Psych 55, 40, 41 Flashcards
Why is therapeutic lifestyle change considered an effective biomedical therapy, and how does it work?
Everything biomedical is psychological so lifestyle factors like exercise, nutrition, and relationships, it positively influences brain chemistry and circuitry, leading to improved mental well-being.
What are the drug therapies? How do double-blind studies help researchers evaluate a drug’s effectiveness?
Drug therapies encompass antipsychotic drugs for psychoses, antianxiety drugs like Xanax, antidepressant drugs such as SSRIs, and Mood stabilizing drugs like Depakote, used to treat epilepsy, manic episodes, and bipolar disorders.
Double-blind studies aid researchers by comparing a drug’s effects against a placebo, ensuring unbiased evaluation of its effectiveness by eliminating expectations and placebo effects from both patients and researchers.
How are brain stimulation and psychosurgery used in treating specific disorders?
Brain stimulation techniques like electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and deep brain stimulation (DBS) are utilized to treat depression, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. ECT induces controlled seizures to alleviate severe depression, while TMS stimulates or suppresses cortical activity. DBS targets specific brain areas to reduce depression symptoms. Psychosurgery, although rare, involves precise surgical interventions to address conditions like uncontrollable seizures or severe depression, but it’s considered a last resort due to its irreversible nature.
What may help prevent psychological disorders, and why is it important to develop resilience?
Preventing psychological disorders involves addressing societal stressors like poverty, unemployment, and discrimination, while also empowering individuals and nurturing supportive environments. Developing resilience is crucial because it enables individuals to cope with stress and adversity, fostering mental well-being and mitigating the risk of developing psychological disorders.
What do social psychologists study? How do we tend to explain others’ behavior and our own?
Social psychologists study how individuals view and affect one another within various social contexts. When explaining others’ behavior, we often attribute it to their personal traits (fundamental attribution error) rather than considering situational factors. Conversely, when explaining our own behavior, we tend to be more aware of situational influences.
How do attitudes and actions interact?
Attitudes and actions interact bidirectionally. Two theories exemplifying this are the foot-in-the-door phenomenon and cognitive dissonance theory.The foot-in-the-door phenomenon says that agreeing to small requests can lead to agreeing to bigger ones later, making our actions match our attitudes. Cognitive dissonance theory explains that when our attitudes and actions don’t match, we feel uncomfortable, so we adjust our attitudes to fit our actions and feel better.
How do peripheral route persuasion and central route persuasion differ?
Peripheral route persuasion relies on attention-grabbing cues and emotions to trigger quick judgments, while central route persuasion uses evidence and logical arguments to prompt careful thinking.
How can we share our views more effectively?
Do not argue loudly, humiliate, or bore people when explain your views instead identify shared values, apeal to others admirable motives, make your message vivid, repeat your message and engage people.
How is social contagion a form of conformity, and how do conformity experiments reveal the power of social influence?
Social contagion, like the chameleon effect, involves mimicking the behaviors and emotions of others, leading to conformity. Conformity experiments, such as Solomon Asch’s line judgment test, demonstrate that people often change their behavior or beliefs to align with group norms, even when they know the group is wrong. This reveals the strong influence of social factors on individual behavior and decision-making.
What do the social influence studies teach us about ourselves? How much power do we have as individuals?
Social influence studies show that individuals are susceptible to conformity and obedience pressures, often prioritizing social expectations over personal moral standards. Individuals possess significant power, especially when they hold firm to their beliefs and resist social pressures, as evidenced by minority influence research.
What did Milgram’s obedience experiments teach us about the power of social influence?
Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiments showed that a significant majority of participants (over 60%) were willing to obey authority figures and administer potentially harmful electric shocks to others, even when the recipients expressed pain and distress. This highlights the strong influence of authority and social pressure on individual behavior, with obedience levels varying depending on factors such as the proximity of the authority figure, the legitimacy of their authority, and the presence of role models for defiance.
How does the presence of others influence our actions, via social facilitation, social loafing, and deindividuation?
The presence of others can lead to social facilitation, where individuals perform better on easy tasks or worse on difficult tasks due to heightened arousal and evaluation apprehension. OR, social loafing occurs when individuals exert less effort in group settings, feeling less accountable and viewing their contributions as dispensable. OR, deindividuation can occur in group situations, leading to diminished self-awareness and self-restraint, often resulting in uninhibited behavior.
How can group interaction enable group polarization?
Group interaction fosters group polarization by allowing like-minded individuals to discuss their beliefs and attitudes with one another. As they engage in dialogue, their views tend to become more extreme, leading to a phenomenon known as group polarization.
What role does the internet play in group polarization?
internet communication magnifies the effect of connecting like-minded people, for better and for worse. People find support, which strengthens their ideas, but also often isolation from those with different opinions. Separation plus conversation may thus lead to group polarization.
How can group interaction enable groupthink?
Groupthink occurs when a group prioritizes agreement and harmony over carefully considering different options. To avoid groupthink, leaders can encourage open discussion by assigning group members to identify potential problems and by welcoming diverse opinions and expert feedback. This ensures that the group makes more informed and effective decisions.
