Ch 12-14 Flashcards
Personality
An individual’s consistent patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving
Trait
Relatively enduring characteristics that influence our behavior across many situations
Big 5 personality traits
OCEAN: agreeableness, consciousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience
Barnum effect
The observation that people tend to believe in descriptions of their personality that supposedly are descriptive of them but could, in fact, describe almost anyone
Freud’s three components to psyche/personality
Id, superego, ego
Id
The component of personality that forms the basis of our most primitive impulses
Superego
Our sense of morality and thoughts
Ego
Largely conscious controller or decision maker of personality
Freudian theory defense mechanism
Unconscious psychological strategies used to cope with anxiety and to maintain a positive self-image
Stages of psychosexual development
Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital
Difference between neo Freudian thought and Freudian thought
Emphasis unconscious and early experience in shaping personality, less evidence on sexuality playing a role, and overall more optimistic
Most optimistic view of human nature approach to personality
Humanists
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Only when people are able to meet the lower level needs are they able to move on to achieve the higher levels with self-actualization at the top
Monozygotic and dizygotic
One fertilized egg and two fertilized egg; identical or fraternal twins
What do shared environment, non-shared environment, and hereditability refer to?
The influence of nature versus nurture. Non shared environment has most influence
Components of the biopsychosocial model of mental illness
A way of understanding disorder that assumes that disorder is caused by biological, psychological, and social factors
Psychological disorder
An ongoing dysfunctional pattern of thoughts, emotion, and behavior that causes significant distress, and that is considered deviant in that person’s culture or society
DSM
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. A document that provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders
How is the DSM organized
It’s organized into categories and each category has all the disorders that have something in common. For example all the disorders in the depressive disorders category all relate somehow to the experience of depression.
Two things ADHD and autism spectrum disorder have in common
The dramatic increase in overdiagnosis and the controversy over that increase
Anxiety
The nervousness or agitation that we sometimes experience, often about something that is going to happen
Phobia
A specific fear of a certain object, situation, or activity
Obsessions and compulsions in Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessions are repetitive thoughts, compulsions are repetitive behaviors
Men versus women depression diagnoses
Women get diagnosed two times more than men
Dysthymia
A condition characterized by mild, but chronic, depressive symptoms that last for at least two years
Bipolar disorder
a psychological disorder characterized by swings and mood from overly “high” (manic) to sad and hopeless, and back again, with periods of near normal in between
Psychosis
A psychological condition characterized by a loss of contact with reality
Delusions
False beliefs not commonly shared by others within one’s culture, and maintained even though they are obviously out of touch with reality e.g. delusions of grandeur
Hallucinations
Imaginary sensations that occur in the absence of a real stimulus or which are gross distortions of a real stimulus
The clusters of personality disorders
Cluster A - odd/eccentric, cluster B - dramatic/erratic, cluster C - anxious/inhibited
Narcissistic personality disorder
Inflated sense of self-importance, absorbed by fantasies of self and success
Of the cluster b personality disorders which one is more common in men and which one more common in women?
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) for women, antisocial personality disorder (APD) for men
Munchausen syndrome
Patient has a lifelong pattern of successive hospitalizations for faked symptoms
Malingering
Involves fabricating the symptoms of mental or physical disorder to gain financial reward
Steps of psychological treatment
Psychological assessment then medical assessment then diagnosis then selection of course of treatment
Biomedical treatments
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), medications, and psychosurgery
Difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist
Psychiatrists have a medical degree and can prescribe drugs, psychologists tend to spend more time with the patient, talking
What does a psychodynamic therapist ask about?
Unconscious conflict, relationship with parents
How do you psychoanalyst attempt to access the unconscious?
Through dreams
Transference in psychoanalysis
Unconscious redirected feelings experienced in an important personal relationship towards the therapist
Unconditional positive regard
Valuing the client without any qualifications, displaying an accepting attitude towards whatever the client is feeling at the moment
Maslow’s ultimate aim of therapy
To have the motivation to live up to one’s full potential
Cognitive and behavioral components of cognitive-behavioral therapy
Negative thoughts lead to negative feelings, which contribute to negative behaviors. When people see the negative behavior, negative thoughts are reinforced leading to a feedback loop. Thoughts create feelings. Feelings create behavior. Behavior reinforces thoughts
Three benefits of group therapy
Provides a safe place, is cheaper, and allows people to help each other (social support)
Three intervention levels of community Mental health
Primary prevention, secondary prevention, and tertiary prevention
Primary prevention
Prevention in which all members of the community receive treatment
Secondary prevention
More limited and focuses on people who are most likely to need it
Tertiary prevention
Treatment, such as psychotherapy or biomedical therapy, that focuses on people already diagnosed with a disorder
Goal of outcome research
Studies that assess the effectiveness of medical treatments to determine the effectiveness of different therapies
Three things that interfere with outcome research
Placebo effects, nonspecific treatment effects, and natural improvement
Placebo effects
Improvements that occur as a result of the expectation that one will get better rather than from the actual effects of a treatment
Nonspecific treatment effects
Occur when the patient gets better over time simply by going to therapy, type of therapy does not matter
Natural improvement
Possibility that people might get better over time, even without treatment
What is the statistical measure of the effectiveness of psychological treatment?
Effect size
Empirically supported therapy
Therapy that is known to be effective
Which is more important: type of therapy or nonspecific treatment effects?
Nonspecific treatment effects
Drawbacks to psychotropic medications
Old people who are more sensitive to drugs, and drug interactions, are more likely because older patients tend to take a variety of different drugs every day. They are also more likely to forget to take them, take too many, take too few, or mix them up due to poor eyesight or faulty memory.
Strength of psychodynamic approach
To help the patient develop insight, or an understanding of the unconscious causes of the disorder
Strength of a humanistic approach
Due to active listening and reflection of feelings, humanistic approach works well for those suffering from general anxiety or mood disorders. Also works well for those who desire to feel better about themselves overall.
Strength of behavioral approach to therapy
Uses operant conditioning to help those who lack in social or personal skills. Also assists with overcoming fears. Deals with the problem at hand, rather than any underlying conditions
Strength of cognitive approach to therapy
Helps patients develop new, and healthier ways of thinking about themselves and about the others around them.
