Exam 1-PSY 320

Question 1

Mental Hygiene Movement

Answer 1

Movement to treat mental patients more humanely and to view mental disorders as medical diseases.

Question 2

Psychopathology

Answer 2

Symptoms that cause mental, emotional, and/or physical pain.

Question 3

Continuum Model of Abnormality

Answer 3

Model of abnormality that views mental disorders not as categorically different from “normal” experiences but as lying somewhere along a continuum from healthy, functional behavior, thoughts, and feelings to unhealthy, dysfunctional behaviors, thoughts, and feelings.

Question 4

Cultural Relativism

Answer 4

View that norms among cultures set the standard for what counts as normal behavior, which implies that abnormal behavior can only be defined relative to these norms and that no universal definition of abnormality is therefore possible; only definitions of abnormality relative to a specific culture are possible.

Question 5

Unusualness

Answer 5

Criterion for abnormality that suggests that abnormal behaviors are rare or unexpected.

Question 6

Distress

Answer 6

In defining abnormality, the view that behaviors should be considered abnormal only if the individual suffers distress and wishes to be rid of the behaviors.

Question 7

Mental Illness

Answer 7

Phrase used to refer a physical illnesses that causes severe abnormal thoughts, behaviors, and feelings.

Question 8

Biological Theories

Answer 8

Theories of abnormality that focus on biological causes of abnormal behaviors.

Question 9

Supernatural Theories

Answer 9

Theories that see mental disorders as the result of super natural forces, such as divine intervention, curses, demonic possession, and/or personal sins; mental disorders then can be cured through religious rituals, exorcisms, confessions, and/or death.

Question 10

Psychological Theories

Answer 10

Theories that view mental disorders as caused by psychological processes, such as beliefs, thinking styles and coping styles

Question 11

Trephination

Answer 11

Procedure in which holes were drilled in the skulls of people displaying abnormal behavior, presumably to allow evil spirits to depart their bodies; performed in the Stone Age

Question 12

Psychic Epidemics

Answer 12

Phenomena in which large numbers of people begin to engage in unusual behaviors that appear to have a psychological origin

Question 13

Moral Treatment

Answer 13

Type of treatment delivered in mental hospitals in which patients were treated with respect and dignity and were encouraged to exercise self-control

Question 14

General Paresis

Answer 14

Disease that leads to paralysis, insanity, and eventually death; discovery of this disease helped establish a connection between biological diseases and mental disorders

Question 15

Mesmerism

Answer 15

Treatment for hysterical patients based on the idea that magnetic fluids in the patients’ bodies are affected by the magnetic forces of other people and objects; the patients’ magnetic forces are thought to be realigned by the practitioner through his or her own magnetic force.

Question 16

Psychoanalysis

Answer 16

Form of treatment for psychopathology involving alleviating unconscious conflicts driving psychological symptoms by helping people gain insight into their conflicts and finding ways of resolving these conflicts.

Question 17

Behaviorism

Answer 17

Study of the impact of reinforcements and punishments on behavior.

Question 18

Cognitions

Answer 18

Thoughts or Beliefs

Question 19

Self-efficacy beliefs

Answer 19

Beliefs that one can engage in the behaviors necessary to overcome a situation

Question 20

Patient’s Rights Movement

Answer 20

Movement to ensure that mental patients retain their basic rights and to remove them from institutions and care for them in the community

Question 21

Community Mental Health Centers

Answer 21

Institutions for the treatment of people with mental health problems in the community; may include teams of social workers, therapists, and physicians who coordinate care.

Question 22

Halfway Houses

Answer 22

Living facilities that offer people with long-term mental health problems the opportunity to live in a structured, supportive environment while they are trying to reestablish employment and ties to family and friends.

Question 23

Day Treatment Centers

Answer 23

Mental Health facilities that allow people to obtain treatment, along with occupational and rehabilitative therapies, during the day but to live at home at night.

Question 24

Managed Care

Answer 24

Health care system I which all necessary services for an individual patient are supposed to be coordinated by a primary care provider; the goals are to coordinate services for an existing medical problem and to prevent future medical problems.

Question 25

Theory

Answer 25

Set of assumptions about the likely causes of abnormality and appropriate treatments.

Question 26

Biological Approach

Answer 26

View that biological factors cause and should be used to treat abnormality

Question 27

Psychological Approach

Answer 27

Approaches to abnormality that focus on personality, behavior, and ways of thinking as possible causes of abnormality

Question 28

Sociocultural Approach

Answer 28

Approach to psychopathology focusing on the role of the environment, stress, and culture in producing psychopathology

Question 29

Biopsychosocial Approach

Answer 29

Approach to psychopathology that seeks to integrate biological, psychological, and social factors in understanding and treating psychopathology

Question 30

Diathesis-Stress model

Answer 30

Models that assert that only when a diathesis or vulnerability interacts with a stress or trigger will a disorder emerge.

Question 31

Cerebral Cortex

Answer 31

Part of the brain that regulates complex activities, such as speech and analytical thinking.

Question 32

Thalamus

Answer 32

Structure of the brain that directs incoming information from sense receptors (such as vision and hearing) to the cerebrum.

Question 33

Hypothalamus

Answer 33

Component of the brain that regulates eating, drinking, sex, and basic emotions; abnormal behaviors involving any of these activities may be the result of dysfunction in the hypothalamus

Question 34

Limbic System

Answer 34

Part of the brain that relays information from the primitive brain stem about changes in bodily functions to the cortex, where the information is interpreted.

Question 35

Amygdala

Answer 35

Structure of the limbic system critical to emotions such as fear.

Question 36

Hippocampus

Answer 36

Structure of the brain involved in memory and in the stress response.

Question 37

Neurotransmitter

Answer 37

Biochemicals, released from a sending neuron, that transmit messages to a receiving neuron in the brain and nervous system.

Question 38

Synapse

Answer 38

Space between a sending neuron into which neurotransmitters are first released (also known as the synaptic gap)

Question 39

Receptors

Answer 39

Molecules on the membranes of neurons to which neurotransmitters bind.

Question 40

Reuptake

Answer 40

Process in which a sending neuron reabsorbs some of the neurotransmitter in the synapse, decreasing the amount left in the synapse.

Question 41

Degradation

Answer 41

Process in which a receiving neuron releases an enzyme into the synapse, breaking down neurotransmitters into other biochemical.

Question 42

Endocrine System

Answer 42

System of glands that produces many different hormones.

Question 43

Hormone

Answer 43

Chemical that carries messages throughout the body, potentially affecting a person's mood, level of energy, and reaction to stress.

Question 44

Pituitary

Answer 44

Major endocrine gland that lies partly on the outgrowth of the brain and just below the hypothalamus; produces the largest number of different hormones and controls the secretions of other endocrine glands.

Question 45

Behavior Genetics

Answer 45

Study of the processes by which genes affect behavior and the extent to which personality and abnormality are genetically inherited

Question 46

Polygenics

Answer 46

Combination of many genes, each of which makes a small contribution to an inherited trait.

Question 47

Epigenetics

Answer 47

Study of how environmental conditions can change the expression of genes without changing the gene sequence.

Question 48

Antipsychotic Drug

Answer 48

Drugs used to treat psychotic symptoms, such as delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking.

Question 49

Antidepressant Drugs

Answer 49

Drugs used to treat the symptoms of depression, such as sad mood, negative thinking, and disturbances of sleep and appetite; common types are tricyclics, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors.

Question 50

Lithium

Answer 50

Drug used to treat manic and depressive symptoms.

Question 51

Anticonvulsants

Answer 51

Drugs used to treat mania and depression

Question 52

Antianxiety Drugs

Answer 52

Drugs used to treat anxiety, insomnia, and other psychological symptoms.

Question 53

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

Answer 53

Treatment for depression that involves the induction of a brain seizure by passing electrical current through the patient's brain while he or she is anesthetized.

Question 54

Psychosurgery

Answer 54

Rare treatment for mental disorders in which a neurosurgeon attempts to destroy small areas of the brain thought to be involved in a patient's symptoms

Question 55

Behavioral Approaches

Answer 55

Approaches to psychopathology that focus on the influence of reinforcements and punishments in producing behavior; the two core principles or processes of learning according to behaviorism are classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

Question 56

Classical Conditioning

Answer 56

Form of learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus that naturally elicits a response, thereby making the neutral stimulus itself sufficient to elicit the same response.

Question 57

Unconditioned Stimulus

Answer 57

In classical conditioning, stimulus that naturally elicits a reaction, as food elicits salivation in dogs.

Question 58

Unconditioned Response

Answer 58

In classical conditioning, response that naturally follows when a certain stimulus appears, such as a dog salivating when it smells food.

Question 59

Conditioned Response

Answer 59

In classical conditioning, response that first followed a natural stimulus but that now follows a conditioned stimulus.

Question 60

Conditioned Stimulus

Answer 60

In classical conditioning, previously neutral stimulus that, through pairing with a natural stimulus, becomes sufficient to elicit a response.

Question 61

Operant Conditioning

Answer 61

Form of learning in which behaviors lead to consequences that either reinforce or punish the organism, leading to an increased of a decreased probability of a future response

Question 62

Modeling

Answer 62

Process of learning behaviors by imitating others, especially authority figures or people like oneself.

Question 63

Observational Learning

Answer 63

Learning that occurs when a person observes the rewards and punishments of another's behavior and then behaves in accordance with the same rewards and punishments

Question 64

Behavioral Therapies

Answer 64

Psychotherapeutic approaches that focus on identifying the reinforcements and punishments contributing to a person's maladaptive behaviors and on changing specific behaviors.

Question 65

Systematic Desensitization Therapy

Answer 65

Type of behavior therapy that attempts to reduce client anxiety through relaxation techniques and progressive exposure to feared stimuli

Question 66

Cognitive Theories

Answer 66

Theories that focus on belief systems and ways of thinking as the causes of abnormal behavior.

Question 67

Cognitions

Answer 67

Thoughts or beliefs

Question 68

Causal Attribution

Answer 68

Explanation for why an event occurred

Question 69

Global Assumptions

Answer 69

Fundamental beliefs that encompass all types of situations.

Question 70

Cognitive Therapies

Answer 70

Therapeutic Approaches that focus on changing people's maladaptive thought patterns.

Question 71

Cognitive Behavioral Therapies (CBT)

Answer 71

Treatment focused on changing negative patterns of thinking and solving concrete problems through brief sessions in which a therapist helps a client challenge negative thoughts, consider alternative perspectives, and take effective actions.

Question 72

Psychodynamic Theories

Answer 72

Theories developed by Freud's followers but usually differing somewhat from Freud's original theories.

Question 73

Psychoanalysis

Answer 73

Form of treatment for psychopathology involving alleviating unconscious conflicts driving psychological symptoms by helping people gain insight into their conflicts and finding ways of resolving these conflicts.

Question 74

Catharsis

Answer 74

Expression of emotions connected to memories and conflicts, which, according to Freud, leads to the release of energy used to keep these memories in the unconscious.

Question 75

Repression

Answer 75

Defense mechanism in which the ego pushes anxiety provoking material back into the unconscious

Question 76

Libido

Answer 76

According to Freud, psychical energy derived from physiological drives.

Question 77

Id

Answer 77

According to Freud, most primitive part of the unconscious; consists of drivers and impulses seeking immediate gratifications

Question 78

Ego

Answer 78

Part of the psyche that channels libido to be acceptable to the superego and within the constraints of reality.

Question 79

Superego

Answer 79

Part of the unconscious that consists of absolute moral standards internalized from one's parents during childhood and from one's culture

Question 80

Unconscious

Answer 80

Area of the psyche where memories, wishes, and needs are stored and where conflicts among the id, ego, and superego are played out

Question 81

Preconscious

Answer 81

According to Freud, area of the psyche that contains material from the unconscious before it reaches the conscious mind

Question 82

Conscious

Answer 82

Refers to mental contents and processes of which we are actively aware.

Question 83

Defense Mechanisms

Answer 83

Strategies the ego uses to disguise or transform unconscious wishes

Question 84

Psychosexual stages

Answer 84

According to Freud, stages in the developmental process children pass through; in each stage, sex drives are focused on the stimulation of certain areas of the body, and particular psychological issues can arouse anxiety

Question 85

Ego psychology

Answer 85

Branch of psychodynamic theory emphasizing the importance of the individual's ability to regulate defenses in ways that allow healthy functioning within the realities of society

Question 86

Object Relations

Answer 86

View held by a group of modern psychodynamic theorists that one develops a self-concept and appraisals of others in a four-stage process during childhood and retains them throughout adulthood; psychopathology consists of an incomplete progression though these stages or an acquisition of poor self- and other concepts

Question 87

Collective Unconscious

Answer 87

According to Carl Jung, the wisdom accumulated by a society over hundreds of years of human existence and stored in the memories of individuals.

Question 88

Psychodynamic Therapies

Answer 88

Therapies focused on uncovering and resolving unconscious conflicts that drive psychological symptoms.

Question 89

Free Association

Answer 89

Method of uncovering unconscious conflicts in which the client is taught to talk about whatever comes to mind, without censoring any thoughts.

Question 90

Resistance

Answer 90

In psychodynamic therapy, when a client finds it difficult or impossible to address certain material, the client's resistance signals an unconscious conflict, which the therapist then tries to interpret

Question 91

Transference

Answer 91

In psychodynamic therapies, the client's reaction to the therapist as if the therapist were an important person in his or her early development; the client's feelings and beliefs about this other person are transferred onto the therapist

Question 92

Working Through

Answer 92

Method used in psychodynamic therapies in which the client repeatedly goes over and over painful memories and difficult issues as a way to understand and accept them.

Question 93

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

Answer 93

More structured, short-term version of psychodynamic therapies.

Question 94

Humanistic Therapy

Answer 94

Type of therapy in which the goal is to help the client discover his or her place in the world and to accomplish self-actualization through self-exploration; based on the assumption that the natural tendency for humans is toward growth (also called person-centered therapy).

Question 95

Self-actualization

Answer 95

Fulfillment of one's potential for love, creativity, and meaning.

Question 96

Humanistic Theories

Answer 96

Views that people strive to develop their innate potential for goodness and self-actualization; abnormality arises as a result of societal pressures to conform to unchosen dictates that clash with a person's self-actualization needs and from an inability to satisfy more basic needs, such as hunger.

Question 97

Client-Centered Therapy (CCT)

Answer 97

Carl Roger's form of psychotherapy, which consists of an equal relationship between therapist and client as the client searches for his or her inner self, receiving unconditional positive regard and an empathic understanding from the therapist.

Question 98

Reflection

Answer 98

Method of responding in which a therapist expresses his or her attempt to understand what the client is experiencing and trying to communicate.

Question 99

Family Systems Theories

Answer 99

Theories that see the family as a complex system that works to maintain the status quo

Question 100

Family Systems Therapy

Answer 100

Psychotherapy that focuses on the family, rather than the individual, as the source of problems; family therapists challenge communication styles, disrupt pathological family dynamics, and challenge defensive conceptions in order to harmonize relationships among all members and within each member.

Question 101

Emotion-focused approaches

Answer 101

Theories of disorders that view poor regulation of emotions as being at the core of many types of psychopathology, including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and most of the personality disorders.

Question 102

Primary Prevention

Answer 102

Prevention of the development of psychological disorders before they start.

Question 103

Secondary Prevention

Answer 103

Detection of psychological disorders in their earliest stages and treatment designed to reduce their development.

Question 104

Tertiary Prevention

Answer 104

Program focusing on people who already have a disease with the aim of preventing relapse and reducing the impact of the disease on the person's quality of life.

Question 105

Assessment

Answer 105

Process of gathering information about a person's symptom and their possible causes.

Question 106

Diagnosis

Answer 106

Label given to a set of symptoms that tend to occur together

Question 107

Validity

Answer 107

Degree of correspondence between a measurement an the phenomenon under study

Question 108

Reliability

Answer 108

Degree of consistency in a measurement--that is, the extent to which it yields accurate measurements of a phenomenon across several trials, across different populations, and in different forms.

Question 109

Structured Interview

Answer 109

Meeting between a clinician and a client or a client's associate(s) in which the clinician asks questions that are standardized and are usually designed to determine whether a diagnosis is warranted.

Question 110

Symptom Questionnaire

Answer 110

Questionnaire that assesses what symptoms a person is experiencing

Question 111

Personality Inventories

Answer 111

Questionnaires that assess people's typical ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving; used to obtain information about people's wellbeing, self-concept, attitudes and beliefs.

Question 112

Behavioral Observation

Answer 112

Method for assessing the frequency of a client's behaviors and the specific situations in which they occur

Question 113

Self-monitoring

Answer 113

Method of assessment in which a client records the number of times per day that he or she engages in a specific behavior and the conditions surrounding the behavior.

Question 114

Intelligence Tests

Answer 114

Tests that assess a person's intellectual strengths and weaknesses

Question 115

Neuropsychological Tests

Answer 115

Tests of cognitive, sensory, and/or motor skills that attempt to differentiate people with deficits in these areas from normal subjects.

Question 116

Computerized Tomography (CT)

Answer 116

Method of analyzing brain structure by passing narrow X-ray beams through a person's head from several angles to produce measurements from which a computer can construct an image of the brain.

Question 117

Positron Emissions Test (PET)

Answer 117

Method of localizing and measuring brain activity by detecting photons that result from the metabolization of an injected isotope

Question 118

Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT)

Answer 118

Procedure to assess brain functioning in which a tracer substance in injected into the bloodstream and then travels to the brain, where it can indicate the activity level of specific areas of the brain when viewed through a SPECT scanner.

Question 119

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Answer 119

Method of measuring both brain structure and brain function through the construction of a magnetic field that affects hydrogen atoms in the brain, emitting signals that a computer then records and uses to produce a three-dimensional image of the brain.

Question 120

Psychophysiological Tests

Answer 120

Tests in which instruments are attached to the periphery of the body to record changes due to activity in the nervous system

Question 121

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Answer 121

Procedure in which multiple electrodes are placed on the scalp to detect low-voltage electrical current produced by the firing of specific neurons in the brain