomes in life. This is an individual difference that significantly affects perceived stress, coping, health, relationships, and well being.

Lifespan Development

Developmental psychology examines changes across an individual's lifespan.
Key issues in developmental psychology are stability versus change, continuity versus discontinuity, nature versus nurture, and critical versus sensitive periods.
Methods like cross-sectional, longitudinal, and sequential designs are used to study development.
Major theories of development include Piaget's stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational), Kohlberg's stages of moral development (pre-conventional, conventional, post-conventional), and Erik Erikson's psychosocial stages (trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, integrity vs. despair).

Mental Disorders

Psychopathology is the study of mental disorders.
Defining mental disorders involves concepts of deviation from statistical norms, cultural norms, maladaptive behaviour, and personal distress.
The DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) categorizes mental disorders based on observed symptoms.
Origins of mental disorders may involve a confluence of biological, psychological, and environmental factors.

Treatment for Mental Disorders

Treatments for mental disorders include biological (drugs, psychosurgery, ECT), and psychosocial (psychotherapy) approaches.
Drug therapies are often used for conditions such as schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety and may involve medication targeting neurotransmitter levels.
Psychotherapy involves talking therapies aimed at improving behaviours, emotions, thoughts or modifying dysfunctional thought patterns.
Other therapies like behavioural, humanistic, cognitive-behavioral, and group therapies are also employed.

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Description

Test your understanding of important psychological concepts related to group dynamics and individual behavior. This quiz covers topics like the Yerkes-Dodson Law, arousal approaches, and developmental research. Challenge yourself and reinforce your knowledge in psychology.