Chapter 2: Understanding Psychological Disorders: The Neuropsychosocial Approach Flashcards
Etiology
The factors that lead a person to develop a psychological disorder
Cerebral cortex
The outer layer of cells on the surface of the brain
Neurons
Brain cells that process information related to physical, mental, and emotional functioning
Brian circuits
Sets of connected neurons that work together to accomplish a basic process
Brain systems
Sets of brain circuits that work together to accomplish a complex function
Action pontential
The wave of chemical activity that moves from the cell body down the axon when a neuron fires
Synapse
The place where the tip of the axon of one neuron send signals to another neuron
Neurotransmitters
Chemicals that are release by the terminal buttons and cross the synaptic cleft.
Genes
segments of DNA that control the production of particular proteins and other substances
Genotype
the sum of an organism’s genes
Phenotype
the sum of an organism’s observable traits
Complex Inheritance
The transmission of traits that are expressed along a continuum by the interaction of sets of genes
Behavioral genetics
The field that investigates the degree to which the variability of characteristics in a population arises from genetic versus environmental factors
Heritability
An estimate of how much the variation in a characteristic within a population (in a specific environment) can be attributed to genetics
Monozygotic twins
Twins who have basically the same genetic makeup because they began life as a single fertilized egg, which then divided into two embryos, also referred to as identical twins
Dizygotic twins
Twins who developed from two fertilized eggs and so have the same overlap in genes (50%) as do siblings not conceived at the same time; fraternal twins
Classical conditioning
A type of learning that occurs when two stimuli are paired so that a neutral stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus that elevates a reflexive behaviors, also referred to as Pavlovian conditioning
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
A stimulus that reflexively elicits a behavior
Unconditioned response (UCR)
A behavior that is reflexively elicited by a stimulus
Conditioned stimulus (CS):
A neutral stimulus that, when paired with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to elicit the reflexive behavior
Conditioned response (CR)
A response that comes to be elicited by the previously neutral stimulus that has become conditioned stimulus
Conditioned emotional responses
Emotions and emotion-related behaviors that are classically conditioned