SOSC1980 Test 2 Review PDF

I. Stress and Coping (Ch 4) + Emotion A. Emotion 1. How to understand everyday concepts - Classical definition: concepts precisely defined by a set of necessary and sufficient features - Have al...

I. Stress and Coping (Ch 4) + Emotion A. Emotion 1. How to understand everyday concepts - Classical definition: concepts precisely defined by a set of necessary and sufficient features - Have all the features, equal in membership, members can be precisely distinguished from non-members - Prototype approach - Many everyday concepts lack defining attributes, so organization is instead based around clearest examples → prototypes - Instances vary in their degree of family resemblance to the prototypes - Different kinds of fruit may all be qualified as fruit, but not because all share a single “necessary and sufficient” feature - Share a subset of features - e.g., intelligent? - Prototype, hypothetical ideal which nobody can match (Neisser, 1979) - Not something a person has, instead the degree to which a person resembles the prototype 2. What is an emotion? - Classical definitions - James (1884): bodily changes from perception of bodily changes and feelings of the same changes as they occur = emotion - Watson (1919): emotion is a mental event - Izard (1972): emotion is a complex process that has neurophysiological, motor-expressive, and phenomenological aspects - Tomkins (1980): emotion is primarily facial behavior - Theories/approaches - Schachter and singer’s theory: - Exciting event → bodily changes → cognitive label → emotion - Commonsense approach - Exciting event → emotion → bodily changes - James’ approach - Exciting event → perception of bodily changes → emotion - Facial expression, CNS, PNS 3. Basic emotions in the Chinese Case - Classic Texts - “7 emotions and 6 desires” - Only 3 have an overlap: Joy, Anger, Fear - 3 versions: daoism, confucianism, buddhism - Dictionaries - Idiographs: many emotion terms include the heart radical - Surveys - Russel and Yik (1996): HK sample to name basic 7 emotions; no consensus reached 4. How to study the concept of emotion? - Fuzzy categories - Categories can be defined in terms of prototypes and central features with no sharp boundary that separates members and non-members - Emotion concept is prototypically organized - Membership is a matter of degree rather than all or none - Emotion hierarchy (hypothetical/theoretical framework) - - Superordinate categories can be +/- - Basic emotions: joy, fear, anger, sadness - Subordinate-level = complex - Differences in chinese language - Love = negative - Chinese yielded a separate shame cluster - Li, Wang, and Fischer (2004) found 113 words asking native Chinese to identify terms for shame - 2 superordinate:  - Shame-related feelings (self-focus): fear of losing face, feeling after face lost, guilt - Reactions to shame (others-focus): disgrace, shamelessness, embarrassment - China = shame society, America = guilt society - Shame: failure to meet standard; coming from one’s fear of being excluded - Guilt: transgression of social rules; coming from the voice of one’s conscience - **lexical studies do not support shame-vs-guilt dichotomy (chinese: guilt = part of shame) B. Various sources of stress - Stress: event that exerts physical or psychological force or pressure on a person/demand made on an organism to adjust - Some level is necessary to keep us alert and occupied - Good stress: Eustress - Sources of Stress in America - Money, work, health, intimate relationships - Future of the nation (social divisiveness, health care, trust in government, hate crimes) - Mass shootings, climate change and global warming, widespread reports of sexual harassment and assault - Various sources of stress - Daily hassles and Life Changes - Daily hassle: routine, stressful source of annoyance or aggravation - Uplift: (opposite of daily hassle); Lazarus’s term for regularly occurring enjoyable experience - Life change: major change in life circumstances (e.g., getting married, starting/losing a job, losing a loved one) - People who experience more life changes during a given period of time are more likely to encounter both psychological and physical health problems - correlational - Pain and Discomfort - Point of contact → spinal cord → brain - Response to pain: release of chemicals like prostaglandins that heighten circulation to the injured area = redness and swelling (inflammation) - Analgesic drugs (e.g., aspirin and ibuprofen) inhibit the production of prostaglandins - Endorphins: neurotransmitters that comprise chains of aa and are functionally similar to morphine (contraction of endogenous morphine) - Frustration - Frustration: thwarting of a desire to obtain a goal - - Conflict: Condition characterized by opposing motives, in which gratification of one motive prevents gratification of the other - Approach-approach conflict: conflict involving two mutually exclusive goals (both positive) - Avoidance-avoidance conflict: two negative goals; avoidance of one requires approach of the other - Approach-avoidance conflict: 1 goal, both positive and negative features - Multiple approach-avoidance conflict: conflict involving >=2 goals (each with positive and negative aspects) - Type A behavior: pattern of stress-producing behavior (aggressiveness, perfectionism, unwillingness to relinquish control, and a sense of time urgency)  - Environmental Stressors - Terrorism, temperature, air pollution, crowding and other stresses of city life, personal space C. Effects of stress on the body, effects of stress on the immune system - General adaptation syndrome: Hans Selye’s term for a hypothesized three-stage bodily response to stress (Selye, 1976) - Alarm stage/alarm reaction - Characterized by heightened activity of the sympathetic branch (puts body on alert) of the autonomic nervous system - Domino effect on endocrine glands (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis) - Hypothalamus secretes corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) - CRH causes pituitary gland to secrete adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) - ACTH causes adrenal cortex (outer layer of adrenal glands) to secrete corticosteroids (increase resistance to stress e.g., fighting inflammation, stimulating liver to release sugar stores) - Adrenaline and noradrenaline are secreted - Respiration rate, blood pressure, blood coagulability increases - Muscles tense - Blood shifts from internal organs to muscles - Digestion inhibited - Liver releases sugar - Resistance stage - Continuing stressor, reach second stage –resistance stage - Endocrine and sympathetic nervous system activity lower than alarm but higher than normal - Exhaustion stage - Individual capacities differ but body eventually will become exhausted if continued indefinitely - Muscles fatigued - Body depleted of resources - Parasympathetic NS becomes dominant (relaxation? But body still under stress = stress disorder) - Effects of Stress on the Immune System - Corticosteroids over time suppress the functioning of the immune system, reducing the production of antibodies D. Factors that help us tolerate stress - Psychological hardiness: cluster of traits that buffer stress and are characterized by commitment, challenge, and control (Kobasa et al., 1994) - Commitment: They were strongly committed to their work and pursuit of their life goals. - Challenge: They felt challenged by new experiences and opportunities. They believed that change, rather than stability, is normal in life, not a threat to their security. - Control: They were high in perceived control over their lives. They felt and behaved as though they were influential, rather than helpless, in facing the various rewards and punishments of life. Psychologically hardy people tend to have what psychologist Julian Rotter (1990) called an internal locus of control. - Internal locus of control: place to which an individual attributes control over the receiving of reinforcers–either inside or outside the self - Sense of humor - Predictability and control - Ability to predict a stressor may lessen its impact - Social and emotional support - Sources include: - Emotional concern - Instrumental aid (material support and services that facilitate adaptive behavior) - Information (guidance and advice) - Appraisal (feedback about how one is doing) - Socializing E. Roles of cognitive appraisal, problem solving, managing emotional response help to cope with stress and how these methods might be hindered by less effective coping mechanisms - Less effective ways of coping with stress - Withdrawal - Denial - Substance abuse - Aggression - Coping by cognitive restructuring - Self-efficacy expectations: - Beliefs to the effect that one can perform a task successfully of manage a stressor - Opposite of self-doubting - Optimism - Irrational beliefs: cognitive doorways to distress  - Beliefs about events as well as the events themselves, can be stressors that challenge our ability to adjust - Activating events → beliefs → consequences - How to change irrational thoughts - Awareness - Evaluate accuracy of the thoughts - Prepare thoughts incompatible with irrational thoughts and practice saying them firmly to yourself - Coping by problem solving - Define the problem - Set realistic, achievable goal(s) - Generate or brainstorm multiple solutions - Evaluate the pros and cons of each possible solution - Select the preferred solution - Implement a specific action plan - Evaluate the outcome - Coping by managing emotional responses - Don’t bite off more than you can chew - Reduce daily hassles - Develop time-management skills - Work out - Humor - Do something you enjoy every day - Meditate - Relax - Breathe II. Therapies: Ways of Helping (Ch 14) + Coping A. Everyday Coping 1. Everyday psychology - Making sense of the world - Explaining behaviors → judging others → determining own reactions - Biases in explaining behaviors → important consequences in interpersonal relations → understanding the biases will help you cope in everyday life 2. Explaining behaviors - Attributing causality: to the person or the situation - Consistency: does the person usually behave this way in this situation? - Yes → explanation - Distinctiveness: does the person behave differently in different situations? - Yes → external attribution - No → internal attribution - Consensus: do others behave similarly in this situation? - Yes → external attribution - No → internal attribution - Bias in Explaining behaviors (FAE) - Ross (1977) - Underestimation of situational influences and overestimation of dispositional influences → others are the way they act - Those with high IQ and EQ more likely to FAE - Cultural differences in FAE - North american - FAE more common - Internal explanations are more acceptable - Success → own ability - East Asian - More sensitive to the importance of situations - Less inclined to assume others’ behaviors correspond to their traits - Success → luck (situation factor) 3. Coping is what you think - Self-enhancement - Overly positive view of the self (see the self as better than others) - Positive illusion: cognitive bias that makes you feel better than you are - Self-effacement - Tendency to play down one’s own skills or efforts publicly, to flatter the other effusively, and to speak about group accomplishments rather than individual contributions  - Canadian vs Chinese children: evaluate modest denial vs immodest acknowledgement of good deeds - Chinese → modesty = positive compared to Canadians - University students in HK demonstrated overall self-effacement tendency in their personality ratings - Self-perceived as less emotionally stable, less sociable, and less helpful than they were perceived by fellow group members - Other side of the coin - Self-effacement may be reflective of authentic self-perception - Acquire through socialization a habitual modest-response tendency - Modesty is spontaneous - Self-effacement is the desired response - Culturally appropriate, therefore self-enhance by self-effacing? - Do chinese self-efface? - Not in expected salaries (25K > 17K) - Cultural neuroscience - Neuro-mechanism behind cultural differences in self-enhancement - Positive illusion: feeling better about success than feeling bad about failure - Negativity bias: negative events weigh stronger emotionally than positive events - Alpha brain waves - US subjects alpha wave effect after learning about success - Taiwanese did not show any alpha wave when learning about success or failure - Westerners boost good feelings when something good happens to them by spontaneously maximizing good feelings through an automatic neural response - Asians suppress/hide feelings to avoid appearing boastful? But brain waves show opposite of this - Self-effacement is genuine 4. Coping is what you do - Yik (2017) List coping strategies of HKUST students: - Avoidance (35%) → Affective, passive - Active Behavioral Problem Solving (26%) → Behavioral, active - Emotion Regulation (20%) → Affective, passive - Cognitive Engagement with the Problem (11%) → cognitive, active B. Psychotherapy - Definition: The systematic interaction between a therapist and a client that applies psychological principles to affect the client’s thoughts, feelings, or behavior in order to help the client overcome psychological disorders, adjust to problems in living, or achieve personal growth as an individual. - Theoretical viewpoint and an understanding of the client’s cultural and social background in structuring the therapy process - Based on psychological theory and research C. What happens during a traditional psychoanalysis, explain difference between traditional psychoanalysis and ego analysis - Psychodynamic therapies: - Sigmund freud - Psychoanalysis: develop insight (self-awareness) into the dynamic struggles occurring within the psyche - Patient lying on couch, therapist out of sight in order to achieve free association - Free Association: basic method of a traditional psychoanalysis (client expresses anything that comes to mind) - Resistance: tendency of the client to unconsciously block the free expression of troubling impulses and primitive ideas due to the forces of the defense mechanism of repression - Interpretation: An explanation of a client’s underlying feelings and conflicts by the therapist according to psychoanalytic theory. - Transference - Responding to one person (e.g., a spouse or the psychoanalyst) in a way that is similar to the way in which one responded to another person (e.g., a parent) during childhood. Working through the transference relationship is another key method of psychoanalysis. - Analysis of Dreams - Dreams = royal road to the unconscious - Unconscious impulses: wish fulfilment - Manifest content: apparent content of a dream reported by the client - Latent content: symbolized or underlying content of dreams - Modern psychodynamic approaches - Patient sitting across therapist, face to face - Therapist asks direct questions rather than have the client engage in free association - More emphasis on the ego instead of the id - Ego analysts D. Elements of client-centered therapy - Client-centered therapy - Carl rogers - Quality of the client’s subjective conscious experience rather than early childhood experiences in traditional psychoanalysis (here and now) - Encourages the client to take the lead (self-exploration and self-expression) - 3 qualities: - Unconditional positive regard: unconditional respect for clients as human beings with unique values and worth regardless of their particular behavior - Empathic understanding: recognition of the client’s experiences and feelings (therapist sets aside their own values and listen closely) - Genuineness: modeling genuine or authentic feelings during the therapy session to encourage clients to do the same E. Behavior therapy methods, fear reduction techniques, aversive conditioning and operant conditioning procedures - Behavior therapy: psychotherapy that applies principles of learning to directly modify clients’ problem behaviors - Classical and operant conditioning + observational learning - For phobias, self-defeating behavior patterns and troubling emotional problems (e.g., anxiety depression) - Can only change behavior in the present - Fear reduction methods - Flooding: based on the principle of extinction (exposed for prolonged intervals to a fear-evoking but harmless stimulus until the fear is extinguished) - Gradual exposure: similar to flooding except minimal first then gradual increase - Systematic desensitization: gradual exposure procedure for reducing fears in which the client “travels up” a progressively more frightful group of stimuli (least to most fearful) while remaining in a state of deep muscle relaxation - Counterconditioning: response incompatible with anxiety (i.e., relaxation) made to appear under conditions that usually evoke anxiety - Modeling: observe then imitate people who approach and cope with objects/situations the clients fear (Bandura 1969) - **enhancing self-efficacy expectations (beliefs in one’s ability to handle the situation without fear) - Aversive Conditioning - Behavior therapy technique in which unwanted behavior is paired with aversive or painful stimuli such that the individual learns to associate the behavior with punishment rather than rewards - Operant conditioning procedures: - Token economy: controlled environment in which people (w/ chronic schizo) are reinforced with tokens for desired behaviors (tokens can be exchanged afterward for privileges - Social skills training: alleviate social anxiety and build social skills through a program in which participants rehearse social behaviors in a group setting and receive feedback and encouragement from the therapist and other group members - Biofeedback training (BFT): systematic feeding back to an organism of information about a bodily function such that the organism can then gain conscious control of that function (e.g., BP, heart rate, muscle tension, temp, brain wave) F. Cognitive therapy methods of Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis - Adjustment is what you think and do - Change beliefs, attitudes, and automatic ways of thinking that they believe contribute to psychological problems such as anxiety and depression - Cognitive Therapy: correcting errors in thinking - Aaron Beck’s method of therapy: show clients how maladaptive conditions create or worsen their feelings and ability to adjust–and then how clients may modify these cognitions to relieve distress and promote adjustive behavior - Questions to help clients see the irrationality of their thinking patterns - Beck couldn’t find scientific evidence for psychoanalytic beliefs → CBT - Rational emotive behavior therapy: overcoming “musts” and “shoulds” - Albert Ellis - Beliefs about events not the events themselves which determine our emotional reactions to them - Rational emotive behavior therapy: albert ellis form of psychotherapy which helps clients identify irrational beliefs such as perfectionism or the craving for social approval - Eclectic therapy: some of this and that - Combination of different principles - Cognitive therapy and the emotional problems of anxiety, anger, and depression - Managing anxieties and fears - Define fear → list specific behaviors that make up gradual approach of the target (fear-stimulus hierarchy) - Managing anger - Cognitive view (anger comes from saying infuriating things to ourselves)  - Rational > irrational thoughts G. Uses of group therapy, couple therapy, family therapy, self-help and support groups - Group therapy: economical, more information and life experiences for clients to draw on, appropriate behavior receives group support, similar problems = reassurance, improvement of others → increase own self-efficacy, - Couple therapy: focuses on helping couples in distress resolve their conflicts and enhance their communication skills - 20th century as an “unwanted child” of psychoanalysis - Family therapy: - Systems theory: no sense to analyze any person independently (Becvar and Becvar 2018) - When one or more families constitute the group - Family members with low self-esteem: cannot tolerate different attitudes and behaviors in other family members - Identified patient: the family member who “has the problem and is causing all the trouble” identified by the family - Usually the scapegoat for other problems within and among family members - Encouragement of growth and autonomy of each family member - Self-help and support groups H. Key issues in psychotherapy (whether it works, role of nonspecific factors in therapy, empirically supported treatments, culturally sensitive psychotherapy, and feminist psychotherapy) - Does it work? Yes - Meta analysis: statistical technique for combining and averaging the results of individual research studies - Most widely used for determining magnitude of difference between specific therapies and control groups - Recent studies support effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapy - Psychodynamic and client-centered therapies are most helpful with well-educated, verbal, motivated clients with anxiety-related disorders, moderate depression and problems in interpersonal relationships - Irrational-rational method by albert ellis and modifying self-defeating beliefs by aaron beck helps anxiety and depression - Cognitive therapy helps with personality disorders - Nonspecific factors? - To what extent do the benefits of therapy stem from the nature of the therapeutic relationship rather than from the specific techniques used by therapists? - Client factors (client’s competencies, being aware of the client’s world outside of therapy) - Relationship factors (fostering a warm, positive therapeutic alliance) - Hope and expectancy (fostering hope in the client that change is possible, orienting therapy toward the future) - Novel methods (selecting methods that fit the needs of the individual client) - Barry Farber et al. (2018): positive regard of the therapist holds significant sway over improved clinical outcomes but not enough for many psychological problems (therefore need to match the type of therapy to the types of problems) - Empirically supported treatments Treatment Conditions for which treatment is effective Cognitive therapy - Depression - Headache Behavior modification/behavior therapy - Depression - Developmental disabilities - Headache - Bed wetting - Phobias - OCD CBT - Panic disorder - GAD - Bulimia - Smoking cessation Exposure treatment Phobias Exposure and response prevention OCD Psychodynamic therapy, interpersonal depression psychotherapy  Parent training programs Children with oppositional behavior - Culturally sensitive therapies (for who does therapy work?) - People from ethnic minority groups less likely than european americans to seek therapy or obtain mental health services - Latin americans - Potential conflicts between traditional latin american value of interdependency vs european american belief in independence and self-reliance - Importance of social and family ties in Hispanic cultures as well as the value placed on respect and dignity - African americans - Prejudice and discrimination (low self-esteem due to internalized negative stereotypes) - Cultural mistrust of the mental health system - Asian americans - Avoiding public displays of emotions - Stigma to admitting emotional problems = refuse help - Acculturation to western-style psychological services - Native americans - Involvement of disruption of their traditional culture caused by European colonization - Loss of cultural identity and social disorganization - Feminist Psychotherapy - Emphasizes change, action, and empowerment rather than adjustment to traditional, status quo versions of wellbeing - Not a method of therapy, rather an approach to therapy I. Biomedical methods of therapy: minor tranquilizers, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, electroconvulsive therapy, and psychosurgery - Drug therapy: psychotropic drugs (for controlling symptoms of psychological disorders) - Antianxiety drugs: minor tranquilizers belonging to benzodiazepines - Depress activity of CNS - Tolerance issues and rebound anxiety (strong feelings of anxiety that can occur when one discontinues using a minor tranquilizer) - Antipsychotic drugs (schizo): major tranquilizers or neuroleptics - Relieves psychotic agitation, hallucinations, and delusions - Connected with theory that schizo is connected with overactivity of dopamine receptors in the brain - Antidepressants - Affect neurotransmitter activity in brain systems - Serotonin and norepinephrine - SSRIs - Mood stabilizers - Lithium for stabilization (mechanism unknown, theory that it normalizes neurotransmitter functioning in the brain) - Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) - Treatment via passing electric shock through the head - Extreme cases of major depression and have not responded to cognitive therapy and/or drugs - Controversial - Psychosurgery: - On brain structures intended to foster psychological change that alleviates severe psychological disorders (prefrontal lobotomy →no longer practiced) - Mixed success in OCD and phobias - Gamma knife surgery: beam streams of radiation deep into the skull - Evaluation of these therapies: - Drugs work but only partially effective and can have serious side effects III. Gender and Sexual Orientation(Ch 10) and Gender A. Gender (in class) - Potty parity: 1-2 mins - Gender and masks: women more likely to keep masks on all the time - Median wages: 24k men, 20k women - Women > men in life expectancy 1. Gender stereotypes: widely held and often inaccurate - Males: quality of instrumentality (orientation towards action and accomplishment) - Females: quality of expressiveness (orientation towards emotion and relationship) - Our class: - Women: emotional, kind, cute, understanding - Men: strong, ambitious, short hair 2. Average gender similarities and differences a) Cognitive abilities (1) Verbal - Females generally do better but differences are small but boys do better on verbal analogies (2) Mathematical abilities - Small gender differences favoring males reported in the past - Math self-confidence and anxiety have higher gender differences than actual performance (3) Spatial abilities - Favoring males (action video games) largely b) Personality and social behaviors (1) Five factors - Strong gender differences in N and A (females higher) - Moderate gender differences for E (females higher) - No significant gender differences for O and C - Differences most marked in Europeans and Americans, most attenuated in African and Asian (2) Self-esteem - Small difference favoring men globally - Larger differences for lower and middle class people, but not for upper class - Mixed results for different cultural groups - Domain specific: - Males higher: physical and self-satisfaction - Females higher: behavioral conduct and moral-ethical issues (3) Aggression - Males: physical - Females: verbal and relational - Differences are context dependent - Childhood tv viewing - Men with high tv violence = pushing and grabbing - Women with high tv violence = throwing objects, punching, choking c) Communication (1) Emotional Expression - Gender differences not found in experienced emotion (self-reports) but limited to the outward expressions of feelings (faces) - Women express more emotions than men do (2) Dialogue between Men and Women - Men: instrumental: practical goals and solutions to problems - Positive: stay calm and problem oriented - Negative: coldness and unresponsiveness - Women: expressive: tender emotions and sensitivity to feelings - Positive: better at reading and sending nonverbal messages - Negative: more likely to display strong negative emotions and less likely to accept reconciliation - Cross-cultural communication leads to misunderstandings - Women use more tentative speech d) Putting Gender differences into perspective - Gender differences are neutral in nature, interpretations imposed by society are not - Differences are few in number and small in size - Similarities outweigh the differences 3. Gender Roles a) Males (1) Role expectations - Real man = opposite of a woman (2) Potential hazards - Health: - Men’s success is measured by size of paycheck and job status; pressure can be dangerous for health - Emotion: - Strangers to emotions - Less likely to seek help from health professionals - Only allowed to express anger - Sex: - Macho sexual image  - Fear of inability to achieve an erection often causes the dysfunction - Confusion of intimacy and sex = confusion of sexual advances and friendly behavior b) Females (1) Role expectations - Marriage mandate: women are incomplete without a mate - Motherhood mandate: female role = have children - Work outside the home: two full time jobs (2) Potential hazards - Diminished career aspirations (underestimate achievement) - Juggling multiple roles - Ambivalence about sexuality (focus on romance than sexual experience) 4. Gender-role identity a) Masculinity vs Femininity - Identification with qualities regarded as masculine or feminine - High femininity in females = low self-esteem - High masculinity in males = poor health care b) Coexistence of masculinity and femininity → androgyny - Bem’s Assertions - Androgynous people are more flexible - Adapt to the situation - Androgynous people are mentally healthy - Gender type and interpersonal relations - Ideal couple - c) Genetic basis of sexual orientation (1) LeVay (1991, 2016): Hypothalamus (INAH3 region responsible for regulating male-typical sexual behavior) = 2-3x smaller in gay men (2) Baily et al (2000): (in Australia) genes provide a modest effect on adult sexual orientation but lower than previously reported (3) Langstrom et al. (2010): same as previous but in Sweden (4) Ganna et al. (2019): GWAS 5 autosomal loci identified; same sex sexual behavior influenced by many genes B. Gender vs Gender Identity; roles of nature and nurture - Gender: psychological state of being female male or something else as influenced by cultural concepts of stereotypical gender appropriate traits and behavior - Gender identity: one’s sense of being male/female - Sex assignment: labeling of a newborn as male or female - Nature vs nurture - Gender identity almost always consistent with chromosomal sex (due to sex hormones) - Clues in intersex people (people with both male and female genitals, cannot assign sex distinctly) - 2% of the world - I.e., androgen-insensitivity syndrome - XY chromosomes but low prenatal sensitivity to androgens so genitals not normally masculinized - I.e., congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) - Most common female intersexualism - Genetic XX female has internal female sexual structures (ovaries) but masculinized external genitals (enlarged clitoris resembling small penis) C. Gender roles and stereotypes - Gender roles: clusters of behavioral expectations for males and females - Sexism  - Reality: regardless of sex, a person will possess certain negative traits - Education can modify sexist attitudes - Gender roles and sexual behaviors - Men usually approach women and initiate sexual interactions whereas women usually serve as the “gatekeepers” in romantic relationships - Women wait and screen, men make the first move, women determine how far they go - Women more likely to desire to limit sexual activity to intimate committed relationships - Men generally have higher sex drive than women D. Gender differences in cognitive abilities, personality and social behavior (and their origins) - Differences in cognitive abilities - Verbal ability - Reading spelling grammar oral comprehension and word fluency - US and Canada, females surpass males in verbal ability throughout their lives (Halpern 2012) - Girls seem to acquire language faster than boys, utter first word sooner, and develop larger vocabularies - Equal likelihood of reading problems - Visual spatial skills - Mental rotation tasks (men preferred starting age 8 or 9) - May be related to genetic tendency to create and defend a territory - Mathematical ability - Controversial - Girls appear to be more vulnerable than boys to losing self-confidence when faced with difficult math problems - Threat experienced as anxiety that distracts from the tasks at hand and impairs their performance - Differences in personality - Meta-analysis - Females exceed males in E, anxiety, trust, and nurturance - Overall the differences tend to be small - Males exceed females in assertiveness, tough-mindedness, and self-esteem - Big 5: - Females have higher anxiety, E, A, C than men in most nations - Low self-esteem of females: - Parents on average tend to prefer boys - Society playing field where females have to perform better than males - Differences in social behavior - Males tend to dominate classroom discussions unless teachers encourage gender equity in the classroom - Women tend to mature to take backseat and let men talk in mixed-gender groups especially in traditional communities - Women tend to smile more and typically are more expressive of their feelings and personal experiences - Males tend to behave more aggressively than females - Girls more often engage in relational aggression (manipulate relationships as a means of inflicting harm on others) - Origins of gender differences - Biological perspective - Sex hormones - Prenatal levels of sex hormones - Fetal testosterone was related to masculine or feminine-typed play - Children display gender-typed preferences with boys preferring transportation toys and girls preferring dolls - Eye-tracking technology to indicate the direction of visual attention (girl:doll, boy:truck) - Prenatal exposure to androgens fosters the development of physical aggression - Evolutionary perspective - Genes - Men’s traditional roles as hunters and warriors and women’s roles as caregivers and gatherers of crop - Organization of the brain - Genetically determined and prenatal exposure to sex hormones is a way in which the genetic code expresses - Sex hormones can influence the leftness or rightness of the brain (left:verbal, right:visual-spatial) - Testosterone = growth of right hemisphere than left - Psychological perspectives - Awareness of gender role stereotypes by 2.5 to 3.5 y/o - Boys build things girls play with dolls - Cruel = masculine, cries a lot = feminine  - Psychoanalytic theory - Opposed to Freud, children display stereotypical gender-typed behaviors earlier than he would have predicted - Toys 3-8 months - Of historic interest only - Social cognitive theory - Observational learning, identification, socialization - Identification = continuous learning process where rewards and punishments influence children to imitate adult models of the same sex - Socialization = when children interact with other people and are provided with information about gender-typed behavior - Parents talk more to baby girls, fathers engage in more roughhousing with boys - Gender schema theory - Gender schema: cluster of mental representation about male and female physical qualities, behaviors, and personality traits - Children blend their developing self-concepts with the prominent gender schema of their culture - Gender identity itself is sufficient to inspire gender appropriate behavior - Concept of gender identity → seek information concerning gender-typed traits and try to live up to them - Psychological androgyny - Masculinity and femininity at opposite ends of a spectrum? - Sandra Bem: the two comprise separate personality dimensions - Can have both - Psychological androgyny: possession of both stereotypical masculine traits and stereotypical feminine traits - Low both: undifferentiated - High both: androgynous - Vs masculine and feminine - Masculine independence under group pressures to conform and feminine nurturance in interactions with children - Many people who oppose the constraints of traditional gender roles may perceive psychological androgyny as a desirable goal E. Transgender - People who feel as though they have the body of the wrong (anatomic) sex and desire to live as a member of the other sex - 4 to 5 out of 100,000 - Social climate becoming more tolerant, implying that the number of those coming out as trans is set to increase - Cisgender: gender identity congruent with his/her assigned sex at birth - Gender confirmation/reassignment - Cosmetic - Male to female generally more successful - Female artificial penis generally doesn’t work very well F. Various sexual orientations and their possible origins - Sexual orientation: the directionality of one’s erotic and romantic interests—toward members of the same sex, the other sex, both, neither, or something else. - Kinsey continuum: homo vs hetero (2 separate dimensions) - How many people are LGBT - 4% men, 1-3% women exclusively gay - ~10% of the US population was gay or predominantly gay - Women more likely to identify themselves as LGBT than men - Erotic plasticity? - Chivers and Bailey (2005): genital responses and self-reports of sexual arousal (men only respond to female stimuli, women respond to both whether straight or homo) - Older the cohort, less likely to report LGBT - More prejudice and/or suppressed LGBT interests - Perspectives on Sexual Orientation - Biological perspectives - MZ vs DZ twin studies - Can sex hormones influence the development of human embryos and fetuses? - Sexual orientation and gender identity can develop during the intrauterine period - Sexual differentiation of the sex organs occurs during the first two months of pregnancy whereas sexual differentiation of the brian begins later during the second half  - Psychological perspectives - No evidence that sexual orientation is either a choice or pressed upon children by early sexual interactions with older people of the same sex - Psychoanalytic theory (unsupported by evidence but still in culture) - gay/lesbians = failures of the oedipus complex - Unresolved castration anxiety plays a role in gay male sexual orientation (man’s fear that his genitals will be removed) - Boy unconsciously comes to fear that his father (rival) will retaliate by removing the organ that the boy has come to associate with sexual pleasure - Fear = repress sexual desire and identify with the potential aggressor = heterosexuality - Electra complex follows a different course - Little girls become envious of boys’ penises because they lack their own = resent mothers = turn to fathers as sexual objects - Desire to possess the father because they have a penis that they lack = competition with the mother - Fear that mother will withdraw her love if the desires persist, girl represses desires and identifies with mother - Nagging problem: based on the unconscious and cannot be scientifically observed or measured G. Psychological adjustment of lesbians and gay men; coming out process and same-sex marriage - Sexual orientation in contemporary society - Adjustment of LGBT individuals - Depends largely on the social context in which they find themselves - Self-acceptance tends to reflect social acceptance - Social climate improving but LGBT more likely to develop psychological disorders - Coming out - Coming out to oneself and coming out to others which can create a sense of pride in one’s sexual orientation and foster the ability to form emotionally and sexually satisfying relationships with partners - Adolescents in big cities come out earlier than those in remote areas - Homophobia - Same-sex marriage - Changing attitudes: majority now favor same sex marriage - Trend: general climate becomes more accepting of LGBT individuals, more of those individuals feel free to come out IV. The Challenge of the Workplace and Work A. Work (in class) 1. Choosing a career a) Personal influence - Intelligence, aptitudes, social skills, interests b) Family influence - Parents and children attain similar levels of education - parenting/socialization - Middle class: curious and independent - Lower class: obedient - Chinese vs Americans - More often choose investigative occupations - Their career decisions are more influenced by their parents - How do parents help children in securing a degree (Anderson et al., 2020) - Environment conducive for academic success - Direct academic support - Greater economic resources - Stable family environment - Adoptive vs non-adoptive families - Both environment and genetics contributed - Highly educated parent did not increase adopted offspring’s college attainment through skill development - Mother’s academic expectations, family income promoted chance of college attainment c) Vocational interest tests - Interest measurement in relation to various jobs - How similar interests to typical interests of people in various occupations - Do not predict success - Predict job satisfaction  2. Holland’s trait model - Career choice related to personality characteristics - Flourish when personality type matches with work environment congruent with abilities and interests - Themes: - Realistic (concrete and physical tasks; mechanical skills) - Investigative (solve intellectual, scientific, and mathematical problems) - Artistic (unsystematic or artistic projects) - Social (educational, helping, religious) - Enterprising (resourcefulness and initiative) - Conventional (orderly, systematic, concrete) - Most are a combination of 2-3 types 3. Super’s developmental model (self-concept, process) - Growth → exploration → establishment → maintenance → decline - Begins in childhood, unfolds gradually across life span, ends with retirement - Self-esteem = predictor of career maturity although identity appears to be a stronger predictor among adolescents - Issue with this model: assumption of one career for entire working life 4. Job stress a) Karasek’s model of job stress - Two key factors - Psychological demands: excessive work; working fast/hard - Decision control: freedom to make decisions - Stress greatest in jobs with high demands and low control b) Teacher stress in HK - Teacher stress bears no direct relationship with educational reforms (1) Stressors - Educational reforms - Stakeholders - Career prospects (2) Health consequences: maslach burnout inventory - Emotional exhaustion - Depersonalization: impersonal response towards recipients of one’s service - Personal accomplishment: feelings of successful achievement in one’s work (3) Health consequences: somatic complaints c) Coping with stress at work - Interventions at the individual levels are the most widely used - Relaxation training, time management, reappraising stressful events, workplace wellness program - Interventions at the organizational level - Make work environment less stressful d) Coping with unemployment - Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance B. Career development (social cognitive career theory, motives for working, stages of career development, and getting a job) - Social cognitive career theory: view that career choices reflect individuals’ self-efficacy expectations and expectations concerning the outcomes of their choices - Competencies, encoding strategies/comprehension, expectancies, self-regulatory systems and plans - Motives for working - Extrinsic motives for working: motives that involve the pursuit of external rewards such as money or social approval - Intrinsic motives: involve the pursuit of internal goals, such as meaningfulness, self-satisfaction, and self-actualization (maslow) - Lottery winners stay in work because of intrinsic motives provided - Work ethic - Self-identity - Self-fulfillment - Self-worth - Social values of work - Social roles - Stages of career development - Fantasy stage: child’s unrealistic conception of self-potential and of the world of work (until ~11 y/o); little regard for practical considerations - Tentative choice stage: children narrow choices and begin to show some realistic self-assessment and knowledge of occupations; based on interests, abilities, and limitations as well as glamour - Realistic choice stage: >17 y/o; weigh job requirements, rewards and even futures of occupations; ideally try to mesh interests, abilities, and values with a job  - Maintenance stage: settling into career role (~35 y/o); goal may not be clear but feeling as if moving upward in career trajectory (when midlife crises often occur) - Career change: present realities require that we diverge from traditional view of career development - Retirement stage: individual severs bonds with the workplace - Getting a job - Resume: - Heading - Statement of job objective - Summary of educational background - Summary of work experience - References (optional) - Cover letter - Explanation of the purpose of the letter - Explanation of how you learned about the opening - Comparison of your qualifications and the job requirements - Statements of desired salary and geographic limitations (optional) - Request for an interview or other response to the letter - Statement that references will be sent upon request - Thanks for the prospective employer’s consideration C. Ways in which the workplace will change in the coming decades - Robotics and AI will play more important roles - Availability of jobs will likely increase in renewable energy, personal care, and healthcare - Engage in lifelong learning D. Various elements in adjusting to the workplace including job satisfaction and managing stress in the workplace - Job satisfaction: degree to which one has a positive feeling toward one’s work or job - What determines job satisfaction? - Job satisfaction and life satisfaction may mutually influence each other - Certain personality traits are also associated with greater job satisfaction such as self-esteem, self efficacy, and emotional stability - Many people prefer jobs that give them more control over their work, but subgroup of workers prefers having someone else take control (self-defeating attributional style) - Enhancing job satisfaction - Improved recruitment and placement - Training and instruction - Constructive criticism - Unbiased appraisal of workers’ performance - Goal setting - Financial compensation - Work redesign - Work schedules - Integration of new workplace technology - Work and stress: stress at work spills over into stress at home and vice versa - Role of the worker - ⅓ reports being dissatisfied with the amount of stress they experience at work - Sources include: physical, individual, group, and organizational stressors - How to cope with stress on the job - Objective analysis to determine whether physical conditions are hampering rather than enhancing the quality of life - Job stress arises from mismatch between job demands and the abilities and needs of the employee - Prevention using careful screening measures and training and education needed to impart the specific skills that enable workers to perform effectively - Offering counseling and supportive therapy, education about health, and gyms - Burnout - State of mental and physical exhaustion brought on by overcommitment to work or other responsibilities - Most likely to experience burnout: overly C workers (workaholics) - Typical victims: competent, efficient people who become overwhelmed by the demands of their jobs and the recognition that they are unlikely to have the impact they had anticipated - Common among people with high levels of role conflict, role overload, or role ambiguity - Pulled in different directions at once - Develops gradually - Prevented by creating clear priorities, setting reasonable goals and limits, sharing their feelings, building supportive relationships, and setting aside time to pursue personally rewarding activities outside the workplace E. History and experiences of women in the workplace - Women make up nearly half of the workforce - Earnings gap: narrowing - 89% of the income of men - ¼ experiences discrimination in the workplace