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Psychology Chapter 1 Study Guide

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What is interdisciplinary?
It refers to the combination of disciplines to come to a conclusion
What does applied mean?
Practical. ex. what's the best way to teach children of different ages?
What is a theory?
An orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains and predicts behavior.
Why are theories important?
1. they give meaning to what we see "provide framework."

2. they help us take action.
What are the 3 basic issues on which major theories take a stand?
1. is the course of development continuous or dicontinuous?

2. Does one course of development characterize all people, or are there many possible courses?

3. Are genetic or environmental factors more important in determining development?
What are some factors that sparked the emergence of the lifespan perspective?
1. Improvements in the quality of life have raised the average life expectancy.

2. the elderly are healthier and more active than every before.
Does the lifespan perspective believe that heredity and environment are inseperable in the development of a human?
yes
What are the four assumptions of lifespan perspective?
1. Development as lifelong

2. Development as multidimensional and multidirectional

3.Development as highly plastic (new experiences can override older ones).

4. development as embedded in multiple contexts.
What is the psychoanalytical perspective/theory?
people move through a series of stages where they confront conflicts between biological drives and social expectations. The way the individual deals with these conflicts determines an individual's ability to learn, get along with others and cope with anxiety.
What are the positive aspects of psychoanalytical perspective/theory?
1. Emphasis on the individuals unique life history as worthy of sutdy and understanding

2. clinical method: brings together information from a variety of sources into a detailed picture of the personality function of an individual.

3. inspired research on aspects of emotional and social development.
What are the negative aspects of psychoanalytical perspective/theory?
1. No longer in the mainstream of human development research.

2. Failed to consider other methods.

3. many psychoanalytical ideas are so vague that they are difficult or impossible to test empirically.
What is behaviorism?
directly observable events, stimuli or responses.
What is social learning theory?
emphasized modeling or "imitation" or "observational learning" as a powerful source of development.
What are the positive aspects of behaviorism and social learning theory?
1. helpful in trating emotional and behavior problems

2. behavior modification: procedures that combine conditioning and modeling to eliminate undesireable behaviors and increase desireable responses.
what kind of problems does behaviorism and social learning theory solve?
persistent aggression, language delays and extreme fears.
What are the negative aspects of behaviorism and social learning theory?
1. modeling and reinforcement do not provide a complete account of development

2. too narrow a view of environmental influences

3. underestimates people's contributions to their own development
What is Piaget's cognitive - developmental theory?
children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world.
What are the positive aspects of Piaget's cognitive-developmental theory?
1. convinced the field that children are avtive learners whose minds consist of rich structures of knowledge.

2. explored children's reasoning about the social world.

3. Sparked research in childrens conceptions of themselves, othe rpeople and human relationships.

4. insired the development of educational philosophies and programs the emphasize discovery learning and direct contact with the environment
What are the negative aspects of Piaget's cognitive-developmental theory?
1. underestimated the competencies of infants and preschoolers

2. findings raise questions about his assumption that discovery learning rather than adult teaching is the best way to foster education.

3. Piaget's idea that no major cognitive changes occur after adolescence have been challenged.
What is information processing?
thinks of the human mind as a symbol-manipulating system through which information flows
What are the positive aspects of information processing?
1. the information processing approach is commited to careful, rigorous reserach methods.
What are the negative aspects of information processing?
1. Although good at analyzing thinking into its components, they've had a tough time putting it into a theory.

2. aspects of cognition that are not linear and logical, such as imagination and creativity are not ignored.

3. Much of the information processing research has been conducted in a lab, not in real life situations.
What theory did Mr. Jean Piaget contribute to?
Piaget's Cognitive-Developmental Theory
How many stages does Piaget's theory have?
4
What is the first stage of Piaget's theory and what happens in this stage?
Sensorimotor Stage - cognitive deveopment begins with the use of the senses and movements.
What is the second stage of Piaget's theory and what happens in this stage?
Preoperational Stage - symbolic but illogical thinking (preschooler)
What is the third stage of Piaget's theory and what happens in this stage?
Concrete Operational Stage - organized reasoning (school-aged children)
What is the fourth stage of Piaget's throy and what happens in this stage?
Formal Operational Stage - Complex, abstract reasoning (adolescent and adult)
Is information processing thought of as continuous or discontinuous?
continuous
What is Ethology?
is concerned with the adaptive, or survival, value of behavior and its evolutionary history.
Who is ethology traced back to?
Darwin
Who are the zoologists responsible for setting the modern foundations for ethology?
Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen (European)
What is imprinting?
in instinct in animals such as baby birds that keeps them close to their mother to ensure they will be protected and fed
What is a sensitive period?
a time that is optimal for certain capacities to emerge and in which the individual is especially responsive to environmental influences.
Who applied the ethological theory to the human "infant-caregiver" relationship?
John Bowlby
What did John Bowly believe?
That when babies smile and coo and cry, etc... they are ensuring that their mother will be near them to protect them and feed them, etc.. He believes that these emotional ties will affect relationships for the rest of the childs life.
What is evolutionary developmental psychology?
It seeks to understand the adaptive value of species-wide cognitive, emotional and social competencies as those competiencies change with age.
Who is responsible for the socioculture theory?
Lev Vygotsky (Russian)
What is the socioculture theory?
It focuses on how culture - the values, beliefs, customs and skills of a social group- is transmitted to the next generation. According to Vygotsky, social interaction - in particular, cooperative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society - is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a community's culture.
What has Vygotsky's theory been influential to?
Cognitive Development
What does socially mediated process mean?
children are dependent on the support that adults and more mature peers provide as they try new tasks.
Who is responsible for Ecological Systems Theory?
Urie Bronfenbrenner (American)
What is the Ecological Systems Theory?
it views the person as developing within the complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment.
What is a microsystem?
The innermost level of the environment which consists of activities and interaction patterns in the person's immediate surroundings. (Ecological Systems Theory)
What is a mesosystem?
the second step in Bronfenbrenners model, encompasses connections between microsystems.
What is an exosystem?
refers to social settings that do not contain the developing person but n evertheless affect experiences in immediate settings
What is the macrosystem?
The outermost level of Bronfenbrenners model is not a specific context. Instead, it consists of cultural values, laws, customs and resources.
What is a chronosystem?
Changes in life events can be imposed externally. Alternatively, they can arise from within the person, since individuals select, modify and create many of their own settings and experiences.
What is naturalistic observation?
Go into the firled or natural environment and observe the behavior of interest.
What are the strengths of naturalistic observation?
investigators can see directly the everyday behaviors they hope to explain
What are the limitations of naturalistic observation?
Not all individuals have the opportunity to display a particular behavior in everyday lift.
What are structured observations?
the investigator sets up a lab situation that evokes the behavior of interest so that every participant has an equal opportunity to display the response.
What are the limitations of structured observations (Systematic Observation)?
People may not behave in the lab as they do in real life.
Tells little about the reasoning behind peoples responses.
What are the strengths of structured observations(Systematic Observation)?
each participants receives an equal opportunity to display the behavior of interest.
What is a clinical interview?
a flexible conversation style is used to probe for the participants point of view.
What are the strengths of the clinical interview?
permits people to display their thoughts in terms that are as close as possible to the way they think in everyday life.

provide a large amount of information in a fairly brief period.
What are the limitations of the clinical interview?
the accuracy with which people report their thoughts. People may make up answers trying to please the interviewer
What is a structured interview?
each participant is asked the same set of questions in the same way.
what is the clinical or case study method?
it brings together a wide range of information on one person, including interviews, observations and sometimes test scores.
What is ethnography?
Largely a descriptive, qualitative technique. Instead of aiming to understand a single individual it is directed toward understanding a culture or a distinct social group, achieving its goals through participant observation.
Do ones who practice ethnography typically live with the group they're researching?
Yes
What are the strengths of the clinical method?
Provides rich, descriptive insights into factors that affect development
What are the limitations of the clinical method?
May be biased by researcher' theoretical preferences. Findings cannot be applied to individuals other than the participant.
What are the strenths of ethnography?
Provides a more thorough and accurate description than can be derived from a single observational visit, interview or questionnaire.
What are the limitations of ethnography?
May be bised by reserache' values and theoreticla preferences. Findings cannot be applied to individuals and settings other than the ones studied.
What is a correlational design?
researchers gather informatino on already-existing groups of individuals, generally in natural life circumstances and make no effort to alter their experiences. then they look at relationships between participants' characteristics and their behavior or development.
What are the limitations of correlation design?
Does not permit inerences about cause and effect relationships
What is Correlation Coefficient?
a number that describes how two measures or variables are associated with one another.
What is experimental design?
permits inferences about cause and effect beacause researchers use an evenhanded procedure to assign people to two or more treatment conditions.
What is the independent variable?
the one the investigator expects to cause changes in another variable.
What is the dependent variable?
the one the investigator expects to be influenced by the independent variable.
What is the difference between Correlation design and experimental design?
Experimental design controls or manipulated the situation while correlation design sits back and watches
What is random assignment?
randomly select participants for the study
What are the strengths of correlation design?
Permits study of relationships between variables.
What are the strengths of experimental design?
Permits inferences about cause-and effect relationships
What are the limitations of experimental design?
When conducted in a lab, findings may not apply to the real world. When conducted in the real world, control over the experiment is weaker.
What is longitudinal Design?
a group of participants is studied repeatedly at different ages and changes are noted as the participants mature.
What are the strengths of longitudinal design?
Permits study of common patterns and individual differences in development and relationships between early and later events and behaviors.
What are the limitations of longitudinal design?
Age-related changes may be distorted because of participant dropout, practice efforts and cohort effects
What is Cross-sectional Design?
groups of people differing in age are studied at the same point in time.
What are the strengths of cross-sectional design?
More efficient than the longitudinal design. Not plagued by such problems as participant dropout and practice effects.
What are the limitations of cross-sectional design?
Does not permit study of individual developmental trends. Age differences may be distored because of cohort effects.
What is longitudinal-sequence design?
a sequence of samples (two or more age groups) are followed for a number of years.
What are the strengths of longitudinal-sequence design?
Permits both longitudinal and cross-sectional comparisons. Reveals cohort effects.
What are the limitations of longitudinal-sequence design?
May have the same problems as longitudinal and cross-sectional strategies, but hte design itself helps identify difficulties.
What are cohort effects?
indiciduals born in the same time period are influenced by a particular set of historical and cultural conditions.

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