The Sources of Who We Are Priniples of Human Development SITUATION PERSON BEHAVIOUR Study of situational factors with stable effects  Social psychology Study of situational factors with stable effects  Personality psychology SITUATION PERSON BEHAVIOUR SITUATION PERSON BEHAVIOUR SITUATION PERSON LEARNEDINNATE BEHAVIOUR SITUATION PERSON LEARNEDINNATE INDIVIDUAL- SPECIFIC UNIVERSAL BEHAVIOUR Study of temperament  Personality psychology SITUATION PERSON LEARNEDINNATE INDIVIDUAL- SPECIFIC UNIVERSAL DEVELOPING STABLE BEHAVIOUR Study of development  Developmental psychology Study of species universals etc.  Evolutionary / comparative psychology etc.  % of common variance in traits explained by environemtal and genetic influeces (monozygotic vs. dizygotic twins)  Biological factors in the brain (e.g. neurotransmitter production and sensitivity  Temperament)  Biology sets limits to the efficiency of learning (environment-induced change)  Motivation (sensitivity to positive/negative experiences vs. specific objects and situations associated with these emotions)  Beliefs and representations  Skills and competencies  Character strengths  Motivation  Beliefs and representations (flexibility in thought operations vs. specific “ingredients”)  Skills and competencies  Character strengths  Motivation  Beliefs and representations  Skills and competencies (baseline limits in processing efficiency vs. learned behavioural patterns, e.g. critical thinking skill)  Character strengths  Motivation  Beliefs and representations  Skills and competencies  Character strengths (“formal” aspects of spontanous behaviour vs. global “guides” in decision-making, e.g. agreeableness vs. compassion; shyness vs. humility; inhibition vs. temperance)  Biological maturation – some types of learning cannot be expected of children at certain age Jean Piaget  Even an inherited trait may need specific environmental triggers to be fully expressed = heritability is % of variance, not amount!!! Blakemore, C., & Cooper, G. F. (1970). Development of the brain depends on the visual environment. Nature, 228(5270), 477-478. Critical period = time when specific stimulation is needed for healthy development of a specific function Lev Vygotsky Zone of proximal development “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years.” (John B. Watson, Behaviorism, 1930) Seligman, M. E., & Maier, S. F. (1967). Failure to escape traumatic shock. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 74(1), 1-9. Seligman, M. E., & Maier, S. F. (1967). Failure to escape traumatic shock. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 74(1), 1-9. Three groups of dogs: Time to learn escape in phase 2 Successful escape Control (no initial learning) < 27 s 88% Escape condition (Phase 1) < 27 s 100% No escape condition (Phase 1) 48 s 25%  Learning that there is no link between one’s behaviour and the outcome of the situation = lack of control  Learning through further conditioning severely impaired in other situations, too  Symptoms of depression “Monster Study” (1939) W. Johnson & M. Tudor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Study “Monster Study” (1939) W. Johnson & M. Tudor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Study  Stuttering experiment = children who were criticized for the quality of their speech developed serious speech problems even when their speech was actually normal  Effect of negative criticism on performance through increased self-consciousness  Considered highly unethical by both present and past standards + unclear mechanism Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. (1961). Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63(3), 575-582. Albert Bandura The “Bobo Doll Experiment”  Children imitated aggressive behaviour of an adult model (boys more than girls)  Even non-imitative aggressive behaviour increased (e.g. pointing a toy shotgun on the Bobo)  Effect of gender of the model (social stereotypes) – men expected to show more aggressive behaviour  Problems with the study: no measure of long-term effects; low ecological validity – unusual situation; generalization of violent behaviour on other situations?  The effect of vicarious reinforcement – behaviour will be imitated if reinforced and if the model is similar – The Social Cognitive Theory Harlow, H. F. (1959). Love in infant monkeys. Scientific American, 200, 68-74. Affection in rhesus monkeys  Baby monkeys clung to the cloth “mother” even when it provided no food  They ran to the cloth “mother” when scared or run to it for “reattachment” in a strange situation  They opened a window to look at the “cloth” mother as often as they did at real monkeys but treated the food-providing wire mother as any other inanimate object  Inspired research on attachment (John Bowlby) AVOIDANCE HIGH ANXIETY LOWANXIETY APPROACH  Instincitve and intuitive positive responses to social stimuli  Specialized brain area for face recognition  Child-protective and child-responsive instincts in adults  Emotional and social deprivation impairs development in general  Our brains are wired for and dependent on specific types of interactions with the environment Blakemore, C., & Cooper, G. F. (1970). Development of the brain depends on the visual environment. Nature, 228(5270), 477-478.  Inappropriate social responses and interactions  Inability to form healthy relationships  Pathological self-concept  Impaired moral reasoning – lack of empathy and conscience  Lack of interaction with the environment = imparied cognitive development  Impaired self-regulation  Development of personality disorders (psychodynamic theories = based on psychoanalysis)  Before attempting the second quiz, watch the videos on the research and theory mentioned in this lecture and the video on the effects of neglect