Psychology Midterm 2 Final

the study of differences and weight the effects and interplay of heredity and environment

• DNA
• Chromosomes-coiled chain of DNA
• DNA is compromised of genes

develop from a single fertilized egg that splits into two creating two genetically identical organisms

develop from separate fertilized eggs, they are genetically no closer that brother and sister but share the same environment

identical twins at birth in differing environments however were virtually alike via traits and habits

• Emotional Excitability
• Sociability
• Activity Level

• Difficult- irritable, intense, unpredictable 
• Easy-cheerful, relaxed, predictable
• Slow to warm up- resist or withdraw from new people and situations

focus on what makes us so much alike as humans

• ideas in attractiveness
• ides in perfect mate: fertile appearing women-smooth skin, youthful shape; mature dominant, bold and affluent
• In sexual behavior-women are more relational men recreational

• Prenatal
• Early Experience
• Peer Influence- children very sensitive and responsive to peer influences
• Culture- behaviors, ideas, attitude, values and traditions shared by a group of people through generations
• Gender-men are more aggressive behavior, leaders, women make more concerned with making connections, more responsive to feedback

examine how people are continually developing, physically, cognitively and socially from infancy to old age

• Nature v. Nurture: how does our genetic inheritance and experience influence our development?
• Continuity v. Stages: is development gradual or proceed through different stages (escalator v. ladder)
• Stability v. Change: do early personality traits persist through life or do we become different people as we age?

• Zygote-fertilized Egg
• Embryo- inner cells of a zygote where development beings to occur (first 6 weeks)
• Fetus- 9 weeks after conception, looks human

harmful agents such as drugs/viruses

• small dis-proportioned head and lifelong brain abnormalities
• Depresses CNS activity, prime offspring to like alcohol, brain development

head turning and sucking movements elicited in a normal infant by gently stroking the side of mouth or cheek

• Infancy
• childhood
• Adolescence
• Adulthood

• orderly sequence of biological growth process
• i.e. standing before walking, nouns before adjectives

• Piaget- all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing,remembering and communicating 
• 4 Stages:Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, Formal Operational

• concepts or mental molds in which we pour our experiences
• i.e. gender schema

Interpreting experiences in terms of our current understandings (schema)

adjusting schemas to incorporate information provided by new experiences

• Stage 1 of Cognition Development
• experiencing the world through sense and actions 
• birth to 2 years
• Object Permanence-the awareness that objects continue to exist when not perceived (gone around 8 months)
• Stranger Anxiety- the fear of strangers that infants commonly display beginning about the age of 8 months

• Stage 2 of cognitive development
• represents things with words and images using intuitive rather than logical reasoning 
• Ages 2 to 6/7 
• Pretend Play
• No idea of Conservation- the principle that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape
• Ego-centrism-have difficulty perceiving things from another's point of view
• Theory of Mind- children's ability to infer other's mental states

• Stage 3 of Cognitive Development
• thinking logically about concrete events; grasping concrete analogies and performing arithmetical operations
• Age 6/7- 11
• Conservation-understanding change in form
• Ability to understand jokes
• Mathematical transformations and reverse operations

• 4 stage of cognitive development
• abstract reasoning-imagined realities and symbols 
• Age 12 to adulthood 
• Potential for mature moral reasoning 
• Complex thinking

• founded by Erikson
• All about finding identity 
• Identity is influenced by Age, parents, society and peers

• Body Contact-Harlow Monkey
• Familiarity-Lorenz 
• Responsive Parenting

• developed by Lorenz
• an optimal period when certain events must take place in order to facilitate proper development

• rigid attachment process 
• i.e. ducklings following whoever

• Work of Ainsworth 
• Authoritarian-parents impose rules and expect obedience
• Permissive- parents submit to their children's desires, they make few demands and use little punishment
• Authoritative-parents are both demanding and responsive, they exert control by setting rules and enforcing the rules but also explain the reasons for rules and especially with older children the encourage open discussion and exception to rules
• *showed children with authoritarian parents had less social skill and self esteem; children with permissive parents were aggressive and immature

• Trust v. Mistrust
• Autonomy v. Shame and Doubt
• Initiative v. Guilt
• Competence v. Inferiority
• Identity v. Role Confusion
• Intimacy v. Isolation
• Generativity v. Stagnation
• Integrity v. Despair

• term by Stanley Hall- described as tension between biological maturity and social dependence 
• years spent morphing from child to adult (sexual achievement and independent adult status) 
• Physical changes of sex characteristics
• Cognitive Changes-frontal lobes develop, moral judgments build on cognitive development 
• Social Changes- heredity and environment interact

• Primary: reproductive organs and external genitalia 
• Secondary: non reproductive traits i.e. breast/hips, facial hair/deep voice

• founded by Kohlberg
• thinking that occurs as we consider right and wrong
• 3 stages: Preconventional, Conventional and Post Conventional

• focused on self interest, obey rules to avoid punishment or gain concrete awards
• Age before 9

• focuses on caring for others and on upholding laws and social rules, simply because they are laws and rules
• Age- early adolescence

abstract reasoning and formal operation thoughts, actions are judged right because they flow from people's right or from self defined ethical principles

• our accumulated knowledge as reflect in vocab and analogy test
• increases with age
• philosophers

• our ability to reason speedily and abstractly as when solving novel logic problems 
• decreases with age

a relatively permanent change in an organism's  behavior due to experience

Learning that certain events occur together, the events may be two stimuli or a response and its consequences

the process of learning associations

a type of learning in which on learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

we learn to associate a response and its consequence and this to repeat followed by good results and avoid acts followed by bad results (sea, ball and fish)

• learning by observing others
• learning without direct experience
• can lead to modeling

The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

• Russian scientist who studied digestion and explored classical conditioning 
• Digestion Work led to Learning Work
• Initial Response: Food= Salivation US=UR
• Learned Reponse: Bell=Salivation CS=CR

Conditioned is always learned while unconditioned is always unlearned

• Acquisition
• Extinction
• Spontaneous Recovery 
• Generalization
• Discrimination

• Quail Study 
• when one links a neutral stimulus and an US so the neutral stimulus begins triggering the CR

the diminishing of a CR occurs in classical conditioning when a US does not follow a CS

the reappearance after a pause in an extinguished condition response

the tendency once a response has been conditioned for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar reponses

the learned ability to distinguish between a CS and stimuli that don't signal a US

• Survival
• Repoduction
• Food
• Avoid Dangers
• Defeat Rivals
• Locate Mates

• underestimated cognitive processes of animals
• Underestimated biological constraints

• decided to look at observable behavior through the little Albert experiment 
• Loud noise= Fear US=UR
• White Rat= Fear CS=CR

• a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a punisher
• i.e. Skinner Box

classical is associations between stimuli and respondent behavior (automatic response to a stimulus); Operant association of actions with consequences

• By Thorndike
• rewarded behavior is likely to recur

• Made by Skinner
• a procedure in which reinforces such as food gradually guide an animal's action toward a desired behavior

in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

• Positive- strengthens a response by presenting a typically pleasurable stimulus after a response
• Negative- strengthens a response by reducing/removing something undesirable or unpleasant i.e. taking an aspirin for headaches

• Primary-unlearned i.e. getting food when hungry
• Secondary- get their power through learned association with primary reinforcers i.e. light signal food so rat wants to turn it on

• Continuous Reinforcement- reinforcing the desired response every time it happens
• Partial Reinforcement- responses that are sometimes reinforced and sometimes not 
• Ratio Schedule- depends on the number of responses the organism submits since last reinforcement 
• Interval Schedule-

• Fixed Ratio Schedule- reinforce behavior after a set number of responses
• Variable Ratio Schedule- provide reinforcers after an unpredictable number of responses 
• Fixed Interval Schedule- reinforce the first response after a fixed time period 
• Variable Interval Schedule- reinforce the first response after varying time intervals

• withdraw from desirable stimulus 
• i.e. time out from privileges, revoked drivers license

• decreases the frequency of preceding behavior
• Problems: behavior is suppressed not forgotten, punishment teaches discrimination, punishment can teach fear, physical punishment may increase aggressiveness by modeling aggression as a way to cope

a mental representation of the layout of ones environment

learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it

biological constrains predispose organisms to learn assoociations that are naturally adaptive

• the ability to learn by observing and imitating others 
• Modeling in Learning- process in which we learn all kinds of specific behaviors by imitating and observing 
• i.e. Bobo Doll Study- compared with children not exposed to adult model, more likely to lash out

biochemical unit of heredity that make up chromosomes, a segment of DNA capable of synthesizing a protein

the interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor (such as environment) depends on another factor (such as heredity)

the principle that among the range of inherited trait variations, those that lead to increase reproduction and survival will most likely be passed onto succeeding generations

random error in gene replication that leads to change

an understood rule for accepted and expected behavior, norms prescribe proper behavior

the buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies

giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group idenitification

giving priority to gruop goals (often those of the extended family or work group) and defining one's identity accordingly

• both males and females have it, most important in male hormones
• stimulates the growth of the male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty

a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position out to behave

• Role- a set of expected behaviors for males and females 
• Identity-our sense of being male or female

the acquisition of traditional male or female role

• Menarche- the first menstrual period 
• Menopause- the time of natural cessation of menstruation, also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her ability to reproduced declines

the "we" aspect of our self concept; the part of our answer to Who am i? that come from our group memberships

for people in some modern cultures, the period from late teens to mid twenties bridging the gap between adolescent dependence and full independence and responsible adulthood

the socially preferred timing of certain life events lime marriage, parenthood and retirement