PSYC290 Notes PDF

CHAPTER 1 1. Identify the origins of the word psychology. The word comes from the two Greek words psyche, meaning soul, and logos, meaning the study of a subject. So together the word means the study of the mind. 2. Summarize Wundt’s accomplishments and contributions to the field of psychology. Wundt is considered the father of psychology. He started the first lab, where many came to study under his tutelage. He also published the first journal about psychology. 3. Compare structuralism and functionalism and discuss their impact on the development of psychology. Structuralism is analyzing consciousness into its basic elements and investigating how these elements are related. The elements are things like sensations, feelings, and images. Functionalism is studying the flow of consciousness and its purpose, not its structure. On impact they had on the field of psychology was that it got more women interested in psychology, who then played critical roles in developing the science of psychology. It also helped to develop behaviorism and applied psychology. 4. Describe Watson’s view of psychology with special reference to the nature-nurture issue and animal research. Watson thought that the power of the scientific method rested on the idea of verifiability, which means that things need to be studied that can be observed objectively. Because of this he argued that each is made not born, downplaying the importance of heredity. 5. Why did the humanist psychologists take issue with the behaviourist school? The issue was that behaviourist were too preoccupied with simple animal behaviour. They also said that humans are fundamentally different from animals so research on animals has little relevance to the understanding of human behaviour. Humans have a sense of self, which animals lack. 6. Why did Freud’s psychoanalytic theory encounter resistance within psychology? Because he was suggesting that we are not masters of our own minds and he suggested that behaviour is greatly influenced by how people cope with their own sexual urges at a time when people were far less comfortable discussing sexual issues. 7. Who was B.F. Skinner? Describe his viewpoint with regard to private events and free will. Describe the influence he had on psychology and more widely outside of academia. B.F. Skinner was a Harvard psychologist. He suggested that mental events couldn’t be studied scientifically and that there was no need to study them. He said that we are all controlled by our environment, not by ourselves and that free will is an illusion. He helped to develop behaviourist principles that are used widely in factories, schools, prisons, mental hospitals, and other settings. 8. Describe humanistic psychology and briefly discuss its contribution to psychology. Humanistic psychology is that humans are free, rational beings with the potential for personal growth and they are fundamentally different from animals. It emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom. 9. What are six contemporary theoretical perspectives within psychology? Briefly explain each. Behavioural – Only observable events (stimulus-response) can be studied scientifically Psychoanalytical – Unconscious motives and experiences in early childhood govern personality and mental disorders Humanistic – Humans are free, relational beings with the potential for personal growth, and they are fundamentally different from animals. Cognitive – Human behaviour can’t be fully understood without examining how people acquire, store, and process information Behavioural neuroscience – An organism's functioning can be explained in terms of the brain's structures and biochemical processes that underlie behaviour. Evolutionary – Behaviour patterns have evolved to solve adaptive problems, natural selection favours behaviours that enhance reproductive success. 10. Discuss how psychology developed in Canada, from the first departments to the establishment of the Canadian Psychological Association. 11. Describe two recent trends in psychological research that reflect a return to psychology’s intellectual roots. Cognition – the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge. Neuroscience – explaining behaviour in terms of structure and processes in the brain. 12. Why has Western psychology had scant interest in other cultures? Why has this begun to change? Because they didn’t pay attention to how their theories could apply to other cultures, ethnic minorities or women. This has begun to change because it has been recognized that their work has diminished in value becuase of this neglect. This shift happened because advances in communication, travel, and internation trade have shrunk the world and increased global interdependence, and the ethnic makeup of the Western world has become an increasingly diverse multicultural mosaic. 13. Describe the most recent theoretical perspectives in psychology. Evolutionary psychology – examines the behavioural processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of species over the course of many generations. 14. List and describe the four professional specialties within applied psychology. Distinguish between clinical psychology and psychiatry. Clinical – Evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of those with disorders. Treatment of less severe behavioural and emotional problems. Includes interviews, testing, group or individual psychotherapy. Counselling – interviewing, testing, providing therapy. Provide assistance for those struggling with everyday problems of moderate severity, specialize in family, marital, or career counselling. Educational or school – improve curriculum design, achievement tests, teacher training. School is test or counsel children having difficulties in school and aid parents and teachers in solving school related problems. Industrial/organizational - World of business and industry. HR departments, improve staff morale and attitudes, increase job satisfaction and productivity, examine organizational structures and procedures, and make recommendations for improvements. Clinical psychology is helping in a non-medical way. Psychiatry is a medical way of solving mental or psychological problems. 15. Define what is meant by multifactorial causation of behaviour. Behaviour is governed by a complex network of interacting factors. 16. Discuss three important considerations in designing a program to encourage adequate studying. 1) Set up a schedule for studying 2) Find a place to study where you can concentrate 3) Reward your studying 17. Define critical thinking. Describe skills exhibited by critical thinkers. Critical thinking – the use of cognitive skills and strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. - understand and use the principles of scientific investigation - apply the rules of formal and informal logic - carefully evaluate the quality of information - analyze arguments for the soundness of the conclusions 18. Discuss evolutionary theory explanations for gender differences in spatial abilities. The evolutionary explanation is that hunter – gatherer societies suggest that women often travelled long distances to gather food and that women were involved in hunting, they also wove baskets and clothing and worked on other tasks that required spatial thinking. Men on long hunting trips needed to develop a good memory for locations or they may not return home. KEY TERMS, CONCEPTS, AND PEOPLE Applied Psychology: It’s a broad umbrella that covers a variety of professional specialties including school/educational, counselling, and industrial/organizational. Behaviour: Any overt (observable) response or activity by an organism. Behaviourism: A theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behaviour. Biological psychology: Examines the influence of genetic factors on behaviour and the role of the nervous system, endocrine system, bodily chemicals, and especially the brain in the regulation of behaviour. (Behavioural neuroscience) Clinical psychology: This involves diagnosing and treating patients with psychological disorders, as well as those with less severe behaviour or emotional issues. Cognition: the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge. Counselling psychology: This involves interviewing, testing and providing therapy. Their clientele are those struggling with everyday problems and can include families, married couples, or career counselling. Critical thinking: the use of cognitive skills and strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. Culture: The widely shared customs, beliefs, values, norms, institutions, and other products of a community that are transmitted socially across generations. Developmental psychologist: Looks at humans across a lifespan but focuses primarily on child development with research being devoted to adolescence, adulthood, and old age. Empiricism: The premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation. Thinking critically about generalizations concerning behaviour. Ethnocentrism: A tendency to view one's own group as superior to others and as the standard for judging the worth of foreign ways. Evolutionary psychology: examines the behavioural processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of species over the course of many generations. Experimental psychology: Encompasses the traditional core topics such as sensation, perception, learning, conditioning, motivation, and emotion. Functionalism: The belief that psychology should investigate the function or purpose consciousness, rather than its structure. Humanism: humans are free, rational beings with the potential for personal growth and they are fundamentally different from animals. Industrial/Organizational psychologist: They work in the world of business in departs like human resources, improving staff morale, increase job satisfaction and productivity, examining organizational structures and procedures and making recommendations for improvement. Introspection: The careful, systematic self-observation of one’s own conscious experience. It required training to make the subject more objective and aware. Natural selection: The mechanism that orchestrates the process of evolution. It explains how species might change over time and adapt to the environment around them. Personality psychology: Describing and understanding individuals’ consistency in behaviour, which represents their personality. It is concerned with the factors that shape personality and with personality assessment. Positive psychology: Uses theory and research to better understand the positive, adaptive, creative, and fulfilling aspects of human existence. Psychiatry: The branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders. Psychoanalytic theory: The attempt to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behaviour. Psychometrics: The measurement of behaviour and capacities, usually through the development of psychological tests. It involves the design of tests to assess personality, intelligence, and a wide range of abilities. It also helps with the development of new techniques for statistical analysis. Psychology: The science that studies behaviour and the physiological and cognitive processes that underlie it, and it is the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to the practical problems. Social psychologist: Focuses on interpersonal behaviour and the role of social forces in governing behaviour. Typical topics include attitude formation, attitude change, prejudice, conformity, attraction, aggression, intimate relationships, and behaviour in groups. Stimulus: observable events in the environment. Structuralism: The notion that the task of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are related. Theory: Fact based ideas that describe a phenomenon of human behaviour. Unconscious: The complex mental activities within an individual that proceed without his awareness. Freud that that these processes, thoughts, memories, and desires exerted great influence on behaviour. Sigmund Freud o (1856-1939) o Developed the psychoanalytic theory – behaviour is governed by unconscious forces o Proposed that behaviour is greatly influenced by how people cope with their sexual urges G. Stanley Hall o Helped to form one of the many psychological research labs in North America o Was a student of Wilhem Wundt o Was a friend of Freud Donald Hebb o Professor of psychology at McGill o His ideas highlighted the importance of physiological and neuropsychological perspectives o Paved the way for cognitive and neuroscience revolutions in psychology o Locus of behaviour is in the brain o Introduced the cell assembly – cognitive units that together or in concert with other cell assemblies facilitate behaviour. o Suggested how neural networks might work and be organized William James o 1842-1910 o American scholar who introduced functionalism o Theory of emotion o Wrote the Principles of Psychology which is standard reading for generations of psychologists. Carl Rogers o 1902-1987 o Most prominent architect of the humanistic movement Martin Seligman o Founded the positive psychology movement B.F. Skinner o 1904-1990 o Harvard psychologist o Insisted that internal mental events couldn’t be studied scientifically o Exert remarkable control over the behaviour of animals by manipulating the outcomes of their responses. o All behaviour is fully governed by external stimuli. o Free will is an illusion John B. Watson o 1878-1958 o Founded behaviourism o Believed in the scientific approach – the verifiability of scientific claims o Believed that psychologists could study what people do but not what they think, wish, or feel. o Bitter divorce, left academia, became an advertiser and became the public spokesperson for the profession of psychology. Wilhem Wundt o 1832-1920 o Father of psychology o 1879 established the first lab for research o 1881 published the first research journal o Declared it should be modeled after field like physics and chemistry CHAPTER 2 1. Briefly identify and describe the three goals of the scientific enterprise. a. measurement and description – develop measurement techniques that make it possible to describe behaviour clearly and precisely. b. understanding and prediction – Scientists believe they understand events when they can explain the reason for their occurrence. To do this they make and test predictions called hypothesis. c. application and control – the use of the information they gather for practical value in helping to solve everyday problems. Once a phenomenon is understood, more control can be exerted over it. 2. What are the five steps in scientific investigations? a. Formulate a testable hypothesis – making a prediction or theory into something that can be tested, where the hypothesis is formulated precisely, and the variables are clearly defined. b. Design the study – This includes choosing a general method and making detailed plans for executing the study. c. Collect the data – The researcher uses a variety of data collection techniques to collect the data. d. Analyze the data – The observations are often turned into numbers which the researchers then use statistics to analyze the data and decide whether their hypotheses have been supported. e. Report the findings (and draw conclusions) - Sharing the findings with other researchers, scientists, and the public. This includes writing up a concise summary of the study and its findings. These are typically delivered at a scientific meeting and submitted to a journal for publication. 3. Define an operational definition, participants (or subjects), and data collection techniques. a. Operational definition – describes the action or operations that will be used to measure or control a variable. They establish precisely what is meant by each variable in the context of a study. 4. Describe two advantages of the scientific approach as it relates to the study of behaviour. a. Clarity and precision enhance communication about important ideas. b. Relative intolerance of error because of its use of skepticism, empirical tests, peer review articles and objective data and thorough documentation. 5. Define an experiment. Define and give examples of the three types of variables (independent, dependent, and extraneous) that may be encountered in an experiment. a. Experiment – a research method in which the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled conditions and observes whether any changes occur in a second variable as a result. b. Independent variable - a condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to see its impact on another variable. It is free to be varied by the experimenter. (What is being changed) c. Dependent variable – the variable that is thought to be affected by manipulation of the independent variable. Usually, a measure of some aspect of behaviour. (What is being tested) d. Extraneous variable – any variables other than the independent variable that seem likely to influence the dependent variable in a specific study. 6. Distinguish between experimental and control groups and explain their relationship in an experiment. a. Experimental group – consists of the subjects who receive some special treatment in regard to the independent variable. (Those experiencing the test) b. Control group – consists of similar subjects who do not receive the special treatment given to the experimental group. 7. Why is it sometimes advantageous to use only one group of subjects who serve as their own control? a. Because they require fewer participants and ensure the experimental and control groups are equivalent. 8. Explain the major advantages and disadvantages of the experimental method. a. Advantages – allows conclusions about cause-and-effect relationships between variables. These conclusions can be drawn because the precise control available in the experiment allows them to isolate the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable, while neutralizing the effect of extraneous variables. b. Disadvantages – Experiments are often artificial. It also can’t be used to explore some research questions. 9. Distinguish between the experimental and the descriptive/correlation research methods. Discuss three descriptive research methods. a. In some situations, psychologists can’t exert experimental control over the variable they want to study, for either ethical or practical reasons. When this happens, they must rely on descriptive research methods. b. Naturalistic observation – A researcher engages in careful observation of behaviour without intervening directly with the subject; behaviour is allowed to unfold naturally in its natural environment. Strength – it allows researchers to study behaviour under conditions that are less artificial than in experiments, it’s also a good starting point when little is known about the behaviour under study. Weakness – Researchers often have trouble making their observations unobtrusively, so they don’t affect their participants’ behaviour. It’s also often difficult to translate naturalistic observations into numerical data that permits precise statistical analysis. c. Case study – An in-depth investigation of an individual participant or group of participants. Strengths – Provides compelling, real-life illustrations that bolster a hypothesis or theory. Weaknesses – can be highly subjective. d. Surveys – researchers use questionnaires or interviews to gather information about specific aspects of participants’ behaviour. Strength – used to obtain information on aspects of behaviour that are difficult to observe directly, and they make it relatively easy to collect data on attitudes and opinions from large samples of participants. Weakness – There has been a decline in participants’ willingness to cooperate in surveys, there is a growing resentment of intrusive telemarketing and heightened concerns of privacy and identity theft. They also rely on self-report data. 10. Explain the major advantages and disadvantages of descriptive/correlation research. What is the main disadvantage? a. Advantage – They give researchers a way to explore questions they couldn’t examine with experimental procedures. It broadens the scope of phenomena that psychologists can study. b. Disadvantage – Investigators can’t control events to isolate cause and effect. Therefore, it can’t demonstrate conclusively that correlation variables are causally related. 11. Distinguish between a positive and negative correlation. Explain how the size of a correlation coefficient relates to the strength of an association. a. Positive correlation: indicates that two variables co-vary in the same direction. This means that high scores on variable X are associated with high scores on variable Y and vice versa. b. Negative correlation: indicates that two variables co-vary in the opposite direction. This means that when a score is high on the variable X it tends to be low on the variable Y and vice versa. c. A coefficient near 0 indicates no relationships between the variables. A +1.00 or –1.00 score indicated a perfect, one-to-one correspondence between the variables. The closer to +/-1.00 the stronger the relationship. 12. Explain how a correlation relates to prediction and causation. Provide and recognize examples of two variables that are positively or negatively correlated but that are not causally related. a. As a correlation increase in strength, the ability to predict one variable based on knowledge of the other variable increases. Variables can be highly correlated but not causally related. 13. Describe the importance of replication in scientific research. a. It helps to identify and purge erroneous findings. 14. Describe the four common flaws in research: sampling bias, placebo effects, distortions in self-report data, and experimenter bias. a. Sampling bias exists when a sample is not representative of the population from which it is drawn. b. Placebo effects occur when participants’ expectations lead them to experience some change even though they receive empty, fake, or ineffectual treatment. c. Distortions in self-report data include social desirability bias which is a tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself, a response set which is a tendency to response to questions in a particular way that is unrelated to the content of the question, and the halo effect which is when one’s overall evaluation of a person, object, or institution spills over to influence more specific ratings. d. Experimenter bias occurs when a researcher’s expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained. 15. What is the double-blind procedure? a. The double-blind procedure is a research strategy in which neither participants nor experimenters know which participants are in the experimental or control groups. 16. Discuss the controversy regarding the use of deception in psychological research. a. The controversy regarding deception has a few main arguments. The first is that it is still lying which is immoral, secondly by deceiving participants they undermine many individuals’ trust in others. Thirdly many deceptive studies produce distress for participants who weren’t forewarned about that possibility. The opposing argument is that many important issues couldn’t be investigated if experiments weren’t allowed to sometimes mislead participants. 17. Discuss how Canada applies ethical guidelines to the use of animals as research subjects. a. There have been strict regulations put in place to control nearly every detail of how lab animals must be treated. Most universities have published guidelines concerning the use and treatment of animals in research. 18. Explain how Chapter 2 highlights two of the author’s text’s unifying themes. a. It uses the theme that psychology is empirical and the theme that methodological flaws in research provides numerous examples of how people’s experience of the world can be highly subjective. 19. Describe the standard organization of a published journal article. a. Abstract: a concise summary at the beginning of each article which allows readers to scan the journal quickly to decide whether the articles are relevant to their interests. b. Introduction: Presents an overview of the problem studied in the research. It mentions relevant theories and quickly reviews previous research that bears on the problem. c. Method: This section provides a thorough description of the research methods used in the study. Information is provided on the participants, procedures, and data collection techniques. d. Results: The data collected is reported here. It often uses complex statistical analyses, figures, tables, and graphs. It doesn’t include any inferences based on the data, it simply contains a concise summary of the raw data and the statistical analysis. e. Discussion: Her you will find the conclusions drawn by the authors, it allows for interpretation and evaluation of the data. Implications for theory and factual knowledge in the discipline are discussed; conclusions are usually qualified carefully and any limitations in the study are acknowledged. f. References: This is the end of the article and includes bibliography references for any studies cited. This list lets you examine firsthand other relevant studies mentioned in the article. 20. Define anecdotal evidence. Describe the perils of using anecdotal evidence in decision making. a. Anecdotal evidence – evidence that consists of personal stories about specific incidents and experiences. b. It shouldn’t be used because it is often based on a single case study and not a systematic series of case studies where you can see threads of consistency. Secondly, it can be distorted for a variety of reasons including the tendency to give socially acceptable information. KEY TERMS, CONCEPTS, AND PEOPLE Anecdotal evidence: Evidence that consists of personal stories about specific incidents and experiences. Case study: An in-depth investigation of an individual participant or group of participants. Confounding variables: What happens when two variables are linked in a way that makes it difficult to sort out their special effects. Control group: Consists of similar subjects who do not receive the special treatment given to the experimental group. Correlation: When two variables are related to each other. Correlation coefficient: A numerical index of the degree of relationship between two variables. Data collection technique: Procedures for making empirical observations and measurements. Dependent variable: the variable that is thought to be affected by manipulation of the independent variable. Usually, a measure of some aspect of behaviour. Descriptive statistics: Statistics used to organize and summarize data. Double-blind procedure: A research strategy in which neither participants nor experimenters know which participants are in the experimental or control groups. Ethical guidelines: Guidelines that help researchers maintain the welfare of both human and animal participants. The principles are respect for the dignity of persons, responsible caring, integrity in relationships, and responsibility to society. Experiment: A research method in which the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled conditions and observes whether any changes occur in a second variable as a result. Experimental group: consists of the subjects who receive some special treatment in regard to the independent variable. Experimental research: A powerful tool that allows researchers to detect cause- and-effect relationships. Experimenter bias: when a researcher’s expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained. Extraneous variables: any variables other than the independent variable that seem likely to influence the dependent variable in a specific study. Frequency distribution: An orderly arrangement of scores indicating the frequency of each score or group of scores. Frequency polygon: a line figured used to present data from a frequency distribution. Hypothesis: A tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables. Independent variable: A condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to see its impact on another variable. It is free to be varied by the experimenter. Inferential statistics: Statistics used to interpret data and draw conclusions. Journal: A periodical that publishes technical and scholarly material, usually in a narrowly defined area of inquiry. Mean: The arithmetic average of scores in a distribution. Median: The score that falls exactly in the centre of a distribution of scores. Meta-analysis: Combines the statistical results of many studies of the same question yielding an estimate of the size and consistency of a variables effects. Mode: The most frequent score in a distribution. Naturalistic observation: A researcher engages in careful observation of behaviour without intervening directly with the subject; behaviour is allowed to unfold naturally in its natural environment. Negatively skewed distribution: Most scores pile up in the high end of the scale. Normal distribution: A symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that represents the pattern in which many human characteristics are dispersed in the population. Operational definition: describes the action or operations that will be used to measure or control a variable. They establish precisely what is meant by each variable in the context of a study. Participants/Subjects: The person/animal whose behaviour is systematically observed in a study. Percentile score: Indicates the percentage of people who score at or below a particular score. Placebo effects: when participants’ expectations lead them to experience some change even though they receive empty, fake, or ineffectual treatment. Positively skewed distribution: Scores that pile up at the low end of the scale. Random assignment: This happens when all participants have an equal chance of being assigned to any group or condition in the study. Reactivity: happens when a participant's behaviour is altered by the presence of the observer. Replication: The repetition of a study to see whether the earlier results are duplicated. Research methods: Consist of various approaches to the observation, measurement, manipulation, and control of variables in empirical studies. Response set: A tendency to respond to questions in a particular way that is unrelated to the content of the questions. Sample: The collection of participants selected for observation in an empirical study. In contrast, population is the much larger collection of subjects from which the sample is drawn, that researchers want to generalize about. Sampling bias: When a sample is not representative of the population from which it is drawn. Social desirability bias: a tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself. Statistical significance: Exists when the probability that the observed findings are due to chance is very low. Statistics: The use of mathematics to organize, summarize, and interpret numerical data. Survey: researchers use questionnaires or interviews to gather information about specific aspects of participants’ behaviour. Standard deviation: an index of the amount of variability in a set of data. Theory: A system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations. Variability: How much the scores in a data set vary from each other and the mean. Variables: Any measurable conditions, events, characteristics, or behaviours that are controlled or observed in a study. Neal Miller - Attempted to translate selected Freudian ideas into behavioural terminology, Investigate three basic types of conflicts. Robert Rosenthal – suggested that experimenter bias may lead researchers to unintentionally influence the behaviour of their participants. Stanley Schachter – conducted the experiment on anxiety and whether anxious people wanted to be with others when feeling anxious. UNIT 3 - CHAPTER 10 1. Define motivation. a. Goal directed behaviour. Motives are the needs, wants, interests, and desires that propel people in certain directions. b. Compare drive, incentive, and evolutionary approaches to understanding motivation. Drive is an internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities that should reduce the tension. The source of motivation lies within the person. Incentive: an external goal that has the capacity to motivate behaviour. The source of motivation lies outside the person. Evolutionary: motives can be best understood in the terms of adaptive problems they solved for our hunter-gatherer ancestors. 2. Distinguish between biological and social motives. Provide examples of motives in each category. a. Biological – hunger, thirst, sex b. Social – need for achievement, affiliation, autonomy, dominance, and order 3. Summarize the evidence regarding the role of biological factors in the regulation of hunger. a. There are areas in the brain which receive signals from other parts of the body that signal hunger or satiety. There are hormones that are released which provide the brain with this information as well. 4. Summarize the evidence regarding the role of environmental factors in the regulation of hunger. a. Availability of food learned preferences and habits, and stress. 5. Define obesity. a. The condition of being overweight. b. Describe the factors identified in the textbook as causing obesity. Genetic predisposition, excessive eating and inadequate exercise, the human body has been sculpted by evolution to defend against weight loss more effectively than against weight gain, dietary restraint, 6. Describe the four psychological phases of the human sexual response. a. Excitement: level of physical arousal usually escalates rapidly b. Plateau: physiological arousal continues to build but at a much slower pace c. Orgasm: sexual arousal reaches its peak intensity and is discharged in a series of muscular contractions that pulsate through the pelvic area d. Resolution: physiological changes produced by sexual arousal gradually subside 7. Summarize the evolutionary perspective of human sexual behaviour. Include a description of the parental investment theory. a. Natural selection is fueled by variations in reproductive success. b. Parental investment theory: A species’ mating pattern depends on what each sex has to invest in terms of time, energy, and survival risk to produce and nurture offspring. 8. Describe the research Buss demonstrating gender differences in mating preferences. a. Women placed a higher value than men on potential partners’ status, ambition, and financial prospects. Men consistently showed more interest than women in potential partners’ youthfulness and physical attractiveness. 9. Discuss the factors that influence sexual desire and sexual orientation. a. High rates of victimization reported by gays, lesbians, and bisexuals in Canada as compared to the rates reported by heterosexuals. 10. Summarize the evidence regarding the determinants of sexual orientation. a. Possibly hereditary or prenatal hormones on neurological development. 11. Explain how individual differences in the need for achievement influence achievement behaviour. a. They tend to work harder and more persistently on tasks than people low on the need for achievement, they handle negative feedback about task performance more effectively than other and are more future oriented than others and more likely to delay gratification in order to pursue long term goals. 12. Explain how situational factors and fear of failure affect achievement strivings. a. High achievers prefer tasks of intermediate difficulty, probability of success and the incentive value of success on tasks are interdependent to some degree. As tasks get easier, success becomes less satisfying, as tasks get more difficult, success becomes more satisfying but its likelihood declines. People vary in their motivation to avoid failure. 13. Describe the cognitive component of emotion. a. The subjective conscious experience. 14. Describe the behavioural component of emotion. a. Characteristic overt expressions such as smiles, frowns, furrowed brows, clenched fists, and slumped shoulders. Body language or nonverbal behaviour. 15. Explain the facial feedback hypothesis. Fig 10.17 a. Facial muscles send signals to the brain and these signals help the brain recognize the emotion that one is experiencing. 16. Summarize cross-cultural similarities and variations in emotional experience. a. Facial expression associated with basic emotions are universally recognized across cultures. 17. Compare and contrast the James-Lange and Cannon-Bard theories of emotion. Explain how Schachter reconciled these conflicting views in his two-factor theory. a. James-Lange: the conscious experience of emotion results from one’s perception of autonomic arousal. Stimulus – autonomic arousal – conscious feeling b. Cannon-Bard: emotion occurs when the thalamus sends signals simultaneously to the cortex and to the autonomic nervous system. Stimulus – subcortical brain activity (amygdala) - conscious feeling and autonomic arousal c. Schachter: When you experience visceral arousal, you search your environment for an explanation. Stimulus – autonomic arousal – appraisal (cerebrum) - conscious feeling. He reconciled the two views by arguing that people look to external rather than internal cues to differentiate and label their specific emotions. 18. Describe evolutionary theories of emotion. a. Innate reactions to certain stimuli. Emotion evolved before thought. 19. Describe the five fallacies that commonly show up in arguments about controversial issues such as the ones presented in this chapter. a. Irrelevant reasons: the conclusion doesn’t follow from the premise. b. Circular reasoning: the premise and conclusions are simply restatements of each other. c. Slippery slope: if you are on a slippery slope and don’t dig your heels in you’ll slide and slide until you reach the bottom d. Weak analogies: The similarities between A and B are superficial, minimal, or irrelevant to the issue at hand. e. False dichotomy: Either or choice between two outcomes, the outcome advocated and some obviously horrible outcome that any sensible person would want to avoid. KEY TERMS, CONCEPTS, AND PEOPLE Affective forecasting: Efforts to predict one’s emotional reactions to future events. Achievement motive: The need to master difficult challenges, to outperform other, and to meet high standards of excellence. Amygdala: The part of the brain that connections emotions to what we see. Argument: Consists of one or more premises that are used to provide support for a conclusion. Assumptions: Premises for which no proof or evidence is offered. Bisexual: Attracted to both men and women. Body mass index (BMI): weight (kg) divided by height (m) squared. Over 30 is generally considered obese. Brain regulation: controlled by the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus. Drive: an internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities that should reduce the tension. The source of motivation lies within the person. Emotion: Involves a subjective conscious experience, accompanied by bodily arousal, and characteristic overt expressions. Facial feedback hypothesis: Facial muscles send signals to the brain and these signals help the brain recognize the emotion that one is experiencing. Galvanic skin response (GSR): an increase in the electrical conductivity of the skin that occurs when sweat glands increase their activity. Glucose: Ghrelin: Something the stomach secretes which causes contractions and promotes hunger. Happiness ingredients: overall sense of wellbeing and envisioning the future. Happiness predictors: Health, social activity, religion, relationship satisfaction, work, genetics and personality. Hedonic adaptation: Occurs when the mental scale that people use to judge the pleasentness-unpleasentness of their experiences shifts so that their neutral point changes. Heterosexuals: Male and female relationships Homosexuals: same gender relationships Homeostasis: A state of physiological equilibrium or stability. Hormonal regulation: mechanisms that influence hunger by saying you are full or hungry. Hypothalamus: A structure near the base of the forebrain that is involved in the regulation of basic biological needs. Incentive: an external goal that has the capacity to motivate behaviour. The source of motivation lies outside the person. Leptin: A hormone that contributes to the long-term regulation of hunger as well as the regulation of numerous other bodily functions. Motivation: Goal directed behaviour. Motives are the needs, wants, interests, and desires that propel people in certain directions. Obesity: The condition of being overweight. Orgasm: sexual arousal reaches its peak intensity and is discharged in a series of muscular contractions that pulsate through the pelvic area Polygraph: Lie detector; a device that records autonomic fluctuations while a subject is questioned. Premises: Reasons that are presented to persuade someone that a conclusion is true or probably true. Set-point theory: that the body monitors fat-cell levels to keep them and weight fairly stable. Each individual’s point of stability for weight. Sexual orientation: Refers to a person’s preference for emotional and sexual relationships with individuals of the same sex, other sex, or either sex. Subjective well-being: individuals’ personal perceptions of their overall happiness and life satisfaction. Vasocongestion: engorgement of blood vessels. John Atkinson: Theorized the tendency to pursue achievement in a particular situation depends on 3 factors. David Buss: Pointed out that it’s not by accident that achievement, power, and intimacy are the most heavily studied motives becuase the satisfaction of each of these motives is likely to affect one’s reproductive success. Walter Cannon: Verified that there is an associated between stomach contractions and the experience of hunger; theorized that stomach contractions cause hunger. Paul Ekman & Wallace Friesen: Did an experiment on facial cues in many societies and found considerable cross-cultural agreement in the identification of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust. William James: Early theorist who explored the functions of consciousness; developed a theory of emotion that stated the conscious experience of emotion results from one’s perception of autonomic arousal. Joseph LeDoux: emotions are thing that happen to us; sensory inputs capable of eliciting emotions arrive in the thalamus, which simultaneously routes the information along two separate pathways; the nearby amygdala and to areas in the cortex. William Masters & Virgina Johnson: Groundbreaking research in the 1960’s on the human sexual response and divided the sexual response cycle into four stages. David McClelland: achievement motivation is of the utmost importance; need for achievement is the spark that ignites economic growth, scientific progress, inspirational leadership, and masterpieces in the creative arts. Henry Murray: Robert Plutchik: Devised a model of how primary emotions blend into secondary emotions. (evolutionary theory) Stanley Schachter: Developed the two-factor theory of emotion. Asserted that people look at situational cues to differentiate among alternative emotions. UNIT 4 - CHAPTER 11 1. Outline the major events of the three phases of prenatal development. a. Germinal stage: First stage, encompassing the first two weeks after conception. Begins when a zygote is created through fertilization and implanted in the uterine wall. During the implantation process the placenta begins to form. b. Embryonic stage: Second stage, lasting from two weeks until the end of the second month. Most of the vital organs and bodily systems begin to form – heart, spine, and brain emerge. 2.5 cm long by the end of the stage and beginning to look human. Most miscarriages happen during this stage as well as birth defects. c. Fetal stage: Third stage, lasting from two months through birth. Rapid body growth, muscles and bones begin to form, capable of physical movements, sex organs begin to develop, brain cells multiply quickly, respiratory and digestive systems mature. 2. Summarize the impact of the environmental factors, including maternal health care, on prenatal development. a. Teratogens affect the embryo including maternal drug use. The impact of drugs on the embryo or fetus varies greatly depending on the drug, the dose, and the phase of prenatal development. Alcohol consumption can lead to FASD, one in nine babies born in Canada each year are affected by this, approximately 300,000 Canadians currently are living with its effects. Typical problems include microcephaly (small head), heart defects, irritability, hyperactivity, and delayed mental and motor developments. It’s the most commonly known cause of intellectual disability and is related to an increased incidence of difficulties in school, depression, suicide, drug problems, and criminal behaviour. Smoking increases the chance for a miscarriage, stillbirth, and prematurity, and newborn’s risk for SIDS. Maternal nutrition includes getting the right vitamins and minerals and gaining enough weight during pregnancy. Malnutrition increases the risk of birth complications and neurological deficits for the newborn. Elevated levels of stress can be associated with increased stillbirths, impaired immune response, heightened vulnerability to infectious disease, slowed motor development, below average cognitive development, and social deficits. Measles, rubella, syphilis, and chickenpox can be hazardous to the fetus, it depends in part on when the mother contracted the illness. Some environmental toxins such as air pollution and chemicals can cause developmental delays and impairments. Events during prenatal development can “program” the fetal brain in ways that influence the person’s vulnerability to various types of illnesses decades later. 3. Describe the general trends and cultural variations in motor development. a. The general trend is that early motor development depends to a considerable extent on maturation, later motor development may depend on the specialized skills that may be unique to their culture. 4. Summarize the findings of Thomas and Chess’s longitudinal study of infant temperament. a. Temperamental individuality is well established by the time the infant is two to three months old. A child’s temperament at 3 months old is a fair indicator of their temperament at 10. Individual differences in temperament appear to be influenced by heredity. Stable but not unchangeable. Easy children: 40%, happy, regular in sleeping and eating, adaptable, and not easily upset. Slow-to-warm-up: 15%, less cheery, less regular in their sleeping and eating, slower to adapting to change, wary of new experiences, and emotional reactivity was moderate. Difficult children: 10%, glum, erratic in sleeping and eating, resistant to change, relatively irritable. Developed more emotional problems requiring counselling. Remaining 35% were a mixture of the three. 5. Summarize the research on infant-caregiver attachment, including cultural variations. a. There are three patterns (discovered by Ainsworth): Secure attachment: Play and explore comfortably with mother present, become visibly upset when she leaves, and quickly calmed when she returns. 67% Anxious-ambivalent attachment: babies appear anxious when their mother is near and protests excessively when she leaves, but not particularly comforted when she returns. (fear, anxiety) 12% Avoidant attachment: seek little comfort with mother and often not distressed when she leaves. (defensive) 21% Disorganized-disoriented attachment: children appear confused about whether they should approach or avoid their mother and are especially insecure. Mothers who are sensitive and responsive to their children’s needs are more likely to promote secure attachments than mothers who are relatively insensitive or inconsistent in their responding. It also depends on the infant's temperament. The differences in culture are mall and secure attachment seems to be the predominant type around the world. 6. Outline Erikson’s stages of childhood personality development and critique his theory. a. Trust vs mistrust: First stage; the first year of life when an infant has to rely completely on adults to take care of their basic needs. If their needs are adequately met by their caregiver and sounds attachments are formed, the child should develop an optimistic, trusting attitude towards to world. If they aren’t met, a more distrusting, pessimistic personality may result. b. Autonomy vs shame and doubt: Second stage; the second and third year of life when parents begin toilet training and other efforts to regulate the child's behaviour. The child begins to take some personal responsibility for feeding, dressing, and bathing. If it goes well, they develop a sense of self-sufficiency, if not, and there are constant conflicts between the parent and child, they may develop a sense of personal shame and doubt. c. Initiative vs guilt: Third stage; lasting roughly from ages three to six, children experiment and take initiatives that may sometimes conflict with their parents’ rules. Overcontrolling parents may begin to instill feelings of guilt and self-esteem may suffer. Parents need to support their child’s emerging independence while maintaining appropriate controls. Ideally, children will retain their sense of initiative while learning to respect the rights and privileges of other family members. d. Industry vs inferiority: Fourth stage; ages six through puberty, children learn to function socially and is extended beyond family to the broader social realm of the neighborhood and school. Those who function effectively in this less nurturant social sphere where productivity is highly valued should learn to value achievement and to take pride in accomplishment, resulting in a sense of competence. Erikson’s theory has depended heavily on illustrative case studies, which are open to varied interpretations, it also provides and idealized description of typical developmental patterns that exist among people. Inadequate explanation of individual differences is a common problem with stage theories. 7. Outline Piaget’s stages of cognitive development and critique his theory. a. Sensorimotor period: Lasts from birth to about age two; infants develop the ability to coordinate their sensory input with their motor actions. Major development is the gradual appearance of symbolic thought. At the beginning a child’s behaviour is dominated by innate reflexes, by the end they can use mental symbols to represent objects. The key to this transition is the acquisition of the concept of object permanence. b. Preoperational period: from age two to seven; gradual improving of their use of mental images. Children couldn’t understand conservation, centration, irreversibility, or egocentrism. Their ability to perform operations – internal transformations, manipulations, and reorganizations of mental structures – isn't there. c. Concrete operational period: Age 7 to 11; The development of mental operations including reversibility and decentration. Reversibility allows a child to mentally undo an action, decentration allows the child to focus on more than one feature of a problem simultaneously. There is also a decline in egocentrism and gradual mastery of conservation as it applies to liquid, mass, number, volume, area, and length. d. Formal operational period: begins around 11; children begin to apply their operations to abstract concepts in addition to concrete objects. Graduate to relatively adult modes of thinking, developments in thinking are changes in degrees rather than fundamental changes in the nature of thinking. Some criticisms include: the underestimation of young children’s cognitive development, children often “mix” stages in patterns of thinking and characteristics which calls into effect the value of organizing cognitive development in terms of stages, and the sequence of stages is largely invariant, but the timetable that children follow in passing through the stages varies considerably across cultures. 8. Summarize the debate about whether some cognitive abilities are innate. What research methods are used to investigate the cognitive abilities of young children? a. Nativists assert that humans are prewired to readily understand certain concepts without making any assumptions about why humans are prewired in this way. Their principal interest is to sort out the complex matter of what is prewired and what isn’t. Evolutionary theorists agree with nativists that humans are prewired for certain cognitive abilities, but they are keenly interested in why. b. Research methods include infants being shown amounts of objects and then adding or taking away objects. Infants understand how many there should be. 9. Describe the milestones in the development of children’s understanding of mental states. a. Age 2: children begin to distinguish between mental states and overt behaviour, they understand desire and emotions. Age 3: children are talking about others’ beliefs and thoughts as well as their desires. Age 4: Begin to understand how people’s beliefs, thoughts, and desires motivate and direct their behaviour. Reasoning about mental states continues to improve 10. Outline Kohlberg’s theory of moral development and critique his theory. a. Preconventional: think in terms of external authority, acts are wrong because they are punished or right because they lead to positive consequences. b. Conventional: See rules as necessary for maintaining social order; internalize rules not to avoid punishment but to be virtuous and win approval from others; moral thinking is relatively inflexible, and rules are viewed as absolute guidelines that should be enforced rigidly. c. Postconventional: working out a personal code of ethics, acceptance of rules is less rigid, and moral thinking shoes some flexibility. Allow for the possibility that someone might not comply with some of society’s rules if they conflict with personal ethics. d. There is a mixing of stages, it’s an individualistic ideology characteristic of modern Western nations that is much more culture specific, and it has led to a constricted focus on reasoning about interpersonal conflicts while ignoring many other important aspects of moral development. 11. Describe the major events of puberty. a. Starts in girls around ages 9-10 and in boys around 10-12, secondary sex characteristics form, such as facial hair, broader shoulders in males, and breast growth and wider hips in females. Primary sex characteristics develop fully, in males – testes, penis, and related internal structures, in females – ovaries, vagina, uterus, and other internal structures. The first sign in females is menarche – the first menstruation, and in males – spemarche- the first ejaculation. 12. Based on the research evidence on adolescent suicide, would you conclude that adolescence is a time of turmoil? a. The research would indicate that teenage suicide may not have much to do with whether or not it’s a turbulent time. I don’t know if turmoil is the reason for suicide. The research suggests not. 13. Using research evidence on adolescent moods, behaviours, and conflict, would you reach the same conclusion about adolescence being a time of turmoil for adolescents among Canada’s Indigenous peoples? a. Yes, I would say that they seem to go through cultural changes which are difficult and turbulent for them and can cause them to be thrown into disarray. When one’s culture is thrown into disarray, a sense of self is cut away and life is made to feel cheap, and one’s own death becomes a matter of indifference. 14. Explain why the struggle for a sense of identity is particularly intense during adolescence. Discuss common patterns of identity formation (statuses). a. The struggle with identity is intense because teens are working out a stable concept of oneself as a unique individual and embracing an ideology or system of values that provides a sense of direction. b. Identity diffusion: a state of rudderless apathy, with no commitment to an ideology. c. Identity foreclosure: a premature commitment to visions, values, and roles – typically those prescribed by one’s parents. It is associated with conformity and not being very open to new experiences. d. Identity moratorium: delaying commitment for a while to experiment with alternative ideologies and careers. e. Identity achievement: arriving at a sense of self and direction after some consideration of alternative possibilities. 15. Summarize the evidence regarding the stability of personality and the prevalence of the midlife crisis. Outline Erikson’s three stages of adulthood. a. Studies show that there are variations among people in the extent to which experience personality change, the biggest changes seem to happen between 20 to 40 years, significant changes can even occur in old age, and the typical developmental trends represent positive changes that move people toward great social maturity. b. Early adulthood – intimacy vs isolation: key concern is whether one can develop the capacity to share intimacy with others. Successful resolutions of challenges in this stage should promote empathy and openness. Middle adulthood – generativity vs self-absorption: key challenge is to acquire a genuine concern for the welfare of future generations which results in providing unselfish guidance to younger people and concern with one’s legacy. Late adulthood – integrity vs despair: challenge is to avoid the tendency to dwell on the mistakes of the past and on one’s imminent death. 16. Describe the typical transition in family relations during the adult years. a. The typical transition is that a person goes from being a part of a family to being “between families” until they form their own. This is being prolonged by more and more people. 17. Describe the physical and cognitive changes associated with aging. For each physical and cognitive change describe how the change affects everyday life. a. Hair gets greyer, more body fat, less muscle mass Feeling younger, which is associated with better health and cognitive functioning and reduced mortality risk. Visual acuity declines, while farsightedness and difficulty seeing in low illumination become more common, sensitivity to colour and contrast decline. Hearing sensitivity begins gradually declining but isn’t noticeable until after age 50. This can undermine speech perception and puts an added burden on cognitive processing. Physiological changes tend to decrease functional capabilities, reduce biological resilience in the face of stress, and increase susceptibility to acute and chronic diseases. Successful again includes psychological factors like intelligence, optimism, conscientiousness, self-esteem, positive emotions, and behavioural habits. Dementia and Alzheimers Decrease in memory capabilities which affects episodic memory the most. Speed in learning, problem solving and processing information tends to decline with age. It may be a gradual, lengthy trend beginning in middle adulthood. 18. Explain how chapter 11 highlights the themes of the joint influence of heredity and environment. a. Heredity and environment jointly mould behaviour. The discussion on development amplified the point that genetics and experience work interactively to shape behaviour. 19. Summarize evidence regarding gender differences in behaviour. Discuss the significance of these differences. a. Cognitively: on average, females tend to exhibit slightly better verbal skills than males; starting during high school, males show a slight advantage on tests of mathematical ability; starting at grade-school years, males tend to score higher than females on most measures of visual-spatial ability. b. Socially: males tend to be much more physically aggressive than females, females and males tend to be similar in their level of verbal or relational aggression, females are more sensitive to subtle nonverbal cues and pay more attention to interpersonal information, males are more sexually active than females in a variety of ways. 20. Are fathers essential to children’s well-being? What three critical thinking skills could be used to evaluate this argument? a. Fathers may not be essential, but they are highly important. b. First: Correlation is no assurance of causation c. Second: are there specific alternative explanations for findings d. Third: is there any contradictory evidence e. Fourth: fallacies in reasoning KEY TERMS, CONCEPTS, AND PEOPLE Adolescence: a transitional period between childhood and adulthood, ages around 13 to 22. Age of viability: The age at which a baby can survive in the event of a premature birth, between 22-26 weeks. Accommodation: involves changing existing mental structures to explain new experiences. Animism: A feature of ecocentrism which is the believe that all things are living. Assimilation: interpreting new experiences in terms of existing mental structures without changing them Attachment: the close, emotional bonds of affection that develop between infants and their caregivers. Centration: the tendency to focus on just one feature of a problem, neglecting other important aspects. Cognitive development: transitions in youngsters’ patterns of thinking, including reasoning, remembering, and problem solving. Cohort effects: occur when differences between age groups are due to the groups growing up in different time periods. Conservation: Piaget’s term for the awareness that physical quantities remain constant in spite of changes in their shape or appearance. Cross-sectional design: investigators compare groups of participants of differing age at a single point in time. Dementia: an abnormal condition marked by multiple cognitive deficits that include memory impairment. Development: The sequence of age-related changes that occur as a person progresses from conception to death. Developmental norms: the median age at which individuals display various behaviours and abilities. Dishabituation: a new stimulus elicits an increase in the strength of a habituated response. Egocentrism: characterized by a limited ability to share another person’s viewpoint. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD): A collection of congenital (inborn) problems associated with excessive alcohol use during pregnancy. Produced by heavy drinking throughout pregnancy. Gender: refers to culturally constructed distinctions between femininity and masculinity. Gender differences: actual disparities between the sexes in typical behaviour or average ability. Gender roles: expectations of what is appropriate behaviour for each sex. Habituation: a gradual reduction in the strength of a response when a stimulus event is presented repeatedly. Irreversibility: the inability to envision reversing an action. Longitudinal design: investigators observe one group of participants repeatedly over a period of time. Tend to be more sensitive to developmental changes. Maturation: development that reflects the gradual unfolding of one’s genetic blueprint. Menarche: the first occurrence of menstruation, typically around ages 12-13. Morality: involves the ability to discern right from wrong and to behave accordingly. Motor development: the progression of muscular coordination required for physical activities. Object permanence: the recognition that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible. Appear between four and eight months, isn’t mastered until about 18 months. Placenta: a structure that allows oxygen and nutrients to pass into the fetus from the mother’s bloodstream and bodily waste to pass out to the mother. Prenatal period: extends from conception to birth, usually encompassing nine months of pregnancy. Primary sex characteristics: the structures necessary for reproduction. Puberty: the stage during which sexual functions reach maturity, which marks the beginning of adolescence. Scaffolding: Assistance provided to a child is adjusted as learning progresses. Secondary sex characteristics: physical features that distinguish one sex from the other but that are not essential for reproduction. Separation anxiety: emotional distress seen in many infants when they are separated from people with whom they have formed an attachment. Typically emerges around 6 to 8 months and peaks around 14 to 18 months and then declines. Sex: refers to the biologically based categories of female and male. Socialization: the acquisition of the norms of behaviours expected of people in a particular society. Spermarche: the first occurrence of ejaculation, typically around ages 13-14. Stage: a developmental period during which characteristic patterns of behaviour are exhibited and certain capacities become established. Strange situation procedure: infants are exposed to a series of eight separation and reunion episodes to assess the quality of their attachment. Temperament: the characteristic mood, activity level, and emotional reactivity of an infant. Teratogens: any external agents, such as drugs or viruses, that can harm an embryo. Zone of proximal development: the gap between what a learner can accomplish alone and what he or she can achieve with guidance from more skilled partners. (Vygotsky) UNIT 5 – CHAPTER 12 1. Define the construct of personality in terms of consistency and distinctiveness. a. The construct of personality is used to explain the stability in a person’s behaviour over time and across situations (consistency) and the behavioural differences among people reacting to the same situation (distinctiveness). 2. Explain what is meant by a personality trait. Describe the five-factor model of personality. a. A personality trait is a durable disposition to behave in a particular way in a variety of situations. b. Most personality traits are derived from 5 higher order traits. These are: i. Extraversion: outgoing, sociable, upbeat, friendly, assertive, gregarious; more positive outlook on life and are motivated to pursue social contact, intimacy, and interdependence. Sociable vs retiring, fun-loving vs sober, affectionate vs reserved. (Positive emotionally) ii. Neuroticism: anxious, hostile, self-conscious, insecure, vulnerable; more impulsive, and emotionally instability. Worried vs calm, insecure vs secure, self-pitying vs self-satisfied. (Negative emotionally) iii. Openness to experience: curiosity, flexibility, imaginativeness, intellectual pursuits, interests in new ideas, unconventional attitudes; tolerant of ambiguity. Imaginative vs down to earth, variety vs routine, independent vs conforming. iv. Agreeableness: sympathetic, trusting, cooperative, modest, straightforward; empathy and helping behaviour. Soft-hearted vs ruthless, trusting vs suspicious, helpful vs uncooperative. v. Conscientiousness: diligent, well organized, punctual, dependable; strong self-discipline, ability to regulate oneself effectively. Well organized vs disorganized, careful vs careless, self-disciplined vs weak willed. 3. Describe the three structures into which Freud divided personality. Explain how his three levels of awareness are superimposed on these psychic structures. a. Id: pleasure principle, primary process thinking (primitive, illogical, irrational, fantasy oriented), the primitive, instinctive component of personality that operates according to the pleasure principle. Reservoir of psychic energy houses the biological urges (eat, sleep, defecate, copulate), that energize human behaviour. b. Ego: reality principle, secondary process thinking (rational, realistic, oriented toward problem solving), the decision-making component of personality that operates according to the reality principle. It mediates between the id and the external social world. It considers social realities in deciding how to behave. Ego works to tame the unbridles desires of the id. Strives to avoid negative consequences from society and its representatives by behaving properly, attempts to achieve long range goals that sometimes require putting off gratification. c. Superego: moral component of personality that incorporates social standards about what represents right and wrong. It emerges out of the ego around age 3-5, can become irrationally demanding in its striving for moral perfection (excessive feeling of guilt). 4. Explain the dominance of sexual and aggressive conflicts in Freud’s theory. Describe the operation of defence mechanisms. a. Sex and aggression are subject to more complex and ambiguous social controls than other basic motives, the norms governing these behaviours are subtle and people often get inconsistent messages about what’s appropriate. b. Sexual and aggressive drives are thwarted more regularly than other basic biological urges. c. Defense mechanisms are largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and guilt. 5. Outline Freud’s psychosexual stages of development and their theorized relations to adult personality. a. Oral (0-1)– first year of life, main source of erotic stimulation is the mouth (biting, sucking, chewing). Fixation could form the basis for obsessive eating or smoking later in life. b. Anal (2-3)– second year, pleasure from bowel movement, crucial time is toilet training, which represents society’s first systematic effort to regulate the child’s biological urges. Excessive punishment during toilet training may produce a latent feeling of hostility towards the trainer, usually the mother, which might generalize women as a class. Or heavy reliance on punitive measures could lead to an associate between genital concerns and the anxiety that punishment arouses, which could evolve into anxiety about sexual activities later in life. c. Phallic (4-5) - genitals become focus of erotic energy, largely through self- stimulation, little boys develop preference for mother and hostility towards father, similarly little girls prefer father. Healthy resolution of the Oedipal conflict because continued hostility towards same-sex parent may prevent the child from identifying adequately with that parent. d. Latency & Genital (6-12) - sexuality becomes suppressed, expanding social contacts beyond immediate family. With puberty the child progresses into the genital stage, sexual urges reappear and focus on genitals. Sexual energy is channelled towards peers of the other sex. 6. Summarize the revisions to Freud’s theory proposed by Jung and by Adler. a. Jung – proposed that the entire human race shares a collective unconscious, which exists in the deepest reaches of everyone’s awareness. b. Adler – believed the foremost source of human motivation is a striving for superiority. 7. Summarize the strengths and weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach to personality. a. Strengths: unconscious forces can influence behaviour, internal conflicts can play key role in generating psychological distress, early childhood experiences can have powerful influences on adult personality, and people do use defence mechanisms to reduce their experiences of unpleasant emotions. b. Weaknesses: poor testability, inadequate evidence, sexism, unrepresentative samples 8. Explain how Skinner’s principles of operant conditioning can be applied to an understanding of personality. a. Conditioning strengthens and weakens response tendencies mechanically, without a person’s conscious participation. A person’s characteristic response tendency is shaped by reinforcers and other consequences that follow behaviour. 9. Describe Bandura’s social learning theory. a. Behaviour is shaped through learning and people attempt to influence their lives and their outcomes; people set goals for themselves, anticipate the likely consequences of prospective actions, and select and create courses of action likely to produce desired outcomes and avoid detrimental ones. 10. Identify Mischel’s major contribution to personality theory. Why have his ideas generated so much controversy? a. He contributed the extent to which situational factors govern behaviour. He believed that people make responses they think will lead to reinforcement in the situation at hand. b. The heart of the concept of personality assumes that people are reasonably consistent in their behaviour, but he opposed that the situation was an important determinant of behaviour. 11. Summarize the strengths and weaknesses of the behavioural approach to personality. a. Strengths: firmly rooted in extensive empirical research b. Weaknesses: neglect cognitive processes 12. Explain how humanism was a reaction against both the behavioural and psychodynamic approaches. Outline the assumptions of the humanistic view. a. The charge was that behavioural and psychodynamic theories were dehumanizing. Psychodynamic theory was criticized for its belief that behaviour was dominated by primitive, animalistic drives; behaviourism was criticized for its preoccupation with animal research and its mechanistic, fragmented view of personality. Too deterministic and didn’t recognize the unique qualities of human behaviour. b. People can rise above their primitive animal heritage and control their biological urges, people are largely conscious and rational beings who are not dominated by unconscious, irrational needs and conflicts. 13. Identify the single structural construct in Rogers’s person-centred theory. Summarize his view of personality development. a. Self or self-concept which is a collection of beliefs about one’s own nature, unique qualities, and typical behaviour. b. Concerned with how childhood experiences promote congruence or incongruence between one’s self-concept and one’s experience. People have a strong need for affection, love, and acceptance from others. Early in life this comes from parents. Some parents make it conditional; it depends on the child’s behaving well and living up to expectations. When this happens, children often block out of their self-concept those experiences that make them feel unworthy of love. They do it because they’re worried about parental acceptance. Some parents make it unconditional, their children have less need to block out unworthy experiences because they’ve been assured that they’re worthy of affection, no matter what they do. The more inaccurate your self-concept, the more likely you are to have experiences that clash with your self-perceptions. People with highly incongruent self-concepts are especially likely to have recurring anxiety. 14. Explain what Maslow meant by self-actualization. Summarize his findings on self- actualizing people. a. Self-actualization: the need to fulfill one’s potential; it is the highest need in Maslow’s motivational hierarchy. b. Self-actualizing people are accurately tuned in to reality and are at peace with themselves, open and spontaneous, retain a fresh appreciation of the world around them, they are sensitive to others’ needs and enjoy rewarding interpersonal relations, not dependent on others for approval or uncomfortable with solitude, thrive on their work and enjoy their sense of humour, they have peak experiences more often than others, they strike a nice balance between many polarities in others. 15. Summarize the strengths and weaknesses of the humanistic approach to personality. a. Strengths – made self-concept an important construct in psychology, a person’s subjective views may be more important than objective reality, optimistic, health-oriented b. Weaknesses – difficult to put to a scientific test, unrealistically optimistic in assumptions about human nature and descriptions of the healthy personality, and more empirical research is needed to solidify the humanistic view 16. Describe Eysenck’s biological theory of personality. a. Personality structure is a hierarchy of traits where many superficial traits are derived from a smaller number of more basic traits, which are derived from a handful of fundamental higher order traits. All aspects of personality emerge from just three higher order traits: extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. Personality is determined to a large extent by a person’s genes. 17. Summarize the evidence regarding personality similarity in twins and other research on the heritability of personality. a. Identical twins are found to be much more similar than fraternal twins. 18. Summarize the evolutionary approach to personality. a. Personality has a biological basis because natural selection has favoured certain traits over the course of human history. It focuses on how various personality traits may have contributed to reproductive fitness in ancestral human populations. 19. Summarize the strengths and weaknesses of the biological approach to personality. a. Strengths – helps shape personality and there are new intriguing approaches to investigating personality development. b. Weaknesses – too much emphasis has been placed on heritability estimates, can lead to artificial results, the effects of nature and nurture are twisted together in complicated interactions that can’t be separated cleanly. 20. Describe the connection between culture and personality a. Culture can shape a personality. Where you grow up changes how you view yourself and your goals in life. 21. Outline the four principal uses of personality tests. a. Making clinical diagnoses of psychological disorders, vocational counselling, personnel selection in business and industry, measuring specific personality traits for research purposes. 22. Describe the self-report inventories. Summarize their strengths and weaknesses. a. Self-report inventories are personality tests that ask individuals to answer a series of questions about their characteristic behaviour. b. Strengths – provides a more objective and more precise estimate of the person’s assertiveness, one that is better grounded in extensive comparative data based on information provided by many other respondents. c. Weaknesses – Deliberate deception, social desirability bias, response sets 23. Describe the projective tests. Summarize their strengths and weaknesses. a. Projective tests ask participants to respond to vague, ambiguous stimuli in ways that may reveal the subjects’ needs, feelings, and personality traits. b. Strengths – Not transparent to respondents, the indirect approach used in these tests may make them especially sensitive to unconscious, latent features of personality. c. Weaknesses – tend to have inconsistent scoring, low reliability, inadequate test norms, cultural bias, and poor validity estimates; are susceptible to some types of intentional deception. 24. Describe the role of hindsight bias in everyday analyses of personality. a. We all come up with plausible explanations for the personality traits of people we know well. KEY TERMS, CONCEPTS, PEOPLE Archetypes: emotionally charged images and thought forms that have universal meaning. Show up in dreams and manifested in art, literature, and religion. Behaviourism: a theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behaviour. Collective unconscious: a storehouse of latent memory traces inherited from people’s ancestral past. Collectivism: Involves putting group goals ahead of personal goals and defining one’s identity in terms of the group one belongs to. Compensation: efforts to overcome imagined or real inferiorities by developing one’s abilities. Conscious: whatever one is aware of at a particular point in time. Defence mechanisms: largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and guilt. Displacement: diverting emotional feelings from their original source to a substitute target. Ego: the decision-making component of personality that operates according to the reality principle. Extraverts: people who are outgoing, upbeat, sociable, friendly, assertive, and gregarious. More positive outlook on life and are motivated to pursue social contact, intimacy, and interdependence. Factor analysis: correlations among many variables are analyzed to identify closely related clusters of variables. Fixation: failure to move forward from one stage to another as expected cause by excessive gratification of needs at a particular stage or by excessive frustration of those needs. Hierarchy of needs: a systematic arrangement of needs, according to priority, in which basic needs must be met before less basic needs are aroused. Hindsight bias: the tendency to mould one’s interpretation of the past to fit how events actually turned out. Humanism: a theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth. Id: the primitive, instinctive component of personality that operates according to the pleasure principle. Identification: bolstering self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person or group. Incongruence: the degree of disparity between one’s self-concept and one’s actual experience. Individualism: involves putting personal goals ahead of group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group memberships. Introverts: tend to have higher levels of physiological arousal, bashful, tentative, and uneasy in social situations. Model: a person whose behaviour is observed by another. Narcissism: a tendency to focus almost exclusively on the self and one’s self- image, and to maintain an inflated view of the self and demand attention. need for self-actualization Observational learning: occurs when an organism’s responding is influenced by the observation of other’s who are called models. Oedipal complex: children manifest erotically tinged desires for their opposite-sex parent, accompanied by feelings of hostility towards their same-sex parent. Personal unconscious: houses material that is not within one’s conscious awareness because it has been repressed or forgotten. Personality: an individual’s unique constellation of consistent behavioural traits. Personality trait: a durable disposition to behave in a particular way in a variety of situations. Ex. Honest, dependable, moody, impulsive, suspicious, anxious, excitable, domineering, friendly. Phenomenological approach: assumes that one has to appreciate individual’s personal, subjective experiences to truly understand behaviour. Pleasure principle: demands immediate gratification. Preconscious: material just beneath the surface of awareness that can be easily retrieved. Projection: attributing one’s own thoughts, feelings, or motives to another. Projective tests: ask participants to respond to vague, ambiguous stimuli in ways that may reveal the subjects’ needs, feelings, and personality traits. Psychodynamic theories: include all of the diverse theories descended from the work of Freud, which focus on unconscious mental forces. Psychosexual stages: developmental periods with a characteristic sexual focus that leave their mark on adult personality. Rationalization: creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behaviour. Reaction formation: behaving in a way that is exactly the opposite of one’s true feelings. Reality principle seeks to delay gratification of the id’s urges until appropriate outlets and situations can be found. Reciprocal determinism: the idea that internal mental events, external environmental events, and overt behaviour all influence one another. Regression: a reversion to immature patterns of behaviour. Repression: keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious. Self-actualizing persons: people with exceptionally healthy personalities marked by continued personal growth. Self-concept: a collection of beliefs about one’s own nature, unique qualities, and typical behaviour. Self-efficacy: one’s belief about one’s ability to perform behaviours that should lead to expected outcomes. Self-enhancement: involves focusing on positive feedback from others, exaggerating one’s strengths, and seeing oneself as above average. Self-report inventories: personality tests that ask individuals to answer a series of questions about their characteristic behaviour. Striving for superiority: a universal drive to adapt, improve oneself, and master life’s challenges. Sublimation: when unconscious, unacceptable impulses are channelled into socially acceptable, even admirable behaviours. Superego: moral component of personality that incorporates social standards about what represents right and wrong. Unconscious: thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behaviour. Alfred Adler o Vienna o Individual psychology Albert Bandura o Social learning theory/social cognitive theory o Greatest living psychologist o People don’t just react to external events but routinely attempt to influence their lives and outcomes. David Buss o Thinks that the Big 5 personality traits are important dimensions of personality across a variety of cultures because they have significant adaptive implications. o Evolutionary approach to personality Raymond Cattell o Used statistical procedure of factor analysis to reduce a huge lists of personality traits to just 16 basic dimensions Norman Endler o York University o Advocate of an interactional approach to personality o Personality traits interact with situational factors to produce behaviour. Hans Eysenck o Born in Germany, fled to London during Nazi rule o Personality structure is a hierarchy of traits Sigmund Freud o Physician specialized in neurology o Vienna o End of 19th century o Developed psychoanalysis o Psychoanalytic theory attempts to explain personality by focusing on the influence of early childhood experiences, unconscious conflicts, and sexual urges. Carl Jung o Psychiatrist in Switzerland o Analytical psychology o Each person shares the collective unconscious with the entire human race. Abraham Maslow o Theory of motivation o Humanistic movement o Analysis of how motives are organized hierarchically and his description of the healthy personality Walter Mischel o Vienna, immigrated to US in 1939 o Doctorate in psychology o Spent years in Stanford o Advocate of social learning theory o Situational factors influence behaviour. Delroy Paulhus o Dark Triad – specific combination of three traits leading to negative, antisocial behaviour tendencies. o Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism Carl Rogers o Founder of human potential movement o Chicago o Person-centered theory B. F. Skinner o American psychologist o 1904-1990 o Harvard University o Principles of learning o Operant conditioning o Behaviour is fully determined by environmental stimuli o Free will is an illusion o Mechanical UNIT 6 - CHAPTER 13 1. Describe how various aspects of physical appearance may influence our impressions of others. a. Attractive people are seen as more sociable, friendly, poised, warm, and well adjusted. Attractive women are seen as more agreeable, extraverted, conscientious, open to experience, and emotionally stable. They are also expected to have better lives, be better spouses, and be more successful in their careers. 2. Explain how schemas, stereotypes, and other factors contribute to selectivity in person perception. a. Social schemas help people to efficiently process and store the wealth of information they take in about others in their interactions. The categories people put others in influences the process of person perception. b. Stereotypes influence our conceptualization of our social environment, and directly affects our own behaviour. c. Illusionary correlation is when people overestimate how often they see something they expect to see. d. Memory processes is when people tend to remember activities consistent with their stereotype. 3. Summarize the evolutionary perspective on bias in person perception. a. Cognitive mechanisms that have been shaped by natural selection. Adaptiveness in ancestral environment, and the need to quickly separate friend from foe. 4. What are attributions? Why and when do we make them? a. Attributions are inferences that people draw about the causes of events, others’ behaviour, and their own behaviour. b. The explain someone’s behaviour – even your own. 5. Distinguish between internal and external attributions. Summarize Weiner’s theory of attribution. a. Internal attributes ascribe the causes of behaviour to personal dispositions, traits, abilities, and feelings. b. External attributes: ascribe the causes of behaviour to situational d

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