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cards for ch.002
abnormal psych 224
30
Psychology
Undergraduate 2
10/08/2009

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Term
Multidimensional Integrative Approach
Definition
Approach to the study of psychopathology that holds psychological disorders are always the products of multiple interacting causal factors.
Term
Gene
Definition
Long deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule, the basic physical unit of heredity that appears as a location on a chromosome.
Term
Diathesis-stress Model
Definition
Hypothesis that both an inherited tendency (a vulnerability) and specific stressful conditions are required to produce a disorder.
Term
vulnerability
Definition
Susceptibility or tendency to develop a disorder.
Term
Reciprocal Gene-environment Model
Definition
Hypothesis that people with a genetic predisposition for a disorder may also have a genetic tendency to create environmental risk factors that promote the disorder.
Term
Neuroscience
Definition
Study of the nervous system and its role in behavior, thoughts, and emotions.
Term
Neuron
Definition
individual nerve cell responsible for transmitting information.
Term
Synaptic Cleft
Definition
Space between nerve cells where chemical transmitters act to move impulses from one neuron to the next.
Term
Neurotransmitter
Definition
Chemical that crosses the synaptic cleft between nerve cells to transmit impulses from one neuron to the next. Relative excess or deficiency of neurotransmitters is involved in several psychological disorders
Term
Hormone
Definition
Chemical messenger produced by the endocrine glands.
Term
Brain Circuit
Definition
Neurotransmitter current or neural pathway in the brain.
Term
Reuptake
Definition
Action by which a neurotransmitter is quickly drawn back into the discharging neuron after being released into a synaptic cleft.
Term
Agonist
Definition
In neuroscience, a chemical substance that effectively increases the activity of a neurotransmitter by imitating its effects.
Term
Antagonist
Definition
In neuroscience, a chemical substance that decreases or blocks the effects of a neurotransmitter.
Term
Inverse Agonist
Definition
In neuroscience, a chemical substance that produces effects opposite those of a particular neurotransmitter.
Term
Glutamate
Definition
Amino acid neurotransmitter that excites many different neurons, leading to action.
Term
Gamma-aminobutyric Acid
(GABA)
Definition
Neurotransmitter that reduces activity across the synaptic cleft and thus inhibits a range of behaviors and emotions, especially generalized anxiety.
Term
Serotonin
Definition
Neurotransmitter involved in processing of information and coordination of movement, as well as inhibition and restraint. It also assists in the regulation of eating, sexual, and aggressive behaviors, all of which may be involved in different psychological disorders. Its interaction with dopamine is implicated in schizophrenia.
Term
Norepinephrine
Definition
Neurotransmitter active in the central and peripheral nervous systems, controlling heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration, among other functions. Because of its role in the body's alarm reaction, it may also contribute generally and indirectly to panic attacks and other disorders. Also known as noradrenaline.
Term
Dopamine
Definition
Neurotransmitter whose generalized function is to activate other neurotransmitters and to aid in exploratory and pleasure-seeking behaviors (thus balancing serotonin). A relative excess of dopamine is implicated in schizophrenia (although contradictory evidence suggests that the connection is not simple), and its deficit in involved in Parkinson's disease.
Term
Cognitive Scene
Definition
Field of study that examines how humans and other animals acquire, process, store and retrieve information.
Term
Learned Helplessness
Definition
Martin Seligman's theory that people become anxious and depressed when they make an attribution that they have no control over the stress in their lives (whether or not they actually have control).
Term
Modeling
Definition
Learning through observation and imitation of the behavior of other individuals and consequences of that behavior.
Term
Prepared Learning
Definition
Ability adaptive for evolution, allowing certain associations to be learned more readily than others.
Term
Implicit Memory
Definition
Condition of memory in which a person cannot recall past events despite acting in response to them.
Term
Emotion
Definition
Pattern of action elicited by an external event and a feeling state, accompanied by a characteristic physiological response.
Term
Flight or Fight Response
Definition
Biological reaction to alarming stressors that musters the body's resources (e.g.: blood flow and respiration) to resist or flee a threat.
Term
Mood
Definition
Enduring period of emotionality.
Term
Affect
Definition
Conscious, subjective aspect of an emotion that accompanies an action at a given time.
Term
Equifinality
Definition
Developmental psychopathology principle that a behavior or disorder may have several causes.
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