Spring 2008
Spring 2008
Here is the critique
form for you to complete on each presenter and for each member of your
group! 
Just FYI......... here are the lecture notes for the Chapter on.......
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Industrial/Organizational (I/O) psychology is the study of human cognition and behavior in the workplace.
I/O psychology has a dual mission:
Improve employee well-being
Foster organizational effectiveness
Personnel Selection
Organizations have the need to hire new employees:
Old employees retire or take new jobs
Business expands or shifts in a new direction
Corporation is merged with another corporation
The process of selecting an employee involves:
Identifying the key information to seek from an applicant
The organization understands the requirements of the job to be filled.
Specific tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a position can be identified using job analysis.
Selection Techniques
Organizations use job analysis information to identify candidates who have the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for the job
Any procedure (test or interview) used to select candidates must have:
Validity:
a measure of how well the scores on a test predict job success (the criterion)Utility: an economic concept that considers both the validity of a procedure as well as its cost
Fairness: whether the procedure is legal and whether it is perceived to be fair
Employment Interview
The employment interview is a type of personnel selection procedure
Job candidate meets with an interviewer
Structured interviews involve the same general type of questions for each candidate.
Unstructured interviews may simply be a casual conversation to determine whether the candidate "fits" with the organization.
Other Selection Tests
Standardized paper-and-pencil tests
Cognitive function tests that predict job success
Personality tests that screen unwanted behavioral traits (e.g., disagreeableness, propensity to steal)
Assessment centers
Applicants are given a battery of tests/exercises over a period of days
Trained assessors rate performance; summed scores for each are used to make hiring decision
Work sample tests
Applicants perform a task that is a sample of the job
Helping Employees Acquire Relevant Skills
New employees receive initial training
Learn about the organization rules and culture
Learn specifics related to their jobs
Experienced employees will periodically require additional training
To further their career development
To allow employees to expand their job duties or to adapt to a changing job environment
Tailored Training
Needs analyses
are conducted to determine the "who, when, where, and how much" of personnel training:Organizational analysis
examines the projected costs/benefits of training for employees.Task analysis identifies the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) required for a job.
Person analysis asks whether each person has the required KSAs for his or her current job.
Designing a Training Method
On-site training methods
In "on-the-job" training, the employee is given feedback while doing the actual job.
In "vestibule" training, the employee can practice their job skills in a separate work area.
Off-site training methods
Employee may attend a seminar to learn new skills
Programmed instruction has an employee working through a set of materials, often at own pace (e.g., at home at night).
Behavioral modeling has an employee observe critical job skills (e.g., managing conflict).
Evaluation of Training Effectiveness
Whether or not a training experience was successful can be evaluated using different criteria:
Reaction:
Did the employee like the training?Learning: Did the employee learn as a function of the training?
Behavioral: Does the employee actually use the training information while on the job?
Results: Has the training affected some outcome variable?
Performance Appraisal
Employees undergo evaluations of their performance
Assessment of how well each employee is performing the intended job:
Appraisals provide information on job progress.
Both negative and positive feedback are provided.
Appraisals are used to decide annual raises.
Assessment can generate unhappiness from both managers and subordinates.
Managers may dislike appraisals that generate negative feelings from employees.
Employees may not appreciate job feedback.
Appraisals may be used to evaluate the job training
The Central Role of Performance Appraisal
Appraisal Issues
The performance appraisal form should be representative of the job.
Appraisal forms should include specific critical behavioral incidents .
Specific examples of job-relevant behaviors
Supervisors can make key errors during the appraisal process:
Leniency error and severity error
Central tendency error: appraisal ratings are at the average
Halo error: the tendency to view a specific employee as an "angel"
Work Motivation
The overall productivity
of an organization is a composite of the individual efforts of its workers.The organization selects and trains its employees.
The organization provides compensation for job efforts.
Work motivation
is the study of the internal processes that activate and guide the efforts of an employee on the job.Intrinsic motivation of the employee
Overall satisfaction of the employee on the job
Negative employee behaviors
Job Satisfaction
I/O psychologists have sought to determine the strength and direction of the relationship between job satisfaction and worker performance.
The overall finding is that job satisfaction is positively correlated with job performance, but that the strength is higher in some occupations (e.g., scientists) and lower in others (e.g., nurses).
Negative Employee Behaviors
Employees that are very low in job satisfaction may engage in negative employee behaviors:
Theft from the workplace
Sabotage of job efforts
Aggression toward co-workers
Absenteeism from the job
Negative employee behaviors may arise from feelings of unfair treatment.
The Essential Role of Fairness
How can on the job satisfaction of employees be enhanced?
Organizational citizenship behaviors
Alternative work arrangements may be effective in attracting employees
No single method that has been shown in research
Feeling that they are treated fairly:
Is related to feelings of satisfaction
Lowered reactions to stress
Leadership
An organizational group may have a leader—a member who influences the group toward meeting some shared goal.
Much leadership research has focused on the characteristics of a good leader.
Leadership traits: the big five personality traits have been related to effective leadership.
Effective leaders are more extroverted, more open to experience, and more emotionally stable.
Traits of Effective Leaders
How the Work Setting
Influences LeadersPath-goal theory
Examines how leaders should adapt their style of leadership in response to the situation
Normative decision theory:
Prescribes how leaders should take the situation into account when deciding how a particular decision should be made
Leader-member exchange theory:
Describes the distinct relationships that leaders form with each subordinate
Transformational Leadership
Teamwork: The Challenges of Working with Others
Team Composition
Social loafing:
Tendency to reduce one’s efforts when working in a group.
Managing Conflict
Task conflict:
Disagreement about how the team’s primary activity should be accomplishedRelationship conflict: Conflict in the group caused by interpersonal problems between individuals.
Groupthink:
Serious error in group decision-making that result from a lack of dissent in the group
Lecture notes for Chapter on......Social Thought and Behavior
Social Psychology
Nonverbal Communication
We communicate our emotional states to others via a variety of channels
Language statements (including tone of voice)
Nonverbal cues include:
Facial expressions
Eye contact
Body posture
Body Movement
Cues to Lying
Microexpressions are brief facial expressions.
Interchannel discrepancies refer to mismatches between different communication channels.
Eye contact may not match tone of voice
Eye cues may include faster blink rates and low levels of eye contact.
Non-verbal cues may include rising tone of voice and less than compelling verbalizations.
Attribution
We are usually aware of our own motives and feelings.
Attribution is the process by which we infer the motives and feelings of others, to arrive at a sense of the causes of their behaviors:
External causes:
a person acted in a way because of the situationInternal causes: a person chose to act in a specific way (not due to an external cause)
Attribution Model
Biases in Attribution
Because we are making inferences about the causes of the behaviors of others, we can make errors, some of which are due to our own cognitive biases
Correspondence bias is our tendency to view the behaviors of others as due to internal causes (the fundamental attribution error).
Self-serving bias is our tendency to attribute positive outcomes to our efforts, while failures are seen as due to the influence of others.
Social Cognition: How We Process Social Information
Humans take into account multiple information sources to arrive at an understanding of our social world.
Schemas
allow us to integrate our new experiences with our old experiences.Heuristics allow us to make quick decisions.
Our social cognitions may be imperfect:
Planning fallacy
refers to our tendency to be more optimistic about our plans than is justified.Counterfactual Thinking
The tendency to evaluate events by thinking about alternatives to them.
Impact includes:
Either adds or subtracts from our current mood.
We regret what we didn’t do, but wish we had.
Can help us formulate improved strategies for the future.
Attitudes
Attitudes
are lasting evaluations of our social worldPersuasion is the effort to change the attitudes held by another
Changing attitudes:
The early approach
The cognitive approach
The elaboration-likelihood model
Cognitive dissonance:
Induced (forced) compliance
The less-leads-to-more effect
Cognitive Persuasion Routes
As we listen to a message, we consider (process) the information in that message in two different modes:
Systematic processing
(central route) involves careful weighing of the message (requires effort and time)Heuristics processing (peripheral route) uses mental rules of thumb, which requires less effort
Resisting Persuasion
Recognize attempts at persuasion and engage in reactance (resisting).
Persuasion is more difficult if a person is forewarned.
Use selective avoidance.
Be prepared to counter persuasive arguments.
Where Attitude Change is Concerned, "Less" Sometimes Leads to "More"
Social Interaction
We exist in a social world in which our interactions with others involve work, play, love, and attempts at persuasion.
Our attitudes towards other persons or groups may be negative and based on misinformation.
Prejudice involves a negative attitude toward another person based on their group membership.
Prejudice can lead to discrimination, which involves overt negative actions.
Sources of Prejudice
Social psychology has identified multiple factors that can produce prejudice:
Stereotypes
are cognitive schemas about another group.Realistic conflict theory proposes that prejudice stems, at least in part, from direct conflict between social groups.
Social categorization involves our tendency to categorize the world into "US" versus "THEM."
Social learning refers to reinforcement of prejudicial ideas and behaviors by others.
Challenging Prejudice
Breaking the cycle of prejudice: learning not to hate
Direct intergroup contact: potential benefits of acquaintance
Recategorization: resetting the boundary between "us" and "them."
Social Influence
Social interactions cut both ways–we try to influence others and others try to influence us.
Conformity refers to pressures exerted by others to induce us to think/act as they do.
Social norms
are rules as to how we should act in a particular situation.We may conform to social norms because we want approval from others or because we rely on the group judgment.
Compliance
Compliance
refers to the direct attempt of another person to influence our behavior.Techniques to induce compliance:
"Foot in the door" starts with a small request, shifts to a larger request.
"Door in the face" starts with a large request, but settles for a smaller request.
"Playing hard to get" is a strategy in which a person overstates their value as they make a request.
"Ingratiation" is the use of flattery prior to a request.
Obedience
In some instances, a request for compliance from an authority figure is in the form of a direct order
Obedience refers to our compliance to a direct order
Milgram studied obedience in the form of a request from an experimenter to deliver a painful electric shock to another person
Milgram’s Obedience Study
Attraction
We form romantic relationships with others; social psychology has considered factors that govern interpersonal attraction:
"Propinquity"
refers to physical closeness."Frequency of exposure" increases our liking for another person.
"Similarity" means that we tend to like persons that resemble us.
"Affective status" means that positive/ negative emotions can alter liking.
"Physical attractiveness" makes a difference.
Is Beauty Only Skin Deep?
Physically attractive people make us feel good.
The more "average" the face, the closer to the schema of each gender and, thus, the more attractive.
Culture influences what we find attractive.
Are men more influenced by physical appearance than women?
Attractive female faces are easier to remember than attractive male faces.
Love
Love is an intense relationship between two persons.
Romantic love
refers to feelings of strong attraction and sexual desire toward another.Companionate love involves a high degree of commitment and deep concern for a partner.
Love can die (or be damaged).
More likely for dissimilar partners
Boredom can damage a relationship
Jealousy can undermine a relationship
Lecture notes for Chapter on.........Personality and Intelligence!
Personality
Personality is a person’s unique and relatively stable pattern of behavior, thoughts, and emotions.
How we express our personality is a function of the situation and our personality (i.e., we are sometimes inconsistent).
The interactionist perspective suggests that our personality may be guided/limited by the situation.
Freud’s Personality Theory
Sigmund Freud was a physician in Vienna.
Freud’s experiences with the mental problems of his patients led him to propose a theory of personality.
Freud’s view is that personality is a complicated mixture of:
Levels of consciousness (conscious, preconscious, and the unconscious)
Multiple components (id, ego, and superego)
Levels of Consciousness in Personality
Conscious level is the current level of a person’s awareness
Freud’s view was that much of our mental processes were at the unconscious level
Our conscious self is unaware of the thoughts and impulses that actually drive our behavior
Preconscious level involves our stored memories—these can be quickly restored to consciousness
Freud’s Personality Theory
Structures of Personality
Freud also argued that personality reflects the interaction between three different structures:
Id:
operates at the unconscious levelId reflects basic desires and impulses related to sex and aggression
Id operates according to the "pleasure principle"
Ego:
strives to satisfy the id impulses, but in a socially acceptable way ("reality principle")Superego: reflects the workings of the conscience
Ego Defense Mechanisms
The id impulses are repressed into the unconscious by the ego
Repression reduces the anxiety that would occur were the id impulses to become conscious
The ego can reduce anxiety through:
Displacement:
redirecting an emotional response from a dangerous target to a safe targetProjection: transferring a motive or impulse onto others
Regression: responding to a situation as if one were at a much younger age or stage of development
Rationalization: using socially acceptable reasons to justify an unacceptable thought or action
Psychosexual Stages of Development
Research and Freud’s Theory
There may be factors in the unconscious as Freud suggested (e.g., subliminal perceptions).
However:
Theory is not scientific; many of his ideas can’t be tested.
Parts of the theory are not observable.
Some of proposals have not been substantiated.
He relied on a small number of case studies.
The theory is too general to be disconfirmed.
Other Psychoanalytic Views:
The Neo-Freudians
Carl Jung
Proposed that the collective unconscious is the repository of human experience
Archetypes: common themes or ideas that are expressed in all cultures
Examples: concepts of "Mother," "Father," "God," "Death"
Innate tendency to be introverts or extroverts
Alfred Adler
The importance of feelings of inferiority
Karen Horney
Disagreed that differences between men and women were largely innate
Humanistic Personality Theories
Emphasize personal responsibility and innate tendencies towards personal growth
The central themes of these theories are:
"Humans are striving for growth."
"We are responsible for our own fates."
"We are innately good."
"The past is the past…what is important is the present."
Roger’s Self Theory
Carl Rogers argued that humans strive to become fully functioning persons who:
Live in the here and now
Experience life to the fullest
Trust their own feelings
Are sensitive to the needs of others
Our life experiences shape our self-concept
Rogerian Therapy
Rogers suggested that we experience anxiety when our life experiences are inconsistent with our self-concept
Rogers argued that we use anxiety-reducing mechanisms
Distortion:
we change our perceptions of reality to match our self-conceptDenial: we deny that there is a problem
Rogers attempted to provide clients with an atmosphere of unconditional positive regard
Maladjustment as a Function of Self-Concept Issues
Maslow and Self-Actualization
Self-actualization:
A stage of personal development in which individuals reach their maximum potential
Peak experiences:
Intense emotional experiences during which individuals feel at one with the universe
Self-Esteem:
Our assessment of our overall personal worth or adequacy
Trait Theories
Traits are stable characteristics; a person can vary from low to high in a trait.
Each person can be assessed for each dimension or trait and their personality described on the basis of their trait profile.
Problem: Which traits are the important ones? How many traits are required to accurately describe a personality?
Cattell used statistical analysis of personality inventories to identify 16 source traits that are central to personality.
The Big Five Personality Factors
Subsequent research indicates that there are just five central personality traits (the Big Five):
Extraversion:
tendency to seek stimulation and enjoy the company of othersAgreeableness: tendency to be compassionate
Conscientiousness: tendency to show self-discipline, strive for achievement
Emotional Stability: tendency to experience negative emotions
Openness to Experience: tendency to enjoy new experiences and new ideas
Evaluation of the Big Five
The utility of the Big Five is evident in that a person’s Big Five scores predict:
Job success
Personal happiness
Leadership skills and quality
Tendency to develop mental difficulties
Cognitive-Behavioral Theories
Cognitive-behavioral personality theories seek to explain the uniqueness of a person as well as why a person is consistent across time and situations
Emphasis is on the unique life experiences that shape our personality
Emphasis is on external learning contingencies
Emphasis is on internal cognitions
Social-Cognitive Theory
Albert Bandura’s self-system involves a set of cognitive processes by which we perceive, evaluate, and regulate our own behavior:
People ponder their actions.
People are capable of self-reinforcement.
People are capable of observational learning.
People have a sense of their own efficacy.
Personality Measurement
Questionnaires
Projective measures of personality
Behavioral observations
Interviews
Biological measures: PET imaging
Modern Research on Personality
Self-esteem: Is more always better?
Excessive self-esteem to the point of narcissism may increase aggression and other anti-social behaviors.
Individuals with high self-esteem feel better about their successes than people with low self-esteem.
The role of neural systems and genes
Behavioral activation system (BAS)
Behavioral inhibition system (BIS)
Intelligence: Unitary or Multifacted?
Intelligence
is a set of cognitive abilitiesWhat comprises intelligence varies by culture
Theories of intelligence vary widely:
Intelligence is a single general ability ("g")
Multiple cognitive abilities comprise intelligence
Thurstone proposed that intelligence was a function of seven distinct cognitive abilities
Gardner argued for eight distinct types of intelligence
Cattell argued for two types of intelligence
Fluid
: ability to gain new knowledge and solve problemsCrystallized: accumulated knowledge
Measuring Intelligence
The Stanford-Binet test was devised in 1916.
Intelligence quotient (IQ) score was defined as the ratio of (mental age to actual age) times 100.
Now IQ score refers to a test score based on each individual’s performance compared to people of the same age with an average of 100.
IQ scores predict school achievement.
Measurement Issues
Norms
that indicate where in the distribution a score lies (below, at, or above the mean)Standardized testing procedures
consistency of measurementReliability:
Assessed using test-retest procedure
Validity:
assesses what a test actually measuresCriterion-related:
the correlation between a test score and some criterion
Cognitive and Neural Bases of Intelligence
Intelligence can be related to speed of processing.
Intelligent people are able to make cognitive decisions using less brain metabolic activity.
Other cognitive psychologists say that intelligence is based on differences in working memory capacity.
Heredity and Environment - Effects on Intelligence
IQ scores are influenced by:
Heredity:
IQ scores of identical twins raised apart are quite similar.The heritability of intelligence is estimated to be as much as 75% in adulthood.
Environment:
Flynn Effect:
IQ scores have risen around the world by 3 points per decadePoor nourishment (poverty) can lower IQ scores.
Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores
This has been a topic of controversy in psychology for many years.
Cultural bias: tendency of items on a test of intelligence to require specific cultural experience or knowledge
Motivational differences may account for some of these differences.
The Feeling Side of Intelligence
One view is that there are multiple components to intelligence.
Emotional intelligence involves:
Capacity to recognize one’s own emotions
Capacity to regulate one’s own emotions
Ability to motivate yourself
Capacity to read and understand the emotional state of others
Ability to easily interact with others
Motivation: The Activation and Persistence of Behavior
Motivation involves the internal processes that energize and direct our behaviors over time.
Drive theory:
Suggests that behavior is "pushed" from within by drive stemming from basic biological needs
Expectancy theory:
Suggests that behavior is "pulled" by expectations of desirable outcomes
Drive Theory of Motivation
Homeostasis
is the general term for the idea that biological systems are regulated.Body temperature is regulated:
If we become hotter, we sweat to lower our temperature.
If we become cooler, we shiver to raise our temperature.
Drive theory argues that motivated behaviors serve to reduce our biological/other needs.
Needs produce an unpleasant arousal state.
Satisfying the need eliminates the arousal and reinforces the behavior.
A key problem with drive theory is that we also engage in behaviors that increase our arousal.
Drive Theory: An Overview
Expectancy Theory
Humans act in ways that may not satisfy any detectable need.
Expectancy theory argues that humans can set future goals and then act in ways that will move them towards those goals.
Incentives pull our behaviors toward a goal.
Expectancy theory is useful in understanding work motivation.
Goal-Setting Theory
Goal-setting theory argues that our behaviors can be guided by our goals.
Goal-setting works well when:
Goals are specific.
Goals are challenging.
Goals are attainable.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Hunger
Our bodies need energy on a daily basis.
Our body has to match energy expenditure with the amount of energy we eat per day.
Most of us have a surplus of energy, stored as fat.
The brain governs the start and finish of a meal.
The hypothalamus is a key structure in the control of appetite and satiety.
Factors that Compromise our Weight Regulation
Effects of learning:
We learn to prefer foods that are high in caloric density.
Classical conditioning prompts us to eat when we are NOT hungry.
Genetic factors
Environmental factors: portion sizes have increased (e.g., super-sizing a meal…)
Factors in Weight Gain
Part of the problem involves the effects of learning.
Genetic factors interact with changes in diet and can intensify them.
Environmental and cultural factors
Socioeconomic factors
Overeating can take place when we are trying to escape from a negative experience or personal failure.
The body’s desire to maintain a set point
Sexual Motivation
Hormones and sexual behavior
Rodents
Estrous cycle determines sexual behavior
Removal of the ovaries eliminates female rat sexual behavior
Testosterone determines male sexual behavior in the rat
Humans are less susceptible to hormone effects
Evolutionary Perspective of Human Sexual Behavior
Men and women vary in a number of ways:
External and internal genitalia
Hormone secretion patterns (androgens versus estrogens)
Evolutionary theory suggests basic differences betweens the sexes in terms of mating strategies:
Males seek many different sexual partners
Females seek a stable long-term relationship
Sexual Orientation
Sexual orientation:
Individuals’ preference for sexual relationships with their own sex, the other sex, or bothHeterosexual: Prefer sexual relationships with members of the other sex
Bisexual: Engages in relations with members of both sexes
Homosexual: Prefer sexual relationships with members of their own sex
Causes:
Sexual orientation is not simply a matter of preference or free will.
Achievement Motivation
The desire to excel in a difficult task is referred to as the need for achievement.
People who are high in achievement motivation:
Receive better grades in school.
Earn more rapid promotions at work and are more successful in running their own businesses.
Prefer tasks that are moderate in difficulty.
Strongly desire task feedback.
Intrinsic Motivation: How It Operates
Forgiveness
When compassion replaces the desire for revenge
Positive effects as contrasted with the temporary effects of retaliation
Some people are more able to forgive readily:
Higher in agreeableness
Higher in emotional stability
Higher levels of self-esteem and gender self-confidence
More spiritually or religiously inclined
Emotion
Emotion is an affective state consisting of:
Physiological responses
Subjective feelings
Expressive reactions
Arousal is a component of emotion:
Cannon-Bard theory suggested that external stimuli provoke a subjective experience AND physiological arousal.
James-Lange theory suggested that we interpret the pattern of arousal as an emotion.
Emotion Theories
Two-Factor Theory
Schachter and Singer argued that emotional states are determined by the cognitive labels we attach to our arousal patterns:
An emotional event produces arousal.
Our brain then uses internal and external information to label the arousal as a specific emotion.
This can explain why a person can rapidly shift in a strong arousal state from love to hate
The Neurology of Emotion
The right hemisphere is key for emotion regulation and recognition:
Damage to the right hemisphere makes it difficult to recognize emotion in others.
Damage to right hemisphere reduces the expression of emotion on the left side of the face (recall that the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body).
Activation of the right hemisphere is associated with avoidance.
Lateralization of Emotion
Emotion Recognition
We rely on cues gathered from a variety of channels to deduce the emotional states of others:
Facial expressions
Gestures, posture and movements
Nonverbal Emotion Cues
Body language:
Gestures of the arm or hand
Posture may include stiffness or leaning forward
Movements toward or away from us
Paralanguage includes intonation cues
Facial Expressions
Six different emotions are evident in facial expressions:
Anger
Fear
Sadness
Disgust
Happiness
Surprise
How Affect Influences Cognition and Cognition Influences Affect
Factors that Influence Happiness
Subjective well-being
Individuals’ global judgments of their own life satisfaction
Some benefits of happiness
Happy people tend to better in their work life
In the quality of their social relationships
In their health
Increasing happiness
Previously it was believed to be genetic and fixed
Now it is believed to be about 50% of it
Pathways to Happiness
Becoming a Happy Person
Start the upward spiral going.
Build close personal relationships.
Build personal skills that contribute to being happy.
Get into shape!
Stop doing counterproductive things.
Developmental Psychology
The focus of developmental psychology is on age-related changes in behaviors throughout the life span
Key development issues include:
Nature versus nurture
To what extent are behaviors the result of experience or the result of biological processes, such as maturation?
Stability versus change
To what extent are behaviors constant over the life span?
Life Span Development
Stage Approximate Age
Prenatal Conception to birth
Infancy Birth to 18 months
Early childhood 18 mo. to 6 years
Middle childhood 6–12 years
Adolescence 12–20 years
Young adulthood 20–45 years
Middle adulthood 45–60 years
Later adulthood 60 years to death
Prenatal Development
Prenatal development occurs in 3 stages:
Ovulation to implantation:
the ovum travels down the fallopian tube, is fertilized by a sperm, and is then implanted within the wall of the uterusEmbryonic period: implantation to 8 weeks
Fetal stage: last 7 months of pregnancy
Prenatal Hazards
Teratogens are environmental substances that can harm a developing fetus
Infectious agents
Prescription and over-the-counter drugs
Alcohol
Any drinking by a pregnant woman can harm the fetus.
Heavy drinking can result in fetal alcohol syndrome.
Smoking
Physical Development
Early motor actions of the infant are limited to simple reflexes
Milestones of Motor Development
Myelination and further brain development allow for crawling and then walking.
Newborn Abilities
Can be classically conditioned if the stimuli have survival value for babies
Can also show operant conditioning
Malnutrition in infancy can affect abilities throughout life.
Perceptual Abilities of the Newborn
Infant perception can be inferred by changes in heart rate upon stimulus exposure or by changes in sucking rate.
Functionality of infant sensory systems:
Visual acuity is poor at birth (20/400), but newborns can distinguish pattern and color.
Hearing is functional at birth.
Smell is functional at birth.
Touch and pain are functional at birth.
Piaget’s Cognitive Theory
Cognitive reasoning is primitive at birth and changes from infancy to adulthood.
Schemas are the basic units of intellect.
Cognitive adaptation reflects the actions of two complementary processes:
Assimilation
allows an existing schema to adapt to the environment.Accommodation allows the schema to change in order to handle a new environmental situation.
Piagetian Cognition
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor period:
Birth through age 2Infant schemes are simple reflexes and interactions with people and objects
Preoperational period
: Age 2 to 7Child begins to use mental representations, but problem solving is limited
Concrete operations:
Age 7 to 11Child performs mental operations (conservation)
Formal operations:
Age 12 through adulthoodChild can use formal problem solving and higher-level abstract thinking
The Sensorimotor Stage
Infants acquire a basic grasp of the concept of cause and effect.
Seem to know the world only through motor activities and sensory impressions
Have not yet learned to use mental symbols or images to represent objects
Acquire object permanence
There is modern evidence that Piaget underestimated the abilities of infants.
The Preoperational Stage
Begin to demonstrate symbolic play
Egocentric:
The inability of young children to understand that others may perceive the world differently than they do.
Lack conservation:
Do not understand that certain physical attributes of an object remain unchanged even though its outward appearance changes
Concrete Operations
The emergence of logical thought
Become aware of the permanence of objects
Understand reversibility – the fact that many physical changes can be undone by a reversal of the original action
Formal Operations
Can now deal with abstractions rather than just concrete objects
Become capable of hypothetico-deductive reasoning:
Forming a general theory and deducing specific hypotheses from it
A Modern Assessment of Piaget’s Theory
There is some evidence that Piaget underestimated the cognitive abilities of infants and preschoolers.
Beyond Piaget
Children’s theory of mind:
Children’s growing understanding of their own mental states and those of others
Curse of knowledge
:We tend to be biased by our own knowledge when judging the perspectives of people who know less about some topic than we do.
Information-processing perspective
:Metacognition:
Awareness and understanding of our own cognitive processesScripts: Mental representations of the sequence of events in a given situation
Learning to Communicate
Language:
The system we use to communicate information to others, including specific symbols and the rules for combining them
Theories of language development
Social learning approach
Chomsky and the language acquisition device
Interaction theories
Basic Components of Language Development
Phonological awareness:
Sensitivity to the sound structure of spoken language
Babbling:
Between 3 and 6 months, babies begin making the sounds of every language.
By 9 or 10 months, the babbling narrow and consists mainly of sounds used in the child’s culture.
Between 1 and 2 years, vocabulary increases rapidly.
Gestures are an important part of language development.
Semantic development: Acquisition of meaning
Moral Development
At different points in our lives, we exhibit different forms of thoughts and beliefs regarding moral behavior
Kohlberg examined moral thought by asking people of various ages to comment on moral situations evident in a vignette:
"Heinz steals an expensive drug in order to save the life of his wife who suffers from cancer."
Temperament: Individual Differences in Emotional Style
Temperament
refers to the basic emotional disposition of a person.Thomas and Chess categorized infants into 3 temperament types:
Easy children are happy, relaxed, and agreeable (about 40%).
Difficult children are moody, easily frustrated, and over-reactive (about 10%).
Slow-to-warm-up children are somewhat shy and withdrawn and take time to adjust to new situations (about 15%).
Attachment:
The Beginnings of Love
Attachment
is defined as a strong affectional bond between infants and their caregivers.Long term effects of attachment
Culture and attachment
Attachment can be viewed as "contact comfort"
Patterns of Attachment
Categories of attachment evident in children in a strange situation:
Secure attachment:
Infant feels safe around their caregiver, enjoy exploring new environments, and often use the caregiver as a "safe home base."Insecure/avoidant attachment: Infant doesn’t rely on their caregivers for security, and often avoid close contact with them.
Insecure/ambivalent attachment: Infant often engages in continuous efforts to maintain contact with their caregiver, and often cling to them in new situations. They are inhibited and show signs of fear.
Siblings and Friends
Key factors in social development:
Older siblings often serve as teachers and guides.
Siblings can also serve an indirect function in social development.
Friends and school provide an opportunity for social learning.
Friendships contribute to social development.
How Children Come to Understand
That They Are Female or Male
Gender:
A society’s beliefs about the traits and behavior of males and females
Biological sex:
Whether an individual is, biologically speaking, a male or a female
Gender stereotype:
Cultural beliefs about differences between women and men
Gender roles:
Expectations concerning the roles males and females should fill and the ways they are supposed to behave
Growing Sophistication
About Gender
Gender identity:
Children’s understanding of the fact that they are male or female
Gender stability:
Children’s understanding that gender is stable over time
Gender consistency:
Children’s understanding that their gender would not change even if they adopted the behavior, dress, and hairstyles of the other gender
Theories About
Gender Development
Social-learning theory:
Emphasizes the role of learning including modeling and operant conditioning
Children tend to adopt the behaviors shown by their same-sex parents.
Cognitive development theory:
Gender is just one reflection of cognitive growth.
Children develop their gender identity and then they adopt behavior consistent with this identity.
Gender schema theory:
Children develop a cognitive framework reflecting the beliefs of their society concerning the characteristics and roles of males and females.
Adolescence
Physical development:
Puberty: Growth spurt where individuals reach sexual maturity
Cognitive development:
Propositional thinking: Reasoning during the stage of formal operations, where individuals can assess the validity of verbal assertions even when they refer to possibilities rather than actual events
Social and emotional development:
Friendships and the quest for identity
Youth bulge and rebellion
Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory
Erikson and the Crises of Adult Life
Three major crises of adulthood:
Intimacy versus isolation
Late adolescence to early adulthood
Individuals must develop the ability to form deep, intimate relationships with others
Generativity versus self-absorption
The need for individuals to overcome selfish, self centered concerns
Take an interest in helping and guiding the next generation
Integrity versus despair
Need to feel that one’s life had meaning and goals were accomplished
Physical Changes in Adulthood
Climacteric:
A period during which the functioning of the reproductive system and various aspects of sexual activity change greatly
Menopause:
A cessation of the menstrual cycle.
Primary aging:
Changes caused by the passage of time and genetic factors
Secondary aging:
Changes due to disease, disuse, or abuse of our bodies
Cognitive Changes
During Adulthood
Aging and memory
Aging and intelligence
Fitness: An effective means of preventing, or even reversing, cognitive decline
Mental exercise: evidence is weak
Meeting Death
Facing the end with dignity
Bereavement: Coming to terms with the death of loved ones
Ways to help include:
Continue your contacts with the grieving person.
Sometimes just listening is enough.
Don’t tell them that things will get easier
.