PSY Final PDF

General Psychology PERSONALITY Introduction u Personality: Characteristic way of thinking, feeling, and behaving Psychodynamic Perspective u Psychodynamic approaches to personality: Assume that personality is primarily unconscious u Motivated by inner forces and conflicts about which people have lit...

General Psychology PERSONALITY Introduction u Personality: Characteristic way of thinking, feeling, and behaving Psychodynamic Perspective u Psychodynamic approaches to personality: Assume that personality is primarily unconscious u Motivated by inner forces and conflicts about which people have little awareness Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping the Unconscious Mind u Psychoanalytic theory: Unconscious forces act as determinants of personality u Theory by Freud u Conscious: Part of the personality that you are aware of in any given instance u Unconscious: Part of the personality that contains the memories, knowledge, beliefs, feelings, urges, drives, and instincts of which the individual is not aware u Unconsciousness consists of u Preconscious: non-threatening material that is easily brought to mind u Drives: instinctual wishes, desires, demands, and needs hidden from awareness because of the conflict and pain they would cause Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping the Unconscious Mind u Structuring personality: Id, ego, & superego u u u Id u instinctual, unorganized, inborn part of personality u Sole purpose is to reduce tension created by primitive drives related to hunger, sex, aggression, and irrational impulses u Pleasure principle Ego u Part of the personality that provides a buffer between the id and the realities of the objective, outside world u Reality principle u Executive of personality Superego u Personality structure that harshly judges the morality of our behavior u Includes the conscience, which prevents us from behaving in a morally improper way u Makes us feel guilty if we do wrong Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping the Unconscious Mind u Developing personality: Psychosexual stages u Psychosexual stages: Developmental periods that children pass through during which they encounter conflicts between the demands of society and their own sexual urges u Fixations: Concerns or conflicts that persist beyond the developmental period in which they first occur Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping the Unconscious Mind u Developing personality: Psychosexual stages Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping the Unconscious Mind u Threats to the balance between the ego, superego, and id can result in anxiety u Anxiety results in the ego using defense mechanisms to protect itself u Defense mechanisms: Unconscious strategies that people use to reduce anxiety by distorting reality and concealing the source of the anxiety from themselves u Repression: Primary defense mechanism u Ego pushes unacceptable or unpleasant impulses out of awareness and back into the unconscious Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping the Unconscious Mind u Evaluating Freud’s legacy u Individual case studies seem supportive, but there is a lack of conclusive evidence, showing that personality is structured consistent with Freud’s theory u Sexuality is not the pervasive force that Freud believed it to be u The Oedipus complex is not as universal as Freud maintained u The first five years of life are not as powerful in shaping adult personality as Freud thought later experiences warrant attention u The ego and conscious thought processes play a larger role in personality than Freud believed. u Observations and theory was derived from a limited population u Sociocultural factors are much more important than Freud believed u Important method of treating psychological disturbances called psychoanalysis was developed The Neo-Freudian Psychoanalysts: Building on Freud u Psychoanalysts who were trained in traditional Freudian theory but who later rejected some of its major points u Emphasized the functions of the ego u Suggested that, it has more control than the id over day-to-day activities The Neo-Freudian Psychoanalysts: Building on Freud u Jung’s collective unconscious: Inherited set of ideas, feelings, images, and symbols that are shared with all humans because of our common ancestral past u Collective unconscious vs personal unconscious u Collective unconscious contains archetypes u Archetypes: Universal symbolic representations of particular types of people, objects, ideas, or experiences The Neo-Freudian Psychoanalysts: Building on Freud u Horney’s neo-Freudian perspective u u Suggested that personality develops in the context of social relationships u Depends on the relationship between parents and child u Rejected Freud’s notion of penis envy in women Stressed the importance of cultural factors in the determination of personality The Neo-Freudian Psychoanalysts: Building on Freud u Adler and the other neo-Freudians u u Alfred Adler – Proposed that the primary human motivation is striving for superiority in a quest for self-improvement and perfection u Birth order plays an important role in personality u Inferiority complex – Describes adults who have not been able to overcome the feelings of inadequacy they developed as children Erik Erikson and Anna Freud focused on the social and cultural factors behind personality Learning Approaches: We are What We’ve Learned u u B. F. Skinner’s behaviorist approach u Personality is a collection of learned behavior patterns u Humans are infinitely changeable through the process of learning new behavior patterns Social cognitive approaches to personality: Theories that emphasize the influence of a person’s cognitions and observation of others’ behavior, in determining personality Evaluating Learning Approaches to Personality u Learning theories have: u Helped make personality psychology a scientific venture u u Tend to share a highly deterministic view of human behavior u u By focusing on observable behavior and the effects of their environments Maintains that behavior is shaped by forces beyond the individual’s control Produced important, successful means of treating a variety of psychological disorders Humanistic Approaches: The Uniqueness of You u Emphasize people’s innate goodness and desire to achieve higher levels of functioning u Rogers and the need for selfactualization u Self-actualization: State of self-fulfillment in which people realize their highest potential, each in a unique way u Unconditional positive regard: Attitude of acceptance and respect on the part of an observer, no matter what a person says or does u Conditional positive regard depends on one’s behavior Evaluating Humanistic Approaches u u Benefits u Highlights the uniqueness of human beings u Guides the development of a form of therapy designed to alleviate psychological difficulties Criticisms u Difficulty of verifying basic assumptions of the approach u Making the assumption that people are basically “good” Trait Approaches: Placing Labels on Personality u Trait theory: Model of personality that seeks to identify the basic traits necessary to describe personality u Traits: Consistent, habitual personality characteristics and behaviors displayed across different situations Costa and McCrae’s Big Five Personality Traits Evaluating Trait Approaches to Personality u u Benefits u Provide straightforward explanation of people’s behavioral consistencies u Allow comparison of one person to another u Influence the development of several useful personality measures Drawbacks u Validity of trait conceptions of personality u Do not provide explanations for behavior General Psychology DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Development u Developmental psychology: the study of the pattern of change that starts from conception and continues throughout the lifespan The Earliest Development u Zygote: New cell formed by the union of an egg and sperm u u First 2 weeks are known as the germinal period Embryo: Developed zygote that has a heart, a brain, and other organs u Embryonic period – Entered by the developing individual, two weeks after conception u Organs are clearly recognizable, despite being at a primitive stage of development The Earliest Development u u Fetus: Developing individual from 8 weeks after conception until birth u Fetal period u Movements become strong enough for the mother to sense them u Age of viability: Point at which a fetus can survive if born prematurely (22 weeks) Preterm infants - Born before week 38 u Unable to develop fully in utero, infants are at higher risk for illness, future problems, and death Prenatal Environmental Influences u Prenatal development involves passing through several sensitive periods: Time when organisms are susceptible to certain kinds of stimuli u Teratogens: Environmental agents such as a drug, chemical, virus, or other factor that produce a birth defect u Mother’s nutrition u Mother’s illness u Mother’s emotional state u Mother’s drug use u Mother’s age u Incompatible blood types u Paternal factors The Extraordinary Newborn u Neonate: Newborn child u Reflexes: Unlearned, involuntary responses that occur automatically in the presence of certain stimuli u Rooting reflex u Sucking reflex u Gag reflex u Startle reflex u Babinski reflex Motor Development Milestones Physical Development u Physical development u Children gain triple their birth weight during first year of life u Increase in height by half during first year of life u From age 3 to adolescence, average growth of 5 pounds (2.3 kg) and 3 inches (7.6 cm) per year Physical Development: The Changing Adolescent u Adolescence: Developmental stage between childhood and adulthood u The start of adolescence is usually marked by puberty u Puberty: Period at which maturation of the sexual organs occurs beginning at about age: u 11 or 12 years for girls u u Menstruation 13 or 14 years for boys u Spermarche Physical Development: The Peak of Health u For most people, early adulthood marks the peak of physical health u u Around age 25, the body becomes slightly less efficient and more susceptible to disease Menopause: Women stop menstruating and are no longer fertile u Treated through hormone therapy (HT) with hormones estrogen and progesterone u Risks associated with HT Physical Changes in Late Adulthood: The Aging Body u Genetic preprogramming theories of aging u u Suggest that human cells have a built-in time limit to their reproduction and that they are no longer able to divide after a certain time Wear-and-tear theories of aging u Suggest that the mechanical functions of the body simply stop working efficiently Cognitive Development: Children’s Thinking About the World u The process by which a child’s understanding of the world changes as a function of age and experience u Important processes and concepts u Organization: Tendency in human beings u Schemas: Actions or mental representations that organize knowledge u Assimilation: Adding new knowledge to schemas u Accommodation: adding new knowledge that requires changing schemas u Equilibrium: state of balance between pre-existing schema and environment Cognitive Development: Children’s Thinking About the World Cognitive Development: Children’s Thinking About the World u Piaget’s theory of cognitive development u Sensorimotor stage: Stage from birth to 2 years, during which a child constructs their understanding of the world through coordinating sensory experiences and motor movements u Object permanence: Awareness that objects continue to exist even if they are out of sight Cognitive Development: Children’s Thinking About the World u Preoperational stage: Period from 2 to 7 years of age that is characterized by symbolic thought, language development, and egocentric thought u Egocentric thought: Way of thinking in which a child views the world entirely from his or her own perspective u Principle of conservation: Knowledge that quantity is unrelated to the arrangement and physical appearance of objects Cognitive Development: Children’s Thinking About the World u Concrete operational stage: Period from 7 to 12 years of age that is characterized by concrete and logical thought. Children are able to do concrete operations in this stage u Formal operational stage: Period from age 12 to adulthood that is characterized by abstract, idealistic, and logical thought Vygotsky’s View of Cognitive Development u Vygotsky’s view of cognitive development - considering culture u Cognitive development occurs as a consequence of social interactions in which children work with others to jointly solve problems u Zone of proximal development (ZPD): Gap between what children already are able to accomplish on their own and what they are not quite ready to do by themselves u Scaffolding - Provides support for learning Vygotsky’s View of Cognitive Development Stormy Adolescence: Myth or Reality? u Adolescent egocentrism - State of self-absorption in which a teenager views the world from his own point of view u Imaginary audience - Belief that everybody is looking at them u Personal fables - Belief that one’s experience is unique, exceptional, and shared by no one else Cognitive Changes: Thinking About – and During - Late Adulthood u Fluid intelligence - Information-processing skills such as memory, calculations, and analogy u u Shows decline in late adulthood Crystallized intelligence - Based on the accumulation of information, skills, and strategies learned through experience u Remains steady and in some cases improves Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development u Psychosocial development: Development of individuals’ interactions and understanding of each other and of their knowledge and understanding of themselves as members of society Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development Development of Social Behavior: Taking on the World u Attachment: Positive emotional bond that develops between a child and a particular individual u Konrad Lorenz u u Focused on newborn goslings u Labeled a process called imprinting u Imprinting - Behavior that takes place during a critical period and involves attachment to the first moving object observed Harry Harlow’s study on attachment u Wire monkey versus cloth monkey Development of Social Behavior: Taking on the World u Assessing attachment u Ainsworth strange situation: involving a child and caregiver (typically mother) u Securely attached children u Avoidant children u Resistant (Ambivalent) children u Disorganized-disoriented children Development of Social Behavior: Taking on the World u Father’s role u Number of fathers who are primary caregivers for their children has grown significantly u Engage in more physical, rough-and-tumble activities u Nature of attachment to children can be similar to that of mother’s Development of Social Behavior: Taking on the World Moral and Cognitive Development: Distinguishing Right from Wrong u Kohlberg’s theory of moral development u Suggests that the changes in moral reasoning can be understood as a threelevel, six stage sequence u Preconventional morality: use probability of rewards and punishments to judge right and wrong u u Stage 1: obedience and punishment orientation u Moral thinking tied to punishment u Children obey because they fear punishment Stage 2: individualism, instrumental purpose and exchange u Pursuing own interests is the right thing to do, others do the same u What is right involves equal exchange, E.g. I scratch your back, you scratch mine. Moral and Cognitive Development: Distinguishing Right from Wrong u Conventional morality: use standards of others to judge right and wrong u Stage 3: Mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships, and interpersonal conformity u u Adopt parents’ moral standards – want to be called “good boy” / “good girl” Stage 4: Social systems morality u Based on understanding social order, law, justice, and duty u Community can function only if there are laws and members follow the law, no exceptions Moral and Cognitive Development: Distinguishing Right from Wrong u Postconventional morality: use own standards to judge right and wrong u u u Stage 5: Social contract or utility and individual rights u Laws are social contracts created by humans u Evaluate laws based on their utility or contribution to the greater good Stage 6: Universal ethical principles u Moral standard based on universal human rights u Laws only valid if they are ground in justice u Law vs conscience: Should follow conscience in spite of risks Difficulty with the theory - Pertains to judgments, not moral behavior Social Development: Working at Life u People typically launch themselves into careers, marriage, and families during this period u Midlife transition - Period when people may begin to question their lives u Little evidence for an actual midlife crisis Marriage, Children, and Divorce: Family Ties u Changes in marriage and divorce trends have increased the number of single-parent households over the last two decades u Economic and emotional consequences for the single-parent households u Often economically less well off u Children: parents’ divorce may result in obstacles establishing close relationships later in life u Children: may blame themselves, or feel pressure to take sides Thinking About – and During – Late Adulthood u Social world of late adulthood: Old but not alone u Activity theory of aging: Suggests that successful aging is characterized by maintaining the interests and activities of earlier stages of life u Life review: Process by which people examine and evaluate their lives Adjusting to Death u Five stages of facing impending death suggested by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross u Denial u Anger u Bargaining u Depression u Acceptance General Psychology MOTIVATION AND EMOTION Major Approaches to Motivation u Instinct u Drive reduction u Arousal u Incentive u Cognitive u Hierarchy of needs Explaining Motivation u Motivation: Factors that direct and energize the behavior of humans and other organisms u Includes behavioral, cognitive, and social aspects u Studied with a variety of approaches u All approaches seek to explain the energy that guides behavior in specific directions Instinct Approach u Instincts: Inborn patterns of behavior that are biologically determined rather than learned u Instinct approaches to motivation: The explanation of motivation that suggests people and animals are born preprogrammed with sets of behaviors essential to survival u Weaknesses u Lack of agreement on number of primary instincts u Unable to explain why behaviors evolve in some species but not others Drive-Reduction Approach u Suggest that a lack of some basic biological need produces a drive to push an organism to satisfy that need u Drive: Motivation tension, or arousal, that energizes behavior to fulfill a need u Primary drives - Related to biological needs of the body or of the species as a whole u Secondary drives - Related to behavior that fulfills no obvious biological need Arousal Approach u Belief that people try to maintain a steady level of stimulation and activity u Suggests that if stimulation and activity levels become too high, individuals tries to reduce them u If stimulation and activity levels become too low, we seek out stimulation to increase them u People vary in the optimal level of arousal they seek out; some look for especially high levels of arousal u Daredevil sportsmen, high-stakes gamblers, and criminals Incentive Approach u Suggest that motivation stems from the desire to attain external rewards, known as incentives u Fails to provide complete explanation of motivation as organisms sometimes seek to fulfill needs even with no apparent incentives Cognitive Approach u Suggest that motivation is a result of people’s thoughts, beliefs, expectations, and goals u Draws distinction between: u Intrinsic motivation - Causes individuals to participate in an activity for their own enjoyment rather than for any actual or concrete reward u Extrinsic motivation - Causes individuals to do something for money, a grade, or some other actual, concrete reward Maslow’s Hierarchy u Places motivational needs in a hierarchy u Suggests that before meeting sophisticated, higher-order needs, certain primary needs must be satisfied u Self-actualization: State of self-fulfillment in which people realize their highest potential in their own way Maslow’s Hierarchy u Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is important because it: u Highlights complexity of human needs u Emphasizes that until basic biological needs are met, people will be unconcerned about higher-order needs u However, research has been unable to validate the specific order of Maslow’s hierarchy Other Needs u Achievement Motivation: Stable, learned characteristic in which a person obtains satisfaction by striving for and achieving challenging goals u People with high need for achievement are selective in picking challenges u u Avoid situations with success coming too easily or unlikely to come People with low achievement motivation tend to be motivated primarily by a desire to avoid failure u The need for affiliation: Interest in establishing and maintaining relationships with other people u The need for power: Tendency to seek impact, control, or influence over others and to be seen as a powerful individual Understanding Emotional Experiences u Emotions: Feelings that generally have both physiological and cognitive elements and that influence behavior u Functions u Preparing us for action u Shaping our future behavior u Helping us interact more effectively with others The James-Lange Theory u The James-Lange theory The James-Lange Theory u Emotional experience is a reaction to bodily events occurring as a result of an external situation u We experience emotions as a result of physiological changes that produce specific sensations, which the brain interprets as emotions u Drawbacks u Visceral changes would have to occur relatively quickly u Physiological arousal does not invariably produce emotional experience u Internal organs produce a relatively limited range of sensations The Cannon-Bard Theory u The Cannon-Bard theory The Cannon-Bard Theory u Physiological arousal and emotional experience are produced simultaneously by the same nerve stimulus u Rejects the view that physiological arousal alone leads to the perception of emotion u After we perceive an emotion-producing stimulus, the thalamus is the initial site of the emotional response u Thalamus sends responses to autonomic nervous system and the cortex The Schachter-Singer Theory u The Schachter-Singer theory The Schachter-Singer Theory u Emotions are determined jointly by a nonspecific kind of physiological arousal and its interpretation u Based on environmental cues u Supports a cognitive view of emotions The Roots of Emotions u Later research has found that arousal is more specific than Schachter and Singer believed, research supports that we may look to our surrounding to determine the source of physiological arousal The Roots of Emotions The Roots of Emotions u Making sense of the multiple perspectives on emotion u Emotions are complex phenomena, encompassing biological and cognitive aspects u No single theory has been able to fully explain all the facets of emotional experience Ekman’s Universality Studies Ekman’s Universality Studies u Expressions are rather universal across cultures u Display rules can vary Ekman’s Universality Studies u Universality Studies (Ekman, 1972) u Photographs of emotion thought to portray universally recognizable emotions were shown to observers in different countries, who had to label each emotion u High agreement for 6 basic emotions (happiness, anger, sadness, surprise, disgust, fear) u Criticism: only literate, industrialized, modern cultures were included Display Rules Study u Two preliterate tribes in New Guinea found similar results u Participants asked to select a story that best described a facial expression u Asked to produce facial expressions of different emotions u Pictures taken of New Guinean facial expressions, shown to Americans who had never seen the tribe members u Americans could accurately label emotions Display Rules Study u Friesen (1972) u Japanese and American participants viewed stressful stimulus alone u High status experimenter u Shows display rules are different Condition Americans Japanese Alone Showed disgust Showed disgust With Experimenter Showed disgust Smiled Importance of Facial Expressions u Not only reflect emotions, but also determine emotions u Facial-feedback hypothesis u Hypothesis that facial expressions not only reflect emotional experience but also help determine how people experience and label emotions PY200/PY211 General Psychology SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Social Psychology u Scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by others 14-2 Attitudes and Social Cognition u How do people form impressions of what others are like and of the causes of their behavior? u What are the biases that influence the ways in which people view others’ behavior? 14-3 Social Cognition: Understanding Others (1) u The cognitive processes by which people understand and make sense of others and themselves u Social schemas: Sets of cognitions about people and social experiences u Organize information stored in memory u Provide a framework to recognize, categorize, and recall information relating to social stimuli u Help predict what others are like based on relatively little information 14-4 Social Cognition: Understanding Others (2) u Forming impressions of others u Impression formation - Process by which an individual organizes information about another person to form an overall impression of that person u Central traits: Major traits considered in forming impressions of others u E.G. researchers told a group of students that a guest lecturer was either (Kelley, 1950): u u Condition 1: Warm, industrious, critical, practical, and determined u Condition 2: Cold, industrious, critical, practical, and determined Students in the first condition rated the lecturer more positively 14-5 Social Cognition: Understanding Others (3) u Attribution processes: Understanding the causes of behavior u Attribution theory: Considers how we decide, on the basis of samples of a person’s behavior, what the specific causes of that behavior are u Focuses on why is someone acting in a particular way - Asks the “why” question 14-6 Social Cognition: Understanding Others (4) u Situational causes of behavior: Causes of behavior that are external to a person u Dispositional causes of behavior: Causes of behavior brought about by a person’s traits or personality characteristics 14-7 Attribution Biases: To Err is Human (1) u Halo effect: Phenomenon in which an initial understanding that a person has positive traits is used to infer other uniformly positive characteristics u Assumed-similarity bias: Tendency to think of people as being similar to oneself even when meeting them for the first time 14-8 Attribution Biases: To Err is Human (2) u Self-serving bias: Tendency to attribute success to personal factors and failure to factors outside oneself u Fundamental attribution error: Tendency to overattribute others’ behavior to dispositional causes and minimize the importance of situational causes 14-9 Social Influence and Groups u What are the major sources and tactics of social influence? 14-10 Introduction (1) u Social influence: Social groups and individuals exert pressure on an individual, either deliberately or unintentionally u Group: Two or more people who: u Interact with one another u Perceive themselves as part of a group u Are interdependent u Develop and hold norms 14-11 Conformity: Following What Others Do u Conformity: A change in behavior or attitudes brought about by a desire to follow the beliefs or standards of other people u E.g. Asch study 14-12 Conformity Conclusions: Significant Findings Focus On u Characteristics of the group u Status: Social standing of someone in a group u Situation in which the individual is responding u Kind of task u Unanimity of the group u Social supporter: Group member whose dissenting views make nonconformity to the group easier 14-13 Conformity to Social Roles u Conformity influences behavior is through social roles u u Social roles: Expectations for people who occupy a given social position Experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo and colleagues: u Guards vs. prisoners u Conforming to social roles can have a powerful effect on behavior u Can induce people to change behavior in undesirable ways 14-15 Obedience: Following Direct Orders u Obedience: A change in behavior in response to the commands of others u Milgram’s classic obedience study u Teacher: administer electric shock u Learner: (research confederate) ‘receiving’ electric shock u 65% of participants eventually used the highest setting labelled on the shock generator, in response to experimenter’s commands 14-16 Prejudice and Discrimination u How do stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination differ? u How can we reduce prejudice and discrimination? 14-17 Introduction (2) u Stereotype: Set of generalized beliefs and expectations about a specific group and its members u Prejudice: Negative (or positive) evaluation of a group and its members u Discrimination: Behavior directed toward individuals on the basis of their membership in a particular group u Self-fulfilling prophecy: expectations about the occurrence of a future event or behavior that act to increase the likelihood the event or behavior will occur 14-18 The Foundations of Prejudice (1) u Observational learning approaches suggests that children’s feelings about members of various groups are shaped by: u u Stereotyping and prejudice, the behavior of parents, other adults, and peers Mass media provides information about stereotypes for children and adults 14-19 The Foundations of Prejudice (2) u Social identity theory suggests that people tend to be ethnocentric u Ethnocentric: Viewing the world from their own perspective and judging others in terms of their group membership u Ingroups and outgroups 14-20 Measuring Prejudice and Discrimination: The Implicit Association Test u Measure of prejudice that permits a more accurate assessment of people’s discrimination between members of different groups u Criticism of the test u Having an implicit bias does not mean that people will overtly discriminate 14-21 Reducing the Consequences of Prejudice and Discrimination u Increase contact between the target of stereotyping and holder of the stereotype u Make values and norms against prejudice more conspicuous u Provide information about the targets of stereotyping u Reducing stereotype threat u Increasing the sense of social belonging of ethnic minority students 14-22 Positive & Negative Social Behavior u Why are we attracted to certain people, and what progression do social relationships follow? u What factors underlie aggression and prosocial behavior? 14-23 Interpersonal Attraction and the Development of Relationships (1) u Interpersonal attraction: Positive feelings for others; liking and loving u Factors that attract people to each other: u Proximity: Tendency to like those that are near us u Familiarity: Mere-exposure-effect: Tendency to like those we see often u Similarity: Tendency to like those who are like us u Reciprocity: Tendency to like those who like us u Physical attractiveness: Tendency to like those who look attractive 14-24 Interpersonal Attraction and the Development of Relationships (2) u Differentiation between types of love by psychologist Robert Sternberg u Commitment (decision to commit) - Initial thoughts that one loves someone and the longerterm feelings of commitment to maintain love u Intimacy component - Feelings of closeness and connectedness u Passion component - Motivational drives relating to sex, physical closeness, and romance 14-25 Interpersonal Attraction and the Development of Relationships (3) u Types of love u Romantic love: State of intense absorption in someone that includes intense physiological arousal, psychological interest, and caring for the needs of another u Companionate love: Strong affection we have for those with whom our lives are deeply involved 14-26 Aggression and Prosocial Behavior: Hurting and Helping Others (1) u Hurting others: Aggression u u Aggression: Intentional injury of, or harm to, another person. The other person must want to avoid this Instinct approaches: Aggression as a release u Freudian theory u Catharsis: Process of discharging built-up aggressive energy 14-28 Aggression and Prosocial Behavior: Hurting and Helping Others (2) u Biological and biochemical approaches u Evolutionary u u Daly & Watson (1988, 1996, 2005) u Birth parents less likely to abuse or murder own offspring than stepparents are to harm stepchildren u Preschool children living with stepparent or foster parent 70 -100 times more likely to be fatally abused than those living with both biological parents Testosterone u Berthold (1949): Castrated roosters without transplanted testicles displayed less aggression than castrated roosters with transplanted testicles 14-29 Aggression and Prosocial Behavior: Hurting and Helping Others (3) u u Frustration-aggression approaches: Aggression as a reaction to frustration u Explains aggression in terms of reactions to frustration u Frustration: Reaction to the blocking of goals Weapon’s effect: tendency for presence of weapons to increase aggression u E.G. Klinesmith et al. (2006) hotsauce study 14-30 Aggression and Prosocial Behavior: Hurting and Helping Others (4) u Observational learning approaches: Learning to hurt others u Emphasizes that social and environmental conditions can teach individuals to be aggressive u Suggests that people learn to be aggressive by viewing the rewards and punishments that models provide u Models: Individuals who provide a guide to appropriate behavior through their own behavior 14-31 Helping Others: The Brighter Side of Human Nature (1) u Prosocial behavior: Helping behavior u Bystander effect: the presence of others inhibits helping behavior (e.g. Darley & Latane, 1968) 14-32 Helping Others: The Brighter Side of Human Nature (2) u Diffusion of responsibility: the belief that responsibility for intervening is shared, or diffused, among those present u Pluralistic ignorance: the erroneous inference that others accept a norm, therefore causing the person to go along with it u Rewards-costs analysis u Suggests that individuals tend to use the least costly form implementing help u Altruism: Helping behavior that requires self-sacrifice u Altruism is based on temporary situational factors 14-33 General Psychology HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY Health Psychology u Health psychology: Focuses on the role that psychology plays in an individual’s health and in preventing and treating illness u Health promotion: helps individuals improve their lifestyles u Public health: helps policy makers Biopsychosocial Model u Health psychology integrates biological, psychological, and social factors in health. The Relation Between Body and Mind u The mind definitely affects physical health, but the body also influences the mind u Health may influence psychological experiences such as cognitive abilities, stress, and coping Change u Sometimes we engage in unhealthy behavior and wish to change that behavior Theoretical Models of Change u Theory of reasoned action u u u specific intentions about behavior u positive attitude about the new behavior u perceptions of social group support Theory of planned behavior u u Effective change requires: Effective change requires: Perceptions of control over outcome Criticism: sometimes our health decisions are not rational How do Individuals make Healthy Lifestyle Choices? u The stages of change model involves the process by which people give up bad habits and take on a healthier lifestyle u Changes are not made overnight, but they take place over a series of stages Stages of Change Model Resources for Effective Life Change u Personal motivation u Change is most effective when individuals are changing for themselves. u intrinsic v. extrinsic motivation Resources for Effective Life Change u u Social Relationships u Social support is one way to make a difference in our lives and provides us with information and feedback from others indicating that one is loved and cared for, esteemed and valued. u Benefits of social support u tangible assistance u Information u emotional support Religious Faith u Linked to longer, healthier, life u Social support comes with religious affiliation Stress u A person’s response to events that are threatening or challenging u u Stressors u Circumstances and events in life u Stressors produce threats to our well-being Daily life as repeated sequence of u Perceiving a threat u Considering ways to cope u Adapting to the threat with greater or less success Nature of Stress u u Stress varies according to individuals u Social situations u Activities For people to consider an event stressful, they must: u Perceive it as threatening or challenging u Lack all the resources to deal with it effectively Categorizing Stressors Cataclysmic events Strong stressors that occur suddenly and typically affect many people at once Personal stressors Major life events, that have immediate negative consequences that generally fade with time Background stressors Everyday annoyances that cause minor irritation and may have long-term ill effects The High Cost of Stress u Stress produces both biological and psychological consequences u Psychophysiological disorders: Medical problems influenced by an interaction of psychological, emotional, and physical difficulties u Stress affects us in multiple ways u Increases the risk of illness u May hurt our ability to recover from diseases u Reduces our ability to cope with future stress The General Adaptation Syndrome Model u Theory developed by Selye u Physiological response to stress follows the same set pattern regardless of the cause of stress u Consists of three phases u Alarm and mobilization u Resistance u Exhaustion The General Adaptation Syndrome Model u General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis u Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis (HPA) u controls reactions to stressful events Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) and Stress u Focuses on the outcomes of stress u Main consequences of stress: u Physiological results u Harmful behaviors u Indirect health-related behaviors Coping with Stress Emotion-focused coping Managing emotions in the face of stress, seeking to change the way one feels about or perceives a problem Problem-focused coping Attempting to modify the stressful problem or source of stress Avoidant coping Use more direct escape routes, such as drug or alcohol use Least effective Coping with Stress u People also use: u Defense mechanisms – Unconscious strategies to reduce anxiety by concealing the source from themselves and others u Emotional insulation – Person stops experiencing emotions and thereby remains unaffected and unmoved by both positive and negative experiences Coping Styles: Hardiness and Resilience u Hardiness: Personality trait characterized by a sense of commitment, the perception of problems of challenges, and a sense of control u u Three components u Commitment: see activities as important and meaningful u Challenge: see change as positive, not a threat u Control: perceive that they can influence life events Resilience: Ability to withstand, overcome, and actually thrive after profound diversity Social Support: Turning to Others u Mutual network of caring, interested others u u u Enables us to u Experience lower levels of stress u Be better able to cope with stress we do undergo Brain activation in areas reflecting stress was reduced when the participant was able to hold another’s hand Spirituality also provides health-related benefits u Example: attending religious services Subjective Well-Being u Subjective well-being: People’s sense of their happiness and satisfaction with their lives u Characteristics of happy people u Have high self-esteem - Positive illusions u Have a firm sense of control u Optimistic in nature u Men and women are generally made happy by the same sorts of activities - but not always u Like to be around other people Subjective Well-Being u Set points for happiness u u Most people have relatively high happiness set points u 30% rate selves as “very happy” u Only 10% rate themselves as “not too happy” Despite the ups and downs of life, most people adapt to life by returning to a steady-state level of happiness