Abnormal Psychology Midterm 1
Correlation magnitude or strength
- 2 variables found to vary together very closely in person after person, the correlation is high or strong
Hippocrates
- 460-377 bc - fathers of modern medicine - illnesses had natural causes - abnormal behavior - disease arising from internal physical problems - brain pathology was culprit resulting from humors - humors = imbalance of four fluids - treatment: correct underlying physical pathology
middle ages
- 500 - 1350 AD - church rejected scientific investigation and controlled education - deviant behavior and psychological dysfunction was evidence of satan's influence - abnormal behavior increased - mass madness: false beliefs and imagined sights and sounds - Tarantism: groups of people suddenly jump, dance and go into convulsions - lycanthropy
The Correlation Method
- A research procedure used to determine how much events or characteristics vary along with each other - used to determine this "co-relationship" between variables - for example, to answer the question, "Is there a correlation between the amount of stress in people's lives and the degree of depression they experience?" That is, as people keep experiencing stressful events, are they increasingly likely to become depressed? - to answer this question researchers have collected life stress scores and depression scores from individuals and have correlated these scores - life stress and depression variables increase and decrease together - directional outcomes of this study: positive, and negative correlation, and unrelated - researchers need to know the magnitude or strength - how closely do the variables correspond - results do not explain the relationship - better generalization than case study - don't explain the causes
Psychodynamic Model: Ego
- According to Freud, the psychological force that employs reason and operates in accordance with the reality principle. - grows from the id - unconsciously seeks gratification but it does so with reality principle (knowledge we acquire through experience that it is unacceptable to express our id impulses outright) - the ego helps guide us to know when we can express those id impulses - ego defense mechanism: control unacceptable id impulses and avoid or reduce anxiety they arouse - repression: most basic defense mechanism, prevents unacceptable impulses from reaching consciousness - defense mechanisms: repression, denial, projection, rationalization, displacement, intellectualization, and regression
Deviance
- Based on the norms and culture of an area - different, extreme, unusual, bizarre -
Cognitive Theorists who would focus on illogical thinking process as a key factor in abnormality
- Beck, for example, has found that some people consistently think in illogical ways and keep arriving at self-defeating conclusions
Longitudinal studies
- Correlation studies - observe the same individuals on many occasions over a long period of time
Psychoanalysis
- Either the theory or the treatment of abnormal mental functioning that emphasizes unconscious psychological forces as the cause of psychopathology - Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions
2 reasons why Hippocrates view was brought back
- Emil Kraepelin's book about physical factors such as fatigue are responsible for mental dysfunction - system for classifying abnormal behaviors
Bethlehem Hospital in london
- Henry VIII - asylum - patients had chains - popular tourist attraction to see people howling and gibbering
Experimental method
- Independent, dependent variables - confounds (variables other than the independent variables that can affect the dependent - researchers must include: control groups, random assignment and blind design - allows researchers to determine causes of conditions and events
ABAB reversal design study
- a particular kind of single-subject design - one researcher sought to determine whether the systematic use of rewards would reduce a teenage boy's habit of disrupting his special education class with loud talk - rewarded the boy who suffered from intellectual disability with extra teacher time whenever he went 55 minutes without interrupting the class more than 3 times - In condition A, the student was observed prior to receiving any reward, and he was found to disrupt the class frequently with loud talk. In condition B, the boy was given a series of teacher reward sessions (introduction of the independent variable) -> loud talk decreased dramatically - next rewards from the teacher were stopped (condition A again), and the student's loud talk increased once again - independent variable was the cause of improvement - the teach did a reward session again and the students behavior increased
somatogenic perspective
- abnormal psychological functioning has physical causes - Hippocrates view that abnormal behavior results from brain disease and imbalance of humors. view returns - new biological discoveries: syphilis led to general paresis. this led people to suspect that physical factors were responsible for mental disorders - biological approaches had disappointing results in first half of 20th century - Physicians used techniques like: tooth extractions, tonsillectomy, hydrotherapy, and lobotomy - biological views led to immoral solutions like eugenic sterilization (eliminating ability to reproduce medically) - 1950s effective medications were discovered and somatogenic perspective started to work for patients
1950 researchers discovered number of new psychotropic medications, drugs that
- affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental dysfunctioning
Leading theoretical perspectives today
- biological - behavioral - cognitive - humanistic-existential - sociocultural schools of thought
psychogenic perspective
- chief causes of abnormal functioning are psychological - did not gain popularity until hypnotism was a potential - hypnosis could cause and cure physical dysfunction -> concluding that hysterical disorders were largely psychological in origin and brought more popularity to psychogenic perspective
Clinical researchers are interested in variables such as
- childhood upsets - present life experiences - moods - social functioning - responses to treatment - they determine if 2 or more variables change together and whether a change in 1 variable causes a change in another
Antipsychotic drugs
- correct extremely confused and distorted thinking
Psychotherapy is also provided by
- counseling psychologists - educational and school psychologists - psychiatric nurses - marriage therapists - family therapists - (largest group) psychiatric social workers
Correlation
- degree to which events or characteristics vary with each other
Renaissance
- demonological views declined - hospitals and monasteries converted to asylums
End of middle ages
- demonology and exorcisms lost favor - cities and goverments took power from the church and medical views gained favor again - mental disorders were treated in medical hospitals
Case study
- detailed description of a persons life and psychological problems - describes person's: history, present circumstances and symptoms - may include speculation about why problems developed and may describe person's treatment - serve to: challenge a theory's assumptions, new therapeutic techniques, and unusual problems
Cognitive therapy
- developed by Aaron Beck that helps people identify and change the maladaptive assumptions and ways of thinking that help cause their psychological disorders - clients recognize negative thoughts biased on their interpretations and errors in logic - therapists guide clients to challenge their dysfunctional thoughts and try out new interpretations ultimately apply new ways of thinking in daily lives
Clinical researchers aka clinical scientists have to consider certain variables when conducting a study
- different cultural backgrounds - races - genders - they also have to ensure the rights of the participants, both human and animal are not violated
Correlation coefficient
- direction and magnitude of a correlation are calculated numerically and expressed by statistical term = correlation coefficient - can vary from +1 which indicates a perfect positive correlation between the two variables, down to -1 which represents a perfect negative correlation - number = magnitude of correlation - sign (+ or -) = direction of correlation - closer the correlation is to .00 the weaker or lower in magnitude it is - +.75 and -.75 are equal in magnitude and equally strong, correlation of +.25 is weaker then either - most correlations found fall short of perfect positive or negative correlation - +.53 is a magnitude that is considered large
In a drug trail, the control group
- double blind design - controlled group would get the placebo drug -
Biological treatments
- drug therapy (psychotrophic medications = affect emotions an thought processes) - electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) electrical current 65-140 volts passed briefly through brain - psychosurgery or neurosurgery (rare)
Short-term psychodynamic therapies
- dynamic focus - patient choose a single problem to work on - Freud believed that psychodynamic therapists should take on the role of a neutral, distant expert during a treatment session
3 of today's most influential psychodynamic theories are
- ego theory: role of ego considered more independent and powerful force than freud did - self theory: great attention to the role of self. Believe the basic human motive is to strengthen the wholeness of self - object relations theory: people are motivated mainly by need to have relationships with others and serve problems in relationships between children and caregivers may lead to abnormal development
mesmerism
- form of hypnosis - patient sits in dark room and therapist comes in wearing colorful costume and touches trouble areas with a special rod
Lycanthropy
- form of madness in middle ages - thought they were possessed by wolves or other animals - acted wolflike and imagined fur growing on their bodies
Clinical researchers search for (in a study)
- general or nomothetic understanding of nature, causes and treatments of abnormality
3 factors that could cause biological abnormalities
- genetics, evolution and viral infections
Tarantism
- groups of people suddenly jump, dance and go into convulsions - people believed they were bitten and possessed by tarantula - Cure: dance called tarantella - form of madness in middle ages
Outpatient care
- has become the the primary mode of treatment for people with serve psychological disturbances as well as people with moderate problems
Community mental health approach
- has been helpful but there are not enough programs to address the needs in the USA
Statisical Analysis
- how researchers test their conclusions using principles of probability - to see if their conclusion occurred by chance
humors
- imbalance of 4 fluids - yellow bile, blood, black bile, and phlegm
cerebrum
- includes cortex, corpus callosum, basal ganglia, hippocampus and amygdala
Psychodynamic model: Frued believed 3 central forces that shape personality
- instinctual needs, rational thinking and moral standards - operated at unconscious level - forces were dynamic or interactive - Forces were called: id, ego, and superego
Psychodynamic Model: Id
- instinctual needs, rational thinking and moral standards - operates with the pleasure principle - instincts tend to be sexual: childs pleasure is obtained from nursing, defecating, masturbating, or engaging in other sexual tied activities - libido (sexual energy) fuels the id
quasi-experiment or mixed design
- investigators do not randomly assign participants to control and experimental groups but instead make use of groups that already exist in the real world - correlation method is mixed with experimental method - ex. child abuse - match control participants: match the experimental participants with control participants similar in age, sex, race, number of children in the family, socioeconomic status, type of neighborhood, or other characteristics - natural experiments are a kind of this
Antidepressant drugs
- lift the mood of depressed people
psychodynamic model
- looks at people's unconscious internal processes and conflicts - internal forces = dynamic - they interact with each other and their interactions give rise to behavior, thoughts and emotions - psychoanalysis theory: (freud) explains normal and abnormal psychological functioning as well as corresponding method of treatment, a conversational approach - Freud believes that id, ego, and superego are often in conflict - if the id, ego and superego are in serve conflict the persons behavior is dysfunctional - fixated: stuck, an early stage of development when adjustments to the id, ego and superego are not successful -> cause dysfunctional behavior in future. stages of development
Dorothea Dix
- made humane care a public and political concern in USA - she created: new laws and greater goverment funding to improve treatment of mental disorders
Humanists
- more optimistic of the two groups, believe that human beings are born with a natural tendency to be friendly, cooperative, and constructive - Self-actualization: The humanistic process by which people fulfill their potential for goodness and growth - recognize and accept their weaknesses as well as their strengths and establish satisfying personal values to live by - client-centered therapy: warm supportive approach, contrasted with psychodynamic techniques
Unrelated correlation
- no consistent relationship between them - one variable increases and other variables may increase or decrease - ex. depression and intelligence
IRBs (institutional review boards) ensure that each study grants the following rights:
- participants enlist voluntarily - Before enlisting, the participants are adequately informed about what the study entails (informed consent) - participants can end participation at any time - benefits outweigh the cost/risk - participants are protected from physical and psychological harm - participants have access to info about study - participants privacy is protected by principles such as confidentially or anonymity
Free association
- patient is responsible for starting and leading each discussion - patients associations will eventually uncover unconscious events
Hypnotism
- person is placed in a trancelike mental state during which he or she becomes extremely suggestible - patients had mysterious body ailments with no physical basis - used for hysterical disorders - psychoanalysis
clinical psychologistis
- professionals who earn doctorate degrees in clinical psychology - complete 4 to 5 years graduate training in abnormal functioning - one year internship in mental health
Alternative experimental designs: most common kinds are
- quasi-experimental design - natural experiment - analogue experiment - single-subject experiment
Antianxiety drugs
- reduce tension and worry
correlation method has advantages over case study
- researchers measure their variables, observe many participants, and apply statistical analyses - better to generalize their correlations to people beyond the ones studied
Benjamin Rush
- responsible for early spread of moral treatment in USA - father of American psychiatry
Epidemiological studies
- reveal the incidence and prevalence of a disorder in particular population - incidence: number of new cases that emerge during given period of time - Prevalence: total number of cases in the population during given period of time, includes existing and new cases - help identify groups that are at risk for particular disorders
Psychodynamic therapy
- seek to uncover past traumas and inner conflicts that have resulted from them - based on self theory or object relations theory - help clients resolve or settle those conflicts and to resume personal development - rely on techniques: free association, therapist interpretation, catharsis (reliving of past repressed feelings) and working through (examine same issue over and over and each time they get more clarity)
Illogical thinking processes
- source of abnormal functioning according to cognitive therapists - overgeneralization: drawing board negative conclusions on the basis of a single insignificant event - When people display abnormal patterns of functioning, cognitive theorists point to cognitive problems, such as maladaptive assumptions and illogical thinking processes.
therapist interpretation
- therapist listen as patient talks, look for clues, draw tentative conclusions, and sharing interpretations when patient is ready to hear them - interpretations of 3 phenomena: resistance (resistant to therapy), transference (act or feel toward therapist as they do to important people in their lives) and dreams
Relational psychoanalytic therapy
- therapists are key figures in the lives of patients - reactions and beliefs of therapist should be included in therapy - therapist should also disclose things about themselves, their own relations to patients and try to establish equal relationships with patients
Exorism
- treatment for abnormality in early societies - coax evil spirits out by making the body uncomfortable to live in - shaman or priest recite prayers, plead with evil spirits, have people drink bitter potions, insult spirits, magic, and loud noises
clinical researchers conduct studies in
- universities - medical schools - labatories - mental hospitals - mental health centers - other settings throughout the world
Negative correlation
- value of one variable increases as the value of the other variable decreases - ex. depression and activity level
positive correlation
- when variables change the same way
limitations of the case study are largely addressed by two other methods of investigation
1. Correlational method 2. experimental method - methods don't offer rich details that make case studies so interesting - they do help investigators draw broad conclusions about abnormality in the population at large - now the preferred method of clinical investigation
Special forms of correlation research
1. Epidemiological studies 2. Longitudinal studies
Early 20th century 2 opposing perspectives emerged
1. Somatogenic 2. Psychogenic
why did moral treatment rapidly decline in the late 1900th century
1. Speed the the movement had spread. As mental hospitals multiplied money and staff shortages developed, recover rates declined and overcrowding in hospitals was a major problem. 2. Assumption behind moral treatment that all patients could be cured if treated with humanity and dignity. For some this worked but others needed more treatment that hadn't been developed. 3. New wave of prejudice against people with mental disorders. Public view them as strange and dangerous, undeserving of donations or gov funds - in late 1900 century lots of poor foreign immigrants entered mental hospitals and public had little interest in helping them - long term hospitals became the norm again
3 features of correlational and experimental methods enable clinical investigators to gain general insights
1. researchers typically observe many individuals 2. researchers apply procedures uniformly and can thus repeat or replicate their investigations 3. researchers use statistical tests to analyze the results of a study
clinical researchers depend mainly on three methods of investigation
1. the case study: focused on 1 individual 2. correlational method 3. experimental method: approaches mainly used to gather info about individuals all these methods allow them to form a hypotheses
Single-subject experimental design:
A research method in which a single participant is observed and measured both before and after the manipulation of an independent variable. - used when not very many participants are available - single participant is observed both before and after the manipulation of an independent variable
analogue experiments
A research method in which the experimenter produces abnormal-like behavior in laboratory participants and then conducts experiments on the participants. - both humans and animals
Model or Paradigm
A set of assumptions and concepts that help scientists explain and interpret observations. Also called a paradigm - spells out the scientist's basic assumptions, gives order to the field under study, and sets guidelines for its investigation - none of the models are complete by themselves - each focuses mainly on one aspect of human functioning and none can explain all aspects of abnormality
Asylum
A type of institution that first became popular in the sixteenth century to provide care for persons with mental disorders. Most became virtual prisons. - purpose: care for people with mental illnesses - created with good intentions but they became overcrowded and became like prisons
Psychodynamic Model: Superego
According to Freud, the psychological force that represents a person's values and ideals - grows from the ego - operates by morality principle: sense of what is right and wrong - learn from parents that many id impulses are unacceptable - develop a conscience
Trephination
An ancient operation in which a stone instrument (also called Trephine) was used to cut away a circular section of the skull, perhaps to treat abnormal behavior. To release evil spirits - treatment for: hallucinations and melancholia - used in the stone age
the four D's
Deviance Distress Dysfunction Danger
Psychotropic medications
Drugs that mainly affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental dysfunctioning - they include: antidepressant drugs and anti-anxiety drugs - when given these drugs patients who spent years in mental hospitals began to show signs of improvement
Johann Weyer
First physician to specialize in mental illness - mind as susceptible to illness as the body - renaissance - founder of modern study of psychopathology
Control group
In an experiment, a group of participants who are not exposed to the independent variable - experience similar to the experimental group - dependent variable group?
Moral treatment
Methods of Pinel and Tuke. Emphasized moral guidance and humane and respectful techniques - A nineteenth-century approach to treating people with mental dysfunction that emphasized moral guidance and humane and respectful treatment - lunatic ball: patients come together and dance
Deinstitutionalization
The discharge, begun during the 1960s, of large numbers of patients from long-term institutional care so that they might be treated in community programs
Multicultural psychology
The field of psychology that examines the impact of culture, race, ethnicity, gender, and similar factors on our behaviors and thoughts and focuses on how such factors may influence the origin, nature, and treatment of abnormal behavior
La Bicetre
The first site of asylum reform. - Pinel let patients move freely through the grounds, sunny rooms, offered support and advice - patients improved greatly
Gestalt therapy:
The humanistic therapy developed by Fritz Perls in which clinicians actively move clients toward self-recognition and self-acceptance by using techniques such as role playing and self-discovery exercises. - achieve goal by challenging and even frustrating their clients - Skillful frustration: therapists refuse to meet their clients expectations or demands. To help people see how often they try to manipulate others into meeting their needs - Role playing: therapists instruct clients to act out various roles. may be told to be another person, an object, an alternative self, or even a part of the body. Can be intense because people are encouraged to express emotions fully. through experience may come to own feelings that previously made them uncomfortable. - rules: to ensure clients look at themselves more closely - Common rule requires client to stay "here and now" they have needs now, are hiding their needs now, and must observe them now
Scientific Method
The process of systematically gathering and evaluating information through careful observations to gain an understanding of a phenomenon - collect and evaluate info through careful observation - observations allow them to pinpoint and explain relationships between variables
Abnormal Psychology
The scientific study of abnormal behavior undertaken to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning
Positive psychology
The study and enhancement of positive feelings, traits, and abilities - page 17 - only one-third of adults declare themselves very happy
Existentialists
agree that human beings must have an accurate awareness of themselves and live meaningful—they say "authentic"—lives in order to be psychologically well adjusted - don not believe that people are naturally inclined to live positively - from birth we can either face up to our existence and give meaning to our lives or shrink from responsibility - people are encouraged to accept responsibility for their lives and for their problems - focuses on the human need to successfully deal with philosophical issues such as self-awareness, values, meaning, and choice
cognitive model
concentrates on the thinking that underlies behavior - cognitive abilities: special intellectual capacities to think, remember, and anticipate - thinking of experiences you can misinterpret them leading to poor decisions, maladaptive responses and painful emotions - Ellis and Beck claim clinicians must ask questions about the assumptions and attitudes that color a client's perceptions, the thoughts running through that person's mind, and the conclusions to which they are leading - illogical thinking processes - acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT): help clients accept many of their problematic thoughts rather than judge them or try to change them. so they clients can recognize thoughts and eventually be able to let them pass through their awareness without being troubled. use mindfulness-based techniques (mindfulness meditation)
behavioral model
emphasizes behavior and the ways in which it is learned - our actions are determined largely by our EXPERIENCES in life - responses an organism makes to its environment - operant conditioning: learning in which behavior that leads to satisfying consequences is likely to be repeated - modeling - classical conditioning: learning in which two events that repeatedly occur close together in time become tied together in a person's mind and so produce the same response - behavioral therapists: identify causes problems and try to replace them with appropriate ones by using operant conditioning, classical conditioning and modeling - systematic desensitization
Sociocultural model
looks to social and cultural forces as the keys to human functioning - includes the family-social perspective (focuses on an individual's family and social interactions) and multicultural perspective (individual's culture and the shared beliefs, values, and history of that culture) - 3 important factors: social labels and roles, social networks, and family structure and communication - practitioners from family-social perspective may practice group, family, or couple therapy or community treatment
biological model
physical processes as key to human behavior - thoughts, emotions, and behavior must therefore include an understanding of their biological basis
before 1950 psychotherapy was only offered by
psychiatrists - they complete 3 to 4 years of training after med school (a residency)
humanistic-existential model
stresses the role of values and choices - problems can be understood only in the light of such complex goals - therapist must display 3 qualities through therapy: unconditional positive regard, accurate empathy, and genuineness - believe that psychological dysfunctioning is caused by self-deception
demonological model
used to explain abnormal functioning during the middle ages - influenced by the beliefs of the culture at that time - devil played a part in abnormality
