Final Flashcards
Conditioned Emotional Responses
Consist of emotional and physiological responses that develop to a specific object or situation
Extinction
(1) in classical conditioning, the loss or weakening of a conditioned response when a conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus no longer occur together; (2) in operant conditioning, the weakening of an operant response when reinforcement is no longer available
Learning
A process by which behaviour or knowledge changes as a result of experience
Unconditioned response (UR)
A reflexive, unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus; a stimulus which triggers a response naturally, before/without any conditioning.
Classical/Pavlovian Conditioning
A form of associative learning in which an organism learns to associate a neutral stimulus (e.g. a sound) with a biologically relevant stimulus (e.g. food), which results in a change in the response to the previously neutral stimulus (e.g. salivation); Learning to link two stimuli in a way that helps us anticipate an event to which we have a reaction (associative learning).
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
A once-neutral stimulus that later elicits a conditioned response because it has a history of being paired with an unconditioned stimulus
Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
A stimulus that elicits a reflexive response without learning
Preparedness
The biological predisposition to rapidly learn a response to a particular class of stimuli
Spontaneous Recovery
The reoccurrence of a previously extinguished conditioned response, typically after some time has passed since extinction; response is smaller than directly after acquisition.
Generalization
Takes place when an operant response occurs in response to a new stimulus that is similar to the stimulus present during original learning; tendency to have conditioned responses triggered by related stimuli.
Conditioned Taste Aversion
Acquired dislike or disgust for a food or drink because it was paired with illness
Acquisition
The initial phase of learning in which a response is established; association between neutral stimulus and US is acquired; know that it has occurred if CS triggers a CR; Ns needs to repeatedly appear before US; strength of association increases over time.
Conditioned Response
The learned response that occurs to the conditioned stimulus
Discrimination
Occurs when an operant response is made to one stimulus but not to another, even if the stimuli are similar.
How are responses learned through classical conditioning acquired/lost?
Acquisition occurs with repeated pairings of CS and US. Once acquired, it can be extinguished if the CS and US no longer occur together. During extinction, the CR diminishes, although it may reappear through spontaneous recovery.
What are the roles of biological and evolutionary factors in classical conditioning?
Responses to biologically relevant stimuli (e.g. snakes) are more easily conditioned than responses to flowers or guns. Avoidance of potentially harmful foods is critical to survival, so organisms can develop conditioned taste aversion quickly.
How is negative political advertising related to conditioning?
It uses evaluative conditioning. Negative images/sounds/statements are paired with images of targeted candidate. Viewers link negative emotions with target. If images are deemed cruel/inappropriate, it is possible that the viewers will feel negative emotions toward the sponsor of the ad.
Partial (intermittent) Reinforcement
A schedule in which only a certain number of responses are rewarded, or a certain amount of time must pass before reinforcement is available; target behaviour takes longer to be acquired but persists longer.
Punisher
A stimulus that is contingent upon a response, and that results in a decrease in behaviour.
Positive (additive) Punishment
A process in which a behaviour decreases in frequency because it was followed by a particular, usually unpleasant, stimulus.
Negative (subtractive) Punishment
Occurs when a behaviour decreases because it removes/diminishes a particular stimulus.
Operant Conditioning
A type of learning in which behaviour is influenced by consequences; changing behavioural responses in response to consequences (contingencies); adjusting to the consequences of our behaviours (functionalism); initiated by organism.
Variable-Interval Schedule
The first response is reinforced following a variable amount of time; slow, consistent responding.
Reinforcement
A process in which an event or reward that follows a response increases the likelihood of that response occurring again.
Fixed-Interval Schedule
Reinforces the first response occurring after a set amount of time passes; slow, unsustained responding (rapid responding near time for reinforcement).
Partial Reinforcement
Only a certain number of responses are rewarded, or a certain amount of time must pass before reinforcement is available.
Primary Reinforcers
Reinforcing stimuli that satisfy basic motivational needs - needs that affect an individual’s ability to survive (and, if possible, reproduce).
Discriminative Stimulus
A cue or event that indicates that a response, if made, will be reinforced.
Reinforcer
A stimulus that is contingent upon a response, and that increases the probability of that response occurring again
Punishment
A process that decreases the future probability of a response.
Continuous Reinforcement
Every response made results in reinforcement; subject acquires the desired behaviour quickly.
Negative Reinforcement
Involves the strengthening of a behaviour because it removes/diminishes a stimulus.
Shaping
Reinforcing successive approximations of a specific operant response.
Escape Learning
Occurs if a response removes a stimulus that is already present.
Avoidance Learning
A specific type of negative reinforcement that removes the possibility that stimulus will occur.
Fixed-Ratio Schedule
A schedule in which reinforcement is delivered after a specific number of responses have been completed; high rate of consistent responding.
Law of Effect
The idea that responses followed by satisfaction will occur again in the same situation whereas those that are not followed by satisfaction become less likely.
Partial Reinforcement Effect
A phenomenon in which organisms that have been conditioned under partial reinforcement resist extinction longer than those conditioned under continuous reinforcement.
Secondary Reinforcers
Stimuli that acquire their reinforcing effects only after we learn that they have value.
Positive Reinforcement
The strengthening of behaviour after potential reinforcers such as praise, money, or nourishment follow that behaviour.
Variable-Ratio Schedule
The number of responses required to receive reinforcement varies according to an average; high rate of consistent responding (resists extinction even if reinforcement stops).
Schedules of Reinforcement
Rules that determine when reinforcement is available.
How do schedules of reinforcement affect learning?
Variable-Ratio schedules produce the most robust learning, and Variable-Interval schedules lead to slowest rate of learning.
Is punishment effective?
Psychologists recommend that people rely on reinforcement to teach new or appropriate behaviours. Punishment may teach individuals to engage in avoidance or aggression, rather than developing an appropriate alternative behaviour that can be reinforced.
Imitation
Recreating someone else’s motor behaviour or expression, often to accomplish a specific goal.
Cognitive/Latent Learning
Learning that is not immediately expressed by a response until the organism is reinforced for doing so; learning that can occur without reinforcement and without being directly observable; Stimulus -> Organism -> Response; different reactions depend on interpretation of critic; allows for self-control.
Observational Learning
(Albert Bandura) Involves changes in behaviour and knowledge that result from watching others; learning that occurs without reinforcement; a form of latent learning (not directly observable).
How does violent media affect behaviour?
Many studies show a correlational (non-causal) relationship between violent media exposure and aggressive behaviour.
How does behaviourism view learning?
Started with proponents that mental life was much less important than behaviour as a foundation for psychological science; started with classical conditioning, suggests that thoughts have no direct causal effect on behaviour; explain differences by learning histories.
How can classical conditioning improve self-esteem?
Presented a game that shows your name or characteristics about yourself, then smiling faces (cue of acceptance).
What conditions make physical punishment useful?
Occurs immediately after behaviour; consistency; intensity has little impact; explanation and alternative action; best combined with positive reinforcement; teaches to respond aggressively.
What is the most optimal response to change a dog’s barking toward a garbage truck?
Give him treats at a random ratio; he’s scared rather than operating; pairs fear with the stimuli.
Can aggression be learned by observing?
Observing an aggressive model increased imitative physical and verbal responses; suggests that although not reinforced and not immediately observed, some learning did occur; also an increase in non-imitative, suggest humans can innovate based on observational learning.
Control Processes
Shift information from one memory store to another.
Procedural Memories
Patterns of muscle movements (motor memory); ex. playing piano.
Long-term Memory (LTM)
Holds information for extended periods of time, if not permanently.
Retroactive Interference
The most recently learned information overshadows some older memories that have not yet made it into long-term memory; new learning interferes with old.
Stores
Retain information in memory without using it for any specific purpose; held in a way that allows it to later be retrieved.
Echoic Memory
The auditory form of sensory memory.
Central Executive
The control centre of working memory; it coordinates attention and the exchange of information among the three storage components.
Short-term Memory (STM)
A memory store with limited capacity and duration (approximately 30 seconds); can hold 7 +/- 2 for approximately 20 sec; requires attention to move from sensory memory to here.
Proactive Interference
A process in which the first information learned (ex. in a list of words) occupies memory, leaving fewer resources to remember the newer information; old learning interferes with new.
Anterograde Amnesia
The inability to form new memories for events occurring after a brain injury.
Chunking
Organizing smaller units of information into larger, more meaningful units; create groups with the pieces of information; best when these groupings are familiar to us.
Episodic Memories
Declarative memories for personal experiences that seem to be organized around “episodes” and are recalled from a first-person perspective; specific events that we experienced.
Storage
The time and manner in which information is retained between encoding and retrieval.
Semantic Memories
Declarative memories that include facts about the world; general knowledge.
Episodic Buffer
A storage component of working memory that combines the images and sounds from the other two components into coherent, story-like episodes.
Consolidation
The process of converting short-term memories into long-term memories in the brain.
Nondeclarative/Implicit Memories
Include actions or behaviours that you can remember and perform without awareness; the ones we are not fully aware of and thus don’t declare; do not require attention/effort to encode and recall; includes procedural memory and conditioned associations.
Amnesia
A profound loss of at least one form of memory.
Declarative/Explicit Memories
Memories that we are consciously aware of and that can be verbalized, including facts about the world and one’s own personal experiences; Require attention/effort to encode and recall; includes semantic, episodic, and flashbulb memories.
Serial Position Effect
In general, most people will recall the first few items from a list and the last few items, but only an item or two from the middle.
Retrograde Amnesia
A condition in which memory for the events preceding trauma or injury is lost.
Attention
Selects which information will be passed on to STM.
Iconic Memory
The visual form of sensory memory.
Visuospatial Sketchpad
A storage component of working memory that maintains visual images and spatial layouts in a visuospatial code.
Rehearsal
Repeating information until you do not need to remember it anymore.
Implicit Memories
Include actions or behaviours that you can remember and perform without awareness.
Long-term Potentiation (LTP)
Demonstrated that there is an enduring increase in connectivity and transmission of neural signals between nerve cells that fire together.
Sensory Memory
A memory store that accurately holds perceptual information for a very brief amount of time; waiting for attention in order to move to STM; shortest for visual, longest for auditory.
Encoding
The process of storing information in the LTM system.
Retrieval
Brings information from LTM back into STM; reactivating and recalling the information, producing it in a form similar to what was encoded.
Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) Phenomenon
When you are able to retrieve similar sounding words that start with the same letter but can’t quite retrieve the word you actually want.
Working Memory
A model of short-term remembering that includes a combination of memory components that can temporarily store small amounts of information for a short period of time. It is composed of the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and the episodic buffer; it holds information not just to rehearse it, but to process it; integrates information from LTM with new information coming in from sensory memory.
Phonological Loop
A storage component of working memory that relies on rehearsal and that stores information as sounds, or an auditory code.
Which structures of the brain are important for memory?
Hippocampus - critical to formation of new declarative memories
Cortex - LTM stores
Visual and Auditory Cortices - Working memory
Frontal Lobes - Central Executive
Recall
Retrieving information when asked but without that information being present during the retrieval process; retrieve information previously learned and unconsciously stored.
Self-Reference Effect
Occurs when you think about information in terms of how it relates to you or how it is useful to you; this type of encoding will lead to you remembering that information better than you otherwise would have.
Flashbulb Memory
An extremely vivid and detailed memory about an event and the conditions surrounding how one learned about the event; intense, long-term memories of emotional events; a type of episodic memory.
Deep Processing
Memory processing related to an item’s meaning or its function; semantic encoding.
State-Dependent Memory
Memory retrieval is more effective when your internal state matches the state you were in during encoding.
Mnemonic
A technique intended to improve memory for specific information.
Mood-dependent Memory
People remember better if their mood at retrieval matches their mood during encoding.
Recognition
Identifying a stimulus or piece of information when it is presented to you.
Acronyms
Pronounceable words whose letters represent the initials of an important phrase or set of items.
Encoding Specificity Principle
Retrieval is most effective when it occurs in the same context as encoding.
Context-Dependent Memory
The idea that retrieval is more effective when it takes place in the same physical setting (context) as encoding.
Shallow Processing
Encoding more superficial properties of a stimulus, such as the sound or spelling of a word; structural encoding; emphasizes physical structure of stimuli.
Maintenance Rehearsal
Prolonging exposure to information by repeating it.
First-Letter Technique
Uses the first letters of a set of items to spell out words that form a sentence.
Elaborative Rehearsal
Prolonging exposure to information by thinking about its meaning.
Testing Effect
The finding that taking practice tests can improve exam performance, even without additional studying; testing to retrieve information studied/learned; greatly increases memory; more effective than just reading.
Method of Loci
A mnemonic that connects words to be remembered to locations along a familiar path.
Dual Coding
Occurs when information is stored in more than one form.
How does emotion affect memory?
Emotion enhances memory. Even memories for details of significant events decline over time, but confidence in memory accuracy remains high.
Memory
The persistence of learning over time through storage and retrieval (functions) of information and skills (content).
Recognition
Identify stimuli that match your stored information.
Relearning
A measure of how much less work it takes you to learn information you had previously learned.
How do we know something is remembered?
Recall, Recognition and Relearning.
What are the key steps to remember?
Encode, Store and Retrieve.
What does the Atkinson-Shiffrin model of memory formation look like?
There is an automatic pathway (which goes straight from the event to long-term memory) and an effortful pathway (where information from the event goes to the sensory memory, which is then encoded into STM, then is encoded to LTM with rehearsal).
Spacing Effect
Best to spread out study/learning time (distribute it) over multiple short sessions.
What does distributed practice consist of?
Spacing Effect and Testing Effect
Intermediate Processing
Phonemic encoding; emphasizes what a word sounds like.
Hierarchies
Divide complex information into concepts and then sub concepts.
Are strategies that rely on visualization effective for remembering?
Mental images are powerful aids to memory, especially when combined with semantic encoding; creating links that involve visual cues; the method of Loci (memory place).
How much can we remember of what and for how long?
The brain’s LTM does not get full, instead it gets more elaborately rewired and interconnected.
How are explicit memories encoded/stored?
Facilitated by the hippocampus; sleep (consolidation).
How are explicit memories retrieved?
Working memory (or executive function), directed by the frontal lobes.
How are implicit memories encoded/stored?
Basal ganglia is involved with the encoding/storage of procedural memory and motor skills; cerebellum is involved in the encoding/storage of our conditioned responses.
What does the decay theory propose?
Forgetting occurs because traces fade with time; supported for sensory and STM, not LTM.
What are common memory problems?
Ineffective encoding, proactive interference and retroactive interference.
What can happen when we recall information from LTM?
We filter or fill in parts to make memories more consistent (can change each time we recall information); misinformation effect and source amnesia.
Misinformation Effect
Incorporating misleading information in the memory of an event.
Source Amnesia
Assign details of a memory to the wrong source; confound social media with advertising.
Will jurors continue to believe an eyewitness even if they know about recall problems?
Even if an eyewitness is biased and an expert comes to testify about that bias, jurors still believe the eyewitness.
What are false memories?
Often due to the confusion between an event that happened to you and to someone else, or the belief that you remember something that never happened; likely to happen when you thought of the event often, imagined more details, it’s easy to imagine, attention is on emotional reaction.
Can rich memories of crimes be constructed?
70% of participants were classified as having false memories of committing a crime (e.g. assault) that led to police contact in early adolescence and volunteered a detailed false account.
False Memory Syndrome
A condition in which the identity and relationships of a person rest on memories that are false, but perceived as real traumatic experiences; some cases induced by poorly trained/ill-attended therapists.
What are some of the perils of memory in this information age?
Availability is unlike anything humanity has seen; we encode automatically; information affects perceptions (bias and top-down processing).
How do we avoid some of the perils of memory?
Illusion that we control how the information we encode affects us, but we don’t; consciously filter the information you expose yourself to.
Semantic Network
An interconnected set of nodes (or concepts) and the links that join them to form a category; general -> specific; evolutionary important categories are stored together in the brain; previous influence can influence categorizing.
Graded Membership
The observation that some concepts appear to make better category members than others.
Concept
The mental representation of an object, event, or idea.
Priming
The activation of individual concepts in LTM.
Linguistic Relativity (Wharfian Hypothesis)
The theory that the language we use determines how we understand the world.
Prototypes
Mental representations of an average category member.
Classical Categorization
A theory that claims that objects or events are categorized according to a certain set of rules or by a specific set of features; determined by comparing a target to the prototype of the category.
Categories
Clusters of interrelated concepts.
Priming Effect
Hearing “fruit” makes it more likely that you will think of “apple” rather than “robe”.
How can culture affect thinking?
Westerners focus on the individual, while others focus on how objects are interrelated.
How does language affect thinking?
Language can influence how we think, but not entirely shape how we perceive the world.
Anchoring Effect
Occurs when an individual attempts to solve a problem involving numbers and uses previous knowledge to keep (i.e. anchor) the response within a limited range.
Conjunction Fallacy
Reflects the mistaken belief that finding a specific member in two overlapping categories (i.e. a member of the conjunction of two categories) is more likely than finding any member of one of the larger, general categories.
Belief Perseverance
Occurs when an individual believes he/she has the solution to the problem or the correct answer for a question and accepts only evidence that will confirm those beliefs.
Representativeness Heuristic
Making judgements of likelihood based on how well an example represents a specific category.
Functional Fixedness
Occurs when an individual identifies an object or technique that could potentially solve the problem, but can only think of its most obvious function; limits ability to think about problem from a new perspective.
Problem Solving
Accomplishing a goal when the solution or path to the solution is not clear; Ill-defined problems.
Mental Set
A cognitive obstacle that occurs when an individual attempts to apply a routine solution to what is actually a new type of problem.
Heuristics
Problem-solving strategies that stem from prior experiences and provide an educated guess as to what is the most likely solution; Help generate solutions quickly, but does not guarantee solutions; Speed > Quality.
Confirmation Bias
Occurs when an individual searches for only evidence that will confirm his/her beliefs instead of evidence that might disconfirm them; solved by trying to falsify instead of confirm.
Availability Heuristic
Entails estimating the frequency of an event based on how easily examples of it come to mind.
Algorithms
Problem-solving strategies based on a series of rules; Aim to guarantee a solution; Quality > Speed.
Obstacles to Problem-Solving
Are often self-imposed; occurs when one focuses on only one potential solution and does not consider alternatives.
Cognition
Mental activities and processes associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating information.
When do prototypes fail us?
- When examples stretch the qualities associated with the prototype. 2. When the boundary between the categories of concepts is fuzzy. 3. When examples contradict our prototypes.
Why do we have obstacles to problem-solving?
Allows to function and be confident; speed, manage uncertainty and gain power.
Language
Use of symbols to represent, transmit, and store meaning/information; useful for storing and sharing information and understanding others.
How does bilingualism shape the way people think?
Marked cultural differences in self esteem (higher in Canada than China); critics are set up as false dichotomies.
Does learning 2 languages in childhood impair language development?
No, there are advantages; may have delayed emergence of language, but once developed, language is equivalent or greater than others.
Advantages to Bilingualism
Earlier development of executive control; greater executive control; delayed loss of executive control; greater attention control; greater creativity.
Trigger Foods
Affect the selection of healthy and unhealthy foods simply by being present among possible food alternatives.
Homeostasis
The body’s physiological processes that allow it to maintain consistent internal states in response to the outer environment.
Incentives
The stimuli we seek out in order to reduce drives; allow for learned response-reward pairings; motivates by attracting the person to the reward.
Anorexia Nervosa
An eating disorder that involves (1) self-starvation, (2) intense fear of weight gain and dissatisfaction with one’s body, and (3) denial of the serious consequences of severely low weight.
Glucose
A sugar that serves as a primary energy source for the brain and the rest of the body.
Drive
A biological trigger that tells us we may be deprived of something and causes us to seek out what is needed, such as food or water; an aroused/tense state related to a biological need that is not being met; shared among members of the species.
Bulimia Nervosa
An eating disorder that is characterized by periods of food deprivation, binge-eating, and purging.
Unit Bias
The tendency to assume that the unit of scale or portioning is an appropriate amount to consume.
Allostasis
Motivation is not only influenced by current needs, but also by the anticipation of future needs.
Motivation
Concerns the physiological and psychological processes underlying the imitation of behaviours that direct organisms toward specific goals; the need or desire that energizes (effortful) behaviour and directs it towards a goal.
Obesity
A disorder of positive energy balance, in which energy intake exceeds energy expenditure.
Hypothalamus
A brain structure that regulates basic biological needs and motivational systems.
Satiation
The point in a meal when we are no longer motivated to eat.
How are eating patterns shaped biologically?
Energy is delivered through the bloodstream as glucose found in food; insulin helps cells store this fuel; CCK signals fullness; substances monitored in hypothalamus, which signals hunger when not enough glucose is available.
What are psychological cues to eating?
Unit bias, trigger foods, available foods.
What are social cues to eating?
Minimal eating norms.
What parts of the hypothalamus are associated with eating?
Onset of eating = lateral region; Offset = ventromedial region.
Minimal Eating Social Norm
Eat smaller amounts in certain social situations imaginable.
Extrinsic Motivation/Performance Motive
Motivation geared toward gaining rewards or public recognition, or avoiding embarrassment.
Self-Determination Theory
An individual’s ability to achieve their goals and attain psychological well-being is influenced by the degree to which he/she is in control of the behaviours necessary to achieve those goals.
Intrinsic Motivation/Mastery Motive
The process of being internally motivated to perform behaviours and overcome challenges (ex. a genuine desire to master a task rather than being motivated by a reward); concerns active engagement with tasks that people find interesting and that, in turn, promote growth.
Companionate Love
Related to tenderness and to the affection we feel when our lives are intertwined with another person.
Self-Efficacy
An individual’s confidence that he/she can plan and execute a course of action in order to solve a problem.
Amotivational
A feeling of having little or no motivation to perform a behaviour.
Approach Goal
An enjoyable and pleasant incentive that a person is drawn toward, such as praise, financial reward, or a feeling of satisfaction.
Passionate Love
Associated with a physical and emotional longing for the other person.
Achievement Motivation
The drive to perform at high levels and to accomplish significant goals.
Avoidance Goal
An attempt to avoid an unpleasant outcome such as shame, embarrassment, losing money, or feeling emotional pain.
Terror Management Theory (TMT)
A psychological perspective asserting that the human fear of mortality motivates behaviour, particularly those that preserve self-esteem and our sense of belonging.
Need to Belong
The motivation to maintain relationships that involve pleasant feelings such as warmth, affection, appreciation and mutual concern for each person’s well-being; survival requires cooperation; loneliness is associated with a greater risk of psychological and physiological disorders; pain of social exclusion is associated with the activation of the same areas in the brain linked to physical pain.
Instinct
A fixed (rigid and predictable) pattern of behaviour observed across all members of the species; rooted in genes; does not involve rational decision making.
Drive-Reduction Theory
Suggest we are motivated to restore homeostasis when a drive emerges; operates through negative reinforcement.
Are we always motivated to maximize?
A need to either increase or decrease our physiological arousal level to maintain an optimal level of arousal.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Physiological -> Safety -> Love/Belonging -> Esteem -> Self-Actualization (Order is not necessarily correct for everyone).
Flow
A state of experience where a person, totally absorbed, feels tremendous amounts of exhilaration, control, and enjoyment; occurs when people push their abilities to their boundaries and in doing so experience a merging of action and awareness; can occur throughout the spectrum of daily experience.
What does a self-determined perspective consist of?
A balance of Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness.
Autonomy
Feeling like we are causal agents of our own behaviour and the goals we pursue.
Competence
People need to gain mastery of tasks and learn different skills.
Relatedness
People need to experience a sense of belonging and attachment to other people
What physiological signals are associated with hunger?
Stomach contractions, hypothalamus (receives into from digestive system receptors) and set point (adjusts to typical amount of calories.
Which food do we seek?
Some taste preferences (e.g. carbs) are universal, others are acquired through exposure, culture and conditioning, and others are individually learned (e.g. aversions).
The “French Paradox”
People in France eat fattier foods and drink more alcohol, but experience less cardiovascular disorder because they have smaller portions and eat slower (therefore eating less).
Can physical pain trigger social pain?
Yes, by decreasing feelings of belongingness, even in the absence of social interaction.
What motivates us in work contexts?
Autonomy, competence and relatedness; increase performance without affecting well-being.
Amygdala
A group of nuclei in the medial portion (near the middle) of the temporal lobes in each hemisphere of the brain that facilitates memory formation for emotional events, mediates fear responses, and appears to play a role in recognizing/interpreting emotional stimuli, including facial expressions.
Emotional Dialects
Variations across cultures in how common emotions are expressed.
Two-Factor Theory
(still widely believed view) Patterns of physical arousal and cognitive labels we attach to them form the basis of our emotional experiences; emotions are the result of physiological responses and cognitive appraisal of this response.
Display Rules
The unwritten expectations we have regarding when it is appropriate to show a certain emotion.
Emotion
A behaviour with the following 3 components: a) a subjective thought/experience with b) accompanying patterns of neural activity and physical arousal and c) an observable behavioural expression (ex. an emotional facial expression or changes in muscle tension); functional perspective suggests emotions are signals to motivation; arousal, experience and behaviour.
James-Lange Theory of Emotion
Our physiological reactions to stimuli (e.g. a racing heart) precede the emotional experience (e.g. the fear).
Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion
The brain interprets a situation and generates subjective emotional feelings, and these representations in the brain trigger responses in the body; emotions occur simultaneously with our physiological reactions.
Facial Feedback Hypothesis
Our emotional expressions can influence our subjective emotional states.
How does the nervous system react with emotions?
There is a rapid-response system involving the amygdala, which triggers activity in other brain areas and influences how much attention a stimulus receives. The sympathetic nervous system responds, making areas related to movement become active while the frontal lobe examines the situation.
Which emotions are universal?
Fear, anger, happiness, sadness, surprise and disgust.
What parts of emotions vary between cultures?
Dialects and display rules.
What is the role of facial expressions?
Shows outside world how we’re feeling. Some practical uses: disgust restricts air entering the body, and fear increases the amount of sensory information available.
What did we learn from the Stanely Milgram story?
Even the biggest assholes feel guilt.
How do emotions affect other things?
Significant events lead to emotion, then emotion leads to bodily arousal, social expression, a sense of purpose and feelings.
How can emotions motivate?
Emotions function as one type of motivator, but views about importance varies; emotions were the causal and immediate source of motivated actions of humans.
How can emotions evaluate?
Read out of motivational states; positive emotions = satisfaction and negative emotions = frustration; not necessarily motives in the same way needs are, instead they reflect the satisfied vs. frustrated status.
Automatic affective experiences
(Still current theory) Robert Zajonc. Some emotional reactions develop in a “low road” through the rain, and thus skip conscious thought.
Are you controlled by your emotions?
Emotions may not be ideal to adapt, so we must change them; other times emotions conflict with our roles. We are NOT controlled by our emotions; mastering the regulation of emotions requires effort, but it can be practiced and improved.
How can you regulate your emotions?
1 - Awareness (recognize emotions, emotional intelligence), 2 - Appraisal (how you view event is how you feel about it), 3 - Coping strategies (deal with stress).
How can coping focus only on emotions?
Mindful Meditation. Mindfulness = mental state of consistent and flexible attention to the present moment. It involves an accepting attitude, nonjudgemental, with curiosity.
What are some bad forms of emotion coping?
Relying on others or substances.
Alcohol Myopia
1 - using alcohol to regulate anxiety/stress, 2 - using alcohol to feel better and oneself, 3 - using alcohol to lower inhibition to do things that otherwise they would not be able to experience.
Anger
An uncomfortable emotion often experienced when we believe we were wronged
The Catharsis Myth
Reduce anger by acting aggressively to release it; counterproductive and often leads to guilt.
Guilt
Typically occurs when we think a moral transgression occurred because of our “bad behaviour”; motivates reparation; more common than shame with identification with others.
Shame
Counterproductive. Typically occurs when we think a moral transgression occurred because we are a bad person; motivates withdrawal.
HEXACO Model of Personality
A six-factor theory that generally replicates the factors of the Five Factor Model and adds one additional factor: Honesty-Humility.
State
A temporary physical or psychological engagement that influences behaviour.
Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA)
A problematic set of personality characteristics that also predisposes people to certain types of violent or anti-social tendencies: (1) obeying orders and deferring to the established authorities in a society; (2) supporting aggression against those who dissent or differ from the established social order; and (3) believing strongly in maintaining the existing social order.
Personality
A characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving that is unique to each individual, and remains relatively consistent over time and situations.
Personality Trait
A specific psychological characteristic that makes up part of a person’s personality.
Dark Triad
Three traits - Machiavellianism, Psychopathy, and Narcissism - that describe a person who is socially destructive, aggressive, dishonest, and likely to commit harm in general.
Five Factor Model (FFM)
A trait-based theory of personality based on the finding that personality can be described using 5 major dimensions (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism).
Factor Analysis
(1) A statistical technique that examines correlations between variables to find clusters of related variables, or “factors”; (2) In personality analysis, grouping items that people respond to similarly; for instance, the terms friendly and warm.
Nomothetic Approach
Examines personality in large groups of people, with the aim of making generalizations about personality structure.
Idiographic Approach
Creating detailed descriptions of a specific person’s unique personality characteristics.
Reciprocal Determinism
Behaviour, internal (personal) factors, and external (situational) factors interact to determine one another and our personalities are based on interactions among these 3 aspects.
Behaviourist View on Personality
Identifies the stimuli that control a person’s responses; little need for trait terminology, and no references to cognitive factors such as beliefs/thoughts.
Social-Cognitive View on Personality
Emphasizes the situations, behaviours, and thoughts reciprocally determine each other.
Person-Centred Perspective
Founded on the assumption that people are basically good, and given the right environment their personality will develop fully and normally; personality results from one’s sense of self; maladjustment results from mismatch between ideal self and actual self.
Analytical Psychology
Focuses on the role of unconscious archetypes in personality development.
Unconscious Mind
A vast and powerful but inaccessible part of your consciousness, operating without your conscious endorsement or will to influence and guide your behaviours.
Conscious Mind
Your current awareness, containing everything you are aware of right now.
Inferiority Complex
The struggle many people have with feelings of inferiority, which stem from experiences of helplessness and powerlessness during childhood.
Archetypes
Images and symbols that reflect common “truths” held across cultures, such as universal life experiences or types of people.
Id
A collection of basic biological drives, including those directed toward sex and aggression; “the pleasure principle”.
Rorschach Inkblot Test
A test in which people are asked to describe what they see on an inkblot, and psychologists interpret this description using a standardized scoring and interpretation method.
Projective Tests
Personality tests in which ambiguous images are presented to an individual to elicit responses that reflect unconscious desires or conflicts; not valid or reliable.
Ego
The decision maker, frequently under tension, trying to reconcile the opposing urges of the id and superego; “reality principle”.
Personal Unconscious
A vast repository of experiences and patterns that are absorbed during the entire experiential unfolding of the person’s life.
Thematic Apperception Test
A test in which respondents are asked to tell stories about ambiguous pictures involving various interpersonal situations.
Defense Mechanisms
Unconscious strategies the ego uses to reduce or avoid anxiety.
Collective Unconscious
A separate, non-personal realm of the unconscious that holds the collective memories and mythologies of humankind, stretching deep into our ancestral past.
Fixation
Becoming preoccupied with obtaining a pleasure associated with a particular Freudian stage as a result of not being able to adequately regulate oneself and satisfy needs at that stage.
Superego
Comprised of our values and moral standards; “morality principle”.
Self-Actualization
The drive to grow and fulfill one’s potential.
How do defence mechanisms work?
They activate whenever we are threatened by feelings of anxiety due to conflicts between different systems within consciousness; they deny and repress urges, displace them, or find more acceptable ways of expressing them.
Libido
The id’s energy source for the drives that originate at different focal points of the body.
Freudian Developmental Stages
Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latent and Genital.
What are the strengths/weaknesses of psychodynamic perspectives?
There are compelling explanations for motivation, but not a lot of scientific support because it cannot be empirically measured. The psychosexual stages are no longer believed to be accurate.
Psychodynamic Theories (Personality)
Focus on inner workings of personality, particularly inner conflicts; negative view of human nature; based on id, ego, and superego; unconscious conflicts are barriers.
Humanist Theories (Personality)
Focus on private, subjective experiences and personal growth; minimizes genetics, maximizes environment, positive view of human nature; based on self; condition of worth is a barrier.
Trait Theories (Personality)
Focus on identifying clusters of traits (adjectives) that can help differentiate people; maximizes genetics; based on traits; unhealthy traits are barriers.
Social Learning Theories (Personality)
Focus on the role of socialization and mental processes (e.g. schemas); emphasizes interaction between person and (social) environment; minimizes genetics, maximizes environment; based on schemas and expectations; maladaptive schemas are barriers.
Denial
Refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities.
Displacement
Shifting sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person.
Regression
Retreating to a more infantile psychosexual stage (where some psychic energy remains fixated).
Projection
Disguising one’s own threatening impulses by attributing them to others.
Rationalization
Offering self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening unconscious reasons to one’s action.
Reaction Formation
Switching unacceptable impulses into their opposite.
How do you access the unconscious?
Psychoanalysis techniques for revealing the unconscious mind (e.g. free association - looking for meanings or slips of the tongue).
Updates to Freud’s Ideas
Development is lifelong, dreams have many origins, traumatic memories are usually remembered not repressed, gender/sexual identity seem to be a function of genetics/social forces, not relationship with parents.
Cognitive Unconscious
Operates automatically, is functional (particularly with social functioning), and responds to situational stimuli; Unconscious is about processing, perceptions and priming but not a place.
Flaws in Freud’s Scientific Method
Unfalsifiability, unrepresentative sampling, biased observations, post facto explanations.
What are some characteristics of a self-actualized person?
Efficient perception of reality, acceptance of self, others and nature (non-hostile send of humour), autonomy, profound interpersonal relationships and peak experiences.
What are conditions to facilitate growth?
Genuineness, Acceptance, Empathy
How can we get a congruent self?
Active Listening
Criticism of Humanist Perspective
Lacks appreciation of genetic influences; accepting ideal self and self-actualization do not encourage self-transcendence but self-centredness.
Arousal Theory of Extraversion
Extraversion is determined by people’s threshold for arousal.
Assortative Mating
Choosing sexual partners who are similar to the individual doing the searching.
Phrenology
The theory that personality characteristics could be assessed by carefully measuring the outer skull.
Serotonin Transporter Gene
Gene that codes for proteins residing in the synapses between nerve cells that are responsible for moving serotonin back into cell membranes of recently fired nerve cells for reuse.
Behavioural Activation System (BAS)
A “GO” system, arousing the person to action in the pursuit of desired goals.
Response Styles
Characteristic ways of responding to questions.
WEIRD
(“Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic”) Acronym coined by psychologists pointing out that major theories of psychology, including personality, are based on a very limited sample of humanity.
Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS)
A “danger” system, motivating the person to action in order to avoid punishments or other negative outcomes.
Humourism
Explained both physical illnesses and disorders of personality as resulting from imbalances in key fluids in the body.
Ascending Reticular Activating System (ARAS)
Plays a central role in controlling the arousal response.
Evolutionary Theories to Personality
Personality traits evolved because they solved environmental and social problems encountered by our distant ancestors; widespread occurrence of these personality traits among different species indicates that they are adaptive.
How are arousal and extraversion related?
Highly extraverted people have less reactive ARAS, which means they don’t get as big of a “kick” out of a given level of stimulation; this causes them to prefer more stimulating environments.
How does personality differ according to gender?
Very similar, but females tend to be more conscientious, agreeable, extraverted and neurotic.
Genetic Basis of Personality
Personality traits are substantially predicted by genetic variation; personality emerges through the interaction of genes and the environment.
Trait
An enduring quality that makes a person tend to act a certain way.
Eysenck’s Personality Model
Extraverted vs. Introverted and Unstable vs. Stable
Personality Inventory
Questionnaire assessing many personality traits, by asking which behaviours and responses the person would choose.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Developed to examine personality as conceptualized by Jung by Myers and Briggs; 16 profiles; focuses on where you focus your attention (introvert vs. extravert), the way you take in information (sensing vs. intuition), the way you make decisions (thinking vs. feeling) and how you deal with the outer world (judging vs. perceiving).
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
The difference between this approach and other test developmental strategies is that this one is fully atheoretical (development relied on pattern observed in the data using factor analysis); clinical scales, validity scales, supplemental scales.
NEO-PI-R
Covers 5 trait domains of big five.
What do personality inventory tests predict?
What makes us unique is important, and finding that out should predict how we will act. However, personality tests struggle to predict any one instance of a behaviour, they instead predict the occurrence of behaviour over a long period of time.
What is missing to predict what someone will do in one instance?
Social context.
Are you always the same regardless of the context?
Trait theory assumes that we have traits that are a function of personality, not context, but it seems like social roles affect this.
The Self
Assumed to be the centre of personality by socio-cognitive approaches; the main repository of our memories, schemas and expectations which we use to interpret situations; stores information and guides processing.
Self-Esteem
The value of the self; increased self-esteem has been observed to buffer inflammatory responses to acute stress (NOT a linear relationship).
Social Roles
Are more specific sets of expectations for how someone in a specific position should behave.
Social Facilitation
Occurs when one’s performance is affected by the presence of others.
Social Norms
The (usually unwritten) guidelines for how to behave in social contexts.
Chameleon Effect
People copy other’s behaviours even without realizing it.
Mimicry
Taking on for ourselves the behaviours, emotional displays, and facial expressions of others.
Informational Influence
Occurs when people internalize the values and beliefs of the group, coming to believe the same things and feel the same ways themselves.
Bystander Effect
The presence of other people actually reduces the likelihood of helping behaviour.
Pluralistic Ignorance
Occurs when there is a disjunction between the private beliefs of individuals and the public behaviour they display to others.
Normative Influence
A social pressure to adopt a group’s perspective in order to be accepted, rather than rejected, by a group.
Social Loafing
Occurs when an individual puts less effort into working on a task than others.
Diffusion of Responsibility
The responsibility for taking action is spread across more than one person, thus making no single individual feel personally responsible.
Groupthink
The stifling of diversity that occurs when individuals are not able to express their true perspectives, instead having to focus more on maintaining harmony in the group and on not being evaluated negatively.
Why do individuals conform to others’ behaviours?
Conforming begins with mimicry. Seems to help form social bonds, want to be accepted or because the group’s way of perceiving reality actually influences the person’s own perceptions.
How do groups influence behaviours?
In helping situations, the presence of others decreases the likelihood that someone will help; in other situations, sets up conformity pressures.
Social Psychology
The study of how people influence each other’s thoughts, emotions and behaviour through their actual, imagined, or anticipated presence.
Why do we conform?
To get information when the situation is ambiguous, or to fulfill our need to belong.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
People want to maintain consistency between thoughts and actions and appear as a “good person”; inconsistencies between thoughts/behaviour create an unpleasant state of arousal; when we hold inconsistent beliefs, it creates a kind of aversive inner tension, or “dissonance”; we are then motivated to reduce this tension in whatever way we can.
Can conformity overtake our physiological needs?
Conformity can influence eating (an innate physiological need).
Attribution
A conclusion about the cause of an observed behaviour.
Situational Attribution
Factors outside the person are causing the action.
Dispositional Attribution
The person’s stable, enduring traits, personality, are causing the action.
Fundamental Attribution Error
We typically over-emphasize dispositional influences and under-emphasize situational influences on other’s behaviour.
Actor-Observer Effect
We explain our own behaviour (blame situation for failures or assume successes are because of disposition); social-cognitive bias that contributes to maintain high self-esteem.
Peripheral Route to Persuasion
Depends upon features that are not directly related to the message itself, such as the attractiveness of the person delivering the information; changes attitudes through feelings; does not require attention/motivation.
Construal-Level Theory
Describes how information affects us differently depending on our psychological distance from the information.
Processing Fluency
The ease with which information is processed.
Experiential System
Operates implicitly, quickly, and intuitively and is predominantly emotional.
Identifiable Victim Effect
People are more powerfully moved to action by the story of a single suffering person than by information about a whole group of people.
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
A model of persuasion that states when audiences are sufficiently motivated to pay attention to a message (i.e. they care about the issue) and they have the opportunity for careful processing (i.e. they have the cognitive resources available to understand the message), they will be persuaded by the facts of the argument, the substance; when either of these 2 factors (motivation and opportunity) is missing, people will tend to be persuaded by other factors.
Door-in-the-Face Technique
Involves asking for something relatively big, then following with a request for something relatively small.
Foot-in-the-Door Technique
Involves making a simple request followed by a more substantial request; commitment to small steps that people do not notice; constantly underestimate influence of social forces on behaviour.
Analytic System
Operates at the explicit level of consciousness, is slower and methodical, and uses logic and discursive thinking (i.e. reasoning using language).
Attitude Inoculation
A strategy for strengthening attitudes and making them more resistant to change by first exposing people to a weak counter-argument and then refuting that argument.
Central Route to Persuasion
Occurs when people pay close attention to the context of a message, evaluate the evidence presented, and examine the logic of the arguments; need recipient to have attention and motivation.
What makes an effective message?
Solid facts, self-relevance, prevent unnecessary complexity, provide 2-sided argument, and add peripheral cues to further strengthen.
Attitude
It is an evaluation of a person, place, object, event, or behaviour; comprised of affective, behavioural, and cognitive components.
What do attitudes do?
They are a key component to how we understand others. There is a lay assumption that attitudes guide behaviour.
Do attitudes predict behaviour?
No, as seen in the restaurant situation (calling vs. in person).
When do attitudes influence behaviour?
1 - attitude is stable, 2 - attitude is easily recalled, 3 - attitude is specific to behaviour, 4 - opposing influences are minimal, and 5 - external influences align with attitude.
Perceived Social Norms
What we perceive relevant others would do/think/feel or see as acceptable to do/think/feel in a given situation.
Persuasion
Direct attempt to change someone’s attitude.
Compliance
Subtly getting people to act in some desired way (typically inconsistent with their attitude); changes behaviour and lets cognitive dissonance work to change attitude; uses social needs as leverage.
Bait-and-Switch
Bait with an attractive offer, but the “bait” is not available when you get there and switched to a different option.
Social Marketing
Application of marketing principles and techniques to promote adoption of behaviours that improve the health and well-being of target; delivers positive benefit.
Do fear-based messages work?
Aim to arouse emotions to change attitude; can be effective; can backfire; best used with instructions on how to avoid negative outcomes.
Mental Disorder Defence
Claims that the defendant was in such an extreme, abnormal state of mind when committing the crime that he or she could not discern that the actions were legally or morally wrong.
Maladaptive Behaviour
Behaviour that hinders a person’s ability to function in work, school, relationships or society.
Deinstitutionalization
The movement of large numbers of psychiatric in-patients from their care facilities back into regular society.
Medical Model
Sees psychological conditions through the same lens as Western medicine tends to see physical conditions - as sets of symptoms, causes, and outcomes, with treatments aimed at changing physiological processes in order to alleviate symptoms.
Asylums
Residential facilities for the mentally ill.
Etiology
Origins or causes.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
A standardized manual to aid in the diagnosis of disorders; classification is primarily based on type/number of symptoms, aetiology of symptoms, and prognosis.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Is a common psychological illness involving recurring thoughts, images, and nightmares associated with a traumatic event; it induces symptoms of tension and anxiety and can seriously interfere with many aspects of a person’s life.
Advantages of DSM-V
Ensures that all psychologists/psychiatrists are using the same criteria to define disorders; improves reliability and consistency of diagnoses; allows for statistical study; help guide treatment choices; justify payment for treatment.
Disadvantages of DSM-V
Psychologists themselves decide if symptom is severe enough; number of symptoms seems arbitrary; large number of possible disorders may make lead to unnecessary diagnosis; need for more biological/genetic markers; decisions include value judgements; vague criteria.
Benefits of Labelling Psychological Disorders
Organize large amounts of information about symptoms, causes and outcomes into terminology; meets requirements of insurance companies.
Disadvantages of Labelling Psychological Disorders
People have a tendency to misinterpret normal behaviours after labelling; insurance/pharmaceutical companies could bias in favour of over-diagnosing/over-medicating.
Bibliotherapy
The use of self-help books and other reading materials as a form of therapy.
Counselling Psychologists
Mental health professionals who typically work with people who need help with more common problems such as stress and coping; issues concerning identity, sexuality, and relationships; anxiety and depression; and developmental issues such as childhood trauma.
Clinical Psychologists
Have obtained PhDs and are able to formally diagnose and treat mental health issues ranging from the everyday and mild to the chronic and severe.
Therapeutic Alliance
The relationship between the therapist and the patient that emerges in therapy.
Residential Treatment Centres
Housing facilities in which residents receive psychological therapy and life skills training with the explicit goal of helping residents become re-integrated into society.
Psychiatrists
Medical doctors who specialize in mental health and who are allowed to diagnose and treat mental disorders primarily through prescribing medications.
Empirically Supported Treatments
Treatments that have been tested and evaluated.
Community Psychology
An area of psychology that focuses on identifying how individuals’ mental health is influenced by the community in which they live, and emphasizes community-level variables such as social programs, support networks, and community resource centres to help those with mental illness adjust to the challenges of everyday life.
Psychotherapy
Processes for resolving personal, emotional, behavioural and social problems so as to improve well-being; an interactive experience with a trained professional; understand/change dysfunctional patterns.
What are some barriers to seeking help?
Expense, availability, gender, and attitudes toward therapy (often influenced by stigma).
What are some arguments for and against involuntary treatment?
FOR: Helps protect innocent people who may otherwise be victims of violence, improves mental health and ensures that people with severe disorders receive appropriate treatment. AGAINST: No good evidence that it benefits the individual, and may result in patient feeling coerced or resentful.
How do you decide the appropriate approach?
Availability, affordability, types of issues, etc.
Are self-help books effective?
Alone is not likely to be good for serious problems, but when used in conjunction with other methods, self-help books may bring small improvements.
What are some signs of psychological disorder?
Changes in mood. May be difficult to decide which symptoms are important.
Psychological Disorders
Patterns of thoughts, feelings, or behaviour which we can’t control and that are deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional; mismatch between a person’s abilities and demands of an environment.
How do we define normal?
Averages, values, and expectations. Dependent on context and culture.
5 Axes of DSM-IV-R
Axis I: All diagnostic categories except mental retardation and personality disorder. Axis II: Is a personality disorder or mental retardation present? Axis III: Is a general medical condition also present? Axis IV: Are psychological or environmental problems also present? Axis V: What is the global assessment of this person’s functioning?
What are common (or more specifically, uncommon) disorders diagnosed on campus?
Substance abuse is way less, because of values.
Agoraphobia
Often associated with panic disorder, agoraphobia results from an intense fear of having a panic attack in public; as a result of this fear, the individual may begin to avoid public settings and increasingly isolate him- or herself.
Diathesis-Stress Model
The interaction between a genetic predisposition for a disorder and life stress.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Involves frequently elevated levels of anxiety, generally from the normal challenges and stresses of everyday life; activation of autonomic nervous system, specifically sympathetic nervous system.
Panic Disorder
An anxiety disorder marked by occasional episodes of sudden, very intense fear.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Plagued by unwanted, inappropriate, and persistent thoughts (obsessions), and tending to engage in repetitive, almost ritualistic, behaviours (compulsions); disorder when time/energy spent on thoughts interfere with life and you are deeply frustrated with being unable to control behaviours.
Social Anxiety Disorder
A very strong fear of being judged by others or being embarrassed or humiliated in public.
Panic Attacks
Brief moments of extreme anxiety that include a rush of physical activity paired with frightening thoughts.
Phobia
A severe, irrational fear of a very specific object or situation.
Parasitic Processing
Mutually reinforcing feedback loops linking different cognitive and neural processes together.
Specific Phobia
An intense fear of a specific object, activity, or organism.
Major Depression
A disorder marked by prolonged periods of sadness, feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, social withdrawal, and cognitive and physical sluggishness; painful experience; typically does not pass on its own.
Bipolar Disorder
Characterized by extreme highs and lows in mood, motivation, and energy.
Exposure
Repeatedly and in stages exposing an individual to the object of his fear so that he can work past his emotional reactions.
Anxiety Disorders
A category of disorders involving fear or nervousness that is excessive, irrational, and maladaptive.
What are some common psychological factors associated with anxiety disorders?
1 - Conditioning and learning (which is the most important), 2 - Cognitive appraisal, and 3 - Personality (e.g. neuroticism).
How can classical conditioning lead to anxiety?
Acquire anxious responses by linking neutral stimulus with fear response.
How can operant conditioning lead to anxiety?
Negative reinforcement can motivate anxious-avoidant responses, which are maintained.
Mood Disorders
Cluster of disorders for which a disturbance of the person’s mood is assumed to be the underlying cause.
Mood Disorders from a Biological Perspective
Reduced serotonin activity with presence of depression symptoms; less norepinephrine (arousal) during depressive episodes.
How do cognitions about social events shape depression? (Depressive Explanatory Style)
Stressful Event -> Stable (rather than temporary) -> Global (rather than specific) -> Internal (rather than external)
Substance-Use Disorders
Disorders in which the need for obtaining a substance/its frequent use creates dysfunction; when moderate use is normal, it may hamper people from noticing that they have a problem.
When does the unhealthy habit become a disorder?
Loss of control, impairment in daily functioning, physical or emotional adaptation to the drug.
Neuroadaptation
With time, the brain adapts to the repeated/continuous presence of the substance, which leads to a greater tolerance.
Opponent Process Theory and Substance Abuse
Early on, substance produces a hedonic state (affective pleasure). Positive reinforcement motivates search for experience. Opponent processes will change body to build tolerance. Eventually, when substance is not taken, the body will experience an unpleasurable state (withdrawal) which brings about negative reinforcement.
Client-Centred Therapy
A humanistic therapy method that focuses on individuals’ ability to solve their own problems and reach their full potential with the encouragement of the therapist.
Systematic Desensitization
Gradual exposure to a feared stimulus or situation is coupled with relaxation training; tiny reminder of feared situation, keep increasing exposure intensity as person learns to tolerate previous level.
Dream Analysis
A method of examining the details of a dream (the manifest content) in order to gain insight into the true meaning of the dream, the emotional, unconscious material that is being communicated symbolically (the latent content).
Aversive Conditioning
A behavioural technique that involves replacing a positive response to a stimulus with a negative response, typically by using punishment.
Virtual Reality Exposure (VRE)
A treatment that uses graphical displays to create an experience in which the client seems to be immersed in an actual environment.
Decentring
Occurs when a person is able to “step back” from their normal consciousness and examine themselves more objectively, as an observer.
Free Association
Clients are encouraged to talk or write without censoring their thoughts in any way.
Object Relations Therapy
A variation of psychodynamic therapy that focuses on how early childhood experiences and emotional attachments influence later psychological functioning.
Resistance
Engaging in strategies that keep information from fully manifesting in conscious awareness.
Systems Approach
An orientation that encourages therapists to see an individual’s symptoms as being influenced by many different interacting systems.
Phenomenological Approach
The therapist addresses the clients’ feelings and thought as they unfold in the present moment rather than looking for unconscious motives or dwelling in the past.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Forms of insight therapy that emphasize the need to discover and resolve unconscious conflicts.
Insight Therapies
A general term referring to therapy that involves dialogue between client and therapist for the purposes of gaining awareness and understanding of psychological problems and conflicts; provide deep understanding of self; long-term, expensive, and limited application to serious disorders.
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
A form of therapy that of procedures such as cognitive restructuring, stress inoculation training, and exposing people to experiences they may have a tendency to avoid; time/cost efficient and addresses immediate problems; not necessarily a deeper understanding of self.
Transference
A psychodynamic process whereby clients direct certain patterns or emotional experiences toward the therapist, rather than the original person involved in the experience (e.g. parents).
Behavioural Therapy
Therapies that attempt to directly address problem behaviours and the environmental factors that trigger them.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
Involves combining mindfulness meditation with standard CBT tools.
Group/Family Therapy
Ability to empathize and insight as to how each member contributes to the whole; it does not fully address individual issues.
Tardive Dyskinesia
A movement disorder involving involuntary movements and facial tics.
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)
A technique that involves electrically stimulating specific regions of the brain.
Psychotropic Drugs
Medications designed to alter psychological functioning.
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
A therapeutic technique in which a focal area of the brain is exposed to a powerful magnetic field across several different treatment sessions.
Psychopharmacotherapy
The use of drugs to attempt to manage or reduce clients’ symptoms.
Antipsychotic Drugs
Generally used to treat symptoms of psychosis, including delusions, hallucinations, and severely disturbed or disorganized thought.
Focal Lesions
Small areas of brain tissue that are surgically destroyed.
Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs)
Work by deactivating monoamine oxidase (MAO), an enzyme that breaks down serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine at the synaptic clefts of nerve cells.
Leucotomy
The surgical destruction of brain tissues in the pre-frontal cortex.
Antidepressant Drugs
Medications designed to reduce symptoms of depression.
Mood Stabilizers
Drugs used to prevent or reduce the severity of mood swings experienced by people with bipolar disorder.
Lithium
One of the first mood stabilizers to be prescribed regularly in psychiatry, and from the 1950s to the 1980s, was the standard drug treatment for depression and bipolar disorder.
Atypical Antipsychotics
Drugs that are less likely to produce side effects including movement disorders (like tardive dyskinesia) that commonly occur with first-generation antipsychotics.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
Involves passing an electrical current through the brain in order to induce a temporary seizure.
Tricyclic Antidepressants
Appear to work by blocking the reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine.
Antianxiety Drugs
Affect the activity of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an inhibitory neurotransmitter that reduces neural activity.
Blood-Brain Barrier
A network of tightly packed cells that only allow specific types of substances to move from the bloodstream to the brain in order to protect delicate brain cells against harmful infections and other substances.
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)
A class of antidepressant drugs that block the reuptake of the neurotransmitter serotonin.
Frontal Lobotomy
Surgically severing the connections between different regions of the brain.
Is St. John’s Wort an effective treatment?
Works about as well as prescription for mild to moderate levels of depression; efficacy for severe depression is not well established; prevents exposure to potential side effects of prescriptions.
How do we go from symptoms to treatment based on the 5 axes?
Axis 5 -> Emergency Response, Axis 4 -> Change environment, Axis 3 -> Treat Medical Condition, Axis 2 -> Long term management, Axis 1 -> Psychological treatment.
How does treatment operate?
Either change something in physical/social environment (alter demands) or try to enhance person’s abilities (using medication/psychotherapy).
Biomedical Therapy
The use of medications/procedures acting on the body to reduce the symptoms of mental disorders; address neurophysiological changes associated with disorders.
Counterconditioning
Refers to linking new (positive) responses to previously aversive stimuli.
Operant Conditioning Therapy
Making sure that desired behaviours are rewarded and problematic behaviours are not rewarded; requires monitoring to identify the stimuli that triggers the response.
Aaron Beck’s Therapy for Depression
Depression was worsened by errors in thinking (catastrophizing); raise awareness by questioning without judgement to identify cognitive error, and change through exercises.
Main Symptoms of Mental Illness
Thoughts of suicide, withdrawal from family and friends, trouble concentrating/remembering, and agitation.
Tips for Active Listening
Paraphrasing, Intentional silences, and Validation.
Are healthy older adults more or less likely to develop depression than younger people?
Healthy older adults are no more likely than younger people to develop depression.
The deepest stage of sleep is…
Stage 4.
The type of learning students do when studying information for a test is primarily…
Cognitive Learning.
The behavioural theories of personality development tend to focus on…
Learning.
Social facilitation is most likely to occur when individuals…
Have mastered the task they are performing.
More mimicry is produced when…
An individual wants to make a good impression.
