Psychology 105 Final Exam Review: Key Concepts and Theories

Perspectives on Personality

Psychoanalytic, Humanistic, Trait, Social-Cognitive

Personality psychology explores the enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguish individuals. Several major perspectives offer different explanations for personality development and structure.

• Psychoanalytic Perspective: Founded by Sigmund Freud, this approach emphasizes unconscious motives and conflicts, particularly those rooted in childhood. Key concepts include the id, ego, and superego, and defense mechanisms.

• Humanistic Perspective: Focuses on individual growth and self-actualization. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers are central figures, emphasizing free will and the drive toward personal fulfillment.

• Trait Perspective: Describes personality in terms of stable traits, such as the Big Five (OCEAN: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism).

• Social-Cognitive Perspective: Emphasizes the influence of learning, cognition, and social context. Albert Bandura's concept of reciprocal determinism is central.

Example: The Big Five model is widely used in personality assessment and research.

Emotion and Motivation

Major Theories and Experiments

Emotion and motivation are central topics in psychology, explaining why we feel and act as we do.

• Emotion Theories: Theories such as the James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, and Schachter-Singer (Two-Factor) models explain how emotions are generated and experienced.

• Motivation: Explains the processes that initiate, direct, and sustain behavior. Includes biological, psychological, and social factors.

• Harlow's Monkeys: Harry Harlow's experiments with rhesus monkeys demonstrated the importance of contact comfort in attachment, challenging the idea that attachment is solely based on nourishment.

• Sherif's Robbers Cave Experiment: Explored intergroup conflict and cooperation, showing how competition and superordinate goals can influence group dynamics.

Example: The Schachter-Singer theory posits that emotion arises from physiological arousal and cognitive labeling.

Developmental Psychology

Attachment, Parenting, and Lifespan Development

Developmental psychology studies how people change across the lifespan, focusing on physical, cognitive, and social development.

• Attachment: Emotional bond between child and caregiver. Mary Ainsworth's "Strange Situation" identified secure, avoidant, and ambivalent attachment styles.

• Parenting Styles: Diana Baumrind identified authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles, each associated with different child outcomes.

• Critical Periods: Specific times during which certain experiences must occur for development to proceed normally.

• Continuity vs. Discontinuity: Debate over whether development is gradual or occurs in distinct stages.

Example: Secure attachment in infancy is linked to better social and emotional outcomes later in life.

Social Psychology

Conformity, Obedience, and Group Behavior

Social psychology examines how individuals are influenced by others and by social contexts.

• Conformity: Adjusting behavior or thinking to align with group standards. Solomon Asch's line judgment studies demonstrated the power of group pressure.

• Obedience: Following orders from an authority figure. Stanley Milgram's experiments revealed high levels of obedience, even when actions conflicted with personal conscience.

• Groupthink: The tendency for group members to seek consensus, often at the expense of critical thinking.

• Superordinate Goals: Shared goals that require cooperation, reducing intergroup conflict (as shown in Sherif's Robbers Cave study).

Example: Groupthink can lead to poor decision-making in cohesive groups, such as in political or business settings.

Learning and Memory

Classical and Operant Conditioning, Memory Processes

Learning involves acquiring new knowledge or behaviors, while memory refers to storing and retrieving information.

• Classical Conditioning: Learning through association, as demonstrated by Pavlov's dogs.

• Operant Conditioning: Learning through consequences, as described by B.F. Skinner.

• Observational Learning: Learning by watching others, central to Bandura's social learning theory.

• Memory: Includes encoding, storage, and retrieval. Short-term and long-term memory are key concepts.

Example: Bandura's "Bobo doll" study showed that children imitate aggressive behavior observed in adults.

Happiness and Well-being

Myths, Predictors, and Interventions

Psychology investigates what contributes to happiness and how it can be increased.

• Myths of Happiness: Common misconceptions about what makes people happy (e.g., wealth, youth).

• Predictors of Happiness: Social relationships, meaningful work, and a sense of purpose are stronger predictors than material wealth.

• Interventions: Practices such as gratitude, mindfulness, and acts of kindness can enhance well-being.

Example: Research shows that experiences (such as travel or learning) often bring more lasting happiness than possessions.

Table: Parenting Styles and Outcomes

Parenting Style	Description	Child Outcomes
Authoritative	High warmth, high control	High self-esteem, social competence
Authoritarian	Low warmth, high control	Obedient, less happy
Permissive	High warmth, low control	Impulsive, less self-control

Additional info:

• CAPS theory refers to Mischel's Cognitive-Affective Personality System, which explains how personality is expressed in different contexts.

• "Reciprocal determinism" is Bandura's idea that behavior, personal factors, and environment interact to shape personality.

• "Critical period" is a developmental stage during which the nervous system is especially sensitive to certain environmental stimuli.