Where we look for consistencies in behavior

When detecting consistencies, we attempt to determine:

The ways to describe the behaviorial trends

The causes of the consistencies

The results/impacts of these individual differences

1) Numerous social behaviors are consistent over time within the individual and different between individuals

2) Individuals have some control over behavior (not just the social situation)

Conscious forces are thoughts and experiences that impact our behavior that we are aware of (things you can articulate)

Unconscious- the thoughts and experiences that impact our behavior that we are not aware of

Current experiences/desires of the individual, past experiences/desires of the individual, past traumatic experiences and unmet needs can results in abnormal behaviors and personality types

When forces are released, sense of relief can be experience

catharsis- a release of pent up emotional tension

It's an unconscious force that's only goal is to push us to do what is right by society's standards

helps us learn about how to behave in different ways (like an angel telling you to do the right thing)

It's a conscious force that operates on the reality principle

it seeks to satisfy the id's and superego's desires in realistic ways

has to balance id and superego

answers the question "who are you?" what you think about yourself

He beleived that you need to bring the unconscious up to change personality

He looked for when people didn't want to reveal certain things to others

Psychoanalysis

Free association-where you continually went when saying random things in a list

-gets at hidden unconscious desires

Drem interpretation- manifest content=details

latent content-hidden motivation/details

Freudian Slips-where you say random things ex=sex o'clock means that's what you're thinking about at the moment

Hypnosis- putting you in a state of min dwhere you can tap into your unconscious, used to treat phobias

some ppl remembered trauma they didn't have before

Oral- 0-18 months

Anal- 18-36 months

Phallic- 3-6 years

Latency- 6-puberty

Genital- maturation of sexual interests

They deal with the tensions between our id, ego and superego

They help allievate stress of conflicting tension and help keep us sane, while alleviating stress

unhappy people use one particular defense mechanism over and over

repression until you go into unconscious, some memories are never acessible

personality was a direct product of our unconscious thoughts and desires and our conscious manifestations of the attempts to alleviate these desires

most of our unconscious desires are focused on sexual energy (libido) and past sexual experiences

Abnormal behavior is the product of extremely traumatic experiences from our past

brought up idea of conflicted individuals, he was the first person to say that unconscious is important and the first to say sex matters

Humans have a mental life that is at least partly unconsciouss

People often have conflicting motives and desires

Childhood experiences contribute to the development of adult personality and behavior

sexual development has an impact on psychological and personality development

defense mechanism by the ego to keep disturbing or threatening thoughts from becoming conscious

person doesn't remember a family member's funeral

blocking external events from awareness

if a situation is is too much to handle, a person refuses to experience it

person who drinks and is arrested denies that he/she has an alcohol problem

distortion of facts to make an event less threatening

provide a justification for an action that you take

you study for tests, but you know others cheat, so it's not a big deal if you do too

The redirection of an impulse (usually aggression) onto a substitute target

you take out your anger on someone/something else beside the original person you're angry at

ex. you get mad at your sister and throw a drinking glass against the wall

a movement back in psychological time when one is faced with stress

ex=a child may begin to suck his/her thumb again when he/she is stressed out in a hospital

Individuals attributing their thoughts, feelings, and motives to another person

Ex. you hate someone, but your ego tells you that such hatred is unacceptable, so you can solve this problem by believing that that particular person hates you

you get mad at person and scream at that person for being mad at you

where a person goes beyone their denial and behaves in the opposite way that they actually feel

Ex= ppl who are against gays are actually internally supporting gays

b/c they're making a defense against their own homosexual feelings by taking on a harsh heterosexual stance

you say you're not angry when you really are

when we manage our emtions in a constructive or manageable manner

find way to act on impulse on a socially acceptable way

ex= rage redirected in form of participating in sports like boxing or football

Examples of Defense Mechanisms

1. You're in love with your best friend's new girlfriend. You tell everyone your best friend's girlfriend is terrible= reaction formation b/c you say the opposite of what you feel

2. Your boss yells at you, you come home and yell at your spouse, your spouse yells at your child, your child goes out to the yard and yells at the dog=

yell-> yell->yell=displacement

3. Your ex-spouse, who cheated on you, writes a book arguing that humans are not monogamous and have an instinctive need for variety= rationalization

Unconscious thoughts defined by Freud are very different from today's theories of unconscious

It's not all about sex and psychosexual stages (if the even exist)

Almost all (if not all) forms of mental disorders have been only weakly likned to childhood experiences.

Worked with Freud and was thought of as heir apparent

• accepted many of Freud's beliefs about formation of personality 
• our past experiences have an impact on our personalities
• Broke up with Freud due to differing beliefs about personality formation
• said that our personality didn't contain the basic instincts that Freud proposed (primarly the id)
• our look towards future and goals is equally important
• people possess personality traits as a reuslt of a collective unconscious -archetypes that are inherited from experiences of our ancestors

Another student of Freud who broke away

Formed individual psychology=psychology os the person as a whole rather than a person in seperate parts (id/ego/superego)

Believed that personality was based on our sttempts to pursue our strengths and make up for our shortcomings

striving for superiority-a desire to seek personal excellence and fulfillment

inferiority complex-an exaggerated feeling of weakness, inadequacy, and helplessness

the person you want to become is important, desire to be seen by others in a particular way, each person wants to be seen as superior in 1 thing

Formed theory of personality that was based on positive aspects on an individual

postulated that people are constantly striving for betterment and to reach a point of accurate self actualization

self actualization-achievement of one's full potential (said to rarely be met by individuals)= bring actual self to ideal self

actual self-the person that we are

ideal self- the person that we want to be

aught self-the person that we feel we should be

Personality and actualization was focused on another mechanism...the fulfillment of needs

he proposed that each of us has a hierarchy of needs, and once all of those needs are met, we can reach self actualization

The thing you need causes you to only focus on that thing, once those needs are met, we focus on other needs, if we get hungry, we go back down (physiological)

But these were like the Freud theories because they're not based on evidence

Examined the whole person through clinical studies

after clinical interactions and observations of teacher biases in student reports about laziness, he began to believe that constructs were the basis of personality

Constructs are personality structures, perceptions of behaviors and events, and other concepts of the environment that come from experience and are used to interpret/interact with the world

he talked about kids and how they said the teacher and class wasn't interesteing enough for them to put in the effort->different perception of reality from teacher

"we are all scientists at heart; testing our environment in an attempt to try and understand, interpret, and perdict the world around us"

In social cognitive model, individuals are still actively working on their environment

however, we're also modeling behavior based on our interpretations of the social environment

we're interacting with the environment to obtain things we learn to want, through techaniques that we learn to use

Bandura= we learn from environment to develop our personality related behaviors (bobo doll experiment)

Walter Mischel- student of George Kelley Cognitive Approach

-stressed dynamics of the situation in personality

-expectations of results from behaviors

interpretations of the situation

Stressed concept of competencies-the skill sets available to deal with social situations

Ex-introverts react shyly because of their set of skills they possess to deal with social interactions

• Comptencies are generated at an early age, delat of gratification
• these competencies can carry over to other abilities
• early comparions, they also seem to last a long time

leaving marshmellow on a table for a certain amount of time in front of kids aged 4-5, and if the marshemellow's still there after the time limit, the kids get another marshmellow

some kids waited; others didn't

kids who couldn't resist had delay of gratification issues, tested kids 15 years later: graduated college if resisted marshmellows, those who couldn't resist did not graduate yet, were married already + divorced, and did drugs

All the consistent ways in which the behavior of one person differs from and is similar to that of others, especially in social situations

personality measures can't determine what we do all of the time in every social situation, but it can give us a good indication about what we are likely to do

Idiographic approach- studying personality by useing detailed examinations of individuals- Freud's work

critique-everyone is different, can't base findings on just 1 person

Nomothetic approach- studying personality be examining large groups of individuals and tendencies of this group (questionaires, behaviorial, other methods)

In the nomothetic approach, psychologists focus on traits

they attempt to maintain a clear cut distinction between traits and states when describing people and behaviors

Consistent, long-lasting tendencies

much more consistent over time

less influenced by social cues

ex. kindness, shyness, hostility, laziness

Temporary activations of a particular behavior (inconsistent)

the result of social cues

short-lived and slightly more influential while they are experienced

ex. fear, excitation, sorrow, surprise

For a large group of individuals, 2- ???

For predicting a specific behavior, only 1-2 traits might be necessary to describe an individual

Was very gifted in school

Presented his theories of personality to titchener and his colleagues, was rejected, and became known as a rogue psychologist in the field

States- momentary reactions to situations that are a direct result of the social environment

Traits-stable behaviors that occur across situations and time

Cardinal traits- traits that tend to dominate one's personality or even life

ex=you view Mother Teresa as giving over everything else b/c that dominates her life

Central traits-traits that cover a number of behaviors but are not the dominant feature over one's life

Secondary Dispositions- traits that manifest themselves only on rare occasions, play a minimal role on one's life

Could answer math, spelling problems and find things in other's hats

One person asked the horse a question and hid behind a wall -> horse didn't answer

Horse would look at social cues and looked at people looking at his feet + smiling to determint how many times to tap foot or who to walk towards

Allport and Odbert found 18,000 words from the dictionary that are related to personality

Cattell compared words for synonyms and antonyms

reduced list to 35 words

Costa and McCrae used factor analyses, personality traits people had that were related to each other

reduced to 5 personality traits

1. Openess to experience- tendency to enjoy new intellectual experiences and new ideas (low=consistent in what you do)

2. Conscientiousness- a tendency to show self-discipline, to be dutiful, and to strive for achievement and competence

3. Extraversion- a tendency to seek stimulation and to enjoy the company of others

4. Agreeableness- a tendency to be compassionate towards others

5. Neuroticism- tendency to experience unpleasant emotions relatively easily (High=overreact, low=don't care if you see a dog die)

Culturally biased-> used english dictionary

not good predictor of other cultures

might have too few variables

religiosity, how much spirituality affects behavior, might be an important aspect of personality not covered in the big 5

Might have too many variables- some modestly positively correlated so slightly related (extraversion and openess)

others negatively correlated slightly opposite (extraversion and openess to neurotocism)

might not be a good predictor of specific behaviors- some behaviors might not be predicted by big 5 measures, others might be better predicted by different, more specific personality traits

The Big 5 and Development

Stability of Traits over Time

As we age, less neuroticism and openess to experience, more agreableness and conscientiousness (in middle age), more stability as we age

Across generations: changes in extraversion and openness over the generations, the impact of social movements

Number of traits over time? Children: sociability and activity added to big 5 -> big 7 - focus on how active they are. Harry Potter Study where kids took surveys to figure out which character they are like

Elderly Big 3: O, E, N overlap and merge into 1 hybrid of Extraversion

so CEA or

Genes

Twin studies whow that genes have a large impact on personality

However, specific genes have not been linked to specific characteristics

Our personality is the result of our recognized membership in groups, our roles in these groups, and the norms of the groups

-gender roles, racial norms, family traditions, group standards/rules, cultural norms and rules

Studies have shown that even though individuals don't match their description of their own personality with respect to their group, their personality-related behaviors often match

People say that they're not much of something in a certain area because of their peers

Asking how many hours you do something is a better question to ask

Ex. Do you study a lot?

Answer: No, at Berkeley, people study a lot more than I do

is the person's behavior/thought pattern abnormal?

is this person a danger to himself/herself?

Should this person seek therapy?

Abnormal Behavior defintions

APA: any behavior that leads to distress (including distress to others), diasbility, or an increased risk of death, pain, or loss of freedom

Textbook: a display of undesirable thoughts that is significantly different from the average and interferes with one's life

Pro football players

Glenn Beck?

MLK Jr

Obama-lots of decisions he makes can cause distess in others

Soldier-behavior is abnormal by textbook definition

Professional wrestlers-normal in American culture

Female demonic possiesion in sub-Saharan Africa and South America- accepted in these cultures but not normal in America

Brain fag syndrome in Western Africa-headache when you think too much-students given day off. not in America

Multiple personalities in the US=movie with a woman who created multiple personalities, US became only place where multiple personalities present, now nobody displays that behavior

Stressed ppl resort to violence, stressed laid off chinese men attached school children -> became epidemic + spread after initial occurrence

They detect individuals who are displaying abnormal behavior based on a number of factors

identify cases where a person will be a danger to a community

describe and define the abnormal behaviors of the people tested

identify the source of abnormal behavior

provide help for the individuals

Most psychologists believe that abnormal behavior is the result of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors that combine and interact

genes/schizophrenia

psychological stress, env factods, things going on within us

social= societal, culture that defines abnormal

Early attempts: list of characteristics based on case studies (eg. Freud's work), individual definitions

People used to get diagnosed individually, treat eash person as unique, but realized that it was inefficient because not all had $ to see a therapist

Recognized overlap -> ppl had similar symptoms

so could standardize treatments, but some treatments were unique to the therapist who assigned them

Uniform definitions and standards for diagnosis

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Currently in its 4th edition

Intended to list the "accepted labels" for all identified psychological disorders and describes their most widely used and beneficial treatments

defined and categorized disorders and aimed to help people based on their disorder

Axis 1: psychological disorders

temporary disorders that are the main focus of treatment

ex: depression, anxiety disorders, anorexia, ADHD

Axis 2: personality disorders and mental retardation

(some think helping these people is impossible)

long lasting problems that deal more with an individual's whole self

Ex: autism, narcissism, antisocial personality, pervasive mental retardation

Axis 3= general medical conditions

look for biological things

lists medical problems that might interact with treatment options

lists medication that might interact with treatment options (especially drug treatments)

Axis 4= Psychological and Evironmental Problems

env/social=death in family, stress from family

lists environmental and social stressors that cause or exacerbate disorders

Axis 5= global assessment of functioning

score from 1-100 based on how capable you are of functioning-100 is fully functional

as you get help, your score should get higher

even ppl in 70-80 range go to visit

Differentiating normal from abnormal behavior

what is cutoff for abnormal behavior?

manifestations of disorders often vary across individuals

ex. length of time you need to show symptoms is random

so depressed for 2 weeks but psychologist can't do anything until 3rd week b/c of DSM book

Ppl go by book even though they see problems

X number of symptoms required

symptoms must last X months

A number of the disorder and classifications are arbitrary

homosexuality was listed by 1st and 2nd DSMs as an axis 1 disorder

autism and aspergers: before were treated separately but new DSM will show treatments together, aspergers=high functioning autism so no reason to treat, best treatment for aspergers is best treatment for autism->putting them together b/c insurance companies have to pay +help ppl with aspergers

Situational facros are often not taken into account, ex=break up, death, job stability

Almost anyone seeking help is diagnosed with a mental disorder-> 50%

DSM only detects disorders and doesn't tell everything important about individual being diagnosed

is still used by almost reputable clinic and clinician today

provided us with time saving, extremely effective ways of diagnosing and treating mental disorders

continually adapting and changing to be more accurate, effective, and reflective of out society and mental disorders described within it

ther is no sign that use of this manual will discontinue in the future

ppl can transfer diagnosis from1 therapist to the next

Altering things physically can solve problems

Belief- certain medical disorders are disease and/or biologically based, so treatment must be biological or physical in nature

Main goal= changing some aspect of your physical functioning to treat a disorder

Medication: assumes a neurochemical cause/solution to disorders

Benefits= quick results and powerful reduction of symptoms

wide range of symptom applications

Costs: overmedication for everything, addiction, tolerance effects, long term value concerns, concerns about what's being fixed (car analogy-putting oil in a car is a temporary fix). stopping medication, symptoms come back worse

Psychosurgery- based on notion that some abnormal behavior is caused by physical abnormalities

rare, used to treat severe mental/cognitive problems, lobotomies, removal of tumors, growths

a treatment of psychological disorders by methods that include a personal relationship between a trained therapist and a client or clients

Belief= a number of mental disorders can be treated with a therapeutic/conversational approach

Main goal= changing some aspect of our thinking/thought processing/behavior in order to help with a mental disorder/abnormal behavior

identifying unconscious thoughts and emotions and bringing them to consciousness to help ppl understand their thoughts and actions

exploration of present and past

different techniques: free associations, dreams, hyponosis

interactive, expensive, and long process

treatment technique that begins with clear, well-defined goals and then attempts to achieve those goals through learning and the strengthening of behavioral connections

sometimes uses classical conditioning and operant conditioning but focuses more on changing behavior

usually only for specific disorders/problems (anxiety disorderd, drug abuse, and anorexia/bulimia)

seeks to improve people's psychological well-being by changing their thoughts and beliefs

-rational emotive behavior therapy- assumes that problems are a result of one's inappropriate/irrational emotional reactions to situations, not the unpleasant emotions themselves

cognitive behaviorial therapy-a form of therapy that emphasizes that problems are a result of one's interpretation of their situatoion that they're experiencing and their interpretation of themselves

prevent overreaction, alter perception of reality, you're looking at a situation the wrong way, have ppl play another role of a person who doesn't overreact to things to eventually not make people overreact

Based on belief that mental disorders are often a product of misperceptions or an incongruence of selves

Assumes that patients are the only ones who can detect and reach their full potential

-person centered therapy: pioneered by Carl Rodgers

-incorporate total acceptance and unconditional positive regard of patient in therapy sessions

involves mirroring and patient focused therapy

help a person by making the person help himself/herself

spiritual/touchy/feely

Other kinds of Psychotherapy:

Family systems therapy

brief therapy

idea that most ppl with psych disorders have family issues, spend time focusing on family members, bringing in family members ppl have issues with

brief therapy= therapists come up with a strategy for a person they won't see for 1-2 months trying to fix yourself

Group therapy

self-help groups

eclectic therapy

group= counseling sessions with multiple ppl meeting at samt time w/ppl who have same issues. however, not much 1-1 time

self-help groups: ppl come together and talk their way though issues->no therapists necessary, either free or cheap

eclectic therapy- figure out what approach works best at a specific moment and use them-> therapist knows methods and which to use at what time

Involves intense experience of anxiety and a series of efforts to deal with it

4 Categories: generalized anxiety disroder, obsessive compulsive disorder, phobias, panic disorder

5-6% of population

involves free-floating anxiety, every moment of the day makes people feel worried

affected people also often feel jittery, tired, and usually suffer from sleeplessness

antidepressent medication and relaxation training

startle test- clap in front of person's face, & they keep showing symptoms

Panic Disorder

1-3% of the population

Identified by panic attacks-minutes- long episodes of feat that something bad is going to happen. They feature: heart palpitations, shortness of breath, choking sensations, and trembling

Repeated incidences lead to fear of panic attact and a panic disorder and associated phobias

Not constantly worried, fine until panick attack, each person experiences it in a separate way, usually connected with other disorders

Antidepressants + behavior therapy-some ppl think breathing techniques can cause people to have panic attacks

tend to go away with time and age (frequency of symptoms)

Phobias

diagnosed as phobias when anxiety or irrational feat are extreme enough to interfere with everyday living

11% during lifetime and 5-6% at any given time in their life

Evidence for a genetic link for developing phobias, but usually specific experiences must occur to cause phobias

these are fears that are very specific ex. spiders

you have to be altering your behaviors to avoid situations with the thing you're afraid of in it

behaviorial therapy

pharmalogical therapy for phobias include tranquilizers and antidepressants

virtual reality for treatment- virtual entrance for subway for agorophobia-can't find a way to get out of some place

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

2-3%

Involves repetitive, irresistible acts (compulsions) performed to alleviate an ongoing anxious stream of though (obsessions) with such persistence that they interfere with normal life activities

Typically found in average, hard-working perfectionists

some evidence for genetic contribution, especially in patients who develop it before 18 years

most ppl w/ocd never show anxiety. Instead, we see their actions. Compulsions=means of overcoming fear. Ex. fear of dirtiness->just clean it up

some ppl realize that their thoughts and actions are irrational

present OCD patient with situation that facilitates their obsessions but prevent them from performing compulsions to demonstrate that nothing bad will happen

mot OCD individuals improve with or without treatment over time, it can go away with age and more exposures

Ex: force a cleaner to not clean

involve long-term problems with basic emotions

all but one mood disorder is associated with a negative, unpleasant mood

Examples of mood disorders: depression, seasonal affective disorder, bipolar disorder, dysthymia

Depression

5% of population within a given year, 10-20% in their lifetime

3:1 ratio of women to men, talking about suicide can indicate depression

Primarily linked to negative mood and lethargic behavior, but other symptoms included in diagnosis=feeling little interest in pursuing anything, little pleasure derived from any activity

also commonly associated with feeling of powerlessness, guilt, and worthlessness, suicidal ideation and attempts, sleep abnormalities

Causes= family linked, lack of nuerotransmitter levels, life events, women are diagnosed twice as much

early exposures you had, good chance that ppl raised w/other depressed people can develop it as well

lack of serotonin, too much reuptake

-men are more able to block things but do other dangerous things like drugs

Treatments=regular sleep and exercise for mild to moderate depression, drug interventions, psychotherapies

Note= few ppl remain permanently depressed. once a person has experienced an episode of depression, they often have a higher likelihood of suffering from depressive episodes in the future

interpersonal, cognitive behaviorial work well/better than psychodynamic, mdeications work better than placeboss

Prevalance of disorder depends upon location

symptoms similar to depression but to a milder extent

associated with the change of seasons

light therapy with UV light-having ppl work in front of it for 1-2 hours a day helps people regulate themselves

^ indicates that it's not depression since depression can't be treated with light

Symptoms similar to depression, but less severe, and they last much longer 2 years before diagnosis

not considered traumatic at any given time, but can be debilatating through long-term effects

since it lasts >2 years, some ppl think it's just what a person is like

we don't know what percentage has dysthymia, ppl start avoiding you + whole life becomes problematic

Bipolar Disorder (Manic-Depressive Disorder)

2-3% of population

invloces between person alternating between depressive symptoms, normal mood, and manic symptoms

happy to sad to laughter quickly

Manic symptoms include being constantly active, very uninhibited, overly excited, and.or irritable at any given time-often enjoyed by person in manic phase, so ppl sometimes don't want to take drugs to get rid of manic phase

2 forms-type 1=at least 1 manic episode-not much depression, usually just excitation

type 2= hypomania-excited/agitated but not to an extreme degree

treatments come in pairs, anti depressants for depressive phases and mood stabilizers (lithium + anti convulsants) for manic phases

hallucinations

delusions

persecution=everybody against you

grandiose-you feel important

reference-interpreting messages as if they were meant for oneself

bizarre- random delusions that don't fall under any of the categories

Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Flat Affect

Anhedonia

flat effect= blunted expression of emotion

ex=mask-like face, flat voice, poor eye contact

anhedonia- diminished ability to experience pleasure,

ex= report little enjoyment in life, seek out few emjoyable activities

usually linked to social withdrawal (maybe the cause)

disorganized speech

-severe tangentiality, loose associations, derailment of thought

disorganized behavior

freeze catatonic= freeze in a certain position for a period of time

Genetic-twin studies

brain abnormality/malformation- hippocampus and parts of cerebral cortex are a little smaller than normal, cerebral ventricles are larger than normal, the neurons are smaller there are fewer synapses in prefrontal cortex

neurodevelopmental- schizophrenia is the result of nervous system impairments that develop before and/or around the time of birth

caused partially through genetics, but also through env influences

poor prenatal care, difficult pregnancy + labor, mother's exposure to influenza

hospitalization- useful for severe incidents

cognitive behaviorial therapy- hallucinations- help patients perceive distinctions b/t internal/external

delusions-treat self-esteem or other psychological issues

flat affect= increase social skills for low emotion

anhedonia-increase activities for diminished pleasure

Medication- antipsychotic (neuroleptic drugs)-block dopamine synapses in brain, others effect glutamate concentration

most in past produced unpleasant side effects: tardive dyskenesia, dystonis, seizures, etc

most treatments provide temporary success almost immediately (full effects usually emerge within 1 month)

over long run, drug effects start to wane greatly->importance of finding right drug

success rates of drugs are highly associated with intensity of symptoms pre-treatment, and time b/t onset and treatment of disorder

end of deterioration of brain after drugs are introduces ins still being explored