midterm Flashcards

Question

culture and mindset

Answer 1

“Having a fixed mindset and a fear of failure is potentially problematic (predictor of psychological distress)” - Recent large-scale data indicate that China and Czech Republic had lowest correlations between GM and test scores - Students in mainland China showed the strongest correlation (of all nations) with a fear of failure Culture influences the socialization of mindsets Culture influences individual internalization of those attempts at socialization - E.g. Western culture: students socialized that learning and academic pursuits should be based on your own interests - E.g. East Asia (and other culture): students socialized to focus on excellence In cultures like East Asia, in spite of effort (i.e. understanding the value of effort), growth mindset about intelligence is less likely to thrive - E.g. students can use effort, but for different reasons

Answer 2

There are two components to grit: 1) Passion– are you genuinely interested in your long term goals? 2) Perseverance– working continuously toward your long term goals - Stamina is an important part of grit - Are you continuously striving and motivated by the content/area of learning over the years, despite setbacks, failures, or plateaus in performance? Grit is correlated to.. - Feelings of academic achievement and motivation - Academic productivity - Account of hours spent studying - Pursuit of post-graduate training - Student retention in programs - Academic perseverance - Psychological wellbeing - Commitment to a purpose - Self-efficacy (belief in your capacity to do the task) - Age (older people/students report higher grit) - Gender (females report higher grit) Resilience is a part of grit - Students high on grit also report high resilience Self-control is a part of grit - The ability to resist distractions and stay focused is important in perseverance - Good time management is a key part of self-regulation for students – i.e. self-discipline Self-awareness is part of grit - Gritty students have strong self-awareness of past challenges and successes - Allows them to understand strengths/weaknesses and apply them to their advantage in the future

Answer 3

Grit is not inborn! Grit increases as we get older due to our positive/negative experiences - Grit involves features that are discoverable and learnabli - E.g. you can discover interests - E.g. you can learn how to implement stronger time management (a feature of perseverance) Growth mindset is positively and strongly correlated with grit Students who core high on grit are more likely to possess a growth-mindset

Answer 4

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY: study of how behaviour changes over the life span - an academic discipline - impacted by both nature and nurture

Answer 5

CHILD DEVELOPMENT: a subdiscipline that focuses on changes during infancy and childhood ... What is the nurture of these changes?

Answer 6

DOMAINS OF DEVELOPMENT: areas within which people change over time - Social-emotional/psychosocial domain - Physical domain - Cognitive domain - Researchers further specialize their knowledge and applications within each domain STAGE: a period of time in a child’s life when they are able to: - Achieve certain milestones - Understand certain concepts - But … not other concepts and milestones - “Does growth occur in abrupt steps or is it gradual?” - Links up to a core issue in this academic discipline - basically stage-like changes in understanding (spurts in knowledge followed by periods of stability, or continuous)

Answer 7

1) Prenatal (conception-birth) 2) Infancy (birth-1) 3) Toddlerhood (→ 2/3) 4) Early childhood (2-6/7) 5) Middle childhood (6.7→11*) 6) Adolescence (→ 18*) * Variations in timing due to onset of pubertal timing

Answer 8

.... Bi-directional (two-way influence) Try to avoid thinking about only uni-directional (one-way influence) - E.g. parental behaviour ←→ child behaviour

Answer 9

POST-HOC FALLACY: Assuming that because A comes before B, A causes B - It’s easy to assume that things that occur ealy in development cause things that come later - E.g. child who used to be shy is now engineer … we cant say that being shy → interest in engineering - E.g. a couple gets divorced when their child is an infant; within a few months, child is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) … We cant say that the divorce → autism spectrum disorder

Answer 10

BRONFENBRENNER: suggested multiple contexts for development - e.g. A parent with flexible work hours so they don't have to enrol their child in school aftercare (the child’s development is influenced by the parent’s workplace policies, even thought he child is not directly invovled in that setting) ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM THEORY: child is influenced by five ecological forces (environment/nurture plays a big role) 1) MICROSYSTEM: person’s immediate surroundings (e.g. settings, relationships, activities, family, friends, background of growing up poor) – affect child directly 2) MESOSYSTEM: interconnections among the different microsystems/people around the child (e.g. parents with teachers, teachers with peers) 3) EXOSYSTEM: Settings that don’t directly involve the child but still affect their experience (e.g. A parent with a flexible work hours so they don't have to enrol their child in school aftercare, relationship of father with boss, peers with parents, teacher with principal) 4) MACROSYSTEM: religion, values, norms, and goals that influences the larger cultural/subcultural contexts (e.g. geographical location, ethnicity) 5) CHRONOSYSTEM: changes in the person/environment that occur over time; these changes influence the course of development (e.g. at 5 years old, parents divorce and child is traumatized, but five years later they come to terms with it)

Answer 11

Operant learning theory Social-learning theory cognitive/information processing perspective Psychosocial theory (Eriskon) Freud’s psychosexual theory Piaget’s cognitive-developmental theory Humanistic Maslow’s hierarchy of needs - A needs-based theory rooted in humanistic perspective/Maslow - “Whats the core set of things that human beings need?”

Answer 12

SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY: Humans have three basic needs that need to be fulfilled: 1) Autonomy 2) Competence 3) Relatedness Human beings…. - Are inherently oriented toward growth - Are not born damaged or flawed - Needs are innate structures that promote psychology well-being Humans have tendencies toward fulfillment of these psychological needs, but environmental supports are necessary The role of social environments: - 1) Need supportive (socializing agent is aware and fosters person’s needs) - 2) Need depriving (socializing agent is indifferent to person’s needs) - 3) Need thwarting (socializing agent is “antagonistic” toward person’s needs)

Answer 13

NEED FRUSTRATION: when basic psychological needs are thwarted within social contexts Low need satisfaction does not necessarily involve need frustration, but need frustration by definition involves low need satisfaction - E.g. one feels little relatedness to colleagues at work making it less exciting to go to work (low need satisfaction), vs one is actively excluded by co-wrokers and suffer from depression (need frustration) - E.g. plant doesnt get enough sunshine and water so it dies over time (low need satisfaction), vs plant gets salt thrown on them and will wither more quickly (need frustration) Need frustration can be quite harmful, and the origins of disturbed behaviour There are ways to cope with need frustration: - Can develop NEED SUBSTITUTE (e.g. extrinsic goals) - Can develop COMPENSATORY BEHAVIOURS (e.g. rigid behaviours, undercontrol) - RIGID BEHAVIOURS: perfectionism, self-criticism to the detriment of health/what would create wellness - UNDERCONTROLLED BHEAVIOUR: not wanting to exert self-control over certain behaviours

Answer 14

LONGITUDINAL DESIGN: studying the same group of people repeatedly as they mature - Always repeat measures (individuals are tested multiple times) - Tracks the development of individuals over time (age changes) and looks at the stability of behaviour - A good alternative to cross-sectional design Cons: - SELECTIVE ATTRITION (participants dropping out of the study before it’s completed) – leads to a biased sample - Test-wise/practice effects - Costly and time-consuming --------------------------------------- CROSS-SECTIONAL DESIGN: studying people of different ages at the same point in time - Allows you to talk about age difference (not changes!) - Snapshot of each person at a single age Cons- cohort effects: - COHORT EFFECTS: somewhat problematic in CS design– sets of people who lived during one time period can differ in some systematic way from sets of people who lived during a different period of time– it depends on the span - Your CS design may detect differences between the age groups, but these differences are actually due to cultural or historical differences during growth, and not due to true developmental change - Could be beneficial to use when comparing the performance of e.g. 2-year-olds with 4-year-olds - there is no concern over practice effects SEQUENTIAL (LONGITUDINAL-SEQUENTIAL) DESIGN: groups of people of different age groups are studied repeatedly over time - Combines features of both LGT and CS - Can check for cohort effects (see if age differences match up to age changes found) - Confidence in age related changes - More time-efficient than traditional longitudinal study

Answer 15

Some genes regulate the timing of development Environments influence how genes function - E.g. child may have genes for being tall as an adult; but if environmental supports are not present…? GENE EXPRESSION: activation or deactivation of genes in response to environmental triggers - Having genes that predispose us to certain traits doesn’t make the activation of those traits automatic - Environmental experiences can trigger/“turn on” certain genes - E.g. child with genes that predisposes them to anxiety may never become anxious until a highly stressful event triggers these genes to become active - Genes are in a constant state of fluctuation between on and off– Epigenetics

Answer 16

EXPERIENCE-EXPECTANT-GROWTH: all brains require certain stimuli/experiences to develop typically - We all need visual and linguistic input during infancy and beyond for those regions (and functions) to develop - E.g. a baby whose mother sings and reads stories to them EXPERIENCE-DEPENDENT-GROWTH: only some brains get these experiences - Not restricted to early infancy, but contributes to lifelong learning - Shapes neural circuits Genes and environment are not easily untangled - They often interact and correlate Experience-expectant and experience-dependent growth are a type of Gene-Environment interaction

Answer 17

GENE-ENVIRONMENT CORRELATION: the effects of genes depend on the environment in which they are expressed, and vice versa - Your environment supports the manifestation of that trait - E.g. children with both the low MAO gene and a history of maltreatment were at heightened risk for antisocial behaviours NATURE VIA NURTUTE: tendency of individuals with certain genetic predisposition to seek out/create environments that permit the expression of those predispositions - Genetic predispostions can drive us to create certain environments that influence our behaviour– this leads to the mistaken appearance of a pure effect of nature - I.e. You have the certain genetic predisposition and experiences that directly support that trait - Nature can impact what kind of environment children experience - E.g. highly fearful children seek out environments that protect them from their anxieties (the environment is a consequence of their genetic predisposition) PASSIVE CORRELATION: parents who both are high achievers, high IQ enroll their child in many academic-related activities, camps, best schools, etc. - Parent provides child with environment that enforces their risk or prediscposition ACTIVE CORRELATION: as we get older, we tend to seek out environments that reinforce our genetic tendencies - Child seeks out environments that will enforce their genetic-based tendencies

Answer 18

GENE-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION: Different genetic makeups respond to the same environment/risk in different ways - The impact of genes on behaviour depends on the environment in which the behaviour develops Your genotype increases your susceptibility to environmental risks - E.g. DATgene X mom smoker → increased risk of ADHD - E.g. NAT2 genes X cigaratte smoke → increased risk of bladder cancer - E.g. SERT gene (5-HTTLPR) X emotional abuse → increased risk of anxiety disorders

Answer 19

GENETIC FACTORS: genes from our biological parents SHARED ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS: experiences that are shared by people living in same household - Studies show that shared factors matter more than environment - E.g. everyone eats the same nutritious meals NONSHARED ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS: experiences that are not shared by people living in the same household - E.g. parents differential treatment, peers

Answer 20

JEAN PIAGET - Started off as a zoologist - studied “Genetic epistemology”: Origins in knowledge and how we develop knowledge - Worked in Alfred Binet’s intelligence lab developing a measure of childhood intelligence - He didn’t like the right vs wrong approach – what about the children who got the intelligence questions wrong? - Errors made by children of certain ages were very similar– younger childrens vs older childrens brains are fundamentally different - Viewed children as scientists and explorers - Emphasized the “active” perspective of learner - “CONSTRUCTIVIST”: Child is actively constructing their knowledge and interpreting - Children build their knowledge from experience through schemas

Answer 21

- Children build their knowledge from experience through schemas SCHEME/SCHEMA :a “mental model” gained from experience - Organize and interpret our experiences to understand the world (e.g. how to order at a restaurant, how your professor looks) - Our early schemes are our reflexes - Cognitive growth happens when we refine our schemes - Organize our schemes or adapt to the environment to form new schemes

Answer 22

ASSIMILATION: child uses current/existing schema to interpret new experience - What is interpreted is simplified and put into an existing category - Growing existing schemes - E.g. child seeing statue of swan and saying ‘quack quack’ – they reocgnize it as similar to a scheme they have for birds/ducks - E.g. dog chewing on a shoe instead of a bone ACCOMODATION: child has to adjust old schema to meet the demands of the new experience - Accommodating means growing a lot cognitively - E.g. child calling a meerkat a chihuahua, and mother correcting her saying it’s a meerkat – this creates a new schema for meerkats - E.g. child creating a new schema for drinking from straws by learning they can’t rely on their schema for sippy cups (or else they’ll spill it by bending backward)

Answer 23

*PIAGET CLAIMS YOU CANNOT SKIP STAGES* 1) SENSORIMOTOR STAGE (0-2 years) 2) PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE (2-7 years) 3) CONCRETE STAGE (7-11 years) 4) FORMAL OPERATIONS STAGE (11-adulthood)

Answer 24

1) SENSORIMOTOR STAGE (0-2 years) - no thoughts beyond immediate physical experiences - Infants uses behavioural (motor) and sensory schemes to explore the world - Intelligence is suggested through their motor and sensory activity OBJECT PERMEANCE: the understanding that objects exist even when they can no longer be detected by the senses - The child undertsanding that even though they cant see the object, it still exists - Reflects the ability to form mental representations ... Piaget proposes that babies 1-4 months old have no concept of object permanence - If you’re playing with a toy and you take it away, they’re unfazed– out of sight, out of mind Piaget’s “A-Not-B Task”: Babies continue to look for objects in the place where they found it last -Object permanence is not fully formed, according to Piaget - Infant points to the rewarding location (i.e. the first spot) - They might not have the strategies to look in the correct location– maybe theyre searching somewhere other than where they’re actually looking So, infants begin their life by reflexive intelligence and end it by being able to form mental representations through object permanence

Answer 25

2) PRE-OPERATIONAL STAGE (2-7 years) - able to think beyond the here and now, but egocentric and unable to perform mental transformations - Can use symbolic schemes (e.g. language) Three limitations in this stage: egocentrism, centration, and irreversibility... EGOCENTRISM: - Have trouble seeing the world from a perspective that isn’t theirs - Have trouble focusing on multiple tasks at once CONSERVATION TASKS + CENTRATION: - test the child’s understanding that physical properties like number and mass are ‘conserved’ even if they change in appearance - The understanding that the physical properties of an object remain the same despite superficial changes in appearance - E.g. pouring 50ml of water into a tall glass vs a wider short glass CENTRATION: - Pre-operational children “fail” conservation tasks because of CENTRATION: they are “centred”/focused on one aspect and ignore others IRREVERSIBILITY: their ability to think about mental processes is limited– they have trouble re-tracing their steps mentall

Answer 26

3) CONCRETE STAGE (7- 11 years) - Children can think more logically about objects and experiences - Can use ‘mental operations’ and engage in reversibility (mentally reversing) But, they’re very anchored to the ‘here and now’ so have difficulty engaging in abstract thinking (they’re really good at solving current problems)

Answer 27

4) FORMAL OPERATIONS (11-adulthood) - Can think about abstract concepts and from hypotheses - Can think beyond what is real or concrete More likely to be fostered in Western societies and major cities than in less developed areas Occurs later (in life) than Piaget thought One study found that only 40-60% of first year undergrads used formal operational thought - We're more likely to use formal operational thinking in our own area of expertise

Answer 28

Piaget founded the academic and research area we know as “cognitive development” Overall, the sequence of stages seem to be correct ... However… - Tasks are too language dependent (i.e. for pre-operational children) - Tasks are too motor dependent (i.e. for sensorimotor infants) He understemiated the abilities of infants and preschoolers He overestimated the importance of formal operations and how early they developed Cognitive development seems to be more gradual than he proposed - Its continuous rather than abrupt

Answer 29

ATTACHMENT: a felt sense of security in times of distress - A strong “emotional connection” with “whom we feel closest” - Endures over time - Typically, with trusted caregivers - This feeling of security originates from …? Attachment is important for infant survival - Is activated in times of distress (a negatively valenced affective state) - Infant seeks caregiver for comfort during distress - Proximity-seeking (“protect me, i want to feel safe”) - Infant might seek proximity with caregiver during times of illness/tiredness (not only danger) Attachment is not the same thing as warmth or ‘love’ - It is a separate emotion/affective system - Its connected to positively valanced states, such as playfulness, admiration, affection for the child - We wouldnt play with out child when they are in danger– we protect them and make them feel safe (recall that these are features of the attachment system) - Warmth also promotes infant survival, but through different mechanisms (it fosters parental investment)

Answer 30

Attachment is formed gradually during first year of life - Based on emotional system but has cognitive componenets – “Can I count on my attachment figure to be available and responsive when i need them? Can i trst my person?” Typically, first attachment forms with a primary caregiver (6-9 months): “DISCRIMINATE/CLEAR CUT ATTACHMENT” - Will show strong protest when a separated from primary figure (seprataion anxiety) - Prior to 6-7 months, infant will show a preference for primary caregiver over other caregivers, but they will accept care from other people Later, other attachments form: “MULTIPLE ATTACHMENTS” (e..g. other caregivers, siblings)

Answer 31

In infancy they use a task formed by Mary Ainsworth– “STRANGE SITUATION” - Baby comes to unfamiliar place with unfamiliar experimenter - Examines reaction of child to three situations: 1) Exploration (e.g. playing with toys) 2) Caregiver leaves 3) Caregiver returns SECURE (60%) - Upset when caregiver leaves - Is soothed upon caregivers return INSECURE AVOIDANT (15-20%) - Seems independent on the surface– explores room freely - Exhibits little distress when caregiver leaves - Ignores caregiver upon return - Cortisol levels show that they’re actually very stressed during this procedure but they dont seem it because they infer that “When I’m upset, my caregiver isnt there for me so I won’t show it” INSECURE-ANXIOUS (15-20%) - Extremely upset when caregiver leaves - Ambivalent when caregiver returns (caregiver is not good source of comfort for the child) DISORGANIZED ATTACHMENT (5-10%) - Sometimes show patterns from the other two insecure types - Seem to both approach and avoid caregiver - May act dazed or freeze - Typically occurs in situations in which parent is grieving or under extreme stress of depression or infant maltreatment - Attachment that can be resolved – once e.g. parent resolves their grief and stops crying then the baby will move to another stage of attachment

Answer 32

CAREGIVING HYPOTHESIS: attachment style is the result of caregiving style… - But keep in mind bi-directional influences (children’s experiences influence their development, but their development also influences their experiences– parental influence, child influence (temperament), and “goodness of fit”; arrows containing to heads ↔) Secure attachment→ sensitive caregiving - Attentiveness, accurate interpretations, timing of response Anxious (resistant) attachment→ inconsistent caregiving - Caregiver may engage with the infants sometimes, but ignore at others - E.g. not very responsive to signals, but if baby starts to explore, parent will interfere by bringing baby’s attention back to them Avoidant attachment→ impation/rijid, rejecting, or resentful caregiving - These caregivers do not seem to get a lot of pleasure from their interaction with their infants: “routine” care - E.g. providing intrusive kinds of care, over-stimulating (such as chatting energetically when baby is actually tired and wants to sleep) Keep in mind that the child’s features, such as temperament, play a role in attachment Attachment styles are simply styles … each category is fundamentally different from each other … they are four distinct ones

Answer 33

TEMPERAMENT: Basic emotional style that appears early in development and is largely genetically influenced - Individual differences in children’s social and emotional styles reflect differences in temperament Thomas and Chess identified three temperamental styles: - Easy infants – adaptable, relaxed - Difficult infants– fussy, easily frustrated - Slow-to-warm-up– disturbed by new stimuli at first but gradually adjust to them Temperament remains largely stable across infancy it's bi-directional – An infant’s temperament influences how parents and caregivers interact with their infants, and in turn, parents’ and caregivers’ behaviour probably shapes infants’ temperament - Nature can shape nurture Infants with high levels of behavioural inhibition are at heightened risk for shyness and anxiety disorders in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood culture plays a role in shaping temperament (e.g. cloth over face)

Answer 34

Authoritative (supportive but firm) parents– children exhibit the best social and emotional adjustment, lowest levels of behaviour problems Uninvolved parents (neglectful)– children fare the worst Permissive (too lenient) or authoritarian (strict) parents– fall in between Baumrind's findings suggest that parents should raise their children authoritatively, but findings are correlational and dont take into account genetic influences

Answer 35

EMOTION: “motivated state marked by 1) physiological arousal, 2) expressive behaviour, and 3) mental experience” “Mental states/feelings associated with our evaluation of our experiences” - Evaluation Re two-factor theory

Answer 36

Physiology component - E.g. heart beats faster, hormones, brain region Behaviour component - Expressive changes - E.g. facial changes Subjective (cognitive) component - What we call ‘our feelings’ Emotions are functional Emotion is a pattern of physiological, cognitive, and behavioural responses that: - Have adaptive significance - Have recall attachment and emotional systems - Allow us to respond appropriately to important environmental demands

Answer 37

DISCRETE EMOTIONS THEORY (DET): Humans experience a small number of distinct emotions that are rooted in their biology - We are biologically programmed to express/experience in the same way Emotions are adaptive - They prepare us for action, especially in situations relevant to our survival - E.g. disgust around rotting food might help us avoid illness or death - E.g anger might get us ready to fight off predators

Answer 38

Darwin said that all primates show highly similar emotional expressions Darwin said that expression intensifies the emotional experience

Answer 39

If evolutionary in nature, emotions should be universal ... But there will be cultural variations in when and how to express emotions Theorists disagree on the number of primary emotions (some say 5, some say 7) .... but there’s good support for 7 primary emotions (Paul Ekman): - Happiness - disgust - fear - sadness - surprise - anger - contempt complex emotions are more nuanced... include jealousy, pride, shame, awe, ect.

Answer 40

PAUL EKMAN - Study with New Guinea tribal people asking them to select the photograph that matched the story ... after that he concluded there are a small number of primary emotions Ekman created the Facial Action Coding System (helped people identify and categorize facial expressions linked to certain emotions)

Answer 41

Certain facial expressions are universally interpreted the same way, even in widely distant cultures (e.g. Canada and rural New Guinea) Happy, sad, and disgusted - Judged most consistently across cultures Surprise - Not judged as consistently with isolated non-literate cultures Acceptability of emotional expression varies by culture - Some cultures find certain expressions to be more unpleasant than in other cultures - E.g. pride is a self-enhancing emotion that is frowned upon in some East Asian countries - E.g. pride is encouraged in North American contexts Display rules learned according to culture - Feeling an emotion does not always correspond with the expression of that emotion

Answer 42

Young infants express emotions and recognize it in others Around 6-10 weeks, infants have initial smiling (“social smile”) Infants blind from birth express basic emotions - Evidence from smiling, frowning, crying - These infants would not have seen expressions in others, which rules out modeling/learning and reinforcement of emotion

Answer 43

Basic emotions are each accompanied by, and often identified by, their own combination of facial markers - Activation of upper and lower portions of the face Anger– eyebrows move down, lips may narrow Surprise– eyebrows drawn markedly up, eyes widen, mouth opens (everything open) Disgust– eyes squint, mouth purses, nose raises (everything is closed– avoiding whats disgusting you– facial expression indicates what we’re attempting to do) Happiness– eyes show crow’s feet/wrinkling at corners, lips pull away at corners and up to create smiling mouth

Answer 44

Anger and fear are the most differentiable emotions by looking at markers All of these observable markers are produced by autonomic nervous system (changes/activity) Colouration of skin changes - Reddening vs blanching - E.g. when fear, we lose colour in skin - E.g. when angry, skin reddens Eye pupils change - Dilate, contract - E.g. when angry, pupils constrict - E.g. when fear, pupils dilate Moisture changes - E.g. sweating, salivation, tearing up - E.g. when fear, sweat - E.g. when anger, foam at mouth Piloerection– hair standing on end - E.g. when fear and anger, hairs stand up

Answer 45

Smiling (lip pulling) is often regarded as a primary facial cue of happiness - DUCHENNE SMILE: genuine smile - DUCHENNE MARKER: contraction around eyes to create crow’s feet/wrinkles for a real smile - Lip pulling (i.e. smiley mouth) Genuine smiles show both eye and mouth activation/contraction ... Posed/fake smiles have different facial markers from genuine smiles (movement from mouth but not eyes) PAN AM SMILE: fake smiles

Answer 46

People can judge fake from genuine smiles with 50-70% accuracy The main reason for being able to trick people with a fake smile has to do with individual abilities in consciously controlling facial regions Most of us can control our mouths consciously ... However, about 20% of people can consciously control the Duchenne marker (contraction around eyes) This means some people can make a Duchenne smile in a posed image, but are not really happy

Answer 47

MAJOR THEORIES OF EMOTION: describe different relations between physiology and the subjective or the cognitive 1) JAMES-LANG SOMATIC THEORY/ANS SPECIFICITY - derived by William James - Suggests body is the starting point of the creation of feelings - We experience emotions internally in response to physiological changes - Feelings are last as the response - Stimulus → Physiological response → Subjective “feeling(s)” 2) CANNON-BARD THEORY/SNS PATHWAY - derived by Walter Cannon and Bard - Feelings occur independent of emotional expression, no correlation with physiological state - Emotional responses happen in parallel (parallel pathways in the brain that respond to emotional triggers) - Stimulus → Physiological response AND/OR Subjective “feeling(s)” 3) TWO-FACTOR THEORY OF EMOTION - derived by Schacter and Singer - Experience of emotion is determined by an awareness of whats happening in the body and a cognitive appraisal of the situation - We decide which emotion we’re experiencing - Stimulus → Experience physiological change → Cognitive appraisal (interpretation) of physiological change → Subjective experience 4) COGNITIVE-MEDIATIONAL THEORY - derived by Richard Lazarus - Cognitive appraisal is the first step in the emotion process - Different people respond the same stimulus in different ways - Stimulus → Appraisal → Subjective emotional response

Answer 48

THE "COMMON SENSE" VIEW: - Stimulus → Subjective “feeling(s)” → Physiological changes - Theres some stimulus, we feel something about it, and then we experience some physiological change/response - E.g. “This happened to me” → “I felt angry” → “My face got red” - E.g. Bear → fear → fight/flight response

Answer 49

James-Lange Theory: - Stimulus → Physiological response → Subjective “feeling(s)” - We feel fear BECAUSE our heart starts beating or we start sweating According to William James, the stimuli, which is emotional in nature will cause physiological reactions - We perceive our bodily changes, and THEN we experience the “feelings” - E.g. We see the bear, we start sweating, and then we experience fear We might experience the feelings because of motor changes in the body that we perceive - E.g. if you start running away from a terrifying stimulus, those motor responses are perceived and we then experience the subjective emotional state

Answer 50

James says phsyiology is an integral part of our emotional experience - He says that without bodily responses, the experience is not an ‘emotional one’ ... Rather, its simply an “INTELLECTUAL PERCEPTION”: emotional experiences without the bodily response (e.g. sweating, heart racing, etc.) - E.g. Sadness is not sadness without tears, anger is not anger, fear is not fear without the pounding heart His premise was for basic emotions, not for more complex ones James was a theorist who did not do experimentation to support his theory - He came across a few case studies that suggested if your sensory and motor feedback is cut, emotional experience is dulled/not there

Answer 51

James proposed ANS specificity, but did not use the term “ANS” – autonomic nervous system (which is split into sympathetic– fight or flight response, and parasympathetic parts– rest and digest) ANS SPECIFICITY: Each basic emotion has its own unique pattern of physiology - Different emotions have distinct autonomic nervous system responses - E.g. fear is gonna look different from anger on physiological levels

Answer 52

Walter Canon first documented and described the fight or flight response (which is part of the SNS) - Increased heart rate and respiration - Increased blood pressure - Changes in digestive functioning - Sweating - Tremors Body parts involved: - Adrenal medulla - Various internal organs including the heart Substances: - Epinephrine - Norepinephrine An early evolutionary adaptation that is useful in dealing with physical threats

Answer 53

Derived by Cannon and his student James Bard - Cannon was a pioneer in psychophysiology - Canon did experimental work (unlike James) on cats - He severed afferent nerves (nerves that take sensory/motor information from the environment to CNS) and found that cats still produced emotional responses like hissing and hairs standing up CANNON-BARD THEORY: subjective experiences of emotion do not require physiological changes - They are independent and not causally linked - people can experience the same physiological state but different emotional states (re two-factor theory of emotion) Opposite of James’ theory - Cannon stated that physiological changes occurred too slowly for them to happen first in the causal chain of events Physiology and cognition may or may not occur together - One is NOT causing the other (whereas James said that one does cause the other) - E.g. stimulus of a bear causes physiological response and causes feeling of fear - E.g. We perceive the stimulus and it could produce both physiology and subjective part together (physiology doesn't cause cognition change and vice versa) The situation of the stimulus could lead to both physiological and subjective experience of emotion - physiology and cognition MAY co-occur but one is not causing the other

Answer 54

He disagreed with James re ANS specifcity ... Regardless of whether we fight or flee, our body’s response is the same (e.g. we’ll still have dilated pupils, feel shakey, racing heart, increased blood pressure, etc.) Different emotions do not ‘look’ differently in terms of their autonomic responses - E.g. whether cat is angry or fearful, it’ll still arch its back and have hairs stand up James-Lange and Cannon-Bard theories sparked lots of research for many decades (since the 1950s), especially re ANS specificity

Answer 55

EKMAN'S STUDY supports James' theory and DET - Participants posed with a specific facial expression, and he measured various autonomic markers such as heart rate and finger temperature - He found that heart rate and finger temperature supported that we can discriminate different emotions - We can discriminate all the different emotions from each other Since the participants POSED for the facial expressions instead of looking at photos of expressions, his research suggests that facial and motor expressions feedback from muscles in the face loop back and feedback to produce different autonomic patterns Since Ekman’s study (seven years of research), there’s been robust evidence for autonomic specificity for basic emotions (support for James' ANS theory) - There’s been many replications ---------------------------------------------------------- On a physiological level, by looking at ANS markers, we can reliably tell emotions apart/discriminate them (anger, fear, surprise, disgust, happiness, sadness) - Markers like skin temperature, skin blood flow, skin conductance (of electricity), ECG (heart rate), respiration, etc. SKIN CONDUCTANCE reliably discriminates positive vs negative emotions - Skin conductance activity is highest for negative emotions like anger, but also happiness - Skin conductance was lowest for surprise, sadness, and disgust - Fear was in the middle - Skin conductance differentiated fear from happiness and anger– high arousal emotions DIASTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE– (pressure on arteries when heart rests between beats) reliably discriminates between sadness and happiness, and anger and fear - Increases during sadness, decreases during happiness - Increases during anger, increases during fear SKIN TEMPERATURE is the autonomic measure that will differentiate anger from all the other emotions (e.g. “blood boiling”) - Increases sharply during anger and surprise - Decrease during disgust, fear, happiness, and sadnessI

Answer 56

Meta-analyses indicate we can discriminate between negative and positive emotions autonomically Anger and fear are sharply different (Cannon said they were the same) .... However, it depends on which markers are used in the study - Inconsistencies result from which markers were used and the specific pattern that emerges within that group of markers - e.g. Electrodermal (skin conductance) is a pretty good marker of ANS activity to discriminate different groups of emotions – most reliable - A combination of electrodermal (skin conductance), thermovascular, and respiratory measures is most effective for discriminating all pair-ups of emotions (happiness vs sadness, sadness vs disgust, etc.) So, a lot of evidence suggests James was right in respect to ANS specificity!

Answer 57

We are able to differentiate some primary emotions on neural level (activity in the brain) - Anger– activity in orbifrontal cortex + amygdala - Disgust– activity in insula (part of limbic system– part of emotional processing system) - Fear– activity in amygdala (part of limbic system) Not all emotions are different, though - Happiness and sadness can look similar in brain scans There are always multiple brain regions that are active in all emotions

Answer 58

Schacter and Singer's TWO-FACTOR THEORY OF EMOTION: - Stimulus → Experience physiological change → Cognitive appraisal (interpretation) of physiological change → Subjective experience of emotion - This theory’s causal chain of events is similar to James-Lange theory (subjective feeling comes AFTER physiological experience) Two factors: 1) Physiology/arousal 2) Appraisal/explanation of the arousal (cognitive labelling) - E.g. if we appraise our raising heart as anxiety, THEN we will “feel” anxious/fearful - E.g. if we appraise our racing heart as anger, THEN we will “feel” angry/aggressive In the study, participants were injected, and some were told to expect physiological side effects (informed group) where the other half was not (uninformed group) - Uninformed participants: interpreted their bodily responses (heart racing, sweaty palms) in relation to what was happening in the room/the confederate’s reactions ... happy confederate = reported feeling happy, angry confederate = reported feeling angry - Informed participants: since they were expecting the physiological side effects, didn’t experience any high-end emotions (they knew that their physiological effects were explained by the injection) This difference bet. groups shows that cognitive labelling does play a role in how we feel The study’s evidence suggests that participants appraise/interpret both their bodily changes and /environmental cues/stimuli - You find a label for what’s happening in your body based on environment – “Why do I feel like this?” - E.g. if you look to the stimulus (person speaking aggressively), you might label your emotion as anger or fear in response to aggressive person The study is similar to Walter Cannon (i.e. different experiences look the same in the body) - All uninformed participants experienced the same physiological arousal (heart racing, sweaty palms), but different emotional states (happy vs angry depending on the confederate)

Answer 59

COGNITIVE-MEDIATIONAL THEORY: - Stimulus → Appraisal → Subjective emotional response - Subjective experience (our feelings) is influenced by our cognitive appraisal of the stimulus/situation - Focused on our appraisal of the situation itself, not our bodies themselves (Schacter) - Both the Two Factor Theory and Cognitive Mediational Theory are appraisal theories!

Answer 60

Common sense view and James-Lange theory: causally reverse theories in regard to physiology and cognition Cannon disagrees with James- physiology plays no part in subjective emotional experiences two-factor theory of emotion suggests a similar chain of events to James-Lange theory- subjective feeling comes after the physiological change two-factor theory is similar to Walter Cannon (the same physiological experiences produce different emotional states- emotions are independent of physiological state) two-factor theory and cognitivie-mediational theory are appraisal-based theories! James seems to be correct about a lot of things (i.e. different emotions look different on an autonomic level) and is supported by several research

Answer 61

FACIAL FEEDBACK THEORY: if we pose in the expression of emotions, we will actually create and feel that emotion SOMATIC MARKER THEORY: physiological changes associated with emotions

Answer 62

STRESS: a physical RESPONSE to demands (according to Seyle– “Stress is death” video) - Seyle primarily focused on the physiology of stress Stress is a pattern of of physiological behavioural, emotional, and cognitive resposnes to real or imagined stimuli - often, these stimuli are threatning/demanding STRESSOR: a stimulus this triggers the stress response - The external demand or threat Stress response knocks you out of homeostatic balance (we usually turn it on for very prolonged periods of time, whereas its supposed to be used for short stress responses)

Answer 63

Stress/turning on your fight or flight response has the same effect on the body regardless of what its for - eg. having a midterm or the subway being delayed Fight or flight response is designed for SHORT-TERM emergencies/survival situations STRESS AS A PROCESS: Creating *interpretations* of stimuli - Our *appraisal/interpretation* of events determines our stress response !!!!! - Our interpretations vary, which is why some, e.g., turn physically ill from stress for a midterm and others don’t Our emotional reaction to stressors depends on how we interpret them ... Richard Lazarus’ Cognitive-Mediational Theory– there’s two appraisals - 1) PRIMARY APPRAISAL: interpreting a stimulus and asking “Is this a threat? How severe is it?” - 2) SECONDARY APPRAISAL: evaluating our resources and asking “Do i have the ressources to cope with this threat?” Reminder– our interpretations are not facts - Appraisal can exaggerate emotional stress response

Answer 64

Seyle distinguished between distress and eustress - DISTRESS: arises from unpleasantly valanced events/stimuli - EUSTRESS arises from pleasantly valanced events/stimuli Modern ways thinking of eustress has more to do with the LEVEL of our stress response (not the TYPE of STIMULUS) YERKE-DODSON LAW: there is an optimal level of arousal (stress) that is needed for us to do well on certain tasks - When our stress is at its optimal level, our performance is at its peak - Too low– unmotivated and bored - Too high- overly stressed and have trouble thinking straight and making good choices - Easy tasks– can get away with high levels of stress - Novel/complex tasks– cannot function with high levels of stress

Answer 65

stressors are a type of stimulus ** ACTUTE STRESSOR: - short-term - has defined end-point; the stressor goes away after the end-point - E.g. stress during job interview, stress when almost getting run over by car while crossing the street CHRONIC STRESSOR: - long-term - no defined end-point - E.g. unemployment, being in a miserable relationship MICRO STRESSOR/DAILY HASSLES: everyday events, people, and things that annoy us - Strain our ability to cope - They range in severity - They are cumulative and can build up to produce similar/worse outcomes to chronic stressors – don’t underestimate their severity - E.g. msiplacing keys, traffic, back-to-back meetings, long wait times ---------------------------- CATASTROPHIC EVENTS/"TRAUMA" STRESSOR - e.g. natural disaster, wars E..g natural disasters, wars SOCIO-CULTURAL STRESSOR E.g. laws (bills, mandates), leadership that impinges on individual rights

Answer 66

Life change is central for stressors - Lack of predictability and lack of control - E.g. bringing a newborn home for the first time– lifestyle adjustments SOCIAL READJUSTMENT RATING SCALE (SRRS): Measures changes that disrupt everyday life and ranked life changes - May be extreme changes, such as disaster or death of a close family member, or may be fairly minor, like starting a new job - The higher the score for life changes, the higher the readjustment in behaviour/lifestyle

Answer 67

SRRS does not address appraisal of events SRRS does not differentiate different types of stressors SRRS was developed on Caucasion American adults in the 1960’s, bringing to question stressors of current socio-historic times, different age groups, and different ethnic groups

Answer 68

Recall Walter Canon– discovered fight or flight, studied ANS and responses associated with stress/high-state emotion - e.g. Increased heart rate and respiration, blood pressure, changes in digestive functioning, sweating, tremors FIGHT OR FLIGHT: an evolutionary adaptation that is useful in dealing with physical threats - Helps us deal with short-term problems

Answer 69

FIRST STRESS PATHWAY– SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System) - Adrenal medulla (various internal organs including the heart) triggers the release of adrenaline - Substances: epinephrine (aka adrenaline/adrenal-medullary system), norepinephrine - Prominent in times of cold temperatures, “mild exercise” SECOND STRESS PATHWAY– HPA AXIS - H= Hypothalmus, P= pituitary, A= adrenal cortex - Substances: secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which in turn secretes cortisol - Prominent in times of emotional distress, low blood sugars Both systems are typically activated together

Answer 70

GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME (GAS): stress-response pattern that consists of three stages of adaptation: 1) alarm, 2) resistance, and 3) exhaustion - outlines a model of prolonged stress - propose by Hans Seyle, who did experiments with rats exposed to various stressors (intense exercise, injury, restraint, heat, cold) - Theres an inverse relation between our stress hormones and resistance Has three stages: 1) ALARM - Stressor occurs - Fight or flight response (ANS excitation), high arousal, and rush of stress hormones (adrenaline) - Anxiety related to the limbic system– amygdala (emotional memories are stored), hippocampus, and hypothalmus - HPA pathway activates (H receives signal of fear, which activates the A), which secretes the stress hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine (SNS), which causes physiological arousal (high blood pressure, dilated pupils), preparing for fight or flight, and then P releases cortisol which floods individual with energy, while H is actively recalling terrifying images from memory 2) RESISTANCE - Body adjusts to continuing threat– cope with stressor - Slight drop in arousal and stress hormone; body tries to repair and adapt - Coritsol levels drop close to baseline, but resistance to the stressor is higher 3) EXHAUSTION - Depletion of resources– body starts to give up

Answer 71

Sapolsky referenced the term HOMEOSTASIS: equilibrium During times of emergences, body processes involved in bringing body back to steady states are thrown “out of whack” ALLOSTATIC LOAD: constant activation of the mechanisms designed to bring the body back to its steady state/homeostasis - The body works hard to bring the body back to homeostasis and cortisol back to baseline, which causes * wear and tear on the body * Allostatic load increases with the chronic (re-)activation of either stress pathway, which worsens insulin resistance and accelerates thickening of heart muscles - HPA activation is related to changes in hippocampal neurons ... long-term activation of stress hormones is damaging to our bodies

Answer 72

Cortisol helps us during acute stress .... However, ongoing cortisol release creates inflammation (i.e. swelling, heat) in the body Inflammation (e.g. at the site of an injury) is part of our immune response, but chronic inflammation/over-activation itself is damaging to our bodies Ongoing cortisol release eventually slows down our immune systems Physical activity is an important part in reducing chronic inflammation in our bodies

Answer 73

HEART DISEASE/CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE: blockages of arteries– less oxygen to the heart - Involves atherosclerosis, a narrowing of arteries and inflammation in artery walls One of the top causes of death in Canada and other countries Many factors include: - Family history of CHD/CVD - Type A personality and trait hostility - Low socioeconomic status - Smoking, not enough activity - Autonomic reactivity to stressors *

Answer 74

Important to consider in mitigating our stress responses Exaggerated stressor-related autonomic responses are a well-studied factor in CHD/CVD - Autonomic responses are “beyond the metabolic and behavioural demands of a given stressor” Predictor of various conditions involved with CHD/CVD - Ventricular mass (i.e. hypertrophy/enlargement), which in and of itself is a strong predictor of CVD related death - Fast-progressing artherosclerosis - Hypertension (high blood pressure) - Heart attack - Death

Answer 75

Seyle viewed stress as an innevitable part of life - “Only the dead have no stress” So we need to learn how to temper our appraisals to our benefit and heighten our awareness of different kinds of coping that most of us already use COPING: our active efforts to reduce the demands created by stressors

Answer 76

PROBLEM-FOCUSED COPING: figuring out ways to decrease or get rid of the stressor/demand Very similar to ‘everyday problem solving’ and is a form of behavioural control around stress Generating possible solutions and acting on the best one - Doing something proactive to decrease the impact of that stressor --------------------------------------------------------- EMOTION-FOCUSED COPING: efforts to change or reduce the negative emotions - Usen when we dont have actual control over the situation/stressor - E.g. we might find a silver lining or minimize our emotions Recall that its our interpretation of events, not events themselves, that produces stress Emotional-focused coping often involves reappraisal Changing perception and beliefs of the stressor When we think differently, we feel differently

Answer 77

Having some sense of control over a stressor reduces the impact of it INFORMATIONAL CONTROL:” can we get information about a stressful event?” DECISION CONTROL: “can we choose among different courses of action in life situations?” Both actual control and perceived control is good * - An increase in our sense of perceived control (the amount of control you feel you have over a situation) is just as good as having actual control *

midterm Flashcards

(102 cards)