Exam 4 Flashcards
Clinical psychology
the study, assessment, and treatment of people with psychological difficulties.
Illusory correlations
If we expect two things to be associated
-Rorschach Inkblot tests
-no right answer
Hindsight and overconfidence
Clinicians make diagnoses and then search for behavior that confirms and explains the diagnosis
-suicide
Clinical intuition versus statistical prediction
Statistical prediction is usually superior to expert intuition, numbers are better than intuition. (such as using past grades and aptitude scores to predict success in graduate or professional school).
Mechanisms
Things that cause your problems
-not getting enough sleep and being especially sensitive to anxiety
Depression
A mood disorder that involves persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and loss of interest in previously enjoyable activities
Depressive realism
the tendency of mildly depressed
people to make ACCURATE PERCEPTION of reality than those with healthy minds
Explanatory style
one’s habitual way of explaining
life’s events
Global causes
“It’s going to affect everything I do”
Stable Causes
“It’s going to last forever”
Internal Causes
“It’s all my fault”
Is negative thinking a cause or a result of
depression?
-Depressed moods cause negative thinking.
-Negative thinking causes depressed moods.
Loneliness
a painful awareness that our social
relationships are less numerous or less
meaningful than we desire.
Shyness
social anxiety marked by self-
consciousness and worry about what others
think.
Self-presentation theory
a theory positing that we are eager to present ourselves in ways that make a good impression
-we feel social anxiety when we are motivated to impress others but have self-doubts
Social skills training
Observing and practicing new behaviors in safe situations, one may develop the confidence to behave more effectively in other situations.
-The counselor asks the
person to rehearse by talking in front of a
mirror a day before the class discussion.
Explanatory style therapy
used to help people reverse their negative beliefs about themselves and their future.
-Example: teaching college students experiencing depression to change their typical attributions
Misinformation effect
incorporating “misinformation” into
one’s memory of the event after witnessing an event and receiving misleading information about it
-Witnesses may believe a red light was actually green or a robber had a mustache when he didn’t
After improvement is achieved?
it endures best if people attribute it to factors under their own control.
Origins
Genetic problems
-anxiety runs in family
Precipitants
recents changes that may have triggered these problems
-Became depressed in middle school, worried it might get worse in high school
