Chapter 01 - Abnormal Psychology: Past and Present

Question 1

abnormal psychology

Answer 1

The scientific study of abnormal behavior undertaken to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning.

Question 2

analogue experiment

Answer 2

A research method in which the experimenter produces ­abnormal-like behavior in laboratory participants and then conducts experiments on the participants.

Question 3

asylum

Answer 3

A type of institution that first became popular in the sixteenth century to provide care for persons with mental disorders. Most became virtual prisons.

Question 4

case study

Answer 4

A detailed account of a person’s life and psychological problems.

Question 5

confound

Answer 5

In an experiment, a variable other than the independent variable that is also acting on the dependent variable.

Question 6

control group

Answer 6

In an experiment, a group of participants who are not exposed to the independent variable.

Question 7

correlation

Answer 7

The degree to which events or characteristics vary along with each other.

Question 8

correlational method

Answer 8

A research procedure used to determine how much events or characteristics vary along with each other.

Question 9

culture

Answer 9

A people’s common history, ­values, institutions, habits, skills, technology, and arts.

Question 10

danger

Answer 10

The ultimate psychological dysfunction is behavior that becomes dangerous to oneself or others. Individuals whose behavior is consistently careless, hostile, or confused may be placing themselves or those around them at risk.

Although danger is often cited as a feature of abnormal psychological functioning, research suggests that it is actually the exception rather than the rule. Most people struggling with anxiety, depression, and even bizarre thinking pose NO immediate danger to themselves or to anyone else.

Question 11

deinstitutionalization

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

dependent variable

Answer 12

The variable in an experiment that is expected to change as the independent variable is manipulated.

Question 13

deviance

Answer 13

Variance from common patterns of behavior.

Question 14

distress

Answer 14

According to many clinical theorists, behavior, ideas, or emotions usually have to cause distress before they can be labeled abnormal.

Some people who function abnormally maintain a positive frame of mind.

Question 15

dysfunction

Answer 15

Abnormal behavior tends to be dysfunctional; that is, it interferes with daily functioning. It so upsets, distracts, or confuses people that they cannot care for themselves properly, participate in ordinary social interactions, or work productively.

Question 16

epidemiological study

Answer 16

A study that measures the incidence and prevalence of a disorder in a given population.

Question 17

experiment

Answer 17

A research procedure in which a variable is manipulated and the effect of the manipulation is observed.

Question 18

experimental group

Answer 18

In an experiment, the participants who are exposed to the independent variable under investigation.

Question 19

humors

Answer 19

According to the Greeks and Romans, bodily chemicals that influence mental and physical functioning.

Question 20

hypothesis

Answer 20

A hunch or prediction that certain variables are related in certain ways.

Question 21

independent variable

Answer 21

The variable in an experiment that is manipulated to determine whether it has an effect on another variable.

Question 22

informed consent

Answer 22

The requirement that researchers provide sufficient information to participants about the purpose, procedure, risks, and benefits of a study.

Question 23

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Answer 23

An ethics committee formed in a research facility that is empowered to protect the rights and safety of human research participants. It reviews and may require changes in each proposed study at the facility before approving or disapproving the study.

Question 24

longitudinal study

Answer 24

A study that observes the same participants on many occasions over a long period of time.

Question 25

managed care program

Answer 25

A system of health care coverage in which the insurance company largely controls the nature, scope, and cost of medical or psychological services.

Question 26

masked design

Answer 26

An experiment in which participants do not know whether they are in the experimental or the control condition. Previously called a blind design.

Question 27

matched design

Answer 27

A research design that matches the experimental participants with control participants who are similar on key characteristics.

Question 28

moral treatment

Answer 28

A nineteenth-century approach to treating people with mental dysfunction that emphasized moral guidance and humane and respectful treatment.

Question 29

multicultural psychology

Answer 29

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.

Question 30

natural experiment

Answer 30

An experiment in which nature, rather than an experimenter, manipulates an independent variable.

Question 31

norms

Answer 31

A society’s stated and unstated rules for proper conduct.

Question 32

placebo therapy

Answer 32

A simulated treatment that the participant in an experiment believes to be genuine.

Question 33

positive psychology

Answer 33

The study and enhancement of positive feelings, traits, and abilities.

Question 34

prevalence

Answer 34

The total number of cases of a disorder occurring in a population over a specific period of time.

Question 35

prevention

Answer 35

A key feature of community mental health programs that seek to prevent or minimize psychological disorders.

Question 36

private psychotherapy

Answer 36

An arrangement in which a person directly pays a therapist for counseling services.

Question 37

psychoanalysis

Answer 37

Either the theory or the treatment of abnormal mental functioning that emphasizes unconscious psychological forces as the cause of psychopathology.

Question 38

psychogenic perspective

Answer 38

The view that the chief causes of abnormal functioning are psychological.

Question 39

psychotropic medications

Answer 39

Drugs that mainly affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental dysfunction.

Question 40

quasi-experimental design

Answer 40

A research design that fails to include key elements of a “pure” experiment and/or intermixes elements of both experimental and correlational studies. Also called a mixed design.

Question 41

random assignment

Answer 41

A selection procedure that ensures that participants are randomly placed either in the control group or in the experimental group.

Question 42

scientific method

Answer 42

The process of systematically gathering and evaluating information through careful observations to gain an understanding of a phenomenon.

Question 43

single-subject experimental design

Answer 43

A research method in which a single participant is observed and measured both before and after the manipulation of an independent variable.

Question 44

somatogenic perspective

Answer 44

The view that abnormal psychological functioning has physical causes.

Question 45

state hospitals

Answer 45

Public mental institutions in the United States, run by the individual states.

Question 46

telemental health

Answer 46

The use of digital technologies to deliver mental health services without the therapist being physically present.

Question 47

treatment

Answer 47

A systematic procedure designed to help change abnormal behavior into more normal behavior. Also called therapy.

Question 48

trephination

Answer 48

An ancient operation in which a stone instrument was used to cut away a circular section of the skull, perhaps to treat abnormal behavior.

Question 49

clinical scientist