Chapter 2 (Barlow) Flashcards
Long molecules of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) at various locations on
chromosomes, within the cell nucleus.
Genes
Individuals inherit tendencies to express certain traits or behaviors, which may then be activated under conditions of stress
Diathesis–stress model
Condition that makes someone susceptible to developing a disorder.
Diathesis
Indicates that genetic endowment may increase the probability that an individual will experience stressful
life events
Gene–environment correlation model
How environment can change gene expression
Epigenetics
Knowing how the nervous system and, especially, how the brain works is central to any understanding of our behavior, emotions, and cognitive processes.
Neuroscience
End of an axon
Terminal button
Brain uses an average of 140 billion nerve cells, called?
Neurons
Information is transmitted through electrical impulses, called?
Action potentials
Space between the terminal button of one neuron and the dendrite of another
Synaptic cleft
Biochemicals that are released from the axon of one neuron and transmit the impulse to the dendrite receptors of another neuron
Neurotransmitters
Neurons that increase the likelihood that the connecting neuron will fire
Excitatory
Neurons that decrease the likelihood that the connecting neuron will fire.
Inhibitory
Endocrine gland produces its own chemical messenger, called?
Hormone
Paths may overlap with the paths of other neurotransmitters
Brain circuits
Effectively increase the activity of a neurotransmitter by mimicking
its effects
Agonists
Decrease, or block, a neurotransmitter
Antagonists
Produce effects opposite to those produced by the neurotransmitter.
Inverse agonists
Afer a neurotransmitter is released, it is quickly broken down and brought
back from the synaptic cleft into the same neuron that released it.
Reuptake
Excitatory transmitter that “turns on” many different neurons, leading to action.
Glutamate
Inhibitory neurotransmitter; inhibit (or regulate) the transmission of information and action potentials.
GABA
Regulates our behavior, moods, and
thought processes.
Serotonin
4 neurotransmitter system in the monoamine class important to psychopathology
Glutamate
GABA
Norepinephrine
Dopamine
Concerned with how we acquire and process information and how we store and ultimately retrieve it
Cognitive science
State that occurs after someone has experienced a stressful situation repeatedly; believe that they are unable to control or change the situation, so they do not try, even when opportunities for change are available
Learned helplessness
Organisms can learn just as much by observing what happens to someone else in a given situation.
Modeling or observational learning.
We have become highly prepared for learning about certain types of objects or situations over the course of evolution because this knowledge contributes to the survival of the species
Prepared learning
Apparent when someone clearly acts on the basis of things that have happened in the past but can’t remember the events.
Implicit memory
Conscious memory for events
Explicit memory
We simply seem able to process and store information, and act on it, without having the slightest awareness of what the information is or why we are acting on it
Blind sight or unconscious vision.
Refers to unobservable feelings and cognitions inferred from an individual’s self-report or behaviors.
Black box
Alarm reaction that activateduring potentially life-threatening emergencies
Fiight or flight response
Tendency to behave in a certain way
(for example, escape), elicited by an external event (a threat) and a feeling state (terror) and accompanied by a (possibly) characteristic physiological response
Action tendency
More persistent period of affect or
emotionality.
Mood
Refers to the valence dimension (i.e.,
pleasant or positive vs. unpleasant or negative) of an emotion.
Affect
Any emotional experience can be assigned as a point on this two-dimensional system; this two dimensional system is known as?
Circumplex model
Used to summarize commonalities among emotional states characteristic of an individual
Affective style
3 Components of emotion
Behavior
Physiology
Cognition
Characterized by exaggerated startle
responses, and other observable fear and anxiety reactions.
Fright disorders
Refers to protecting themselves
and their young through nurturing behavior (tend) and forming alliances with larger social groups, particularly other females
“tend and befriend”
Used in developmental psychopathology to indicate that we must consider a number of paths to a given outcome
Equifinality
Why is psychology soft science?
Mostly uses theories
3 aspects/ basic concepts to help determine the value of assessments.
Reliability
Validity
Standardization
How well your assessment tells you what will happen in the future.
Predictive validity
Lessen negative effect.
Inter-rater Reliability
Application of certain standards to ensure consistency across different measurements; uniform; lessen biases.
Standardization
Core of most clinical work; gathers info on current and past behavior, attitudes, and emotion, as we as a detailed history of the individual’s life in general and of presenting problems.
Clinical Interview
Involves the systematic observation of an individual’s behavior.
Mental Status Examination (MSE)
5 categories of MSE.
Physical appearance & behavior
Thought process
Mood & Affect
Intellectual Functioning
Sensorium
Rate or flow of speech.
Thought Process
Disorganized speech pattern.
Loose association/ Derailment
Object or event is present but is actually absent.
Hallucination
Seeing something but with a different perspective.
Illusion
Beliefs with no basis/ factual evidence; distorted view of reality.
Delusion
A person thinks people are after him and out to get him all the time.
Persecutory delusion
An individual thinks they’re all-powerful in some ways.
Grandeur delusion
Everything everyone else does somehow relates back to them.
Ideas of reference
3 types of delusion.
Persecutory delusion
Grandeur delusion
Ideas of reference
General awareness of surrounding.
Sensorium
