Abnormal Psychology Exam I Flashcards
abnormal psychology
addresses causes and progression of psychological disorders
psychological disorder
pattern of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that cause significant distress, impairment in daily life, and/or risk of harm, any of which is unusual for the context and culture
psychosis
impaired ability to perceive reality to extent that normal functioning is hard/not possible
hallucinations
psychosis; sensations so vivid that they’re perceived as real
delusions
psychosis; persistent false beliefs held despite contrary evidence
culture
shared norms and values of society that are explicitly and implicitly conveyed by example and reward/punishment
asylums
institutions to house and care for people afflicted with mental illness
moral treatment
environment where people are treated kindly with respect, part of a community
psychoanalytic theory
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are a result of conscious and unconscious continual mental forces
id
sexual and aggressive drives, immediate gratification
superego
conscience, morality
ego
mediating id, superego, and reality
psychosexual stages
oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital, each needed for healthy psychological development
neurosis
pattern of thoughts, feelings, behaviors that express unresolved conflict between ego/id or ego/superego
defense mechanisms
unconscious, prevent unacceptable thoughts and feelings from reaching consciousness
mental processes
internal operations that underlie cognitive and emotional functions
mental contents
specific material in mind and operated on
behaviorism
studying directly observable behaviors to understand things, all behavior learned by association, Skinner/Pavlov
diathesis-stress model
disorder triggered when person with predisposition for particular disorder experiences very stressful event
biopsychosocial approach
disorders arise from combined influences of biology, psychology, and social interactions
neuropsychosocial approach
disorder from neurological/psychological/social factors, affect/are affected through feedback loops, nervous system
supernatural forces
Socrates, Stone Age, treated with exorcism, trepination
Chinese qi
energy balance among 12 channels, treated with acupuncture, herbal medicine
medical model
hippocrates, galen, return to demonology in Middle Ages
Karen Horney
feminist psychology in reaction to Freud (man/woman differences, infant’s social world is important)
Carl Jung
inborn and unconscious archetypes (idealized abstractions) that underlie motivation
humanists
against mechanistic Freudian principals, Maslow (free will, innate goodness, self-actualization), Rogers (client-centered therapy)
Albert Ellis
link between behavior and mental processes, roots of CBT and DBT (dialectical behavior therapy)
etiology
the factors that lead a person to develop a psychological disorder
cerebral cortex
the outer layer of cells on the surface of the brain
neurons
brain cells, process information related to physical, mental, and emotional functioning
brain circuits
sets of connected neurons that work together to accomplish a basic process
brain systems
sets of brain circuits working together to accomplish complex function
action potential
wave of chemical activity that moves down from cell body down axon when neuron fires
synapse
place where tip of axon of one neuron sends signals to another neuron
neurotransmitters
chemicals released by terminal buttons and cross the synaptic cleft
receptors
specialized sites on dendrites and cell bodies that respond only to specific molecules
reuptake
process of moving leftover neurotransmitter molecules in synapse back into sending neuron
hormones
chemicals released directly into bloodstream that activate or alter neuron activity
genes
DNA segments that control production of particular proteins and other substances
genotype
sum of an organism’s genes
phenotype
sum of organism’s observable traits
complex inheritance
transmission of traits expressed along continuum by interaction of sets of genes
behavioral genetics
investigates degree to which variability of characteristics in population arises from genetic versus environmental factors
heritability
estimate of how much variation in a characteristic within a population (in specific environment) can be attributed to genetics
monozygotic twins
basically same genetic makeup, began life as single fertilized egg (zygote), which divided into two embryos
dizygotic twins
developed from two fertilized eggs so have a 50% overlap in genes
classical conditioning
learning, two stimuli are paired so a neutral stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus that elicits a reflexive behavior (Pavlovian conditioning)
unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
stimulus that reflexively elicits a behavior
unconditioned response (UCR)
behavior reflexively elicited by stimulus
conditioned stimulus (CS)
neutral stimulus that, when paired with unconditioned stimulus, comes to elicit reflexive behavior
conditioned response (CR)
response that comes to be elicited by previously neutral stimulus that has become conditioned stimulus
conditioned emotional responses
emotions and emotion-related behaviors that are classically conditioned
stimulus generalization
process by which responses come to be elicited by stimuli similar to conditioned stimulus
operant conditioning
learning in which likelihood of behavior being repeated depends on consequences associated with the behavior
reinforcement
process by which consequence of a behavior increases likelihood of behavior’s recurrence
positive reinforcement
desired reinforcer is received after behavior, which makes behavior more likely to occur again
negative reinforcement
aversive or uncomfortable stimulus is removed after behavior, behavior less likely to occur again
punishment
process by which event/object that is consequence of behavior decreases likelihood that behavior will occur again