psych exam final Flashcards
behavioral therapy
focus on behaviors
cognitive therapy
focuses on thoughts
Token economy
an operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange tokens for privileges or treats
Exposure therapies
behavioral techniques that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imaginary or actual situations) to the things they fear and avoid
The humanistic perspective…
emphasizes people’s innate goodness and potential for self-fulfillment
Psychotherapy
treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to address psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth
Stimulants
drugs that excite neural activity and speed up body functions
Depressants
drugs that reduce (depress) neural activity and slow body functions
Tolerance
a dwindling effect with regular use of the same dose of a drug, requiring the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the drug’s effect
Anxiety becomes a disorder when…
it is significantly distressing and causing impairment in day-to-day functioning
Anxiety disorders
psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety
Classification
-creates order
-helps us to communicate quickly and efficiently, predict the future course of a disorder, suggest appropriate treatment prompt research into its causes
Thoughts, emotions, or behaviors are described as dysfunctional or maladaptive when…
they interfere with normal day-to-day life
Psychological disorder
disturbance in people’s thoughts, emotions, or behaviors that causes distress or suffering and impairs their daily lives
Collectivism
giving priority to the goals of our group (often our extended family or work group) and defining our identity accordingly
Individualism
a cultural pattern that emphasizes people’s individual goals over group goals and defines identity mainly in terms of unique personality traits
defense mechanism: denial
refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities (e.g., denying evidence of your partner’s affair)
defense mechanism: projection
disguising one’s own threatening impulses by attributing them to others (e.g., the cheater accusing their partner of cheating)
Defense mechanisms
in psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality
Superego
represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future goals (e.g., don’t buy the bag, you don’t need it)
Id
operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification (e.g., buy this expensive bag now)
Ego
-balances the demands of the id, the superego, and reality
-operates in the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain (e.g., save up and buy the bag later)
Psychodynamic theories
theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences
Outgroup
them; different identity
Ingroup
us; shared identity
We are more likely to conform when we:
-are made to feel incompetent or insecure
-are in a group with at least 3 other people
-are in a group in which everyone else agrees
admire the group’s status and attractiveness
-have not already committed ourselves to any response
-know that others in the group will observe our behavior
-are from a culture that encourages respect for social standards
Social facilitation
in the presence of others, improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks, and worsened performance on difficult tasks (e.g., working out harder with a gym buddy)
Conformity
adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard
Peripheral route persuasion
occurs when people are influenced by attention-getting cues, such as the speaker’s attractiveness
Central route persuasion
occurs when interested people’s thinking is influenced by considering evidence and arguments
Role
a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave
what happens during
emotion regulation
-Increase/decrease emotional intensity and duration
-Control which kinds of emotions we feel
-Healthy emotion regulation enables more happiness, greater life satisfaction, better relationships, and less depression/anxiety
Emotion-regulation
how we manage our emotions, including which emotions we allow ourselves to feel, when we feel them, and how we express those emotions
Emotion-focused coping
attempting to reduce stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction
General adaptation syndrome: three stages
-Alarm reaction: Sympathetic activation
-Resistance: Fully engaged, summoning all resources
-Exhaustion: constant stress depleted resources
Problem-focused coping
attempting to reduce stress directly by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor
General adaptation syndrome
Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three stages
Secondary appraisal
am I able to respond to the event?
Primary appraisal
is the event threatening?
Stress
the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging
