Chapter 2: An Integrative Approach to Psychopathology

Question 1

multidimensional integrative approach

Answer 1

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

Question 2

genes

Answer 2

long molecules ofdeoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) at various locations on chromosomes, within the cell nucleus.

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 predisposition 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

synaptic cleft

Answer 9

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

Question 10

neurotransmitters

Answer 10

Chemicals that cross the synaptic cleft between nerve cells to transmit
impulses from one neuron to the next. Their relative excess or deficiency is involved in several psychological disorders.

Question 11

hormone

Answer 11

Chemical messenger produced by the

endocrine glands.

Question 12

brain circuits

Answer 12

Neurotransmitter currents or neural pathways in the brain.

Question 13

agonist

Answer 13

Chemical substance that effectively increases the activity of a neurotransmitter by imitating its effects.

Question 14

antagonist

Answer 14

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

Question 15

inverse agonist

Answer 15

Chemical substance that produces effects opposite those of a particular
neurotransmitter.

Question 16

reuptake

Answer 16

Action by which a neurotransmitter is

quickly drawn back into the discharging neuron after being released into a synaptic cleft.

Question 17

glutamate

Answer 17

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

Question 18

gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)

Answer 18

Neurotransmitter that reduces activity across

the synapse and thus inhibits a range of behaviors and emotions, especially generalized anxiety.

Question 19

serotonin

Answer 19

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 20

norepinephrine (also noradrenaline)

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

dopamine

Answer 21

Neurotransmitter whose generalized function is to activate other neurotransmitters and to aid in exploratory and pleasureseeking 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 22

cogntive science

Answer 22

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

Question 23

learned helpnesses

Answer 23

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 24

modeling (observational learning)

Answer 24

Learning through observation and imitation

of the behavior of other individuals and consequences of that behavior.

Question 25

prepared learning

Answer 25

An ability that has been adaptive for evolution, allowing certain associations to be
learned more readily than others.

Question 26

implicit memory

Answer 26

Condition of memory in which
a person cannot recall past events despite
acting in response to them (contrast with
explicit memory).

Question 27

flight or fight response

Answer 27

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

Question 28

emotion

Answer 28

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

Question 29

mood

Answer 29

Enduring period of emotionality.

Question 30

affect

Answer 30

Conscious, subjective aspect of an emotion

that accompanies an action at a given time.

Question 31

equifinality

Answer 31

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