ch 2 (week 2)

Question 1

what was the historical perspective of theories behind abnormal psychology? how does it compare to today?

Answer 1

-in the past, theories emphasized biological OR environmental causes
-now move away from single factor theories, toward interactionist theories

Question 2

what are 3 ways damage can occur to the brain?

Answer 2

direct head injuries, diseases, toxins

Question 3

what are neurotransmitters? which have been given the most attention in research?

Answer 3

-chemical messengers that carry messages from neuron to neuron
-dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, GABA

Question 4

what are 4 ways neurotransmitters can malfunction, contributing to abnormal behavior?

Answer 4

-production / release at the synapse (too many/too little of neurotransmitter produced or released)
-receptor sites (too many/too few of receptors at dendrite)
-transmitter-deactivating substance in the synapse (within synaptic cleft, deactivating substances may be too many/too little)
-reuptake process (too much/too little reabsorption)

Question 5

what is the relationship between behavior and neurotransmitters?

Answer 5

-unlikely that a single neurotransmitter determines behavior; bidirectional relationship
-diff neurotransmitters seem to be concentrated in diff parts of the brain + relate to diff functions

Question 6

describe + compare the somatic and autonomic nervous system

Answer 6

-somatic: controls muscles

-autonomic: controls primarily internal activities/bodily functions
-includes parasympathetic NS (“rest and digest”); sympathetic NS (fight or flight response)

Question 7

what is the role of the endocrine system? what happens in case of disturbances?

Answer 7

-endocrine glands release hormones into blood stream
-disturbances in hormone balance can cause disruptions in behavior, thoughts, feelings

Question 8

what is the relationship between the endocrine system and the CNS?

Answer 8

-aspects of CNS intxt w endocrine system in a feedback loop that maintains appropriate lvls of hormones in blood
-bidirectional relationship

Question 9

what are family studies? what does concordance suggest?

Answer 9

-a person with a disorder is IDd, rate of disorder among family members is est (concordance rate)
-used to determine genetic contribution of disorders
→ types incl family studies, adoption studies, twin studies

→ greater concordance is believed to reflect a greater influence of genetics. However, confounded w environmental factors

Question 10

who developed psychodynamic theory? what is it? what are its 4 aspects?

Answer 10

-Freud
-said that unconscious forces control behavior

Lvls of consciousness
Structures of personality
Psychosexual stages of development
Defense mechanisms

Question 11

describe the levels of consciousness in psychodynamic theory

Answer 11

-The conscious: information that we’re aware of (incl biological drives particularly sexual and aggressive)
-The preconscious: info that’s accessible although it’s not presently in our awareness
-The unconscious: stores memories + drives that would req great effort (psychoanalysis) to bring to awareness

Question 12

describe the structures of personality according to psychodynamic theory

Answer 12

-Id: biological/instinctual drives (eg sexual, aggressive, etc) – pleasure principle; instant gratification without regard for personal/societal consequences
-Superego: internalization of societal values + morals
-ego: mediator between the id and superego: maximize benefits against costs (reality principle)

Question 13

describe the psychosexual stages of development

Answer 13

-Oral: birth - 18mos, [ ] on oral activities (eg eating and sucking) – if oral desires not fully satisfied, may dev difficulties eg speaking/constantly speaking, smoking, overeating
-Anal: 18mos-3yrs: toilet training – child may cooperate/resist by soiling/withholding
-phallic: 3-6yrs: oedipal/electra complex
-latency: 6-12yrs: consolidation of behavioral skills + attitudes
-Genital: adolescence-death: achievement of personal/sexual maturity

Question 14

explain defense mechanisms based on psychodynamic theory and give examples

Answer 14

-purpose is to express the desires of the id in symbolic form (unconscious) to manage anxiety
-eg denial: refusal to accept an unpleasant reality
-reaction formation: repressing unacceptable desires by expressing the opposite to what you believe/feel
-projection: putting your own feelings/beliefs on someone else

Question 15

what are pros and cons of Freud’s theories?

Answer 15

-pros: contributed largely to field of psychology
-cons: based on speculation, not empiricism; difficult to test

Question 16

what is behavioralism?

Answer 16

-behaviorists believe that all behavior is learned through conditioning

Question 17

explain classical conditioning + describe the process

Answer 17

-classical conditioning creates a conditioned response through associations between an unconditioned stimulus and a neutral stimulus
-eg: bell (CS) followed by food (UCS) → automatically elicits salivating from dog (UCR)
-after some # of repetitions, CS → CR

Question 18

what was a flaw in the theory of classical conditioning? what did it lead to?

Answer 18

-couldn’t explain why phobias did not extinguish
-typically after a number of presentations of the CS without the UCS, the CS will stop eliciting the response
-however, phobias persist in the absence of the UCS

-led to development of operant conditioning theory

Question 19

explain operant conditioning

Answer 19

-says consequences of behavior are important
-reinforcement: both positive + negative reinforcement ↑ behavior
→ negative reinforcement: removing smth bad (eg take an aspirin → headache goes away; behavior of taking aspirin is reinforced)
→ positive reinforcement: adding something good
-punishment: ↓ likelihood that behavior will occur

Question 20

what is social learning theory?

Answer 20

-says that although classical + operant conditioning are important, majority of experiences occur within a social context; we learn vicariously through observations (others, books, movies)

Question 21

what is cognitive-behavioral theory?

Answer 21

reflects the view that thinking + behavior are learned, ∴ can be changed; introduces the notion that indivs do play an active role in regulating their behavior + thoughts

Question 22

give an example of a situation in which thoughts/cognitions, feelings, and behaviors are in relationship with each other

Answer 22

-eg: person is on a basketball team, today at practice they continually shoot and miss
-thoughts: I usually do this really well, I’m having an off day
→ leads to behaviors eg: stopping for the day, ask coach for pointers
→ leads to feelings eg frustration disappointment
–> leads to thoughts that they’re bad at basketball

Question 23

what are automatic thoughts? give an example of a type of automatic thought + describe it

Answer 23

-automatic thoughts: narrative, eg words/images; frequent thoughts that pop into our minds that aren’t accompanied by conscious appraisal

-cognitive distortions: errors in thinking/analyzing situations (eg black and white thinking, jumping to concls)

Question 24

describe + explain systems theory

Answer 24

-says the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
-causation (cause of behavior/difficulties) as multifactorial: likely not one single factor that caused behavior/cognition
-causation as bidirectional: eg examine how parents’ behavior ⇔ child’s behavior
-also points out that the same end result can arise from one of many possible causes

Question 25

describe + explain diathesis-stress perspective. what are its strengths?

Answer 25

-people are predisposed to dev a disorder (diathesis) but a stressor is needed to precipitate the appearance of symptoms
- relevance of stressor/diathesis can vary: sometimes diathesis is more key, other times stressor
-both the diathesis and stressors can be either biological/psychological

-encourages us to consider multiple factors related to onset of disorders
-allows for diff pathways to the onset of the same disorder

Question 26

what is the biopsychosocial model?

Answer 26

-says that biological, psychological, social factors must all be taken into account when explaining psychopathology
-the weighting of each factor depends on the disorder

Question 27

describe + explain developmental psychopathology

Answer 27

-crosses boundaries of social, psychological, biological sciences
-emphasizes multifactorial causation – recognition that multiple factors come into play to understand a person’s fnxing
-multiple pathways to the same outcome – not everyone gets to depression in the same way, need to understand each indiv’s pathway
-take thorough history to understand areas of risk and protective factors
-maladaptation as an outcome of development: understand how their history led them to where they are on that day; looking at processes underlying development + keeping in mind that everything is always changing + what happens next will also impact their fnxing