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Psychology Units 3+4 > Unit 4 Media Response > Flashcards

Unit 4 Media Response Flashcards

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1
Q

Define anxiety disorders.

A

Dysfunctional feelings of extreme apprehension, fear, stress and uneasiness.

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2
Q

What are the five main types of anxiety disorder.

A
  • Generalised anxiety disorder.
  • Phobic disorder.
  • Panic disorder.
  • OCD.
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder.
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3
Q

Define phobic disorder.

A

A fear of something that interferes with a person’s ability to function in day-to-day life.

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4
Q

In what percentage of the population do anxiety disorders occur?

A

18%

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5
Q

When are women more vulnerable to anxiety disorders?

A

Between 45-54 years old.

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6
Q

Define phobia.

A

Defined as a persistent, irrational and intense fear of a particular object or event.

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7
Q

What is social phobia?

A

Can involve a fear of other people or social situations.

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8
Q

What is specific phobia?

A

Fear of a single object or event that triggers a panic response.

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9
Q

What is agoraphobia?

A

Fear of leaving a familiar place such as home.

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10
Q

What are the three contributing biological factors to the maintenance and development of a phobia?

A
  • Stress response.
  • GABA (Gamma-amino butyric acid).
  • Genetic factors.
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11
Q

What is the role of the stress response?

A

Activates the fight-or-flight response; releasing stress hormones such as adrenaline and noradrenaline into the blood stream to:

  • Increase heart rate.
  • Increase respiration rate.
  • Circulate more glucose through the body for more energy.
  • Improve focus.
  • Temporarily boost stamina to either fight the impending danger or flee to a safe place.
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12
Q

List the symptoms of the stress response.

A
  • Elevated heart rate
  • Elevated blood pressure
  • Tremors
  • Palpitations (abnormally fast heartbeat that the person is aware of)
  • Diarrhea
  • Sweating
  • Shortness of breath
  • Dizziness
  • Skin sensation of prickling, burning or itching
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13
Q

Where are the amygdala and hippocampus located?

A

Left and right medial temporal lobes.

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14
Q

What does the amygdala do?

A

Is vital in initiating and processing emotional responses and in forming emotional memories.
- Is part of the Limbic system.

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15
Q

What does the hippocampus do?

A

Involved in the formation of declarative memories such as information about the world, facts, knowledge and autobiographical memories.

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16
Q

Outline what occurs when a person experiences a frightening event.

A
  • Frightening event.
  • All senses are processed by the amygdala.
  • Emotion is linked to the memory.
  • Memory is consolidated by the hippocampus.
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17
Q

What is the amygdala responsible for?

A

The formation and storage of classically conditioned events.

Therefore, if a person is exposed to a similar stimulus to the anxiety-inducing stimulus, the amygdala ‘triggers’ the emotion of fear which leads to the fight-or-flight response.

18
Q

What does GABA stand for?

A

Gamma-amino butyric acid.

19
Q

What is GABA and what is its role?

A

It is a neurotransmitter which has an inhibitory role in the regulation of anxiety, arousal and sleep.

20
Q

Low levels of GABA = High levels of anxiety

A

t(-.-t)

21
Q

GABA-producing synapses are present in approximately 40% of all nerve junctions in the brain.

A

._.

22
Q

Which kinds of people are more likely to develop anxiety disorders or specific phobias?

A

People who are nervous and apprehensive about environmental objects and events.

23
Q

What can disorders such as phobia also be triggered by?

A
  • Psychological influences.
  • Social influences.
  • Environmental influences.
24
Q

What does the behavioural model suggest?

A

Suggests that phobias are learnt through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning.

25
Q

What does the cognitive model emphasise?

A

Emphasises the influence of thought processes on how we feel and behave.

26
Q

What do psychologists use the cognitive model to examine?

A

Psychologists use this model to examine distorted thinking processes involved in the development and maintenance of specific phobia and look at ways to change these thoughts.

27
Q

What are the different methods of treating specific phobias proposed by the cognitive model.

A
  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
  • Graduated Exposure (Systematic desensitisation).
  • Flooding.
28
Q

Explain what CBT does.

A

It uses a combination of verbal and behaviour modification techniques to help people change irrational patterns of thinking that create and maintain a phobia.
- It focuses on helping the person change negative automatic thoughts and replace them with more positive, realistic ones.

29
Q

Outline what occurs in the proposed ‘cycle’ by CBT.

A
  • Person is exposed to the object/situation (stimulus).
  • Negative automatics thoughts lead to an emotional (distress) and biological response (fight-or-flight).
  • Behaviour is than altered (person actively avoids object or situation).
30
Q

Which theorist developed the method of graduated exposure?

A

Joseph Wolpe (1958).

31
Q

What does graduated exposure aim to do?

A

Aims to ‘extinguish’ conditioned fears/phobias.

32
Q

Explain graduated exposure.

A

Involves presenting successive approximations of the CS until the CS does not produce a CR.
- The person is gradually desensitised to the fear - or anxiety - producing object or event.

33
Q

What are the three steps which a psychologist would implement in graduated exposure?

A
  1. Relaxation techniques are taught.
  2. Therapist helps the client make a hierarchy of anxiety/fear inducing stimuli.
  3. Client works through the hierarchy until the phobia is overcome.
34
Q

List some points to be considered about graduated exposure.

A
  • More effective in treating specific phobia rather than social phobia or agoraphobia.
  • Less effective in treating performance fears (Eg. Exam anxiety when a person hasn’t studied).
  • May not be effective in treating phobias that have an underlying survival element (Eg. Fear of spiders).
35
Q

Explain flooding.

A

About bringing client into direct contact with the anxiety - or fear - inducing stimulus and keeping them in contact with it until the CR is extinguished.

36
Q

List some facts about flooding.

A
  • It is possible to increase rather than decrease the phobia.
  • Has the greatest incidence of spontaneous recovery of all of the methods.
37
Q

List some facts about the prevalence of disorders in the Australian population.

A
  • Approximately 5% of the population has at least one disorder at any given time.
  • Approximately 10% of the population will have a phobia in their lifetime.
  • Phobias often begin in early childhood.
  • Women are TWICE as likely to develop a phobia in their life.
38
Q

What are the three possible environmental triggers of a phobia?

A
  • Direct exposure to a distressing or traumatic event.
  • Witnessing other people experiencing a traumatic event, such as seeing another person being mauled by a dog (Observational Learning).
  • Reading or hearing about dangerous situations or events.
39
Q

What did Albert Bandura suggest about specific phobias?

A

Suggested that specific phobias can be learnt vicariously by observing other people’s phobic behaviour (parental modelling).

40
Q

What can parental modelling lead to?

A

Can lead to the transmission of threat information which is incorporated into long-term memory.

41
Q

Children who are exposed to parents with phobic responses are more likely to develop comparable fears to similar stimuli.

A

.-.

42
Q

Where can threatening information be received from?

A
  • Media.
  • Internet.
  • Friends.
  • School.

Psychology Units 3+4 (24 decks)

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