McGraw-Hill Education 500 Review Questions for the MCAT_ Behavioral Sciences 1st Edition

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Early philosophical debates about innate versus learned knowledge and physiological discoveries about brain localization laid the foundation for psychology to emerge as an experimental science focused on understanding how mental processes and adaptive behaviors promote survival.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Philosophical roots: Psychology originated from debates between nativism (knowledge is innate/inherited) and empiricism (knowledge comes from experience), with dualism proposing that mind and body are separate but interact.
• Physiological breakthroughs: Brain research revealed that specific areas control particular functions (e.g., Broca's area for speech, frontal lobe for emotion regulation), weakening dualism and strengthening the mind-body connection.
• Structuralism vs. functionalism: Structuralism tried to break conscious experience into basic elements through introspection; functionalism emphasized the adaptive purpose of mental processes in natural settings.
• Evolutionary foundation: Darwin's natural selection and Galton's heredity research showed that both biological and behavioral adaptations are passed down to ensure survival and reproduction.
• Common confusion: Structuralism and functionalism both studied consciousness, but structuralism focused on what experiences are made of (elements), while functionalism focused on why they exist (adaptive function).

🏛️ Philosophical foundations of psychology

🏛️ From spirits to natural causes

• Ancient belief: Spirits or God controlled health and illness—health was a gift, illness a punishment.
• Hippocrates's shift: Introduced the idea that illness has natural causes requiring natural treatment, not exorcisms or charms.
  • Proposed the four humors theory (bile, phlegm, blood) to explain physical and psychological traits.
  • Established early medical ethics: "first, do no harm" (Hippocratic oath).
• Example: Instead of treating fever as divine punishment, Hippocrates looked for bodily imbalances.

🧠 Nativism: knowledge is innate

Nativism: The view that we are born with some knowledge because the life we lived before knew it (associated with Plato).

• Plato theorized life exists in a cycle (like reincarnation); knowledge from a previous life carries into the new mind.
• This implies certain types of knowledge are innate rather than learned.
• Don't confuse: Nativism is about inherited knowledge across lives, not just genetic traits.

📖 Philosophical empiricism: knowledge from experience

Philosophical empiricism: The theory that experiences create knowledge and learning occurs through observation (associated with Aristotle).

• Aristotle proposed the tabula rasa (blank slate): at birth, the mind has no knowledge.
• Knowledge is built entirely from sensory experiences and observation.
• Example: A child learns "hot" by touching a warm object, not by being born knowing it.

🔗 Dualism: mind and body interact

Dualism: The concept that the mind and body are distinct from each other but interact and influence each other bidirectionally (proposed by René Descartes).

• Descartes viewed the body as a machine governed by physics and chemistry.
• Mind = thought (mental element); body = movement, reproduction (physical element).
• He believed nerves were hollow tubes through which "animal spirits" flowed in response to external stimuli.
• Why it matters: Inspired exploration of the nervous system and how external stimuli influence the body.

🪞 John Locke: sensation and reflection

• Built on Descartes's doctrine of ideas and Aristotle's tabula rasa.
• Knowledge comes from:
  1. Sensations (raw sensory input).
  2. Reflections (meanings given to sensations based on past experiences).
• Reflection follows sensory experiences immediately and accumulates over time.
• Example: You taste a new fruit; you reflect on past fruit experiences to decide if you like it.
• Why perceptions vary: Tangible qualities (weight, dimension) are consistent; complex qualities (taste, smell, color) vary person-to-person because each person adds their own accumulated knowledge.

🧬 Physiology connects mind and body

🧬 Early brain mapping

• Johannes Müller (1801–1858): Sparked experimental research on the nervous system's role in behavior.
• Researchers discovered:
  • Stimulating specific brain areas produces reflexive responses.
  • Damaging a brain area leads to loss of response.
• Clinical brain research (autopsies, electrical stimulation) began in hospitals.

🧩 Franz Joseph Gall and phrenology

• Gall's contributions:
  • Discovered white (myelinated) and gray (unmyelinated) matter.
  • Showed nerve connections cross to the opposite side of the spinal cord.
  • Proposed that larger brains = advanced mental abilities (early idea of atrophy).
  • Asserted different brain areas are responsible for particular mental activities.
• Phrenology: The (failed) theory that skull bumps and dents reflect brain shape and mental abilities.
  • Temporarily used to screen employees, assess intelligence, identify emotional problems.
  • Discounted when researchers found skull shape ≠ brain shape, and brain maps were inaccurate.
• Don't confuse: Phrenology was wrong, but the core idea—brain localization—was correct.

🗣️ Language areas: Broca and Wernicke

Area	Location	Function	Discoverer
Broca's area	Lower left frontal cortex	Producing spoken language	Paul Broca (1824–1880)
Wernicke's area	Left temporal cortex	Comprehending language	Carl Wernicke (1848–1905)

• Broca's patient: Could understand language and use gestures but could not form words/sentences. Autopsy revealed a tumor in the lower left frontal cortex.
• Aphasia: Difficulty producing or comprehending language due to damage in Broca's or Wernicke's area.
• Example: Damage to Broca's area → person understands "close the door" but cannot say it aloud.

🧠 Phineas Gage: frontal lobe and emotion

• 1848 accident: A 3-foot, 13-pound rod shot through Gage's lower left jaw and out the top of his head.
• Before: Quiet, well-mannered, conscientious, hard-working.
• After: Easily irritable, indecisive, irresponsible, struggled with rational decisions and emotion regulation.
• Discovery: First case showing the frontal lobe's role in emotional regulation, planning, and decision-making.
• Why it matters: Demonstrated that specific brain areas influence observable behaviors, weakening the dualism perspective.

🔬 Structuralism and functionalism

🔬 Structuralism: breaking down consciousness

Structuralism: The science focused on defining the mind-body connection as sensory threshold responses to external stimuli; aimed to identify the basic elements of conscious experience.

• Key figures: Wilhelm Wundt, Hermann von Helmholtz, Edward Titchener.
• Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920):
  • Taught the first formal university-level psychology class.
  • Established the first academic psychology laboratory (1879).
  • Focused on thoughts and feelings of conscious experiences.
• Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894): Created methods to test nerve impulses, explore thresholds, and measure reaction times.
• Edward Titchener (1867–1927): Developed methods to describe and measure conscious experiences; focused on identifying mental elements or qualities.
• Introspection: The method of having individuals narrate their perception of an experience.
  • Example: Describing the experience of eating a crisp red apple in your own words.
• Why it failed: Interpretations of experiences were inconsistent; defining consciousness by elements proved impossible.

🌱 Functionalism: purpose of consciousness

Functionalism: The science asserting that each mental element has a functional role or purpose in experience; conscious experience promotes survival through learning and instinctive reactions.

• Key figures: William James, John Dewey, John James Rowland Angell.
• William James (1842–1910): Emphasized the individual interacting in the natural setting; consciousness is adaptive.
• John Dewey (1859–1952): Highlighted the effect of experience on the organism as a reaction to stimulus; focused on what is learned and how it influences future experiences.
• John James Rowland Angell (1869–1949): Proposed psychology should explore how the mind influences adaptive behaviors; emphasized the relationship between mental processes and adaptive behaviors as the individual interacts in the environment.
• Why Wundt and Titchener disagreed: Functionalism was not experimental psychology; it incorporated evolutionary themes.
• Don't confuse: Both studied consciousness, but structuralism = what (elements), functionalism = why (adaptive purpose).

🔄 Structuralism vs. functionalism comparison

Aspect	Structuralism	Functionalism
Focus	Breaking experiences into basic elements	Purpose/function of mental processes
Method	Introspection, experimental	Observation in natural settings, less experimental
Goal	Identify mental qualities	Understand how mind promotes survival/adaptation
Outcome	Failed due to inconsistent interpretations	Established foundation for later schools of thought

🧬 Evolutionary perspective

🧬 Natural selection and adaptation

Natural selection: The preservation of mental and behavioral adaptations that ensure survival of the organism and the species.

• Charles Darwin (1809–1882): Proposed that organisms adapt biologically and behaviorally to survive and reproduce.
  • Adaptation examples:
    • Changes in food consumption patterns to match availability.
    • Changes in pigment color to blend into the environment.
  • Adaptations that help survival and reproduction are passed to offspring through heredity.
  • Sometimes adaptations lead to a new species entirely.
• Evolutionary psychology: Assumes human behavior is handed down through millions of years of natural selection.
  • Behaviors harmful today (stress response, aggression, preference for high-fat foods) were once adaptive.
  • Example: Quick stress response helped ancestors escape danger; aggression helped secure food and mates; high-fat preference provided calories when food was scarce.

🧬 Creationism vs. evolution

• Creationism: God created all living things.
• Darwin's challenge: Through adaptation to environmental demands, species evolved into distinctively new species.
• Darwin's research was detailed, scientific, and observational—widely accepted but also deeply rejected.
• Functional psychology adopted Darwin's observational methods and adaptation findings.

🧬 Francis Galton: heredity and eugenics

• Francis Galton (1822–1911): Explored heredity, especially in accomplished circles.
• Eugenics: The science proposing that people could evolve to their greatest potential by selective breeding.
• Attraction from evolutionary perspective:
  • People are naturally attracted to genetic qualities that enable offspring to survive and reproduce.
  • Universally attractive traits: Physical beauty, high testosterone, youth, fertility.
  • Masculine features: Associated with testosterone and strength → increased mate selection and offspring survival.
  • Feminine features: Immature features associated with estrogen, nurturing, fertility → desirable for reproduction.
  • Shape preferences: Women prefer inverted triangle (broad shoulders, narrow waist); men prefer hourglass (broad shoulders, small waist, broad hips).
• Galton's contribution to psychology: Introduced scientific methods for quantifying and analyzing psychological traits (individual differences).

🧬 Why evolutionary psychology matters

• All conscious and unconscious sensations and responses are relevant to survival.
• Darwin: Organisms actively promote survival by adapting to environmental changes.
• Galton: Methodology for studying human behaviors scientifically.
• Example: Jealousy may aid reproduction by ensuring mate fidelity and offspring survival.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Individual differences in behavior, personality, and development arise from the complex interplay of genetic inheritance (nature) and environmental influences (nurture), with neither factor acting in isolation.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Genes and heredity: The human genome provides the genetic blueprint, but gene expression is influenced by environmental factors—genes are not destiny.
• Temperament and personality: Emotional-behavioral traits emerge early and remain relatively stable, but are shaped by both biological predisposition and life experiences.
• Environmental influences: External factors (family, culture, socioeconomic status, social supports) play critical roles in achieving genetic potential and shaping development.
• Common confusion: Nature vs. nurture is not an either/or question—traits are both polygenetic (multiple genes) and multifactorial (multiple environmental influences).
• Parenting and attachment: Early caregiver relationships establish working models for future social interactions and emotional regulation.

🧬 Genes and Heredity

🧬 The human genome and genetic inheritance

The human genome: the complete set of molecular instructions to create a human being.

• Each person (except monozygotic twins) has a unique genotype at birth.
• Human cells contain 46 chromosomes (except gametes, which have 23).
• Chromosomes contain DNA strands made of four proteins (adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine) that bind in specific combinations (AT, TA, GC, CG).
• Each DNA section is a gene responsible for passing on heredity or expressing a particular trait.

🔬 Behavioral and molecular genetics

• Behavioral genetics: studies the effects of heredity on behavior.
• Molecular genetics: seeks to identify specific genes associated with specific behaviors.
• Understanding gene expression helps scientists learn how to treat or prevent disorders.
• Example: The Human Genome Project (completed 2003) mapped all human genes, enabling detection of genetic risk.

🧩 Genotype vs. phenotype

Genotype: an individual's genetic inheritance at conception. Phenotype: the heredity we can see, including physical traits (eye color) and behavioral traits (personality).

• Genes can be dominant or recessive based on likelihood of phenotype expression.
• Example: Brown eyes are dominant (only one gene allele needed); blue/green eyes are recessive (both parents must pass the gene).
• Don't confuse: Phenotypes are both polygenetic (many genes interact) and multifactorial (environmental influences before and after birth also matter).

👯 Twin studies and genetic similarities

• Monozygotic (identical) twins share exactly the same DNA because they originate from the same gametes.
• Dizygotic (fraternal) twins and other siblings originate from different gamete pairs, each with a unique genome.
• Twin studies show similarities in potential and abilities even when raised apart (similar jobs, hobbies).
• However, environmental interactions explain differences in trait expression, especially in self-constructs and interpersonal qualities.

🧬 Genetic and chromosomal abnormalities

Type	Inheritance	Examples	Characteristics
Chromosomal abnormalities	Extra or missing chromosomes	Down syndrome (extra X chromosome), Turner's syndrome (one X chromosome)	Result in specific syndromes
Dominant genetic disorders	Single gene required	(Not specified in excerpt)	Many are fatal in childhood, not passed on
Recessive genetic disorders	Gene from both parents required	PKU (treatable), Tay-Sachs (fatal, untreatable)	Outnumber dominant disorders because carriers pass genes to offspring

🔑 Key insight: genes are not destiny

• Heredity cannot explain everything about a person or account for all similarities/differences in families.
• Risk and protective influences are both polygenetic and multifactorial.
• No two people experience the same events, environmental influences, or genetic trait expressions in exactly the same way.
• An amalgamation of genes predisposes humans to behave in particular ways in response to external influences.

🎭 Temperament

🎭 What temperament is

Temperament: emotional-behavioral traits that can be detected as early as infancy.

• Historical roots: Greek philosophers Hippocrates (four humors) and Galen (elemental qualities: warm, cold, moist, dry).
• Galen's four temperament categories: sanguine (outgoing, optimistic), choleric (anger, hostility), melancholic (lethargy, unhappiness), phlegmatic (calmness).
• Modern understanding based on the New York Longitudinal Study by Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess.

🍼 Four types of infant temperament

Type	Percentage	Characteristics
Easy	~40%	Easily comforted, content and relaxed, easy to keep on schedule
Slow to warm up	~15%	Easy to schedule, content, but higher fearfulness
Difficult	~10%	Hard to comfort, high fearfulness, easily irritable, overly restless
Hard to classify	Remaining	Do not fit clearly into other categories

📊 Nine traits for classifying temperament

The excerpt lists nine traits used to classify temperaments:

1. Activity level
2. Rhythmicity or regularity
3. Approach/withdrawal
4. Adaptability
5. Sensory threshold
6. Intensity
7. Mood
8. Distractibility
9. Persistence and attention span

Important: Each trait can be both desirable and undesirable depending on context.

• Example: Perseverance helps a child learn to tie shoes, but persistently asking for candy in a store creates problems.

🔄 Temperament stability and change

• Temperament is mostly enduring throughout the life span.
• However, behavior associated with temperament can be modified in response to stress and reinforcements.
• Emotional and behavioral experiences reinforce how we express temperament patterns over time.

🤝 Goodness of fit

Goodness of fit: the dynamics between parent and child temperaments.

• Determines caregiver responses and influences a child's problem-solving style.
• Sets the stage for patterns in other relationships.
• Challenge: Parents with difficult temperament may struggle with a child of difficult temperament.
• Opportunity: Easy temperament parents can adapt their approach with a difficult child; an easy child can find a niche with difficult temperament parents.
• Problems arise when goodness of fit cannot be achieved—can lead to anxiety, defensiveness, behavioral problems in children.

🌱 Long-term effects

• Parent-child relationship dynamics shape behaviors and expectations about other interpersonal relationships.
• Example: A persistent child who achieves goals through rebellion may not learn cooperation, collaboration, teamwork—may become demanding adolescent/adult with unrealistic expectations.
• Effects of goodness of fit are typically noticeable in home, social, and academic settings.

🎨 Personality

🎨 What personality is

Personality: distinctive and characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior that define an individual's personal style of interacting with the physical and social environment.

• Early theories (Hippocrates, Galen) asserted differences were largely due to individual biology (four humors theory).
• Modern understanding: personality results from combination of traits that remain relatively stable but can be influenced by culture and environment.

🔍 Trait theories of personality

🔍 Gordon Allport (1897–1967)

• Believed people could be described in terms of combination of traits (like describing an object by its properties).
• Consistent patterns of behaviors from childhood through adulthood can be used to describe, explain, and predict behaviors.
• Traits remain relatively stable and present as a person's disposition.
• No behavior can be defined by only one trait.
• Distinguished between common traits (shared among a culture) and personal traits (representative of individual disposition).

🔍 Raymond Catell (1905–1998)

• Reduced human traits into a cluster theory of 16 bipolar source traits.
• Example: Factor E ranges from dominance (high) to submissiveness (low).
• Priests/clergy often score low (humble, accommodating); athletes/researchers score high (assertive, competitive).
• Limitation: Centered on subjective natures of instinctive behaviors; not widely used today.

🔍 Hans Eysenck (1916–1997)

• Three-factor theory: extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism.
• Believed biology was central to expression of arousal and conditioning.
• Extraversion: social behaviors (high scorers are active, social, engaging, thrill-seeking).
• Neuroticism: emotional stability (characterized by anxiousness, depression, discontent).
• Psychoticism: irrational thinking (antisocial behaviors, aggression, egocentric perspectives, impulsivity).
• Heredity is important, but neurotic behaviors are learned or conditioned.
• Limitation: Theory was too restrictive.

🌊 The Big Five personality traits (OCEAN)

Factor	Description	Age trends
Openness	(Not detailed in excerpt)	Decreases with age
Conscientiousness	(Not detailed in excerpt)	Increases with age
Extraversion	(Not detailed in excerpt)	Decreases with age
Agreeableness	(Not detailed in excerpt)	Increases with age
Neuroticism	(Not detailed in excerpt)	(Not specified)

• Traits influenced by experiences through childhood but mostly stable by adulthood.
• Neurochemicals (dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine) are associated with behavioral activation, inhibition, and regulation.
• Linked to the five personality traits.

🚨 Personality disorders

• Maladaptive behaviors, antisocial behaviors, and inflexibility are indicative of personality disorders.
• Diagnosed when it becomes difficult for a person to function in expected social roles.
• Some may be apparent in childhood; others develop in adulthood.
• History of conduct problems in childhood and less resilient temperament are common, especially in antisocial disorders.

📋 Personality assessment methods

📋 Projective measures

• Rorschach Inkblot Test: Individuals view symmetrical visuals and describe what the image brings to mind.
• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): Individuals write stories about pictures.
• Both require qualified psychologist to interpret.
• Limitation: Many question validity and reliability; outside clinical settings, self-report questionnaires are preferred.

📋 Self-report measures

• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2): Most frequently used; finds patterns indicating abnormal personality traits or psychological disorders; administered by qualified mental health professionals.
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): Profiles personality by identifying patterns of interests, needs, values, motivations; based on dichotomies (E/I, I/S, F/T, J/P); used professionally to assess decision preferences.
• Keirsey Temperament Sorter II: Resembles ancient theories; sorts by temperament qualities into categories (Artisan, Guardian, Idealistic, Rational).

🌍 Environment

🌍 What environment includes

Environment: all external influences that play a key role in achieving genetic potential.

• Includes physical and psychosocial influences.
• Everything external to the child from conception forward influences development.

🤰 Prenatal environment

🤰 Critical periods and teratogens

Critical period: a time when specific kinds of growth must take place if the embryo is going to develop normally. Teratogens: external influences that have a negative influence on prenatal development (drugs, chemicals, viruses, other factors causing birth defects).

Three periods of prenatal development:

1. Germinal period (first 2 weeks): Rapid cell division, early cell differentiation.
2. Embryonic period (weeks 3–8): Critical period for body structures development.
3. Fetal period (week 9 to birth): Sex organs develop, body systems begin functioning; at 22 weeks, brain is developed enough for preterm infant survival (age of viability).

• Teratogen exposure at any point can result in physical, cognitive, or behavioral abnormality.
• Many teratogens have a threshold effect—may not interfere unless threshold is reached (threshold differs person to person).

🏘️ Psychosocial environment: Bronfenbrenner's ecological model

Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917–2005) described levels of social support:

Level	Description	Examples
Microsystem	Immediate surroundings	Family, friends
Exosystem	Institutions individual interacts with	Churches, schools, work settings
Macrosystem	Broader cultural context	Cultural values, economic policies, political processes
Chronosystem	Historical experiences and learning	Patterns of transitions and opportunities over life course
Mesosystem	Dynamic interactions between systems	(Fifth level of support)

• Each system is connected and provides resources and vulnerabilities.
• As people age, historical experiences become a source of inner support (or burden).

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family systems

Five functions of healthy families:

1. Providing basic necessities
2. Promoting learning
3. Fostering self-respect
4. Cultivating friendships
5. Promoting stability and harmony

Family structure and function:

• Nuclear family (two biological/adoptive parents) most often provides greatest financial and biopsychosocial resources.
• Single parents often need to pull from one resource to cover another.
• Key insight: Family structure is less important on childhood resilience than how the family functions.

Three factors increasing likelihood of dysfunction:

1. Low income
2. Low stability
3. Low harmony

👥 Friendships and social supports

• Friendships are the most important relationships for the majority of people.
• Peer culture provides essential environment for developing self-concept, self-esteem, identity.
• Qualities: trustworthiness, cooperation, fairness, kindness.
• Close friendships provide acceptance, approval, support beginning in adolescence.
• Protective factor: Social supports are the most protective factor for health and wellness; breakdown in social supports is the most common cause of stress.

💰 Socioeconomic status (SES)

Socioeconomic status: income, wealth, occupation, education, and place of residence.

Effects of low SES:

• Presents disadvantages, limits opportunities.
• Can negatively affect biopsychosocial development at every age.
• Money problems are primary source of stress, family conflict, and instability.
• Affects the very young and very old more than population groups in between.
• Associated with physical and mental health problems, higher stress, substance abuse, obesity.
• Influences healthcare resources—low-income homes have fewer options.
• Limits opportunities for education and social engagement.

🌐 Cultural context

Cultural context: individuals who identify as a group sharing the same beliefs and values.

• Cultural norms establish social rules for how people should behave in specific situations.
• Shaped by various levels/subgroups within the ecological system.
• Deviations from larger culture's values and beliefs are not easily accepted.
• Examples of difficult deviations: divorce, same-sex relationships, substance use, abortion.
• Deviating from cultural norms can lead to rejection by social supports.

🛡️ Vulnerable populations

• People with developmental challenges, personal incapacities, or values/beliefs different from primary culture are at greater risk.
• Fewer opportunities and more obstacles to basic necessities and supports.
• Raises risk for poor health and disparity.
• Benefit greatly from macrosystem-level social supports.
• Advocates help increase cultural awareness and competence.

👪 Parenting and Attachment

👶 Attachment theory

👶 What attachment is

Attachment: the long-lasting bond between a child and another person, usually the primary caregiver.

• Infants form healthiest attachments with parents who are responsive, consistent, and sensitive to their needs.
• Strength evident by child's first birthday through proximity-seeking and comfort when parent returns.
• Healthy attachment necessary for infants to overcome separation anxiety in secure and timely manner.

👶 Harry Harlow (1905–1981)

• Studied separation and dependency behaviors and role of maternal bond.
• Found infant monkeys need close physical contact to form attachment and feel safe/secure.
• Source of physical comfort more important than source of food when the two are different.
• Feeling safe/secure provides confidence necessary to explore and learn.
• Security develops from reliability/predictability of parent being there when needed.

👶 John Bowlby (1907–1990)

• Established attachment theory: child's attachment to parent is critical for ongoing social and psychological development.
• Attachment forms through stages:
  1. Pre-attachment phase: Early months; infant recognizes parent's face but not yet attached.
  2. Indiscriminate attachment period: Infant shows preference for caregiver.
  3. Discriminate attachment period: Child experiences distress upon separation.
  4. Multiple attachment phase: Child forms attachments to others.
• These are critical windows; forming attachments outside these times is much more difficult.

🔍 Attachment patterns (Mary Ainsworth)

Mary Ainsworth (1913–1999) identified four patterns measured by the Strange Situation procedure:

Pattern	Behavior	Cause
Secure (most common)	Desire proximity; distress when mother leaves; comforted upon return; resume playing	Responsive, consistent parenting
Avoidant (insecure)	Don't mind when mother leaves; don't seek proximity on return; no emotional need apparent	Parent consistently doesn't respond to distress; distal parenting
Resistant/Ambivalent (insecure)	Bothered by separation; not comforted by return; both angry and needy	Inconsistent parent response (sometimes prompt/comforting, sometimes neglectful)
Disorganized	Unpredictable responses; may seek proximity through avoidance or contradictory behaviors	(Not specified in excerpt)

Strange Situation procedure:

• Mother and child in strange setting with toys.
• In three-minute intervals, mother leaves and returns.
• May include addition of a stranger.

🌱 Long-term effects of attachment

Childhood effects:

• Avoidant: More likely to externalize feelings with acting-out behaviors; more aggression/hostility; strong correlation to pathology; easily comforted by strangers.
• Resistant/ambivalent: More anxiety; inability to cope with separation; not easily comforted by others; more likely to internalize feelings.
• Attachment remains stable through adolescence; plays key role in coping with change and loss.
• If secure attachment not formed by age two, not likely to happen.
• Insecure attachments lead to more difficulties adjusting to change (less resilient) and difficulties in adult relationships.

Adult attachment styles:

Style	Characteristics
Secure	Balance interdependence and independence; view self and others positively; healthy relationship working models
Anxious-preoccupied	Suspicions and worry; expectation of negative outcomes; act impulsively on suspicions
Dismissive-avoidant	Belief in self-sufficiency; don't need close companionships; preference for independence and alone time; view relationships as not worth inevitable pain
Fearful-avoidant	Want close relationship but lack trust; feel distressed and uncertain in relationships; low self-worth; internalize feelings; contradictory behaviors

• Adults tend to act in ways that produce dreaded negative outcomes.
• Early attachment working models establish framework of expectations; continued reinforcement strengthens patterns.

👨‍👩‍👧 Parenting styles (Diana Baumrind)

Four dimensions of parenting (each on high-to-low continuum):

1. Expression of warmth
2. Strategies for discipline
3. Communication
4. Expectations for maturity

Three parenting style classifications:

Style	Characteristics	Child outcomes
Authoritarian	Low warmth; high critical feedback; inflexible high expectations; low communication (parent-to-child); "do what I say because I say so"; emotions rarely expressed except anger/disappointment; mistakes punished	Low happiness; inadequate social competence; low self-esteem; obedient when young (fear disapproval); adolescents internalize emotions, overly self-critical, or rebellious
Permissive	High warmth; low expectations for maturity; rarely discipline; high child-to-parent communication, low parent-to-child; high responsiveness to demands; avoid confrontation; no structure or consequences	Low happiness; poor self-control and emotional regulation; less socially competent; struggle to make/keep friends; immature behaviors; difficulty accepting boundaries
Authoritative	Highly affectionate; high two-way communication; expectations based on developmental abilities; promote autonomy	Adequate self-esteem and social competence; higher happiness; do better in school; well-liked; more successful transitioning to adulthood

⚖️ Important considerations

• Authoritative parenting shows greatest advantages.
• However, individual differences in children influence parenting style and determine child resilience.
• Long-term outcomes depend on ongoing parent-child relationship combined with individual traits as child matures.
• Wide variation when measured against SES, culture, and ethnicity factors.
• Don't assume: One style is universally "best"—context matters.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Three major developmental theories—Freud's psychosexual stages, Erikson's psychosocial stages, and Maslow's hierarchy of needs—each propose that early experiences shape personality and adult functioning, though they differ in whether they emphasize unconscious drives, social relationships, or need fulfillment as the primary motivator.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Freud's psychosexual theory: focuses on five stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) where biological drives and parent responses shape personality through potential fixations.
• Erikson's psychosocial theory: expands on Freud by proposing eight lifelong stages, each with a crisis (e.g., trust vs. mistrust) that shapes identity through social relationships rather than just sexual drives.
• Maslow's hierarchy: organizes human motivation into levels (physiological → safety → belonging → esteem → self-actualization), where lower needs must be met before higher growth can occur.
• Common confusion: All three theories emphasize early childhood, but Freud sees development as largely fixed by age six, Erikson sees it as lifelong and revisable, and Maslow sees it as a progressive ladder that can stall at any level.
• Why it matters: These frameworks help explain how childhood experiences influence adult personality, relationships, and psychological health.

🧠 Freud's Psychosexual Development

🧠 Core premise of psychoanalytic theory

Psychoanalytic theory: behaviors are unconsciously driven and not the results of rational choices.

• Freud developed his theory from clinical practice treating patients with hysteria, not from university research or experiments.
• He linked most psychological problems to earlier childhood experiences.
• He believed sensual satisfaction is associated with childhood needs, challenges, and conflicts.
• Key difference from other theories: Freud's theory focused on abnormal behaviors and unconscious processes rather than rational decision-making.

🧩 The three aspects of personality

Freud proposed three components that form over the first five years:

Component	Timing	Function	Motivation
Id	Active at birth	Ensures survival	Driven toward pleasure, satisfaction, gratification; self-serving
Ego	Develops as understanding matures	Rational self	Balances getting needs met in acceptable ways; considers consequences
Superego	Develops in preschool years	Internalized parent	Source of guilt when behaviors are disapproved; provides moral constraints

• The ego works to satisfy both the wants of the id and the morals of the superego.
• Example: A child wanting a toy (id) learns to take turns (ego) to avoid parental disapproval (superego).
• Don't confuse: The id is not "bad"—it's the biological survival instinct; the superego is not "good"—it can create excessive guilt.

🍼 The five psychosexual stages

🍼 Oral stage (birth to 1 year)

• Focus: Energy channeled toward satisfying needs through the mouth.
• Key behaviors: Sucking (nourishment and comfort), crying (regulates temperature and brings awareness), cooing (triggers warmth and affection).
• Parent role: When mother responds by fulfilling needs, the relationship is positive and the infant learns to accept the parent as contributing to conflict resolution.
• Ego development: Parent helps infant learn to delay gratification; consistency leads to a calm personality.
• Fixation risk: Overindulging or denying non-nurturing sucking can lead to oral fixation in adulthood—excessive talking, overeating, chain smoking, crying easily, or feelings of helplessness.

🚽 Anal stage (after first year, around age 2)

• Focus: Energies directed toward control over self, particularly the anal area.
• Key development: As the anal sphincter develops, the child learns to control holding and releasing.
• Parent role: Toilet training begins; parents set expectations for elimination control.
• Ego growth: Child gains control and conforms to parent expectations.
• Fixation risk: Overcontrolling or overindulgent toilet training can lead to anal fixation—being overly clean or excessively messy, strong need for order or hopelessly disorganized.

🎭 Phallic stage (ages 3-5)

• Focus: Primarily on the genital region; children experience pleasurable sensations from fondling genitals.
• Key phenomenon: Sexual drives directed as crushes toward opposite-sex parent.
  • Oedipus complex (male children): jealousy toward same-sex parent, thoughts about replacing the parent.
  • Electra complex (female children): same dynamic.
• Resolution: Ego balances drives of id and fears of superego; children overcome urges by identifying with the same-sex parent.
• Fixation risk: How parents respond establishes how the child will cope with postpubertal sexual needs; fixations may include strongly internalized prohibitions against sexual behavior, inability to assert oneself in intimate relationships, or being overly self-centered, vain, or flirtatious.

😴 Latency stage (after age 6)

• Focus: Psychosexual urges are quiet.
• Activities: Children adopt roles and learn relevant skills.
• Personality refinement: Id, ego, and superego continue to refine personality.
• Purpose: This calm period prepares children for the final stage.

💑 Genital stage (puberty through adulthood)

• Focus: Period of calm ends with puberty; sexual urges return.
• Adult functioning: Ego keeps id and superego in balance as freedoms to pursue intimacy increase.
• Responsibility: Young adults can resist sexual impulsive gratifications to engage in work, pursue higher education, and potentially start a family.
• Fixation risk: Sexual impulses and promiscuous sexual behaviors indicate fixation at this stage.

⚠️ Crisis and fixation

• Each stage has a potential conflict; how the child experiences and resolves it (especially in the first three stages) determines personality patterns throughout life.
• Fixation: A crisis at any stage may lead to a fixation in personality—getting "stuck" at that developmental point.
• Mechanism: Fixations result from either overindulgence or denial/overcontrol during a stage.
• Example: Overcontrolling toilet training → adult anal fixation with excessive need for order.

🔍 Limitations of Freud's theory

The excerpt notes several criticisms:

• Too focused on unconscious drives: Minimizes the role of individual conscious control.
• Controversial emphasis on sexual experiences: The focus on sexual desires and experiences was considered controversial.
• However, positive contribution: It prompted the important idea that early childhood experiences have lasting effects (this is noted as NOT a limitation).
• Don't confuse: The theory's emphasis on the parent-child relationship is central to the theory, not a limitation.

🌍 Erikson's Psychosocial Development

🌍 Core differences from Freud

Erik Erikson was trained under Freud but diverged in key ways:

• Not id-driven: Did not believe the id was the driving force behind all behaviors.
• Psychosocial emphasis: Focused on attitudes and feelings toward self and others, which are interconnected and always changing.
• Social environment: Emphasized each person's relationship to the social environment and the importance of family and cultural influences.
• Lifelong development: Proposed eight stages extending into adulthood (Freud stopped at five).
• Crisis resolution: Each stage has turning points or crisis points that can go better or worse.

🎯 The concept of outcome virtues

• Each stage provides a psychosocial component of personality or an outcome virtue.
• Positive resolution: Strengthens positive attitudes about self and others, ensuring successful resolution of subsequent stages.
• Negative resolution: Creates negative perceptions and expectations, interfering with ability to work through future crises.
• Cumulative effect: Ongoing accumulation of negative beliefs leads to psychological problems.
• Key difference from Freud: Crisis not resolved at an earlier stage can be resolved in a later stage; development is not fixed.

👶 The eight psychosocial stages

👶 Stage 1: Trust vs. Mistrust (birth to 1 year)

• Crisis: Will the world around me be reliable?
• Caregiver role: Consistent response to infant's needs for nourishment, comfort, and affection.
• Positive outcome: Sense of trust and the virtue of hope.
• Negative outcome: Inconsistent, resentful, nonaffectionate responses lead to mistrust and greater sense of fear.
• Similarity to Freud: Both emphasize caregiver response in first year, but Erikson focuses on reliability rather than oral gratification.

🚶 Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (ages 1-3)

• Crisis: Can I do things independently?
• Developmental basis: Advancing physical and cognitive abilities; infants and toddlers strive for independence.
• Key task: Gaining control over body, including elimination (toilet training).
• Positive outcome: Responsive parents encourage appropriate independence; child gains autonomy and willpower.
• Negative outcome: Overly controlling, rigid schedules, impatience, overly critical responses to mistakes lead to shame and doubt.
• Cumulative effect: A child with trust and hope from Stage 1 will persist at tasks; a child high in fear and mistrust may give up quickly.

🎨 Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt (ages 3-6)

• Crisis: Can I take action and pursue goals?
• Developmental basis: Greater muscle coordination and improved cognitive abilities.
• Key behaviors: Intrinsically motivated to do more; play (playing house, work, building) is experimenting with responsible roles.
• Positive outcome: Encouragement and careful demonstrations increase sense of purpose and confidence.
• Negative outcome: Discouragement and shame lead to overly guilty feelings when making mistakes.
• Important distinction:
  • Shame: Withdrawal or distraction from behavior or setting.
  • Guilt: Readiness to correct mistakes or undo actions.
• Balance needed: Too much guilt stifles initiative; too little prevents establishing boundaries in goal pursuit and fantasy play.

📚 Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority (ages 6-12)

• Crisis: Am I competent and capable?
• Developmental context: Once children enter school systems, learning becomes primary task.
• Focus: Achievement; self-concept and self-esteem correlate with what one can do and how well.
• Positive outcome: Knowledge and application lead to competence.
• Negative outcome: Lack of competence.
• New influence: Others outside family become important; social comparison provides judgment basis (best, good, worst); peer culture provides value system for winning/losing, first/last.
• Goal: Find comfortable balance to be accepted in social contexts.

🔍 Stage 5: Identity vs. Role Confusion (ages 12-18)

• Crisis: Who am I? What will I become?
• Focus: Social identity; making decisions about upcoming adult roles; seeking to define oneself.
• Four areas of identity (Erikson and James Marcia):
  1. Vocational
  2. Gender
  3. Religion
  4. Politics

Three pathways to identity:

Pathway	Definition	Example
Foreclosure	Adopting parent's values and expectations	Adopting religious practices, gender roles, or assuming family trade
Moratorium	Acceptable exploration before adopting roles	College, missions, Peace Corps, internships allow exploration without lifelong commitment
Role diffusion	Cannot define self along identity areas	More common in younger adolescents; if it persists into early adulthood, may signal unresolved earlier crisis

• Positive outcome: Successful sense of identity provides virtue of fidelity—ability to commit to long-term relationships.
• Developmental note: Erikson believed identity development continues into emerging adulthood; few adolescents foreclose on all four areas.

💕 Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation (emerging adulthood)

• Crisis: Can I form close, committed relationships?
• Core belief: Humans are social creatures; adult identity stems from social affiliations, partnerships, and roles.
• Key demand: Intimate relationships demand efforts, often sacrificing something of the self.
• Positive outcome: Self-understanding from Stage 5 ensures young adults are secure enough to tolerate differences in others and find love.
• Negative outcome: Lack of fidelity increases self-protective behaviors, leading to isolation.
• Harm from isolation: Depends on outcome; isolating to avoid negative aspects of social commitments can instill fear of intimacy.
• Common benchmark: Marriage, followed by having children.

🌱 Stage 7: Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle adulthood)

• Crisis: How can I contribute to the next generation?
• Focus: Attention diverted to providing care for the next generation.
• Common expression: Raising children is a common way to make lasting contribution.
• Alternative expressions: Sharing generational knowledge and culture norms through other relationships, work, and community.
• Identity tie: Greatly tied to competence and adequacy.
• Positive outcome: Virtue of care for well-being and success of upcoming generations.
• Negative outcome: Adults unable to achieve intimacy become self-absorbed rather than generative; stagnation.
• Erikson's belief: Success in generativity prevents disparity in later adulthood.

🕊️ Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair (later adulthood)

• Crisis: Was my life meaningful?
• Challenges: Must face limitations and overcome prejudices associated with limitations while still contributing to humanity.
• Developmental context: Frequent transitions and role changes; social losses accumulate; death and loss become significant; reality of one's own mortality.
• Positive outcome: Integrity—acceptance of one's life journey.
• Negative outcome: Despair—regret and fear of dying indicate accumulated unresolved conflicts.
• Important note: Age is not a determinant factor; this stage can occur at any time.
• Cultural context: Erikson's model influenced by research on family and social interactions among various cultures and his own experiences as an immigrant.

🔄 Key principles of Erikson's model

• Lifelong development: Human development continues throughout life.
• Historical and cultural context: Individual's personal journey occurs within these contexts, which provide meaning.
• Crisis resolution is flexible: Crisis not resolved at earlier stage can be resolved later.
• Identity is not fixed: Circumstances may lead a person to enter a particular adult stage at any time.
• Social supports matter: Unlike Freud's emphasis on dark side, Erikson highlighted relevance of social supports and culture.

🏔️ Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

🏔️ Core premise of humanistic psychology

Abraham Maslow was a humanistic psychologist who:

• Felt psychoanalytical perspective placed too much emphasis on problems and negative outcomes.
• Researched the healthy side of human psychology.
• Focused on qualities of people who were highly accomplished and exceptional.
• Organized findings into a hierarchical model emphasizing positive intentions driven by need fulfillment.

⭐ Self-actualization: the highest level

Self-actualization: a state of complete self-fulfillment and acceptance.

Characteristics of self-actualized individuals:

• Maintain objective perception
• Have full acceptance of themselves
• Are committed and dedicated to their work or ambitions
• Have heightened sense of creativity
• Need for independence and resist conforming
• Simultaneously have need for social interest and desire for growth of humanity

Peak experiences:

Peak experiences: moments of profound love, understanding, and happiness in which there is a sense of complete harmony, oneness, or goodness.

• Do not last long
• As people satisfy higher-level needs, peak experiences occur more often
• Important distinction: Self-actualization is not a destiny but part of the experience of life; it is not a permanent state.

📊 The hierarchy structure

Maslow found that basic needs (deficit needs) must be satisfied before moving toward higher-level needs.

The five levels (visualized like a ladder, bottom to top):

Level	Type	Needs	Motivation
1. Physiological	Deficit need	Food, sleep, sex	Fill deficit
2. Safety and Security	Deficit need	Social order, work, sense of stability	Fill deficit
3. Love and Belonging	Deficit need	Feel satisfied and safe in committed relationship (friends, family, romantic partners)	Fill deficit
4. Esteem	Higher-level need	Self-sufficiency, competency, value from self and others	Increase value (not fill deficit)
5. Self-actualization	Growth need	Complete self-fulfillment, acceptance of self/others/events	Personal growth

🎯 Key principles of the hierarchy

• Order matters: Needs at each level are the motivators; must satisfy lower levels before moving up.
• Motivation shifts: As basic needs are met, motivation for personal growth follows.
• Can get stuck: Individuals can be stuck at one level, unable to move forward because a need cannot be satisfied.
• Positive vs. negative paths: Needs can be met through positive or negative behaviors, but self-actualization and happiness can only be acquired through personal growth and self-understanding.
• Quality, not just achievement: Self-actualized individuals differ in how they approach fulfilling needs, not just in wealth, career, or age.

👶 Childhood foundations

Maslow believed:

• Inability to satisfy needs in childhood could interfere with need fulfillment in adulthood.
• To become self-actualized, one must have been secure and confident in childhood.
• Emphasized role of parental acceptance, nurturing, and love during the first two years of life.
• Don't confuse: Like psychoanalytical perspective, early childhood matters, but Maslow focuses on positive growth rather than unconscious conflicts.

📈 Developmental parallels

• Parallels adult benchmarks: Hierarchy parallels goals and motivations to achieve common benchmarks of adulthood.
• Age correlation: Older adults are more likely to be self-actualized than younger adults, though age is not the specific reason (more time to satisfy lower needs and accumulate experiences).
• Practical applications: Model continues to have applications in professional settings within and outside psychology.

🔄 Comparing the three theories

🔄 Similarities

• All three emphasize that early childhood experiences shape adult functioning.
• All recognize the importance of parent-child relationships.
• All propose stage-like progression (though with different mechanisms).
• All acknowledge that problems in adulthood can be traced to childhood.

🔄 Key differences

Aspect	Freud	Erikson	Maslow
Primary driver	Unconscious sexual/biological drives	Social relationships and cultural context	Need fulfillment and growth
Number of stages	5 (ends at puberty)	8 (lifelong)	5 levels (hierarchical)
Can revisit/resolve later?	No; largely fixed by age 6	Yes; crisis can be resolved in later stages	Can get stuck but can progress with need fulfillment
Focus	Abnormal behaviors, dark side	Social development, identity	Healthy psychology, positive potential
Methodology	Clinical practice with patients	Research on family/social interactions across cultures	Research on highly accomplished individuals
Flexibility	Rigid; fixations are lasting	Flexible; identity not fixed	Progressive but can stall
Adult development	Echoes childhood	Continues to evolve	More likely with age but not guaranteed

🔄 Common confusions to avoid

• Freud's stages are not about age-appropriate activities; they're about where sexual energy is focused and how conflicts are resolved.
• Erikson's crises are not failures; they're normal developmental challenges everyone faces.
• Maslow's hierarchy is not about achieving perfection; self-actualization is a state that comes and goes, not a permanent destination.
• All three theories value early childhood, but for different reasons: Freud for unconscious conflict resolution, Erikson for building trust and autonomy, Maslow for establishing security and confidence.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Behaviorism established psychology as an objective science by focusing on observable, measurable behaviors shaped through stimulus-response learning and reinforcement, rather than on internal mental states.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Core shift: Behaviorism moved psychology from subjective introspection to objective, experimental study of observable behaviors across all ages.
• Three learning mechanisms: Classical conditioning (Pavlov), operant conditioning (Skinner), and social learning (Bandura) each explain how behaviors are acquired and maintained.
• Reinforcement is central: Behaviors increase when followed by rewards and decrease when followed by punishments; timing and schedules of reinforcement affect learning strength.
• Common confusion: Classical vs. operant conditioning—classical pairs a neutral stimulus with an automatic response; operant links voluntary behavior to consequences.
• Social learning bridge: Bandura and Rotter introduced cognitive elements (expectations, self-efficacy, locus of control) into behaviorism, bridging toward cognitive psychology.

🔬 Foundations of Behaviorism

🐾 Animal psychology and objective methods

• Early behaviorists used animal research to study learning objectively, assuming animal and human minds functioned similarly.
• Apparatuses (puzzle boxes, mazes, shuttle boxes) allowed researchers to measure observable behaviors without relying on subjective reports.
• Why animals: Animal studies provided controlled, repeatable experiments that could demonstrate learning principles applicable to humans.

🧩 Edward Thorndike's trial-and-error learning

Instrumental learning: Learning through trial and error, where an organism manipulates its environment to achieve a goal.

• Puzzle box experiment: Hungry cats locked in a crate learned to press a lever to escape and reach food outside.
• Initially, cats pawed randomly; the first successful lever press was accidental.
• Over repeated trials, cats eliminated ineffective behaviors and focused on the lever.

Two key laws:

Law	Definition	Implication
Law of effect	Actions producing satisfaction in a situation become associated with that situation	Reinforcement makes the action likely to recur
Law of exercise	Use or disuse influences the strength of association	More frequent use → stronger association

Don't confuse: Thorndike's "instrumental" learning emphasizes the organism's active manipulation of the environment, unlike Pavlov's reflexive responses.

🐴 The case of Hans the horse

• Hans appeared to do math and spelling, leading many to believe he had human-like intelligence.
• A graduate student's experiment revealed Hans was responding to unintentional cues from questioners (body language, facial expressions).
• Hans answered correctly only when the questioner knew the answer.
• Lesson: Demonstrated the power of unintentional conditioning and the need for rigorous experimental controls.

🔭 John Watson's founding of behaviorism

Watson insisted psychology must focus on objective, measurable behaviors to be a legitimate science.

Three core claims:

1. Instincts are socially conditioned: Children are not born with particular behaviors; behaviors result from early training.
2. Emotions are learned: Emotions are physiological responses to stimuli that can be conditioned.
3. Environment over heredity: Watson claimed he could train any healthy child to become any type of person, regardless of talents or ancestry.

👶 Watson's Little Albert experiment

• Demonstrated that emotional reactions (fear) can be conditioned.
• Before conditioning: Albert (an infant) showed no fear of a white rat, rabbit, or bunny mask.
• During conditioning: A loud clanking noise (unconditioned stimulus causing natural fear) was paired with the white rat (neutral stimulus).
• After conditioning: Albert exhibited fear of the white rat alone (conditioned response to conditioned stimulus).
• Generalization: Albert's fear extended to similar objects (rabbit, mask) he previously didn't fear.

Key terms:

• US (unconditioned stimulus): Loud noise naturally triggering fear
• UR (unconditioned response): Natural fear response
• CS (conditioned stimulus): White rat after pairing
• CR (conditioned response): Fear of the rat
• CER (conditioned emotional response): The learned emotional reaction

🔔 Classical Conditioning

🐕 Pavlov's discovery

Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, discovered classical conditioning accidentally while studying digestion in dogs.

Respondent conditioning: A particular response becomes linked to a particular stimulus through repeated pairing.

• Dogs began salivating before food was presented, responding to cues like lab coats and researcher presence.
• Pavlov systematically paired neutral stimuli (tones, bells) with food presentation.
• The tone became a conditioned stimulus, and salivating to the tone became a conditioned response.

📈 Acquisition, extinction, and recovery phases

Acquisition phase:

• The period when the association is being learned.
• Neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with unconditioned stimulus.
• Association strengthens with reinforcement (food following the tone).

Extinction phase:

• Tone presented without food.
• Salivating behavior quickly diminished and steadily decreased.
• Eventually, dogs no longer salivated to the tone alone.

Recovery phase:

• After a rest period (usually 24 hours), the tone was presented again.
• Dogs initially anticipated food but quickly gave up without reinforcement.
• Key finding: Conditioned learning may be permanent, but conditioned responses require ongoing reinforcement to be maintained.

🌍 Classical conditioning in everyday life

Classical conditioning occurs whenever two unrelated events become connected.

Common examples:

• Feeling stress when seeing a police car after receiving a ticket
• Salivating at the smell of cookies baking
• Waking response to an alarm clock
• Lunch bells triggering hunger

Stronger conditioning: Stimuli that create emotional effects (fear, gratification, happiness) produce stronger conditioning.

🎯 Operant Conditioning

🎲 Edward Tolman's purposive behavior

Tolman reintroduced mental activity while maintaining behaviorist methodology.

Purposive behavior: Objectively defined as goals where behaviors serve as means to an end.

Intervening variables that trigger behaviors:

• Environmental stimuli
• Physiological drives
• Heredity
• Previous training
• Age

Key insight: Outcomes of behaviors establish a relationship between the organism and its environment; cues and expectations affect future performances.

🐀 B. F. Skinner's operant conditioning

Skinner believed learning outcomes are influenced more by the organism's enjoyment of consequences than by repeated exposure alone.

Operant conditioning: A learning process in which a particular action is followed by something either desired or unwanted, affecting the likelihood of repetition.

Core principle: Behaviors are largely due to genetic endowment and environmental reinforcements (rewards or punishments).

➕➖ Positive and negative reinforcement/punishment

Important: "Positive" and "negative" refer to adding or removing a stimulus, not pleasant or unpleasant.

Type	Definition	Effect on behavior	Example
Positive reinforcement	Adding a stimulus	Increases behavior	Giving a treat for good behavior
Negative reinforcement	Removing a stimulus	Increases behavior	Removing chores when homework is done
Positive punishment	Adding a stimulus	Decreases behavior	Adding extra chores for misbehavior
Negative punishment	Removing a stimulus	Decreases behavior	Taking away phone privileges

Reinforcer types:

• Primary: Naturally occurring (food, water)
• Conditioned: Learned association to a primary reinforcer (money, grades)

📅 Schedules of reinforcement

Skinner found that when and how often reinforcement is delivered affects learning strength.

Two dimensions:

1. Ratio vs. Interval:

   • Ratio: Reinforcement after a certain number of behaviors
   • Interval: Reinforcement after a certain amount of time

2. Fixed vs. Variable:

   • Fixed: Predictable (set number or time)
   • Variable: Unpredictable (random number or time)

Key findings:

• Behaviors are stronger with continuous, short, achievable schedules.
• Ratio schedules produce higher response rates than intervals.
• Variable interval schedules are more reliable than fixed intervals for maintaining behaviors.
• Intermittent rewards take much longer to extinguish than continuous rewards because the organism learns that persistence pays off.

🎭 Behavior modification and shaping

Complex behaviors are modified through successive approximations—rewarding behaviors that are part of approaching the desired behavior.

Why necessary: Keeps organisms motivated during the learning process by providing reinforcement for progress, not just the final goal.

Example: Teaching a complex task by rewarding each step toward completion rather than waiting for perfect performance.

👥 Social Learning Theory

🔄 Transitional movement

Social behaviorism bridged traditional behaviorism and cognitive psychology by adding social and cognitive components.

🎯 Julian Rotter's locus of control

Rotter criticized behaviorists for discounting cognitive processes and emphasized perceptions and beliefs about personal control.

Locus of control: The perceived relationship individuals have with their environment and the effect they can have on outcomes.

Two types:

• Internal locus of control: Belief that one has great influence over outcomes
• External locus of control: Belief that outcomes are beyond one's influence

Key principles of Rotter's social learning theory:

1. People form subjective expectations about reinforcements following their behaviors.
2. People formulate the likelihood that behaviors will produce specific reinforcements.
3. People can modify behaviors to ensure desired reinforcement.
4. The value of reinforcement is determined by the individual and can be situation-specific.

Important finding: Successful outcomes do not automatically change an individual's belief about perceived control—locus of control is a stable pattern.

👀 Albert Bandura's social cognitive theory

Bandura proposed that learning is a reciprocal process between the individual and the environment.

Key departure from strict behaviorism: The response is not automatic or instinctive but is the result of internalized thoughts and emotional interactions—the individual is consciously aware, anticipates outcomes, and has expectations.

🪞 Observational learning and modeling

Vicarious learning: Humans learn by observing the outcomes of others' actions.

Mirror neurons: Research shows that observing another perform a task triggers the same neurons as if the observer were performing it.

Social learning components:

1. Observing and imitating behaviors of people considered admirable, powerful, nurturing, or similar
2. Processing observed outcomes cognitively
3. Gaining information about consequences of behaviors

Outcome effects:

• Favorable consequences → greater likelihood observer will repeat behaviors
• Punishment, rejection, negative outcomes → decreased likelihood of adoption

🥊 Bobo doll experiment

Bandura's classic study demonstrated observational learning of aggression.

Findings:

• Children who witnessed a model perform aggressive acts on a Bobo doll exhibited imitated aggression.
• Children also showed significantly more ways to be aggressive than they had observed in the model.
• Implication: Once behavior is modeled, it becomes part of the child's problem-solving schema.

💪 Self-efficacy

Bandura placed great emphasis on self-efficacy: an individual's beliefs and self-understanding about their competence for dealing with problems.

Research findings:

• Higher self-efficacy → consistently associated with greater success
• Lower self-efficacy → associated with hopelessness and poorer psychological health

Significance: Bandura argued that psychological research should not overlook how humans interact with each other in their environment—a direct challenge to extreme behaviorists' denial of human social interaction.

🔗 Self-efficacy vs. locus of control

Don't confuse:

Concept	Focus	Question it answers
Self-efficacy (Bandura)	Sense of competence for dealing with problems	"Can I do this?"
Locus of control (Rotter)	Perceived relationship with environment and effect on outcomes	"Do my actions matter?"

Both influence behavior but through different mechanisms—self-efficacy is about capability beliefs; locus of control is about control beliefs.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Cognitive psychology explains how the mind processes, stores, and retrieves information through mechanisms analogous to computer processing, and how cognitive abilities develop from infancy through adulthood in response to brain maturation, social learning, and life experiences.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Information processing theory: The mind works like a computer—sensory input becomes working memory, then long-term storage, requiring brain maturation and selective attention for efficiency.
• Piaget's stages: Cognitive development progresses through sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational periods, each enabling new types of reasoning.
• Vygotsky's sociocultural view: Learning happens within social contexts through guided participation (scaffolding) in the zone of proximal development, emphasizing culture and language over biology alone.
• Common confusion—Piaget vs. Vygotsky: Piaget emphasized age-based maturation enabling learning; Vygotsky emphasized that learning experiences with mentors drive cognitive development.
• Moral reasoning (Kohlberg): Moral thinking evolves from egocentric rule-following (preconventional) to social-order concerns (conventional) to universal principles (postconventional), paralleling cognitive maturation.

🖥️ Information processing theory

🖥️ Computer metaphor for the mind

Information processing theory: Human thinking processes are like computer processes—sensory input (data input), working memory (data analysis), and long-term storage (data output with retrieval paths).

• George Miller and Ulric Neisser pioneered cognitive psychology by looking beyond behaviorism.
• Miller's "magic number seven" showed people recall about seven pieces of information (±2), varying by type (digits vs. words).
• Unlike computers, human cognition requires brain maturation, selective attention, and automatization to function efficiently.

🧠 Three memory systems

Memory Type	Duration	Function	Example
Sensory memory	<1 second	Receives external information; most decays immediately	Opening a webpage—you ignore most information unless something catches attention
Working memory	10–15 seconds	Processes information for analysis; limited capacity	Repeating a new phone number; easily disrupted by interruptions
Long-term memory	Indefinite	Stores information via hippocampus; retrieved by cues	Driving a car automatically; recalling facts by visual/sensory associations

🔄 Moving information between systems

• Selective attention moves sensory input to working memory (focusing on something specific).
• Metamemory (understanding how memory works) is necessary to transfer working memory to long-term storage.
• Strategies: rehearsal, pattern matching, organization help store information.
• Retrieval cues (smells, sounds, images) associated with stored information help recall it later.
• Example: Taking notes as a concept map provides a visual cue to trigger related memories.

🧬 Brain maturation requirements

• Myelination (fatty coating on axons) speeds neural signals, enabling faster information processing.
• Faster processing → better selective attention, quicker reactions, efficient memory storage.
• Metacognition (assessing how to accomplish cognitive tasks) emerges in school-age children and improves with age.
• Myelin breakdown from illness, malnutrition, or aging impairs reaction times and accuracy.

🧒 Piaget's cognitive development stages

🧒 Core principle: constructing knowledge

Piaget asserted that people construct mental representations of the world based on their experiences, advancing through four periods of cognitive maturity.

• Knowledge advances through assimilation (adding new information to existing schemas) and accommodation (modifying schemas to include new experiences).
• Brain maturation and experience together enable new types of reasoning at each stage.

👶 Sensorimotor period (birth to 2 years)

• Learning occurs through reflexes (sucking, tasting, biting) and sensorimotor stimulation.
• Early knowledge: "Everything in my mouth provides food or comfort."
• Accommodation happens when infants grasp objects (e.g., a rattle) and discover not everything is edible.
• Object permanence (things exist when out of sight) emerges around 8 months.
• Purposeful intention: Infants actively try to make events happen (e.g., making sounds to get parent response).
• By age 2, children act like "little scientists"—trial-and-error experimentation plus mental representations to predict outcomes.

🎨 Preoperational period (ages 2 to 6)

• Children acquire language and social skills but lack logical reasoning.
• Egocentrism: Focused on their own perspective.
• Theory of mind (recognizing others think differently) emerges around age 3, faster with frequent social interactions, older siblings, and caregiver conversations.
• Centration: Focus on a single characteristic (e.g., if it looks bigger, there is more).
• Fail at conservation tasks (quantity remains the same despite shape changes) and reversibility (understanding transformations can be undone).
• Static reasoning: Struggle to accept things were different in the past (e.g., shocked that parents were once babies).
• Don't confuse: Older preoperational children (closer to age 6) begin using simple logic based on accumulated knowledge.

🧮 Concrete operational period (ages 7 to 11)

• Can apply logical reasoning to concrete (factual) information based on accumulated experiences.
• Use inductive thought: Start with what they know, work toward a solution.
• Can perform conservation tasks, classification, seriation (ordering by size), and make scale adjustments.
• Transitive inference: Infer implied facts from known relationships (precursor to abstract thought).
• Example: Ordering sticks by length—younger children use trial-and-error; concrete operational children use strategy (hold all sticks, rest on level surface, select by length).
• Limitation: Cannot apply logical reasoning to hypothetical situations.

🤔 Formal operational period (age 12 to adulthood)

• Deductive thinking: Start with an idea, apply logical/hypothetical principles to prove or disprove it.
• Hypothetical thinking is the primary benchmark—enables advanced decision-making.
• Use both analytical (hypothetical-deductive) and intuitive (gut feeling) thinking; emotions often trigger intuitive decisions in younger adolescents.
• New egocentrism related to identity: Believe they are unique, special, more socially significant than they are.
• Prefrontal cortex still developing → more impulsive, shortsighted, self-centered than young adults.
• Don't confuse: Older adolescents can simultaneously use analytical and intuitive thinking; younger ones rely more on emotions.

⚠️ Limitations of Piaget's theory

• Variations in age of benchmark attainment—today's children often achieve tasks earlier than Piaget's model suggests.
• Cultural practices determine what tasks are learned and when.
• Much variability in cognitive abilities across the adult lifespan not addressed by Piaget.

🌍 Vygotsky's sociocultural learning

🌍 Core principle: social context drives cognition

Vygotsky proposed that beyond brain maturation, social learning is central to cognition—children learn within a social context, and culture determines what is important to learn.

• Language is the primary mediator for understanding and learning; communication is key.
• Children are apprentices in learning; adults (parents, teachers, mentors) guide them.

💬 Private speech and internal self-talk

• Private speech: Young children narrate actions, thoughts, intentions like a screenplay—processing what they're doing, want to do, and effects.
• After age 6, private speech decreases as children transition to internal self-talk.
• By age 8, most self-talk is internalized, becoming part of executive problem-solving skills.
• Even adults talk aloud when working through problems.

📏 Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Zone of proximal development: Tasks that cannot be performed independently but are within one's potential with assistance.

• Three categories: tasks outside immediate potential, tasks doable with assistance (ZPD), tasks doable independently.
• Scaffolding: Temporary support provided by mentors until the child masters the task.
• Example: A child can dress herself but cannot tie shoes, zip zippers, or button shirts—dressing is in her ZPD because she has potential but needs assistance.

🔄 Comparison: Vygotsky vs. Piaget

Aspect	Piaget	Vygotsky
Primary driver	Brain maturation + experiences	Social learning + culture
Role of language	Tied to cognitive abilities	Primary mediator for learning
Learning mechanism	Assimilation/accommodation	Guided participation (scaffolding)
Age emphasis	Periods associated with age	Learning experiences determine development
Shared beliefs	Children are active participants; language development tied to cognition	Both

⚖️ Kohlberg's moral reasoning

⚖️ Core principle: moral thinking develops in stages

Kohlberg proposed three levels of moral reasoning (preconventional, conventional, postconventional) with six stages, paralleling Piaget's cognitive development periods and depending on both experience and cognitive maturation.

• Used the "Heinz dilemma" scenario: A man cannot afford medication for his terminally ill wife, so he breaks into a pharmacy and steals it—should he have done it, and why?
• Before age 5, children lack moral reasonability—don't think about rules in daily actions.

🧒 Preconventional level (early childhood)

• Stage 1: Obey rules to avoid punishment; authority figures are in charge; rules are literal.
• Stage 2: Weigh own interest in deciding to follow rules; consider fairness and negotiation; want to avoid getting caught.
• Egocentric, as Piaget described preoperational children.
• Goal: Be recognized as good; avoid trouble.

👥 Conventional level (adolescence to early adulthood)

• Stage 3: Consider needs of others over black-and-white right/wrong; increased prosocial behaviors (forgiveness, generosity); recognize others may have disadvantages.
• Stage 4: Appreciate rules for social order—benefit of the group, not just the person; teamwork and loyalty valued over individual interests.
• Hormonal changes increase emotional (intuitive) reasoning—feelings influence decisions about right and wrong.
• Don't confuse: Stage 3 focuses on individual relationships; stage 4 emphasizes social order for the group.

🌐 Postconventional level (adulthood, if achieved)

• Stage 5: Justice oriented around laws and individual rights.
• Stage 6: Universal principles of fairness; global perspective.
• Many adults never reach postconventional reasoning; those who do often arrive later in adulthood.
• Reasoning differs between stages 5 and 6, even if final decisions are similar.

🔄 Influences on moral development

• Transition depends on experiences (reinforcements, punishment) and cognitive maturation.
• Integration of parental beliefs with new social environments.
• Involvement with diverse cultures broadens perspective, promotes adaptation to diverse social roles.
• Culture (peer, religious, ethnic groups) influences beliefs and values.

⚠️ Limitations

• Criticized for not accounting for cultural differences or gender differences.
• Chronological age often predicts moral judgment but is not the determining variable—culture, experience, and biology matter.

🧓 Schaie's adult intelligence stages

🧓 Core principle: cognition adapts to life roles

K. Warner Schaie proposed seven stages in which cognitive functioning transforms during adulthood in response to new responsibilities and pressures; age correlates with life milestones, so intelligence is age-specific.

• Founder of the Seattle Longitudinal Study (1956)—examined variables influencing cognitive changes over four decades.
• Health and personality influence presence, absence, and magnitude of age-related cognitive changes.

📊 Seven stages of adult cognition

Stage	Age period	Focus	Characteristics
Acquisition	Adolescence	Self-serving	Vast new information; unrelated to practical long-term goals; prepares brain for adult demands
Achieving	Emerging adulthood	Long-term goals	Adapt information to plan/solve problems for livelihood; accountable for consequences; struggle with decisions lacking concrete answers
Responsibility	Early adulthood	Social responsibilities	Practice alternate approaches; acknowledge others' perspectives; include needs of others
Executive	Early to middle adulthood	Complex relationships	Integrate perspectives; mature conflict resolution; family, community, work important
Reorganization	Older adulthood	Meaningful experiences	More flexible; practical knowledge dominates; less planning/organizing; measure goal worth against effort
Reintegration	Elderly years	Day-to-day activities	Focus on present or very near future; fewer cognitive efforts unless problem is critical; prioritize immediate importance
Legacy-leaving	End of life	Sharing memories	Mind sound but body frail; pass on knowledge; continue meaningfulness into next generation

⚠️ Limitations

• Focuses on Western cultures with increasing responsibilities.
• Seven stages may not be relevant in other cultures.
• Order of functions may differ for individuals.
• Chronological age is not the determining factor—health status and awareness of decline matter.

🎓 Postformal thought in young adulthood

🎓 Perry's dualism to relativism

William Perry proposed that college students' cognition advances from extreme dualism (right/wrong thinking) to relativism (personally committed beliefs based on evidence and multiple perspectives).

• College accelerates intellectual development, generating changes in moral reasoning (as Kohlberg demonstrated).

Positions 1–4: Dualism and multiplicity

• Position 1 (strict dualism): Rigid adherence to authority; no college student enters at this level.
• Position 2 (prelegitimate multiplicity): Many ideas exist; some information is right, must discover truth; belief that unrelated courses are a waste.
• Position 3 (early multiplicity): More than one idea may be correct; evaluating information is necessary; only some perspectives are accurate/relevant; need outside assistance.
• Position 4 (late multiplicity): Better at deciphering relevancy; accept that experts differ; rationalize information, construct/evaluate arguments.

Positions 5–9: Relativism

• Position 5 (contextual relativism): Open to others' opinions; acceptance of truth depends on source and effect; identify authority figures as colleagues.
• Position 6 (commitment foreseen): Identify with aspects of themselves; base long-term decisions (career, religion, politics, personal life).
• Positions 7–9: Change, adapt, accommodate new perspectives with own beliefs; initial commitment → multiple commitments → resolve; can retreat to dualistic thinking to evaluate conflicting information.

Problem-solving approaches

• Dualistic thinkers: Narrow approach; break events into discrete tasks.
• Relativistic thinkers: Approach problem as a whole; utilize evidence-based information.

🔍 Kitchener's reflective judgment

Karen Strohm Kitchener proposed a seven-stage model explaining moral reasoning as reflective judgment—how adults analyze problems and justify problem-solving through three dimensions: certainty of knowledge, processes to acquire knowledge, and evidence used to justify judgments.

Stages 1–3: Certainty-based

• Knowledge based on single concrete instances; right or wrong answers.
• Judgments limited to experience, biased by self-perspective.
• Progress to awareness that some knowledge is certain, other types uncertain.

Stages 4–5: Flexibility emerges

• More flexible in perspective; personal opinions/beliefs remain dominant.
• Awareness of other perspectives; some people decide based on differing viewpoints.

Stages 6–7: Advanced reflective thinking

• Weigh evidence with personal beliefs.
• Accept that while some knowledge is uncertain, evidence (e.g., research) shows information may be true.
• Use experiences combined with learned rules and strategies.

🔄 Shared emphasis

• Both Perry and Kitchener emphasize life experiences (especially education) advance cognitive growth in young adults.
• Progression toward reflective judgment is slow—relativism is characteristic of middle-age adults; young adults more likely to believe absolute truth is possible.
• Awareness of others' perspectives is important in advancing cognition.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Social cognition, identity, influence, and cognitive dissonance work together to shape how people understand others, define themselves within groups, respond to social pressures, and resolve conflicts between their beliefs and actions.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Social cognition: People rely on mental frameworks (schemas) and shortcuts (heuristics) to interpret social information, but these can lead to stereotyping and biased judgments.
• Social identity: Self-concept exists on a continuum between personal traits and group memberships; people define themselves through comparisons within and between groups.
• Social influence mechanisms: Three human desires—pleasure seeking, approval, and accuracy—make people vulnerable to conformity (doing what others do) and obedience (doing what authority figures command).
• Common confusion: Conformity vs. obedience—conformity means following the group majority; obedience means following orders from authority, even without group consensus.
• Cognitive dissonance: When actions conflict with beliefs, people experience discomfort and reduce it by changing attitudes, adding justifications, or downplaying importance.

🧠 Social cognition and mental shortcuts

🧠 What social cognition is

Social cognition: the way we come to understand others, developed through social roles, interactions, and relationships.

• It involves interpreting, analyzing, remembering, and using information about our social worlds.
• People form mental representations and frameworks for daily life.
• Social interaction is constant, and people rely on normative influence—standards of acceptable behavior—to gain acceptance and approval.

🗺️ Schemas and heuristics

Social norms: unwritten but established rules that govern social behaviors.

Heuristics: standard representations applied when understanding complex information.

• Cultural social norms provide heuristics as mental shortcuts.
• The more similar a new situation is to a stored heuristic, the more confident people feel about their judgment.
• Example: People are more likely to side with the majority when they don't understand information, creating a false sense of accuracy based on "more believers = better belief."

⚠️ Self-fulfilling prophecies

Self-fulfilling prophecies: predictions that come true because people engage in behaviors under the expectation of a particular outcome.

• Established schemas and perceived reliable heuristics influence future behaviors and predictions.
• Predictions based on previous experience increase the risk of self-fulfillment—taking actions that increase the likelihood of an expected outcome.
• Don't confuse: This is not just prediction; it's when the prediction itself causes the outcome.

🏷️ Stereotyping and subtyping

Stereotyping: the process of making inferences based on group categorical information (ethnicity, age, location, religion).

• When faced with conflicting information, people rely on available heuristic strategies—trying to make sense of unexpected events based on easily recalled, connected information.
• People generalize meanings, making some responses seem automatic (stereotypes).
• Stereotypes lead to inaccurate judgments because people perceive everything within the group as the same and very different from everything outside the group.

Subtyping: the process of modifying the stereotype belief without completely abandoning it.

• When something deviates from the stereotype, people make an exception within the group rather than revising the stereotype.

⚖️ Biases and attribution errors

⚖️ Attribution theory

Attributions: inferences we make about the things other people do.

• Typically, people attribute behaviors to either the situation or the individual's disposition.
• Attributions are prone to bias and error.
• Judgments about others are necessary for human survival (safety, reliability, dependability of social environments).

🎭 Fundamental attribution error

Fundamental attribution error: the tendency to attribute others' behaviors to disposition, even if triggered by the situation.

• People are more likely to see others' actions as reflecting their personality rather than circumstances.
• This bias does not apply equally to self-attributions.

👁️ Actor-observer effect

Actor-observer effect: people attribute others' actions as dispositional and their own as situational, even when the behavior is identical.

• This bias occurs because the situational effect has a mental connection invisible to the observer.
• Making dispositional attributions is easier; situational attributions require additional mental effort and motivation.
• Example: When someone else is late, you think "they're irresponsible" (dispositional); when you're late, you think "traffic was terrible" (situational).

👥 Social identity and group membership

👥 Personal vs. social identity

Self-concept: defined along a personal and social continuum.

Personal identity: one's perceived individuality and relatively constant characteristics.

Social identity: group-specific characteristics defined by members within a social context.

• Everyone has a social identity shaped through social comparisons and evaluation of group membership.
• Social identity theory suggests people move toward positive, well-received group members and away from negative, rejected ones.

🔄 Intragroup and intergroup comparisons

Intragroup comparisons: judgments about similarities and differences within same-group members.

Intergroup comparisons: judgments about similarities and differences between one's group and a different group.

• Both provide situational context for defining oneself, self-perception, and social behavior.
• Because belonging affects self-esteem, self-definitions are subject to reinterpretation.

🧩 Self-complexity and context

• Self-concept is defined within a context; self-identity is complexly organized by categories.
• People belong to several groups, and each role contributes to self-identity.
• High complexity: When roles are distinct, negative impact on one identity has little effect on others.
• Low complexity: When identities overlap and blend, stress to one identity affects the overall sense of self more severely.
• How we define ourselves depends on the situation; we cannot experience each aspect of ourselves in any one moment.

🚪 Group membership and rejection

• People can choose some group memberships, but ethnicity, gender, and age are static traits.
• Belonging to one group often means rejecting and being rejected by another.
• Rejection triggers judgments based on simple characteristics (hairstyles, clothing, body art).
• The more different the out-group from the in-group, the more likely the rejection, especially when differences are viewed negatively.

🚫 Prejudice and discrimination

Prejudice: the feeling component of attitude toward social groups, based solely on membership in a particular group.

• Any form of oppression or devaluation based on group belonging is prejudice and discrimination.
• When disapproved actions are associated with another group, people attribute undesired behaviors to all members of that group.
• Generalized attributions about a group based on one or more members' actions is prejudice.
• Prejudice implies attributes are permanent or unchanging.
• Some prejudicial beliefs are so strong that even associating with the rejected group leads to being "contaminated by association."
• Example: Some religious, political, or ethnic groups forbid intermarriage or even friendships outside the group.

🎯 Social influence mechanisms

🎯 Three essential desires

Social influence: the control of one person's behavior by another.

People have three essential desires that make them vulnerable to social influence:

1. Hedonic motive: Humans are pleasure seeking and avoid pain; they preserve effort to satisfy needs and desires.
2. Approval motive: People need others' approval and work to gain acceptance.
3. Accuracy motive: People strive to know the correct or right information.

• Without social influence, there would be no altruism or cooperation, and people would not be motivated to join groups.

🎁 Rewards, punishments, and observational learning

• Rewards and punishments powerfully shape behaviors; influence can be achieved through observing others.
• Witnessing another person receive recognition increases motivation to attempt the action.
• Observing someone receive a reprimand decreases motivation for that behavior.
• However, some people are challenged to achieve where others have failed, regardless of consequences.

📏 Normative influence and reciprocity

Normative influence: information about behaviors that are appropriate for the group.

• Members provide information about appropriate behaviors for the situation.
• Examples: saying please and thank you, holding doors, exchanging gifts.
• Reciprocity: Often a norm within groups; people feel obligated to return favors or gifts.
• Example: After receiving Christmas cards, people may send cards back even if they hadn't planned to.

🚪 Door-in-the-face technique

• Salespeople use reciprocity by first asking for a high amount (usually rejected), then offering a discount.
• This strategy leverages reciprocity to influence customer behavior.
• Examples: large bills in tip jars, coffee shop counters, panhandlers' cups, or street musicians' cases—setting a precedent for appropriate tip amounts.

👥 Conformity: Solomon Asch's experiment

Conformity: the tendency for people to do what others are doing, just because they are doing it.

• Asch's classic experiment: seven actors and one participant were shown cards with lines and asked which line matched a standard.
• Actors gave the same incorrect answer; the participant answered last.
• More than half of participants agreed with the actors, saying something they didn't believe to be true.
• Primary reason: to gain social approval by avoiding going against the group majority.
• When the majority believes the same truth, conformity ensures continued group belonging.

👮 Obedience: Stanley Milgram's experiment

Obedience: people do what someone else tells them to do, just because they were told to do it, not because others are doing it too.

• Authority status is more influential than norms.
• Milgram's experiment: participants ("teachers") were told to administer electric shocks to "learners" for mistakes, increasing voltage with each error.
• 80% continued shocking even after the learner screamed, complained, and begged.
• Over 60% continued to the highest voltage.
• Goal: demonstrate how ordinary people can do great harm when ordered to do so.

⚠️ Explanations for destructive obedience

Four explanations for why destructive obedience occurs:

1. Responsibility relief: Authority figures relieve individuals of responsibility; people justify "just following orders."
2. Symbols of authority: Badges, stripes, hats remind people the authority has the right to make rules and administer punishment.
3. Gradual escalation: Individuals start with minimal consequences; if there's resistance, intensity increases to influence compliance.
4. Speed: Progression moves quickly, leaving no time for systematic planning to resolve the situation.

Don't confuse: Conformity is following the group; obedience is following authority, even without group consensus.

💭 Cognitive dissonance theory

💭 What cognitive dissonance is

Cognitive consonance: one's actions are in agreement with one's belief and attitude.

Attitudes: general evaluations people have about themselves and the physical and social environment.

Cognitive dissonance: discomfort experienced when acting in ways that conflict with values and beliefs, or when two or more attitudes conflict.

• Developed by Leon Festinger.
• Emotions, cognitions, and behaviors shape attitudes; one attitude can influence another.
• Cognitive dissonance is common in social situations because others' influence can motivate actions people don't agree with.
• Belonging is essential to social survival; people often act inconsistently with their attitudes and beliefs.

🔧 Reducing dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is stressful; discomfort motivates people to reduce it by:

• Altering beliefs
• Incorporating additional information
• Downplaying the importance of the dissonant thought

Example: If you believe a friend's feelings are more important than telling her she looks drained, you justify dishonesty in the friendship. If you know why she's tired, you add that information to justify your comment as being for her benefit.

🤔 Postdecisional dissonance

Postdecisional dissonance: discomfort resulting from two conflicting thoughts about two alternatives.

• Some decisions are followed by regret, such as a major purchase, then second thoughts.
• Dissonance can be alleviated by:
  • Undoing the decision (e.g., returning the purchase)
  • Reevaluating and adjusting beliefs about the alternative so it appears clearly the best choice

💪 Effort justification

Effort justification: reevaluation of commitment to decide if it's worth the effort.

• Cognitive dissonance happens when great difficulty is involved in following through on a choice.
• Example: College students put great effort toward earning a degree; many stop before graduating.
• Dropout student accepts the hard work is not worth the degree and feels better after not attending.
• Graduating student accepts the degree is worth the effort and won't feel better until completing the program.

💰 Insufficient justification

• Justifying an action inconsistent with one's attitudes to benefit from the situation.
• People behave in ways that contradict values or beliefs for personal gain.
• Large benefits remove dissonance: Celebrities/athletes endorse products for money; they justify it as income, and the large benefit removes dissonance. They don't change their attitude toward the product.
• Small benefits don't remove dissonance: Receiving a very small incentive or volunteering for a cause you don't believe in creates dissonance. People are likely to change attitudes or beliefs in favor of the cause, because little/no incentive isn't enough to justify convincing others of information they don't believe.

🔗 Personal connections and dissonance

• People are more likely to make modifications when cognitive dissonance affects relationships or social connections.
• Example: Issues related to prejudice and discrimination toward someone close or within one's social network.
• The closer an issue or alternative perspective is to one's personal life, the more stress from cognitive dissonance and the greater the likelihood of adjusting beliefs.
• Example: People may have strong opinions on abortion, divorce, same-sex marriage, death penalty, or homelessness—but when the issue touches their personal life, they experience more dissonance and are more likely to adjust beliefs.