Unit 5 Flashcards
Health Psychology
A subfield of psychology that explores the impact of psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors on health and wellness.
Psychoneuroimmunology
The study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect our immune system and resulting health.
Stress
The process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging.
Approach and Avoidance Motives
The drive to move toward (approach) or away from (avoid) a stimulus.
Kurt Lewin
He came up with the formula B = f(P, E), meaning behavior is a function of the person and their environment. He studied group dynamics, leadership styles, and how to create change, especially through his three-step model of change: unfreeze, change, refreeze.
Hans Selye
A scientist who studied how stress affects the body. He came up with the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), which explains the body’s response to stress in three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. His work helped show that long-term stress can harm your health.
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three phases — alarm, resistance, exhaustion.
Tend-and-Befriend Response
Under stress, people (especially women) may nurture themselves and others (tend) and bond with and seek support from others (befriend).
Coronary Heart Disease
The clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; a leading cause of death in many developed countries.
Type A
Friedman and Rosenman’s term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people.
Type B
Friedman and Rosenman’s term for easygoing, relaxed people.
Catharsis
In psychology, the idea that “releasing” aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges.
Coping
Alleviating stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methods.
Problem-Focused Coping
Attempting to alleviate stress directly — by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor.
Emotion-Focused Coping
Attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction.
Personal Control
Our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless.
Learned Helplessness
The hopelessness and passive resignation humans and other animals learn when unable to avoid repeated aversive events.
External Locus of Control
The perception that outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate.
Internal Locus of Control
The perception that we control our own fate.
Self-Control
The ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for greater long-term rewards.
Martin Seligman
A psychologist known for studying learned helplessness, which is when people stop trying after feeling powerless in bad situations. Later, he started the positive psychology movement, focusing on how to build happiness, strengths, and a meaningful life. His work shifted psychology from just fixing problems to also helping people thrive.
Positive Psychology
The scientific study of human flourishing, with the goals of promoting strengths and virtues that foster well-being, resilience, and positive emotions, and that help individuals and communities to thrive.
Subjective Well-Being
Self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people’s quality of life.
Feel-Good, Do-Good Phenomenon
People’s tendency to be helpful when in a good mood.
Adaptation-Level Phenomenon
Our tendency to form judgments (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience.
Relative Deprivation
The perception that we are worse off relative to those with whom we compare ourselves.
Broaden-and-Build Theory
Proposes that positive emotions broaden our awareness, which over time helps us build novel and meaningful skills and resilience that improve well-being.
Character Strengths and Virtues
A classification system to identify positive traits; organized into categories of wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.
Resilience
The personal strength that helps people cope with stress and recover from adversity and even trauma.
Aerobic Exercise
Sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; also helps alleviate depression and anxiety.
Mindfulness Meditation
A reflective practice in which people attend to current experiences in a nonjudgmental and accepting manner.
Gratitude
An appreciative emotion people often experience when they benefit from other’s actions or recognize their own good fortune.
Psychological Disorder
A disturbance in people’s thoughts, emotions, or behaviors that causes distress or suffering and impairs their daily lives.
Medical Model
The concept that diseases — in this case, psychological disorders — have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and, in most cases, cured, often through treatment in a hospital.
Diathesis-Stress Model
The concept that genetic predispositions (diathesis) combine with environmental stressors (stress) to influence psychological disorder.
Epigenetics
“Above” or “in addition to” (epi) genetics; the study of the molecular mechanisms by which environments can influence genetic expression (without a DNA change).
DSM-5-TR
The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders.
Anxiety Disorders
A group of disorders characterized by excessive fear and anxiety and related maladaptive behaviors.
Social Anxiety Disorder
Intense fear and avoidance of social situations.
Causes: Cognitive, Behavioral
Symptoms: Fear of judgment or embarrassment
Treatment: CBT, SSRIs
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
An anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal.
Causes: Cognitive, Biological
Symptoms: Constant worry, tension
Treatment: CBT, medication
Panic Disorder
An anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person may experience terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations; often followed by worry over a possible next attack.
Causes: Cognitive, Biological
Symptoms: Sudden panic attacks
Treatment: CBT, medication
Agoraphobia
Fear or avoidance of situations, such as crowds or wide open places, where one may experience a loss of control and panic.
Causes: Behavioral, Cognitive
Symptoms: Fear of open/public places
Treatment: CBT, medication
Specific Phobia
An anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situation.
Causes: Behavioral
Symptoms: Intense fear of specific thing
Treatment: Exposure therapy
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
A disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions), actions (compulsions), or both.
Causes: Biological, Behavioral
Symptoms: Obsessions and compulsions
Treatment: Exposure therapy, SSRIs
Hoarding Disorder
A persistent difficulty parting with possessions, regardless of their value.
Causes: Cognitive, Behavioral
Symptoms: Trouble discarding items
Treatment: CBT
Post traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
A disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, hypervigilance, avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or insomnia that lingers for 4 weeks or more after a traumatic experience.
Causes: Cognitive, Behavioral
Symptoms: Flashbacks, avoidance, hyperarousal
Treatment: Trauma therapy, meds
Trauma-and-Stressor-Related Disorders
A group of disorders in which exposure to a traumatic or stressful event is followed by psychological distress.
Depressive Disorders
A group of disorders characterized by an enduring sad, empty, or irritable mood, along with physical and cognitive changes that affect a person’s ability to function.
Bipolar Disorders
A group of disorders in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania. (Formerly called manic-depressive disorder.)
Major Depressive Disorder
A disorder in which a person experiences five or more symptoms lasting two or more weeks, in the absence of drug use or a medical condition, at least one of which must be either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.
Causes: Cognitive, Biological
Symptoms: Sadness, low energy, hopelessness
Treatment: Therapy, antidepressants
Persistent Depressive Disorder
A disorder in which people experience a depressed mood on more days than not for at least two years. (Formerly called dysthymia.)
Causes: Cognitive, Biological
Symptoms: Long-term low mood
Treatment: Therapy, medication
Bipolar I Disorder
The most severe form, in which people experience a euphoric, talkative, highly energetic, and overly ambitious state that lasts a week or longer.
Causes: Biological
Symptoms: Full mania, maybe depression
Treatment: Mood stabilizers, therapy
Mania
A hyperactive, wildly optimistic state in which dangerously poor judgment is common.
Bipolar II
A less severe form of bipolar in which people move between depression and a milder hypomania.
Causes: Biological
Symptoms: Hypomania + major depression
Treatment: Medication, therapy
Rumination
Compulsive fretting; overthinking our problems and their causes.
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders
A group of disorders characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking or speech, disorganized or unusual motor behavior, and negative symptoms (such as diminished emotional expression); includes schizophrenia and schizotypal personality disorder.
Causes: Biological
Symptoms: Hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking
Treatment: Antipsychotics, therapy
Psychotic Disorders
A group of disorders marked by irrational ideas, distorted perceptions, and a loss of contact with reality.
Delusion
(Also called process schizophrenia) a form of schizophrenia in which symptoms usually appear by late adolescence or early adulthood. As people age, psychotic episodes last longer and recovery periods shorten.
Chronic Schitzophrenia
(Also called process schizophrenia) a form of schizophrenia in which symptoms usually appear by late adolescence or early adulthood. As people age, psychotic episodes last longer and recovery periods shorten.
Acute Schitzophrenia
(Also called reactive schizophrenia) a form of schizophrenia that can begin at any age, frequently occurs in response to a traumatic event, and from which recovery is much more likely.
Dissociative Disorders
A controversial, rare group of disorders characterized by a disruption of or discontinuity in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control, and behavior.
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
A rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating identities. (Formerly called multiple personality disorder.)
Causes: Psychodynamic
Symptoms: 2+ distinct identities
Treatment: Long-term therapy
Dissociative Amnesia
A disorder in which people with intact brains reportedly experience memory gaps; people with dissociative amnesia may report not remembering trauma-related specific events, people, places, or aspects of their identity and life history.
Causes: Psychodynamic
Symptoms: Memory loss due to stress/trauma
Treatment: Therapy
Personality Disorders
A group of disorders characterized by enduring inner experiences or behavior patterns that differ from someone’s cultural norms and expectations, are pervasive and inflexible, begin in adolescence or early adulthood, are stable over time, and cause distress or impairment.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
A personality disorder in which a person (usually a man) exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members; may be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist.
Feeding and Eating Disorders
A group of disorders characterized by altered consumption or absorp-tion of food that impairs health or psychological functioning. (Feeding disorders typically occur in infants and young children, whereas eating disorders affect people who self-feed.)
Anorexia Nervosa
An eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly underweight, and has an inaccurate self-perception; sometimes accompanied by excessive exercise.
Causes: Cognitive, Sociocultural
Symptoms: Starving, fear of weight gain
Treatment: Therapy, nutrition support
Bulimia Nervosa
An eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly underweight, and has an inaccurate self-perception; sometimes accompanied by excessive exercise.
Causes: Cognitive, Sociocultural
Symptoms: Binge + purge
Treatment: Therapy, nutritional help
Neurodevelopment Disorders
Central nervous system abnormalities (usually in the brain) that start in childhood and alter thinking and behavior (as in intellectual limitations or a psychological disorder).
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by limitations in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors.
Causes: Biological
Symptoms: Social/communication issues, repetitive behaviors
Treatment: Therapy (ABA, speech), support
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
A psychological disorder marked by extreme inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity.
Causes: Biological
Symptoms: Inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity
Treatment: Medication, behavior therapy
Dorothea Dix
A reformer who fought for better treatment of people with mental illnesses. She worked to change how patients were treated in asylums and helped create more humane mental hospitals. Her efforts led to major improvements in the U.S. mental health care system.
Deinstitutionalization
The process, begun in the late twentieth century, of moving people with psychological disorders out of institutional facilities.
Psychotherapy
Treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth.
Biomedical Theory
Prescribed medications or procedures that act directly on the person’s physiology.
Eclectic Approach
An approach to psychotherapy that uses techniques from various forms of therapy.
Sigmund Freud
A psychologist known as the father of psychoanalysis. He believed that unconscious thoughts and childhood experiences shape behavior. He also came up with ideas like the id, ego, and superego, and used dream analysis and talk therapy to explore the mind.
Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud’s therapeutic technique. Freud believed the patient’s free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences — and the analyst’s interpretations of them — released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight.
Resistance
In psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material.
Interpretation
In psychoanalysis, the analyst’s noting of supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in an effort to promote insight.
Transference
In psychoanalysis, the patient’s transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent).
Psychodynamic Therapy
Therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition; views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and seeks to enhance self-insight.
Insight Therapies
Therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing a person’s awareness of underlying motives and defenses.
Person-Centered Therapy
A humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within an accepting, genuine, empathic environment to facilitate clients’ growth. (Also called client-centered therapy.)
Carl Rogers
A psychologist who helped start humanistic psychology, which focuses on personal growth and self-worth. He believed people are naturally good and need acceptance, empathy, and honesty to grow. He developed client-centered therapy, where the therapist listens without judgment and supports the person’s own path to healing.
Active Listening
Empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and seeks clarification. A feature of Rogers’ person-centered therapy
Unconditional Positive Regard
A caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients develop self-awareness and self-acceptance. (Also known as unconditional regard.)
Unconditional Positive Regard
A caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients develop self-awareness and self-acceptance. (Also known as unconditional regard.)
Counterconditioning
Behavior therapy procedures that use classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; include exposure therapies and aversive conditioning.
Mary Cover Jones
A psychologist known as the “mother of behavior therapy.” She worked on reducing fears in children using a method called desensitization. Her most famous study involved helping a boy named Peter overcome his fear of rabbits by slowly and calmly exposing him to them.
Joseph Wolpe
A psychologist who expanded on behavior therapy and created systematic desensitization to help people overcome phobias and anxiety. His method slowly exposed people to their fears while teaching them to relax. This approach became a key part of behavioral therapy.
Exposure Therapy
Behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization and virtual reality exposure therapy, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imaginary or actual situations) to the things they fear and avoid.
Systematic Desensitization
A type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat specific phobias.
Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy
A counterconditioning technique that treats anxiety through creative electronic simulations in which people can safely face specific fears, such as flying, spiders, or public speaking.
Aversive Conditioning
Associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol).
B.F Skinner
A psychologist known for studying behaviorism and how rewards and punishments shape behavior. He developed the idea of operant conditioning, showing that behavior can be increased or decreased based on consequences. He used tools like the Skinner Box to study how animals learn through reinforcement.
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.
Cognitive Therapy
Therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions.
Albert Ellis
A psychologist who developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). He believed that thoughts, not events, cause our emotions, and that we can change how we feel by changing irrational beliefs. His therapy helps people challenge and replace negative thoughts to feel better and act more effectively.
Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
A confrontational cognitive therapy, developed by Albert Ellis, that vigorously challenges people’s illogical, self-defeating attitudes and assumptions.
Aaron Beck
A psychologist who developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). He believed that thoughts, not events, cause our emotions, and that we can change how we feel by changing irrational beliefs. His therapy helps people challenge and replace negative thoughts to feel better and act more effectively.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
A popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior).
Group Therapy
Therapy conducted with groups rather than individuals, providing benefits from group interaction.
Family Therapy
Therapy that treats people in the context of their family system. Views an individual’s unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members.
Confirmation Bias
A tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.
Meta-Analysis
A statistical procedure for analyzing the results of multiple studies to reach an overall conclusion.
Evidence-Based Practice
Clinical decision making that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and client characteristics and preferences.
Therapeutic Alliance
A bond of trust and mutual understanding between a therapist and client, who work together constructively to overcome the client’s problem.
Psychopharmacology
The study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior.
Antipsychotic Drugs
Drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorders.
Antianxiety Drugs
Drugs used to control anxiety and agitation.
Antidepressant Drugs
Drugs used to treat depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder. (Several widely used antidepressant drugs are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors — SSRIs.)
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
A biomedical therapy for severe depression in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized person.
Transcranial Magnetic Simulation (TMS)
The application of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain; used to stimulate or suppress brain activity.
Psychosurgery
Surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue to change behavior.
Lobotomy
A psychosurgical procedure once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients. The procedure cut the nerves connecting the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain.
Hypnosis
A psychosurgical procedure once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients. The procedure cut the nerves connecting the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain.
Ernest Hilgard
A psychologist known for his research on hypnosis and pain control. He came up with the idea of the “hidden observer,” suggesting that part of the mind stays aware during hypnosis. His work helped show that hypnosis can be a useful tool in therapy, especially for managing pain.
Dissociation
A split in consciousness, which allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others.
Posthypnotic Suggestion
A suggestion, made during a hypnosis session, to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized; used by some clinicians to help control undesired symptoms and behaviors.
Posttraumatic Growth
Positive psychological changes following a struggle with extremely challenging circumstances and life crises.
Behavior Therapy
Therapy that uses learning principles to reduce unwanted behaviors.
