Chapter 2 Flashcards
Model
A set of assumptions and concepts that help scientists explain and interpret observations. Also called a paradigm.
Neuron
A nerve cell.
Synapse
The tiny space between the nerve ending of one neuron and the dendrite of another.
Neurotransmitter
A chemical that, released by one neuron, crosses the synaptic space to be received at receptors on the dendrites of neighboring neurons.
Receptor
A site on a neuron that receives a neurotransmitter.
Hormones
The chemicals released by endocrine glands into the bloodstream.
Genes
Chromosome segments that control the characteristics and traits we inherit.
Psychotropic Medications
Drugs that primarily affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental dysfunctioning.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
A form of biological treatment, used primarily on depressed patients, in which a brain seizure is triggered as an electric current passes through electrodes attached to the patient’s forehead.
Psycho-surgery
Brain surgery for mental disorders. Also called neurosurgery.
Id
According to Freud, the psychological force that produces instinctual needs, drives,and impulses.
Ego
According to Freud, the psychological force that employs reason and operates in accordance with the reality principle.
Ego Defense Mechanisms
According to psychoanalytic theory, strategies developed by the ego to control unacceptable id impulses and to avoid or reduce the anxiety they arouse.
Repression
Person avoids anxiety by simply not allowing painful or dangerous thoughts to become conscious.
ex: an executive’s desire to run amok and attack his boss and colleagues at a board meeting is denied access to his awareness.
Denial
Person simply refuses to acknowledge the existence of an external source of anxiety.
ex: You are not prepared for tomorrow’s final exam, but you tell yourself that it’s not actually an important exam and that there’s no good reason not to go to a movie tonight.
Projection
Person attributes own unacceptable impulses, motives, or desires to other individuals.
ex: The executive who repressed his destructive desires may project his anger onto his boss and claim that it is actually the boss who is hostile.
Rationalization
Person creates a socially acceptable reason for an action that actually reflects unacceptable motives.
ex: A student explains away poor grades by citing the importance of the “total experience” of going to college and claiming that too much emphasis on grades would actually interfere with a well-rounded education.
Displacement
Person displaces hostility away from a dangerous object and onto a safer substitute.
ex: After a perfect parking spot is taken by a person who cuts in front of your car, you release your pent up anger by starting an argument with your roommate.
Intellectualization
Person represses emotional reactions in favor of overly logical response to a problem.
ex: A woman who has been beaten and raped gives a detached, methodical description of the effects that such attacks may have on victims.
Regression
Person retreats from an upsetting conflict to an early developmental stage at which no one is expected to behave maturely or responsibly. ex: A boy who cannot cope with the anger he feels toward his rejecting mother regresses to infantile behavior, soiling his clothes and no longer taking care of his basic needs.
Superego
According to Freud, the psychological force that represents a person’s values and ideals.
Fixation
According to Freud, a condition in which the id, ego, and superego do not mature properly and are frozen at an early stage of development.
Free Association
A psychodynamic technique in which the patient describes any thought, feeling, or image that comes to mind, even if it seems unimportant.
Resistance
An unconscious refusal to participate fully in therapy.
Transference
According to psychodynamic theorists, the redirection toward the psychotherapist of feelings associated with important figures in a patient’s life, now or in the past.
Dream
A series of ideas and images that form during sleep.
Catharsis
The reliving of past repressed feelings in order to settle internal conflicts and overcome problems.
Conditioning
A simple form of learning.
Operant Conditioning
A process of learning in which behavior that leads to satisfying consequences is likely to be repeated.
Modeling
A process of learning in which an individual acquires responses by observing and imitating others.
Classical Conditioning
A process of learning by temporal association in which two events that repeatedly occur close together in time become fused in a person’s mind and produce the same response.
Systematic Desensitization
A behavioral treatment in which clients with phobias learn to react calmly instead of with intense fear to the objects or situations they dread.
Cognitive Therapy
A therapy developed by Aaron Beck that helps people recognize and change their faulty thinking processes.
Self-actualization
The humanistic process by which people fulfill their potential for goodness and growth.
Client-centered Therapy
The humanistic therapy developed by Carl Rogers in which clinicians try to help clients by conveying acceptance, accurate empathy, and genuineness.
Gestalt Therapy
The humanistic therapy developed by Fritz Perls in which clinicians actively move clients toward self-recognition and self-acceptance by using techniques such as role playing and self-discovery exercises.
Existential Therapy
A therapy that encourages clients to accept responsibility for their lives and to live with greater meaning and value.
Family Systems Theory
A theory that views the family as a system of interacting parts whose interactions exhibit consistent patterns and unstated rules.
Group Therapy
A therapy format in which a group of people with similar problems meet together with a therapist to work on those problems.
Self-help Group
A group made up of people with similar problems who help and support one another without the direct leadership of a clinician. Also called a mutual help group.
Family Therapy
A therapy format in which the therapist meets with all members of a family and helps them to change in therapeutic ways.
Couple Therapy
A therapy format in which the therapist works with two people who share a long-term relationship. Also called marital therapy.
Community Mental Health Treatment
A treatment approach that emphasizes community care.
Multicultural Perspective
The view that each culture within a larger society has a particular set of values and beliefs, as well as special external pressures, that help account for the behavior of its members.Also called culturally diverse perspective.
Culture-sensitive Therapies
Approaches that seek to address the unique issues faced by members of minority groups.
Endocrine System
The system of glands located throughout the body that help control important activities such as growth and sexual activity.
Unconscious
The deeply hidden mass of memories, experiences, and impulses that is viewed in Freudian theory as the source of much behavior.
Ego Theory
The psychodynamic theory that emphasizes the ego and considers it an independent force.
Self Theory
The psychodynamic theory that emphasizes the role of the self—a person’s unified personality.
Object Relations Theory
The psychodynamic theory that views the desire for relationships as the key motivating force in human behavior
Working Through
The psychoanalytic process of facing conflicts, reinterpreting feelings, and overcoming one’s problems
Short-term Psychodynamic Therapies
In several short versions of psychodynamic therapy, patients choose a single problem—a dynamic focus—to work on, such as difficulty getting along with other people (Wolitzky,2011). The therapist and patient focus on this problem throughout the treatment and work only on the psychodynamic issues that relate to it (such as unresolved oral needs).
Relational Psychoanalytic Therapy
A form of psychodynamic therapy that considers therapists to be active participants in the formation of patients’ feelings and reactions and therefore calls for therapists to disclose their own experiences and feelings in discussions with patients.
Self-efficacy
The judgment that one can master and perform needed behaviors whenever necessary.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies (CBT)
Therapy approaches that seek to help clients change both counterproductive behaviors and dysfunctional ways of thinking.
New Wave of Cognitive Therapies
a new group of cognitive and cognitive-behavioral therapies
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
A cognitive-behavioral therapy that teaches clients to accept and be mindful of (i.e., just notice) their dysfunctional thoughts or worries.
Family-social Perspective
focuses on an individual’s family and social interactions. argue that clinical theorists should concentrate on those broad forces that operate directly on an individual as he or she moves through life—that is, family relationships, social interactions, and community events.They believe that such forces help account for both normal and abnormal behavior, and they pay particular attention to
three kinds of factors: social labels and roles, social networks, and family structure and communication.
Gender-sensitive Therapy
Approaches geared to the pressures of being a woman in Western society. Also called feminist therapies.
Diathesis-Stress Explanation
The view that a person must first have a predisposition to a disorder and then be subjected to immediate psychosocial stress in order to develop the disorder. people must first have a biological, psychological, or sociocultural predisposition to develop a disorder and must then be subjected to episodes of severe stress
