Psych Final Flashcards
Anxiety disorder
Disorders in which the main symptom is excessive or unrealistic anxiety and fearfulness
biopsychosocial model of abnormality
Abnormal behavior is seen as the result of the combined and interacting forces of biological, psychological, social, and cultural influences
bipolar disorder
severe mood swings between major depressive episodes and manic episodes
Causes of anxiety disorders
Behavioral: disordered behavior is learned
Cognitive: excessive anxiety from illogical, irrational thought processes
Biological: chemical imbalances, genetics
Causes of mood disorders
Behavioral: link depression to learned helplessness
Cognitive: distorted, illogical thinking
Biological: variation in neurotransmitter levels, genetics
Compulsions
Repetitive, ritualistic behavior or mental act
Criteria to determine abnormality
- Is behavior unusual?
- Does it go against social norms?
- Does it (behavior) cause significant subjective discomfort?
- Is the behavior maladaptive or result in an inability to perform?
- Does behavior cause the person to be dangerous to themselves or others?
Delusions
False beliefs held by a person who refuses to accept evidence of their falseness
Diagnostic labels
Good and bad; allows for treatment and an explanation, but creates a stigma
DSM-5
Manual of psychological disorders and their symptoms
Hallucinations
False sensory perceptions such as hearing voices that don’t really exist
Major depression
Severe depression: too severe for circumstances or no apparent cause
Obsessions
Intruding, reoccurring thoughts
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Disorder in which obsessions (thoughts) create anxiety that is relieved by performing compulsions (repetitive, ritualistic behavior)
Panic disorder
Disorder in which panic attacks occur frequently enough to cause the person difficulty in adjusting to daily life
Phobia
an irrational, persistent fear of an object, situation, or social activity
Social phobias
Fear of negative evaluations in social situations
Specific phobias
fear of objects or specific situations or events
Agoraphobia
fear of places or situations where it is hard for an individual to escape
PTSD
Exposure to a major stressor
Schizophrenia
A long lasting psychotic disorder in which there is an inability to distinguish fantasy form reality as well as disturbances in thinking, emotions, behavior, and perception
Stress vulnerability mdoel
Psychological disorders occur when people with a predisposition toward these problems are exposed to stressors at critical points in development
Behavior Therapies
All behavior is learned; focused on behavior change, not cause; decrease undesired behavior and increase desired
Biomedical Therapy
Use of biological or medical methods to solve problems (no learning)
Characteristics of Effective Therapy
- Matching therapy to client and problems
- Therapeutic alliance
- Protected setting
- Opportunity for catharsis (vent)
- Learning and practice of new behaviors
- Positive experiences
Cognitive-behavioral therapy
Learning to think more rationally and logically
Cognitive distortions
Sense of discomfort that occurs when ones behavior does not correspond to attitudes
exposure and response prevention
Exposure to feared/avoided stimulus. Prevent escape or avoidance response
Psychotherapy
Person talks to a psychological professional about problems
Systematic desensitization
Step 1: Relaxation training
Step 2: Fear hierarchy
Step 3: progressive exposure
Therapy
Treatment aimed at making people feel better and function more effectively
Actor-observer bias
When asked to explain our own behavior, we tend to attribute more to the situation and less about us
Altruism
prosocial behavior with no reward for us, but a chance of harm
Aggression
When one person hurts or tries to destroy another person deliberately, either with words or physical behavior
Attitudes
tendency to respond positively or negatively toward certain people, ideas, objects, or situations
Attribution
Process of explaining the behavior of ones self and others
Bystander effect
Fewer bystanders = less diffusion, more help
Cognitive dissonance
Sense of discomfort that occurs when ones behavior does not correspond to attitudes
Compliance
Occurs when a person changes behavior as a result of other people directing or asking for the change
Compliance techniques
Foot-in-the-door technique, door in the face technique, Lowball technique, That’s not all technique
Foot-in-the-door technique
Small request followed by a larger request
Door-in-the-face technique
Big request comes first, then smaller request that doesn’t seem so bad