Introduction to Psychology

1. Please read the article on your desk titled “The Girl in the Window”. Note- the chapter 2 assignment should be on pg. 56, not 57 as stated on NiceNet. I would like the Critical Thinking 1 and 2 on pg. 56. Introduction to Psychology Chapter 3

2. Language • Language is a form of communication in which sounds and symbols are combined according to formal rules • Phonemes are the basic speech sounds (English has 40-50 phonemes) • Morphemes are the smallest meaningful units of language • Grammar provides rules for a language • Syntax refers to the rules for word order in a sentence • Semantics refers to a system of using words to create meanings © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

3. What is a morpheme, for real? • morpheme: a combination of sounds that have a meaning.  A morpheme does not necessarily have to be a word.  • Example:  the word cats has two morphemes. Cat is a morpheme, and s is a morpheme.  Every morpheme is either a base or an affix.  An affix can be either a prefix or a suffix.  Cat is the base morpheme, and s is a suffix.

4. Language and Thought • Benjamin Lee Whorf’s linguistic relativity hypothesis theorizes that language determines our perceptions of reality • This states that language is not simply a way of voicing ideas, but is the very thing which shapes those ideas. One cannot think outside the confines of their language. The result of this process is many different world views by speakers of different languages. • Researchers suggest that language influences thought © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

5. Language Development • Prelinguistic stage- begins with reflexive cry, then crying becomes more purposeful • Cooing- producing vowel-like sounds • Babbling- adding consonants to vowels • Linguistic stage- babbling begins to sound more like the language in the child’s home • Overextension • Telegraphic speech • Overgeneralization © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

6. Overextension- Children in their second and third years sometimes use words as overextensions; “doggie,” for instance, may refer to a variety of four-legged animals as well as to dogs, and the word “daddy” may be used in reference to all men. © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

7. Telegraphic Speech: At approximately age 2, children enter the Two-Word Stage of language development. • During this stage they exhibit telegraphic speech, which is speech that sounds very much like a telegram, has words arranged in an order that makes sense, and contains almost all nouns and verbs. For example, a child at this stage of development who wants to get milk may say "get milk", as opposed to saying just "milk". As you can see, there are only two words, they are in an order that makes sense, there is one verb and one noun, and it sounds like a telegram. © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

8. Overgeneralizations • the process of extending the application of a rule to items that are excluded from it in the language norm, as when a child uses the regular past tense verb ending -ed of forms like I walked to produce forms like *I goed or *I rided. © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

9. Theories of Language Development • Is language capability innate or learned? • Most researchers believe that language acquisition is a combination of nature and nurture. • Language Acquisition Device- an innate mechanism, hypothesized by Chomsky, that enables a child to analyze language and extract the basic rules of grammar © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

10. Noam Chomsky: Language Acquisition Device • humans are born with a special biological brain mechanism, called a Language Acquisition Device (LAD). • This theory supposes that the ability to learn language is inborn, that nature is more important than nurture and that experience using language is only necessary in order to activate the LAD. • One problem with Chomsky's theory is that it does not take enough account of the influence that thought (cognition) and language have on each other's development. © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

11. Animal Language • Animals are capable of limited communication • Language in animals is not comparable to human language • Apes lack appropriate vocal cords for generation of speech • Apes can be trained to use non-vocal sign language • Washoe acquired American Sign Language • Dolphins can be trained to respond to hand signals and to vocal commands • Animal language lacks complexity and syntax © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E

12. Language and the Brain • There are critical periods of language development • Broca’s area is involved in speech and language production • Supramarginal gyrus (Wernicke’s area) combines word meaning with the production of words (It is particularly known to be involved in the understanding and comprehension of spoken language.)

14. Theories about Development Piaget: cognitive constructivism Piaget's central interest was children's cognitive development ('Building up', Nursery World, 20 May 2004). However, he theorized that language was simply one of children's ways of representing their familiar worlds, a reflection of thought, and that language did not contribute to the development of thinking. Cognitive development, he argued, preceded that of language.

15. Erik Erikson • Psychoanalyst Erik Erikson describes the physical, emotional and psychological stages of development and relates specific issues, or developmental work or tasks, to each stage. • (Psychosocial Stages of Development)

17. Lawrence Kohlberg Expanded on Piaget’s theory of Cognitive Development Stages of Moral Development (Kohlberg)

18. Level One: Pre-conventional Morality • Stage 1: Punishment-Avoidance and Obedience-Make moral decisions strictly on the basis of self-interests. Disobey rules if can do without getting caught. • Stage 2: Exchange of Favors-Recognize that others have needs, but make satisfaction of own needs a higher priority.

19. Level Two: Conventional Morality • Stage 3: Good boy/Good girl-Make decisions on the basis of what will please others. Concerned about maintaining interpersonal relations. • Stage 4: Law and Order-Look to society as a whole for guidelines about behavior. Think of rules as inflexible and unchangeable.

20. Level Three: Post-conventional Morality • Stage 5: Social Contract- Recognize that rules are social agreements that can be changed when necessary • Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principle- Adhere to a small number of abstract priniciples that transcend specific concrete rules. Answer to an inner conscience.

21. Sigmund Freud

22. Psychoanalytic Perspective:Psychosexual Development • Freud (and others) were puzzled 􀂾 Where do thoughts, feelings, impulses come from? 􀂾 Are they sometimes mysterious, confusing, or disturbing?

23. Freudian Deductions 1. If you do something meaningful & motivated (not just random firing or abnormal chemistry), 2. but don’t know why or have conscious control (and may even want to not do it), 3. then your motivation must be unconscious!

24. Topographic Models (3 regions) 1. Conscious- in awareness now 2. Preconscious - ordinary memory 3. Unconscious - most thoughts, motives, & memories, all threatening thoughts, motives, & memories, a repressed but still powerful psychic force, shaped by early experience…

26. Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development: Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital A newborn baby, according to Sigmund Freud, is bubbling with energy (libido; psychic energy). However, this energy is without focus or direction, which would not allow for survival.  How, then, does the child develop the ability to control and direct his/her energy? So, where does the infant’s, then the child’s, the adolescent's, and adult's energy get focused?  Freud believed that as development occurs the baby begins to focus on first one object then another.  As the infant’s focus shifts the style and type of gratification being sought changes.

27. The focal objects for the developing child's energy serves to define five main stages of psychological development: • oral (0-18 months) • anal (18 months - 3 1/2 years) • phallic (3 1/2 years - 6 years) • latency (6 years - puberty) • genital (puberty - adulthood) Each psychosexual stage has three main parts: • A physical focus • A psychological theme • An adult character type

28. Psychosexual Stages (Freud) • oral (0-18 months) • A physical focus • A psychological theme • An adult character type • anal (18 months - 3 1/2 years) • A physical focus • A psychological theme • An adult character type • phallic (3 1/2 years - 6 years) • A physical focus • A psychological theme • An adult character type • latency (6 years - puberty) • A physical focus • A psychological theme • An adult character type • genital (puberty - adulthood) • A physical focus • A psychological theme • An adult character type

29. Ego, Id, Superego • Freud's Structural and Topographical Models of Personality • Sigmund Freud's Theory is quite complex and although his writings on psychosexual development set the groundwork for how our personalities developed, it was only one of five parts to his overall theory of personality.  He also believed that different driving forces develop during these stages which play an important role in how we interact with the world.

30. ID • According to Freud, we are born with our Id.  The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met.  Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. 

31. Ego • Within the next three years, as the child interacts more and more with the world, the second part of the personality begins to develop.  Freud called this part the Ego.  The ego is based on the reality principle.  The ego understands that other people have needs and desires and that sometimes being impulsive or selfish can hurt us in the long run.  Its the ego's job to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation.  

32. Super-Ego • By the age of five, or the end of the phallic stage of development, the Superego develops.  The Superego is the moral part of us and develops due to the moral and ethical restraints placed on us by our caregivers.  Many equate the superego with the conscience as it dictates our belief of right and wrong. • In a healthy person, according to Freud, the ego is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the id, not upset the superego, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation. 

33. In Sigmund Freud's topographical model of personality, the ego is the aspect of personality that deals with reality. While doing this, the ego also has to cope with the conflicting demands of the id and the superego. The id seeks to fulfill all wants, needs, and impulses while the superego tries to get the ego to act in an idealistic and moral manner. What happens when the ego cannot deal with the demands of our desires, the constraints of reality, and our own moral standards? According to Freud, anxiety is an unpleasant inner state that people seek to avoid. Anxiety acts as a signal to the ego that things are not going right.

34. Anxiety Frued identified three types of anxiety: • Neurotic anxiety is the unconscious worry that we will lose control of the id's urges, resulting in punishment for inappropriate behavior. • Reality anxiety is fear of real-world events. The cause of this anxiety is usually easily identified. For example, a person might fear receiving a dog bite when they are near a menacing dog. The most common way of reducing this anxiety is to avoid the threatening object. • Moral anxiety involves a fear of violating our own moral principles.

35. Defense Mechanism • In order to deal with this anxiety, Freud believed that defense mechanisms helped shield the ego from the conflicts created by the id, superego, and reality.

36. Sublimation • In Freud's classic theory, erotic energy is only allowed limited expression due to constraints of human society. • Freud considered this defense mechanism the most productive compared to the others that he identified (ie., repression, displacement, denial, reaction formation, intellectualization and projection). • Sublimation is the process of transforming libido into "socially useful" achievements, mainly art. Psychoanalysts often refer to sublimation as the only truly successful defense mechanism.

37. Repression • Repression- The act of repressing or the state of being repressed. • Psychology. The unconscious exclusion of painful impulses, desires, or fears from the conscious mind.

38. Displacement • Displacement- A psychological defense mechanism in which there is an unconscious shift of emotions, affect, or desires from the original object to a more acceptable or immediate substitute. • For example, a tennis player who feels aggrieved about an umpiring decision may throw his or her tennis racket at the ground rather than at the umpire.

39. Denial • An unconscious defense mechanism characterized by refusal to acknowledge painful realities, thoughts, or feelings.

40. Reaction Formation • Reaction Formation occurs when a person feels an urge to do or say something and then actually does or says something that is effectively the opposite of what they really want. It also appears as a defense against a feared social punishment. • If I fear that I will be criticized for something, I very visibly act in a way that shows I am personally a long way from the feared position. • A common pattern in Reaction Formation is where the person uses ‘excessive behavior’, for example using exaggerated friendliness when the person is actually feeling unfriendly.

41. Intellectualization • Intellectualization is a 'flight into reason', where the person avoids uncomfortable emotions by focusing on facts and logic. • A person told they have cancer asks for details on the probability of survival and the success rates of various drugs. The doctor may join in, using 'carcinoma' instead of 'cancer' and 'terminal' instead of 'fatal'.

42. Projection • When a person has uncomfortable thoughts or feelings, they may project these onto other people, assigning the thoughts or feelings that they need to repress to a convenient alternative target. • I do not like another person. But I have a value that says I should like everyone. So I project onto them that they do not like me. This allows me to avoid them and also to handle my own feelings of dislike. • An unfaithful husband suspects his wife of infidelity.

43. “Nell” • Cognitive, Language, Moral, and Psychosexual Development and the Film “Nell” • Assignment:  Watch the film “Nell” with a critical eye. Take a few notes if and when necessary. n a critical formal essay in MLA format, interpret two characters in the film through a psychological / developmental perspective we have discussed in class. Due on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 via email (not NiceNet). • Let’s move the test date to next Tuesday as well.