Developmental Pyschology

Study of you from womb to tomb.
Nature vs. Nurture - Way you were born / Way you were raised

Physical Development (Or the Way You Grow)

Prenatal - Begins with egg and sperm fertilized = zygote

1. Zygote - Lasts two weeks with rapid cell division.

• Less than half of all zygotes survive first two weeks
• Attaches to uterine wall after ten days
• Placenta - Outer part of zygote; Filters oxygen and nutrient
  

     2.  Embryo - After two weeks, lasts for six weeks.

• Heart beats and organs develop

     3.  Fetus - After nine weeks; Organs formed enough for independent survival.

Teratogens - Chemicals that can harm prenatal environment. EX: Alcohol (FAS), STDs, HIV, Herpes, Drugs.

Reflexes

Inborn automatic responses

• Rooting - When a newborn infant is touched on the cheek, infant turns its head toward the source of stimulation.
  
• Grasping - If an object is placed into a baby's palm, baby will try to grasp object with fingers.
• Moro - When startled, baby will fling limbs out and quickly retract them.
• Babinski - When a baby's foot is stroked, it will spread its toes.

Maturation - Physical growth processes enable orderly changes in behavior, regardless of environment.

Cognition - Mental activities w/thinking, knowing, and remembering.

Cognitive Development

Researched by Jean Piaget

• Schemas - Way to interpret world
• Assimilation - Incorporating new experiences into existing schemas
• High School - Meet someone -> assimilate into schema.
• Accomadation - Changing an existing schema to adapt to new information.

Piaget

• Sensorimotor - Experience world through senses
• Object Permanence - 6-8 months of age
• Preoperational - 2- 6 or 7 - Use language to represent objects and ideas; "Magical Thinking" 
• Conservation - Quantity is the same despite changes in appearance; part of logical thinking.
• Concrete Operational - Demonstrate conservation, logic think, understanding of reversibility.
• Formal Operational - Abstract reasoning, hypothesis testing, reasoning with metaphors and analogies.
• Criticisms
• Information-Processing Model - Children learn in continuous growth pattern
• Underestimates children's ability; Attention span grows over time.

Social Development

• > 1 year - infants indifferent to stranger
• Stranger anxiety - After one year, common in infants.

Attachment

• Most important social construct (bond with caregiver)
• Animals form attachment through imprinting (Konrad Lorenz)
• Origins - Harry Harlow used monkeys; needed touch or body contact to form attachment. (Cloth vs. Wire)

Critical Period - After birth organism's exposure to certain stimuli or experiences produce proper development.

Types of Attachment

• Secure - Some distress when parent leaves, seek contact at the reunion, explore when parent gone, play and greet when parent present.
• Separation Anxiety - Anxiety when infant loses object of attachment. 14 to 18 months

Parenting Styles

• Authoritarian - Strict standards for behavior
• Permissive - Allows freedom, lax parenting, don't enforce rules consistently
• Authoritative - Reasonable standards of expectation, encourage independence.

Stage Theorists

Believe we travel from stage to stage throughout lives.

Freud - Libido, travels though body in development.

1. Oral (0-1) - Pleasure by mouth
2. Anal Stage (1-3) - Controlling & Expelling waste
3. Phallic Stage - Recognize gender, Oedipus/Electra complex
4. Latency (6-11) - Cooties
5. Genital Stage - Libido in genitals, feelings toward others.

Adolescence

Transition from childhood to adulthood

• Puberty - Sexual maturation -> becomes capable of reproducing
• Primary Char. - Body structures that make production possible
• Secondary Char. - Non-reproductive sexual char.
• Landmarks - Menarche, Spermarche

Adulthood

Physical abilities peak by mid-twenties

• Milestones
• Menopause - Ending of woman's ability to reproduce

Intelligence

• Crystallized - Accumulated, increases with age
• Fluid - Ability to solve problems quickly and think abstractly; Peaks in 20s and then decreases.

Alzheimer's - Progressive and irreversible deterioration of memory, language, and physical functioning. Caused by less ACH.

Life Expectancy

Around 75; Women outlive men by 4 years; Men conceived 126 to 100; 105 to 100 by birth.

Death

Stages of Death/Grief

1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

The Brain

Accidents - Story of Phineas Gage - Accident changes personality
Lesions - Removal or destruction of some part of the brain (Frontal Lobotomy)
Electroencephalogram (EEG) - Detects brain waves thru electrical output. Used in sleep research.
CAT Scan - 3D X-ray of brain. Useful in locating tumors, but not its functions.
MRI - Detailed picture of brain using magnetic fields. Results in movie of multiple images.
PET Scan - Measures chemical use of brain (glucose common) with injection of chemicals

Hindbrain

Top; controls basic biological structures

• Medulla Oblongata - Above spinal cord; controls blood pressure, heart rate, breathing.
• Pons - Above Medulla; connects hind to mid and fore; controls facial expressions
• Cerebellum - Bottom rear "little brain"; controls fine muscle movements.

Midbrain

Coordinates simple movements w/sensory information

• Reticular Formation - Controls arousal and ability to focus our attention

Forebrain

Largest; "humanity" - Thalamus, Limbic system, and Cerebral Cortex.

• Thalamus - Switchboard; Interp. sensory signal and sends to forebrain; every sense except smell.

Limbic System

• Hypothalamus - Important; controls and regulates body temp., sexual arousal, hunger and thirst, Endocrine.
• Hippocampus - Processing and storage of memories.
• Amygdala - How to process memory, involved in volatile emotions

Cerebral Cortex - Made up of densely packed neurons (grey matter) Glial cells: support brain cells. 

Fissures - Wrinkles in the cerebral cortex.

Hemispheres and Lobes

Contralateral Control - Right controls left and vice versa.

• Left - Logic and sequential tasks
• Right - Spatial and creative tasks

Frontal Lobe

• Motor Cortex - Sends signals to our body controlling muscles
• Broca's Area - Controls muscles producing speech
• Aphasia -  Damaged; unable to make movements to talk.

Parietal Lobe

• Sensory Cortex - Receives incoming touch sensations from body
• Made up of Association Areas - Not associated with receiving sensory info or coordinating muscle mov.

Occipital Lobe

Vision - Vision Cortex - Interp. messages from eyes into understandable messages.

Temporal Lobe

Process sound sensed by our ears with Auditory Cortex

• Wernicke's Area - Interp. written and spoken speech
• Aphasia - Unable to understand language; poor syntax and grammar.

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Brain Plasticity - When the brain is damaged, it will try to find new ways to reroute messages.

Corpus Callosum - Bridge of nerve fibers that connects or divides the two hemispheres.

Cerebrum - Largest part - Divided left, right, and lobes, Contains Cerebral Cortex, Controls voluntary movement, Coordinates mental activity; Center for all conscious living.

Biological School

Nervous System

• Starts with the neuron

Firing Methods

• Resting Charge - Slightly neg charge
• Reach threshold if enough neurons reach dendrites
• Go into Action Potential (firing)

All or None Response - Fires or not; no in-between

Neurotransmitter - Chemical messages released by terminal buttons

• Acetylcholine (ACH) - Motor movement and memory. Less = risk of Alzheimer's
• Dopamine - Motor movement and alertness. Less = Parkinson's  /  Excess = Schizophrenia
• Serotonin - Mood control. Less = Clinical depression
• Endorphins - Pain control. Addictive drugs deal with endorphins.
• Norepiinephrine - Alertness and arousal. Less = Depression  /  Excess = Mania
• GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) - Major inhibitory neurotransmitters. Less = Tremors, seizures, and isomnia.
• Glutamate - Major excitatory neurotransmitter; involved in memory. Excess = Migraines (MSG avoidance)

Types of Neurons

• Sensory - Take information from the senses to the brain
• Inter - Messages from sensory neurons to other parts of brain or to motor
• Motor - Send info from brain to body

Types of Nervous Systems

• Central - Spine and Brain
• Peripheral - Nerves outside of bone; somatic and autonomic
• Somatic - Voluntary muscle movement, uses motor neurons
• Autonomic - Automatic functions (Sympathetic, Parasympathetic)
• Sympathetic - Fight or flight, heart rate up, breathing up, pupil dilation, slow digestion
• Parasympathetic - Slows after event, heart rate down, breathing down, pupils constrict, speeds digestion.
• Reflex - Sensory take info up thru spine to brain. Reactions when sensory reach spinal cord.

Endocrine System - System of glands that secrete hormones (Like neurons, but slower)

Social Psychology

It is the study of how we think, influence, and relate

Social Thinking

Attribution Theory - Casual explanation for behavior

• Behavior to situation or person's disposition

Fundamental Attribution Theory - Habit to underestimate the impact of a situation and overestimate the impact of personal disposition.

Teacher - commonly attributed to personality

Attitude - Belief or feeling that predisposes one to respond in a particular way to something

Action Guidance

1. Minimal external pressure
2. Attitude awareness
3. Relevant attitude to behavior

Foot-in-the-door - Tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply with a larger request

Door-in-face - Person says no to big request -> Agrees to small request

Cognitive-Dissonance Theory - We do not like when we have either conflicting attitudes or when our attitudes do not match our actions.

Clash -> Adapt attitude for balance

Social Influence

Conformity - Adjusting behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Conditions:

• One made to feel incompetent
• Group has at least 3 people
• Unanimous group
• One admire's the group's status
• No prior commitment
• Person is observed

Reasons:

• Normative - Approval or avoid disappointment
• Informational - Willingness to accept others' opinions about reality

Social Facilitation - Better performance around others, especially with simple or well learned tasks. (Not with difficult or learning tasks)

Yerkes-Dodson Law - Optimal level of arousal for the best performance

Easy = High / Difficult = Low / Others = Moderate

Social Loafing -  Habit for people in a group to exert less effort in polling efforts toward a common goal then if they were individually accountable.

Deindividuation - Loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

Group Polarization - Group's attitude is one of extremes; rarely normal.

EX: Black Panthers, KKK

Groupthink - Thinking that occurs when desire for harmony in decision-making overrides common sense.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies - Person's belief about others leads one to act in ways that induce the others to appear to confirm that belief

Social Relations

Prejudice - An unjustifiable attitude towards a group of people

Stereotype - Generalized assumption about a group of people

Social Inequalities

• Ingroup - "us", common identity
• Outgroup - "them", the outcasts
• Ingroup bias - tendency to believe own group is the best.

Scapegoat Theory - Prejudice provides an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame

Aggresion - Any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy.

Biology - Genetics, Neutral Influences, Biochemical

Frustration-Aggressive Principle - Blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal creates anger, which leads to aggression.

Conflict - Perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas.

Social Trap - Situation where people must choose between act highly beneficial to self or moderately to all.

Attraction

Factors to gaining attraction:

1. Proximity - Mere-exposure effect - More exposure = more attraction
2. Reciprocal Liking - More likely to like someone who likes you
3. Similarity - Opposites do not attract; Same pack flock together; Similarity breeds content.
4. Liking through associations
5. Physical Attractiveness

Love

• Passionate - Aroused state of intense positive absorption of another
• Compassionate - Deep affectionate attachment we feel in intertwined lives (Contains equity and self-disclosure

Altruism - Unselfish regard for the welfare of others.

Bystander Effect - Less willing to help if in vicinity of others

Social Exchange Theory - Our social behavior is an exchange process, which we maximize benefits and minimize costs.

Peacemaking - Give people superordinate(shared) goals that can only be achieved through cooperation. 

GRIT- (Graduated Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension Reduction)

Motivation and Emotion

Motivation -  Psychological Process that directs and maintains your behavior toward a goal.

Motive - Need, want, interest and desire that propel or drive people in certain directions

Instinct Theory - Motivated by our inborn automated behaviors.

Biological - Hunger, Thirst, Sex, Sleep

Social - Achievement, Order, Play, Autonomy, Affiliation

Drive Theory - Biological internal motivation (homeostasis)

Incentive Theory - Environmental motivation (not as much homeostasis, outside forces)

Drive-reduction Theory - Need or drive -> motivated to reduce need or drive; source of motivation lies within the person.

Hunger

• Not from stomach - from hypothalamus
• Why? Glucose - provides major source of energy for body tissues.
• Insulin converts glucose to fat.

Hypothalamus

• Lateral - Stimulation makes hunger; destroyed -> never be hungry
• Ventromedial - Stimulation makes you feel full; destroyed -> no limit in hunger

Set Point Theory - Hypothalamus acts like a thermostat - maintain stable weight.

• Lateral -> diet
• Ventromedial -> gain weight

Eating Disorders

• Bulimia Nervosa -  Binging ( eating large portions) and purging (ridding food) 
• Anorexia - Be 85% below normal body weight, still see self as fat; mostly affects women
• Obesity - Severely overweight to cause problems; mostly eating habits, some predisposed

Achievement Motivation

• Intrinsic - Internal rewards (enjoyment, satisfaction)
• Extrinsic - Outside rewards (grades, money); Great in short run
• Over Justification - Reward for doing something you like to do results in you seeking reward as motivation for doing task. (Diminishes intrinsic motivation.

Management Theory

• Theory X - Employees work for benefits or if threatened; Extrinsically motivated; Maslow's lower needs
  
• Theory Y - Employees internally motivated to do good work; Maslow's higher needs; Policies should encourage this internal motive

Social Conflict Situations

• Approach- Approach - 2 posi outcomes (only 1 chosen)
• Avoidance-Avoidance - 2 nega outcomes (only 1 chosen)
• Approach-Avoidance - Both options have posi and nega outcomes
• Multi Approach -  Multi choices and outcomes

Emotion 

Response of the whole organism (physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, conscious experiences)

James-Lange Theory - Experience of emotion is awareness of physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli.

Cannon-Bard Theory - Stimuli stimulate both physiological response and subjective experience of emotion.

Two-Factor Theory - Experiencing emotion needs physical arousal and cognitive label.

Polygraph - Machine used to decipher lies by measuring perspiration, cardiovascular rates, and breathing changes (Physiological responses following emotion)

Amygdola - Neural key to fear learning

Catharsis - Emotional release

• "Releasing" aggressive energy relieves aggressive urges.

Feel-good, do-good phenomenon - Tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood.

Adaption-Level Phenomenon - Tendency to form judgments relative to a "neutral" level (brightness, volume, level of income); defined by prior experience.

Relative Deprivation - Perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself.

Experimental methods in psychology tutorial

This video explains the experimental method in detail

Research Methods

Hypothesis - Expresses relationship between two variables

Variables

• Independent - Whatever is being manipulated
• Dependent - Measured
• Confounding - Anything that manipulates, but is not the independent variable.
• Operational - Explain what your hypothesis means

Definitions - Measured in 'real life' terms

Sampling -  Identify population subject; must be representative of population you study

Experimental Method - Prove casual relationships; Cause = Effect

• Hawthorne Effect - Control group can change

Correlational Method - Expresses relationship between two variables; does not show causation

Survey Method - Most common study; measures correlation; cheap and fast

• Needs a good random sample; low response rate

Naturalistic Observation - Watch subjects in their natural environment

Correlation Coefficient - A number that measures strength of a relationship; from -1 to +1; Weaker closer to zero.

Case Study - Detailed picture of one or few subjects

• Great story; no correlational data - just descriptive. 

Statistics - Recording results from studies

• Need common language for understanding
• Descriptive Statistics - describes sets of data
• Range - Distance from highest to lowest scores

Standard Deviation - Variance of scores around the mean

• Higher variance = More Distribution Spread

Z scores - Unit that measures the distance of one score from the mean

• + = Above the mean
• - = Below the mean

Ethical Guidelines for Research

Animal Research

• Clear purpose
• Treated in a humane way
• Acquire animals legally
• Least amount of suffering possible

Human Research

• No coercion, must be voluntary
• Informed consent
• Anonymity
• No significant risk
• Must debrief

Personality

Interestingly, I found a bunch of mini lessons on personality from the Jung perspective. Here are a couple of screenshots from some of the lessons: