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Abnormal Psychology, Chapter 3
Key Terms from Chapter 3
49
Psychology
Undergraduate 3
05/29/2011

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Term
Equifinality
Definition
The same psychological disorder can and often does have different causes.
Term
Multifinality
Definition
Individuals who start at the same beginning point and go through the same crisis, but branch out into various pathways resulting in different psychological disorders.
Term
Reciprocal causality
Definition
The idea that causality is bidirectional
Term
Circularity
Definition
Feedback loop in causality. E.g. Parents adjusting their parenting strategy according to the type of children they have.
Term
Behavioral genetics
Definition
the study of how inherited and genetic factors influence and interact with psychological factors to shape our personality, intelligence, emotions, and motivation, as well as how we behave, adapt, and adjust to our environment.
Term
Classical conditioning
Definition
A form of learning in which behavior is elicited by a particular stimulus
Term
Law of Effect
Definition
if you want to increase the probability of a behavior occurring, you reinforce it; if you want to decrease the probability of a behavior occurring, you punish it.
Term
Negative reinforcement
Definition
The removal of an aversive stimulus. Occurs during operant conditioning. Not punishment, because this term increases the likelihood of a behavior.
Term
Positive reinforcement
Definition
The presentation of positive stimulus.
Occurs during operant conditioning
Term
Operant Conditioning
Definition
The pairing of a response with a reward.
Term
Observational learning
Definition
An observer’s behavior changes after viewing the behavior of a model.
Term
Adoption Method
Definition
Comparison of biological and adoptive relatives with and without a given disorder to assess genetic versus environmental influences.
Term
Association Studies
Definition
Genetic research strategy comparing frequency of certain genetic markers known to be located on particular chromosomes in people with and without a particular disorder.
Term
Attachment Theory
Definition
A psychodynamic theory that emphasizes the importance of early attachment relationships on functioning later in life.
Term
Attribution
Definition
Process of assigning causes to things that happen.
Term
Behavior Genetics
Definition
Field that studies the heritability of mental disorders and other aspects of psychological functioning such as personality and intelligence.
Term
Concordance Rate
Definition
The percentage of twins sharing a disorder or trait.
Term
Contributory Cause
Definition
A condition that increases likelihood of a disorder, but is not necessary for the disorder to develop, nor is it sufficient to cause the disorder to develop.
Term
Cortisol
Definition
Human stress hormone, released from adrenal cortex.
Term
Developmental Psychology
Definition
Determination of what is abnormal at any stage of development.
Term
Developmental Systems Approach
Definition
Acknowledgment that genetic activity influences neural activity, which in turn influences behavior, which in turn influences the environment, and that these influences are bidirectional.
Term
Diathesis
Definition
Predisposition or vulnerability to developing a given disorder.
Term
Diathesis-stress model
Definition
View of abnormal behavior as the result of stress operating on an individual who has a biological, psychosocial, or sociocultural predisposition to developing a specific disorder.
Term
Discrimination
Definition
Ability to interpret and respond differently to two or more stimuli.
Term
Ego
Definition
The rational part of the personality that mediates between the demands of the id, constraints of the superego and the realities of the external world.
Term
(Ego) Defense Mechanisms
Definition
Strategies that discharge or soothe anxiety rather than coping directly with the cause of anxiety; usually unconscious and reality-distorting.
Term
Electra Complex
Definition
Excessive love from a daughter to her father.
Term
Etiology
Definition
Factors that are related to the development (or cause) of a particular disorder.
Term
Family history (or pedigree) method
Definition
Behavior genetic research strategy that looks at incidence of disorder in relatives to determine if the incidence of a disorder increases in proportion to the degree of hereditary relationship
Term
Genotype-environment correlation
Definition
Genotypic vulnerability that can shape a child's environmental experiences.
Term
Genotype-environment interaction
Definition
Differential sensitivity or susceptibility to their environments by people who have different genotypes.
Term
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-cortical axis (HPA axis)
Definition
Brain-endocrine system involved in responding to stress.
Term
Instrumental (or operant) Conditioning
Definition
Reinforcement of a subject for making a correct response that leads either to receipt of something rewarding or to escape from something aversive.
Term
Interpersonal Perspective
Definition
Approach to understanding abnormal behavior that views much of psychopathology as rooted in the unfortunate tendencies we develop while dealing with our interpersonal environments
Term
Intrapsychic conflict
Definition
Inner mental struggles resulting from the interplay of the id, ego, and superego when the three subsystems are striving for different goals.
Term
Linkage Analysis
Definition
Genetic research strategy in which occurrence of a disorder in an extended family is compared with that of a genetic marker for a physical characteristic or biological process that is known to be located on a particular chromosome.
Term
Necessary Cause
Definition
Condition that must exist for a disorder to occur.
Term
Object-Relations Theory
Definition
In psychoanalytic theory, this viewpoint focuses on an infant or young child's interactions with "objects" (that is, real or imagined people), as well as how they make symbolic representations of important people in their life.
Term
Pleasure Principle
Definition
Demand that an instinctual need to be immediately gratified, regardless of reality or moral considerations.
Term
Polygenic
Definition
Caused by the action of many genes together in a n additive or interactive fashion.
Term
Primary Process Thinking
Definition
Gratification of id demands by means of imagery or fantasy without the ability to undertake the realistic actions needed to meet those instinctual demands.
Term
Psychosexual stages of development
Definition
Freud's five stages of receiving sexual pleasure: the oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages.
Term
Reality Principle
Definition
Awareness of the demands of the environment and adjustment of behavior to meet these demands.
Term
Secondary process thinking
Definition
Reality-oriented rational processes of the ego for dealing with the external world and the exercise of control over id demands.
Term
Spontaneous Recovery
Definition
The return of a learned response at some time after extinction has occurred.
Term
Sufficient Causes
Definition
Conditions that guarantees the occurrence of a disorder
Term
Superego
Definition
Conscience
Term
Temperament
Definition
Pattern of emotional and arousal responses and characteristic ways of self-regulation that are considered to be primarily hereditary or constitutional.
Term
Twin Method
Definition
The use of identical and nonidentical twins to study genetic influences on abnormal behavior.
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