B Flashcards
Any of a family of drugs derived from barbituric acid that depress activity of the central nervous system
- They typically induce profound tolerance and withdrawal symptoms and depress respiration
- Use of these became common in the 1930s, but they were rapidly supplanted in the 1970s by the benzodiazepines, which lack the lethality associated with overdose
- The prototype of the group, barbital, was introduced into medical practice in 1903
Barbiturate
A group of nuclei (neuron cell bodies) deep within the cerebral hemispheres of the brain that includes the caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus, substantia nigra, and subthalamic nucleus
- The putamen and globus pallidus are together known as the lenticular nucleus and caudate nucleus are together known as the corpus striatum, and the caudate nucleus and putamen are together called the striatum
- They are involved in the generation of goal directed voluntary movement
Basal Ganglia
The naturally occurring frequency of a phenomenon in a population
- This rate is often contrasted with the rate of the phenomenon under the influence of some changed condition in order to determine the degree to which the change influences the phenomenon
Base Rate
A decision making error in which information about rate of occurrence of some trait in a population (the base rate information) is ignored or not given appropriate weight
- For example, people might categorize a man as an engineer, rather than a lawyer, if they heard that he enjoyed physics at school, even if they knew that he was drawn from a population consisting of 90% lawyers and 10% engineers
Base Rate Fallacy
In ego psychology, a feeling of being helpless, abandoned, and endangered in a hostile world
- According to German born U.S. Psychoanalyst Karen D. Horney ( 1885 - 1952), it arises from the infant’s helplessness and dependence on his or her parents or from parental indifference
- Defenses against this and hostility may produce neurotic needs
Basic Anxiety
A category formed at the level that people find most natural and appropriate in their normal, everyday experience of the things so categorized
- One of these ( eg, bird, table) will be broader than the more subordinate categories into which it can be divided ( eg, hawk, dining table) but less abstract than the superordinates category into which it can be subsumed eg, animals, furniture)
Basic Level Category
Research conducted in order to obtain knowledge or to develop or advance a theory
Basic Research
The first of Erikson’s eight stages of development, between birth and 18 months of age
- During this stage, the infant either comes to view other people and himself or herself as trustworthy or comes to develop fundamental distrust of his or her environment
- The growth of basic trust, considered essential for the later development of self esteem and positive interpersonal relationships, is attributed to a primary caregiver who is responsively attuned to the baby’s individual needs while conveying the quality of trustworthiness, while the growth of basic distrust is attributed to neglect, lack of love, or nonconsistent treatment
Basic Trust vs Mistrust
The effects on a child of intentional and repeated physical abuse by parents or other caregivers
- In addition to sustaining physical injuries, the child is at increased risk of experiencing longer term problems, such as depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, decreased self esteem, and sexual and other behavioral difficulties
Battered Child Syndrome
The psychological effects of being physically abused by a spouse or domestic partner
- The syndrome includes learned helplessness in relation to the abusive spouse, as well as symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder
Battered Woman Syndrome
A formula derived from probability theory that relates to conditional probabilities; the probability of event A, given that event B has occurred, p(A|B), and the probability of event B, given that event A has occurred, p(A|B)
- It is expressed as p(A|B)p(B) = p(B|A)p(A)
[Thomas Bayes (1702 - 1761), British mathematician and theologian]
Bayes Theorem
Scales of assessing the developmental status of infants and young children aged 1 month to 42 months
- Test stimuli such as foam boards, blocks, shapes, household objects (eg, utensils), and other common items, are used to engage the child in specific tasks of increasing difficulty and elicit particular responses
- These scales were originally published in 1969 and subsequently revised in 1993; the most recent version is the Bayley III, published in 2005
[Developed by U.S. Psychologist Nancy Bayley ( 1899 - 1994)]
Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development
The popular name for the hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem in London, founded as a monastery in 1247 and converted into a mental institution in 1547
- Many of the patients were in a state of frenzy as they were shackled, starved, beaten and exhibited to the public for a penny a look, general turmoil prevailed
-The word thus became synonymous with wild confusion or frenzy
Bedlam
An experimental design in which one or more groups of participants are measured both prior to and following administration of the treatment or manipulation
Before After Design
- An organism’s activities in response to external or internal stimuli, including objectively observable activities, introspectively observable activities, and unconscious processes
- More restrictively, any action or function that can be objectively observed or measured in response to controlled stimuli
- Historically, objective behavior was contrasted by behaviorists with mental activities, which were considered subjective and thus unsuitable for scientific study
Behavior
The decomposition of behavior into its component parts or processes
- This approach to psychology emphasizes interactions between behavior and the environment
Behavior Analysis
Any persistent and repetitive pattern of behavior that violates societal norms or rules or that seriously impairs a person’s functioning
- The term is used in a very general sense to cover a wide range of disorders or other syndromes
Behavior Disorder
The use of operant conditioning, biofeedback, modeling, aversive conditioning, reciprocal inhibition or other learning techniques as a means of changing human behavior
- For example, it is used in clinical contexts to improve adaptation and alleviate symptoms and in industrial and organizational contexts to encourage employees to adopt safe work practices
- The term is often used synonymously with behavior therapy
Behavior Modification
A recording or evaluation (or both) of the ongoing behavior of one or more research participants by one or more observers
- Observations may be made using charts, checklists, rating scales, ect…) either directly as the behavior occurs or from such media as film, videotape, or audiotape
Behavior Observation
The assumption that behavior, including it’s acquisition, development, and maintenance can be adequately explained by principles of learning
- Attempts to describe environmental influences on behavior, often using controlled studies of animals
Behavior Theory
A form of psychotherapy that applies the principles of learning, operant conditioning, and Pavlovian conditioning to eliminate symptoms and ineffective or maladaptive patterns of behavior
- The focus of this therapy is upon the behavior itself and the contingencies and environmental factors that reinforce it, rather than exploration of the underlying psychological causes of the behavior
- A wide variety of techniques are used such as biofeedback, modeling, and systematic desensitization
Behavior Therapy
A brain system theorized to underlie incentive motivation by activating approach behaviors in response to stimuli related to positive reinforcement
- It has been suggested that the system is associated as well with the generation of positive affective responses, and that a strong or chronically active one tends to result in extroversion
Behavioral Approach System
The systematic study and evaluation of an individual’s behavior using a wide variety of techniques, including direct observation, interviews, and self monitoring
- When used to identify patterns indicative of disorder, the procedure is called behavioral diagnosis and is essential in deciding upon the use of specific behavioral or cognitive behavioral interventions
Behavioral Assessment
An agreement between therapist and client in which the client agrees to carry out certain behaviors, usually between sessions but sentences during the session as well
Behavioral Contract