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PSYC 337 > Midterm 1 > Flashcards

Midterm 1 Flashcards

1
Q

What are the 3 problems with statistical labelling?

A
  1. We don’t treat both ends of the distribution equally (ex: IQ)
  2. It’s hard to plot abnormal behavior
  3. What you’re plotting matters ex: Plotting Depression by age: the mean is meaningless because it is a bimodal distribution (has 2 peaks)
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2
Q

What are the 5 models of abnormality?

A

PASCL

  1. Possession Model: Possession by evil spirits + demons causes mental illness
  2. Animal Model: To be mentally ill is not human: mentally ill treated like animals
  3. Simple Illness (Disease) Model: Mental illness is an illness like any other illness
  4. Complex Medical Model: Looking at symptoms is not enough, diseases vary in degree
  5. Labelling Model: Categorizing abnormal behavior based on symptoms
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3
Q

Who gets hospitalized for mental disorders? 5 classes

What do they have in common?

A
  1. Suicidal Depressives (31 d)
  2. Angry Psychotics (57 d)
  3. Angry Geriatrics (56 d)
  4. Antisocial Addicts (27 d)
  5. Social Isolates (63 d)

They pose a threat to themselves or others
Success rate is not good

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4
Q

What are the 6 advantages to high risk research?

A
  1. The contemporaneous recording of events
  2. Allows the study of escape from high risk
  3. Allows for the study of Heterogeneity of abnormal outcomes (disorders on a spectrum, environmental factors shape symptom characteristics
  4. Subdivision in terms of age of onset
  5. We can measure changes over time (factors controlling relapse)
  6. Can sometimes explain feedback mechanisms: circular process and chain of events important in causation
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5
Q

Reasons for Comorbidity

A
  1. One disorder causes the other
  2. Both disorders caused by something else
  3. Reciprocal Causality
  4. Symptoms overlap
    5/ We don’t have separate disorders
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6
Q

Why Label? 3 reasons

A
  1. Comfort and Convenience
  2. Scientific reasons
  3. Validity (hopefully, different disorders would be treated differently)
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7
Q

Complex Medical Model: 4 Characteristics

A
  1. Same symptoms can have different eitologies (Anemia example)
  2. Diseases vary in degree (normal distribution Arthritis example)
  3. It takes psychological factors to induce the actual disorder (ex stress decreases functioning of immune system)
  4. Views illness as an interaction between predisposition and environmental factors (Vodka example)
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8
Q

What is the current Zeitgeist?

A

Abnormal behavior is viewed as a brain disease, biological

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9
Q

Simple illness model
What are it’s Characteristics?
4 cons?

A
  1. mental illness is an illness like any other
  2. discontinuous with normal behavior, sick or healthy, two non overlapping distributions
    Cons:
  3. Problem is with the individual, does not look at other factors like environment (ex Purcell’s Asthma study)
  4. Implies a need for physical intervention (ex: Lobotomies)
  5. The nature of the model + the nature of the institutions: pure simple medical model = treat people in institutions which is not always best
  6. Absolves responsibility
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10
Q

When you drill a hole in a person’s skull what is it called? Why?

A

Trephination

To let evil spirits out

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11
Q

Why should the mean age of 30 be ignored for depression?

A

The bimodal distribution distorts the mean

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12
Q

What is a “contemporaneous recording of events” give an example

A

It’s like a longitudinal study
Your follow high risk individuals over time to see which factors promote the disorder

ex: following men with a family history of alcoholism

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13
Q

What percentage of the population is diagnosable at any given time? What percentage aren’t treated?

A

1/3 of population diagnosable

2/3 of those people are not treated

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14
Q

What predicts violence mental illness

A
  1. Positive symptoms (delusions, hallucinations)
  2. History of Violence
  3. Substance/drug abuse
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15
Q

Why has there been an increase in Autism?

A
  1. Change in definition
  2. Increased social focus
  3. Comorbidity + diagnosis substitution
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16
Q

What 2 rules should we follow to clinically label

A
  1. Must be high reliability (should be .9 is actually .4-.5) -> Multiple diagnosticians looking at the same patient would give same label -> testing +retesting
  2. Advantages of labeling must exceed disadvantages
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17
Q

Why shouldn’t we take the DSM as a bible? Why shouldn’t we take it literally?
Allen Francis quote
- one reason supporting it
- one reason against it

A

For: We need labels for scientific reasons

Against: Low reliability + validity. Problems with disorder inflation, labelling and equating words with reality

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18
Q

List the 4 assumptions of experimentation

A

DOPE

Determinism
Physicalism
Operationalism
Empiricism

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19
Q

What is Determinism?

A

Everything has a reason for occurring and it’s the function of certain necessary conditions

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20
Q

What is Physicalism?

A

Study things that can be measured because they exist in time and space

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21
Q

What is Operationalism?

A

Measure things with Operational definitions ex: measuring anxiety -> results will depend on 1) nature of the test 2) how anxiety is defined 3) how you measure

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22
Q

Define Empiricism

A

use of experimentation
observable, repeatable
IV and DV
NOT deductive reasoning

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23
Q

Give an example of hypothesis myopia

A

Ignaz Semmelweis
Obstetrician who recommended hand washing in charity wards: death rate dropped to 1.2%
Run out of medicine because his ideas were too radical and others refused to accept them

24
Q

What issues are there in measuring the prevalence of mental disorders?

A

No Gold Standard
We’re not good at judging ourselves
professional judgements are not reliable (biases)

25
Q

What are the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) and why were they developed?

A

DAD

  1. Dimensional system: behavior on a spectrum/continuum from normal to abnormal
  2. Agnostic about current diagnostic categories: -> not judging the DSM categories as bad or good
  3. Different units of Analysis are used in defining constructs (Biological, Psychological, Social)
26
Q

Labeling model: What is the fundamental principal?

A

Being abnormal depends not so much on what you do but where you do it

27
Q

What are the differences between Objective and Projective Tests in the Job you would be given in an experiment?

A

Objective: Task
Projective: Report

28
Q

What are the differences between Objective and Projective Tests in the Instructions you would be given?

A

Objective: Specific
Subjective: Indefinite

29
Q

What are the differences between Objective and Projective Tests in the type of Answer?

A

Objective: Right Wrong (specific)
Subjective: Anything

30
Q

What are the differences between Objective and Projective Tests in the Rationale ?

A

Objective: Comparison
Subjective: Projective hypothesis

31
Q

What are the differences between Objective and Projective Tests in scoring?

A

Objective: Specific
Subjective: Interpretation

32
Q

What are 3 aspects of a good psychological test?

A
  1. Reliability
  2. Predictive Validity
  3. Applicability
33
Q

What are the 4 methods of classification?

A

I Read Popular Books

  1. Interview
  2. Rating Scale
  3. Psychological Tests
  4. Biological measures
34
Q

Until we eliminate _________ the DSM will not have increased reliability?

A

100% coverage

35
Q

Name the 3 stages of the Interview Method

A
  1. Rapport stage
  2. Data Collection
  3. Hypothesis testing
36
Q

What is Validity? What types are there?

A

Your measure is measuring what it’s supposed to measure

  1. Face Validity
  2. Predictive Validity
37
Q

What is Face Validity?

A

Looks like it measures what it’s supposed to

38
Q

What is Predictive Validity?

A

Correlation with what you’re predicting to

39
Q

What are the 5 Axis a patient is evaluated on with a MultiAxial Assessment?
Why?

A

Gives you more info about possible causes to you don’t end up making assumptions and treating the wrong thing

Axis I: Clinical Disorders (Make the Major Diagnosis ex. Depression, Bipolar etc…)
Axis II: Personality Disoders
Axis III: General Medical Condition
Axis IV: Psychosocial + Environmental problems
Axis V: Global Functioning: rating from 1-100

40
Q

What errors can occur when using a rating scale?

A
  1. Error of Leniency
  2. Error of central tendency
  3. Halo Effect
41
Q

What is the Error of Leniency?

A

you assume that you have a normal curve when really it tilts toward the positive

42
Q

What is the Error of Central Tendency?

A

Instead of a normal curve everyone is graded in a small range in the middle so that everyone becomes average

43
Q

What is the Halo Effect?

A

Context is important

ex: ask opinion of gambling when leaving church vs when at home-> influences response

44
Q

What is needed for high validity?

A

Reliability

45
Q

What is the Distance Syndrome? Give an example

A

The more that something is out of experience the more variability will occur

ex. women who acted more aggressively during an interview were more likely to be diagnosed as psychotic.

Not familiar with aggressive females -> don’t know what to make of it -> variability

46
Q

How do you evaluate theories?

A

by examining the Structure of the theory and the Methodological Characteristics

47
Q

What aspects of the Structure of the theory need to be evaluated?

A
  1. is the data language explicit and theoretically sound?
  2. What is the influence of the choice of IV and DV
  3. Are the terms reducible to physical language?
  4. How are the theoretical constructs interrelated?
48
Q

What aspects of the Methodological Characteristics of the theory need to be evaluated?

A
  1. Can you measure it?
  2. What’s the generality? (broad or narrow predictions?)
  3. Does the theory predict?
  4. How testable is it?
49
Q

What did the epidemiological prevalence studies show?

A

Highest lifetime prevalence rates were for anxiety, substance abuse and depression
Comorbidity was common

50
Q

What stages do we go through when we try to explain things?

A

Mystical Stage
Taxonomic Stage
Scientific Stage

51
Q

What is the Mystical Stage?

A

mentally disturbed because they’re possessed by demons

52
Q

What is the Taxonomic Stage?

example

A

where you simply describe something, order it, classify it
ex: DSM
this is the stage we’re at

53
Q

What is the Scientific Stage?

A

Where you explain things and understand cause and effect

54
Q

What are the goals of science? how are they ordered?

A
  1. Description
  2. Measurement
  3. Prediction
  4. Control

Hierarchical: in this order

55
Q

What is the goal/function of theories?

A

To synthesize all the information

tool for getting new facts, producing ideas that are testable

56
Q

What did Dexamethasone suppress?

A

cortisol

57
Q

What is Emergenesis

A

a trait (or phenotype) is called emergenic if it is the result of a specific combination of several interacting genes (rather than of a simple sum of several independent genes)

PSYC 337 (19 decks)

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