Chapters 1-4 Flashcards
Definition of abnormal psychology
Branch that studies unusual patterns of behavior, emotion, and thought, which may or may not be understood as precipitating a mental disorder
What is abnormal behavior?
- suffering (pain emotion/physical)
- maladaptive
- deviancy
- violation of standards of society
- social discomfort
- irrationally/unpredictability
- dangerousness
What makes defining abnormal behavior difficult
It’s hard to determine what is abnormal. Has to be abnormal in a way that inhibits your general well-being.
Advantages of classifying a mental disorder
- helps patient understand
- sense of relief
- get treatment / help
- relieve symptoms
- prevention
- management
Disadvantages of classifying a mental disorder
- stigma: mark of disgrace associated with disorder
- stereotyping: widely held, oversimplified idea of a person
- labelling
Incidence
Number of new cases
Prevalence
Number of all cases (new and old)
Diathesis stress model
A psychological theory that attempts to explain behavior as a result of genetic vulnerability together with stress from life experiences
-everyone reacts differently
-brain wiring
-developmental history
Diathesis: a predisposition (tendency to suffer from a condition)
Stressor vs trigger vs protective factor
Stressor: current challenges in a persons life
Trigger: sets off the stress response
Protective factor: prevents you from getting the disorder (meditation, yoga)
What is a culture specific disorder?
Disorder that only appears in a specific culture.
Ex: Japanese have a social disorder where they are embarrassed of their body and hide from society
Types of Neurotransmitters
- acetylcholine: muscle contraction, hormones, Central nervous system
- dopamine: mood. Too much= schizophrenia, too little= Parkinson’s
- GABA:motor control, vision, anxiety
- glutamate: learning and memory
- norepinephrine: emotions, sleeping/dreams
- serotonin: body temp., mood, pain. Too much= hypersomnia
What are schemas
A web of ideas you know about a thing.
Knowledge is schema.
Ex: infant thinks a cow and dog are the same until it learns the difference
Biological viewpoints
- neurotransmitters (imbalances)
- hormone imbalances
- genetic vulnerability (family history, genotype to phenotype)
- constitutional liabilities (physical handicapped)
- brain development/ neuroplasticity
- physical deprivation/ disruption
Sociocultural viewpoint
- Cross cultural factors (testing/ experiments)
- causal factors environment (gender influences)
- pathogenic (capable of causing disease) societal influences (economic status, social roles)
- impact (lack science, inadequate DSM)
Psychosocial viewpoints of psychodynamic perspectives
structure of personality -id -ego -super ego defence mechanism psychosexual stages -oral -anal -phallic -latency -genital Interpersonal relationships
Psychosocial viewpoints of behavioral perspective
all behavior acquired through conditioning:
- classical (neutral stimulus)
- instrumental (reinforcement of behavior)
- Generalization (range of possibilities) and discrimination (distinguish in variability and differences)
- observational (structured, you come in my office and I observe you) (unstructured, observe natural behavior in natural environment)
Psychosocial viewpoints on the adoption perspective
No one viewpoint accounts for maladaption
Behavior interpreted by persons viewpoint
Psychosocial viewpoints of cognitive behavioral perspective
Social scripts that are learned as a schema
Attribution style and psychopathy (genes)
Process assigning causes to things that happen
Cognitive therapy (problem behavior due to maladaptive schema)
Causal factors
- our views on the world and ourselves
- early deprivation/ trauma
- inadequate parenting
- marital discord and divorce
