● Ainsworth’s Strange Situation: A structured observational study to classify types of attachment in children
by placing them in situations of separation and reunion with their caregivers. This research identified
attachment styles such as secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-ambivalent, and disorganized.
● Attachment Styles:
Secure: Child feels safe and comfortable with a caregiver and is upset when they leave but happy upon their return.
Ambivalent/ Anxious: Child is clingy and overly dependent on caregiver; shows extreme distress upon separation.
Avoidant: Child avoids or ignores the caregiver; shows little emotion when caregiver leaves or returns.
Disorganized-disoriented: Child exhibits confused or contradictory behavior, often associated with fear or
helplessness.
● Heuristics:
○ Availability Heuristic: Relies on immediate examples that come to mind when evaluating a
situation, often leading to overestimations of rare events.
○ Representativeness Heuristic: Classifying something based on how similar it is to a typical case,
sometimes leading to stereotypes or ignoring probability.
Emotions and Motivation
● Basic Emotions: Universal emotions identified by psychologist Paul Ekman that include happiness,
sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust. These are believed to be biologically based and observed
universally across cultures.
● Theories of Emotion:
○ James-Lange Theory: Proposes that emotions are the result of physiological reactions to events.
For example, we feel sad because we cry.
○ Cannon-Bard Theory: Suggests that emotions and physiological responses occur simultaneously
but independently. Seeing a bear, we feel fear and have a racing heart at the same time.
○ Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory: Emotion is determined by physiological arousal and a
cognitive label (interpretation). For instance, a racing heart could be excitement or fear, depending
on the context.
● Theories of Motivation:
○ Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation:
■ Intrinsic: Motivation from within, such as personal enjoyment or satisfaction.
■ Extrinsic: Motivation driven by external factors, like rewards, grades, or praise.
○ Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Pyramid model, from basic needs (food, safety) at the base to
psychological needs (belonging, esteem) and self-fulfillment needs (self-actualization) at the top.
○ Need for Achievement, Affiliation, Power:
■ Achievement: Drive to excel and achieve in relation to a set of standards.
■ Affiliation: Desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.
■ Power: Desire to influence, teach, or encourage others.
Developmental Theories
● Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages:
○ Eight stages from infancy to adulthood, each characterized by a specific conflict.
■ Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy): Learning trust based on reliability of caregivers.
■ Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Early Childhood): Developing independence; feeling
shame if restricted.
■ Initiative vs. Guilt (Preschool): Gaining a sense of initiative; guilt may develop if
discouraged.
, ■ Industry vs. Inferiority (School Age): Mastery of skills, with feelings of competence or
inferiority.
■ Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence): Developing a sense of self and personal
identity.
■ Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young Adulthood): Establishing intimate relationships; risk of
isolation.
■ Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle Adulthood): Contributing to society, creating a
legacy.
■ Integrity vs. Despair (Late Adulthood): Reflecting on life with a sense of satisfaction or
regret.
● Kohlberg’s Moral Development:
○ Pre-conventional: Focused on avoiding punishment and seeking personal benefit.
○ Conventional: Emphasis on conforming to social rules and seeking social approval.
○ Post-conventional: Based on abstract principles, like justice and individual rights.
○ Gilligan’s Model: Emphasizes ethics of care, considering personal relationships and care over
strict rules.
● Piaget’s Cognitive Development Stages:
○ Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years): Understanding the world through senses and actions; object
permanence develops.
○ Preoperational Stage (2-7 years): Symbolic thinking and imagination; limitations include
egocentrism, animism (assigning life to inanimate objects), and centration (focusing on one
aspect of a situation).
○ Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years): Logical thinking about concrete events; mastering
conservation (understanding quantity remains the same despite changes in shape).
○ Formal Operational Stage (12+ years): Ability to think abstractly, use deductive logic, and plan for
the future.
Gender and Sexuality
● Gender Differences, Roles, and Schemas:
○ Gender Roles: Culturally defined behaviors and expectations based on gender.
○ Gender Schemas: Mental frameworks that influence understanding of gendered behavior and
characteristics.
○ Gender Differences: Can include both biological and socially influenced behaviors and traits.
● Sexual Orientation: Refers to patterns of emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction toward others; typically
categorized as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, etc.
Cognition
● Functional Fixedness: Cognitive bias limiting a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally
used; can be an obstacle in problem-solving.
● Mental Set: The tendency to approach situations in a certain way because it has worked in the past; can
lead to rigidity and hinder innovative thinking.
Other Concepts
● Stages of Grief: Common stages experienced during grief, originally proposed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross:
○ Denial: Refusing to accept reality.
○ Anger: Frustration and questioning “Why me?”.
○ Bargaining: Attempting to negotiate a way out of grief.
○ Depression: Deep sadness and withdrawal.
○ Acceptance: Coming to terms with the loss.
● Projective Tests:
by placing them in situations of separation and reunion with their caregivers. This research identified
attachment styles such as secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-ambivalent, and disorganized.
● Attachment Styles:
Secure: Child feels safe and comfortable with a caregiver and is upset when they leave but happy upon their return.
Ambivalent/ Anxious: Child is clingy and overly dependent on caregiver; shows extreme distress upon separation.
Avoidant: Child avoids or ignores the caregiver; shows little emotion when caregiver leaves or returns.
Disorganized-disoriented: Child exhibits confused or contradictory behavior, often associated with fear or
helplessness.
● Heuristics:
○ Availability Heuristic: Relies on immediate examples that come to mind when evaluating a
situation, often leading to overestimations of rare events.
○ Representativeness Heuristic: Classifying something based on how similar it is to a typical case,
sometimes leading to stereotypes or ignoring probability.
Emotions and Motivation
● Basic Emotions: Universal emotions identified by psychologist Paul Ekman that include happiness,
sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust. These are believed to be biologically based and observed
universally across cultures.
● Theories of Emotion:
○ James-Lange Theory: Proposes that emotions are the result of physiological reactions to events.
For example, we feel sad because we cry.
○ Cannon-Bard Theory: Suggests that emotions and physiological responses occur simultaneously
but independently. Seeing a bear, we feel fear and have a racing heart at the same time.
○ Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory: Emotion is determined by physiological arousal and a
cognitive label (interpretation). For instance, a racing heart could be excitement or fear, depending
on the context.
● Theories of Motivation:
○ Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation:
■ Intrinsic: Motivation from within, such as personal enjoyment or satisfaction.
■ Extrinsic: Motivation driven by external factors, like rewards, grades, or praise.
○ Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Pyramid model, from basic needs (food, safety) at the base to
psychological needs (belonging, esteem) and self-fulfillment needs (self-actualization) at the top.
○ Need for Achievement, Affiliation, Power:
■ Achievement: Drive to excel and achieve in relation to a set of standards.
■ Affiliation: Desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.
■ Power: Desire to influence, teach, or encourage others.
Developmental Theories
● Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages:
○ Eight stages from infancy to adulthood, each characterized by a specific conflict.
■ Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy): Learning trust based on reliability of caregivers.
■ Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Early Childhood): Developing independence; feeling
shame if restricted.
■ Initiative vs. Guilt (Preschool): Gaining a sense of initiative; guilt may develop if
discouraged.
, ■ Industry vs. Inferiority (School Age): Mastery of skills, with feelings of competence or
inferiority.
■ Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence): Developing a sense of self and personal
identity.
■ Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young Adulthood): Establishing intimate relationships; risk of
isolation.
■ Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle Adulthood): Contributing to society, creating a
legacy.
■ Integrity vs. Despair (Late Adulthood): Reflecting on life with a sense of satisfaction or
regret.
● Kohlberg’s Moral Development:
○ Pre-conventional: Focused on avoiding punishment and seeking personal benefit.
○ Conventional: Emphasis on conforming to social rules and seeking social approval.
○ Post-conventional: Based on abstract principles, like justice and individual rights.
○ Gilligan’s Model: Emphasizes ethics of care, considering personal relationships and care over
strict rules.
● Piaget’s Cognitive Development Stages:
○ Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years): Understanding the world through senses and actions; object
permanence develops.
○ Preoperational Stage (2-7 years): Symbolic thinking and imagination; limitations include
egocentrism, animism (assigning life to inanimate objects), and centration (focusing on one
aspect of a situation).
○ Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years): Logical thinking about concrete events; mastering
conservation (understanding quantity remains the same despite changes in shape).
○ Formal Operational Stage (12+ years): Ability to think abstractly, use deductive logic, and plan for
the future.
Gender and Sexuality
● Gender Differences, Roles, and Schemas:
○ Gender Roles: Culturally defined behaviors and expectations based on gender.
○ Gender Schemas: Mental frameworks that influence understanding of gendered behavior and
characteristics.
○ Gender Differences: Can include both biological and socially influenced behaviors and traits.
● Sexual Orientation: Refers to patterns of emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction toward others; typically
categorized as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, etc.
Cognition
● Functional Fixedness: Cognitive bias limiting a person to using an object only in the way it is traditionally
used; can be an obstacle in problem-solving.
● Mental Set: The tendency to approach situations in a certain way because it has worked in the past; can
lead to rigidity and hinder innovative thinking.
Other Concepts
● Stages of Grief: Common stages experienced during grief, originally proposed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross:
○ Denial: Refusing to accept reality.
○ Anger: Frustration and questioning “Why me?”.
○ Bargaining: Attempting to negotiate a way out of grief.
○ Depression: Deep sadness and withdrawal.
○ Acceptance: Coming to terms with the loss.
● Projective Tests:
