Module 3 (Chapters 9 – 12) focuses on thinking, language, and intelligence (cognition), motivation and emotion, stress, health, and social psychology. Respond to the following questions by writing one full paragraph (100 word minimum) for each numbered question:
1. What was your overall impression with the information presented in the chapters contained in this module? For example, was it challenging, fascinating, did it make you question your previous assumptions, etc.
2. Name three concepts that you found to be of particular interest in this module. Why were they of special interest to you?
3. How do you think the information in this module applies to your life?
Social Psychology
Chapter 12
EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY
DAVID G. MYERS | C. NATHAN DEWALL
Chapter Overview
Social Thinking and Social Influence
Antisocial Relations
Prosocial Relations
Social Thinking and Social Influence (part 1)
Social thinking
Social psychology
Focus on social influences that explain why the same person acts differently in different situations
Attribution theory
Behavior of others explained by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition
Fundamental attribution error
Tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition
Social Thinking and Social Influence (part 2)
Factors that affect attributions
Culture
Whose behavior
Exceptions
Our deliberate, admirable actions are attributed to our own good reasons, not to the situation
With age, younger selves’ behaviors are attributed to our traits
Attributions matter
Attributions to a person’s disposition or to the situation have real consequences
Social Thinking and Social Influence (part 3)
Dispositional versus situational attributions: Should the 2015 slaughter of nine African-Americans attending a church Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina, be attributed to the shooter’s disposition?
Social Thinking and Social Influence (part 4)
Attitudes and actions
Attitudes affect actions
Attitude
Peripheral route persuasion
Central route persuasion
Actions affect attitudes
Food-in-the-door phenomenon
Social Thinking and Social Influence (part 5)
Attitudes and actions
Role playing affects attitudes
Role
Zimbardo’s prison study
Cognitive dissonance theory
Attitudes-follow-behavior principle
People can act themselves into a way of thinking as easily as they can think of themselves acting in a certain way
Social Thinking and Social Influence (part 7)
Social influences
Norms: Rules for expected and acceptable behavior
Influence and power of norms
Cultural influences
Culture: Behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by group of people and transmitted from one generation to next
Preservation of innovation; division of labor
Social Thinking and Social Influence (part 8)
Cultural influences
Adaptability in cultural variations
Among beliefs and values
In how children are nurtured; how dead are buried; which clothes are worn
Variation over time
Vary, change, evolve, and shape lives
Social Thinking and Social Influence (part 9)
Conformity
Complying with social pressures
Types of conformity
Suggestibility
Social contagion (chameleon effect)
Mood contagion
Natural mimicry
Enable ability to empathize
Mood linkage
Social Thinking and Social Influence
(part 10)
Asch’s conformity experiments
Which of the three comparison lines is equal to the standard line?
What do you suppose most people would say after hearing five others say, “Line 3”?
More than one-third of the time, these “intelligent and well-meaning” college students were “willing to call white black” by going along with the group.
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Social Thinking and Social Influence
(part 11)
Normative social influence: Conform to avoid rejection or to gain social approval
Informational social influence: Accept others’ opinions about reality
Is conformity good or bad?
Social Thinking and Social Influence
(part 12)
Conformity is more likely when people:
Are made to feel incompetent or insecure
Are in a group with at least three people, especially a group in which everyone else agrees
Admire the group’s status and attractiveness
Have not made a prior commitment to any response
Know that others in the group will observe their behavior
Are from a culture that strongly encourages respect for social standards
Social Thinking and Social Influence
(part 13)
In a repeat of the earlier experiment, 65 percent of the adult male “teachers” fully obeyed the experimenter’s commands to continue. They did so despite the “learner’s” earlier mention of a heart condition and despite hearing cries of protest after they administered what they thought were 150 volts and agonized protests after 330 volts. (Data from Milgram, 1974.)
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Social Thinking and Social Influence
(part 14)
Conditions that influenced obedience (Milgram)
Person giving orders was close at hand and perceived to be a legitimate authority figure
Authority figure was supported by powerful or prestigious institution
Victim was depersonalized or at distance
No role models displayed defiance
Social Thinking and Social Influence
(part 14)
What do social influence studies teach us about ourselves?
Strong social influences induce many people to conform to falsehoods or capitulate to cruelty
Great evils often grow out of compliance with lesser evils
After the first acts of compliance or resistance, attitudes begin to follow or justify the behavior
Minority influence is more likely when a position is held firmly
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Social Thinking and Social Influence
(part 15)
Group behavior
Social facilitation (Triplett)
Social loafing
Deindividuation
Groupthink (Janis)
Mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides realistic appraisal of the alternatives
See table 12.1 for additional information
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Social Thinking and Social Influence
(part 16)
If a group is like-minded, discussion strengthens its prevailing opinions.
Talking over racial issues increased prejudice in a high-prejudice group of high school students and decreased it in a low-prejudice group.
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The Internet as Social Amplifier
The internet connects like-minded people
These connections can bring emotional healing
Online sharing can also strengthen social movements
Electronic communication and social networking can encourage people to isolate themselves from those with different opinions
On social media, we often share political content with like-minded others
Like-minded separation + conversation = group polarization
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Antisocial Relations (part 1)
Prejudice
Prejudgment; unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members
Components
Negative emotions
Stereotypes
Predisposition to discriminate
Antisocial Relations (part 2)
Explicit and implicit prejudice
Explicit: Clear awareness
Implicit: Unthinking response
Focus of implicit research studies
Testing for unconscious group associations
Considering unconscious patronization
Monitoring reflexive bodily responses
Antisocial Relations (part 3)
Targets of prejudice
Racial and ethnic prejudice
Overt interracial prejudice wanes; subtle prejudice lingers
Implicit Association Test findings
Perceptions
Antisocial Relations (part 4)
In experiments by Keith Payne (2006), people viewed (a) a White or Black face, instantly followed by (b) a flashed gun or hand tool, which was then followed by (c) a masking screen. Participants were more likely to misperceive a tool as a gun when it was preceded by a Black face rather than a White face.
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Antisocial Relations (part 5)
Targets of prejudice
Gender prejudice: Sharp decline of overt gender prejudice; implicit prejudice still exists
LGBTQ prejudice: Cultural variation, but explicit prejudice in most of the world; higher negative mental health consequences
Belief systems prejudice: Explicit prejudice; Muslims
Antisocial Relations (part 6)
Roots of prejudice
Social inequalities and divisions
Just-world phenomenon
Ingroup
Outgroup
Ingroup bias
Antisocial Relations (part 7)
Roots of prejudice
Negative emotions
Scapegoat theory and research evidence
Economically frustrated people tend to express heightened prejudice
Experiments that create temporary frustration intensify prejudice
Schadenfreude
Antisocial Relations (part 8)
Roots of prejudice
Cognitive shortcuts
Categorization by gender, ethnicity, race, age, and other factors may lead to stereotype
Outgroup homogeneity
Other-race effect (cross-race effect/own-race bias)
Categorizing Mixed-Race People
When New Zealanders quickly classified 104 photos by race, those of European descent more often than those of Chinese descent classified the ambiguous middle two photos as Chinese (Halberstadt et al., 2011).
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Antisocial Relations (part 9)
Roots of prejudice
Remembering vivid cases: Availability heuristic
Victim blaming: Hindsight bias
Vivid Cases Feed Stereotypes
Global terrorism has created, in many minds, an exaggerated stereotype of Muslims as terrorism-prone. Actually, reported a U.S. National Research Council panel on terrorism, when offering this inexact illustration, most terrorists are not Muslim and “the vast majority of Islamic people have no connection with and do not sympathize with terrorism” (Smelser & Mitchell, 2002).
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Antisocial Relations (part 10)
Aggression
Any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone, whether done out of hostility or as a calculated means to an end
Emerges from the interaction of biology and experience
Antisocial Relations (part 11)
Biology of aggression
Genetic influences
Twin studies
Genetic markers (Y chromosome; monoamine oxidase [MAO])
Neural influences
Animal and human brains have neural systems that, given provocation, will either inhibit or facilitate aggression (amygdala; frontal lobes)
Biochemical influences
Hormones (testosterone)
Alcohol
Antisocial Relations (part 12)
Psychological and social-cultural factors in aggression
Aversive events
Frustration–aggression principle
Reinforcement and modeling
Differences in how cultures model, reinforce, and evoke violent tendencies
Media models for violence
Television, films, music, video games, and internet
Social scripts
Antisocial Relations (part 13)
Biopsychosocial Understanding of Aggression
Because many factors contribute to aggressive behavior, there are many ways to change such behavior, including learning anger management and communication skills, and avoiding violent media and video games.
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Antisocial Relations (part 14)
Do violent video games teach social scripts
for violence ?
Which evidence supports your answer?
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Prosocial Relations (part 1)
Attraction
Psychology of attraction
Proximity and mere exposure effect
Modern matchmaking
Online matchmaking
Speed dating
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Prosocial Relations (part 2)
Attraction
Physical attractiveness
Predicts dating frequency and feeling of popularity
Affects initial personality impressions
Is unrelated to self-esteem and happiness
Is influenced by culture
Similarity
Influences the likelihood that a relationship will endure
Reward theory of attraction
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Prosocial Relations (part 3)
Romantic love
Passionate love
Aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a romantic relationship
Two-factor theory of emotion
Two ingredients of emotion: Physical arousal plus cognitive appraisal
Arousal from any source can enhance one emotion or another, depending on how arousal is interpreted or labeled
Prosocial Relations (part 4)
Romantic love
Companionate love
Deep, affectionate attachment; adaptive value
Testosterone, dopamine, and adrenaline levels subside; oxytocin remains
Equity
Self-disclosure
Self-disclosing intimacy + mutually supportive equity = enduring companionate love
Prosocial Relations (part 5)
Altruism
Unselfish concern for the welfare of others
Bystander intervention
Situational factor influence: Presence of others
The Decision -Making Process for Bystander Intervention
Before helping, one must first notice an emergency, then correctly interpret it, and then feel responsible. (Adapted from Darley & Latane, 1968b.)
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Prosocial Relations (part 6)
Responses to a simulated emergency
When people thought they alone heard the calls for help from a person they believed to be having an epileptic seizure, they usually helped.
When they thought four others were also hearing the calls, fewer than one-third responded. (Data from Darley & Latane, 1968a.)
Prosocial Relations (part 7)
Bystander intervention
Helping someone depends on the characteristics of the person, situation, and internal state
What contributes to the likelihood that a person will help another in need?
The odds of helping are highest in the following situations:
• The person appears to need and deserve help.
• The person is in some way similar to us.
• The person is a woman.
• We have just observed someone else being helpful.
• We are not in a hurry.
• We are in a small town or rural area.
• We are feeling guilty.
• We are focused on others and not preoccupied.
• We are in a good mood.
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So…
Happiness breeds helpfulness
and
Helpfulness breeds happiness
Prosocial Relations (part 8)
From conflict to peace
Conflict
Involves perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas
May create either a positive change or a destructive process
Prosocial Relations (part 9)
From conflict to peace
Social traps
Involve the right to pursue personal well-being versus responsibility for the well-being of all
Mitigated with effective regulations, communication, and awareness
Enemy perceptions
Mirror-image perceptions
Self-fulfilling prophecies
Prosocial Relations (part 10)
How can we make peace?
Contact
Cooperation
Sherif: Superordinate goals
Communication
Third-party mediator; win-win orientation
Conciliation
Osgood: Graduated and reciprocated initiatives in tension-reduction (GRIT)
Motivation and Emotion
Chapter 10
EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY
DAVID G. MYERS | C. NATHAN DEWALL
Chapter Overview
Basic Motivational Concepts, Affiliation, and Achievement
Hunger
Theories and Physiology of Emotion
Expressing and Experiencing Emotion
Basic Motivational Concepts,
Affiliation, and Achievement (part 1)
Motivational concepts
Instinct theory (evolutionary theory): Genetically predisposed behaviors
Drive-reduction theory: Response to inner pushes and pulls
Arousal theory: Finding the right stimulation level
Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Priority of some needs over others
Basic Motivational Concepts,
Affiliation, and Achievement (part 2)
Instincts and evolutionary theory
Instinct
Complex behavior throughout species
Unlearned fixed patterns
Assumption: evolutionary psychology
Genes predispose some species-typical behaviors
Basic Motivational Concepts,
Affiliation, and Achievement (part 3)
Drive-reduction theory
Physiological needs create an aroused, motivated state (incentive)
When physiological needs increase, so does the psychological drive to reduce those needs (homeostasis)
Pushed by need to reduce drives; pulled by incentives
Drive-reduction theory: Drive-reduction motivation arises from homeostasis—an organism’s natural tendency to maintain a steady internal state. Thus, if we are deprived of water, our thirst drives us to drink and to restore the body’s normal state.
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Basic Motivational Concepts,
Affiliation, and Achievement (part 4)
Arousal theory
Some motivated behaviors can increase—rather than decrease—arousal
Human motivation aims to find optimal arousal levels, not to eliminate arousal
Yerkes-Dodson law states that moderate arousal leads to optimal performance
Basic Motivational Concepts,
Affiliation, and Achievement (part 5)
Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs
Begins at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied …
Before people can fulfill their higher-level safety needs …
Then their psychological needs
Some needs take priority over others; the hierarchy is not universally fixed.
Meaning is related to purpose, significance, and coherence.
People’s sense of life’s meaning predicts their psychological and physical well-being, and their capacity to delay gratification.
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Basic Motivational Concepts,
Affiliation, and Achievement (part 6)
Reduced to semistarvation by their rulers, inhabitants of Suzanne Collins’ fictional nation, Panem, hunger for food and survival. Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen expresses higher-level needs for actualization and transcendence, and in the process inspires the nation.
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Basic Motivational Concepts,
Affiliation, and Achievement (part 7)
Basic Motivational Concepts,
Affiliation, and Achievement (part 8)
The need to belong: affiliation need
Central human motivation to build relationships and feel part of a group
Enhances survival
Colors thoughts and emotions
Related to health, performance, and self-esteem
Thwarts loneliness and social isolation
Self-determination theory
Competence
Autonomy
Relatedness
Basic Motivational Concepts,
Affiliation, and Achievement (part 9)
Being shut out
Ostracism (social exclusion) threatens the need to belong and causes pain
Social media ostracism causes similar pain
Pain
Focuses and motivates corrective action
Positive and negative remedies
Basic Motivational Concepts,
Affiliation, and Achievement (part 10)
Mobile networks and social media
Provide information and supportive connections among friends and family
Activate reward centers in the brain
Function as a matchmaker
Predict longer life when used in moderation
Enable comparisons that can create envy and depression
Support narcissistic tendencies
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Basic Motivational Concepts,
Affiliation, and Achievement (part 11)
Strategies for maintaining balance and focus
Monitor time
Monitor feelings
Hide from incessantly posting online friends when necessary
Check phone and email less often when studying
Refocus and take a nature walk
Basic Motivational Concepts,
Affiliation, and Achievement (part 12)
Achievement motivation
Desire for significant accomplishment, for mastery of skills or ideas, for control, and for attaining a high standard
High-motivation achievers
Accomplish more; greater financial success; healthier social relationships and emotional well-being
Demonstrate persistence, self-discipline, grit, and intrinsic motivation
Basic Motivational Concepts,
Affiliation, and Achievement (part 13)
Research-based strategies for achieving goals
Set concrete goals
Share goals with friends or family
Develop an implementation plan
Create short-term rewards that support long-term goals
Monitor and record progress
Create a supportive environment
Transform difficult behavior into habit
Hunger (part 1)
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Hunger (part 2)
Physiology of hunger
Body chemistry and the brain
Glucose
Set point
Basal metabolic rate
Physiology: Body chemistry and brain activity
Glucose: The form of sugar that circulates in the blood and provides the major source of energy for body tissues. When its level is low, we feel hunger.
Set point: The point at which your “weight thermostat” may be set. When your body falls below this weight, increased hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may combine to restore lost weight.
Basal metabolic rate: The body’s resting rate of energy output.
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The Hypothalamus
(a) The hypothalamus (colored orange) performs various body maintenance functions, including control of hunger. Blood vessels supply the hypothalamus, enabling it to respond to our current blood chemistry as well as to incoming neural information about the body’s state. (b) The fat mouse on the left has nonfunctioning receptors in the appetite-suppressing part of the hypothalamus.
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The Appetite Hormones
Hormones that increase appetite:
• Ghrelin: Hormone secreted by the empty stomach; sends “I’m hungry” signals to the brain.
• Orexin: Hunger-triggering hormone secreted by the hypothalamus.
Hormones that decrease appetite:
• Insulin: Hormone secreted by the pancreas; controls blood glucose.
• Leptin: Protein hormone secreted by fat cells; when abundant, causes the brain to increase metabolism and decrease hunger.
• PYY: Digestive tract hormone; sends “I’m not hungry” signals to the brain.
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Hunger (part 3)
Psychology of hunger
Hunger: Involves body chemistry, brain activity, and memory of time of last meal
Taste preferences: Influenced by body cues and environmental factors
Physiology: Body chemistry and brain activity
Countries with hot climates, in which food historically spoiled more quickly, feature recipes with more bacteria-inhibiting spices (Sherman & Flaxman, 2001). India averages nearly 10 spices per meat recipe; Finland, 2 spices.
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Hunger (part 4)
Situational influences on eating
Arousing appetite
Friends and food
Serving size
Selection
Nudging nutrition
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Hunger (part 5)
Effects of obesity
Physical health risks
Increased depression
Bullying
Physiology factors
Storing fat was adaptive
Set point and metabolism matter
Genes influence us
Environmental factors
Sleep loss
Social influences
Food and activity levels
Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) measurement of 30 or higher. Overweight individuals have a BMI of 25 or higher.
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Hunger (part 6)
Weight loss strategies
Begin when motivated and self-disciplined
Exercise and sleep adequately
Minimize exposure to tempting food cues
Limit variety and eat healthy foods
Reduce portions
Don’t starve and stuff
Decide what you will eat before eating with others
Chart progress online
Connect to a support group
Remember: Most people occasionally lapse!
Theories and Physiology of Emotion (part 1)
Emotion: arousal, behavior, and cognition
Components of emotion
Bodily arousal
Expressive behaviors
Conscious experience
How do these three pieces fit together
to explain emotion?
Theories and Physiology of Emotion (part 2)
James-Lange theory
Arousal comes before emotion
Arises from awareness of specific bodily responses to emotion-arousing stimuli
Cannon-Bard theory
Arousal and emotion occur simultaneously
Emotion-arousing stimuli trigger bodily responses and simultaneous subjective experience
Schachter-Singer two-factor theory
General arousal + conscious cognitive label = emotion
Spillover effect
Emotion: Response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience.
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Theories and Physiology of Emotion (part 3)
Zajonc-LeDoux theory
Some embodied responses happen instantly, without conscious appraisal
Acutely sensitive radar for emotionally significant information
Lazarus
Cognitive appraisal defines emotion, sometimes without awareness
Cognitive low road
Two Pathways for Emotions
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Theories and Physiology of Emotion (part 4)
In the two-track brain, sensory input may be (a) routed to the cortex (via the thalamus) for analysis and then transmitted to the amygdala, or (b) routed directly to the amygdala (via the thalamus) for an instant emotional reaction.
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Theories and Physiology of Emotion (part 5)
Embodied emotion
Basic emotions
Most emotion scientists: Anger, fear, disgust, sadness, happiness
Izard: Joy, interest–excitement, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, shame, guilt
Tracy and colleagues: Added pride, love
Are these emotions biologically distinct?
Theories and Physiology of Emotion (part 6)
To identify the emotions generally present in infancy, Carroll Izard analyzed the facial expressions of infants.
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Emotional Arousal
Like a crisis control center, the autonomic nervous system arouses the body in a crisis and calms it when danger passes.
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Theories and Physiology of Emotion (part 7)
Physiology of emotions
Different emotions can share common biological signatures
A single brain region can serve as the seat of different emotions
Insula
Some emotions have distinct brain circuits
Theories and Physiology of Emotion (part 8)
Lie detection
Polygraphs measure emotion-linked autonomic arousal
Changes in breathing, heart rate, and perspiration
About one-third of the time, polygraph test results are just wrong
The Concealed Information Test is more effective
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Expressing and Experiencing Emotion
(part 1)
Detecting emotions in others
The brain detects subtle expressions in reading nonverbal cues and nonverbal threats
Facial muscles reveal emotional signs
Deceit is difficult to discern
When viewing the morphed middle face, which evenly mixes anger with fear, physically abused children were more likely than nonabused children to perceive the face as angry (Pollak & Kistler, 2002; Pollak & Tolley-Schell, 2003).
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Expressing and Experiencing Emotion
(part 2)
Gender, emotion, and nonverbal behavior
Women generally surpass men
Reading emotional cues
Emotional literacy
Emotional responsiveness and expressiveness
Expressing empathy
Experiencing emotional events more deeply
Remembering these better
Male and female film viewers did not differ dramatically in self-reported emotions or physiological responses. But the women’s faces showed much more emotion. (Data from Kring & Gordon, 1998.)
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Male or Female?
Researchers manipulated a gender-neutral face. People were more likely to see it as male when it wore an angry expression and female when it wore a smile (Becker et al., 2007).
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Expressing and Experiencing Emotion
(part 3)
Culture and emotion
Signs across cultures
Crying when distressed; shaking head when defiant; smiling when happy
Facial muscles speak universal language; the degree varies among and within cultures
Gestures
Meanings vary from culture to culture
Facial expressions
Some nonverbal accents provide cultural cues
Culture and Emotion
As people of differing cultures, do our faces speak differing languages? Which face expresses disgust? Anger? Fear? Happiness? Sadness? Surprise? (From Matsumoto & Ekman, 1989.)
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Remember!
Like most psychological events, emotion is best understood not only as a biological and cognitive phenomenon, but also as a social-cultural phenomenon.
Expressing and Experiencing Emotion
(part 4)
The effects of facial expressions
Facial expression communicate, amplify, and regulate emotion
Facial feedback effect
Tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness
Behavior feedback effect
Tendency of behavior to influence our own and others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions
Thinking, Language, and Intelligence
Chapter 9
EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY
DAVID G. MYERS | C. NATHAN DEWALL
Chapter Overview
Thinking
Language and Thought
Intelligence and Its Assessment
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence
Thinking (part 1)
Cognition
All mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
Concept
Mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people
Simplifies thinking
Prototype
Mental image or best example of a category
Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories
Thinking (part 2)
Categorizing faces influences recollection. Shown a face that was 70 percent Caucasian, people tended to classify the person as Caucasian and to recollect the face as more Caucasian than it was. (Recreation of experiment courtesy of Olivier Corneille.)
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Thinking (part 3)
Problem solving: strategies
Trial and error
Algorithm: Methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem
Heuristic: Simple thinking strategy that often allows efficient judgments and problem solving
A heuristic is usually speedier but also more error-prone than an algorithm.
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Thinking (part 4)
Insight
Sudden realization of a problem’s solution
Contrasts with strategy-based solutions
A burst of right temporal lobe activity accompanied insight solutions to word problems (Jung-Beeman et al., 2004). The red dots designate EEG electrodes. The light gray lines show the distribution of high-frequency activity accompanying insight. The insight-related activity is centered in the right temporal lobe (yellow area).
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Thinking (part 5)
Problem solving: obstacles
Confirmation bias: Tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
Fixation: Inability to adopt to a fresh perspective
Mental set: Tendency to approach problems with a mindset of what has worked previously
Thinking (part 6)
Forming good (and bad) decisions and judgments
Intuition: Effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
Representativeness heuristic
Estimating likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes
May lead us to ignore other relevant information
Availability heuristic
Estimating likelihood of events based on their availability in memory
If instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common
Thinking (part 7)
The fear factor
Humans fear
What ancestral history has prepared us to fear
What cannot be controlled
What is immediate
What is most readily available in memory (availability) heuristic
We often fear the wrong things!
Thinking (part 8)
Overconfidence
Challenging
Tendency to overestimate accuracy of personal knowledge and judgments
Leads to overestimation of future leisure time and income (planning fallacy)
Can encourage political views, and lead to inflexibility and closed-mindedness
Adaptive
May boost self-confidence, make difficult decisions more easily, and seem competent
Thinking (part 9)
Belief perseverance
Tendency to cling to beliefs in the face of contrary evidence
Often uses motivated reasoning
Framing
Presentation of an issue
Can nudge attitudes and decisions
Thinking (part 10)
Smart intuition
Recognition born of experience
Usually adaptive, enabling quick reactions
Plays a huge role
Smart thinkers
Are deliberate and aware of intuitive option, but know when to override it.
Thinking (part 11)
Thinking creatively
Creativity: Ability to produce new and valuable ideas
Convergent thinking: Narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution
Divergent thinking: Expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions
Thinking (part 12)
Components of creativity (Sternberg and colleagues)
Expertise
Imaginative thinking skills
Venturesome personality
Intrinsic motivation
Creative environment
Strategies for boosting the creative process
Allow incubation time
Set aside time for the mind to roam freely
Experience other cultures and ways of thinking
Do Other Species Share Our Cognitive Skills?
Nonhuman animals, including all mammals and birds, have neural networks that generate consciousness (Low et al.)
Using concepts and numbers
Displaying insight
Transmitting culture
Other cognitive skills
Animal talents. (a) One male chimpanzee in Sweden’s Furuvik Zoo was observed every morning collecting stones into a neat little pile, which later in the day he used as ammunition to pelt visitors (Osvath & Karvonen, 2012). (b) Crows studied by Christopher Bird and Nathan Emery (2009) quickly learned to raise the water level in a tube and nab a floating worm by dropping in stones. Other crows have used twigs to probe for insects, and bent strips of metal to reach food.
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Language and Thought (part 1)
Language structure
Language
Phoneme
Morpheme
Grammar
Semantics
Syntax
Language: Spoken, written, or signed words and the ways these are combine to communicate meaning.
Phoneme: Smallest distinctive sound unit.
Morpheme: Smallest unit that carries meaning; may be a word or a part of a word.
Grammar: System of rules that enables communicate with and understanding of others.
Semantics: Set of rules for deriving meaning from sounds.
Syntax: Set of rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences.
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Language and Thought (part 2)
Language acquisition and development
Chomsky
Unlearned human trait
Universal grammar
Ibbotson and Tomasello (and others)
World languages are more structurally diverse than the universal grammar system
Grammar is learned from the distinct patterns heard
Universal grammar: Built-in predisposition to learn grammar rules.
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Language and Thought (part 3)
Brought together as if on a desert island (actually a school), Nicaragua’s young deaf children over time drew upon sign gestures from home to create their own Nicaraguan Sign Language, complete with words and intricate grammar.
What does this tell us about language?
Our biological predisposition for language does not create language in a vacuum. Instead, activated by a social context, nature and nurture work creatively together (Osborne, 1999; Sandler et al., 2005; Senghas & Coppola, 2001).
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Language and Thought (part 4)
Receptive language
Recognition of differences in speech sounds
Preference for face–sound match
Human infants come with a remarkable capacity to soak up language. But the particular language they learn will reflect their unique interactions with others.
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Language and Thought (part 5)
Productive language
Babbling stage
One-word stage
Two-word stage
Telegraphic speech
Babbling stage: Beginning around 4 months, the stage of speech development in which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language.
One-word stage: Stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words.
Two-word stage: Beginning about age2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements.
Telegraphic speech: Early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—“go car”—using mostly nouns and verbs.
20
Language and Thought (part 6)
Month (approximate) Stage
4 Babbles many speech sounds (“ah-goo”)
10 Babbling resembles household language (“ma-ma”)
12 One-word speech (“Kitty!”)
24 Two-word speech (“Get ball.”)
24+ Rapid development into complete sentences
Language and Thought (part 7)
Critical periods
Language development follows a sequence
Childhood represents a sensitive period for mastering certain language aspects
The ability to master any language is lost around age 7, if exposure to spoken or signed language does not occur
Prelingually deaf children born to hearing–nonsigning parents typically become linguistically stunted
Language and Thought (part 8)
Our Ability to Learn a New Language Diminishes with Age
Ten years after coming to the United States, Asian immigrants took an English grammar test. Although there is no sharply defined critical period for second- language learning, those who arrived before age 8 understood American English grammar as well as native speakers did. Those who arrived later did not. (Data from Johnson & Newport, 1991.)
23
Language and Thought (part 9)
The brain and language
The brain divides mental functions into subfunctions to process language; parallel processing occurs.
Damage to any of several cortical areas can produce aphasia.
Damage to left frontal lobe (Broca’s area): Can sing familiar songs and comprehend speech; struggle with speech production
Damage to left temporal lobe (Wernicke’s area): Can speak only meaningless words; unable to understand speech of others
Language and Thought (part 10)
Language and Thought (part 11)
Do other species have language?
Some animals display basic language processing
Gardner and Gardner (Washoe) (1960s)
Savage-Rumbaugh and colleagues (Kanzi) (1993; 2009)
Skeptics
Simple, ape vocabularies are limited
Learning may be mimicry, not language
Perceptual sets are not clearly seen
Rules of syntax are not evident
Language and Thought (part 12)
Linguistic determinism
Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think
Linguistic relativism
Language has influence on the way we think
Words define mental categories
Perceived differences grow and change with different assigned names (colors)
Different personality profiles may exist in bilingual individuals; bilingual advantage
Language and Thought (part 13)
Language and Perception
When people view blocks of equally different colors, they perceive those with different names as more different. Thus the “green” and “blue” in contrast A may appear to differ more than the two equally different blues in contrast B
28
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 1)
What is intelligence?
Intelligence: Ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations
General intelligence (g): According to Spearman and others, underlies all mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 2)
Theories of multiple intelligence
Gardner’s multiple intelligences
Eight (later nine) relatively independent intelligences
Intelligence domains include multiple abilities that come in various configurations
Savant syndrome
Sternberg’s three intelligences
Analytical (academic problem-solving) intelligence
Creative intelligence
Practical intelligence
Gardner and Sternberg differ in some areas, but they agree on two important points: Multiple abilities can contribute to life success, and differing varieties of giftedness bring both spice to life and challenges for education. After being trained to appreciate such variety, many teachers have applied multiple intelligence theories in their classrooms.
30
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 3)
Gardner’s Eight Intelligences
Gardner has also proposed existential intelligence (the ability to ponder deep questions about life) as a ninth possible intelligence.
31
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 4)
Criticisms of multiple intelligence theories
Factor analysis confirms the existence of the general intelligence factor (g)
Extremely high cognitive-ability scores predict exceptional achievements
Expert performance and the 10-year rule
32
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 5)
Emotional Intelligence
Critical part of social intelligence
Includes four abilities
Perceiving emotions
Understanding emotions
Managing emotions
Using emotions
Gardner includes interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence
Social intelligence is the know-how involved in understanding social situations and managing yourself successfully (Cantor, Kihlstron, Thorndike, & Goleman).
33
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 6)
Theory Summary Strengths Other Considerations
Spearman’s general
intelligence (g) A basic intelligence predicts
our abilities in varied academic
areas. Different abilities, such as verbal and spatial, do have some tendency to correlate. Human abilities are
too diverse to be
encapsulated by a single general intelligence factor.
Gardner’s multiple
intelligences Our abilities are best classified
into eight or nine independent
intelligences, which include a
broad range of skills beyond
traditional school smarts. Intelligence is more than just verbal and mathematical skills. Other abilities are equally important to our human adaptability. Should all our abilities be considered intelligences? Shouldn’t some be called less vital talents?
Sternberg’s triarchic theory Our intelligence is best classified into three areas that predict real-world success: analytical, creative, and practical. These three domains can be reliably measured. These three domains may be less independent than
Sternberg thought and
may actually share an
underlying g factor.
Emotional intelligence Social intelligence is an
important indicator of life
success. Emotional intelligence is a key aspect, consisting of perceiving, understanding, managing, and using emotions. These four components predict social success and emotional well-being. Does this stretch the
concept of intelligence
too far?
34
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 7)
Assessing intelligence
Intelligence tests: Assess mental aptitudes and compare them with those of others, using numerical scores
Achievement tests: Intended to reflect what is learned
Aptitude tests: Intended to predict ability to learn some new skill
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 8)
What do intelligence tests take?
Binet: Predicting school achievement
Same course of intellectual development; rate differs
Mental age
Terman: Measuring innate intelligence
Numerical measure of intelligence (Standard–Binet); relative to average performance
Intelligence quotient (IQ)
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 9)
What do intelligence tests take?
Wechsler: Tests separate strengths
Yields overall intelligence score and separate scores for verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed
Versions
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISCI); preschool version
2008 WAIS subsets
Similarities
Vocabulary
Block design
Letter–number sequencing
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 10)
Three tests of a “good” test
Standardized
Normal curve
Reliable
Split-half
Test-retest
Correlation
Valid
Predictive validity
Scores on aptitude tests tend to form a normal, or bell-shaped, curve around an average score. For the Wechsler scale, for example, the average score is 100.
38
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 11)
Extremes of intelligence
Low extreme (Intellectual disability)
Apparent before age 18
Criteria for diagnosis
Intelligence test score indicating performance in lowest 3 percent of general population, or about 70 or below
Difficulty adapting to normal demands of independent living
Conceptual
Social
Practical
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 12)
Extremes of intelligence
High extreme
Terman’s high-scoring children; IQ over 135; high levels of education attained
Lubinski’s high math SAT scores at age 13; top 1 percent; 1650 patents by age 50
Kell and others high verbal aptitude 13-year-old; professors or doctorates at age 38
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 13)
Intelligence across the life span
Before age 3: Modest prediction of future aptitudes from casual observation and intelligence tests
By age 4: Intelligence tests begin to predict adolescent and adult score
By ages 11 to 70: Impressive stability, independent of life circumstances
The consistency of scores over time increases with the age of the child.
41
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 14)
When Ian Deary and his colleagues retested 80-year-old Scots, using an intelligence test they had taken as 11-year-olds, their scores across seven decades correlated +0.66, as shown here. (Data from Deary et al., 2004.) When 106 survivors were again retested at age 90, the correlation with their age 11 scores was +0.54 (Deary et al., 2013).
42
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 15)
Why do children and adults who are more intelligent tend to live healthier and longer lives?
Intelligence facilitates more education, better jobs, and a healthier environment.
Intelligence encourages healthy living: less smoking, better diet, more exercise.
Prenatal events or early childhood illnesses can influence both intelligence and health.
A “well-wired body,” as evidenced by fast reaction speeds, may foster both intelligence and longevity.
43
Thinking Critically About Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Studies
Researchers using the cross-sectional method study different groups at one time. They have found that mental ability declines with age.
Researchers using the longitudinal method study and restudy the same group at different times in their life span. They have found that intelligence remains stable, and on some tests it even increases.
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 16)
Aging and Intelligence
Cohort
Crystallized intelligence
Fluid intelligence
Intelligence and Its Assessment (part 17)
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 1)
Heredity and intelligence
Heritability: Portion of variation among people in group that is attributed to genes
Heritability of intelligence: Varies from study to study
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 2)
The most genetically similar people have the most similar intelligence scores. Remember: 1.00 indicates a perfect correlation; zero indicates no correlation at all. (Data from McGue et al., 1993.)
48
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 3)
Environment and intelligence
Several studies suggest that a shared environment exerts a modest influence on intelligence test scores.
Adoption from poverty into middle-class homes
Adoption of mistreated or neglected children
Intelligence scores of “virtual twins”
Genetic influences become more apparent as life experience is accumulated.
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 4)
50
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 5)
Gene–environment interactions
Epigenetics: Microbiology study of nature–nurture nexus
Genes shape experiences that can shape us in positive and negative ways
Severe deprivation and brain development
Impact of early intervention
Growth mindset
Focus on learning and growing; belief that intelligence is changeable
Ability + opportunity + motivation = success
51
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 6)
Group differences in intelligence test scores
Gender similarities and differences
Men estimate own intelligence as higher than do women
Actual differences are minor; influence may be related to social expectations and opportunities
During school
Girls outpace boys in spelling, verbal fluency, and locating objects; increased sensitivity to emotions, touch, taste, and color
Boys outperform girls on complex math problems, spatial ability tests; more low and high extremes
Little gender difference in math computation and overall math
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 7)
Racial and ethnic similarities and differences: Scientifically agreed-upon facts
Racial and ethnic groups IQ test score differences
High-scoring people (and groups) are more likely to attain higher education and income levels
Group differences provide little basis for judging individuals
Might racial and ethnic gaps be environmental?
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Intelligence (part 8)
Are intelligence tests biased?
Depends on which definition of bias is used
Scientific meaning based on test validity
Everyday language considers fairness or unfairness of a test
Test-taker expectations
Stereotype threat
Stress, Health, and
Human Flourishing
Chapter 11
EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY
DAVID G. MYERS | C. NATHAN DEWALL
Chapter Overview
Stress and Illness
Health and Happiness
Stress and Illness (part 1)
Stress: Some basic concepts
Process of appraising and responding to a threatening or challenging event
Stressor
Stress reaction
Positive effects
Short-lived or perceived as challenge
Immune system mobilization; motivation; resilience
Negative effects
Extreme or prolonged stress
Risky decision making and unhealthy behaviors
Stress and Illness (part 2)
Stress appraisal: Events of our lives flow through a psychological filter. How we appraise an event influences how much stress we experience and how effectively we respond to that stress.
4
Stress and Illness (part 3)
Stressors
Catastrophes
Large-scale disasters
Acculturative stress
Significant life changes
Life transitions
Cluster of crises
Daily hassles
Compounded by prejudice and life circumstances
Psychological and physical consequences
Stress and Illness (part 4)
Stress response system
Cannon
Stress response is part of a unified mind–body system
Fight-or-flight adaptive response
Selye
General adaptation syndrome (GAS)
Phase 1: Alarm reaction
Phase 2: Resistance
Phase 3: Exhaustion
Human body copes well with temporary stress but may be damaged by prolonged stress
Stress and Illness (part 5)
Due to the ongoing conflict, Syria’s White Helmets (volunteer rescuers) are perpetually in “alarm reaction” mode, rushing to pull victims from the rubble after each fresh attack. As their resistance is depleted, they risk exhaustion.
Gender differences in coping strategies
Earlier death
Tend-and-befriend response
Withdrawal
7
Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome
Stress and Illness (part 6)
Stress and vulnerability to disease
Health psychology: Subfield of psychology that provides psychology’s contribution to behavioral medicine
Psychoneuroimmunology: Study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health
Stress and Illness (part 7)
Psychological states have physiological effects
Stress can reduce the ability to fight disease
Trigger immune suppression
Delay surgical wound healing
Increase vulnerability to colds
Hasten disease course
Stress does not cause illness, but it does alter immune functioning that reduces the ability to resist infection
Stress and Health
Stress and Illness (part 8)
Cancer
Stress does not create cancer cells
Heart disease
Coronary heart disease
Type A personality
Type B personality
Inflammation
Blood vessel inflammation
A Harvard School of Public Health team found pessimistic men had a doubled risk of developing heart disease over a 10-year period. (Data from Kubzansky et al., 2001.)
12
Does Stress Cause Illness?
13
Stress and Illness (part 9)
Anger management
Individualist cultures
Venting rage
Catharsis (emotional release)
Fails to cleanse rage
Can magnify anger (behavior feedback research)
Backfire potential
Anger management strategies
Wait
Find healthy distraction or support
Distance yourself
14
Health and Happiness (part 1)
Coping with stress
Coping: Alleviating stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methods
Problem-focused coping: Attempting to alleviate stress directly—by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor
Emotion-focused coping: Attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and by attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction
Health and Happiness (part 2)
Coping with stress
Perceived loss of control
Losing personal control provokes stress hormone output
Rising stress hormone levels related to blood pressure increase and immune response decreases
Learned helplessness
Learned helplessness: When animals and people experience no control over repeated bad events, they often learn helplessness.
16
Health and Happiness (part 3)
Coping with stress
External locus of control
Chance or outside forces control fate
Posttraumatic stress symptoms
Internal locus of control
People control their own fate
Free will, willpower, and self-control
Health and Happiness (part 4)
Building self-control
Self-control
Ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for longer-term rewards
Predicts good health, higher income, and better school performance
Strengthening self-control: Practice in overcoming unwanted urges
Depleting self-control: Depletion effect
Health and Happiness (part 5)
Explanatory style: Optimism versus pessimism
Optimists
Expect to have more control, to cope better with stressful events, and to enjoy better health
Optimism tends to run in families
Optimistic students
Tend to get better grades
Respond to setbacks with more productive strategies
Health and Happiness (part 6)
Social support
Feeling liked and encouraged by intimate friends and family
Promotes happiness and health
Social isolation
Leads to higher loneliness and risk of death equivalent to smoking
Health and Happiness (part 7)
Research-based findings about the health benefits of social support
Calms and reduces blood pressure and stress hormones
Fosters stronger immune functioning
Provides an opportunity to confide painful feelings
Health and Happiness (part 8)
Reducing stress
Aerobic exercise: Sustained, oxygen-consuming exertion that increases heart and lung fitness
Benefits of exercise
Adds to quality of life (moderate)
Helps fight heart disease and reduce heart attack risk
Predictor of life satisfaction
Reduces depression and anxiety
22
Health and Happiness (part 9)
23
Health and Happiness (part 10)
Reducing stress
Biofeedback
Recording, amplifying, and feeding back information about subtle physiological responses (many of which are controlled by the autonomic nervous system)
Works best on tension headaches
Relaxation
Helps alleviate headaches, hypertension, anxiety, and insomnia
Lowers stress
Promotes better wound healing
24
Health and Happiness (part 11)
Recurrent Heart Attacks and Lifestyle Modification
The San Francisco Recurrent Coronary Prevention Project offered counseling from a cardiologist to survivors of heart attacks. Those who were also guided in modifying their Type A lifestyle suffered fewer repeat heart attacks. (Data from Friedman & Ulmer, 1984.)
25
Health and Happiness (part 12)
Reducing stress
Meditation
Reduces suffering
Improves awareness, insight, and compassion
Mindfulness meditation
Relaxation and silent attendance to inner space; monitored breathing
Linked with lessened anxiety and depression, as well as improved sleep, interpersonal relationships, and immune system functioning
26
Health and Happiness (part 13)
What happens in the brain as mindfulness is practiced?
Correlational and experimental studies offer three explanations
Mindfulness strengthens connections among regions in our brain
Mindfulness activates brain regions associated with more reflective awareness
Mindfulness calms brain activation in emotional situations
27
Health and Happiness (part 14)
Faith communities and health
Faith factor
Religiously active people tend to live longer than inactive people
Women are more religiously active than men and outlive them
One 28-year study followed 5286 Alameda, California, adults (Oman et al., 2002; Strawbridge, 1999; Strawbridge et al., 1997). Controlling for age and education, the researchers found that not smoking, regular exercise, and religious attendance all predicted a lowered risk of death in any given year. Women attending weekly religious services, for example, were only 54 percent as likely to die in a typical study year as were nonattenders.
28
Health and Happiness (part 15)
Possible explanations for the correlation between religious involvement and health/longevity.
29
Happiness (part 1)
Positive psychology (Seligman)
Feel-good, do-good phenomenon
Subjective well-being
Core features
Good life that engages one’s skills; meaningful life that extends beyond self
Positive traits that focus on exploring and enhancing a wide range of behaviors
Positive groups, communities, and cultures
“Positive psychology,” Seligman and colleagues (2005) have said, “is an umbrella term for the study of positive emotions, positive character traits, and enabling institutions.”
30
Happiness (part 2)
What affects well-being?
Emotional ups and downs of days and within-days rebound
Rebounding from worse events takes longer; even tragedy is not permanently depressing
Duration of emotions is overestimated; resiliency is underestimated
Happiness (part 3)
Wealth and well-being
People in rich countries are happier than people in poorer countries
The power to increase happiness is strongest at lower incomes
Once enough money for comfort and security is attained, accruing more money matters less
Economic growth in affluent countries has provided no apparent boost to people’s morale or social well-being
Happiness (part 4)
Happiness is relative: Adaptation and comparison
Happiness is relative to our own experience
Adaptation-level phenomenon
Happiness is relative to the success of others
Relative deprivation
Happiness (part 5)
Researchers Have Found That Happy People Tend to However, Happiness Seems Not Much Related to Other Factors, Such as
Have high self-esteem (in individualist countries). Age.
Be optimistic, outgoing, and agreeable. Gender (women are more often depressed, but also more often joyful).
Have close, positive, and lasting relationships. Physical attractiveness.
Have work and leisure that engage their skills.
Have an active religious faith (especially in more religious cultures).
Sleep well and exercise.
Happiness (part 6)
Which suggestions can you provide for a happier life? What did the text suggest?
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