Chapter 2

Question 1

multidimensional integrative approach

Answer 1

Approach to the study of psychopathology that holds psychological disorders are always the products of multiple interacting causal factors.

Question 2

genes

Answer 2

Long deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule, the basic physical unit of heredity that appears as a location on a chromosome.

Question 3

diathesis–stress model

Answer 3

Hypothesis that both an inherited tendency (a vulnerability) and specific stressful conditions are required to produce a disorder.

Question 4

vulnerability

Answer 4

Susceptibility or tendency to develop a disorder.

Question 5

gene–environment correlation model

Answer 5

Hypothesis that people with a genetic pre- disposition for a disorder may also have a genetic tendency to create environmental risk factors that promote the disorder.

Question 6

epigenetics

Answer 6

The study of factors other than inherited DNA sequence, such as new learning or stress, that alter the phenotypic expression of genes.

Question 7

neuroscience

Answer 7

Study of the nervous system and its role in behavior, thoughts, and emotions.

Question 8

neuron

Answer 8

Individual nerve cell responsible for transmitting information.

Question 9

action potentials

Answer 9

Short periods of electrical activity at the membrane of a neuron, responsible for the transmission of signals within the neuron.

Question 10

terminal button

Answer 10

The end of an axon (of a neuron) where neurotransmitters are stored before release.

Question 11

synaptic cleft

Answer 11

Space between nerve cells where chemical transmitters act to move impulses from one neuron to the next.

Question 12

neurotransmitters

Answer 12

Chemical that crosses the synaptic cleft between nerve cells to transmit impulses from one neuron to the next. Relative excess or deficiency of neurotransmitters is involved in several psychological disorders.

Question 13

excitatory

Answer 13

Causing excitation. Activating

Question 14

inhibitory

Answer 14

Causing inhibition. Suppressing.

Question 15

hormone

Answer 15

Chemical messenger produced by the endocrine glands.

Question 16

brain circuits

Answer 16

Neurotransmitter current or neural pathway in the brain.

Question 17

agonist

Answer 17

In neuroscience, a chemical substance that effectively increases the activity of a neurotransmitter by imitating its effects.

Question 18

antagonist

Answer 18

In neuroscience, a chemical substance that decreases or blocks the effects of a neurotransmitter.

Question 19

inverse agonist

Answer 19

In neuroscience, a chemical substance that produces effects opposite those of a particular neurotransmitter.

Question 20

reuptake

Answer 20

Action by which a neurotransmitter is quickly drawn back into the discharging neuron after being released into a synaptic cleft.

Question 21

glutamate

Answer 21

Amino acid neurotransmitter that excites many different neurons, leading to action

Question 22

gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)

Answer 22

Neurotransmitter that reduces activity across the synaptic cleft and thus inhibits a range of behaviors and emotions, especially generalized anxiety.

Question 23

serotonin

Answer 23

Neurotransmitter involved in processing of information and coordination of movement, as well as inhibition and restraint. It also assists in the regulation of eating, sexual, and aggressive behaviors, all of which may be involved in different psychological disorders. Its interaction with dopamine is implicated in schizophrenia.

Question 24

norepinephrine (also known as noradrenaline)

Answer 24

Neurotransmitter active in the central and peripheral nervous systems, controlling heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration, among other functions. Because of its role in the body’s alarm reaction, it may also contribute generally and indirectly to panic attacks and other disorders. Also known as noradrenaline.

Question 25

dopamine

Answer 25

Neurotransmitter whose generalized function is to activate other neuro- transmitters and to aid in exploratory and pleasure-seeking behaviors (thus balancing serotonin). A relative excess of dopamine is implicated in schizophrenia (although contradictory evidence suggests the connection is not simple), and its deficit is involved in Parkinson’s disease.

Question 26

cognitive science

Answer 26

Field of study that examines how humans and other animals acquire, process, store, and retrieve information.

Question 27

learned helplessness

Answer 27

Martin Seligman’s theory that people become anxious and depressed when they make an attribution that they have no control over the stress in their lives (whether or not they do in reality).

Question 28

modeling (or observational learning)

Answer 28

Learning through observation and imitation of the behavior of other individuals and consequences of that behavior.

Question 29

prepared learning

Answer 29

Ability adaptive for evolution, allowing certain associations to be learned more readily than others.

Question 30

implicit memory

Answer 30

Condition of memory in which a person cannot recall past events despite acting in response to them.

Question 31

flight or fight response

Answer 31

Biological reaction to alarming stressors that musters the body’s resources (for example, blood flow and respiration) to resist or flee a threat.

Question 32

emotion

Answer 32

Pattern of action elicited by an external event and a feeling state, accompanied by a characteristic physiological response.

Question 33

mood

Answer 33

Enduring period of emotionality.

Question 34

affect

Answer 34

Conscious, subjective aspect of an emotion that accompanies an action at a given time.

Question 35

circumplex model

Answer 35

A model describing different emotions as points in a 2-dimensional space of valence and arousal.

Question 36

equifinality

Answer 36

Developmental psychopathology principle that a behavior or disorder may have several causes.