What is a COHORT?

What is a teratogen? 

Describe in some detail the relationship between a mother's consumption of alcohol and the develpment of the fetus.

Teratogen: any substance that can harm the fetus

Alcohol: -Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (stunted                                                          growth, facial deformities, mental retardation)

               -motor and balance deficits

               -most damage done during 3rd and                           4th weeks

Critical periods when particular structures in the brain are "ripe" for particular kinds of input at particular time points.

absence of the particular input at the appropriate time point can result in permanent impairment in the function of the structure.

What is attachment?

How is it adaptive?

A strong, intimate, emotional connection that persists over time and across circumstances that an infant develops with its caregiver.

Adaptive because it facilitates survival for the infant and parental investment for the caregiver.

Secure: baby is secure when the parent is present, distressed by separation, and delighted by reunion

Insecure:

-Ambivalent: baby clings to parent when present, cries at separation, and reacts with anger ot apathy to reunion

-Avoidant: indifferent or avoidant during presence, separation, and reunion

• Temperament
• caregiver responsiveness
• caregiver-infant fit

What is the preferential looking technique?

How does it differ from habituation paradigm?

Preferential looking technique:

-babies look longer at novel or interesting stimuli

Habituation Paradigms:

-an infant will become habituated to (become bored with) a stimulues that does not change

 Have mother read the same story twice a day everyday for the last 6 weeks.

When given a pacifier that the infant can use to control which stimulus is presented, the frequency and intensity at with they suck increases when hearing the mother's voice.

 -measure kicking rate when ribbon is tied to baby leg and the mobile.

-after some time, when reattched, baby kicks more. 

• Infantile amnesia: most people cannot recall anything that happened before the age of 3
• Source amnesia: children have special difficulty remembering where they learned something
• Confabulation: children make up things when asked about something
• highly vulnerable to repitition, misinformation, leading questions, and outside sources of information: notoriously unreliable eyewitnesses
• poor metamemory skills: knowledge about contents, and regulation, of memory

• Schema: Organized pattern of thought or behavior
• Characteristic errors: assimilation and accomodation.
• Assimilation: children incorporate new information into their existing schemas
• Accomodation: children alter their existing schemas in order to make sense of new information
• Stages: Different ways their schema changes

• Sensorimotor (0-2)
• Preoperational (2-6)
• Concrete Operational (7-11)
• Formal Operational (13-adult)

• Infants younger than 8 months lack object permanence; out of sight, out of mind.
• development of representational thought (creation and use of mental representations) bridges the sensorimotor and preoperational stage.

Describe egocentrism and lack of conservation.

In what way do both of these characteristic errors show the early child's inablity to fully use mental operations?

Egocentrism:

-others can tell what they are thinking

- others know everything that is going on in their lives

Lack of conservation:

-cannot think of two properties of an object at once; cannot perform two mental operations at once.

Concrete Operational (7-11)

-less egocantric

-understands conservation

-understand transivity

-cannot state general abstract rules that govern a variety of similar situations

-tend to use trial and error approaches for problem solving

Formal Operational: (13-adult)

-now has the cognitive capacity for thinking logically, but it is not necessarily the case that every adult does so.

-Habituate the infant to a possible event, then compare with looking time to an "impossible" event

-if the baby looks longer at the impossible event, this shows that the baby expected a certain even to occur and was surprised when it did not

-knowing that other people have mental states and using knowledge to explain and predict their behavior

-children older than nine months show greater impatience when an adult is unwilling to give them a toy when than when the adult is unable to give them a toy

The three stages (preconventional, conventional, and postconventional) are tested by presenting a conflict between a rule and one's own sense of right and wrong.

The differences in the stages is not necessarily determined by what decision a person makes, but the reasoning behind the decision.

Describe these three elements of human language:

Phoneme

Morpheme

Syntax

• Phoneme: basic, distinct sounds of a spoken languge.
• Morpheme: smallest meaningful unit of a language 
• Syntax: rules of grammar that govern how words can be combined into sentences in order to convey meaning

Desbribe these three characteristics of human language:

Semanticity

Generativity

Displacement

• Semanticity: property of language that describes the separate units and how these units have meaning
• Generativity: property of languge that accounts for our capacity to use a limited number of words to produce an infinite variety of expressions.
• Displacement: property of language that allows communication about matters that are not here and not now

• Motherese: child-directed speech
• Telegraphic speech: "more juice"
• Naming explosion: learn avg 9 words a day
• Overgeneralization:adding or subtracting from a word

 1. Basic trust vs mistrust; infancy (0-1)

-from warm, responsive care, infants gain a sense of trust or confidence that the world is good. Mistrust occurs when infants have to wait too long for comfort and are handled harshly.

2. autonomy vs shame and doubt; toddler (1-3)

-using new mental and motor skills, children want to choose and decide for themselves. autonomy is fostered when parents permis reasonable gree chioce and do not force ot shame the child.

3. Initiative vs guilt; early childhood (3-6)

-through make-believe play, children experiment with the kind of person they can become. Initiative, a sense of ambition and responsibility, develops when parents support their child's new sense of purpose and direction. The danger is that parents will demand too much self-control, which leads to overcontrol, or too much guilt.

4. industry vs inferiority; childhood (6-11)

-at school, children develop the capacity to work and cooperate with other. inferiority develops when negative experiences at home, at school, or with peers lead to feeling of incompetence and inferiority.

-aggressive or withdrawn, unskilled, unliked

-feel lonely, drop out of school, have academic and drug problems, and social adjustment problems as adults

-take responsibility for rejection, extracurricular activities, concerned and active parents, having a friend

-all fetuses are genetically male or female

-all external genitalia, reproductive systems, and neural circuitry of all human fetuses begin as female

-at 2-3 minths, a gonad develops into testes or ovaries

-release of androgens by testes causes the develpment of make external genitalia, male internal genitalia, and neural circuitry

1. frontal cortex

2. limbic system

-rebellion against and conflict with parents

-marked rise in risk-taking behavior

-emotional life is marked by mood disruptions and state of distress**

Sex: biological classification based on anatomy and genetics

Gender: psychological meaning of being male or female

Gender role: sex-typed behaviors promoted by social learning

Gender schema: beliefs about men and women that influence that way we perceive ourselves and others

Gender Stereotypes: simplified and exaggerated gender schemas that have a kernel or truth

What is androgen insensitivity?

How does the post-puberty adjustment of individuals suffering from this disorder argue for the primary importance of hormones in the determination of gender identity?

-body tissues of genetically make fetuses that would normally develop into the external male genitalia are insensitive to androgen and, as a result, develop into femal genitalia.

-anatomically, they are girls, and raised as such

-genetically and hormonally, they are boys

-at puberty, the surge of testosterone turns the clitoris-like sex organ into a penis

-OUTCOME: these individuals have little trouble adjusting to a male gender identity

-children learn two sets of behaviors, one for inside the home, and one for out.

-only those behaviors learned outside the home have long-term effects on personality.

man - 74

woman - 80

According to Erikson, what is the critical dilemma that must be resolved during early adulthood?

In what way does one's ability to resolve this dilemma depend on how one resolved the identity crisis?

-a mature sense of intimacy involves balancing the need for identity (and independence) with the demane to redefine yourself in terms of someone else. 

• Generativity vs stagnation; middle adulthood (40-65)
• integrity vs despair: late adulthood (65 and older)

What percentage of the elderly is afflicted with Alzheimer's disease? 

What are the most well-documented events in the brain that underlie the onset of Alzheimer's disease symptoms?

10%

holes in the middle of the brain are extremely large, and every section of gray and white matter has lost density

-loss in confidence in memory abilities

-loss of working memory capacity

-more decline in recall than recognition

-decline in fluid intelligence: information processing power

-rise in crystallized intelligence: learned and/or memorized knowledge

• Physical changes: increases in heart rate, skin temperature, and brain activation
• Expressive behavior: facil expressions and body language
• Cognitive appraisals: people's beliefs and understandings about why we feel the way we do
• Subjective experience: feelings that accompany an emotion

-disorder that causes people to not experience the subjective components of enotions.

• anger
• disgust
• fear
• sadness
• happiness
• surprise

-primary emotions are basic.

-secondary emotions are blends of primary emotions

Valence: how negative or positive emotions are

Activation: how arousing they are

JAMES-LANGE

-an emotion inducing stimulus elicits a physiological response

-the physiological response leads to autonomic arousal

-autonomic arousal stimulates emotion

FACIAL FEEDBACK

-facial expression causes and/or sharpens the subjective experience of emotion

-Like James-Lange, except instead of autonomic feedback, is not empasized in the subjective experience of emotions.

CANON-BARD

-emotion-inducing stimulus elicits physiological and emotional experience in parallel

• pupils dialate
• inhibits salivation
• increases respiration
• accelerates heartbeat
• stimulates glucose release
• secretes adrenaline and noradrenaline
• inhibits digestion
• relaxes bladder
• inhibits genitals

Stage 1: fast emotional response

stage 2: emotional reaction based on a more thorough cognitive appraisal

• subjective experience of emotion
• making choices guided by emotions
• interpreting the meaning of nervous system feedback
• regulating facial expression
• left and right frontal cortex are lateralized for positive and negative emotion

• Autonomic (physiological) arousal occurs
• Cognitive appraisal of the situation attributes source of arousal to a cause
• this cignitive label determines the subjective experience of emotion

• dont put yourself in a situation in which you know youll experience an emotion that you dont like
• once youre already feeling a negative emotion, you can distract yourself or reappraise the event in more neutral terms
• use humor
• avoid suppression or rumination

• natural selection
• have enhanced our prospects for survival and reproduction
• emotions provide information about the importance of stimuli and goals
• prepare people for actions aimed at achieving those goals

-broaden thinking and action

-signal satisfactory progress

-make decision making quicker and more efficient

-prepare us for action

-motivate us

-inform us

-help us learn

Anxiety: signal to repair interpersonal transgressions

Guilt: keeps people from harming their relationships

Embarrassment: what we feel when we make a social error

Need:

-state of deficiency

Drive:

-psychological states activated to satisfy needs

What is the difference between an homeostatic biological drive and a nonhomeostatic biological drive?

Use hunger and sex to illustrate the difference.

-A homeostatic mechanism maintains equilibrium by regulating its behavior in response to change around a set point.

-homeostatic drives: hunger, thirst, sleep, body temp regulation

-nonhomeostatic motives: sex, threat

Describe these four general theories of motivation: 

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

drive theory

arousal theory

incentive theory

Drive theory:

-physiological needs arouse tension that motivates an action aimed at reducing the tension

Incentive theory:

-prospect of obtaining valued inducements pushes people to engage in behavior to gain those incentives

Arousal Theory:

-People need to achieve and maintain an optimal level of arousal.

Pleasure is often associated with driven behaviors, especially adaptive behaviors.

they are repeated, even when they are not adaptive, because they are pleasureable.

Extrinsic: behavior is engaged in order to attain an external reward.

Intrinsic: behavior is engaged for it's own sake

• encourage child to attempt new tasks that are slightly beyond their reach
• praise success
• encourage independent thinking
• discourage complaining
• prompt children to try new solutions when they fail

-we eat not because we have deficient energy stores, but because it is time to eat.

Glucostatic:

-receptors in the bloodstream notive deviations from a set point for the level of glucose in the bloodstream

Lipostatic:

-receptors in the hypothalamus notice deviations from a set point for the amount of leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells as more fat is stored.

• 90% of men and 50% of women had premarital sex
• virtually all men and women masturbated
• 50% of men and 26% of women had extramarital affairs
• 40% of college-aged couples engaged in oral sex

Excitement phase

Plateau phase

Orgasm phase

Resoluti0n phase

• Hormones
• neurotransmitters
• cultural and emotional factors
• sex differences
• evolution

testosterone is the primary hormone driing sexual behavior in men and women

oxytoxin is released during sexual arousal and orgasm

female sex drive varies across the menstrual cycle

• beliefs about how a sexual episode should be enacted.
• in the USA, sexual behavior has changed as our culture as changed.

MEN > WOMEN

-sexual promiscuity

-have sex with anyone they choose

-sex w/o emotional commitment

-permissive attitudes toward casual sex

-sexual interpretation of nonverbal cues

-fantasies about multiple sexual partners in one session

Use the evolutionary perspective to address:

a. Why are men more sexually promiscuous?

b. Why do women seek older men and men seek younger women?

c. How and why do men and women differ in their reactions to secual and emotional infidelity?

2-4% men

1-2% women

twin studies

-exposure to hormones in prenatal environment 

"exotic becomes erotic"

-genes produce differences in temperament

Examination and application of psychological factors to:

-treatment of physical illness

-prevention of phycial illness

-promotion of physical health

-promotion of well-being

Traditional: People are passive with respect to contracting disease and people are the passive recipients of treatment for disease

Health Psyc: individual takes an active rold in their health by determining the nature of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

Catastrophes: tornado

life events: divorce

daily hassles: social obligations

Hypothalamus, Pituitary gland, and Adrenal gland

Indirect: stress instigates pathogenic coping behaviors. (drinking, drug use, etc.)

Direct: stress compromises immune system

Alarm: fight or flight

Resistance: not all symptoms are quieted

Exhaustion: psysiological defenses break down down; organs begin to fail

Physiological: adrenalin encourages fatty deposits

Behavioral: pathogenic coping behaviors

What is the difference between emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies? 

Which is more effective in the long run**?

Emotion: trying to change one's perception of a stressor in order to prevent having feelings about it, rather than tackling the stressor itself.

Problem**: tackling the stressor itself by removing it, seeking advice or assistance in dealing with it, or avoiding it by planning ahead.

Hardiness - Resilience Under Stress

-Commitment: Sense of purpose in work, family, and life.

-Challenge: Openness to new experiences and change

-Control: Belief that one has the power to influence important future outcomes

What psychological problems are associated with obesity?

-fitness

-being positive

-social support

-trust

-spirituality

-relaxation

Define an attitude and its three main components.

Attitudes: cognitive dissonance, persuasion

cognitive, emotional, and behavioral

What do we mean by the following:

Attitudes are often ambivalent

General attitudes do not predict behavior

Attitudes are constructed on-line

Attitudes are often complex, or incoherent

Attitudes are interconnected

Attitudes can differ from situation to situation

Central route: when the audience has the time and motivation to think carefully, then a well reasoned argument is the most persuasive

Peripheral route: when the audience does not have the ability or interest to think carefully, then more superficial cues are the most persuasive

What are the two kinds of bias that first impressions, whethere positive or negative, can lead to?

What do these two kinds of bias have in common?

How do they differ?

People interpret information that is ambiguous or that conflicts with the first impression in a manner that is consistent with (or confirms) the first impression

Personal -> personal achievements->self esteem

social->favoritism toward ingroups and derogation of outgroups->self-esteem

what are some of the causes, symptoms, and consequences of groupthink?

Causes:

-homogenous members

-strong, directive leadership

-group isolation

-group cohesiveness

Symptoms:

-overestimation of the group

-close mindedness

-increased pressure toward uniformity

Consequence:

-defective decision making

-increased likelihood of failure

describe the two types of influence that lead people to conform to group norms.

Describe these three techniques -

Foot in the door

Door in the face

Low balling

-for getting someone to comply with a request.

Foot-in-the-door technique: Once people comply with a small request, they are more likely to comply with a bigger one

Door in the face: people are more likely to agree to a small request after refusing a large request

Low-balling: start with a very modest request (low price for a car) and, once committed, people will accept increases that are added in, for whatever reason

activates concepts related to aggression and/or violence

influence our behavior by inspiring courses of action that we might not otherwise have thought of

Proximity

Similarity

Desirable personal characteristics

Physical attractiveness

Intimacy

Passion

Commitment

Passionate love fades

Infidelity

Poor conflict resolving strategies

agree on frequency of sex

resolve conflict in positive way

five times more positive interactions than negative