Psychology of Emerging Adulthood

Human Development

• Human development is a pattern of continuity and change in human capacities throughout life.
• Changes occur at the physical, cognitive, and emotional/socio-emotional levels.

Research Methods

• Cross-sectional study: Data collected at a single point in time, using a cohort (group of people born around the same time period).
• Limitation: Does not track individuals over time.
• Longitudinal study: Data collected repeatedly over time, using the same participants.
• Limitation: Expensive and time-consuming, and potential "drop-out" effects.

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Cognitive Theory

• Cognitive development is an interpersonal process happening in a cultural context.
• The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is the difference between what a child can do independently and what a child can do with help from a knowledgeable other.

Erik Erikson's Theory of Socioemotional Development

• First stage: Trust vs. Mistrust (in infancy), where babies' needs must be met for them to develop trust.
• Subsequent stages include identity vs role confusion, intimacy vs isolation, generativity vs stagnation.

Early vs. Later Life Experiences

• Life-span developmentalists study both children and adults, emphasizing that early and later experiences influence development equally.
• A person's early childhood experiences don't necessarily dictate their future, yet early experiences definitely have significant contributions to development.

Resilience

• Resilience: A person shows signs of positive functioning even while facing adversity.
• Factors predicting childhood resilience can include a supportive relationship with a competent adult figure outside the home.

Piaget's Cognitive Development

• Children actively construct their cognitive world through schemas.
• Assimilation: Incorporating new information into existing schemas.
• Accommodation: Adjusting existing schemas when new information doesn't fit.
• Object permanence is usually achieved between 8-12 months.

Parenting Styles

• Authoritarian: Controlling, punitive, and does not explain decisions.
• Authoritative: Discipline with explanations, encourages independence with limits.
• Neglectful: Generally uninvolved.
• Permissive: Involved, places few limits.

Emerging Adulthood

• Arnett's 5 key features are Identity Exploration (in love and work), Instability, Self-focus, Feeling "in between," and an Age of possibilities.

Physical Changes in Adulthood

• Early adulthood: Peak of physical development
• Middle adulthood: Most women experience menopause, and may experience less height and generally gain more weight.
• Late adulthood: Elective optimization with compensation (use of strategies to compensate for age-related losses)

Motivation & Emotion

• Evolutionary approach: Sign stimuli (specific events) give rise to instincts.
• Drive-reduction theory: Drives lead to behavior to restore homeostasis.
• Optimum arousal theory: Performance is best under conditions of moderate arousal.

Hunger & Obesity

• Biological factors affecting hunger include stomach contractions, CCK (cholecystokinin), glucose levels, insulin, and leptin.
• Obesity is associated with various health issues and has genetic components related to set points.
• Key psychological factors implicated in obesity include emotional eating and external cues in food commercials.

Intrinsinc & Extrinsinc Motivation

-Intrinsic motivation comes from internal factors linked to the activity itself such as enjoyment, purpose, growth, curiosity, passion, and self-expression. -Extrinsic motivation comes from external factors like promotions, pay raises, and winning.

Misattribution of Emotion

• The Capilano Suspension Bridge experiment demonstrated that physiological arousal can be misattributed to an emotional cause.

Procrastination

• Unworthy award
• Fear of failure
• Fear of success
• Overwhelmed
• Perfectionism

Attitudes & Persuasion

• Elaboration likelihood model (ELM) identifies two routes to persuasion: central (rational) and peripheral (emotional).
• Personality and situation factors influence which route is more effective.
• Examples of persuasion techniques include the foot-in-the-door technique and the door-in-the-face technique.

Social Behavior

• Altruism: Helping others, without expecting anything in return.
• Aggression: Hostile or forceful behavior, sometimes with intent to harm.
• Causes of Aggression include: evolutionary pressures, genetic factors, and neurobiological factors.

Social Cognition

• Social Cognition refers to how people select, interpret, remember, and use social information about others, the environment, and themselves.
• Person perception is the process of forming impressions of others, often based on key social cues like facial expressions, influencing how trustworthiness and dominance are perceived.
• Attributions are explanations for causes of behavior. External and Internal, stable and unstable, controllable and uncontrollable.
• Examples of social behaviours include conformity and obedience.

Prejudice, Stereotypes, & Discrimination

• Prejudice: Negative attitude toward a particular group.
• Stereotype: Belief about the traits of a group.
• Discrimination: Negative action against a group.

Personality

• Personality: Enduring thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize an individual's way of adapting to their world.
• Personality Traits: Lasting characteristics across situations and time that influence responses to situations.
• Examples of Traits: Openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (the big 5).
• How Personality Affects Social Cognition: Personality can shape the way people perceive and form impressions of others.
• Personological, social cognitive, and trait theories offer different approaches to understanding personality.

Psychological Disorders

• Abnormal behavior is unusual and deviates from typical behavior, and psychological disorders are characterized by maladaptive or distress-causing behavior patterns for a period of time.
• The DSM-5 is the diagnostic manual for psychological disorders and uses a categorical system to classify these disorders.

Suicide Prevention

• Warning signs for suicide vary, and actions to take should include helping the individual seek professional help.
• Methods that may not be effective in situations when individuals are involved in suicide prevention may include false reassurances and ignoring the warning signs.
• Safeguards against unethical conformity/obedience include higher levels of assertiveness, independence, resistance to stress, and low levels of authoritarianism.

Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID)

• Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) is a process that allows those who meet specific criteria to receive assistance from a medical professional in ending their lives.

Clinical Psychologist vs. Psychiatrists

• A Clinical Psychologist addresses psychological disorders, while a Psychiatrist can address both psychological disorders and physical disorders, and can prescribe medication.

Factors in Effective Psychotherapy

• Therapeutic alliance, therapist characteristics, and the client's own characteristics are influential.
• Different approaches to psychotherapy target issues, such as insight vs symptoms; and directive vs non-directive.

Therapy Approaches

• Psychodynamic therapies, humanistic therapies, behavioral therapies, cognitive therapies, dialectical behaviour therapies, and integrated approaches are different models to treat people with different conditions with specific techniques, focuses, targets, and goals for change.

Stages of Change Model

• The stages of change model offers a framework explaining the process of adopting healthier habits or lifestyles.
• Stages include (1) pre-contemplation, (2) contemplation, (3) preparation, (4) action, (5) maintenance.
• Stages may include relapse to earlier stages, which can be a part of the process, rather than a failure.

Resources to support change

• Social support: Information, feedback, reassurance, tangible assistance, and emotional support from others can support positive behaviour changes.

Stress and Coping

• Stress is a normal response to threatening or challenging situations, but chronic stress can have negative impacts.
• Strategies to manage stress can include using coping mechanisms to gain a perspective and manage the problem.
• Types of coping mechanisms include Problem-focused coping and Emotion-focused coping.

This quiz explores key concepts in the psychology of emerging adulthood, focusing on self-focus, opportunities, and cognitive changes during different life stages. It also covers the impact of physical activity on cognitive function and the factors influencing happiness. Test your understanding of Erikson’s Theory and the intricacies of adult development.