Psychology Final
What is mania?
Periods of abnormally and persistently elevated mood, increased energy level and physical activity, diminished need for sleep, grandiose ideas, racing thoughts, and extreme distractibility
What is behavioral therapy?
Goal: Help clients replace harmful behaviors with beneficial behaviors Method: Behavior modification, including rewards and punishments, token economies, exposure, social skills, training, and modeling
What are obsessions?
Recurrent, intrusive, and unwanted thoughts or urges or mental images that increase anxiety
Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder
A disorder characterized by excessuve activity or fidgeting, inattentiveness, and impulsivity Overly active, inattentive, and impulsive Need to have directions repeated and rules explained over and over Friendly and talkative yet they have trouble making and keeping friends because they miss subtle social cues and make unintentional social mistakes such as interrupting or intruding where they are not wanted Causes are unknown Being unable to sit still, constantly fidgeting, being unable to concentrate, excessive physical movement, excessive talking, etc.
Agoraphobia
A fear of being in situations from which escape is difficult or impossible Ex: Crowded shopping mall or using public transportation- fear causes panic attacks Panic attacks, avoid going into open places that might have crowds, may even be unable to leave their own homes
Social anxiety disorder
A fear of being negatively evaluated by others Fears of being in social situations, public speaking, speaking up in class, meeting new people, and eating in front of others
What is health psychology?
A field that integrates research on health and on psychology, it involves the application of psychological principles to promote health and well-being
What are the most common evidence-based treatments for...
Anxiety disorders? Anti-anxiety medication and psychotherapy Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders? CBT and maybe some antidepressants Depressive disorders? Antidepressants and research is still being done for which type of therapy is best Bipolar disorders? CBT can help with medicine regiments, lithium Schizophrenia? Psychotropic medication and CBT Autism Spectrum Disorder (in children)? Behavior therapy (applied behavior analysis: intense behavior therapy that uses operant conditioning), no medicine yet ADHD (in children)? Central nervous system stimulant such as methylphenidate or Adderall and CBT
What are "lifestyle diseases"?
A medical condition or disorder regarded as being associated with the way in which a person lives, such as heart disease or obesity
Major depressive disorder
A mood disorder characteriszed by extremely negative moods or a loss of interest in normally pleasurable activities that persists for two weeks or more One of two symptoms: Very depressed (often irritable) mood or loss of interest in pleasurable activities that persists for two weeks or more Could have appetite and weight changes, sleep disturbances, loss of energy, difficulty concentrating, feelings of self-reproach or guilt, and frequent thoughts of death, perhaps by suicide
Persistent depressive disorder
A mood disorder characterized by mildly or moderarely negative moods that persists for at least two years Similar symptoms to major depressive disorder, but their symptoms are less intense Depressed mood most of the days, more days than not, for atleast two years
What is wellbeing?
A positive state where you feel at your best
Fear
Amydala
Generalized anxiety disorder
An anxiety disorder characterized by a state of constant anxiety not associated with any specific object or situation Constantly anxious and worry incessantly about even minor matters Can occur in response to almost anything Constantly alert for problems Distractibility, fatigue, irritability, headaches, restlessness, lightheadedness, muscle pain
What are delusions of persecution?
Belief that others are persecuting, spying on you, or trying to harm you
What are grandiose delusions?
Belief that you have great power, knowledge, or talent
What are delusions of control (also called delusions of being controlled)?
Belief that your thoughts and behaviors are being controlled by external forces
In addition to assessing a person's symptoms, what two factors do clinicians typically use to determine whether or not to diagnose someone with a psychological disorder? (Clue: The client would provide this information.)
Biological predisposition (ex: family history with a mental disorder) Environmental factors (ex: trauma)
Be able to contrast the biomedical approach (traditional Western medical approach) vs. biopsychosocial model in terms of... How these models define health
Biomedical: Do you have a disease or not? Biopsychosocial: Wholistic approach- not just physical, also mental, whether you're thriving not just surviving
Be able to contrast the biomedical approach (traditional Western medical approach) vs. biopsychosocial model in terms of...Who they consider to be in charge of managing a person's health
Biomedical: Doctors Biopsychosocial: Patient/ healthcare team
Be able to contrast the biomedical approach (traditional Western medical approach) vs. biopsychosocial model in terms of...How they conceptualize the cause(s) of health and illness
Biomedical: Focuses just on biological factors and how they affect physical health Biopsychosocial: Biological characteristics (ex: genetic predispositions), psychological factors (ex: behaviors, lifestyle, stress, and health beliefs), and social conditions (ex: cultural influences, family relationships, and social support)
Be able to contrast the biomedical approach (traditional Western medical approach) vs. biopsychosocial model in terms of...What they view as the best way to return someone to health
Biomedical: Medication- medication intervention, drugs, technology Biopsychosocial: Wholistic approach- can involve medical and lifestyle intervention
Bipolar disorder (you do not need to be able to distinguish between different types of bipolar disorders)
Bipolar disorder I: Extremely elevated moods (mania) lasting at least one week Ex: For two weeks, you feel extremely happy and excited, need very little sleep, aand impulsively spend your life savings Often have major depressive episodes Bipolar II Disorder: Alternating between mindly elevated moods (hypomania) for at least four days and extremely depressed mood for atleast two weeks Ex: You experience weeks of deep sadness when you feel unable to accomplish much. Then your mood improves, you feel happy, you have the energy to get things done Severe thought disturbances or hallucinations Can cause significant impairment on daily living and often results in hospitalization Strong genetic component
What's the difference between sensation and perception?
Both are 4 steps: 1. Physical Stimulus: A traffic light turns green. Light saves are the physical stimulus. 2. Sensation: The light waves are detected by sensory receptors in the drivers eyes 3. Transduction: The sensory receptors translate the physical stimulus into signals. Those signals will become neural signals. 4. Perception: The neural signals travel along nerve fibers to the thalamus. The cortical areas in the brain process the signals and construct a representation of the green light. The brain interprets the light as indicating "Start driving" Difference: Sensation usually involves sensing the existence of a stimulus, whereas perception involves determining what the a stimulus is
Understand the difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
Classical conditioning: Learning to associate two stimuli with each other, resulting in a change in behavior Steps: Unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, the conditioned stimulus, conditioned response, extinction, generalization, discrimination Ex: Blow whistle when presenting food, associate whistle with food, the acquisition is occurring, the whistle is now conditioned/learned stimulus Operant Conditioning: The individual learns an action is associated with an outcome, which in turn influences their likelihood of acting again in the future Example: Learning that parking in a no-parking zone is associated with getting a ticket will make you less likely to park in a no-parking zone again Difference: Classical conditioning associates involuntary behavior with a stimulus whereas operant conditioning associates voluntary action with a consequence
What's the difference between a clinical psychologist vs. a psychiatrist?
Clinical Psychologist Training: 5-7 years of graduate school conducting research on psychological disorders and treatment, including 1 year of clinical internship Degree: PhD Employment: Academics, private practice, hospitals, schools, mental health centers, substance abuse programs OR Training: 4-6 years of graduate school developing clinical skills to treat people with psychological disorders followed by 1 year of internship Degree: PsyD Employment: Private practice, medical settings, mental health centers, substance abuse programs Psychiatrist: Training: 4 years of medical school with 3-5 years of addional specialization in residency programs to treat people with psychological disorders and prescribe psychotropic medications Degree: MD Employment: Hospitals, private practice, mental health centers, academics, substance abuse programs
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Deficits in social interaction, by impaired communication, and by restricted, repetitive behavior and interests Vaccines do not cause autism spectrum disorder Unaware of others Do not smile at caregivers, do not respond to vocalizations, and may actively reject physical contract with others No eye contract and do not use their gaze to gain or direct the attention of those around them Deficits in communication Impairments in verbal and nonverbal communication Acutely aware of their surroundings- pay attention to objects Throw tantrums Play is repetitive and obsessive Strange hand movements, body rocking, and hand flapping Self-injury is common
What are some specific types of behavioral therapy, and what principles from classical conditioning, operant condition, or other learning principles do they draw upon?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Incorporates techniques from both behavior therapy and cognitive therapy and tried to correct clients faulty cognitions and train them to engage in new behaviors Ex: Suppose a client has a social anxiety disorder. Makes it hard for her to meet new people. The therapist will encourage the client to examine other people's reactions to her and understand how she might be wrong about how other people view her. At the same time, the therapist will teach the client how to change her own behavior, perhaps by learning how to engage other people in conversation. Dialectical behavior Therapy: Combines elements of behavior, cognitive, and psychodynamic therapieis with a mindfulness approach Phase 1: Change extreme behaviors, such as self-harm Phase 2: Explore past traumas that may be the cause of the disorder Phase 3: Develop feelings of independence and self-respect Maddaptive behaviors can be replaced with adaptive behaviors through the use of classical and operant conditioning. For example, a therapist can use classical conditioning to extinguish a phobia by exposing the person to the feared object in a setting where nothing bad happens. A different strategy, based on operant conditioning, is behavior modification which is a process that helps people learn desired behaviors and unlearn unwanted behaviors. Desired behaviors are reinforced with small treats and praise whereas unwanted behaviors are ignored or punished
What is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Incorporates techniques from both behavior therapy and cognitive therapy and tried to correct clients' faulty cognitions and train them to engage in new behaviors Ex: Suppose a client has a social anxiety disorder. Makes it hard for her to meet new people. The therapist will encourage the client to examine other people's reactions to her and understand how she might be wrong about how other people view her. At the same time, the therapist will teach the client how to change her own behavior, perhaps by learning how to engage other people in conversation.
What is empiricism/an empirical approach?
Collecting systematic, valid, independently verifiable observations to answer questions about the world
What are collectivism and individualism?
Collectivism: Emphasize connections to family, social groups, and ethnic groups, along with confomrity to societal norms and group cohesiveness Individualism: Emphasize individual rights and freedoms, self-expression, and diversity
What is downward comparison (same as downward social comparison)?
Compare yourself with those who are worse off Has been shown to help people with serious illnesses Ex: if diagnosed with diabetes, you could recognize that diabetes is not as serious as cancer (downward comparison)
What did DeLongis et al. (1982) hypothesize about the links between major life stressors, daily hassles, and health?
Daily hassles would have a stronger relationship to health outcomes than do major life events because the former are proximal measures of stress, whereas the latter are distal Major life events -> daily hassles -> health outcomes
Specific phobia
Fear of specific object or situation that is exaggerated and disproportionate to the threat Ex: You are so afraid of snakes that if you see even a picture of a snake, your heart begins to pound and you feel the need to run away.
Depressants
Depressant substances reduce arousal and stimulation. They affect the central nervous system, slowing down the messages between the brain and body. GABA neurotransmitters
What are some key criticisms of the DSM-5?
Diagnoses may not be sufficiently reliable; clinicians sometimes disagree on how to diagnose the same person (Ex: see Chmielewski, 2015) Lower thresholds to receive diagnoses could lead to "medicalizing normality" Treating normal variations as pathological (disorders) Could lead to overprescription of psychotropic drugs Many (69%) DSM-5 panel/task force members had financial ties to the pharmaceutical indrusty (ex: see Cosgrove & Krimsky, 2012) DSM-5 fails to separate having a "disorder" from a resasonable psychological response to an adverse situation (ex: experiencing "Gender Dysophoria" because others' non-acceptance of your gender identity/expression Cutoffs (symptom thresholds) for diagnosis are arbitrary
What is the DSM-5?
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders Manuel used to assess symptoms and diagnose psychological disorders
Borderline personality disorder
Disturbances in identity, moods, and impulse control Lack strong sense of self, cannot tolerate being alone, intense fear of abandonment, desperately need an exclusive and dependent relationship with another person, and they can be manipulative in attempts to control relationships Emotional disutbrances: episodes of depression, anxiety, anger, irritability, or combination of these Shifts from one mood to another usually occur Impulsivity, sexual promiscuity, physical fighting, and binge eating and purging Self-mutlation, such as cutting and burning ones skin, high risk for suicide Can have an enviormental component from trauma and abuse
What are daily hassles?
Everyday irritations that cause small disruptions and can have effects that can add up to a large impact on health
What is your sense of self?
Everything you think, believe, and feel about yourself
Be generally familiar with the subfields of psychology today, especially those that we have discussed this semester (e.g., developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, personality psychology, social psychology, health psychology, psychopathology, etc.).
Evolutionary Psychology: Knowledge and principles from evolutionary biology are put to use in research on the structure and function of the human mind Developmental Psychology: How and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, againg, and the entire lifespan Cognitive Psychology: Study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning Personality Psychology: Examines personality and its variation among individual. Aims to show how people are individually different due to psychological forces Social Psychology: Scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms Health psychology: Examines how biological, social, and psychological factors influence health and illness. Use psychological science to promote health, prevent illness and improve health care systems Psychopathology: Study of abnormal cognition, behavior, and experiences which differs according to social norms and rests upon a number of constructs that are deemed to be the social norm at any particular area
What is anxiety?
Excessive fear in the absence of danger Anxious individuals tend to perceive ambiguous situations as threatening, whereas nonanxious individuals assume those situations as nonthreatening 5 types: Specific phobia, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia
How might social support buffer individuals against stress?
Experience less stress overall because it provides material help or assisting with daily chores Ex: Lack of partner would mean more tasks to handle and no one to share the emotional challenges Helps people better cope with stressors When people offer expressions of caring and willingness to listen to problems, they can lessen the negative effects of stress
What are some specific methods used in cognitive-behavioral therapy?
Exposure (therapy technique that involves repeatedly exposing a client to an anxiety-producing stimulus or situation: the goal is to reduce the client's fear through the extinction of the fear response Systematic desensitization: Therapy technique in which the client imagines or is exposed to situations that produce increasing anxiety while learning to relax Exposure and response prevention: Therapy technique that exposes the client to a stimulus that causes anxiety because it triggers obsessive thoughts and then prevents the client from engaging in compulsive behavior to reduce that anxiety
Schizophrenia
Extreme alterations in thought, in perceptions, and/or in consciousness. These disturbances result in a break from reality, and the person experiences psychosis (the inability to differentiate what is real from what is imagined) Delusions (false beliefs that reflect breaks from reality), hallucinations (false sensory experiences in the abscence of any genuine external input), disorganized speech (incoherent, failing to follow a normal conversational structure), disorganized behavior (acting in strange or unusual ways) avoid eye contract, etc.
What are extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation?
Extrinsic: The desire to perform an activity to achieve an external goal, such as reciving a reward Ex: Good grade or a pay check makes you extrinsically motivated Intrinsic: The desire to gete the value or pleasure from the activity rather than to achieve an external goal Ex: Desire to master a topic in a course because you enjoy it
What does etiology refer to?
Factors that contribute to the development of the disordered thoughts, emotions, and/or behaviors
What are delusions?
False beliefs that reflect breaks from reality
What are hallucinations?
False sensory experiences in the absence of any genuine external input
What were the key findings of the DeLongis et al. (1982) study?
Frequency and intensity of daily hassles were associated with poorer health at the start and end of the study The number and severity of negative life events over the past 2.5 years were only associated with poorer health at the end of the study Could indicate a lagged effect; it took time for NLEs to affect their health Daily hassles and negative life events were also correlated Daily hassles were a stronger predictor of poorer health than were negative life events (Daily uplifts did not predict health)
OCD
Frequent intrusive thoughts that create anxiety and compulsive actions that temporarily reduce the anxiety Obsessions: Recurrent, intrusive, and unwatned thoughts or urges or mental images that increase anxiety Include intense worry and fears of contamination, of accidents, or of ones own aggression Compulsions: Particular acts that the person feels driven to perform over and over again to reduce anxiety Ex: Cleaning, checking, counting, cleaning, cleaning your refrigerator over and over, going back time and time again to make sure you turned off the stove, or having to brush your teeth while counting to exactly 44 When engaging in compulsive behavior, they have a temporary reduction in the anxiety caused by the obsession
What are the three stages of General Adaptation Syndrome, and what happens in each of these stages?
General Adaptation Syndrome: A consistent pattern of physical responses to stress that consist of three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion Alarm: Physical response to stress/fear Ex: heart beats faster, palms are sweaty Prepares your body to respond physically such as preparing you to rn away Ability to fight off infections and disease are temporarily reduced Resistance: Body physically prepares for a longer, more sustrained attack against a stressor Ex: Students and people with difficult jobs Immunity o infection and disease increases somewhat as the body maximizes its defenses Body's physical fight against stress is not sustainable Exhaustion Stage: Body's ability to respond to stress begins to decline Various physiological systems, such as the immune system, begin to fail Ex: Getting sick immediately after longer periods of stress, such as studying for exams
Explicit memory formation
Hippocampus
Regulating drives like hunger, thirst, and sexual desire
Hypothalamus
Also, what were the IVs and DV in the DeLongis et al. (1982) study? (Note: There were multiple IVs.)
IV: Number of men and women, regular smoker vs non smoker, do they smoke daily, DV: Whether or not they smoked, questionnaire answers
What is your working self-concept?
Immediate experience of the self in the here in now- limited to the amount of personal information you are processing Ex: A black man is working with a group of women. In that situation, his working self concept might focus on awareness that he is a man. Now supposed the man is working with a group of white people- working self concept may focus on awawrness that he is black
What's an independent variable vs. a dependent variable?
Independent: Variable whose variation does not depend on that of another Ex: Age because other factors such as what someone eats do not determine this variable Dependent: A variable whose value depends on that of another Ex: A test score- can change based on studying amounts
What do problem-focused coping strategies aim to do? What are some examples?
Involves taking direct steps to solve the problem: generating alternative solutions, weighing their costs and benefits, and choosing among them Ex: If you have having academic trouble, you might arrange for a tutor, minimize the distractions in your life, or ask for an extension of a paper you are struggling with Given these alternatives, you could consider how likely a tutor is to be helpful, discuss the problem with your professors, and so on People adopt problem-focused behaviors when they perceive stressors as controllable and are experiencing only moderate levels of stress Work better in the long run
What is a dimensional approach, and what are some key advantages/disadvantages of this approach?
People's symptoms are placed on a continuum based on the severity of those symptoms A dimmer switch, which can provide light in varying amounts Pros: Recognizes that many symptoms of psychological disorders are extreme versions of what people often experience
What are major life stressors?
Large disruptions, especially unpredictable and uncontrollable catastrophic events that affect central areas of peoples lives
What is hypomania?
Less extreme mood elevations from bipolar II disorder. Heightened creativity and productivity, and they can be extremely pleasurable and rewarding.
Processing visual information
Occipital
Panic disorder
Overwhelming attacks of terror and worry about having addiotonal ppanic attacks. Seemingly come out of nowhere Sweating, trembling, racing heart, shortness of breath, chest pain, dizziness, lightheadedness, and numbness and tingling in the hands and feet often feel like they are going crazy, like they are dying
What was the key finding of the Cohen et al. (1993) study we discussed in class?
Paid healthy volunteers to have cold viruses placed into their noses. Those who reported the highest levels of stress before being exposed to the viruses developed worse cold symptoms and higher viral counts than those who reported being less stressed. These findings have implications for who was most vulnerable to being infected by COVID-19 Frontline workers, those with insecure finances, and parents of school-age children may have been at greatest risk
What are compulsions?
Particular acts that the person feels driven to perform over and over again to reduce anxiety
Antisocial personality disorder
Personality disorder marked by disregard for and violation of the rights of otheres and by lack of remorse Willing to take advantage of others and hurt them without showing any concern or remorse for their behavior Focus on their own pleasure No thought about others Superficially charming and rational, but they also lack insight and be insincere, shameless, unsocial, and incapable of love Similar to psychopath Narcissism, machiavellianism
Generally speaking, what are "positive symptoms" vs. "negative symptoms" of schizophrenia spectrum disorders?
Positive Symptoms: Symptoms of schizophrenia that are additional unusual experiences or behaviors such as delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized speech, or behavior Not positive in the sense of being good or desirable but in the sense that they add unusual experiences or behaviors Negative Symptoms: Deficits in functioning, such as apathy, lack of emotion, slowed speech, and slowed movement
How would you describe the link between positive emotions and health? What about negative emotions and health?
Positive emotions, or being generally positive, predicts living longer People with positive attitudes show enhanced immune system functioning and live longer than their peers who are less positive Fewer illnesses after exposure to cold germs and flu viruses Positive emotions are related to considerable health benefits
What does the Global Workspace Model propose about consciousness?
Proposes that consciousness is a product of activity in specific brain regions Simple cognitive architecture that has been developed to account qualitatively for a large set of matched pairs of conscious and unconscious processes
What is a neurodevelopmental disorder?
Psychological disorders that most commonly develop in childhood Examples: Intellectual disabilities, communication disorders, autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, specific learning disorder, motor disabilities
What is psychotherapy?
Psychological treatments aimed at changing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors Goal: Help clients become aware of unconscious conflicts and defense mechanisms Method: Psychoanalyze with free association and dream analysis
What are the 5 classes of psychotropic medications, and generally speaking, which disorders are they used to treat?
Psychotropic medications: Drugs that affect mental processes and that can be used to treat psychological disorders 1. Anti-anxiety drugs Treatment provided: Temporarily increase sense of calm Drug Type: Minor tranquilizers Side effects: Drowsiness, addiction Drug brand names: Valium, Xanax, Ativan Disorder: Anxiety 2. Antidepressant drugs Treatment provided: Increase positive mood, reduce emotionality, impulsiveness, and arousal Drug type: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), tricyclics Side effects: Sexual dysfunction, nausea, nervousness, weight gain, dizziness, sexual and digestive problems Drug Brand Names: Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft Disorder: Depression 3. Mood stabilizer drugs Treatment provided: Helps even out moods, especially manic episodes Drug type: Mineral Side effects: Blunting of positive emotion Drug Brand Names: Lithium Disorder: Bipolar 4. Antipsychotic drugs Treatment provided: Reduce positive symptoms of schizophrenia (delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and behavior), reduce positive and some negative symptoms of schizophrenia (lethargy, lack of emotion), and disturbing thoughts in mania in bipolar disorders Drug type: Conventional antipsychotics (first-generation antipsychotics) and Atypical antipsychotics (second-generation antipsychotics) Side effects: Tardive, dyskinesia, seizures, lethargy, potentially fatal loss of white blood cells, seizures, heart rate problems, weight gain, type two diabetes Drug brand names: Thorazine, Haldol, Zyprexa, Seroquel Disorder: Schizophrenia 5. Stimulants Treatment provided: Decrease hyperactivity, and distractibility, increase attention, and concentration Drug type: Methylphenidate and Amphetamine Side effects of Methylpiendate: Insomnia, reduce appetite, body twitches, temporary suppression of growth, Side effects of Amphetamine: Insomnia, nausea, weight loss Drug brand names of Methylphenidate: Ritalin Drug brand names of Amphetamine: Adderal Disorder: ADHD
What are schemas? What do they help us do?
Schema: Mental structure that organizes a collection of information under a common theme or category Help us process information quickly and facilitate memory recall
What does comorbidity refer to?
Scientific research indicates that many psychological disorders occur together even though DSM-5 treats them as separate disorders Ex: Depression and anxiety often occur together, as do depression and substance abuse. Accordingly, people who are found to have a psychological disorder should be assessed for possible comorbid conditions
What are the functions of sensory storage, short-term storage, and long-term storage?
Sensory storage: Very brief maintenance of sensory information Ex: Eyes saw formula even when she looked away Short-term storage: A buffer or holding place; can only remember a phone number for a few seconds before its gone Lasts under 20 seconds Long-term storage: Relatively permanent type of memory Limitless capacity and duration Ex: Remembering nursery rhymes from childhood
Compare and contrast the durations of sensory storage, short-term storage, and long-term storage.
Short term: Under 20 seconds (10-12) Sensory storage: ⅓ second Long-term storage: Limitless/ sometimes lifetimes
Processing touch/tactile information
Somatosensory Cortex
What's a variable?
Something that varies (has 2 or more levels, values, or kinds) in the context of research Ex: Age, gender, whether someone has a disorder, etc.
What is a categorical approach to diagnosing mental disorders, and what are some key advantages/disadvantages of this approach?
Sort people's symptoms into categories of psychological disorders Cons: Broad/ not precise, fails to capture individual differences in disorder severity Pros: Can diagnose a person with the presence or absence of a condition Can be compared to a simple switch that turns a light either on or off
What are the three components of stress?
Stressor: An environmental event or a stimulus that an organism perceives as threatening Stress Responses: Behavioral, mental, and/or physical responses to stressors Mediating factors: Can increase or decrease the likelihood that a stressor will elicit a stress response May include personality and coping strategies
What does cognitive psychology do that behaviorism did not do?
Studied attention, language, memory, perception, problem-solving, creativity, and reasoning, essentially the workings of the inner mind. Important to look at mental processes of an organism to see how they influence behavior
Processing auditory (sound) information
Temporal lobe
What is consciousness?
The combination of your subjective experience of the external world and your internal mental activity, both of which result from brain activity
Planning, problem-solving, and other complex thought
The frontal lobe
What is the central claim of the diathesis-stress model?
The idea that a disorder may develop when an underlying vulnerability (diatheses) is coupled with stress
What is social support?
The perception and actuality that one is cared for, has assistance available form other people, and most popularly, the one is part of a supportive social network
What is psychology/psychological science?
The scientific study of the mind and behavior, as well as underlying brain processes
How do psychologists define stress?
The set of behavioral, mental, and physical processes that occur as an organism attempts to deal with an environmental event or stimulus that it perceives as threatening
Why is perceived behavioral control particularly important to carrying through with your intention to engage in some behavior?
The stronger our perceived behavioral control, the stronger our intention will be to engage in the behavior (and vice versa) Unlike the other 2 cognitive factors, perceived behavioral control can also directly affect our likelihood of engaging in the behavior Whats the implication? If you feel like you have a lot of control then you will be more likely to follow through with the behavior
What is positive psychology?
The study of the strengths and virtues that allow people and communities to thrive Encouraged the scientific study of faith, values, creativity, courage, and hope
Broadly, what makes psychology a science?
They use an empirical approach, they address empirical questions and avoid non-empirical questions, they use the scientific method, they conduct research, and they publish their findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals
What is biological therapy?
Treatment for psychological disorders that is based on medical approaches to illness and disease
What are the key predictions of the Theory of Planned Behavior? (Answering this question will also require you to define each of the constructs in the model.)
We often intend to engage in healthy behaviors.. But don't. What explains this discrepancy between what we intend to do (our intention) and what we actually do (our behavior) The stronger our intention to engage in the behavior, the more likely we are to engage in it However, our intention ourself depends on our attitude towards the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control Attitude: Our evaluation of the behavior. Negative or positive? Healthy or unhealthy? The more positive our attitude, the stronger our intention will be to engage in that behavior (and vice versa) Subjective norm: Howe we think others feel about or perceive the behavior (ex: social norms) Do other people want us to engage in the behavior or not? The more positive our subjective norm, the stronger our intention will be to engage in that behavior (and vice versa) Perceived behavioral control: Extent to which we perceive that thebehavior is under our control (related to self efficacy) Do we have the resources, willpower, etc. to do it? The stronger our perceived behavioral control, the stronger our intention will be to engage in the behavior (and vice versa)
What ideas defined behaviorism as a school of thought?
We should observe behavior, not the mind Interested in how stimuli in the environment trigger certain behaviors Sides with Nurture on Nature and Nurture debate Said behavior can be observed but mental processes cant be
What kinds of questions do health psychologists study?
Why people engage in healthy lifestyles or in unhealthy lifestyles that shorten their lives and often make them miserable
What kinds of methods/tools do clinicians use to diagnose psychological disorders?
Work like detectives to track down information through interviews, self-reports, observations, and psychological testing. Allows psychologists to categorize the individual's thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to make a diagnosis so that appropriate treatment can be provided
What do emotion-focused coping strategies aim to do? What are some examples?
You try to prevent an emotional response to a stessor (adopt sstrategies to numb the pain) Ex: Avoidance, minimizing the problem, trying to distance yourself from the outcomes of the problem, and engaging in behaviors such as eating or drinking Ex: If you are having difficulty at school, you might avoid the problem by skipping class, minimize the problem by telling yourself school is not all that important, distance yourself from the outcomes by saying you can always get a job if college does not workout, or overeat and drink alcohol to dull the pain of the problem Uncontrollable stressors or high levels of stress. Work better short term
Hallucinogens (including psychedelics)
a drug that causes hallucinations. Serotonin
Opioids
opioids block pain messages sent from the body through the spinal cord to the brain. Dopamine
Stimulants
regulate impulsive behavior and improve attention span and focus by increasing the levels of certain chemicals in the brain, primarily dopamine, which transmit signals between nerves.
