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Abnormal Psychology > Test 1 > Flashcards

Test 1 Flashcards

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1
Q

What is Skepticism?

A

Process of subjecting claims to scientific scrutiny.

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2
Q

What is Internal validity?

A

approximate truth about inferences regarding cause and effect relationships. Certainty. Did a cause b, without interference of variable c?

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3
Q

What is External validity?

A

extent to which the findings of a study can be generalized beyond the sample. Generalizability.

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4
Q

What is Confirmation bias?

A

Tendency to favor information that confirms (ignore/minimize information that disconfirms) one’s preconceptions or hypotheses

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5
Q

What is External validity?

A

Generalizability beyond the sample to some given population

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6
Q

What is the File drawer effect? And how are they related to meta-analysis?

A

Methodologically sound studies w/ null results less likely to get published; therefore meta-analyses may have a bias towards showing bigger effects because of the studies included in the meta-analysis.

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7
Q

What is a Meta-analysis?

A

Selection of several published studies by certain criteria. This data is pooled from the studies and analyzed to create a large data set.

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8
Q

What are the three (or 4 from N) criteria used to define abnormality?

A

Deviant, Dysfunctional, distress. 4th one: dangerous.

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9
Q

What is the continuum model of abnormality?

A

It is a model that shows that the levels between abnormality and normal are a continuum. If this is so, it relies on subjectivity to determine if someone is abnormal or not.

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10
Q

What is cultural relativism?

A

View that there are no universal standards or rules for labeling a behavior as abnormal; instead, behaviors can be labeled abnormal only to cultural norms.

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11
Q

What is prevalence? And an example:

A 
# or % of cases of a disorder in a population at any time. (Any given time) (commonness)
Example: how many people in class have a cold.
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12
Q

What is incidence? And an example:

A 
# or % of new cases that have appeared within a specific time. (Specific time) (within a time)
Example: how many people in class for their cold in the 24 hours previous?
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13
Q

What are some ways prevalence and incidence estimates can be biased?

A

Sampling (clinic vs. community), Measures (how administered and who responds), Diagnostic criteria (version of DSM, strictness)

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14
Q

Consider the cases of O.J. Simpson and Neil Cargyle (discussed in class, [MW] and assignment #3)—
what characteristics of each person’s behavior meet or don’t meet the criteria for abnormality?

A

OJ Simpson: deviant, dysfunctional, and distressing. Neil Cargyle: deviant, not dysfunctional, and distressing (to only some of his family) - still considered distressing.

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15
Q

What is trephination?

A

Form of brain surgery that involves sections of the skull being drilled or cut away

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16
Q

At the time that trephination was done, what was it proposed to do?

A

Done over half a million years ago, during the middle ages and the stone ages. Believed to remove evil spirits and abnormal behavior would decline.

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17
Q

What are psychic epidemics? Provide an example:

A

Phenomena in which large number of people engage in unusual behaviors that appear to have a psychological origin.
Example: dance frenzies during the middle ages - perceived possession of the devil dating back to remnants of ancient rituals where people worshipped gods.

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18
Q

Prior to the 18th century, how were people with severe psychological disorders treated in Europe and the US?

A

People with perceived mental illnesses were confined to protect the public and ill persons family. Abnormalities were perceived as a medical illness (example excessive blood in the brain was one explanation). Patients were chained up. Treated bad. Confinement. Bad beds, poor lighting. This lead to the mental hygiene movement.

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19
Q

What was the Moral Treatment movement?

A

Phillippe Pinel: mental hygiene movement. He believed many patients could be restored by restoring their dignity and tranquility. Patients walked around the asylum. Good beds, good lightening. Properly trained nurses and therapists.

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20
Q

Why was the Moral Treatment movement less successful as time passed (compared to its early period when it was significantly more successful)?

A

It grew too fast and too many people used it. Care fell because they could not keep up with the demand of patients.

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21
Q

Who were the major founders of psychoanalytic theory? Behavioral theory? Cognitive theory?

A

Psychoanalytic theory: Sigmund Freud. Breuer.
Behavioral Theory: Pavlov, John Watson, Mary Cover Jones (Little Peter study), BF Skinner
Cognitive Theory: Albert Bandura. Albert Ellis, Beck

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22
Q

What is deinstitutionalization?

A

Patients rights advocates argued that mental patients can recover more fully or live more satisfying lives if they are integrated into the community, with the support of community-based treatment facilities.

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23
Q

What have been positive and negative consequences of deinstitutionalization?

A

Positive: those with acute problems could utilize other resources and function fine in society.
Negative: homelessness, overpopulate group homes and nursing home which are note equipped to handle mental illness. Mental illness help and care has always never been able to keep up with the demand.

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24
Q

What are the different professionals that treat people with psychological disorders?

A

Psychiatrists, Psychiatric NP, Clinical and counseling psychologists, Social workers, Licensed professional counselor, Licensed marriage and family therapist, life coaches, etc.

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25
Q

What are the diff prof who treat those with psych disorders educational backgrounds and what (if any) special powers do they have (e.g., the ability to prescribe
medication, do psychological testing, fly)?

A

Psychiatrists: prescribe meds
PNP: some meds and some psychotherapy
Clinical/counseling psychologists: psychotherapy, psychological testing, research
Life coaches: no control, not licensed

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26
Q

What is the National Comorbidity Study (NCS and NCS-R; discussed in class)?

A

Conducted a study of people from across the US. What they found: Lifetime prevalence of psychopathology (have some sort of disorder) at some point in their lifetime: ~50%

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27
Q

What were the findings in the NCS? When is the median age of onset of psychological disorders? What is the median delay in treatment?

A

Most common category: anxiety disorders.
50% of all cases occur by the age of 14 years old.
75% by 24 years. (Median age of onset= less than 25 years old)
20% never receive treatment.
Median delay in what people seek treatment: 10 years

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28
Q

According to lecture and [MW] what percentage of people with psychological disorders receive
treatment?

A

80% receive care

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29
Q

What percentage of those receive treatment from specialists in the area of psychological
disorders?

A

20%

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30
Q

What is skepticism?

A

Process of subjecting claims to

scientific scrutiny.

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31
Q

What is a random sample?

A

subset of a statistical population in which each member of the subset has an equal probability of being chosen.

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32
Q

Random sample: Why is it important? Why is it important that the sample be representative of the population researchers want to generalize to?

A

Important for internal validity. If we do not account for random assignment a study cannot show if the manipulation is a cause of any changes in the DV.

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33
Q

Why is it important to have a control group in psychological research?

A

Because it shows if the treatment caused any therapy. Control group gives the treatment group something to compare to.

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34
Q

What are the different types of control groups used in treatment outcome studies?

A

Wait-list control group: participants do not initially get the treatment but get on a wait-list to try the treatment after the study if it is found effective.
placebo: best and strongest type of control group
no treatment control group: easiest type of control group

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35
Q

What is the strongest type of control group and why?

A

Placebo. Because it is a double blind. No one knows what group they are in.

36
Q

What are ABAB, multiple baseline, case, correlational, epidemiological, and treatment outcome studies?

A

ABA: reversal design, a=baseline b=treatment
Multiple baseline: Record >2 baselines simultaneously then treatment is applied during one setting; look for changes in that setting
Correlational: correlation between IV and DV w/out manipulation
Epidemiological: frequency and distribution of a disorder in a population.
Treatment outcome:

37
Q

What are experimental and single case experimental designs?

A

Single case: single individual or a small # of individuals are studied intensively. The individual is exposed to some form of manipulation/intervention and their behavior is monitored.
Experimental: has a control, where researchers attempt to control the IV and any other 3rd variable.

38
Q

What is random assignment?

A

Each participant has an equal chance of being selected for the experimental group or control group.

39
Q

What is matching?

A

making sure that each of the participants has a similar counterpart in the other group - increases the chance that the results you get are from what you manipulated / increases internal validity
essentially the two groups should be the same and matched up for results

40
Q

How does random assignment and matching affect internal validity?

A

It helps ensure manipulation is the cause of any changes in the DV.

41
Q

What are some of the strengths and weaknesses of meta-analysis?

A

Strengths: Compiles data from many studies.
Weakness: file drawer effect. Might over compensate for data that isn’t truly representative.

42
Q

What is an effect size?

A

indicator of how big the differences are between two groups (example: correlation between levels of stress and and levels of depression).

43
Q

What are markers of pseudoscience and how does it differ from true science?

A
  1. personal testimonials and anecdotal evidence.
  2. emphasizes confirmation of hypothesis.
  3. Use of scientific terms used to impress rather than explain.
  4. little or no connectivity to other sciences or reputable intellectual disciplines.
44
Q

What does it mean when participants or researchers are blind?

A

an experiment in which information about the test is masked (kept) from the participant, to reduce or eliminate bias, until after a trial outcome is known. If both tester and subject are blinded, the trial is called a double-blind experiment.

45
Q

What is clinical significance, and how is

it different from statistical significance?

A

Clinical significance indicates the practical importance of a treatment effect - whether it has a real genuine, palpable, noticeable effect on daily life.
Statistical significance usually relates to sample size and is more common than clinical significance, relates to result happening by chance.

46
Q

What kind of replication provides the strongest support of a particular treatment approach: replication by the same researchers or replication by other researchers?
Why?

A

Replication of a study by other researches because it eliminates bias.

47
Q

Know what validity and reliability are, including the different terms defined in the texts

A

Validity: degree of accuracy of what you’re intending to measure (accuracy)
Reliability: consistency of results over time, between raters, across items and tests (consistency)

48
Q

What is standardization?

A

Improves validity and reliability.
Standardizing can be the way the study is administered or how the results are read/interpreted.

Prevents extraneous factors.

49
Q 
What are the different ways we assess individuals, as discussed in class and the text (e.g., clinical
interviews, symptom questionnaires, objective and projective personality inventories, neuropsychological tests, biomedical assessments, etc.)?
A

Objective personality tests: structured, self-report questionnaires containing multiple choice or true/false questions.
Projective personality tests: individual is asked to respond to ambiguous stimuli.
Symptom checklists: individual self-reports on various symptoms of psychological disorders
Neuropsychological assessments: assess cognitive functioning, including multiple aspects of memory, attention, concentration, auditory & visual processing, sensory motor skills, etc.
Biomedical assessment: techniques that assess physiological functioning (e.g.: computerized tomography (CT))

50
Q

Understand some of the difficulties psychologists may run into when assessing somebody (e.g., resistance, evaluating a child or someone from a different culture or who speaks a different language)

A

Pg. 68-71.

51
Q

What is the DSM? What are the different versions, and when were the biggest changes made between
versions?

A

Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM5)

Biggest changes: DSM-III this was released in the 70’s and more doctors were treating mental illness.

52
Q

What are some strengths, criticisms and controversies of the DSM-5?

A

Strength:

  • Increasingly a-theoretical (literally any mental health professional can use it)
  • Increased specificity of criteria have led to improved reliability (consistency) (r>.07 (.07 is equivalent to moderate agreement) in the DSM-5) Example: stepping on a scale and it says 400 lbs, day after day= reliable because its consistent
  • Validity: accuracy.

Weaknesses:

  • Based on superficial descriptions of symptoms (aka webMD phenomena)
  • Questionable validity of some of the disorders
  • Comorbidity: having more than one disorder at a time (Pretty likely with mental disorders because many symptoms and disorders align with other mental disorders like depression or anxiety)
  • Disorders of infancy/childhood: not well developed
53
Q

List and describe the different dangers of labeling or diagnosing

A
  • Can be stigmatizing
  • Can create bias when observing behavior
  • Can create self fulfilling-prophecies (Example: work out if you have depression, “well I can’t because I am depressed”. Creates that tunnel vision among providers.)
  • Individual is not the disorder
  • Overgeneralization (Disorders are heterogeneous)
  • Minimizes attention to social/interpersonal context
54
Q

What is the mini mental status exam?

A

briefly assesses client’s orientation to person/place/time, memory, judgment, etc. Helps you understand their cognition, memory, where they are, understanding of where they are, even if they appear to be lucid.

55
Q

What are structured interviews, unstructured interviews and semi-structured interviews?

A

Structured: self-report questionnaires containing multiple choice questions
Semi-structured: interview the individual (helps determine their current cognition, memory, understanding of time, etc)

56
Q

What are the bio-psychosocial and diathesis-stress models of psychopathology? Both are associated with what?

A

Bio: recognizing that it is often a combo of bio, psychological, and sociocultural factors that result in the development of psychological symptoms.
Diathesis-stress model: predisposition/vulnerability (diathesis) + stress (e.g. stress, alcohol, drugs, etc.) = psychopathology/disorder

Associated with risk factors.

57
Q

What are neurotransmitters?

A

biochemicals that act as messengers carrying impulses from one neuron, or nerve cell, to another in the brain and in other parts of the nervous system.

58
Q

How many different types of neurotransmitters are there (estimated)?

A

Scientists have identified more than 100

59
Q

What is reuptake and

degradation?

A

Reuptake: occurs when initial neuron releasing the NT into the synapse reabsorbs the NT, decreasing the amount left in the synapse. (RE-Absorption)
Degradation: the receiving neuron releases an enzyme into the synapse that breaks down the NT into other biochemicals. (Enzymes break down)

60
Q

What are different ways neurotransmitters can contribute to psychopathology?

A

Too few: not adequate use of NT available in the synapse.
Too many: receptors can get too sensitive and can lead to the neuron being overexposed in the NT thats in the synapse.

  1. Reuptake
  2. Degradation
  3. # & functioning of receptors on dendrites
  4. Amount of particular neurotransmitter manufactured

Serotonin: well-being, Dopamine: reward, Norepinephrine: Mood.

61
Q

What is behavior genetics?

A

Study of the genetics of personality and abnormality. Concerned with 2 questions: 1. what extent are behaviors or behavioral tendencies inherited? 2. what are the processes by which genes affect behavior?

62
Q

How many chromosomes do humans typically have?

A

46, 23 from mom and 23 from dad

63
Q

What are alleles?

A

Coding sequences on genes which contains 2 alleles

64
Q

What

is a multi-gene or polygenic process?

A

when alterations in a # of genes leads to a disorder

65
Q

According to the [N] text, what are three ways genes and environment believed to interact?

A
  1. the kinds of environments we choose, which then reinforce our genetically influenced personalities and interests.
  2. environment might act as a catalyst for a genetic tendency. Example: just because you have the gene for depression does not mean you will have it.
  3. Epigenetics: environmental conditions can affect the expression of genes.
66
Q

What is epigenetics?

A

environmental condition that can affect the expression of genes

67
Q

What factors can lead to brain dysfunction?

A

injury, stroke, or disease

68
Q

What are the four major types of psychotropic medications, and what do they generally do?

A

Antipsychotic drugs: reduce symptoms of psychosis (thorazine)
Antidepressants: Reduce symptoms of depression (prozac)
Anti-convulsant: Lithium: reduce symptoms of mania
Anti-anxiety drugs: reduce symptoms of anxiety (valium)

69
Q

What (generally) are ECT, rTMS, Deep Brain Stimulation and Vagus Nerve Stimulation?

A

These are all techniques that might be beneficial in helping with symptoms of depression and auditory hallucinations.

70
Q

Know about different biological treatments that are less invasive (e.g., exercise, relaxation, etc.)

A

Light therapy, Yoga, exercise, relaxation, meditation

71
Q

Understand and be able to apply the terms of the different behavioral approaches (e.g., unconditioned stimulus, extinction, modeling) to the etiology and/or treatment of psychological disorders.

A

Unconditioned stimulus: stimulus that produces a naturally occurring response.
Extinction: eliminating a learned behavior
Modeling: people learn new behaviors from imitating the behaviors modeled by important people in their lives.

72
Q

What is implosion therapy and how is it different from systematic desensitization?

A

IT: exposes individual to the dreaded/feared stimulus while preventing avoidant behavior
SD: pairs the implementation of relaxation techniques with hierarchical exposure to the aversive stimulus

73
Q

How is escape conditioning different from avoidance conditioning?

A

Escape is reward for leaving (negative reinforcement), avoidance is reward for avoiding an aversive situation

74
Q

Understand what models, behavior modification and token economies are

A

Operant conditioning!
Behavior modification:
1. Measure frequency of undesired and desired behaviors
2. Identify effective reinforcements and consequences
3. Positively reinforce positive behaviors

Token economies: clearly identify desired and undesired behaviors (example: giving tokens for engaging in + behaviors)

75
Q

According to the cognitive model, what three elements are proposed to interact in order to cause psychological problems?

A
  1. attributions we make about events
  2. Attributions we make for our own behavior can affect our emotions and self-concept
  3. broad beliefs about ourself our relationships and the world.

thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

76
Q

How do family systems therapists conceptualize psychological disorders?

A

Based on the belief that an individuals problems are always rooted in interpersonal systems, particularly family systems. Idea revolves around you cannot help an individual without helping the entire family.

77
Q

According to the [N] text, what are the different characteristics of families that can be problematic?

A

Inflexible family, disengaged family, pathological triangular relationships (parents avoiding problems so kids don’t have to deal with them), over-controlling, over-invested, etc.

78
Q

What are DBT and ACT (AKA the third wave approaches)? What are their foci?

A

DBT: dialectical behavior therapy. Focuses on difficulties managing negative emotions and controlling impulsive behaviors. Ex: eating disorders
ACT: acceptance and commitment therapy. focuses on acceptance of feelings, thoughts, and past history to learn to be present and in the moment. ACT believes this is the key to change.

79
Q

What are culture-bound syndromes?

A

Numerous patterns of aberrant behavior and troubling experience are recognized mostly in specific localities or societies, and may not be linked to an official diagnosis category.

80
Q

In the case study described on pages 50-51 of the [N] text, why was it important to be aware of and sensitive to the client’s cultural background in order to be successful?

A

People will drop out of therapy which can cause the client to not find a solution to their problem.

81
Q

According to the text, is it imperative that the therapist be of the same cultural group as the client in order for psychotherapy to be successful?

A

Not necessarily if cultural sensitivity is followed. Relies on same value systems to be effective. Incorporating relevant cultural values, being matched with a culturally relevant therapist and resources available in clients surrounding community show to be 4 times more effective in psychotherapy. Therapist can make useless or harmful recommendations if cultural aspects are not implemented.

82
Q

According to the text, what are the three common elements in effective treatments?

A

Positive relationship with the therapist, explanation or interpretation of why the client is suffering, confronting painful emotions and using techniques designed to help them become less sensitive to these emotions.

83
Q

According to Prochanska, DiClemente and Norcross (1992; described in [MW]) what are the five stages
of change people typically go through? P. 27

A
  1. Pre contemplation: avoidance of confrontation of issues and denies realistic consequences
  2. Contemplation: small amount of acknowledgement for responsibility and consequences. Minimal openness to change-but not yet instituted.
  3. Preparation: Decision point. Acknowledgement of behaviors and consequences and cognitive shift to initiate change.
  4. Action: Higher willpower. Generating sets of behaviors towards positive coping, away from bad situations/behaviors.
  5. Maintenance: Efforts towards re-motivation. Developing skills/patterns to avoid relapse. Promote positive lifestyle.
84
Q

Benefit of cultural relativism?

A

Honors cultural differences with norms and traditions. Does not impose a set of standards of one culture of judgements of abnormality.

85
Q

What is the mental hygiene movement?

A

A movement based on the psychological view that people developed problems because they had become separated from natured and succumbed to the stresses imposed by the rapid social changes of the period. Treatment included prayer, incantations, relaxation.

86
Q

Biological theories of abnormality:

A

viewed as similar to physical diseases, caused by a breakdown of systems in the body.

87
Q

Psychological theories of abnormality:

A

viewed as a cause of trauma or chronic stress.

Abnormal Psychology (5 decks)

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