PSYCH 2AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Intentionality, Psych
10 Jan 2017
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Psych 2AA3
Lecture 24
Nov. 7th 2016
People’s vs Objects
• Three main differences that make people DIFFERENT from objects
o 1. Interactivity
▪ People are interactive
▪ Have the ability to “interact” with themselves and others, identity and
other facets such as memory and senses
o 2. Intentionality
▪ Intentionality in character; we carry intent in our actions that is manifested
in our own thoughts
o 3. Social scripts
▪ e.g. emotions and thoughts; apologizing
▪ Others feelings and emotions
▪ Internal and abstract capacity
• Describing Others
▪ Do our descriptions of others change as we age? Yes
▪ Three Step Model
• Proposed by Livesley & Bromley (1973) in their Description
Expt.
o Asked children between ages 6-16
o Describe people they knew
o They found that descriptions had different focus based
on age groups
▪ 1) external and physical features that are obvious
such as relative height, race, eye color, body
structure etc.) – up to ages 6-8
• Describe only physical and outward
appearances
• They might mention internal features; albeit
very rarely and often very oversimplified
• Words such as nice and mean, black or
brown, etc.
• Description of others is basic and mundane
▪ 2) internal features become prominent ; we have
conservation of personality occurring here –
beginning ages 7-8 (which means it goes until
13/14yrs old and even more so depending on
individual)
• There is a thought that someone traits are
reflective of their personality and to an
extent of their appearance
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Physical features BECOME examples of
physical traits
• “He smells very much and is very nasty, he
is very mean and does silly things, and is
very very stupid. He has CRUEL eyes and
is very SALTY and he has a lot of sisters;
and I think he is disgusting.”
• Internal starts to mirror external features
▪ 3) Qualifiers and inferences (beginning in teen
years)
• They use comparisons of people
• Shades of grey in people; not everyone can
be
• Make guesses about people’s internal
states
• Understanding theory of mind and self-
perception
• Focus almost entirely on internal qualities
when the question is kept general: Describe
the person that you know (kept it open)
• “Andy is very modest; he is EVEN shyer
than I AM. With other people he’s very nice
and often degrades other people
achievements, but never really praises his
own.”
▪ Other research support
• Barenboim (1981) did cross-cultural
research; found almost the same results
• Found prevalence of use of specific
descriptors as outlined in previous
experiment
o 1) behaviours and other external
features
o 2) Traits and others internal
features
o 3) Qualifiers and inferences
▪ Barenboim results
• Copy chart here
• Summary
o Children’s descriptions of others develop in the same way
as do descriptions of themselves
▪ This runs parallel to cognitive development
▪ Very important to being a functioning member of
society
▪ Being able to acknowledge differences
o ???
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
People"s vs objects: three main differences that make people different from objects, 1. Interactivity: people are interactive, have the ability to interact with themselves and others, identity and other facets such as memory and senses, 2. Intentionality in character; we carry intent in our actions that is manifested in our own thoughts: 3. Social scripts: e. g. emotions and thoughts; apologizing, others feelings and emotions. Yes: three step model, proposed by livesley & bromley (1973) in their description. 13/14yrs old and even more so depending on individual: there is a thought that someone traits are reflective of their personality and to an extent of their appearance, physical features become examples of physical traits. He smells very much and is very nasty, he is very mean and does silly things, and is very very stupid. He has cruel eyes and is very salty and he has a lot of sisters; and i think he is disgusting.
