Test #2 chapter 5-8

• Attachment


  A strong, affectionate bond between two people characterized by mutual affection and a desire to maintain proximity
• Psychoanalytic perspective on attachment

  • Young infants are "oral" creatures who derive satisfaction from sucking and mouthing objects and should be attracted to any person who provides oral pleasure
• Learning perspective on attachment

  • Feeding should elicit positive responses from a contented infant, increasing a caregiver's affection for the baby
  • Feeding is when mothers can provide an infant with many comforts—food, warmth, tender touches, soft reassuring vocalizations, changes in scenery, and even a dry diaper (if necessary)—all in one sitting
• Secure attachment


  Around 60-65% of 1-year-old American infants are securely attached to their mothers. They explore actively, become upset when separated, and seek physical contact to alleviate their distress. They are typically outgoing with strangers when their mothers are present.
• Resistant attachment


  Ten percent of one-year-olds show insecure attachment, clinging to their mothers but exploring little. They become very upset when their mother leaves and are ambivalent when she returns. They remain close but resist touch. They are also wary of strangers even when their mothers are present.
• Avoidant attachment


  Twenty percent of 1-year-olds have an insecure attachment, known as avoidant attachment. They show little distress when separated from their mothers, ignore them even when they try to gain their attention, and may also avoid or ignore strangers.
• Disorganized/disoriented attachment


  Researchers have discovered a pattern of attachment in 5-15% of American infants who are most stressed by the Strange Situation, appear to be the most insecure, and display a combination of resistant and avoidant patterns. When reunited with their mothers, these infants may cringe and look hesitant.
• Caregiving hypothesis


  • Mothers of securely attached infants are thought to be sensitive, responsive caregivers from the very beginning
• Aspects of caregiving that promote secure attachments

  • Sensitivity - Responding promptly and appropriately to the infant's signals
  • Positive attitude- Expressing positive affect and affection for the infant
  • Synchrony- Structuring smooth, reciprocal interactions with the infant
  • Mutuality- Structuring interactions in which mother and infant attend to the same thing
  • Support- Attending closely to and providing emotional support for the infant's activities
  • Stimulation- Frequently directing actions toward the infant
• Self


  The combination of physical and physiological attributes
• Self-concept


  One's perception of one's unique combination of attributes (infancy-adolescence)
• Looking-glass concept


  The idea that a child's self concept is determined by the ways other people respond to him/her
• Personal agency


  Understanding that infants can be the cause of an event/events
• Self-recognition


  The ability to recognize oneself in a mirror or a photograph (rouge test: 2-3 vs 4-5y/o)
• Present self


  Early self-representation in which 2-—and 3-year-olds recognize current representations of self but are largely unaware that past self-representations or self-relevant events have implications for the future
• Extended self


  5 y/o recognizes that the self is stable over time and that: (1) events that happened very recently have implications for the present (2) a sticker they see a week later on film is not still on their heads because this event happened to them a long time ago
• Categorical self


  A person's classification of the self along socially significant dimensions such as age and sex
• Public self


  The self that others can see
• Private self


  The self with an inner, reflective character that is not directly accessible to others
• Theory of mind


  An understanding that people have mental states, such as desires, beliefs, and intentions, that are not always shared with or accessible to others and that often guide their behavior
• False self-behaviors


  Acting in ways that don't reflect one's true self or the "true me"
• Self-Esteem


  One's evaluation of one's worth as a person based on an assessment of the qualities that make up the self-concept
• 1. to 7-year-olds could be accused of having inflated egos because they tend to rate themselves positively in all domains
• Starting at about age 8, children's competency appraisals began to more closely reflect other people's evaluations of them
• Relational self-worth


  Feelings of self-worth within a particular relationship context (ex: with parents, with male classmates); may differ across relationship contexts
• Mastery motivation


  An inborn motive to explore, understand, and control one's environment (ex: opening cabinets, operating toys)
• Achievement motivation


  A willingness to strive to succeed at challenging tasks and to meet high standards of accomplishment
• Need for achievement (n Ach)


  A "learned motive to compete for strive for success whenever one's behavior can be evaluated against a standard of excellence"
• High achievers have learned to take pride and sense of self-fulfillment that motivates them to work hard, to be successful and to outperform others
• Intrinsic orientation


  A desire to achieve in order to satisfy one's personal needs for competency or mastery
• Extrinsic orientation


  A desire to earn external incentives such as grades, prizes, or the approval of others
• Early Reactions to One's Accomplishments


  1. Joy in mastery

  2. Approval seeking

  3. Use of standards
• Causal attributions


  Conclusions about the underlying causes of one's or another person's behavior
• Locus of control


  • Internal attribution (ability, effort)
  • External attribution (task difficulty, luck)
  • Stable cause (ability, task difficulty)
  • Unstable cause (effort, luck)
• Mastery orientation


  A tendency to persist at challenging tasks because one believes that one can succeed and/or that earlier failures can be overcome by trying harder
• Learned helplessness orientation


  A tendency to give up or stop trying after failing because these failures have been attributed to a lack of ability that one can do little about
• Attribution retraining


  Therapeutic intervention in which children are persuaded to attribute their failures to unstable causes— namely insufficient effort—that they can do something about, rather than continuing to view them as stemming from their lack of ability, which is not so easy to change
• Gender-role standard


  A value, a motive, or a class of behavior that is considered more appropriate for members of one sex than the other
• Actual Psychological Differences between the Sexes

  • Verbal ability
  • Visual/spatial abilities
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Aggression
  • Activity level
  • Fear, timidity, and risk-taking
  • Developmental vulnerability
  • Emotional expressivity/sensitivity
  • Compliance
  • Self-esteem
• Self-fulfilling prophecy


  One that promotes sex differences in cognitive performance and steers boys and girls along different career paths