Term
| What are two reasons that abnormal people fascinate us? |
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Definition
| Because we something of ourselves in the abnormal (we all get depressed, etc.), and we may have felt the pain of a psychological disorder personally or through family and friends. |
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Term
| What is a norm violation? |
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Definition
| A difference in the degree to which behavior or thinking resembles an agreed upon criteria (varies with culture and times). |
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Term
| What are some examples of norm violations? |
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Definition
| Someone who hallucinates, feels excessively sad, has a crazy mohawk, or is an olympic athlete. |
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Term
| What are the criteria for abnormality as it relates to psychological disorders? |
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Definition
| The behavior is: considered atypical, considered disturbing to others, unjustifiable (not a normal reaction, laughing at funeral), and maladaptive (harmful to that person or to others). |
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Term
|
Definition
| The study of mental disorders? |
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Term
| How did primitive culture view "madness"? |
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Definition
|
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Term
| How did the greeks view "madness"? |
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Definition
| As a natural cause (disease), such as the body fluids being out of balance. |
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Term
| How did those in the middle ages view "madness"? |
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Definition
| In a spiritual context (witches and devils). They put disturbed people in "asylums" (almost like prisons). |
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Term
| What was the turning point in how people viewed "madness"? |
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Definition
| In 1793, Philippe Pinel stated that madness was a sickness in response to severe stress and inhumane conditions. |
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Term
| What is the main view of mental disorders today? |
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Definition
| The biopsychosocial model. |
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Term
| Explain the biopsychosocial view of mental disorders. |
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Definition
| Disorders are attributed to the interaction of Biology (anatomy, brain chemistry, and other physiological processes), Psychology (unconscious conflicts, maladaptive world view), and Society (different places see abnormality differently). |
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Term
| What was the traditional breakdown of mental disorders? |
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Definition
|
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Term
|
Definition
| The symptoms of neurosis are related to ineffective attempts to deal with reality (such as an OCD person trying to reduce anxiety). |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| Psychosis is a general category for a number of severe mental disorders in which perception, thinking, and emotion are impaired. |
|
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Term
|
Definition
| A manual that classifies, but does not attribute cause to mental disorders. It assumes a medical model. |
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Term
| Roughly how many American adults suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder? |
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Definition
| About 1 in 4, or about 57 million Americans |
|
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Term
| What are the three most common mental disorders in the US? |
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Definition
| Phobias, Alcohol abuse, and Mood disorders (such as depression). |
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Term
| Does the occurrence of mental disorders vary with gender? |
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Definition
| Yes, more women have depression while more men have antisocial behavior and alcohol dependence. |
|
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Term
| What is a personality disorder? |
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Definition
| A longstanding, inflexible, or maladaptive pattern of perception, thought, or behavior. |
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Term
| Describe the Narcissistic personality disorder. |
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Definition
| The person has a constant need for attention, responds inappropriately to criticism, and has a grandiose sense of self-importance. |
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Term
| Why might someone develop a narcissistic personality disorder? |
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Definition
| Because they never grew out of the view that they are the center of the world, like they were as children. |
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Term
| What is the Anti-social personality disorder? |
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Definition
| Where the person violates the rights of others. They may be violent, criminal, unethical, and exploitative. |
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Term
| Why might someone have an anti-social personality disorder? |
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Definition
| They might have been emotionally deprived in childhood, learned their behavior from their parents, have arrested moral development, brain abnormalities, or a genetic predisposition to the disorder. |
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Term
| What were anxiety disorders originally know as? |
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Definition
|
|
Term
| What are the primary symptoms of anxiety disorders? |
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Definition
| Anxiety that is inappropriate to the circumstances, or using defenses to ward off anxiety. |
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Term
|
Definition
| Intense and irrational fears of an object or situation, although no real danger exists. |
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Term
| What are generalized anxiety disorders? |
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Definition
| A free-floating anxiety that is not focused on any specific thing. The person is constantly tense and uneasy. |
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Term
|
Definition
| Tryin to deal with persistent thoughts that can't be stopped. |
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Term
| What are panic disorders? |
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Definition
| Short-term anxiety attacks where the victim feels sudden and unpredictable fear. |
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Term
| What is the psychoanalytic view on why people develop anxiety disorders? |
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Definition
| Unconscious conflicts, such as fearing one's parents, lead to anxiety. Behaviors that originally helped control the anxiety (e.g. hand-washing), become problems in themselves. |
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Term
| What is the biological view on anxiety disorder development? |
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Definition
| Disorders can be inherited genetically. |
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Term
| What is the observational learning view about anxiety disorder development? |
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Definition
| Observing an anxious person may cause you to adopt their behaviors as normal. |
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Term
| What are somatoform disorders? |
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Definition
| Physical complaints suggest a physical disorder, but no organic problem is found. |
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Term
|
Definition
| Being preoccupied with body sensations in spite of assurance that they have no physical ailments. They interpret small symptoms as serious illness. |
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Term
| What is conversion disorder? |
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Definition
| The loss of specific sensory or motor function (e.g. hysterical blindness). |
|
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Term
| What are dissociative disorders? |
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Definition
| Where some part of your personality is fragmented from the rest. Symptoms include sudden, but temporary, alterations of consciousness. |
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Term
| What is dissociative amnesia? |
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Definition
| Selective memory loss brought on by extreme stress. |
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|
Term
| What is dissociative fugue? |
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Definition
| The loss of one's identity; you have no idea who you are anymore. |
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Term
| What is dissociative identity disorder? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What is the psychoanalytic view on the development of dissociative disorders? |
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Definition
| The person is blocking out negative thoughts (typically from childhood) that cause anxiety. |
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Term
| What is the behavioral view on the development of dissociative disorders? |
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Definition
| Blocking out unwanted thoughts is rewarding. |
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Term
| What are affective disorders? |
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Definition
| Disturbances of mood in which the person is either excessively depressed, elated (manic), or both (bipolar). |
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Term
| What are symptoms of depression? |
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Definition
| Paralysis of will, thoughts of failure, loss of appetite and sleep, fatigue, and extended periods of feeling sad. |
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|
Term
| What is a manic disorder like? |
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Definition
| The person is very elated and in a very active emotional state. Usually impulsive, unrealistically optimistic, high energy, and severely agitated. |
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|
Term
| What is the psychoanalytic view on why people develop affective disorders? |
|
Definition
| The real or imagined loss of a loved one turns the anger against oneself (depression). |
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Term
| What is the behavioral view on why people develop affective disorders? |
|
Definition
| Comes from a lack of reinforcement, which leads to depression. |
|
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Term
| What is the cognitive view on why people develop affective disorders? |
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Definition
| Too many negative and self-blaming thoughts lead to depression. |
|
|
Term
| What is the biological view on why people develop affective disorders? |
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Definition
| Disorders may come from heredity, or there may be an imbalance in neurotransmitters. |
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Term
|
Definition
| A split-mind psychotic disorder, where the person is out of touch with reality. |
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Term
| How prevalent is schizophrenia? |
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Definition
| Very prevalent, 2% of the population will have an episode during their lifetime. Nearly half of the country's mental health hospitals are schizophrenics. |
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Term
| What are some symptoms of schizophrenia? |
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Definition
| Pervasive thought disturbance, lack of focus, social withdrawal, delusions (misinterpretations of real events), paranoia, hallucinations, and bizarre behaviors. |
|
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Term
| What are some bizarre behaviors that a schizophrenic might exhibit? |
|
Definition
| Being catatonic or using odd gestures. |
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Term
| What is the cognitive view as to why someone might develop schizophrenia? |
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Definition
| They have an inability to keep things in proper focus. |
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Term
| What is the biological view as to why someone might develop schizophrenia? |
|
Definition
| A viral infection during pregnancy might impair the development of the fetal brain. Disorder may be hereditary, or too much dopamine may be transmitted in the brain. |
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Term
| What is one major difference between bulimia and anorexia as to how the person views their behavior? |
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Definition
| An anorexic sees no abnormalities in their restrictive eating habits, while a bulimic knows that their behavior is abnormal. |
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Term
| What are the four general steps of treating psychopathology? |
|
Definition
| Diagnosis, Etiology (determining cause), Prognosis (estimate course of problem with and without treatment), and Treatment |
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Term
| What is biomedical treatment? |
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Definition
| Dealing with the body, often by changing the brain's functioning. Typically, psychiatrists are involved in this process. |
|
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Term
| What were some harmful biomedical treatments used in the past? |
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Definition
| Trephining (opening skull), bloodletting, and dunking in water. |
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|
Term
| What are the three main biomedical treatments today? |
|
Definition
| Drug therapy, psychosurgery, and electroconvulsive shock therapy (ECT). |
|
|
Term
| What are some types of drugs used in therapy? |
|
Definition
| Anti-psychotics (for schizophrenia), tranquilizers, antidepressants, and lithium (bipolar disorder). |
|
|
Term
| What are some problems with drug therapy? |
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Definition
| Regulating someone's dosage, dealing with side effects, becoming dependent on the drug, interacting the drug with other drugs, and drug therapy is not necessarily a cure. |
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Term
| What is a type of psychosurgery? Describe it. |
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Definition
| A prefontal lobotomy, where they cut the connection between the thalamus and frontal lobes. It is thought to disconnect a person from their emotions and past trauma, but brain damage is often associated (loss of memories, emotions, and/or personality). |
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|
Term
| When is a prefontal lobotomy used? |
|
Definition
| Only in extreme cases when nothing else works. |
|
|
Term
| What is electroconvulsive shock therapy? |
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Definition
| An electrical current is run through the brain, leading to a loss of consciousness and a convulsive seizure. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Originally it was used only with schizos, and then it was used with severely depressed people. Now, it is only used if drugs are ineffective or if the person is suicidal. |
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|
Term
|
Definition
| The use of psychological methods to modify behavior so that the person can better adjust to their environment. |
|
|
Term
| What is involved in psychotherapy? |
|
Definition
| Emotional re-education, interpersonal learning, and having the patient achieve a greater self-knowledge. |
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|
Term
| How do psychoanalysts use psychotherapy? |
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Definition
| They believe that problems stem from childhood, so the person must gain access to their hidden thoughts in order to resolve them. This achieves "intra-psychic harmony" and "victory of reason over passion". |
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|
Term
| What are some techniques that psychoanalysts use in psychotherapy? |
|
Definition
| The analyst sits behind the patient, remaining silent and neutral. They use free association, dream interpretation, and transference in therapy. |
|
|
Term
| What is free association? |
|
Definition
| Bringing repressed thoughts into consciousness (manifest- what person actually says, latent- underlying meaning of what they say). |
|
|
Term
| How does dream interpretation work in therapy? |
|
Definition
| The person must not only remember repressed thoughts, but relive the feelings associated with them in order for catharsis (emotional release) to occur. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The patient identifies the analyst with a person who has been at the center of a past emotional conflict, and responds to the analyst like they were that person. |
|
|
Term
| What are the two general techniques used in behavior therapy? |
|
Definition
| Classical conditioning techniques and operant conditioning techniques. |
|
|
Term
| What are the three types of classical conditioning techniques used in behavior therapy? |
|
Definition
| Systematic desensitization, implosion (flooding), and aversion therapy. |
|
|
Term
| What is systematic desensitization? |
|
Definition
| The patient learns relaxation techniques, establishes a "fear hierarchy", and imagines each situation while staying relaxed. It is a way for phobic individuals to replace fear with relaxation. |
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|
Term
|
Definition
| Continuous, intense exposure to the anxiety-producing situation. However, this may lead to even more anxiety. |
|
|
Term
| What is aversions therapy? |
|
Definition
| Leaning negative associations in order to change behavior, like associating drinking and nausea. |
|
|
Term
| How is operant conditioning used in behavior therapy? |
|
Definition
| Either reinforcing good behavior, or punishing bad behavior (time-out). |
|
|
Term
| What is humanistic therapy? |
|
Definition
| Has a goal of self-awareness and self-acceptance, not a cure. Helps the client (not called a "patient") fulfill their potential. Deals with the whole person, unlike behaviorists. |
|
|
Term
| What is client-centered therapy? |
|
Definition
| Has the client arrive at their own insights and interpretations, taking responsibility for their thoughts and actions. The therapist doesn't direct the patient to a certain topic, is honest, and is always positive. |
|
|
Term
| What is involved in cognitive therapy? |
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Definition
| Observing models, learning social skills, and restructuring how one thinks about himself and the world (e.g. not true to say that "everyone hates me"). |
|
|
Term
| What is the most effective therapy? |
|
Definition
| An eclectic approach is best, although certain therapies work better with certain disorders. |
|
|
Term
| What is social psychology? |
|
Definition
| The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another. |
|
|
Term
| How do we explain the behavior of ourselves and others? |
|
Definition
| We make attributions (inferences about the cause of their behavior). |
|
|
Term
| What is the attribution theory? |
|
Definition
| We make attributions based on situational or dispositional factors. |
|
|
Term
| What is the fundamental attribution error? |
|
Definition
| We overemphasize dispositional factors, especially in others (e.g. "He's a jerk" vs. "He's having a bad day"). |
|
|
Term
| What is actor-observer bias? |
|
Definition
| Attributing your own behavior to situational factors (e.g. flunking a test because "it was a crappy test"). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Beliefs or opinions towards something that predisposes us to act a certain way (e.g. I don't like cigarettes, so I don't smoke). |
|
|
Term
| What is cognitive dissonance? |
|
Definition
| An unpleasant state of arousal that arrives when our attitudes and behaviors don't match. We often change our attitude towards the behavior (justifying behavior, etc.) in order to reduce unpleasantness. |
|
|
Term
| What purpose does dehumanization serve? |
|
Definition
| It acts as a defense to free us from painful or overwhelming emotions (e.g. Iraqi civilians, women as objects, criminals under the death penalty). |
|
|
Term
| What is social influence? |
|
Definition
| Our behavior is controlled by the presence and actions of others without regard to underlying attitudes. |
|
|
Term
| What are two types of social influence? |
|
Definition
| Conformity within a group, and obedience to authority. |
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|
Term
| Describe the experiment that illustrated social conformity within a group. |
|
Definition
| The Asch experiment, where the subject had to name the correct length line after five before him gave an obviously incorrect response. Nearly 70% of the subjects conformed to the group mentality. |
|
|
Term
| Why do people conform within a group? |
|
Definition
| Because it is socially desirable to be part of a group (e.g. people conforming on the elevator to the group). |
|
|
Term
| Why did people begin to study obedience to authority? |
|
Definition
| Because they wanted to know how Nazis could have killed so many people. |
|
|
Term
| What experiment illustrated the ideas of obedience to authority? What were the experiment's results? |
|
Definition
| Milgram's shock experiment. About 2/3 of the subjects obeyed the experimenter and went to the highest voltage. |
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|
Term
| Why are people influence by authority? |
|
Definition
| They act out of blind obedience, often assuming that the person has legitimate authority. |
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