Chapter 01 - Abnormal Psychology: Past and Present Flashcards
abnormal psychology
The scientific study of abnormal behavior undertaken to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning.
analogue experiment
A research method in which the experimenter produces abnormal-like behavior in laboratory participants and then conducts experiments on the participants.
asylum
A type of institution that first became popular in the sixteenth century to provide care for persons with mental disorders. Most became virtual prisons.
case study
A detailed account of a person’s life and psychological problems.
confound
In an experiment, a variable other than the independent variable that is also acting on the dependent variable.
control group
In an experiment, a group of participants who are not exposed to the independent variable.
correlation
The degree to which events or characteristics vary along with each other.
correlational method
A research procedure used to determine how much events or characteristics vary along with each other.
culture
A people’s common history, values, institutions, habits, skills, technology, and arts.
danger
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.
deinstitutionalization
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.
dependent variable
The variable in an experiment that is expected to change as the independent variable is manipulated.
deviance
Variance from common patterns of behavior.
distress
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.
dysfunction
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.
epidemiological study
A study that measures the incidence and prevalence of a disorder in a given population.
experiment
A research procedure in which a variable is manipulated and the effect of the manipulation is observed.
experimental group
In an experiment, the participants who are exposed to the independent variable under investigation.
humors
According to the Greeks and Romans, bodily chemicals that influence mental and physical functioning.
hypothesis
A hunch or prediction that certain variables are related in certain ways.
independent variable
The variable in an experiment that is manipulated to determine whether it has an effect on another variable.
informed consent
The requirement that researchers provide sufficient information to participants about the purpose, procedure, risks, and benefits of a study.
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
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.
longitudinal study
A study that observes the same participants on many occasions over a long period of time.
managed care program
A system of health care coverage in which the insurance company largely controls the nature, scope, and cost of medical or psychological services.
masked design
An experiment in which participants do not know whether they are in the experimental or the control condition. Previously called a blind design.
matched design
A research design that matches the experimental participants with control participants who are similar on key characteristics.
moral treatment
A nineteenth-century approach to treating people with mental dysfunction that emphasized moral guidance and humane and respectful treatment.
multicultural psychology
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.
natural experiment
An experiment in which nature, rather than an experimenter, manipulates an independent variable.
norms
A society’s stated and unstated rules for proper conduct.
placebo therapy
A simulated treatment that the participant in an experiment believes to be genuine.
positive psychology
The study and enhancement of positive feelings, traits, and abilities.
prevalence
The total number of cases of a disorder occurring in a population over a specific period of time.
prevention
A key feature of community mental health programs that seek to prevent or minimize psychological disorders.
private psychotherapy
An arrangement in which a person directly pays a therapist for counseling services.
psychoanalysis
Either the theory or the treatment of abnormal mental functioning that emphasizes unconscious psychological forces as the cause of psychopathology.
psychogenic perspective
The view that the chief causes of abnormal functioning are psychological.
psychotropic medications
Drugs that mainly affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental dysfunction.
quasi-experimental design
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.
random assignment
A selection procedure that ensures that participants are randomly placed either in the control group or in the experimental group.
scientific method
The process of systematically gathering and evaluating information through careful observations to gain an understanding of a phenomenon.
single-subject experimental design
A research method in which a single participant is observed and measured both before and after the manipulation of an independent variable.
somatogenic perspective
The view that abnormal psychological functioning has physical causes.
state hospitals
Public mental institutions in the United States, run by the individual states.
telemental health
The use of digital technologies to deliver mental health services without the therapist being physically present.
treatment
A systematic procedure designed to help change abnormal behavior into more normal behavior. Also called therapy.
trephination
An ancient operation in which a stone instrument was used to cut away a circular section of the skull, perhaps to treat abnormal behavior.
clinical scientist
