Student Number: 2012210381

University Of Belize
Class: Psychology 1014
Due Date: 2nd November 2015
Lecture: Ms. Xunan Quetzal

Question #1
Greek physician Galen expounded upon Hippocrates' theory based on the
four basic body fluids: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. According
to their relative predominance in an individual, they would produce,
respectively, temperaments designated sanguine (warm, pleasant),

phlegmatic (slow-moving, apathetic), melancholic (depressed, sad), and

choleric (quick to react, hot tempered). German philosopher Immanuel Kant
popularized these ideas by organizing the constructs along the two axes of
feelings and activity. The advent of the field of psychology led to more
formalized categories and tests. For example, Wilhelm Wundt proposed that
the four temperaments fall along the axes of changed ability and
emotionality. Other personality tests, like the Rorschach inkblot test and
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, have come under fire more often than MMPI(is
copyrighted and is a trademark of the University of Minnesota). Still, critics
have raised issues about the ethics and validity of administering MMPI,
especially for non-clinical uses. Numerous successful lawsuits have argued
that giving the test to job applicants is an invasion of privacy, and that there
is no evidence linking test results to job performance. Others have accused
that MMPI can "overpathologize" certain demographic groups, notably
teenagers and non-white test takers.

Question #2
Freud listed stage one as Oral Stage which happens to be between Birth to
18 months. During the oral stage the child if focused on oral pleasures, for
example sucking. Too much or too little gratification can result in an Oral
Fixation or Oral Personality which is evidenced by a preoccupation with oral
activities. This type of personality may have a stronger tendency to smoke,
drink alcohol, over eat, or bite his or her nails. Personality wise, these
individuals may become overly dependent upon others, gullible, and
perpetual followers. On the other hand, they may also fight these urges and
develop pessimism and aggression toward others. Now in the second stage
the Anal Stage which is around 18 months to three years. The childs focus of
pleasure in this stage is on eliminating and retaining feces. Through societys
pressure, mainly via parents, the child has to learn to control anal
stimulation. In terms of personality, after effects of an anal fixation during
this stage can result in an obsession with cleanliness, perfection, and control
(anal retentive). On the opposite end of the spectrum, they may become
messy and disorganized (anal expulsive). In the third the Phallic Stage which
now is ages three to six. The pleasure zone switches to the genitals. Freud
believed that during this stage boy develop unconscious sexual desires for
their mother. Because of this, he becomes rivals with his father and sees him
as competition for the mothers affection. During this time, boys also develop
a fear that their father will punish them for these feelings, such as by

castrating them. This group of feelings is known as Oedipus complex (after

the Greek Mythology figure that accidentally killed his father and married his
mother). Now in the fours stage Latency Stage which Freud suggests is ages
six to puberty. Its during this stage that sexual urges remain repressed and
children interact and play mostly with same sex peers. The last stage Freuds
research proposes was Genital Stage. The final stage of psychosexual
development begins at the start of puberty. When sexual urges are once
again awakened, through the lessons learned during the previous stages,
adolescents direct their sexual urges onto opposite sex peers; with the
primary focus of pleasure is the genital.

Question #3
Freuds Stages of Psychosexual Development are, like other stage theories,
completed in a predetermined sequence and can result in either successful
completion or a healthy personality or can result in failure, leading to an
unhealthy personality. These stages are listed as: Stage one Oral Stage (Birth
to 18 months). Stage Two, Anal Stage (18 months to three years) and Stage
three, Phallic Stage (ages three to six).

Question #4
Non-shared influences are those that make siblings different from one
another. It suggests that such influences account for any substantial
variation in personality, cognition, and psychopathology. With the belief that
this is especially true of environmental causes of variation, different types of
non-shared environmental influence are considered: accidental factors,
sibling interaction, family structure, differential parental treatment, and extra
familial networks. Heritability is a statistical measure that expresses the
proportion of the observe variability in a trait that is a direct result of genetic
variability. Environment influences can be divided into two classes, shared
and non shared environment. Both heredity and environment contribute to
personality traits and thats the degree of their individual contribution cannot
be specified for any trains. Although a Perons environment plays an
important part in their personality development, heredity factors play a
larger role in deciding disposition of this environment. Heritability is defined
as the proportion of phenotypic variance attributable to the additive effects
of genes. A persons genetic background has a strong influence on their

personality. Some personality traits are strongly capable of being inherited

by a person. According to psychologist Albert Bandura, reciprocal
determinism is a model composed of three factors that influence behavior:
the environment, the individual, and the behavior itself. The individual
component includes all the characteristics that have been rewarded in the
past. Personality and cognitive factors play an important part in how a
person behaves, including all of the individual's expectations, beliefs, and
unique personality characteristics. The question of parental influences on
personality, then, is an interesting puzzle for scientific theory and research in
personality psychology. Theories of personality have taken different
viewpoints on the question of parental influences on personality. They are
the trait and phenomenological theories of personality.

Question #5
Motor skills are acquired, in order for the infant or child to become more
aware of his own body and his environment. Infants create new motor skills
by linking skills acquired earlier with skills acquired more recently, and can
acquire other developmental skills. The presence and strength of a reflex is
an important sign of nervous system development and function.

Question #6
Attachment is a word used by psychologists to describe the relationship
between children and their caretakers. The four types of attachment are
seen: secure, avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized. Avoidant and
ambivalent attachment are organized forms of insecure attachment which
simply means that these children are observed to be insecure in their
attachment to the mother, but have modified themselves and their
interactions with their mother in an organized way. Children who are
disorganized also fall under the insecure attachment but have not developed
an organized way to respond to their caregiver. In the Strange Situation,
Infants used their mom as a secure base from which to explore. The infants
noticed when mom left the room and protested. When mother returned, the
infant went straight to the mother to be held, was easily reassured, and

quickly returned to play. These infants are likely to be one that expects that
their needs will be known and met, that they will be familiar to and
emotionally regulated, and that they can freely explore their environment in
safety. When talking about the Strange Situation in the Avoidant
attachment, the infants did not use the mom much as a secure base from
which to explore. When the mother began to leave the room, the infant
might move toward her, but often did not. When the mother returned, the
infant acted like she was not even there and just continued playing. This was
because at home, these parents were seen to be emotionally unavailable,
imperceptive, unresponsive, and rejecting. Some were responsive in many
non-emotional interactions, but were very dismissive and non-responsive
when the infant was emotionally needy, frustrated, or angry. These infants
often expressed random aggression, and were more clingy and demanding in
the home then securely attached infants. Ambivalent attachment in the SS,
these infants were more alert of the whereabouts of mother while playing.
They were very upset when she left the room, immediately went to her upon
return and got very clingy. Their behavior upon reunion alternated between
outbursts of anger and going limp, and in either case the infant was not
soothed by the presence of the caregiver even if the mother was seen to be
caring and emotionally available. Researchers suggest that in these homes,
the mother was inconsistently available for the infant, and when she was
available she was often pre-occupied and un-attuned to the infant in her
responses. These infants were the most anxious, clingy, and demanding at
home. Disorganized attachment was not tested in the Strange Situation
Theory but later studies showed some infants who got disorganized when
their mothers left the room, and also expressed disorganized patterns of
behavior on return for example moving towards their mother, then away;
freezing or simply going into a corner. They were not soothed if they made
contact with the mother. Researchers suggested that the homes of these
infants often had physical or sexual abuse histories, psychologically
disturbed parents, and/or parents with substance abuse. Contact comfort is
the innate pleasure derived from close physical contact. It is the basis of an
infants first attachment. This is where attachment begins with infants,
physical touching and cuddling between the infant and mother. Attachment
behavior would facilitate the infant's survival in the face of dangers such as
predation or exposure to the elements.

Question #7

Adolescence marks the beginning development of more complex thinking

processes which is also called formal logical operations including abstract
thinking, the ability to reason from known principles (form own new ideas or
questions), the ability to consider many points of view according to varying
criteria (compare or debate ideas or opinions), and the ability to think about
the process of thinking. During adolescence (between 12 and 18 years of
age), the developing teenager acquires the ability to think systematically
about all logical relationships within a problem. The transition from concrete
thinking to formal logical operations occurs over time. Each adolescent
progresss at different levels in developing his or her ability to think in more
complex ways. Each adolescent develops his or her own view of the world.
Some adolescents may be able to apply logical operations to school work
long before they are able to apply them to personal dilemmas. When
emotional issues arise, they often interfere with an adolescent's ability to
think in more complex ways. The ability to consider possibilities, as well as
facts, may influence decision-making, in either positive or negative ways.

Question #8
According to psychologist Jean Piaget, children progress through a series of
four critical stages of cognitive development. Number one being
Sensorimotor Stage which he suggests happens between birth and age two.
Number two, Preoperational stage which happens from age two to about age
seven. Number three, Concrete operational stage which occurs from age
seven to eleven. Lastly number four the Formal operational stage, which
begins in adolescence and expands into adulthood.

Question #9
The First level of Moral development for Kohlberg was Pre-conventional
morality. At the pre-conventional level most nine-year-old and younger, some
over nine dont have a personal code of morality. Instead, our moral code is
shaped by the standards of adults and the consequences of following or
breaking their rules. Authority is outside the individual and reasoning is
based on the physical consequences of actions. Kohlberg divide this level

into two stages. Stage 1 being obedience and Punishment Orientation; at this
stage the child/individual follows the rules set by authority in order to
avoid being punished. They believe that if a person is punished, they must
have done wrong. Stage 2 was listed as Individualism and Exchange. At this
stage children recognize that there is not just one right view handed down by
the authorities. Different individuals have different opinions, but they do
understand that punishment is a risk and everybody will tend to avoid it. At
the Conventional Morality level, which is the second level most adolescents
and adults begin to internalize the moral standards of valued adult role
models. Authority is internalized but not questioned and reasoning is based
on the norms of the group to which the person belongs. This level hold
stages three and four. Stage three being good Interpersonal Relationship, at
this stage people not only children believe that you should live up to the
values of family and your community. They also believe that you should have
trust empathy and companionate for one another. Stages four: Maintaining
the Social Order. Children and Individuals live up to the expectations of
society because they want the world to function correctly in order to uphold
the law and to avoid guilt. Level three label as Post-Conventional Morality
holds Stage five and six. Stages five which is Social Contract and Individual
Rights people define what a good society means for them realizing that
there isnt only one straight answer to the way society should be. They tend
to compare human right to the law and are very theoretical about the way
the world should be. Kohlberg developed a stage six called Universal
Principles that when above and beyond the other stages but after a few
years he realized that the stages wasnt much use to him. In this stage he
suggested that people have developed their own set of moral guidelines
which may not always fit the law. People will be prepared to act to defend
these principles even if it means going against the rest of society in the
process and having to pay the consequences of disapproval and or
imprisonment. Kohlberg doubted few people would ever reach this stage.

Question # 10
(a) Erickson proposed a comprehensive theory of the ways that individuals
develop their identity, or in other words, a sense of whom they are and
society's influence on that development. This theory is labeled the
Stages of Psychosocial Development and is characterized as a series of
psychological stages that have a basic conflict and important events
leading to growth. The theory was developed from his hundreds of

clinical observations in children. Erikson identified eight stages of

psychosocial development of an individual. Characteristics of these
stages include Oral Sensory, Muscular anal, Locomotor, Latency,
Adolescence, Young Adulthood, Middle Adulthood, and Maturity. Erikson
believed that these crises of the ego presented challenges to ones
individual identity. Successful development of the personality or
psychosocial development depends on meeting and overcoming these
tasks or crises. Stage one Oral Sensory is usually between birth to
12/17 months. In this stage the infant must form a first loving, trusting
relationship better known as bonding with the caregiver, or develop a
sense of mistrust. If trust develops successfully, the child gains
confidence and security in the world around him and is able to feel
secure even when threatened. Unsuccessful completion of this stage
can result in an inability to trust, and therefore a sense of fear about
the inconsistent world. It may result in anxiety, heightened
insecurities, and an over feeling of mistrust in the world around them.
The important event in this stage is feeding and it must be met with
comforting regularity. In the second stage Muscular-Anal which takes
place around 18 months to 3 years the childs energies are directed
toward the development of physical skills, including walking, grasping,
and rectal sphincter control. The child learns control but may develop
shame and doubt if not handled well. If children in this stage are
encouraged and supported in their increased independence, they
become more confident and secure in their own ability to survive in the
world. If children are criticized, overly controlled, or not given the
opportunity to assert themselves, they begin to feel inadequate in their
ability to survive, and may then become overly dependent upon
others, lack self-esteem, and feel a sense of shame or doubt in their
own abilities. Toilet training is the most important event at this stage.
In the third stage Locomotor which occurs at age 3 to 6 years. The
child continues to become more assertive and to take more initiative,
but may be too forceful, leading to guilt feelings. If given this
opportunity, children develop a sense of initiative, and feel secure in
their ability to lead others and make decisions. Conversely, if this
tendency is squelched, either through criticism or control, children
develop a sense of guilt. They may feel like a nuisance to others and
will therefore remain followers, lacking in self-initiative. The most
important event at this stage is independence. Erikson suggested that
failure to successfully complete a stage can result in a reduced ability
to complete further stages and therefore a more unhealthy personality

and sense of self. These stages, however, can be resolved successfully

at a later time.