Chapter 4 Psych Notes-3

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Chapter 4Consciousness: Sleep, Dreams, and Hypnosis

Consciousness defines various levels of awareness. We can be fullyaware, as when we are paying attention to someone or something. Wecan be partially aware of our surroundings, as when we are driving or

daydreaming. We are aware of the road, the lines, and hopefully othercars. However, we may see for the first time a house that is near theroad. We have traveled this same road to school for the last 8 months,yet never noticed the house. Sometimes we reach our destination andrealize that we do not remember crossing this road, or turning, etc.However, we were still somewhat aware because we made it to ourfinal destination.Consciousness can be an automatic or controlled process: automatic processes do not require our full attention (ie., doing dishes, watchingtelevision, driving); controlled processes require our full attention (ie,learning how to drive, hitting a baseball with a bat, carrying on a

thought-provoking conversation). Our awareness of our surroundingsvary between these two extremes. Sleep, hypnosis, and drugs canalso cause varying levels of awareness.Sleep

While sleeping, we may toss and turn in bed. However, we do not fallout of bed. We may kick off or pull up the covers without being awake.We can even carry on a conversation while asleep. We will soundcoherent, although we probably will remember very little of thisconversation in the morning.Sleep is divided into five stages: 1, 2, 3, 4, and REM. Distinctions existbetween REM and non-REM (stages 1, 2, 3, and 4) sleep.

Non-REM sleep:+ breathing rate decreases+ bodies become relaxed+ still able to move our bodies+ brain activity decreases (fewer neurons are firing at this timecompared to wakefulness)+ still able to process external information (alarm clock, telephone,others' voices, end of the bed, where the furniture is placed)+ experience hypnogogic hallucinations (stage 1) - During ourprogression from wakefulness to sleep, we may perceive somethingthat is not really present. For example, you may awaken because you

felt someone touch you. However, no one is in the room. You may hearyour name being called, yet no one is around. If you have just fallenasleep in your chair, you may feel a false sense of falling. Theseexperiences are hallucinations because no real stimulus (voice, tap onshoulder) exists.+ experience hypnik jerk - When you first fall asleep and your musclesbegin to relax, your arms or legs may jerk. In some cases, the jerk maybe strong enough to awaken you.



+ experience dreams - These dreams are likely to be less active,colorful and memorable than dreams that are experienced in REMsleep.REM sleep:+ brain activity increases (especially in the cerebral cortex)

+ heart rate increases+ eyes begin to dart back and forth (rapid eye movement)+ called paradoxical sleep because our internal bodies appear to beawake, yet we cannotmove our bodies+ vivid, colorful, active, and memorable dreams occur during thisstage of sleep

Sleep cycle

The typical sleep cycle moves from stages 1-2-3-4-3-2-REM. The sleepcycle repeats every 90 minutes, with one exception. After the firstcycle, REM replaces stage 1. As the night progresses, deep sleep

(stage 3 and 4) decreases and REM increases. We need a balance of REM and non-REM sleep to feel rested in the morning. If the sleep cycleis disrupted, the quality of sleep is disrupted. We would then feel tiredin the morning, even if we slept the necessary eight hours. The sleep cycle can be influenced by:age- babies spend more time in REM sleep than older children andadultsstress- increases REM sleepdepressants (ie., alcohol, cough syrup, medication for some mentalillnesses)- decreases both REM and non-REM sleepsleeping pills- decreases REM (you get the quantity, not the quality of

sleep needed)sleep deprivations- experience a REM rebound; once you do get tosleep, you will quickly pass through non-REM sleep and spend most of the night in REM sleep - you will still feel tired when you wake upbecause the quality of sleep is still disruptedTherefore, one could understand that since stress, depressants and sleeping pills disruptquality of sleep, a person experiencing or using any of these factors could feel sleepy

during wakeful periods.

Sleep problemsInsomnia- difficulty attaining or maintaining sleep - this problem is the

most diagnosed sleep disorder - treatments include sleeping pills (fastand effective, yet can cause addiction, imbalance of sleep cycle{decreases REM}, and rebound of insomnia when no longer taking thesleeping pills), behavioral techniques (slower to treat but does notcreate addiction, insomnia rebound, or decrease of REM) - behavioraltechniques include:

• go to bed only when sleepy • do nothing else in the bedroom besides sleep (associate the bed



with rest instead of stress of doing homework, excitement of thetelevision program, exercise or sex)

• if you cannot get to sleep within 20 minutes, get up and do anactivity that will make you sleepy- (read, watch tv, knit, crochet,go for a ride {you, of course, are not the driver} - do not exercise

at this time)• exercise before noon • proper diet (decrease caffeine, sugar, fat and alcohol)• establish a regular schedule (if you get up at 7:00 am and go to

bed at 11:00pm during the weekdays, you should follow thisschedule as best you can on the weekends - if you stay up until2:00am on Friday, try to get up by 8:00 - 8:30 on Saturday - donot sleep until noon - this late morning sleeping will catch up toyou on Sunday night when you want to go to bed by 11:00pm)

• do not nap Narcolepsy- sudden bouts of REM sleep during wakefulness - A person

could be awake and then suddenly fall asleep. This person will skipnon-REM sleep and enter right into REM sleep during this episode.Narcoleptic attacks may be brought on by stress or strong emotionalsituations. This person will often feel tired during the day and may bemis-diagnosed. Medication can be used to treat the symptoms.

Sleep apnea - episodes of not breathing while asleep - This individual may also feel tired

during the day. Individuals who snore and "snort" while sleeping should be checked for

apnea. The snorting may be an indication that the person is grasping for breath or just

beginning to breath again. The severity of the problem varies from person to person.Treatments include surgery and/or receiving oxygen through a mask while sleeping.

Nightmares - bad dreams usually experienced during REM sleep

Night terrors - bouts or neurological panic attacks while asleep - This person may

appear to wake up screaming or swinging at objects or people. This individual is stillasleep. He most likely will not remember the episode upon wakening. Night terrors are

most diagnosed in young children and adolescents. Most people outgrow these

symptoms. Some theorists believe that night terrors are related to elevated stress levels.

Night terrors are not bad dreams; most people do not remember a dream during theepisode (if they remember the episode at all).

Somnambulism - sleep walking - Sleep walking can be dangerous if the person starts playing with the steak knives or decides to take a walk outside. Most sleepwalking is

harmless. Special locks or bells may need to be placed on doors or kitchen draws. You

can safely wake up a sleep walker (although the person may be extremely disoriented,therefore may swing at you). If the person is engaging in a harmless activity, you can let

the person go or guide her back to her bedroom. If the person is going outside, you

should seriously consider waking (from a distance) this person.



Dreams

Everyone dreams, even though a person may not remember thedreams. An average person (sleeping eight hours) will experience avivid dream state four – five times per night. We dream in color,although color is the first part of our dreams that we forget. Our

dreams are easier to recall right after the dream. For example, youwake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and you areremembering the dream that you just had; in the morning you may notremember that dream. We spend more time in REM closer to morning,so we are more likely to remember the dreams that we had later in oursleep period.Dream content Three most common themes of reported dreams include:

• falling• being chased or attacked• trying but failing to accomplish something

Two-thirds of reported dreams involve fear, sadness and anger. Aggression is more

common than friendliness (2:1) in our dreams.

Some researchers have found a gender difference in dream content.

Females are reported to dream more about indoors places, familiarplaces and people. Males report dreaming about engaging in sex andphysical activity, being outside the home and interacting withstrangers.Why do we dream?Psychologists are still not sure why humans dream. There are three

theories that have been used to explain dreaming. The most recognized theory of dreaming is Freud's psychoanalyticwish fulfillment theory. Freud believed that dreams containinformation from our unconscious minds. As we dream, theunconscious content leaks into awareness. He believed that we mustlook for symbols or hidden meanings of our dreams. In other words, weshould not look at the face value of the dream, rather we need tounderstand what it represents. He also believed that we dream aboutthings that are not socially acceptable, yet we still have the desire toperform (ie., having sex at a football game, hitting your child's teacheror ball coach). Freud believed that we have two basic drives that

motivate our behavior: sex and aggression. Since it is not sociallyacceptable to engage in these behaviors in all circumstances, we willdream about the activity. According to Freud, this is wish fulfillment.Let's say for example, you are having problems with your parentsbecause of the strict discipline that they impose. You may dream abouta police officer (representing your parents) giving you a ticket(representing discipline) and you respond by spitting in his face(unacceptable action/wish fulfillment). Freud would interpret dreams



and look for symbolism and wish fulfillment.A second theory of dreaming is the cognitive problem solving theory. According to

theorists, our dreams exist to help us solve problems. If we are having problems with our

parents, we will dream about our parents or the issue. If we just received a speedingticket, we may dream about the police officer and the anger felt or a trip to the bank to get

the money for the ticket. Remember that when we experience stress, we spend more timein REM sleep. We need more time to deal with our stress, so we spend more time in

REM. We take our dreams at face value; no interpretation is necessary.

The third theory of dreaming is the biological activation-synthesis theory. According to

this theory, our dreams are random by-products of neurons firing in our brains. Activationin the concept title represents the random firing, especially by the pons and reticular

formation. Synthesis represents the cortex's activity of trying to pull everything (random

firing) together into a coherent story. However, since the firing is random, many timesour dreams will not make sense.

Which theory best explains why we dream? Psychologists do not know. Much evidenceexists to support both the biological and cognitive theories, however many theorists and practitioners believe the psychoanalytic theory. The answer may be that a combination of

all three theories best explain why we dream.

Hypnosis

Psychologists do not fully understand hypnosis. Hypnosis is believed to be a differentlevel of awareness. You can still process information in the environment and you have

control over what you do and say. Not everyone can be hypnotized. Desire and openness

to the experience must be present. Persons who can read a book, play a game, watch a

show and feel as if they are actually part of the scene represent better candidates for hypnosis. The person devotes full attention to what he or she is doing. Better candidates

engage easily in fantasy, devote deeper attention to a task, and exhibit a higher level of

gullibility.

What can hypnosis achieve?

+ relaxation (great way to deal with stress)+ increase pain tolerance (attention is directed away from the pain)+ post-hypnotic suggestion (if a person wants to lose weight or stopsmoking, hypnotism may work - the underlying desire or motivationmust be there)What hypnosis cannot achieve: There is no scientific proof that hypnosis can do the following:- regress to a previous life- regress to an earlier age (you may start acting like you are threeyears old, but the details that you describe are not likely to be true - aschema may be activated to influence behavior while hypnotized)- lose control (you still have the final say or control on what you do or



say while hypnotized)Questionable:Research is conflicting on the belief that hypnosis can improve yourmemory. For example, if you were in a car wreck in which you were nothurt but someone else was killed, you may block this information from

memory. Some psychologists have found that hypnosis may help youretrieve this information; others have found hypnosis to be ineffectiveas a memory aid."); }SENSATION/PERCEPTION

This chapter addresses sensation and perception. We will talk about the type of

information that gets into our system and then how we interpret that information.

Sensation is the conversion of energy from the environment into a pattern of response by

the nervous system. Sensation includes the registration of information or the raw data

that we receive.

Perception involves making sense of or interpreting the information brought in from the

environment through the senses. Light rays striking your eyes or sound waves strikingyour ears would be sensation. When you say such things as "I see my roommate" or "I

hear the bell ringing" you are expressing your perception of what those sensations mean.

We live in a world of stimuli- information expressed in energies that influence everything

that we do. Our eyes, ears, and other sensory organs are packed with receptors -

specialized cells that convert environmental energies into signals for the nervous system(sensation). These receptors pick up the stimuli and we translate it into information that

we can express or store (perception).

Newborn abilities From birth, infants' senses all operate to some degree and the sensorycapabilities develop rapidly over the first years of life.TOUCH - infants' sensitivity to touch and pain increases during the first5 days after birth. Many parents suffer as they watch their babies inpain when going through such procedures as circumcision and heellancing (used to obtain blood samples). Doctors had shied away fromgiving anesthesia because of a persistent belief that the neonate does

not feel pain and because of the known effects of the drugs. Newevidence differs, showing that when going through these procedures,infants cry more, have higher heart rates and blood pressure, andsweat more during the procedure. Infants will also pull their legs away(more persistent than natural reflex) from the pin prick of the heellancing.PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS:



1. changes in some neonatal surgical procedures and concern for safelevels of pain medication;2. reconsideration for routine circumcisionDevelopment of touch - Haptic perception (exploring by touch)increases during infancy, especially after fine motor (use of small

muscles) skills develop. Infants increase use of their fingers to explorethe world.

TASTE - Newborns can discriminate between tastes. They reject badtasting liquids and prefer sweet tastes over bitter ones. As thesubstance becomes sweeter, infants will suck harder and drink more.Researchers have discovered evidence that sugar water can besoothing for infants' pains. Those infants with sugar laced pacifierscried less during surgical procedures than infants with plain pacifiersand those without pacifiers. Although sugar can be initially soothing,the substance should not be used as a consistent means to pacify an

infant. Parents must consider the infant's digestive system and theability to break down or handle sugary substances.Babies can differentiate the four different types of tastes (sweet, sour,bitter, salty).SMELL - Facial expressions show that infants like the aroma of vanillaand strawberries and do not like the odor of fish and rotten eggs.When a baby’s cheek is touched by an ammonia cotton swab on oneside, the infant turns the head to the side without the ammonia.During the first week of life, babies can discriminate between the smellof his/her mothers nursing pad and another woman's nursing pad(contains smell of breast milk).

HEARING - Infant audition is not as sensitive as adults’ audition. Anewborn hears as well as an adult with a head cold. Part of the reasonfor this difference may be due to fluids that may have seeped into theinner ear during the birth process. Infants, though sometimesinaccurate, turn their heads in the direction of auditory stimuli. Asearly as three days old infants can already tell new speech patternsfrom those they have already heard. They stop responding to thefamiliar but are attentive to the novel sounds.Intensity, loudness and frequency are important variables whendetermining what an infant can/cannot hear. Infants show adult likehearing patterns with high frequencies (human voices), but are poorer

with low frequencies. Infants prefer to listen to sounds that fall withinthe same frequency range of the human voice.Studies have shown that 3 day old infants can discriminate and evenprefer their mother’s voice over that of a female stranger. Currentstudies are linking these findings to fetal audition. Auditory learningoccurs before birth (recognize mother, prefers stories readin uterocompared to novel ones). Evidence has also been found thatinfants can discriminate or categorize components of language into



vowel and consonant categories. However, as they mature and beginto acquire the language of their culture, they make finer distinctions of the components of their language and lose the discriminative abilitiesfor sounds that are not used in native tongue. (THEY ARE BORN WITH THIS ABILITY TO DISCRIMINATE SOUNDS THAT ARE NOT USED IN THEIR

CULTURAL SPEECH BUT EVENTUALLY LOSE IT).MUSIC LISTENERS? Infants prefer music or rhythmic patterns over nonrhythmic noise. Actually infants can find noise quite aversive. Futureresearch can tell us whether infants prefer Mozart, Motown, Madonnaor Motley Crue..VISION - Newborn babies blink at bright lights and shift their gaze tofollow a moving light or target. They turn their heads toward light, andcan distinguish light intensity. Babies tend to look longer at patternedstimuli compared to unpatterned displays. Researchers found newbornacuity to be 20/400 - 20/800 (normal is 20/20). By 3 months of age,acuity is 20/100, and by 12 months acuity is at adult level.

PERIPHERAL VISION - Infants have a much smaller peripheral field thanadults. The field significantly increases by 3 months of age.COLOR VISION Infants seem to have relatively mature color perceptionwithin the first few months of life. Black and white contrasts are shownto be the baby's first visual preference. At birth they can discriminatebetween red and green. The cones are functioning for these two colors(red and green) at birth. By the 2nd month of life, all of the colorreceptors are working, which means the receptors for the color blueare working. At 3 months babies prefer yellow and red over blue andgreen.CONTRASTS AND PATTERNS - Babies tend to look more at high contrast

patterns with many sharp boundaries between light and dark areas.Very young infants (2 months) prefer to look at moderately complexpatterns (e.g., bull’s eye) rather than simpler ones (basic shapes orsolid colors) and at curvilinear rather than linear features. Infants arevery captivated by things that move. Infants will spend more timelooking at a rotating object than at a comparable one that is stationary.Babies prefer to look at things that they see well and those things aremoderately complex, high contrast targets that move.

COMMON PROPERTIES OF SENSORY MODALITIES

I. Sensitivity. One of the most striking aspects about our sensory modalities is that theyare extremely sensitive at detecting changes in the environment. The most common way

to assess the sensitivity of a sensory modality is to determine the minimum magnitude of a stimulus that can be reliably discriminated from no stimulus at all - for ie., the weakest

light that can be reliably discriminated from darkness.

The minimum magnitude is referred to as absolute threshold. Absolute threshold

defines the stimulus value above which the stimulus can be detected and below which it



cannot be detected. This threshold is not really absolute; it is a statistically determined

concept that specifies the probability that the stimulus will be detected on any given trial.

It is the minimum intensity at which a given individual can detect a stimulus 50% of thetime.

Approximate minimum stimuli for various senses.

Vision - Candle flame seen at 30 miles on a dark, clear night.

Hearing - Tick of a watch at 20 feet under quiet conditionsTaste - One tsp. of sugar in 2 gallons of water

Smell - One drop of perfume diffused into the entire volume of SIX rooms.

Touch - The wing of a fly falling on your cheek from a distance of one centimeter.

Difference threshold. Another type of threshold or measure of sensitivity is the

difference threshold (or just noticeable difference), which defines the minimal change instimulation that can be reliably detected. That change is measured with respect to some

existing condition of stimulation. For example, if you are observing light, the investigator

will attempt to discover how much greater the intensity of that light must be before you

can say that it is brighter.

Sensory differences. There are many factors that could influence a person's sensory

sensitivity.

1. Individual differences. Within the human species there are receptor differences across

individuals. Some people have greater sensitivity to taste, some have difficulty hearingsounds at particular frequencies, and some have problems distinguishing among different

colors.

2. Developmental differences. Some of the receptor differences are due to developmental processes. Infants doe not have same visual acuity as adults until they are one-year-old.

As we reach older adulthood, our senses become dulled.

3. Situational factors. Even within the same person, receptor sensitivity differs from time

to time. For example, suppose you attend a concert in which the music is very loud.

Immediately after the concert, you may have trouble hearing what your friends are sayingand have to increase the volume of your radio for the sound level to seem normal.

4. Sensory adaptation. Another way in which receptor sensitivity can change is called

sensory adaptation. For example, you move to a new home where you find that the

water has a bad taste because it contains certain minerals or chemicals. Yet after a short

time you no longer notice the bad taste. You might perceive a horrible smell as you enter

a friend's house, yet find that after a short stay the smell seems to disappear. Sensoryadaptation is a loss of sensitivity that usually occurs at the receptor level in all sensory

systems when stimuli are unchanging.



Sensory adaptation is generally a useful process, and we are often grateful that our senses

act in this way. Nevertheless, when adapted, our receptors can be less sensitive to certainstimuli, so that we might not be able to hear sounds or taste certain foods that we could

perceive when our receptors were in a more normal state of operation. Responsitivity

may also decrease at the neural level due to repeated stimulation. This repeated process iscalled habituation. It differs from adaptation in that responsiveness can suddenly

reappear if the stimulation level is increase or decreased (dishabituation).

Sensory adaptation offers an important benefit: It enables us to focus our attention on

informative changes in our environment without being distracted by the uninformative,

constant stimulation of odor, noise, etc. Our sensory receptors are alert to novelty; bore

them with repetition and they free our attention for things more interesting and important.SOOOOO, we perceive the world not exactly as it is, but as it is useful for us to perceive

it.

Two important variables that one must consider when determining thresholds or a person's sensitivity are:

1. person characteristics;

2. condition of the environment in which the testing takes place.

PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION

How do we interpret or organize our sensations? The two main approaches used to study

this question include:

1. feature detection approach- in which scientists believe that there are cortical cells that

are specifically responsive to certain features of a stimulus (horizontal, vertical, diagonal,etc.). Ultimately, the stimuli are represented by a combination of these elements. They are

basic building blocks of what we perceive. Other researchers believe that this approach is

too simplistic.

2. The second approach is the Gestalt approach. Early in 1900's, a group of psychologists

became interested with how the mind organizes sensations into perceptions. Given a

cluster of sensations, the human perceiver organizes them into a gestalt, a German wordmeaning a "form" or a "whole". The Gestalt psychologists provided many compelling

demonstrations of this ability. Gestalt psychologists are fond of saying that the whole

may differ from the sum of its parts. There is far more to perception than meets thesenses. An example of this is the PHI PHENOMENON, the illusion of movement

created by the presentation of visual stimuli in rapid succession. We don't perceive the

individual lights, rather the form in movement (IE., neon signs). Gestalt psychologists

describe the principles by which we organize our sensations into perceptions. Our brains



do more than just register information about the world. Perception is not just opening a

shutter and letting a picture print itself on the brain. We always filter sensory information

and construct perceptions in ways that make sense to us.

Form perception.

1. Figure/ground: To begin perception of form, we must first perceive any object, called

the figure, as distinct from its surroundings, called the ground. Among all the voices that

you hear at a party, the one you attend to becomes the figure. All other voices are part of the ground. When you read the test, the words are the figure whereas the white paper is

the ground. The figure-ground relationship continually reverses - but we always

organize the stimulus into a figure against ground.

2. Grouping. Having discriminated figure from ground, we must then organize the figure

into a meaningful form. Some basic features of a scene, such as color, movement, and

light-dark contrast are processed instantly and automatically. To bring order and form to

these basic sensations, our minds follow certain rules for grouping stimuli together. Theserules, identified by the Gestalt psychologists, illustrate their idea that the perceived whole

differs from the mere sum of its parts.

a. proximity - we group nearby figures together (86 trees are seen as woods, whereas 3

trees are seen as 3 trees)

b. similarity - if figures are similar to each other, we group them together

c. closure - if a figure has gaps, we complete it, filling in the gaps to create a complete

whole object

d. continuity - we perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones.

e. connectedness - we perceive spots, lines, or areas as a single unit when uniform or

linked.

The grouping principles usually help us perceive reality, but sometimes they lead us

astray. Examples of these principles can be found on the resources page for this chapter.Interactive links provide better demonstrations of the principles.

DEPTH PERCEPTION

Depth perception. From the two-dimensional images that fall on our retinas, we somehow

organize three-dimensional perceptions. The ability to see objects in three dimensions,

called depth perception, allows us to estimate their distance from us. At a glance, weestimate the distance of an oncoming car or the height of a cliff.



How do we transform two-dimensional retinal images into three- dimensional

perceptions? Some of the cues that we use require both eyes (binocular cues). Other cues

are available to each eye separately (monocular cues).

Binocular cues.

1. Retinal disparity. Because our eyes are about 2 and 1/2 inches apart, our retinas receive

slightly different images of our world. When the brain compares these two images, their

retinal disparity (difference between two images) provides an important cue to distance.When your finger is directly in front of your nose, your retinas receive quite different

views. At greater distance - say, when you hold your finger at arm's length - the disparity

is smaller. The creators of 3-D movies and viewmasters simulate retinal disparity by

photographing a scene with two cameras placed a few inches apart. When viewedthrough spectacles or a device that allows the left eye to see only the image from the left

camera and the right eye the image from the right camera, the 3-D effect mimics normal

retinal disparity.

2. Convergence. This is a muscular cue that indicates the extent to which the eyes turn

inward when we look at an object. By noting the angle of convergence, the braindetermines whether you are focusing just past your nose, or on a printed paper, or on the

person across the room.

Monocular cues. We depend on binocular cues more for close distances, while we relyon monocular cues for greater distances.

1. Relative size. If we assume that two objects are similar in size, we perceive the one thatcasts the smaller image on the retina as farther away.

2. Overlap. If one object partially covers another, we perceive it as closer.

3. Linear perspective. We interpret the apparent convergence of parallel lines as a cue to

distance. The more they converge, the greater the perceived distance.

4. Relative height . We perceive objects higher in our field of vision as farther away. This

may contribute to the illusion that vertical dimensions are longer than identical horizontal

dimensions (things appear taller than wider).

5. Relative brightness. Nearby objects reflect more light to our eyes. Thus, given two

identical objects, the dimmer one seems farther away. Artists use these monocular cues to

convey depth on canvas.

Both monocular and binocular cues are manipulated to produce optical illusions. An

optical illusion occurs when there is a discrepancy between the appearance of a visual

stimulus and its reality. Interactive exercises/videos for optical illusions and depth perception are found under the resource link for this chapter.



Subliminal Perception

Subliminal perception is the claim that a stimulus that we do not consciously attend tocan influence our behavior. Research supports that the messages/pictures prime our

perceptions. In other words, the subliminal messages prepare us to see or interpret a

particular image or message.

Research does not support:

1. Changes in behavior; the subliminal message seems to impact our mental processing

and judgments, but the primed thought does not necessarily change our behavior.

2. Understanding and behavior changes due to backward messages; uninformed people

often do not understand messages that are believed to be heard when records/tapes are played backwards. If we inform a person about the perceived message or visual, they are

more likely to also perceive it. The messages, though, do not seem to impact our behavior.

3. Influences of subliminal tapes. Should I use subliminal tapes while I sleep to improvemy memory? Does this process actually improve memory? A study was conducted in

which subjects were divided into two groups: self-esteem group and memory group.

During the research procedure, subjects in the self-esteem group were told that while theyslept, they would listen to self-esteem enhancing tapes; the memory group was told that

they were listening to memory enhancing tapes. In reality, the self-esteem group listened

to the memory tapes and the memory group listened to the self-esteem tapes. In the end,the group that was told that they were listening to the self-esteem tapes but actually

listened to the memory tapes improved on self-esteem measures. Those who were told

that they were listening to the memory tapes improved on memory measures. The

subliminal messages on the tape did not impact their behavior; instead the directions or what the subjects believed that they were listening to impacted their performance. The

findings of this study suggest a placebo effect - subjects' expecations, not the independent

variable, changed performance.

Effects that have been reported in other subliminal studies appear to be due to

uncontrolled random variables or the placebo effect.

Chapter 11STRESS AND HEALTH

A new subfield of health psychology assumes that illness resultsfrom the interaction of our biological, psychological, and socialsystems. Basically, anything putting a demand on or challenge to ourbody is considered stress. We then can distinguish between two typesof stress:



eustress- pleasant, desirable stress (getting married, graduating,getting a new job)distress - unpleasant, unwanted stress (getting divorced, being in anaccident, being stood up by a date)Regardless of whether the stress is eustress or distress, the effects on the body are the

same.

According to some researchers, there are major sources of stress that should beconsidered:1. Frustration- occurs when a goal is blocked. For example, You maybe working on a paper that is due today - guests come overunexpectedly, the telephone is ringing off of the hook, etc. Mostfrustrations are short-lived and relatively insignificant. However, somefrustrations can create a significant amount of stress. ie., highexpectations and unrealistic goals2. Conflict - occurs when two or more differing motivations compete

for expression.One source of stress comes from everyday conflicts we face betweenour different motives. Least stressful are the approach-approach conflicts, in which two attractive but incompatible goalspull at us - to go to sporting event or out for pizza, watch one of twogoods television shows on tv - of the three kinds of conflict, theapproach-approach tends to be less stressful.Other times, we face an avoidance-avoidance conflict between twoundesirable alternatives. Your mother and father have both set you upon a blind date with one of their co-worker's children. You do not wantto go on either date, but your parents are forcing you to be nice and go

on one date. Do you go on the blind date set up by your mother orfather?In times of approach-avoidance conflict, we feel simultaneouslyattracted and repelled. Some things you may adore about a person youare dating, other things you dislike. Do you continue dating thisperson? Stress multiplies when we face several approach-avoidanceconflicts simultaneously.3. Change - anything that results in a readjustment of one's life - thiscan be both positive (wedding, new job, entering college) and negative(death of someone close, divorce, etc.) - little evidence to say thatchange is destined to result in stress - the theory states that the more

change a person experiences in a one year period, the more likelyhe/she will get sick (example stress assessment included inpowerpoint)4. Pressure- compelling influence or constraining force - expectationsthat we act/behave in a certain way - to always be nice, to teach yourchildren to behave properly in all situations, to study well to get an A,etc5. Personality types- person's individual response to stress; one way



to address personality is to determine if the person may be Type A or Type B Type A personality style includes characteristics such as competitive,highly motivated, unable to relax, concerned with time, angered easily,aggressive

Type B personality style includes characteristics such as being easygoing, relaxed, understanding, and able to enjoy leisure time Type A personalities:

• Have more stress • Maintain stress for longer periods of time • Are two times more likely to have a heart attacks, if they have strong

emotional responses to stressors6. Hardiness - reaction to environment with commitment (stay with itfor the long haul), control (having power over the situation) andchallenge (this is an obstacle to overcome); if we are low in hardiness,we are more likely to experience negative consequences in reaction to

stress.

7. Hassles and uplifts - everyday annoyances (dealing with a job youdon't like, cooking supper after a hard day at work) or positive events(being greeted by a smiling coworker, getting along with your familyand friends). Hassles can lead to an increased level of stress, butuplifts can counterbalance the effects of hassles.

8. Acculturative stress- Stress resulting from contact between two cultural groupsAssimilation - assuming identity/practices of the mainstream cultureIntegration - maintain personal cultural identity while moving into new

mainstream cultureSeparation - separating oneself from mainstream cultureMarginalization - rejected by both mainstream and personal cultures

Regardless of which of these four types of acculturative stress occurs, a person can have

great difficulty adjusting to a new culture.

Seyle's General Adaptation Syndrome According to Seyle, regardless of the source of stress, the body can beaffected. He says that we could experience three different stages of

stress reactions if we do not deal with the stressor. Stage 1: ALARM REACTION

• immediate response to stress • body and mind in temporary state of shock • BP and heart rate increase, loss of muscle tone • arousal of sympathetic nervous system • if we do not cope/deal with stressors, then we move to stage 2 within days



or weeks of the initial stressor Stage 2: RESISTANCE

• cope with, adapt to, or resist stress • bodily systems remain at high levels • sympathetic nervous system still aroused

• if we do not cope/deal with stressors, then we move to stage 3 withinweeks or months of the initial stressor Stage 3: EXHAUSTION

• bodily resources begin to deplete themselves • parasympathetic nervous system kicks in to relax and calm the body • most prone to viruses, disease, tissue damage, or death • warning signs of exhaustion:

*prolonged fatigue* insomnia* lack of appetite* indigestion

* loss of libido (sex drive)* inability to concentrate*feeling that your life is out of control

Many physical and psychological symptoms can result from or be exaggerated by

stress:

headachesneck, shoulder and back painchange in sleeping habitschange in eating habits

loss of interest in pleasurable activitiesloss of sex drivegastrointestinal problems (ie.,heartburn, gas, constipation, diarrhea,ulcers)heart problemsbreathing problems (ie., exaggerate symptoms of asthma)increase risk of illness (ie., germ magnet for colds and flus)increased risk for accidentsinability to concentratememory difficultiesdecrease effectiveness of other medical therapies (ie., for cancer)

This list represents a small sample of the possible influences of stress on a human being.

Each person will react to stressor in different ways.

Coping strategies

No strategy will work for all people in all situations- experiment to



determine what techniques work best for you

Problem focused strategies - work on the problem or stressor athand

• problem solving, brainstorming, rational thinking • cognitive restructuring - restructure negative thoughts about the situation

into positive thoughts or reactions • time management • assertiveness training - stick up for yourself without hurting others • change the environment

Emotion-focused strategies - work on your personal reaction tothe stressor, rather than the stressor itself

• support - talk about it, express your feelings, and receive feedback if

desired • optimistic/positive thoughts • self-efficacy - belief that we are capable of handling the situation

• relaxation techniques; mediation; hypnosis • use humor • take time for yourself/give yourself permission to relax • healthy practices (eat right, exercise, get plenty of rest, decrease use of

caffeine and drugs)Many situations may require both problem and emotion focused strategies. Healthy

living is best maintained by dealing with our stress in a timely and effective manner.

Other coping strategies are presented in the stress handout.

Development Across the Lifespan

Development is simply defined as change associated with age. Age canbe defined as time or experiences since conception. There are fourbasic controversies of development:

1. NATURE VS. NURTURE. This issue addresses whether developmentis primarily due to biological and genetic factors or to environmentfactors. Theorists such a Hall and Gesell believe that heredity plays alarger role on development than does the environment. Othertheorists, like Watson, believe that the environment and learninginfluence development more than heredity.A good example of an area of development where this controversy

exists is gender development. Does the child act like a boy/girlbecause of the testosterone level or because of the reinforcement fromparents and society for gender appropriate/inappropriate behavior?

2. ACTIVITY VS. PASSIVITY . Does the child participate in thelearning/ developmental process or does biology and society determinethe development? Some believe that the child is curious andexploratory, thus controlling or influencing some of his/her



development.Others believe that we sit back and take what comes to us. Biologicalinfluences unfold, resulting in proper development. Environmentalsituations that we encounter will affect us even if we do not doanything.

3. CONTINUITY VS. DISCONTINUITY . This issue addresses whetherpast development influences future development. Continuity theoristsbelieve that early development is connected to later development -behaviors build upon each other. However discontinuity theoristsbelieve that early behavior may have nothing to do with laterdevelopment. Old behaviors are replaced rather than built upon.4. UNIVERSAL OR PARTICULARISTIC. The last controversy centerson whether development is universal (common to everyone) orparticularistic (different from person to person).

These four issues are important issues that are addressed differentlyby various developmental theories. Each development theoryapproaches these issues from a slightly different viewpoint. However,these issues are not clear cut, nor are there definite answers to thequestions that the issues bring.FIRST PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENTThree stages of prenatal development1. Zygote (Germinal)

• first two weeks after conception• implantation of zygote (fertilized egg) on uterine wall• doctors believe that 1/5 of all pregnancies are spontaneously aborted at this time

- an egg would be fertilized but would not attach to the uterine wall; instead the zygote is discharged without the woman even knowing that she was pregnant

2. Embryo• 3rd to 8th week after conception• structures (nose, feet, fingers), organs (heart, lungs, kidneys), and systems

(reproductive, circulatory, digestive) begin to develop• outside influences (teratogens) can harm embryo

A few examples of teratogens include:Alcohol - infant can be born with fetal alcohol syndrome (enlargedforehead, small physical stature, mental retardation)

Smoking (nicotene) - risk for premature birth or stillbirth

Cocaine - addiction to the drug, cognitive deficits, mental retardation,withdrawalIf ingested, these drugs put the baby at risk for development of thesedefects. Conclusive causal conclusions cannot be drawn becauseexperimentation with these manipulations (exposing pregnant womento these teragtogens) would be unethical. Other teratogens include



radiation, mother's age and diet, exposure to pollution and dangerchemicals, sexually transmitted diseases, and many other factors.

3. Fetus• 9th through 40th week after conception

• growth and refinement of structures and systems• outside influences (teratogens) can still harm fetus

Full term birth is usually between 37 - 42 weeks gestation.

Newborn abilities of a healthy baby (repeat from perceptionlecture)Vision

• acuity not adult level until 2nd half of first year, born with approximately

20/400 - 20/800 acuity • cones not fully developed - color perception develops around 2 - 3

months; toys that are black and white are easier than colored toys to see for the

newborn - contrasts, as opposed to primary colors, are best seen in the first fewmonths of life • prefer complex stimuli after 2 months

Hearing

• can detect sounds and their locations • sounds muffled due to amniotic fluid in canal

Taste

• early months prefer sweet tastes, later in first year prefer salty tastes

Smell • differentiates between smells, and like adults, prefer pleasant smells

Touch • sensitive to pain - contrary to past beliefs, babies can intensely feel pain

during circumcisms, surgeries, heal lancings, etc.

EMOTIONS AND EARLY SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Clearly a baby's feelings serve a communicative function that is

likely to affect the behavior of caregivers. Infant emotions are adaptivein that they promote social contact and help caregivers adjust theirbehaviors to the infant's needs and goals. Thus early emotionalbehavior promotes an interaction between child and caregiver.

Often you will find that the affective behavior of the infant willdetermine the response by the parent and vice versa. For example, if you have a parent who is stressed, always uptight, etc. as the main



caregiver, the baby is likely to be fussy, tense in posture and react in anegative fashion.

Conversely, consider the colicky baby. This baby is always fussy withlittle hope of calming the child when in this state. Parents might

respond to this fussiness by becoming tense, stressed, and at the endof their ropes. Thus parent and child have a reciprocal relationship.

TEMPERAMENT

TEMPERAMENT is the characteristic of personality that shows the style of approaching and reacting to people and situations. Temperament has been defined as

the how of behavior; not what people do or why, but rather how they go about doing it.

Three issues in debate: is temperament inherited, are thecharacteristics stable over the life time, and is it evident early

in life? Answer: still in debate. The definition states that temperamentis a personality characteristic. This definition would imply a little bit of nature and a little bit of nurture. This definition would also imply thatthe trait should be somewhat stable, yet modifiable by experience. Apersonality trait is also expected to be present early in life, yet theinfant may not have the capabilities to show the trait. Temperamentseems to be a topic that is largely in dispute. Different researchersseem to focus on slightly different aspects of what they calltemperament.

We will look at the NEW YORK LONGITUDINAL STUDY (NYLS) for

the classification system of temperament. This system is the mostcommonly used classification system of temperament. The longitudinalstudy followed 133 people from early infancy into adulthood. Theresearchers identified nine aspects or components of temperamentthat showed up soon after birth. In many cases, these aspectsremained relatively stable, though some people did show considerablechange. These nine components are:

• Activity level • Rhythmicity or regularity of biological processes •

Approach or withdrawal (how a person initially responds to a new stimulus, likea new toy, food, or person)• Adaptability • Threshold of responsiveness (how much stimulation is needed to evoke a

response)• Intensity of reaction (how energetically a person responds)• Quality of mood (whether a person's behavior is predominantly pleasant, joyful,

or friendly; or unpleasant, unhappy, and unfriendly)



• Distractability - how easily an irrelevant stimulus can alter or interfere with a

person's behavior • Attention span and persistence - how long a person pursues an activity and

continues in the face of obstacles.

THREE PATTERNS OF TEMPERAMENT. Almost 2/3rds of the children

studied fit into one of three categories:Easy (40 percent of sample) - this baby is generally happy, rhythmic inbiological functioning, and accepting of new experiences; Difficult (10 percent) - more irritable, irregular in biological patterns,and more intense in expressing emotion; Slow-to-warm-up (15 %) - generally mild and slow to adapt to newexperiences. Many children (35 %) of the NYLS did not fit neatly into any of the three

groups. A baby may have regular eating and sleeping habits, yet befearful of strangers. Some children may be easy on some days but notothers. A children may be slow-to-warm-up to new foods but adaptvery quickly to new babysitters. Not all children are going to fit neatlyinto one of the three groups. GOODNESS OF FIT- About 1/3 of the NYLS subjectsdeveloped behavior problems at some time. Most were milddisturbances that showed up between ages 3-5 and cleared upby adolescence, but some remained or grew worse byadulthood.

No temperamental style was immune to problems. Even easy childrenhad problems when their lives had too much stress. One kind of stress experienced is being expected to act in ways contrary tobasic temperament. If a highly active child is confined to a smallapartment and expected to sit still for long periods of time, if a slow-to-warm-up child is pushed to adjust to many new people and situations,or if a persistent child is constantly taken away from absorbingprojects, trouble may result. The key to healthy adjustmentis "goodness of fit" between the children and the demands placedupon them.

The goodness of fit between parent and child, the degree to whichparents feel comfortable with the child they have, is also importantbecause it affects parents' feelings toward their children. Thusenergetic, active parents may become impatient with a slow-moving,not-a-care-in-the-world child, while more easy going parents mightwelcome such a personality.



One of the most important things that a parent can do is accept thechild's temperament style and the behavior that coincides, instead of trying to cast the child into a mold of the parent's design. Do not try tomake the child something that the child is not. Recognition of inborntemperament style relieves parents of some heavy emotional baggage.

When parents understand that a child acts a certain way not of willingness, laziness, or stupidity but because of inborn temperament,they are less likely to feel guilty, anxious, or hostile, or to act rigid orimpatient. They can help the child use the temperament style as astrength instead of a weakness.

ATTACHMENT

What is attachment? John Bowlby used the term to refer to thestrong affectional ties that bind two people together.Attachment is an active, affectionate reciprocal relationship between

two people. According to Bowlby, people who are attached interactoften and will try to maintain proximity to each other. Cohen,another researcher, suggests that attachments are selective incharacter; the company of some people is more pleasing orreassuring than that of others. For example, a 2 year-old girl who isattached to her mother should prefer the mother's company to that of a mere acquaintance whenever she is upset, discomforted, or afraid. Some researchers believe in a sensitive period for emotionalbonding. They believe that caregivers can become emotionallybonded to an infant during the first few hours after birth, provided

that they are given an opportunity to be with their baby. Specifically,they argued that early skin-to-skin contact between mothers andtheir babies would make mothers especially responsive to their infantsand promote the development of strong mother-to-infant emotionalbonds. The research reports that the first 6-12 hours are the sensitiveperiod for bonding. However, this sensitive period claim is in dispute. Goldberg reviewed the literature and found that the sensitive periodmay not be so important. In one well controlled study in which mothersand neonates were carefully observed for a nine-day period, theadvantages of early contact steadily declined over the nine days. By

the ninth day after birth, early contact mothers were no moreaffectionate or responsive toward their infants than mothers who hadno skin-to-skin contact with their babies for several hours after birth. The delayed mothers showed a significant increase in theresponsiveness over the nine day period suggesting that thehours immediately after birth are not so critical.

Most adoptive parents are quite satisfied with and will develop close



emotional ties to the adopted children, even though they have rarelyhad any contact with the child during the neonatal period. Thelikelihood that a mother and her infant will become securely attachedis just as high with adoptive families as in non-adoptive families.

The research tells us that parents can become highly involved withtheir infants during the first few hours if they are permitted to touch,hold, cuddle, and play with their babies. As a result many parents havealtered their routine practices to encourage these practices. However,it appears that this early contact is neither crucial norsufficient for the development of strong parent-to-infant orinfant-to-parent attachments. Stable attachments between infantsand caregivers are not formed in a matter of minutes, days, or hours;they build rather slowly from social interactions that take place overmany weeks and months. There is no reason for parents who have nothad early skin-to-skin contact with their infant to assume that they will

have problems establishing a warm and loving relationship with thechild.

THE FATHER'S ROLEMany fathers form close bonds with their infants shortly after birth.Proud new fathers admire their babies and feel drawn to pick them up. This reaction, called engrossment is defined as a father's absorptionin, preoccupation with and interest in his infant. Babies develop bondswith their fathers about the same time that they form bonds with theirmother. In one study, babies 1 year old or older protested aboutequally against being separated from both mother and father, while

younger babies did not protest against either parent's departure. Whenboth parents were present, just over half were more likely to go to theirmothers. Another study found that although babies prefer both themother and the father over a stranger, they usually prefer theirmothers over their fathers when the baby is upset. This preference isprobably because mothers typically care for them more often thanfathers do. It will be interesting to see whether the nature of the father-infant attachment changes in families in which the father is theprimary caregiver.

Cognitive development PIAGETIAN THEORY

1. What is cognition? Cognition refers to the activity of knowing,or the mental processes by which knowledge is acquired,elaborated, stored, retrieved, or used to solve problems. Almosteverything we do while we are awake involves some kind of mental



activity (attending, perceiving, interpreting, comparing, etc.). 2. What is cognitive development? Cognitive development ischange that occurs in children's mental skills and abilities overtime.

BACKGROUND AND IMPORTANT FEATURES OF PIAGETIAN THEORY Piaget takes a structural-functional approach: a model thatemphasizes the biological functions and the environment influencesthat promote developmental changes in the organization or "structure"of intellect.

PIAGET'S PERSONAL BACKGROUND (why he developed theory): He wasa zoologist who developed a strong interest in cognitive developmentwhile standardizing intelligence tests. His job was to administer a largenumber of precisely worded questions to his young test takers in order

to determine the age at which the majority of them could correctlyanswer each of them. However, Piaget soon became interested in thechildren's wrong answers when he discovered that children of roughlythe same age were making similar kinds of mistakes, errors that weretypically quite different from the incorrect responses of older andyounger children. Piaget thought that these age-related differences inerrors reflected developmental steps or stages. He began to suspectthat how children know is probably a much better indicator of theircognitive abilities than what they may know.

METHOD OF RESEARCH: Many of Piaget's ideas about intelligence and

intellectual development during infancy are based onnaturalistic observations of his own children. He also used the clinicalmethod: a question and answer technique that he devised to measurethe ways children attacked various problems and thought abouteveryday issues. What is INTELLIGENCE? According to Piaget, it is a BASIC LIFEFUNCTION THAT HELPS THE ORGANISM TO ADAPT TO ITSENVIRONMENT. He also says that intellectual activity is undertakenwith one goal in mind: to produce a balanced relationship betweenone's thought processes and the environment.

Piaget stressed that children are ACTIVE and CURIOUS explorers whoconstantly encounter objects and ideas that aren't understood. Theseimbalances between what is known and what is experienced(information that is not understood) would prompt the child to makemental adjustments that would enable the child to cope with puzzlingnew experiences and thereby restore cognitive equilibrium.



He described the child as a constructivist: if children are to knowsomething, they must construct that knowledge themselves. The childacts on novel objects and events and thereby gains someunderstanding of their essential features. The child's constructivereality will depend on the knowledge available to him at that time. The

more immature the child's cognitive system, the more limited hisinterpretation of an environmental event.

All individuals, regardless of age will construct knowledge using twoprocesses:

1. 1. ASSIMILATION is the PROCESS by which the individual tries tointerpret new experiences in terms of existing models of theworld - the schemes that he already possesses. (child receives anew toy and shakes it the same way that he shook his old rattle;calling a quarter a nickel because he has only previously seen a

nickel)

2. 2. ACCOMMODATION is the PROCESS of MODIFYING existingstructures in order to account for new experiences (learning thata quarter is a quarter and not a nickel; changing the way heplays with the new toy because it does not make sounds like therattle)

Every ASSIMILATION process ordinarily involves ACCOMMODATION tothat experience (how our knowledge base grows). The end product is

adaptation, a state of equilibrium between the child's cognitivestructure and the environment.In sum, intellectual growth is an active process in which children arerepeatedly assimilating new experiences and accommodating theircognitive structures.

According to Piaget, there are four stages of cognitive development: (ages are approximate) SENSORIMOTOR STAGE (BIRTH - 2 YRS.)

PREOPERATIONAL STAGE (2 - 7 YRS.)CONCRETE OPERATIONS (7 - 11 YRS.)FORMAL OPERATIONS (11 YRS. & BEYOND)

These stages of intellectual growth represent completely differentlevels of cognitive functioning and according to Piaget, all children willprogress through the stages in precisely the same order, without everskipping a stage.



The ordering of stages and the belief that they are the same foreveryone reflects his view that biological maturation plays animportant role in determining how a child thinks. Stages can never beskipped because each successive stage builds on the accomplishment

of all previous stages.

Piaget realized individual differences in children existed and thatenvironmental and cultural factors may accelerate or retard a childsrate of intellectual growth. Any child can spend more or less time in aparticular stage than is indicated by the "norm". 1. SENSORIMOTOR STAGE: spans the first 2 years of life (or infancy).In this stage, infants begin to coordinate their SENSORY input andMOTOR responses in order to act on and get to know the environment.During the first 2 years, infants evolve from reflexive creatures with

very limited knowledge into planful problem solvers who have alreadylearned a great deal about themselves and the world around them.

DEVELOPMENTS OF THIS STAGE:

Piaget believed that children learn to imitate during this stage. Infantsprogressively learn to imitate simple behaviors (make faces) tocomplex behaviors (picking up toys). OBJECT PERMANENCE - the idea that objects continue to exist whenthey are no longer visible or detectable through the other senses. At 4

- 8 months, infants will continue to search for an object that is partiallyhidden. They will not search for objects that are completely hidden (outof sight out of mind). At 8 -12 months, infants show something calledthe AB error. When searching for a disappearing object, the 8-12-month-old will look in the place where it was previously found ratherthan the place where it was last seen.

PIAGET'S EXPLANATION: the child acts as if her behavior determineswhere the object will be found; she does not treat the object as if itexists independently of her own activity.

2. PREOPERATIONAL PERIOD (2 - 6 years) - children are becomingincreasingly proficient at using mental symbols (words and images) torepresent objects, situations, and events that they encounter. Evidencefor this development is object permanence, language, symbolic play (inwhich the child can take one object and use for play as a differentobject - ie., spoons for drumsticks and pots and pans for the drums.) DEFICITS of the preoperational period:



- ANIMISM - a willingness to attribute life and lifelike qualities toinanimate objects. (setting sun was alive, angry and hiding behindmountain)

- EGOCENTRISM - tendency to view the world from one's ownperspective and to have difficulty recognizing another's point of view(child talking on the telephone with Grandmother and asking if Grandmother sees the puppy - puppy is at child's house, child believesthat Grandmother can see the puppy because this is what she, thechild, sees). - Difficulty with the APPEARANCE/REALITY DISTINCTION - The childsees an object and watches as you change the object. The child doesnot understand that although you made some minor change, theobject is still the same ( Halloween: see dad put mask on but is still

scared of what appears to be a werewolf). During the late end (6 yrs.)of this stage, children can make this distinction. - CENTRATION - children focus on the most salient featrue of thestimulus; they don't seem to consider all the aspects of a stimulus atonce.

- CLASS INCLUSION TASK - You have a set of wooden beadswith most of them brown and few white in color. If you ask thechild whether all are wooden beads, the child would "say yes".When you ask whether there are more white than brown beads,

they "say brown". If you ask whether there are more brown thanwooden beads they "say brown". The child is focusing on thecolor aspect of the beads and fails to recognize that they all areincluded in a higher order class (wooden beads).

- CONSERVATION- preoperational children are incapable of conservation; they fail to realize that certain properties of objects(volume, mass, or number) remain unchanged when the object'sappearance is altered in some way. (Two children have the same sizepizza, yet you cut one child's piece into four smaller pieces - the otherchild is upset because the first child has more pizza. Although both

have the same mass of pizza, the children believe that the one childwith four pieces has more pizza than the child who has one piece).

3. CONCRETE OPERATIONS - a person in this stage is now able toconserve (no more little arguments over who has more pizza ... at leastwhen they are equal) -



This person is now able to logically think about concrete events ortopics. In other words, this individual should be able to plan a birthdayparty (they have been to a party before or they can image what toexpect). If the topic or problem is not concrete, the issue cannot belogically discussed by the person. For example, freedom is not concrete

- we cannot see or visually imagine freedom (or at least a universaldefinition). Freedom is abstract and the person cannot yet logicallyprocess this concept.

This person is now able to perform advanced math operations (basicalgebra, geometry, fractions, etc.)

4. FORMAL OPERATIONS - This person is now capable of logicallyprocessing abstract concepts. Discussions about freedom and justicewill now make sense. This person is able to think like a scientist bycreating hypotheses and testing them.

Research has shown that not all individuals make it to the formaloperations stage.

ERIKSON'S PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT To Erikson, the major drama of development is the formation of the egoidentity, an integrated, unique, and autonomous sense of self. The egoidentity is the product of psychosocial development. He believes thatchildren are active, adaptive explorers who seek to control theirenvironment rather than passive creatures who are slaves to biological

urges and moldings by their parents. He also believed that one mustunderstand the realities of the social world in order to adaptsuccessfully and show a normal pattern of personal growth.

Erikson outlines eight stages of psychosocial development. Every stageinvolves an encounter with the environment. In each stage, there is aconflict between an adaptive and a maladaptive way of handling theencounter. Each conflict must be successfully resolved in theperiod in which it predominates, before a person is fullyprepared to deal with the conflict that predominatesnext. Successful resolution is relative and involves developing a

"favorable ratio" between the adaptive and maladaptive alternate (ie.,individual must learn to trust others, while at the same time holding onto some mistrust to prepare them for future dangers -but must havemore trust than mistrust). The resolution of the conflict depends on the interaction of theindividuals' characteristics and the support provided by the socialenvironment. A favorable outcome results in positive outlooks and



feelings, which in turn makes it easier to cope with subsequentchallenges. An unfavorable outcome leaves a person troubled and ata disadvantage in future stages and possible psychological disorders.According to Erikson, conflict and challenge over each of thepsychosocial issues are needed for healthy growth and dev.

ERIKSON'S PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES Birth to 1 year BASIC TRUST VS. MISTRUSTHuman life is a social endeavor that involves links and interactionsamong people. Whether children come to trust or mistrust themselvesand other people depends on their early experiences. Infants mustlearn to trust others to care for their basic needs. Infants whose needsare met and who are cuddled and shown genuine affection evolve asense of the world as a safe and dependable place. In contrast, if caregivers are rejecting or inconsistent in their care, the infant may

view the world as a dangerous place filled with untrustworthy orunreliable people. Primary caregiver is the key social agent for thisconflict.

1 to 3 years AUTONOMY VS. SHAME AND DOUBT Children in this stagemust learn how to do things themselves (ie., groom, eat, etc.). As theybegin to explore and do things themselves, they must decide whetherand how much to assert themselves. When parents are patient,cooperative and encouraging, children acquire a sense of independence and competence. In contrast, when children are notallowed such freedom and are overprotected, they develop an

excessive sense of shame and doubt. The child must develop a balanceof independence over doubt and shame. Failure to achieve thisindependence may force the child to doubt his/her own abilities andfeel shameful. Parents are key social agents.

3-6 years INITIATIVE VS. GUILT Children in this stage are developingcognitively and physically at an enormous rate. Parents who give theirchildren freedom in doing activities are allowing the children to developinitiative. Parents who curtail this freedom are giving children a senseof themselves as nuisances and inept intruders in an adult world.Rather than actively and confidently shaping their own behaviors, such

children become passive recipients of whatever the environmentbrings. Successful resolution of this crisis requires a balance: the childmust retain a sense of initiative and yet learn not to infringe on therights, privileges, or goals of others. Family is key social agent.

6-12 years INDUSTRY VS. INFERIORITY Children must master importantsocial and academic skills. Children must learn skills of the culture orface feelings of inferiority. During the elementary years, a child



becomes concerned about how things work and how they are made. Aschildren move into the world of school, they gain a sense of industry bywinning recognition for their achievements. They may instead acquirea sense of inadequacy and inferiority. Parents and teachers whosupport, reward, and praise children are encouraging industry. Those

who criticize or ignore children's efforts are strengthening feelings of inferiority. This stage is also a period when the child compares the self with peers, so the significant social agents are peers, teachers, andparents.

12-20 years. IDENTITY VS. ROLE CONFUSION This is a crossroadbetween childhood and adolescence. They grapple with the question of "who am I" - must establish basic social and occupational identities, orbecome confused as which roles to play as an adult. Key social agent issociety of peers.

20-40 years INTIMACY VS. ISOLATION The goal is to form strongfriendships and to achieve a sense of love and companionship withanother person. Person seeks to make commitments to others.Intimacy finds expression in deep friendships. Central to intimacy is theability to share with and care about another person without fear of losing oneself in the process. If the person is unsuccessful, thenloneliness, isolation, or self absorption results. Key agents are lovers,spouses, children, and cultural norms.

40-65 years. GENERATIVITY VS. ISOLATION By generativity, Eriksonmeans reaching out beyond one's own immediate concerns to embracethe welfare of society and of future generations. Becoming productivein their work, raising their families or looking after the needs of youngpeople can result in generativity. We are concerned with establishingand guiding the next generation. Standards of "generativity" aredefined by one's culture. If one is unable or unwilling to assume theseresponsibilities, he/she will become stagnant and/or self-centered.Social agents are spouses, children, and cultural norms.

65 years to death EGO INTEGRITY VS. DESPAIR Older adults will lookback on life, viewing it as either a meaningful, productive, and happyexperience or a major disappointment full of unfulfilled promises andunrealized goals. One will either achieve a sense of acceptance of one's own life, allowing the acceptance of death, or else fall intodespair. One's life experiences will determine the outcome of this finallife crisis.

Many developmental changes occur beyond childhood. Below is abrief listing of accomplishments and experiences foradolescents and adults.



Adolescence

puberty - physical changes resulting in sexual maturation (ability toreproduce)

identity formation - deals with the question "Who am I" adolescent egocentrism is a pattern of thought experienced by manyadolescents - This egocentrism is broken down into two differentthought processes: "it is not going to happen to me - I am unique"( personal fable); "everyone is looking at me" (imaginary audience)

formal thought and abstract reasoning

independence

greater influence of peers compared to earlier ages

Adulthood

Early

• cognitive peak - being at one's mental best (mid to late 20's) • interested in intimacy and family • may be career focused

Middle

• productive in society • possible mid-life crisis (rare occurrence; equally likely to be experienced

by men and women) • children leaving home - most parents are not upset when the last child

leaves home, rather marital satisfaction is likely to increase • menopause (ceasation of menstration) • becoming grandparents

Late

• problems with attention & subsequent short term memory • senses are less acute - taste buds are less sensitive, hearing loss (especially

of high pitched noises - voices), vision issues (night blindness, farsightedness,

glaucoma, etc.) • movement may be more difficult • maintain wisdom • retirement • issues of dying (our own and others around us)

Chapter 4 Psych Notes-3

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