Chapter 16. Gender Roles

Gender refers to the sex of a person. Every person is different from other. For example, in food. Some people like sour things and other sweet, or you may like a certain kind of food but others do not. But difference are not always the most obvious ones, there are some more difficult to find like cognitive, or intellectual, abilities and differences in personality and behavior. Differences do not exist between the genders. Most biologists believe that genes for traits that help individuals survive and reproduce tend to be passed on to future generations. Gender variations may change during time and culture. Some psychologists believe that gender typing occurs because men and women differ in the organization and functioning of their brains. Sigmund Freud psychoanalytic theory argues that gender typing can be explained in terms of gender identification. According to him, boys come to identify with their fathers and girls with their mothers. It is through the process of identification with the same-sex parent that a child comes to develop the behaviors that are associated with his or her own sex.

Chapter 15. Psychological Tests.

This presentation was very clear to me, even though I knew most of the information given. Psychological tests assess abilities, feelings, attitudes and behaviors. This help can be helpful for people to make decisions. Achievement tests, aptitude tests and tests of interests are all related. Psychologists use personality tests to describe and measure various aspects of people´s personalities. Most of the tests we take, we know we are having them with anticipation. One big example of this is the SAT, schools usually program them with specific dates. So they give us a amount of time to study well and get prepared. There are many types of test parts such as, true and false, short-answer questions, essay questions and multiple choice questions. For multiple choice questions we first leave out what we are sure they are not right and then try with the possible answers. When taking tests we should gather information, practice and be test-wise. Most of the tests we take at school are achievement tests. These are tests that that measure people´s abilities, or aptitudes. But other tests help people identify their interests. Personality tests are usually used to identify psychological problems and disorders.  There are two types of personality tests: objective tests and projective tests. 

Chapter 10.Social Cognition

Attitudes are beliefs and feelings about objects, people, and events that can affect how people behave in certain situations. A person´s attitude about strangers, for example, can influence how that person feels and behaves around people he or she does not know. Cognitive evaluation is when people evaluate evidence and form beliefs on the basis of their evaluations. Part of this process is learning and evaluating data. Cognitive anchors or persistent beliefs that shape the ways in which he or she sees the world and interprets events. This anchors tend to keep people from changing.

Persuasion is a direct attempt to influence other people´s attitudes or views. Parents, for example, may try to persuade their children to adopt the same values that they hold. Central route uses evidence and logical arguments to persuade people. Peripheral route attempts to associate objects, people, or events with positive or negative cues. Two sided arguments is where people present not only their side of the argument but also the opposition´s side. Emotional appeals persuade by arousing such feelings as royalty, desire, or fear rather than by convincing through evidence and logic. Most messages are aimed at a specific audience. People with sales resistance have no trouble turning down requests to buy products or services.

Prejudice is a generalized attitude toward a specific group of people. People who are prejudice judge other people on the basis of their group membership rather than as individuals. Stereotypes are unchanging, oversimplified, and usually distorted beliefs about groups of people. Discrimination refers to the unfair treatment of individuals because they are members of a particular group. For example, people may denied jobs, housing, voting privileges, or other rights because of their skin color, sex, or religion. Some causes of prejudice are: exaggerating differences, justifying economic status, social learning, victimization and scapegoating.  Primacy effect is the tendency for people to form opinions of others on the basis of the first impressions. Recency effect occurs when people change their opinions of others on the basis of recent interactions instead of holding on their first impressions. Attribution therapy; according to this people tend to explain behavior in terms of either dispositional, or personality, factors or in terms of situational, or external, factors.

 Actor observer bias occurs because we tend to judge others only by the behavior we witness, and people´s behavior may not always be a true reflection of their personalities. Fundamental attribution error is the tendency to overestimate the effect of dispositional causes for another person’s behavior, and to underestimate the effect of situational causes. Self-serving bias allows individuals to place the blame for their failures on circumstances outside to place the blame for their failure on circumstances outside their control. Attraction is a kind of attitude. Attraction to another person often leads to friendship or love. Physical appearance tend to influence in the choosing of our friends and partners. Matching hypothesis is where people tend to choose as friends and partners those who are similar to themselves in attractiveness.

Love and friendship have important roles in social cognitive. Both of these words are used in our daily lives. We tend to attach to people, who we trust, respect and have affection for.  For every love relationship there should be passion, commitment, and intimacy. 

Chapter 19. Methods of Therapy

Psychotherapy involves verbal interactions between a trained professional and a person usually called the client or patient who is seeking for help for a physical problem. Biologically based therapies involve the use of drugs or other medical procedures to treat psychological disorders. Counselling psychologists generally treat people with less serious psychological problems. This psychologists usually work at schools. Clinical psychologists help people with psychological problems adjust to the demands of life. Many clinical psychologist work in hospitals or clinics. Psychiatrists are medical doctors and many have private practices.

Psychologists have several techniques to help their patients. The first one is free association where the analyst asks the client to relax and then to say whatever comes to mind. Resistance is the term psychoanalysts use to refer to a client´s hesitancy or unwillingness to discuss issues raised during free association. The second technique is dream analysis is when the analyst interprets the content of client´s dreams to unlock these unconscious thoughts and feelings. Transference is when the client is transferring feelings and expectations from one person to another.

Humanistic therapy is to help individuals reach their full potential.  Person-centered therapy was developed in the early 1950s by Carl Rogers. Nondirective therapy is talking openly of about what ever may be troubling them. Active listening is a widely used communication technique in which the listener repeats, rephrases, and asks for clarification of the statements made by the speaker. Cognitive therapy and behavior therapy are considered together because both methods share the same goal; to help client develop new ways of thinking and behaving.

 Cognitive therapy is to help people learn to think about their problems in more productive ways. Cognitive psychologists focus on their beliefs, attitudes and thought processes that create and compound their clients´ problems. Rational-emotive behavior therapy is based on Ellis´s belief that people are basically logical in their thinking and actions. Behavior therapy or behavior modification helps people develop more adaptive behavior. Behaviorists believe that both desirable and undesirable behaviors are largely learned and that people with psychological problems have learned unhealthy ways of behaving.  Aversive conditioning, is the opposite systematic desensitization. Operant conditioning is based on the assumption that behavior that is reinforced tends to repeat, whereas behavior that is not reinforced tends to extinguish. Drug therapy is the most widely used biological treatment for psychological problems. Antianxiety drugs are used as an outpatient treatment to help people with anxiety disorders or panic attacks. Antidepressant drugs are used in the treatment of eating disorders and panic disorder. Antipsychotic drugs are effective for reducing agitation, delusions and hallucinations.  

Psychosurgery is a brain surgery that is performed to treat psychological disorders. Psychological and physical problems have multiple ways to be solved. They are very common in human beings, no matter if they are big or small. People who care about this problems are interested in helping people cope with this issues. 

Chapter 17. Stress and Health

Stress is the arousal of one´s mind and body in response to demands made upon them. There are different sources of stress including frustration, daily hassles, life changes, and conflict. Not all stresses are bad. Positive stress is called eustress and negative stress is called distress that is intense pressure of anxiety that can have severe psychological and physical effects.

Stress has different sources, the first one is frustration. This is one of the most common sources of stress that means that we are being blocked from obtaining a goal. Examples of this is being delayed from keeping an appointment, lacking enough money to buy an object we really need or want, or forgetting something important. Daily hassles is another source of stress and this are the everyday frustrations we all experience. Life changes: such moving, serious illness or a death in the family. Conflict is another source of stress, this is being pulled in two or more directions by opposing forces or motives. An example of a conflict is when we are applying to a college. Let´s say that we have been accepted in three colleges, and we have the pressure on deciding to which are we going to go. There are three types of conflict approach-approach conflict that is the least stressful type of conflict because the choices are positive. Avoidance-avoidance conflict is a single goal that can produce both avoidance and approach motives. And multiple approach-avoidance conflict is that each alternative courses of action has its advantages and disadvantages.

General adaptation syndrome has three stages, and alarm reaction, a resistance stage and an exhaustion stage. The alarm reaction is initiated when a stressor is perceived. This reaction mobilizes the body for defensive action. The resistance stage happens if the alarm reaction mobilizes the body and the stressor is not removed. During this stage people attempt to find a way to cope with the stressor to avoid being overwhelmed by their negative reactions to the stressor. And the exhaustion stage happens if the stressor is still not removed. At this stage the adrenal and the other glands activated by the fight-or-fight reaction can no longer continue to secrete hormones. When people have stress they are more common to have a great variety of disease causing organisms. The immune system prevents disease by producing white blood cells that destroy these.

There are several ways to cope stress. Defensive coping is one way to reduce the immediate effects of a stressor, but it is probably, but it is probably not the most desirable way. Defensive coping may give people time to gather their resources, but it does not eliminate the source of stress or improve the effectiveness of one´s response to stress. Substance abuse is that some teenagers use alcohol, tranquilizers, and other drugs to try to reduce feelings of stress. Aggression is used by some people that use violence to cope with stressful situations. Suicide happens when people feel so much stress that they just kill themselves.

Stress can have many consequences in our lives, some big and other small. We fight against stress in our daily basis and everyone has their own kind of stress. Stress can cause many physical conflicts such as losing hair, biting our nails and much more.

Chapters 10, 11 and 12. Infancy, Adolescence and Adulthood.

We live our lifes in stages, we change from being a baby to an adult. As we grow we change our ideas, the way we think, physically, in religion, philosophies and other things. As we grow, we learn many thing, we gain experience and knowledge.

Chilhood and infancy is the first stage of life. Nature means heredity and nurture means environment which is whaat we learn of our surroundings. Maturation is the automatic and secuential process of development that results from genetic signals. Critical period is a stage or point in development during which a person or animal is the best suited to learn a particular skill or behavior pattern. Babies grow at an amazing rate, but their most dramatic gains are in height and weight. Soon after the baby is born, the doctor or nurse places a finger against the palm of the baby's hand. By doing this babies usually grasp their finger firmly. Some reflexes are essential to our survival. Breathing is a reflex, but we can also breathe consciously if we wish. Attachment is the emotional ties that form between people. This feeling keeps people together. Stranger anxiety is a fear created by babies from about eight months. Separation anxiety as the word says causes the infant to cry or behave in other ways that indicate distress if their mothers leave them. There are different styles of parenting. There are parents that are warm or cold, warm parect show a great deal of affection to their children. For example, they hug and kiss them and often smile at them. Cold parents may not be as affectionate toward their children or appear to enjoy them as much. There are also strictive or permissive parents, strictive parents impose many rules and supervise their children closely. Permissive parents tend to be less concerned about neatness and cleanliness than are strict parents. Authoritarian parents believe in obedience for its own sake. Self-esteem is the value or worth that people attach to themselves. Self-esteem helps protect people against the stresses ans struggles. Unconditional positive regard means that parents love and accept their children for who they are, no matter how they behave. Conditional positive regard means that parents show their love only when the children behave in certain acceptable ways. Assimilation is the process by which new information is placed into categories that already exist. Accommodation is a change brought about because of new information. Precoventional moral reasoning base their judgments on the consequences of behavior. Conventional moral reasoning makes judgements in terms of whether and act conforms to conventional standards of right and wrong. Postconventional moral reasoning is reasoning based on a person´s own moral standards.

Adolescence is the period of transition from childhood to adulthood. Adolescent growth spurt usually lasts 2 to 3 years in which the body grows 8-12 inches in height. Puberty refers to the specific developmental changes that lead to the ability to reproduce. During puberty males and females change. Some changes in males are hormones from pituitary gland cause the testes to increase output of the hormone testosterone. Sexual organs grow, their voices deepens, hair grows on their face and chest. They also develop broader shoulders and thicker body. And for females: Hormones from the pituitary gland stimulate the ovaries to secrete more estrogen. Estrogen makes the growth of breast tissue and supportive tissue in the hips and buttocks. Pelvic region widens, hips become wider. Production f androgens (similar to testosterone). Growth of pubic underarm hair, menstrual cycle. Menarche is a major life event for most girls, most societies see this as the beginning of ¨womanhood¨. Some adolescents reach physical maturation before others. Many people think that adolescence is constant rebellion but the truth is that most of our changes are more positive than negative. Most adolescent conflicts are because of homework, chores, money, appearance, curfews and dating. There are stages for dating. Stage 1 is when adolescents will places themselves in situations where they can meet people of the other sex. And stage 2 is when adolescents participate in group dating. According to psychoanalyst Erik Erikson the main task of adolescence is to search for an identity. Identity status: Reaction to  patterns and processes. Identity moratorium: Making commitments about important questions. Identity foreclosure: Make a commitment that forcloses (or shutsout) other possibilities. This commitments are usually made by the suggestions of other people. Identity diffusion: Adolescents in this category seem to be constantly searching for a meaning in life and for the identity because they have not committed themselves to a set of personal beliefs or an occupational path. Identity achievement: In this category adolescents have coped with crises and have explored options.

Young adulthood also calles early adulthood, covers a span of approximately 20 years- 40 years old. Young adulthood is characterized by deciding new ways of doing things and by changing relationships with parents. After the upheal of early 30´s the mid- to late 30´s is often characterized by sttling down in life. In the United States 51% of marriages end up being divorced for many reasons. In middle adulthood are people between 40. Middle transition is a period in middle adulthood when people´s perspectives change in a major way. Middle life crisis is in some people, the middle life transition triggers a second period of reassessment. Menopause is the end of menstruation, usually occurs in a woman´s late 40´s or early 50´s. In late adulthood we face many physical changes. There are programmed theories that are the developmental theories that maintain the aging is the result of genetics. During this period we tend to forget things We get diseases such as alzheimer´s disease that is a progressive form of mental deterioration that affect 10% of people over the age of 65. Ego integrity is the belief that life is meaningless even when physical abilities are not able to accept it. There are stages of dying such as denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. 

Life is full of stages, in which we change with nature or nurture. Childhood is a stage of new discoveries and learning how to react in many simple situations. Adolescence is dealing with what we really want in life and our thoughts change dramatically and in adulthood we experience middle life and late adulthood is where we take important decisions and where we stablize in life. 

Chapter 9. Intelligence

We are applying our intelligence in our daily lives. But we usually think of intelligence as if we have more capacity to do or solve things than others. But that is not true! Intelligence is the ability to learn from experience, to think rationally. People can also know a lot because they have the ability to get along well with other people.

Achievement refers to knowledge and skills gained from experience. Achievement focuses on the things that you know and can do. The Spearman´s two-factor theory  was made by the psychologist Charles Spearman about 100 years ago suggested that intelligence, which he labeled g, underlies all of our intellectual abilities. The g factor represents the abilities to reason and solve problems. Gardner´s theory of multiple intelligences proposes that they are actually multiple intelligences instead of just one. Analytical ability, creativity and street smarts breaks intelligence into analytical intelligence, creative intelligence and practical intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the interest in why smart people are not always successful as might be expected. This consists of five factors that are involved in success in school or on the job: self-awareness that is to recognize our own feelings, mood management that is the ability to distract one-self from an uncomfortable feeling, self-motivation that is the ability to move ahead with confidence and enthusiasm, impulse control which is the ability to delay pleasure until the task at hand has been accomplished and people skills that is the ability to empathize, understand, communicate and coorporate with others.

There are several intelligence test to try our intelligence out. Stanford-Binet scale is one in which Binet assumed that intelligence increased with age. This score was called mental age. Mental age shows the intellectual level at which a child is funtioning. Wechsler scales are more widely used. Wechsler developed intelligence tests for children and adults. This scale consists in several subtests, each of them measures a different intellectual skill. Reliability refers to its consistancy. Test-retest reliability is determined by comparing scores earned by the same person on the same test taken at different times. Test validity measures what it is supposed to measure.

While having an IQ score at or below 70 is the technical term for mental retardation. According to the American Association mental retardation is also associated with problems in communication, taking care of oneself, social skills, use of leisure time, travel in the community, self-direction, personal hygiene and vocational training. There are several levels of mental retardation: mild retardation with an IQ ranging of 50-70. Most children with mild retardation are more likely to learn how to read and do arithmetic, moderate retardation peoples IQ is 35-49. They can learn how to speak, to feed and dress themselves, to take care of their own hygiene and to work under supportive conditions, severe retardation are people with an IQ  below 20, that barely communicate. They show basic emotion responses, but they cannot feed or dress themselves. Retardations can be cause by accidents that result in brain damage and difficulties during childbirth, Some people where born gifted which means they have an IQ fo 130 or above. To be gifted is to possess outstanding talent or to show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with othe rpeople of the same age, experience or environment. Creativity is the ability to invent new solutions to problems or to create original or ingenious materials which is linked with giftedness.

We gain experience in our daily life, and as we gain experience we get more intelligence and knowledge. This is happening since we were born. We see new things, commit errors and hopefully learn from them. We achieve to learn from our mistakes and expand our intelligence.