Chapter 1 Flashcards
What is Abnormal Psychology?
- “abnormal psychology is the branch of the science psychology that addresses the description, causes and treatment of abnormal behavior patterns”
- branch of psychology that deal with the description, causes and treatment of abnormal behavior patterns
What is the medical model
biological perspective in which abnormal behavior is viewed as symptomatic of underlying illness
mental illness is ultimately a disease of the brain, and we should be researching it the same way as other diseases. Helped move away from thinking that mental illness derived from the supernatural
what are Hallucinations
perceptions that occur in the absence of an external stimulus and that are confused with reality
How do we define abnormal behavior?
- Is the behavior unusual? 2. Does the behavior violate social norms? 3. Does the behavior involve a faulty interpretation of reality? 4. Does the behavior cause personal distress? 5. Is the behavior maladaptive or self-defeating? 6. Is the behavior dangerous (to the person of others)?
What Factors Affect our Perception of What is Abnormal?
Culture?
- behavior consider normal in one culture may deemed abnormal in another. For example, anxiety and depression
- we need to consider how people in different cultures experience states of emotional distress, including depressions and anxiety, rather than imposing our perspectives on them
- even the way mental illness manifests are influenced by culture
What Factors Affect our Perception of What is Abnormal?
Context?
- Is this abnormal? (Shirt off at a hockey game)
- Does it deviate from social norms?
- that depends on where and when the behaviors occur
How Common are Psychological Disorders?
- Anxiety disorders: affects almost 30% of adults in their lifetime
- Mood disorders: affects over 20% of adults in their lifetime
- Substance abuse disorders affects almost 15% of adults across their lifetimes
- process addictions: gambling, excessive video games,
- Any disorder: affects over 46% of adults in their lifetime
What are the main risk factors for developing a psychological disorder?
- age
- education
- childhood trauma
- current stress
- life events
- lack of social support
- gender
- physical health
- genetic predisposition
-protective factor?
something that mitigates the risk or seriousness of the psychological risk factor
psychological disorder (mental disorder):
- involve abnormal behavior patterns associated with disturbances in mental health or psychological functioning
What are the risk factors for developing a psychological disorder?
- exposure to multiple risk factors can have an exponential effect that dramatically increases the likelihood of adverse outcomes
- exposure to just 2 factors can engender a fourfold increase in adverse outcomes
- exposure to 4 or more risk factors can increase adverse outcomes tenfold
How have we historically viewed abnormal behavior?
-medieval times (exorcism)
- Witchcraft
- Malleus Maleficarum – the hammer of witches, witch hunters
- not universally held
-The Demonological Model
-the model that explains abnormal behavior in terms of supernatural forces
Trephining ?
harsh prehistoric practice of cutting a hole in a person’s skull, possibly as an ancient form of surgery for brain trauma, or possibly as a means of releasing the demons prehistoric people may have believed caused abnormal behavior in the inflicted individual
-Hippocrates and ‘ill humors’
the humors?
- Hot and dry – yellow file; fire
- wet and cold – Phlegm; water
- hot and wet – blood; air
- Dry and cold – Black; bile earth
-phlegmatic
slow and stolid (phlegm)
- melancholia:
: state of severe depression (black bile)
sanguine:
cheerful (blood)
-choleric
having or showing a bad temper (yellow bile)
-Asylums in Europe and the New world (or madhouses)
Bedlam, London UK ?
first described as a hospital, eventually had some permanent patients, known for brutal treatment of patients
-Hotel Dieu (Quebec, 1639)
-referring to canals and disorganization and mistreatment, people were treated as animals and 2nd class citizens
- The Reform Movement: Moral Therapy
- Philippe Pinel (France), William Turke (England) and Dorthea Dix (Canada and the USA)
- people should start being treated humanely although mist people saw people with a mental illness as a threat to society at the time, not as sick people who needed care
- found that most people who were “chained” became calm and docile when treated with kindness and fairly
-moral therapy:
: a 19th century treatment philosophy empathizing that hospitalized mental patients should be treated with care and understating in a pleasant environment, not shackled in chains
-Deinstitutionalization:
-practice of discharging large numbers of hospitalized mental patients to the community and reducing the need for new admissions through the development of alternative treatment approaches such as halfway houses and crisis intervention services
-phenothiazines
: group of antipsychotic drugs or “major tranquilizers” used in the treatment of schizophrenia. Helped mange the population
-Largactil:
Largactil is used to treat several conditions and may be used either for a short time or for a long time. Largactil is used to treat various problems such as severe depression or behavioral disturbances. Largactil can also be used to treat nausea, vomiting, severe pain and unstoppable hiccups
-negative symptoms – inability to live independently, fears, paranoia and sometimes are never addressed. People can end up homeless not because of the active symptoms but because of the negative
Dementia praecox
term used by Emil to describe the disorder we now call schizophrenia
-general paresis:
degenerative brain disorder that occurs during the final stage of syphilis
-Psychological Models
only convinced there was a broad range of things, and manifested physically, but only interested in the psychological disorders, like conversion disorders: deafness, muteness, blindness, losing functions in the body.
-hysterical blindness is considered conversion disorders
-Thomas Szasz: The Myth of Mental Illness
- talks about how mental illness is a socially defined construct and doesn’t have a real objective meaning, some behaviors are unacceptable socially and those people are branded as something abnormal. Stigmatized and socially degraded
- once a person has been so branded as mentally ill, it is very difficult thing to establish their sanity, or it was back in the day
Biological Perspectives
-biological perspectives vs the medical model
- One can adapt a biologically orientated perspective without using the terminology of the medical model
- you don’t have to be a physician
- A focus on biological factors does not require the medical model
Genetics:
science of heredity
-polygenic
: traits or characteristics found in the nuclei of the cell that carry the units of heredity, or genes
-DNA:
deoxyribonucleic acid is a double strand complex molecule of helical structure that contains the genetic instructions for building and maintaining living organisms
-genotype
: the set of traits specified by genetic code
-phenotype:
representation of the total array of an organism, as influenced by the interaction of nature (genetic factors) and nurture (environmental factors)
-proteins:
organic compounds consisting of amino acids that perform most life functions and make up the majority of cellular structures
-Genome:
all the genetic material encoded in DNA
-we know that there are some traits that are correlated with DNA and genes
-DNA: the molecular structure of the genome comprised of 4 organic compounds
- A – adenine
- T – Thymine
- C – cytosine
- G – guanine
-Human Genome:
2.8 billion base pairs; 20-25 thousand genes. Comprises of all the genic material encoded in the DNA located in the nucleus of the cell in that organism
Epigenome:
: the sum of inherited and acquired molecular variations to the genome that lead to changes in gene regulation without changing the DNA sequence of the genome itself
– speculated in the 1940s, things that occur in their life and their mothers’ life can affect their genes, switch on or switch off certain genes. Study of heritable and acquirable changes gene regulation and expression
-heritability
is a ratio of genetic to phenotypic variance
-Soma
– cell body
-dendrites
root like structures at the end of a neuron that receive nerve impulses from other neurons
-axon
– long, thin part of a neuron along which nervous impulses travel
-terminals
– the small branching structures found at the tips of axons
-knobs
– swollen endings of axon terminals
neurotransmitters:
chemical substances that serve as a type of messenger by transmitting neural impulses from one neuron to another. Cause axons to conduct the messages in electrical form
-synapse
– junction between the terminal knob of one neuron and the dendrite or soma of another through which nerve impulses pass
-excesses and deficiencies of the neurotransmitter ?
norepinephrine have related to mood disorders and eating disorders
-reduced levels of neurotransmitters acetylcholine
is associated with Alzheimer’s Disease
-excessive levels of neurotransmitter dopamine
appears to be involved with schizophrenia
-Serotonin, another neurotransmitter, is linked to
to anxiety disorders, mood disorders, sleep disorders and eating disorders
- Sigmund Freud:
- Psychoanalytic theory: The Structure of the Mind
-theoretical model of personality developed by Freud, also called psychoanalysis
-Unconscious
pertaining to impulses or ideas that are not readily available to awareness, in many instances because they are kept from awareness by means of repression. Contains repressed material and primitive urges if the ID. State of unawareness or unconscious
-preconscious
descriptive of material that lies outside of present awareness but can be brought into awareness by focusing on attention.
-conscious
– the part of the mind that corresponds to our present awareness
-structural hypothesis
in Freud’s theory, the belief that the clashing forces within the personality could be divided into 3 psychic structures: the id, ego and superego
- Personality:
- ID
(pleasure principle & primary process thinking) only one present at birth
-the unconscious psychic structure present at birth. Th id contains instinctual drives and is governed by the pleasure principle:
pleasure principle:
-the governing principle if the id, involving the demands for immediate gratification of instinctual needs
primary process thinking:
the mental process in infancy by which the id seeks gratification of primitive impulses by means of imaging it possesses what it desires. Thinking that it is illogical and magical and fails to discriminate between reality and fantasy
-Ego
(Reality Principle & Secondary Process thinking)
-the psychic structure corresponding to the concept of self. The ego is governed by the reality principle and is responsible for finding socially acceptable outlets for urges of the id. The ego is characterized by the capacity to tolerate frustration and delay gratification
-reality principle:
the governing principle of the ego that involves consideration of what is socially acceptable and practical in gratifying needs
-secondary process thinking:
: the reality-based thinking processes and problem-solving activities of the ego
-self
center of consciousness that organizes sensory impressions and governs perceptions of the world. The sum of a person’s thoughts, sensory, impressions and feelings
-Superego (Moral Principle)
-represents the incorporation of the moral values of parents and important other and floods the ego with guilt and shame when it falls short of meeting those standards. The superego is governed by the moral principle and consists of 2 parts: the conscience and the ego ideal
-Identification & Ego Ideal
– the inner image of oneself as they want to become
-identification:
in psychodynamic theory, the process of incorporating the personality or behavior of others. In social learning theory, a process of imitation by which children acquire behaviors like those of role models
-moral principle:
in PDT, the principle that governs the superego to set moral ideals embodied in the superego
- Oral Stage –
– oral fixation (ID) – first two a special interest to Freud.
- Anal Stage
retentive and expulsion traits
- Phallic stage
Oedipus/Electra Complex, Castration anxiety. Resolving this stage
- Latency Stage
– when one takes their mind away from sexual matters, in a sense
- Genital Stage
– more mature stage of human development
Repression
expulsion from awareness of unacceptable ideas or motives
regression
the return of behavior that is typical of earlier stages of development
displacement
the transfer of unacceptable impulses away from threatening persons toward safer or less threatening objects
denial
refusal to recognize a threatening impulse or desire
reaction formation
behaving in a way that is the opposite of ones true wishes or desires in order o keep these repressed
rationalization
the use of self-justification to explain unacceptable behavior
projection
imposing ones own impulses or wishes onto another person
sublimation
the channeling of unacceptable impulses into socially constructive pursuits
-psychosis:
a severe form of disturbed behavior in which people show impaired ability to interpret reality and difficulties in meeting the demands of daily life. Schizophrenia is a prominent example of a psychotic disorder
Other Psychodynamic Theorists
-3 Things in Common:
– believe that feelings our to some degree unconsciously motivated
- conflict, that there is a potential for conflict between the personality life ID and ego
- defense mechanisms at some level, they are tools used by something like the ego that alleviates something like the ego that helps them from butting heads
-Neo-Freudians:
term used to describe the next generation of theorists who followed in the Freudian tradition; placed greater emphasis on the importance of cultural and social influences on behavior and lesser importance on sexual impulses and the functioning of the id
-Carl Jung: Analytical Psychology PDT
- not all arises within the child
- archetypes – structure that can be filled and built upon, like the persona
- The shadow is part of the unconscious mind that is composed of things that are repressed.
- The anima is the one that is opposite to your biological gender.
- the sense of self, unified structure where everything is included
- collective unconscious – some kinds of basics patterns and understating are inherited by our family (early version of genetics) – mental structures can be developed
-Alfred Adler PDT
- inferiority complex -
- Drive to superiority -
- Creative self – hey, I need the drive of superiority to fend off my inferiority complex
-Karen Horney PDT
-Self Theory
-Heinz Hartmann PDT
-Ego Psychology
-Erik Erikson PDT
-Psychological Development
-Margaret Mahler PDT
- Object relations theory
- introjection
The Psychological Perspectives: Behaviorism
-Behaviorism
school of psychology that defines psychology as the study of observable and focuses on investigating the relationship between stimuli and responses
- Modern Behaviorism: Environmental Adaptation
- interested in behavior, not too wrapped up in the person’s head.
-Classical Conditioning:
-a completely neutral stimulus can exert powerful control overly a seemingly unrelated behavior
-Conditioned response (CR)
-a learned or acquired response to a previously neutral stimulus. A response to a conditioned stimulus
-Unconditioned stimulus (US)
-stimulus that elicits an instinctive or unlearned response to an organism
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
-previously neutral stimulus that comes to evoke a conditioned response following repeated pairings with a stimulus (unconditioned) that had already evoked that response
-Unconditioned Response (UR)
unlearned response or a response to an unconditioned stimulus
-Difference between Pavlov and Skinner conditioning:
the delivery of the reinforcement
-Operant conditioning:
-reinforcement and reward
reinforcement –
stimulus that increases frequency of the response it follows
positive reinforcer
types of reinforcers that increase the frequency of a behavior when they are presented. Food and social approval are generally, but not always, positive reinforcers
negative reinforcer
reinforcers whose removal increases the frequency of an operant behavior. Anxiety, pain and social disapproval often function as such.
primary reinforcer
natural reinforcers or stimuli that have reinforcement value without learning. Water, food, warmth and relief of pain are examples
secondary reinforcer
stimuli that gain reinforcement value through their association with established reinforcers. Money and social acceptance are typically examples
- Social Cognitive Theory:
- Albert Bandura
-Modeling and Expectancy
-emotional intelligence
involves the ability to monitor ones own and other feelings and emotions to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide ones thinking and actions
- Humanistic-Existential Models
- Carl Roger’s
- self actualization
- The Rift
-Humanistic-Existential Models -Abraham Maslow
-living authentically
- Humanistic Concepts of Abnormal Behavior
- Carl Roger’s
- conditional (vs unconditional) positive reward
- conditions of worth
-Humanistic Concepts of Abnormal Behavior -Les Greenberg
-Emotional intelligence
- Information Processing Approaches
- interpretive biases
– may lead us to view the world in shit-covered glasses
-Cognitive Perspectives-Albert Ellis
- activating events —> beliefs —> consequences
- catastrophize – exaggerate or magnify the negative consequences of events; to “blow things out of proportion”
-Cognitive Perspectives–Aaron Beck
-Tripartite model
-Collaborative Empiricism
Collaborative empiricism, which involves a systemic process of therapist and patient working together to establish common goals in treatment, has been found to be one of the primary change agents in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).
-Cognitive Distortions
-selective abstraction; overgeneralization; magnification; absolutist thinking
-Donald Meichenbaum
-Cognitive-behavioral modification
-social-cognitive theory –
a broader view of learning theory that emphasizes both situational determinists of behavior (reinforcements and punishments) and cognitive factors (expectancies, values, attitudes, belief)
-reciprocal determinism:
the ongoing process of two-way interactions among personal factors (cognitive abilities – expectancies, values, attitudes and beliefs – as well as affective and biological characteristics), behaviors (skills, talents, habits, interpersonal relations) and environmental factors
Sociocultural Perspective
- must consider the impact of social and cultural factors, such as ethnicity, gender and social roles and poverty
- sociocultural theorists seek causes of abnormal behavior that may reside in the failures of society rather than in the person.
Downward Drift Hypothesis:
the belief that people with psychological problems may drift downward in SES
Interactionist Perspective
- no one theoretical perspective can account for the complex forms of abnormal behavior
- many theorists today adopt an interactionist perspective
- i.e. the belief that we need to take into account the interaction of multiple factors representing biological, psychological, sociocultural, and environmental domains in order to explain behavior
-The Diathesis-Stress Model
model of abnormal behavior posting that abnormal behavior patterns involve the interaction of genetic and environmental influences. IN this model, genetic or acquired predisposition (diathesis - vulnerability) increases an individual’s vulnerability to developing the disorder in response to stressful life circumstances. If, the level of stress is kept under the persons particular threshold, the disorder may never develop, even among people with a predisposition
-Biopsychological (Systems) Model
a conceptual model emphasizing is linked to complex interactions among biological, psychological and sociocultural factors
- The Biopsychological Model
- dynamic interplay of 3 major systems or domains
- 2 internal systems: biological, psychological
- 1 external system: sociocultural and environmental factors
