Developmental Psychology and Psychopathology Flashcards
Cultural relativism
There are no universal standards or rules for labelling a behaviour as abnormal; behaviours can only be labeled abnormal relative to cultural norms
Four dimensions of abnormality (4 Ds)
- dysfunction
- distress
- deviance
- danger
Biological theories of abnormality
View abnormal behaviour as being similar to physical diseases; cure is restoring the body to health
Supernatural theories of abnormality
Abnormal behaviour is the result of divine intervention, curses, demonic possession, and sin; cure is various rituals (religious), exorcisms, confessions, and atonement
Psychological theories of abnormality
Abnormal behaviour is the result of trauma (e.g. bereavement, chronic stress); cure is rest, relaxation, and a change of environment
Psychic epidemics
Phenomenon in which large numbers of people engage in unusual behaviours that appear to have a psychological origin
Psychoanalysis
Study of the unconscious
Behaviourism
Study of the impact of reinforcements and punishments on behaviour
Statistical deviance
From this perspective, a child who displays too much or too little of any age-expected behaviour might have a disorder
Sociocultural norms
Children who fail to conform to age-related, gender specific, or culture relevant expectations might be viewed as struggling, challenging, or disordered
Psychopathology
Intense, frequent, and/or persistent maladaptive patterns of emotion, cognition, and behaviour
Developmental psychopathology
Maladaptive patterns occur in the context of typical development and result in the current and potential impairment of infants, children, and adolescents
Prevalence
Proportion of a population with a disorder
Incidence
Rate at which new cases arise
Classification
System for describing the important categories, groups, or dimensions of disorders
Diagnosis
Method of assigning people to specific classification categories
Categorical classification
Assumes that there are groups of individuals with relatively similar patterns of disorder
Differential diagnoses
Decisions about mutually exclusive categories of disorders
Theories of abnormality
- normal as the absence of disorders
- normal as a statistical average
- normal as an ideal or desired state
- normal as successful adaptation
Barriers to mental health care
- perceptions of mental health and child welfare
- perceptions of psychological problems
- structural barriers
Theoretical explanatory models of psychopathology
- Physiological models
- Psychodynamic models
- Behavioural and cognitive models
- Humanistic models
- Family or systemic models
- Sociocultural models
Competence
Effective functioning in important environments
Risk
Increased vulnerability to a disorder
Risk factors
Individual, family, and social characteristics that are associated with this increased vulnerability (risk)
Resilience
Adaptation (or competence) despite adversity (better-than-expected functioning)
Protective factors
Individual, family, and social characteristics that are associated with this positive adaptation (resilience)
Connectome
Diagram of the brain’s neural connections
Behaviour genetics
Study of the relationship between genetic variation and psychological traits
Developmental pathways
Adjustments and maladjustments are points or places along a life-long map
Equifinality
Sets of differing circumstances that lead to different outcomes
Multifinality
sets of similar circumstances that lead to different outcomes
Competence
Effective functioning in important environments
Core competencies
- positive sense of self
- self-control
- decision-making skills
- a moral system of belief
- social connections
3 biobehavioural shifts
- 2 to 3 months old: routines of feeding, dressing, and comforting
- 7 to 9 months old: schedules, communication of intentions through gestures and vocalisations
- 18 to 20 months old: increase independence through exploring
Temperament
Early-emerging basic dispositions in the domains of activity, affectivity, attention, and self-regulation
Reactivity
A child’s excitability and responsiveness
Regulation
What the child does to control their reactivity
Differential sensitivity
Some children are more susceptible than other to negative and positive environmental conditions
Resistant/ambivalent attachment
Related to inconsistency and unpredictability of care
Avoidant attachment
Related to inadequate care/neglect
Disorganised attachment
Signals a pattern of care in which the caregiver is perceived as fighting, frightened, or malicious
Infant mental health
- physiological functioning
- temperament
- attachment
Social referencing
Refers to children looking to their caregivers for advice on how to act in a certain situation (Not exclusive to children)
Affective attunement
Adjusting yourself to the emotional state of another person
Pica
Ingestion of non-food substances (e.g. paint, pebbles, and dirt)
Rumination
Repeated regurgitation of food
Avoidant/restricted food intake disorder
Characterised by a limited appetite, a severe selectivity of food, or a fear of feeding
Sleep-wake disorders
Insomnia, disorders of arousal, nightmare disorder
Central hypotheses of attachment theory
- individual differences in the quality of infant-caregiver relationships, are largely the product of the history of interaction with the caregiver
- variations in attachment quality are the foundation for later individual differences in personality
Attachment styles
Secure attachment
Insecure attachment
- resistant/ambivalent
- avoidant
- disorganised
Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD)
- lack of organised attachment behaviours
- do not seek comfort when distressed
- problems with emotion regulation
Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder (DSED)
- little (if any) inhibition with strangers
- do not socially reference from their caregiver
- socially superficial and attention-seeking
- can display inappropriate physical contact
History of extreme insufficient care (DSM-5C)
- social neglect or deprivation
- repeated changes of primary caregivers
- rearing in settings that limit forming selective attachments
Primary appraisal
Noticing a conflict and evaluating whether it poses a threat
Secondary appraisal
Trying to understand why the conflict is happening and what the child could do about it (were they to blame?)
Sensitivity hypothesis
Repeated exposure to conflict reduces a child’s threshold to react negatively, and increases reactivity to conflict
Features of friendships
- voluntary
- reciprocal
- equal status
Effects of friendship
- motivation for empathy
- shared imaginative play
- broader social network
- expectations about social status: acceptance and rejected
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Involves impairment in two fundamental behaviour domains:
- deficits in social interactions and communication
- restricted, repetitive, patterns of behaviours, interests, and activities
Echolalia
Meaningless repetition of words spoken by someone else
Social cognition
Refers to the ways in which people think about themselves and their social worlds
Joint attention
Capacity to coordinate one’s visual attention with the attention of another person
Theory of mind
Ability to attribute mental states to others
Affective social competence
Coordination of the capacities to experience emotion, send emotional messages to others and read other’s emotional signals
Savant
Person with autism who has specific skills, a disharmonious IQ profile, and might be intellectually disabled in other areas of competence (10% of autistic individuals)
Central coherence
Natural tendency of humans to to see connections between stimuli and behold a whole image
Executive functioning
Cognitive functions that regulate goal-directed behaviour
Neurodevelopmental disorders
Disorders that typically arise first in childhood
Neurocognitive disorders
Disorders that typically arise in older age
Self-regulation
Includes one’s own control of emotion, cognition, and behaviour; refers to actions taken to achieve future goals despite conflicting desires in the present
Externalising disorders
Symptoms are manifested by outward behaviour, such as aggression, defiance, or hyperactivity
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)
A sustained pattern of anger, irritability, and defiant or vindictive behaviour
Conduct Disorder (CD)
Persistent pattern of very problematic behaviour in which there are serious violations of social norms and rules
Callous-unemotional characteristics
- lack of empathy
- lack of guilt or remorse
- shallow emotions
- lack of concern about performance
Antisocial behaviour
Behaviour that harms others or lacks consideration for the wellbeing of others
Disruptive behaviour disorders (DSM-5)
- oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)
- conduct disorder (CD)
- antisocial personality Disorder (ASPD)
- intermittent explosive disorder (IED)
- pyromania
- kleptomania
The Cascade Effect
When having one risk/promotive factor, this to only predicts a developmental outcome but also causes many other, often unrelated, (mal)adaptive things to happen further in development
Hostile attribution bias
Tendency to associate any behaviour with something negative/threatening
Substance use disorders
Disorders that involve chronic difficulties in resisting the desire to drink alcohol or take drugs
Gambling disorder
Involves the inability to resist the impulse to gamble
Substance intoxication
Set of behavioural and psychological changes that occur as a result of the physiological effects of a substance on the central nervous system
Substance withdrawal
Set of physiological and behavioural symptoms that result when people who have been using substances heavily for prolonged periods of time stop or greatly reduce their use
- symptoms are typically the opposite of intoxication
DSM-5 criteria for Substance Use Disorder
- impaired control
- social impairment
- risky use
- pharmacological
First stage of alcohol withdrawal
- begins within a few hours
- tremulousness, weakness, profuse perspiration
- person may experience anxiety, headaches, nausea, and abdominal cramps (may also retch and vomit)
- person may be flushed, restless, easily startled (but alert), and may begin to see or hear things
Second stage of alcohol withdrawal
- begins after 12 hrs
- includes convulsive seizures
- may also appear on 2nd or 2rd day of withdrawal
Third stage of alcohol withdrawal
- characterised by delirium tremens (DTs)
- auditory, visual, and tactile hallucinations
- person may develop bizarre delusions
- person gets little sleep, is agitated, and disoriented
- physiological symptoms include a fever, perspiration, and an irregular heartbeat
- this stage is fatal in 10% of cases, due to hyperthermia or collapse of the peripheral vascular system
SUD symptoms: impaired control
- Using larger amounts or over a longer period of time than intended
- Persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control
- Great deal of time spent in obtaining, using, and/or recovering from
- Craving or a strong desire or urge to use
SUD symptoms: social impairment
- Recurrent use resulting in failure to fulfil major role obligations
- Continued use despite persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by use
- Important social, occupational, or recreational activities are given up or reduced because of use
SUD symptoms: risky use
- Recurrent use (2 or more) in physically hazardous situations
- Continued use despite knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent physical or psychological problems that is caused or exacerbated by use
SUD symptoms: pharmacological
- Tolerance: defined by need for increased amounts to achieve desired effect or markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount
- Withdrawal: either with withdrawal symptoms or continued use to relieve or avoid withdrawal
Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder
~ 1%
Interactive Drawing Test
ASD diagnostic measure of reciprocity
Embedded Figures Test
ASD diagnostic measure of central coherence
- children with ASD are faster than TD children, which is evidence for a weaker central coherence
Most common developmental trajectory of ASD between the ages of 3 and 14
Improvements in the communication domain
Physical dependence
Involves susceptibility to withdrawal symptoms; it occurs only in combination with tolerance
Withdrawal symptoms
Noxious physical and psychological effects caused by reduction or cessation of substance intake (e.g., sleep disturbances, headaches, nausea and vomiting, tremors, restlessness, anxiety, and depression); these symptoms can range from relatively mild to life-threatening
Psychological dependence
A craving or compulsion to use despite the likelihood of significant negative consequences, and is not always accompanied by withdrawal symptoms
Addiction
Chronic disorder characterised by compulsive drug seeking and abuse, physiological effects, loss of control over the urges to use drugs, and impairment
Gateway hypothesis
Inclusive stage theory of drug involvement that proposes that the use of alcohol or marijuana acts as a gateway to the use of harder drugs such as cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamines
Common liability to addiction model
Assumes that there is a nonspecific propensity to use drugs.
This propensity is correlated with both opportunities to use various drugs and the actual use of drugs given an opportunity.
Shared individual and social factors, then, contribute to the use and abuse of multiple substances.
