Identity And Individual

Question 1

How does growth and formation of the individual occur on several interrelated levels?

Answer 1

Cell: genetically directed differentiation leads cells to develop into their mature form
Body: maturation into adult form occurs during puberty
Psychological and social functioning: developing person eventually forms a distinct sense of self

Question 2

Personality

Answer 2

Most fundamentally the collection of lasting characteristics that make s a person unique
Distinction between major theories of personality have to do with how personality is formed, whether personality remains stable over lifetime and the extent to which people can influence own personalities

Question 3

Trait Theory (of personality)

Answer 3

States that personality consists of a set of traits, which are characteristics that vary between people and are stable over course of lifetime, regardless of environmental factors
- Traits not either/or qualities, but rather allow for variation in degree (continuous)
- Large portion of research in area of trait theory has concerned search for set of traits that can capture full range of personality features and reliably distinguish between people
Allows for quantifiable comparisons between individuals and allows predictions about behavior ( although may deviate occasionally)

Question 4

Five-factor (“Big 5”) Trait model

Answer 4

Organizes a multitude of possible personality traits into five broader trait categories: Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism (OCEAN)
Neuroticism: particularly well-studied as contributor to psychological disorders
Individuals fall along a continuum, high neuroticism contributes to high emotional instability, anxiety, and moodiness (linked to elevated risk of mental illness)

Question 5

Biological Theory of Personality

Answer 5

Focuses on biological contributions to certain traits
Theory assumes that person’s genome contributes to formation of personality, and personality traits differ in extent to which they are influenced by heredity (genetic inheritance) vs. environmental factors
- Infants begin life with temperament: innate, genetically influenced “baseline” of personality that includes infant’s tendency towards certain patterns of emotion and social interaction, modified by environmental influences throughout life
- Twin studies are used to separate effects of nature vs. nurture

Question 6

Twin Studies

Answer 6

Useful in separating effects of genetics and environment by building a picture of which traits are more closely tied to genetics than others
Monozygotic twins: virtually identical genomes
Dizygotic twins: no more related than biological siblings
Elevated similarities between monozygotic vs. dizygotic twins indicates genetic influence on personality trait
- Can compare twins separated at birth to tease out effects of genetic and environmental influences by eliminating shared environment

Question 7

What are some complications of separating genetic and environmental influences on personality traits?

Answer 7

Genetic expression is heavily influenced by environment
Genes interact with environment to determine whether and how a personality trait is displayed
Genetic inheritance has been found to confer a vulnerability to or potential that requires influence of certain environmental factors for development of psychological disorder or personality trait

Question 8

Evolutionary psychology

Answer 8

Study of personality traits that improve individual’s chances for successful reproduction
Assumes that men and women have differences in personality traits because different behaviors led to reproductive success

Question 9

Psychoanalytic theory

Answer 9

I.e. Sigmund Freud
Proposes universal personality structure that contributes both to behavior and to differences between people
Stands in contrast to trait theories and biological theories, focuses on mental processes that shape personality and translate personality traits into behaviors
Proposes that personality is determined by flow of psychic energy between three systems that reside in different levels of consciousness: id, superego, and ego

Question 10

id in Psychoanalytic theory

Answer 10

Most primitive part of personality, which seeks instant gratification with no consideration for morality or social norms
Present from birth and motivated by desired to achieve immediate gratification and avoid pain

Question 11

superego in Psychoanalytic theory

Answer 11

Develops later in life through internalization of society’s rules for moral behavior, earned primarily through interactions with caregivers

Question 12

ego in Psychoanalytic theory

Answer 12

Part of personality that is forced to direct behavior in a way that balances demands of id and superego
Ego forces delay of gratification of id’s desires until a socially acceptable method of gratification is found
Development of healthy personality requires balancing act between id, superego, and ego
Mental life and development of personality take place according to process of continual conflict between components of the mind

Question 13

What is the most important feature of psychoanalytic theory?

Answer 13

Assumption that crucial personality processes take place outside of conscious awareness
Though dynamics of three personality structures determine characteristics and behaviors of individual, does not take place in individual’s conscious awareness
Freud’s theories have been discredited, partially bc impossible to prove or disprove scientifically, however many mental processes are thought to take place outside of conscious awareness
Another important aspect: assumption that early experiences can have lasting effects on individual throughout life

Question 14

Behaviorist Theory

Answer 14

Personality is constructed by a series of learning experiences that occur through interactions between individuals and their environment

• takes deterministic view of personality development
• Environment shapes personality rather than biological factors or inherent psychological drivers (external over internal factors)
• Individuals have learning experiences throughout their lifetime that lead to predictable behaviors

Question 15

Social Cognitive Theory

Answer 15

Assumes individuals are able to actively participate in formation of own personalities
Focuses on learning experiences and observable behaviors, but considers contributions of individual’s mental life and personal choices
- Explores how thought and emotion affect both learning process and experiences and surroundings that people choose for themselves
- Includes process of observational learning: people learn from experiences of others and apply lessons of previous experiences to new situations
- Developing individuals form models of own expected behavior

Question 16

Reciprocal causation

Answer 16

Key concept in social cognitive theory
States that behavior, personal factors, and environment continually interact and influence each other
James and Jones (1980): examined reciprocal causation to explain job satisfaction and job perceptions

Question 17

Humanist Theory

Answer 17

Assumes individuals are able to actively participate in formation of their own personalities
People continually seek experiences that make them better, more fulfilled individuals
- self-actualization: development and realization of one’s full potential in life
- conscious decision, rather than stable, uncontrollable traits or unconscious impulses, make people who they are
- Involving self-concept in personality is central to Carl Rogers, humanistic psychologist: human has healthy personality when their actual self, ideal self, and perceived self (self-concept) overlap, and psychological distress results when selves are different from one another, or incongruous

Question 18

How do the humanistic and social-cognitive theories distinguish themselves from other theories of personality?

Answer 18

Consideration of an individual’s views of self
Perspectives relate to concept of identity
Key differences between the theories is their focus
Humanistic theory focuses on conscious decisions people make to become their best selves or reach self-actualization
Social-cognitive theory focuses on interactions between behavior, thoughts, and environment in unique way based on their beliefs and previous experiences

Question 19

What is a challenge to the trait-based personality theories?

Answer 19

Situational approach to explaining behavior
The concept of enduring personality traits is fatally flawed bc of variations in behavior that occur across different situations
Situational approach shifts focus from internal, stable traits to external, changing circumstances, but still allows for stability in personality bc people behave according to interpretations of situations
Individuals apply their own characteristic patterns of interpretation to changing array of circumstances and situations
- environmental influences dominate when situation requires particular behavior
- individual personality differences have greater effect in lest restricting environments

Question 20

Describe the explanation of behavior and amount of personal control over personality in the personality theories

Answer 20

Explanation of behavior (EOB), control over personality (COP)
Trait theory: EOB- stable straits, COP- very little
Biological theory: EOB- genetically influenced traits, COP- very little
Psychoanalytic theory: EOB- interplay between id, ego, and superego, COP- very little
Behaviorist theory: EOB- learned reactions to situations, COP- very little
Social cognitive: EOB- reciprocal interactions btwn personal and env factors, COP- some (by choosing experiences)
Humanistic: EOB- seeking betterment of self, COP- free will

Question 21

Identity

Answer 21

Person’s view of who they are in terms of both internal factors, including personality traits, and social or external factors, like group membership
- personality structure has significant effect on how people behave from day to day, but does not capture all aspects that make an individual unique
Identity differs from personality by placing a larger emphasis on individual’s own perception of self
Allows individuals to see themselves as constant, but flexibility to change in response to experience

Question 22

Self-concept

Answer 22

Most personal aspect of identity
Knowledge of one-self as a person both separate from other people and constant throughout changing situations
Person’s view of their own personality
Developed and refined through interactions with others, and once well-developed they will intentionally act in ways that uphold that self-concept and may have strong emotional response to circumstances that threaten its validity

Question 23

Social Identity

Answer 23

Perception of oneself as a member of certain social groups
Characteristics that are associated with group come to be seen as a part of the self, thus influencing individual’s person sense of identity
Involves a cognitive and emotional component
- cognitive: categorization of oneself into certain group
- emotional: comes from individual’s emotional attachment to group with which they identify
Flexible concept: while remains fairly stable part of self, it also allows for variation across different social contexts and level of society

Question 24

Different types of identities

Answer 24

Race / ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, class (demographics)
Characteristics are used by researchers to understand society as a whole, but also have personal and social meanings as different aspects of an individual’s identity

Question 25

How do identity, social identity, and self-concept differ from one another?

Answer 25

Identity has personal and social components
Self-concept refers more to personal and internal aspects of identity
Social identity is centered around group membership

Question 26

Influence of culture and socialization

Answer 26

Critical factor in identity development
People are inevitably shaped by the surrounding social environment
Socialization: process by which developing individuals learn the values, norms, and appropriate behaviors of their society
- A way that children learn the culture into which they have been born, culture is guiding force of socialization
- Interactions between individuals is smallest unit of socialization (influence of individuals), involved in identity formation, variation
- young children learn to observe interactions with only individuals (parents) and imitate behaviors that they observe

Question 27

How does imitation by young children contribute to identity formation?

Answer 27

Children engage in imitation of behaviors that they observe of their parents
Two ways:
1. Allows child to view themself as similar to imitated person
- when child imitates gendered behavior of parent, recognizing similarity to parent and engaging in their own gender identity formation
2. Allows children to engage in role-taking, which is adopting the role of another person (taking other person’s pov in social interaction or specific social role)
- allows children to develop sense of who they are in relation to other people, encouraging formation of identity
- role taking requires ability to use and understand symbols (symbolic interactionism) because involves symbolic representation of behaviors as reflection of particular social roles
- identity can be seen as each person’s symbolic representation of who they are
Role-taking and imitation both involve mimicking behavior of other individuals in attempt to “try out” behaviors and roles, but identity formation also involves perception of self as different from others

Question 28

Social comparison

Answer 28

Evaluating oneself by contrast with others
Facilitates development of distinct sense of self in terms of similarity with and difference from other people
- Individuals draw different conclusions about abilities depending on whether compare themselves to an expert or novice, and resulting impact on self-perception varies

Question 29

How do group interactions affect identity formation?

Answer 29

Group membership is part of social identity, and individual’s reference group is group that provides them with a model for appropriate actions, values, and worldviews (person must either be a part of or aspire to be a part of a group, in-group)
Out-group: group which the person does not identify with
Incorporate group’s way of perceiving and interacting with society into their own identity
People tend to choose reference groups that align with own identities, and groups then exert influence on individual’s identity
As children get older and participate in widening social circles, group interactions impact sense of identity

Question 30

Influence of personal factors on identity formation

Answer 30

Identity formation involves interplay between individual’s internal life and environment
Major psychological characteristics that influence identity and self-concept are those that concern an individual’s perception of their own capabilities and control over personal circumstances
Includes self-esteem, self-efficacy, and locus of control

Question 31

Self-esteem

Answer 31

Person’s overall value judgement of themself
Children have very high self-esteem, that tends to level out and become more tied to reality over course of development, although individuals still tend to judge themselves more positively and less negatively than they do others
- Acts as mediating factor between self-concept and experience by shaping interpretation of events, which then influence self-concept, which can then modify self-esteem
- social identity and self-esteem can feed into each other, positive or negative evaluation of social group circles back to influence self-esteem

Question 32

Self-efficacy

Answer 32

Feeling of being able to carry out an action successfully
More specific than self-esteem, which is global judgement of self
Affects the types of experiences that people choose and how well they perform
- Has corresponding effect on identity and self-concept (experiences lead to change sin perception of self)
- Implicated in social cognitive theory of personality, since it is a personal characteristic that effects behaviors and interactions with environment that shape personality

Question 33

Locus of control

Answer 33

Person’s belief about the extent to which internal or external factors play a role in shaping their life

• completely internal locus: individual believes that they have complete control over their behavior and events
• completely external locus: individual believes external factors (other people, environment, luck) determine outcome
• Many people fall somewhere between two extremes
• Similar to self-esteem and self-efficacy and interacts with them to influence self-concept and identity

Question 34

Freud’s theory of developmental stages

Answer 34

Sequential series of psychosexual stages in early childhood, framed in terms of the id’s impulsiveness
If the child gets too much or too little satisfaction of the urge associated with a particular stage, they may fail to move on to next stage (fixation)
-fixation: permanent aspect of individual’s personality that is related to that urge and can cause problems for people later in their lives

Question 35

Psychosexual stages of development

Answer 35

Oral stage (infancy): children preoccupied with oral processes, such as sucking and biting, where successful development of trust and capacity for delayed gratification
Anal stage (2nd yr): conflict between the young child and their parents, bc children wish to control their bowel movements while parents impose toilet training, successful toilet training allows for development of self-control
Phallic stage (3-6): children in the phallic stage develop sexual and gender identity by focusing their sexual impulses on the opposite-sex parent and identifying with the same-sex parent (individual begins to internalize society’s rules and develops super-ego)
Latent period (7-12): sexual impulses are suppressed and children can focus on other developmental tasks
Genital stage (adolescence and older): characterized by return of sexual urges that lead to the achievement of adult sexuality

Question 36

What is Erik Erikson’s psychoanalytic of development?

Answer 36

Re-envisioned psychosexual stages as psychosocial ones
Involves interaction between self and society that is experienced across the lifespan
- Each stage involves a crisis that must be resolved, that may lead to something similar to a fixation where each dilemma is between two opposite ways of viewing the world, one of which is more psychologically healthy than the other
- If crisis successful, individual develops perspective between two opposites (spectrum) but greater emphasis on healthier alternative
- Each crisis contributes to identity formation

Question 37

What are the psychosocial stages in Erik Erikson’s view of development?

Answer 37

Stage 1: 1st year of life, trust vs. mistrust, infant develops lasting ideas about trust according to actions of parents
Stage 2: autonomy vs. shame and doubt, centers on child’s growing sense of wether they are competent in self-care
Stage 3: Initiative vs. guilt: children attempt to develop ability to execute a plan, such as play activities
Stage 4: industry vs. inferiority: children immersed in more complex social environment of school, whether or not a child views themselves capable of mastering skills that are societally valued
Stage 5: identity vs. role confusion: most explicitly concerned with identity formation, adolescents explore different possibilities for roles in society, as well as personal beliefs and goals, ideal is formation of stable sense of identity (or alternative is lack of clear ideas about self and social belonging)
Stage 6: intimacy vs. isolation (young adulthood): involves ability to form emotionally significant relationships with others
Stage 7 (middle adulthood): generativity vs. stagnation which requires individuals to determine extent to which they wish to return energy to family, work, and community or simply care for their own needs
Stage 8 (old age): integrity vs. despair when evaluating lifetime and develop a sense of how well they have lived

Question 38

Which stages of development in Erikson’s theory contribute to identity?

Answer 38

Stages 2 -4 relate to personal attributes involved in formation of identity
Stage 5 is most explicitly concerned with identity formation

Question 39

How did James Marcia add to Erikson’s work?

Answer 39

Proposed four different types of identity statuses that describe an individual’s progress in stage 5 identity criss
Identity diffusion: role confusion, describes a state in which a person has no sense of identity or motivation to engage in identity exploration
Identity moratorium: adolescent in midst of identity criss actively attempting to develop unique set of values and understanding of self in society
Identity foreclosure: person has sense of identity, but has failed to undergo an identity criss, instead choosing to unquestioningly adopt values and expectations of others
Identity achievement: successful resolution of identity crisis with a strong sense of idenitty after exploring multiple possible identities (opposite from identity diffusion)

Question 40

What is comparison of the stages of identity development in stage 5 of Erikson’s developmental stages?

Answer 40

Identity diffusion: no identity exploration, no identity commitment
Identity moratorium: yes identity exploration, no identity commitment
Identity foreclosure: no identity exploration, yes identity commitment
Identity achievement: no identity exploration, yes identity commitment

Question 41

Lev Vygotsky’s theory

Answer 41

Explicitly recognizes involvement of social and cultural factors in development
Most important element is that learning takes place through interactions with others that promote acquisition of culturally valued behaviors and beliefs
-inspired sociocultural approach to identity, which emphasizes socialization and learning experiences that facilitate identity formation
- development of child can be defined in terms of child’s current and potential levels of achievement at any point
Current developmental level: tasks that a child can perform without help from others
Potential developmental level: Most advanced tasks that a child can do with guidance from more knowledgeable people
Zone of proximal development: range of activities between current and potential development (all skills that can be accomplished with help)
- States that development is fostered when demands of activity fall within child’s zone fo proximal development, rather than above or less

Question 42

How did Vygotsky relate learning to identity?

Answer 42

Pointed out that identity formation involves performance of social roles

• requires individual to exert self control to perform socially appropriate actions
• this type of self regulation has to be learned like other behaviors
• closely tied to identity formation in its emphasis on socialization and social interaction
• sociocultural theory to identity formation builds on Vygotsky’s insights in interactions between learning, culture, and identity

Question 43

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development

Answer 43

Developing children progress through a predictable sequence of stages of moral reasoning (parallel’s Piaget’s stages of general cognitive development)
Level I- Preconventional Morality, moral judgements that are based solely on consideration of anticipated consequences of behavior
- stage 1: punishment
- stage 2: rewards
Level II- Conventional Morality, takes into account social judgments
- stage 3: social disapproval of one’s behavior
- stage 4: rule following, desire to obey rules and laws over morality
Level III- Postconventional Morality, advances beyond personal and interpersonal considerations rising to level of universal principles and fully-developed ideas of right and wrong
- stage 5: social contract guides moral reasoning which is in place for good of society as a whole
- stage 6: universal ethics characterize this stage, with own beliefs about what is right and wrong and share commitment to these principles above and beyond considerations of consequences and disapproval of others

Question 44

What are the ages that people typically undergo different stages of Kohlberg’s stages of development?

Answer 44

Preconventional is usually childhood, conventional is usually adolescence into adulthood

Question 45

How did Kohlberg and Gilligan relate moral development to identity and development?

Answer 45

Stated that they were intertwined with and parallel to each other
Transition between conventional and postconventional reasoning involves the same kind of questioning of self and society that are necessary for development of identity
- associated with identity moratorium: state of active identity crisis
- people in identity foreclosure remain in conventional level, accepting societal and parental guidelines in matters of both identity and morality
- theorized a relationships between identity achievement and postconventional level of moral development

Question 46

Attribution Theory

Answer 46

Line of research into the causes that people use to explain observed behaviors of others

• major source of ideas about how we understand people in social interactions
• conclusions that are drawn about the causes for other people’s behavior then influence subsequent behavioral response
• conscious and unconscious processes both contribute to formation of ideas about what caused another person to behave in a particular way
• overlaps significantly with locus of control, but theories historically independent
• locus of control focuses on how the individual explains his or her own behavior, whereas attribution theory focuses on how people explain behavior of others

Question 47

Dispositional attribution and situational attribution

Answer 47

Dispositional attribution: assigning cause to an inherent quality or desire
Situational attribution: assigning cause to environmental forces

Question 48

Fundamental attribution error

Answer 48

Inherent constraints on our ability to accurately judge causes of behavior when have incomplete information about other person’s mental processes and life circumstances

• tendency to automatically favor dispositional attributions over situational ones when judging other people
• inclination to assume another person commits an action because of personal qualities and not because of environmental influences
• persistent thought process across many people
• may be bc dispositional attribution happens quickly and sometimes outside of conscious awareness, or when external circumstance awareness is lacking
• situational attribution is slower, conscious, more effortful process of taking environmental influences into account

Question 49

Self-serving bias

Answer 49

Tendency to attribute one’s success to internal factors while attributing one’s failures to external factors

• functions to support self-esteem by allowing individuals to believe that they control their successes while blaming failures on factors beyond their control
• society’s culture has over-arching influence on way of life, beliefs, values and process of attribution

Question 50

What are some flaws of the fundamental attribution error?

Answer 50

According to Mason and Morris (2010), fundamental attribution error is characteristic of Western viewpoint rather than being truly universal

• bc involves seeing individual, rather than situation, as central to events it reflects individualistic perspective that is typical of Western nations
• East Asians tend to pay more attention to situational factors than Western subjects
• members of individualistic cultures are also more likely to invoke self-serving bias, may affect unconscious cognitive processing, conscious attempts to consider situational influences, or both

Question 51

How do the influence of our self-perceptions and perceptions of the environment affect our attributions and perceptions of other people?

Answer 51

Group identity and identifying with an in-group can change how you perceive members in that in-group vs. members in the out-group (positive and more varied personality traits vs. negative)
Perceptions of one’s surroundings can influence perceptions and beliefs about others, where dark surroundings led to subconscious activation of danger-related stereotypes in participants shown images of black men :(

Question 52

Psychological disorders

Answer 52

Sets of psychological abnormalities that are maladaptive to the individual

• Characterization is very complex, bc fall on extreme end of spectrum of typical human experience and behavior
• Statistical guidelines can be used to establish cutoffs for level of a given trait or behavior that is ‘abnormally’ low or high, but question of where to draw that line is arbitrary
• individual who barely exceeds statistical threshold of abnormality on a given trait is not qualitatively very different from someone who falls just below that threshold yet one is considered “abnormal” while the other is not
• argument of suffering and not adapting well to life circumstances and societal demands may warrant a diagnosis, thought possible not to experience stress of disorder (bipolar disorder and mania)

Question 53

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5)

Answer 53

Most recent edition of guidebook used by mental health professionals, psychiatrists for diagnosis of patients, communication with other professionals, and collection of data on psychological disorders

• Provides standardized system for diagnosing and discussing psychological disorders, including sets of specific symptoms that are characteristic of each disorder
• factors observable and describable by patient used to characterize disorder
• significant overlap in symptoms of disorders (> 1/2 ppl can qualify for other diagnoses)
• classification of psychological disorders is tied to cultural ideas ( some seem to exist in only some cultures)

Question 54

How can BPS be used in the diagnosis of psychological disorders?

Answer 54

Earlier models (biomedical) assumed that psychological disorders are attributed to biological processes, with emphasis on genetics & neurological functioning
BPS rejects idea that biological, psychological, and social processes can be neatly divided and states that biology alone cannot account for intricacies of disease progression in individual patient
- Welcomed, but not completely accepted

Question 55

Somatic symptoms and related disorders (somatoform disorders)

Answer 55

Characterized by bodily symptoms, such as pain, fatigue, and motor problems, along with associated psychological symptoms that cause significant problems for individual
- Often first seen by clinicians that do not specialize in psychiatric care
- Psychological impairment accompanies bodily symptoms (rather than nature of bodily experience)
- New, modern understanding of somatic disorders, where traditional approach emphasized that biological causes could not explain somatic symptoms
Include Somatic Symptom Disorder, Illness Anxiety Disorder, Conversion Disorder, and Factitious Disorder

Question 56

What are common somatoform disorders and their meanings?

Answer 56

Somatic symptom disorder: characterized by somatic symptom, such as pain, as well as significant anxiety or preoccupation with symptom
Illness anxiety disorder: disorder associated with excessive preoccupation with developing a serious illness or disorder
Conversion disorder: impairment in sensory or motor function that is not consistent with nerve damage, but not under the patient’s conscious control and patient experiences them as real
Factitious disorder: patient consciously fabricates symptoms

Question 57

Anxiety Disorders

Answer 57

Defined by experience of unwarranted fear and anxiety, physiological tension, and behaviors associated with emotional and physical experience of anxiety
- Commonly connected to worries about future and hypothetical circumstances, rather than actual events in the present
- experienced in response to stress
- manifest bodily as excessive SNS activation
- characterized according to type of stimulus that causes emotional and physical symptoms
Generalized anxiety disorder: persistent anxiety triggered by wide variety of stimuli, panic disorder: experience of frequent panic attacks, short-lived instances of over-whelming SNS activation and fear, Phobias: excessive fear of specific object or situation with active attempts to avoid situation

Question 58

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

Answer 58

Characterized by obsession and compulsion
Obsessions: recurrent, intrusive thoughts
Compulsions: ritualistic or repetitive behaviors that serve the purpose of reducing anxiety associated with obsessions
Individuals often recognize behaviors as unreasonable and excessive
- Diagnosis only warranted if symptoms interfere with daily functioning
- Different from OCPD, bc OCD sufferers are distressed about symptoms
Also includes body dysmorphic disorder: preoccupation with perceived physical flaw which is not usually there, hoarding disorder: persistent difficulty disposing of belongings regardless of value, trichotillomania and excoriation disorder: preoccupations with hair pulling and skin picking

Question 59

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Answer 59

Relatively common disorder ~5%

• Caused by exposure to any life-threatening or traumatic event
• May be experienced, witnessed, or learned about through a third party
• Associated with re-experiencing of the event through dreams, flashbacks, and even hallucinations
• People may avoid certain triggers that are associated with event
• Thought to be overactivation of SNS and associated with hyperarousal (difficult sleeping, hypervigilence, exaggerated startle response, irritability)

Question 60

Other Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders

Answer 60

Acute stress disorder: symptoms occur within a month of exposure to trauma and include extreme anxiety and dissociative symptoms
Adjustment disorder: experience of extreme distress associated with major life event or change, such as loss of loved one

Question 61

Mood Disorders

Answer 61

Category of psychological disorders that deal with disruptions in emotion that influence personal functioning, much like anxiety disorders

• Defined by two extremes or poles, along spectrum of emotional experience: extreme sadness and despair (depression) vs. excitement so intense that it is detrimental to well-being (mania)
• Depressive disorders and bipolar disorders

Question 62

Depressive disorders

Answer 62

Commonly share the name depression
Defined by pervasive feelings of sadness and hopelessness and / or loss of interest in activities that an individual usually enjoys
- leads to lower functioning in various spheres of everyday life
- Defined by emotional experience, but depressed person experiences physical and cognitive symptoms, such as disruptions in sleep and eating, thoughts of suicide, inability to concentrate
- Severity and duration determine diagnosis
Major depressive disorder: associated with more severe symptoms for shorter period of time (episodic)
Persistent depressive disorder: associated with less severe symptoms, persisting for longer periods of time, > 2 yrs

Question 63

Biological basis of depression

Answer 63

Heritability of depression is found to be about 40% (with first degree relative)
Genetic contributions to depression involves multiple genes, unlike case of dominant-recessive disorders (Huntington’s), polygenic influence
- Individual has higher or lower risk of depression depending on array of genes they inherited
- Some genetic contribution to depression is mediated by heredity of personality features, like neuroticism
- Biological functioning involves the brain which have been found to have altered functioning
- Monoamine hypothesis: states that deficiency in availability or potency of monoamines (serotonin, norepinephrine, noradrenaline, or dopamine) in synapses contributes to depression, developed in response to first successful treatment of depression: monoamine oxidase inhibitors which inhibit breakdown of monoamines
- hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis: elevated levels of one or more hormones involved in HPA axis in individuals with depression, over-activation of stress response system may contribute to development of disorder
- No one biological factor is responsible

Question 64

Bipolar Disorders

Answer 64

Characterized by episodes of mania and usually depression as well
manic episodes: uncontrollable impulses and reckless decisions
- involves distortion of self-concept, where self is viewed in exaggeratedly positive light, possibly to the point of delusions
- delusions more commonly associated with psychotic disorders (loss of connection with reality)
- share features with both psychotic disorders and depressive disorders
Two types: Bipolar I and Bipolar II
- Bipolar I: mania that occurs in episodes lasting at least one week, and otherwise normal or depressed
- Bipolar II: hypomania very similar to mania with no impairment in functioning, may be mixed with periods of depression

Question 65

Schizophrenia

Answer 65

Debilitating and rare disorder that can have wide variety of clinical presentations but is fundamentally characterized by psychosis, an impaired connection with reality

• Experiences at least one of following core positive symptoms: hallucinations (most common auditory, correlated with neural activity in brain areas associated with hearing and language), delusions (unrealistic, unreasonable belief), disorganized speech (inability to effectively communicate due to nonsensical trains of thought)
• positive symptom: add to or modify individual’s normal psychological function (perception, belief, or communication)
• negative symptoms: characterized by absence
• Negative symptoms involve lack of emotion, motivation, and enjoyment of activities, where the presence and severity of negative symptoms predict poorer outcomes

Question 66

Biological basis of schizophrenia

Answer 66

Genetic vulnerability is clearly a contributing factor

• risk of schizophrenia is sharply elevated among close relatives compared to general population, where level of risk correlated to degree of relatedness
• Many genes, each with a small effect can influence development and some genetic alleles have been associated with bipolar disorder
• certain complications in pregnancy can raise likelihood of development of schizophrenia for individual who is genetically at risk
• dopamine plays role possibly in positive symptoms, drugs that block receptors for dopamine were useful as anti-psychotics
• certain brain structures undergo atrophy prior to onset of schizophrenia and continue to worsen over course of disorder
• involves interaction between genetic predisposition and environmental factors

Question 67

Dissociative Disorders

Answer 67

Defined by the experience of dissociation: split between different aspects of psychological functioning

• dissociation: experienced as disruption in identity, memory, or consciousness
• dissociative amnesia: forgetting past events and can be associated with trauma (negative symptom)
• depersonalization /derealization disorder: characterized by feelings that either the self or surroundings are unreal and disconnected from individual (positive)
• people have often had some type of traumatic experience, suggesting dissociation serves the function of allowing person to gain psychological distance from trauma

Question 68

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Answer 68

AKA Multiple Personality Disorder
Involves significant disruption of stable identity
- individual experiences or displays evidence of multiple distinct personalities that can differ significantly in terms of traits and behaviors and each may lack awareness of other personalities
- Sensational stories of recovered memories as patients become aware of multiple personalities cause skepticism
- extreme nature of experience described by DID patients has raised question of whether memories were induced by therapists (possible to cause people to form and believe in false memories)

Question 69

Personality disorders

Answer 69

Defined by their tendency to endure across different situations and over the course of a lifetime

• involve development of personality traits that cause psychological and social dysfunction
• often first noticeable during adolescence
• some aspect of personality is psychologically unhealthy for individual
• categorized into clusters of specific characteristics including disruptions in thought, emotion , and behavior associated with unhealthy personality funcitoning

Question 70

What are the rates of prevalence of psychological disorders among americans 18 years or older?

Answer 70

Anxiety disorders: 18%
Mood disorders: 9.5%
Schizophrenia: 1%
Personality disorders: 9%