AP Psychology Unit 12 Extra Definitions
Anterior cingulate cortex
A brain region that monitors our actions and checks for errors; regulates blood pressure and heart rate and rational cognitive functions such as decision-making and emotion
Free-floating
A chronic sense of dread or hollowness; from Freud
Susto
A condition marked by severe anxiety, restlessness, and a fear of black magic; originating in Latin America
Trauma
A deeply distressing or disturbing experience; a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident
Word salad
A meaningless mixture of words and phrase characteristic of advanced schizophrenia
Paranoia
A mental disorder characterized by systematized delusions and the projection of personal conflicts
Mental health movement
A movement opposing the treatment of those with 'demon possessions'; a mental illness (also called a psychopathology) needs to be diagnosed on the basis of its symptoms and cured through therapy, which may include treatment in a psychiatric hospital
Specific phobia
A persistent and excessive or unreasonable fear of a circumscribed, well-defined object or situation
Explanatory style
A psychological attribute that indicates how people explain to themselves why they experience a particular event, either positive or negative
Taijin-kyofusho
A social anxiety about one's appearance combined with a readiness to blush and a fear of eye contact; originating in Japan
Norepinephrine
A substance, both a hormone and neurotransmitter, secreted by the adrenal medulla and the nerve endings of the sympathetic nervous system to cause vasoconstriction and increases in heart rate, blood pressure, and the sugar level of the blood; scarce during depression and overabundant during mania
Panic attack
A sudden feeling of acute and disabling anxiety; can last for minutes and may be accompanied by heart palpitations, shortness of breath, choking sensations, trembling, or dizziness
Catatonia
A wide group of motor abnormalities, most involving extreme under or over activity
Fugue state
An altered state of consciousness in which a person may move about purposely and even speak but is not fully aware; these events are generally not remembered
Social phobia
An intense fear of being scrutinized by others by avoiding potentially embarrassing social situations - such as speaking up, eating out, or going to parties - or risk sweating, trembling, and having diarrhea; shyness to the extreme
Schizoid personality disorder
Characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary lifestyle, secretiveness, emotional coldness, and apathy; may demonstrate a rich, elaborate and exclusively fantasy world
Histrionic personality disorder
Characterized by a pattern of excessive emotionality and attention-seeking, including an excessive need for approval and inappropriately seductive behavior; lively, dramatic, vivacious, enthusiastic, and flirtatious
Avoidant personality disorder
Characterized by a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation, and avoidance of social interaction
Narcissistic personality disorder
Characterized by an excessive preoccupation with issues of personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity
Seasonal affective disorder
Depression associated with late autumn and winter and thought to be caused by a lack of light
Dissociate
Disconnect or separate; separation of conscious awareness from painful memories, thoughts, and feelings
Agoraphobia
Extreme or irrational fear of crowded spaces or enclosed public places - places that would difficult to escape should panic strike
Anxiety gene
Genes that affect brain levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that influences sleep and mood
Glutamate
Glutamic acid, a neurotransmitter that plays a role in learning and memory
Self-defeating beliefs
Injurious to one's own purposes or welfare
Negative explanatory style
Negative ways to explain events in one's life
Paranoid
Of, characterized, or suffering from the mental condition of paranoia
Psychotic disorders
Severe mental disorders in which thought and emotions are so impaired that contact is lost with external reality
Linkage analysis
Study aimed at establishing linkage between genes; linkage is the tendency for genes and other genetic markers to be inherited together because of their location near one another on the same chromosome
Flat affect
The absence or near absence of emotional response to a situation that normally elicits emotion
Reinforcement
The action or process of reinforcing or strengthening; the process of encouraging or establishing a belief or pattern of behavior
Positive symptoms
Thoughts, behaviors, or sensory perceptions present in a person with a mental disorder, but not present in people in the normal population
Negative symptoms
Thoughts, feelings, or behaviors normally present that are absent or diminished in a person with a mental disorder
Stimulus generalization
Transfer of a response learned to one stimulus to a similar stimulus