Chapter 3 Flashcards
Etiology:
causal pattern of abnormal behavior
etiology must consider…
Must consider the time frame for the different causes of abnormal behavior
genes, environment…
distal risk factors:
occur early in life but don’t show effects for many years
proximal risk factors:
occur shortly before occurrence of symptoms
immediate
reinforcing contributory cause:
condition that reinforces or maintains maladaptive behaviour that is already occurring
Feedback and bidirectionality in abnormal behavior
Many interacting causes; difficult sometimes to determine what is a cause and what is an effect
Diathesis stress models:
describe mental disorders that develop when someone has a preexisting vulnerability for a disorder, experiences a stressor, boom disorder
Diathesis:
vulnerability; predisposition toward developing a disorder. Either bio, psych, or sociocultural causal factors.
Stress:
response of individuals to taxing demands
Protective factors:
decrease the likelihood of negative outcomes among those at risk–social support, resilience
resilience
Ability to successfully adapt to very difficult circumstances
biopsychosocial viewpoint
acknowledges that biological, social, and psychological factors all interact and play a role in psychopathology and treatment
Biological perspective
Mental disorders are disorders of the central nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, and/or the endocrine system that are either inherited or caused by a pathological process
polygenic
(interaction btwn different genes; it’s not the small effect of a single gene)
Behavior genetics
is the field that focuses on studying the heritability of the mental disorders
Vulnerabilities to mental disorders are almost always polygenic
Genes affect behavior indirectly; internal/external environment play a role
Three primary methods:
Three primary methods:Behavior genetics
Family history method Twin method(If both identical twins have it’s concordant as opposed to discordant) Adoption method (See if a child who adopted out had the disorder (see if it’s genetic or environmental))
how to separate genetic and environmental influences:
shared would make the children similar, whether influence occurs in family or environment; nonshared environmental influences are those in which kids in a family differ
Linkage analysis
studies of mental disorders capitalize on several known locations on chromosomes of genes for other inherited physical characteristics or biological processes
Most successful in locating genes for single gene brain disorders
Havent helped us understand more complex disorders
neural plasticity
flexibility of the brain. Existing circuits can be modified, new can be created, with good or detrimental effects.
So environment actually physically biologically changes your brain
That’s how therapy works–our brains change, our thinking changes, in response to talk therapy
Five parts of a neuron:
dendrites (receive signals) soma (cell body keeps cell alive and passes signal to axon) axon (long path for signal) myelin sheath (shield axon)
and axon terminal buttons (which signal through the synapse to the next neuron’s dendrites using neurotransmitters)
All or none law–either it signals or it doesnt but it cant be stopped
Neurons
brain/nerve cells, must communicate thru the transmission of electrical nerve impulses in order for the brain to function adequately
Synapse:
tiny fluid filled space between axon endings of one neuron (presynaptic neurons) and the dendrites of another neuron (postsynaptic neurons)
5 different neurotransmitters have been most extensively studied in psychopathology:
Medication used to treat various disorders are often believed to operate by correcting these imbalances
Dopamine linked to movement and pleasure Norepinephrine linked to stress Serotonin (mood) Glutamate (learning/forming memories) Gamma aminobutyric acid (arousal/anxiety)
Neurotransmitters can have different functions!!!
hormonal
Hormones are chemical messengers secreted by a set of endocrine glands in our bodies
pituitary gland is master gland of body, producing variety of hormones that regulate or control other endocrine glands; pituitary gland stimulates gland to release hormone to stimulate gland to release hormone and the gland monitors the levels of hormones we need
Many hormones associated with psychological function
Hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis
Messages in the form of CRH travels from hypothalamus to pituitary gland
Pituitary releases ATCH to produce epinephrine and stress hormone cortisol
Once cortisol is elevated it provides negative feedback to hypothalamus and pituitary to decrease their release in CRH and ATCH, which in turn reduces the release of adrenaline and cortisol
Malfunctioning of this system leads to psychopathology issues including depression and ptsd
Malfunctioning is a risk factor for ptsd
The Psychodynamic Perspective
Sigmund Freud founded the psychoanalytic school
Emphasized the role of unconscious motives and thoughts and their dynamic interrelationships in the determination of both normal and abnormal behavior
Id, Ego, Superego
Defense Mechanisms
Two key criticisms of traditional psychoanalytic theory:
Failure to realize the scientific limits of personal reports
Lack of scientific evidence to support many of its assumptions or its effectiveness
The Behavioral Perspective
Only the study of directly observable behavior and of the stimuli and reinforcing conditions that control it could serve as a basis for understanding human behavior
Behaviorists focus on the effects of environmental conditions (stimuli) on the acquisition, modification, and possible elimination of various types of response patterns, both adaptive and maladaptive.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Origins of behavioral view are tied to classical conditioning—a form of learning in which a neutral stimulus is paired repeatedly with an unconditioned stimulus that naturally elicits an unconditioned behavior. After repeated pairings, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that elicits a conditioned response.
OPERANT CONDITIONING
In operant (or instrumental) conditioning, an individual learns how to achieve a desired goal. Reinforcement refers to the delivery of a reward/pleasant stimulus, or removal of an aversive stimulus
Classical vs operant conditioning:
classical talks about autonomic responses/things that happen naturally (e.g. salivation); operant conditioning talks about voluntary response and consequence
Observational learning:
learning through observation alone, without directly experiencing an unconditioned stimulus or a reinforcer
Cognitive-behavioral perspective:
thoughts and information processing can become distorted and lead to maladaptive emotions and behavior.
Self-schemas
include our views of who we are, what we might become, and what is important to us. some may be distorted and inaccurate.
Attribution theory
has contributed significantly to the cognitive-behavioral approach.
Attribution is the process of assigning causes to things that happen.
Attributional style is a characteristic way in which an individual tends to assign causes to bad events or good events.
Nondepressed people tend to have a self-serving bias in which they are more likely to make internal, stable, and global attributions for positive rather than negative events.
The Social Perspective
Examine the types of social factors that make people vulnerable to disorder.
Social factors that may have important detrimental effects on a child’s socioemotional development:
Early deprivation or trauma
Low socioeconomic status and unemployment
Maladaptive peer relationships
Prejudice and discrimination
Negative reinforcement:
removal of something aversive
Positive reinforcement:
addition of something pleasant
pavlov’s experiment
In Pavlov’s experiment, food is the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and salivation the unconditioned response (UCR).
A stimulus that signals food delivery and eventually elicits salivation is called a conditioned stimulus (CS).
Conditioning has occurred when presentation of the conditioned stimulus alone elicits salivation—the conditioned response (CR).
Extinction occurs when the CS is repeatedly presented alone and the conditioned response gradually extinguishes.
Four categories of biological factors are particularly relevant to development of maladaptive behaviors:
Genetic vulnerabilities
Brain dysfunction
Neurotransmitter and hormonal abnormalities in brain and CNS
Temperament
CRH
corticotropin releasing hormone
acth
adrenocorticotropic hormone
