PSYC3505 midterm Flashcards
Diagnostic systems
categorize behaviour problems; and to provide guidelines for identification, diagnosis, and treatment
Determiners of abnormal behavior
- Behaviours that are not just atypical but harmful
- Behaviours that are developmentally inappropriate
- Cultural Norms, Gender Norms, Situational Norms
- Role of the Adult
- Changing views of Abnormality
prevalence
a measure of the total number of cases of disease in a population
prevalence depends on:
- The definition of the disorder: makes use of standardized scales or formal diagnostic criteria
- Population sampling: prevalence may be based on clinical or community samples
Stressors that could cause behavioral abnormality
- chronic poverty
- increase in inequality
- lower class status
- family dynamics
- homelessness
- immigrant family stress
- addictions
- child abuse
the developmental psychopathology perspective
- blends developmental psychology with clinical child and adolescent psychology with paediatric psychiatry
- studies the original and developmental course of disordered behaviour including individual adaptions and success
Casual factors of psychopathology
necessary: factor must be present
sufficient: can be responsible alone
contributing: not necessary/sufficient but may add to effects
psychopathology …
depends on the identification of multiple variables that affect development and the environment that surrounds it
pathways of development
path 1: stable adaptation
path 2: stable maladaptation
path 3: reversal of maladaptation
path 4: decline of adaptation
path 5: temporal maladaptation
path 1: stable adaptation
few environmental adversities; few behaviour problems; good self worth
path 2: stable maladaptation
chronic environmental adversities
path 3: reversal of maladaptation
important life change creates new opportunity
path 4: decline of adaptation
environmental or biological shifts bring adversity
path 5: temporal maladaptation
can reflect transient experimental risktaking
Mediator model
the mediator must cause a higher statistical correlation between dependent and independent variables
moderator model
moderators test the effect of a moderator variable on the relationship between an independent variable and dependant variable
equifinality
refers to diverse paths and factors which result in the same outcome (multiple different circumstances all cause depression)
multifinality
identifies that the same experiences may result in multiple different outcomes (divorce leads to depression, anxiety, and aggression)
risk factors
precede an impairment and increase the chance of a disorder
protective factors
the opposite of risk factors; are personal or situational variables that reduce the chance of psychopathlogy
resilience
defined as a relatively positive outcome- in the face of significant adviser or traumatic experiences
adverse childhood experiences study
- In Phase 1 (of 2) individuals who completed standardized
medical evaluations at the Health Appraisal Clinic between
August 1995-March 1996 were sent questionnaires - The ACE Study questionnaire collected information on
Adverse Childhood Events
why do some succeed at resilience and others dont
persistence, courage, strength of character, individual characteristics, family characteristics, social/community characteristics
Attachment
- socio-emotional bond between an infant and their parent/significant caregiver
- typically develops in infancy (7-9 months)
- viewed as biologically hard wired in both infant and caregiver
types of attachment
secure: sad to leave parent, easy to calm down
insecure avoidant: impartial
insecure resistant: super hard to calm down, extremely sad when parents leave
disorganized: on and off behaviors, reluctant
temperament
the child’s disposition; a product of complex interactions between biology and environment over time
three types of temperament
- easy: good at social situations; easy going
- slow-to-warm: takes time to get comfy; a bit slow
- difficult: hard to deal with; stubborn
emotional regulation
expressiveness, understanding, regulation/dysregulation
- individual differences in threshold and intensity to emotional experiences
- gives clues to level of distress and sensitivity to environment
social cognitive processing
how social situations within the social environment are understood and interpreted
forebrain
hypothalamus (basic urges), amygdala (emotion regulation), cerebral cortex (occipital, parietal, temporal, and frontal cortexes)
brain development
- overabundance of nerve cells generated
- axons migrate
- genes determine axons trajectory and connections to target cells
- more axons than target cells can accomodate
- selective pruning starts
synaptic pruning
the action of experience that results in the consolidation of circuits and the pruning of unnecessary synapses
prenatal influences on the developing CNS
- poor maternal diet and stress
- drugs and alcohol
- medications
- radiation and environmental contaminants
- disease
perinatal influences on the developing CNS
- medications during child birth
- complications during labour
postnatal influences on the developing CNS
- accidents
- illness
- malnutrition
- accidental poisoning
genetics
genetic material is contained in all cells - contains chromosomes (contain DNA)
genotype and phenotype
genotype: actual gene makeup
phenotype: expression of gene makeup
single gene inheritance
- dominant gene or recessive gene
multiple gene inheritance
- heritability
- twin studies-shared and non-shared environmental influences
gene environmental interactions
a differential sensitivity to experience based on your genotype
gene-environment correlation
based on genetic differences in exposure to environments
passive
parents pass both genes and gene-related environment t their offspring
reactive
reflect child’s genetic makeup and others reactions to the gene-related characters
active
based on child’s genetic endowment and the child’s selection gene-related experiences
operant conditioning
recognizes that positive consequences of a behaviour will strengthen it and a negative consseuqence will weaken it
positive reinforcement
presented. increases the bahaviour
negative reinforcement
withdrawn. increases the behaviour
punishment
decreases the behaviour
generalization
extends to new behaviour
discrimination
predictive of response
shaping
rewards close approximations- to establish behaviour
observational learning
- Albert Bandura identified that problem behaviors can be
acquired through observation of a model - To learn a new behavior pattern by imitating the performance of someone else
cognitive process
Individuals perceive their experiences, construct concepts or
schemas that represent their experience, sort information in
memory and employ their understanding to think about and act in the world
cognitive-behaviour model
holds that behaviours are learned, and maintained by their interactions of internal cognitions and emotions with external environmental events. maladaptive cognitions = maladaptive behaviour
cognitive structures
are schema for representing information that are constructed from experience
cognitive content
is information stored in the cognitive structure