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Psy-100 Exam 4
Exam 4
97
Psychology
Undergraduate 1
04/27/2007

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Term
What are two reasons that abnormal people fascinate us?
Definition
Because we something of ourselves in the abnormal (we all get depressed, etc.), and we may have felt the pain of a psychological disorder personally or through family and friends.
Term
What is a norm violation?
Definition
A difference in the degree to which behavior or thinking resembles an agreed upon criteria (varies with culture and times).
Term
What are some examples of norm violations?
Definition
Someone who hallucinates, feels excessively sad, has a crazy mohawk, or is an olympic athlete.
Term
What are the criteria for abnormality as it relates to psychological disorders?
Definition
The behavior is: considered atypical, considered disturbing to others, unjustifiable (not a normal reaction, laughing at funeral), and maladaptive (harmful to that person or to others).
Term
What is psychopathology?
Definition
The study of mental disorders?
Term
How did primitive culture view "madness"?
Definition
As demonic possession
Term
How did the greeks view "madness"?
Definition
As a natural cause (disease), such as the body fluids being out of balance.
Term
How did those in the middle ages view "madness"?
Definition
In a spiritual context (witches and devils). They put disturbed people in "asylums" (almost like prisons).
Term
What was the turning point in how people viewed "madness"?
Definition
In 1793, Philippe Pinel stated that madness was a sickness in response to severe stress and inhumane conditions.
Term
What is the main view of mental disorders today?
Definition
The biopsychosocial model.
Term
Explain the biopsychosocial view of mental disorders.
Definition
Disorders are attributed to the interaction of Biology (anatomy, brain chemistry, and other physiological processes), Psychology (unconscious conflicts, maladaptive world view), and Society (different places see abnormality differently).
Term
What was the traditional breakdown of mental disorders?
Definition
Neurosis and Psychosis
Term
Explain neurosis.
Definition
The symptoms of neurosis are related to ineffective attempts to deal with reality (such as an OCD person trying to reduce anxiety).
Term
Explain psychosis.
Definition
Psychosis is a general category for a number of severe mental disorders in which perception, thinking, and emotion are impaired.
Term
What is the DSM-4R-1994?
Definition
A manual that classifies, but does not attribute cause to mental disorders. It assumes a medical model.
Term
Roughly how many American adults suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder?
Definition
About 1 in 4, or about 57 million Americans
Term
What are the three most common mental disorders in the US?
Definition
Phobias, Alcohol abuse, and Mood disorders (such as depression).
Term
Does the occurrence of mental disorders vary with gender?
Definition
Yes, more women have depression while more men have antisocial behavior and alcohol dependence.
Term
What is a personality disorder?
Definition
A longstanding, inflexible, or maladaptive pattern of perception, thought, or behavior.
Term
Describe the Narcissistic personality disorder.
Definition
The person has a constant need for attention, responds inappropriately to criticism, and has a grandiose sense of self-importance.
Term
Why might someone develop a narcissistic personality disorder?
Definition
Because they never grew out of the view that they are the center of the world, like they were as children.
Term
What is the Anti-social personality disorder?
Definition
Where the person violates the rights of others. They may be violent, criminal, unethical, and exploitative.
Term
Why might someone have an anti-social personality disorder?
Definition
They might have been emotionally deprived in childhood, learned their behavior from their parents, have arrested moral development, brain abnormalities, or a genetic predisposition to the disorder.
Term
What were anxiety disorders originally know as?
Definition
Neurosis
Term
What are the primary symptoms of anxiety disorders?
Definition
Anxiety that is inappropriate to the circumstances, or using defenses to ward off anxiety.
Term
What are phobias?
Definition
Intense and irrational fears of an object or situation, although no real danger exists.
Term
What are generalized anxiety disorders?
Definition
A free-floating anxiety that is not focused on any specific thing. The person is constantly tense and uneasy.
Term
What is OCD?
Definition
Tryin to deal with persistent thoughts that can't be stopped.
Term
What are panic disorders?
Definition
Short-term anxiety attacks where the victim feels sudden and unpredictable fear.
Term
What is the psychoanalytic view on why people develop anxiety disorders?
Definition
Unconscious conflicts, such as fearing one's parents, lead to anxiety. Behaviors that originally helped control the anxiety (e.g. hand-washing), become problems in themselves.
Term
What is the biological view on anxiety disorder development?
Definition
Disorders can be inherited genetically.
Term
What is the observational learning view about anxiety disorder development?
Definition
Observing an anxious person may cause you to adopt their behaviors as normal.
Term
What are somatoform disorders?
Definition
Physical complaints suggest a physical disorder, but no organic problem is found.
Term
What is hypochondria?
Definition
Being preoccupied with body sensations in spite of assurance that they have no physical ailments. They interpret small symptoms as serious illness.
Term
What is conversion disorder?
Definition
The loss of specific sensory or motor function (e.g. hysterical blindness).
Term
What are dissociative disorders?
Definition
Where some part of your personality is fragmented from the rest. Symptoms include sudden, but temporary, alterations of consciousness.
Term
What is dissociative amnesia?
Definition
Selective memory loss brought on by extreme stress.
Term
What is dissociative fugue?
Definition
The loss of one's identity; you have no idea who you are anymore.
Term
What is dissociative identity disorder?
Definition
Multiple personalities.
Term
What is the psychoanalytic view on the development of dissociative disorders?
Definition
The person is blocking out negative thoughts (typically from childhood) that cause anxiety.
Term
What is the behavioral view on the development of dissociative disorders?
Definition
Blocking out unwanted thoughts is rewarding.
Term
What are affective disorders?
Definition
Disturbances of mood in which the person is either excessively depressed, elated (manic), or both (bipolar).
Term
What are symptoms of depression?
Definition
Paralysis of will, thoughts of failure, loss of appetite and sleep, fatigue, and extended periods of feeling sad.
Term
What is a manic disorder like?
Definition
The person is very elated and in a very active emotional state. Usually impulsive, unrealistically optimistic, high energy, and severely agitated.
Term
What is the psychoanalytic view on why people develop affective disorders?
Definition
The real or imagined loss of a loved one turns the anger against oneself (depression).
Term
What is the behavioral view on why people develop affective disorders?
Definition
Comes from a lack of reinforcement, which leads to depression.
Term
What is the cognitive view on why people develop affective disorders?
Definition
Too many negative and self-blaming thoughts lead to depression.
Term
What is the biological view on why people develop affective disorders?
Definition
Disorders may come from heredity, or there may be an imbalance in neurotransmitters.
Term
What is schizophrenia?
Definition
A split-mind psychotic disorder, where the person is out of touch with reality.
Term
How prevalent is schizophrenia?
Definition
Very prevalent, 2% of the population will have an episode during their lifetime. Nearly half of the country's mental health hospitals are schizophrenics.
Term
What are some symptoms of schizophrenia?
Definition
Pervasive thought disturbance, lack of focus, social withdrawal, delusions (misinterpretations of real events), paranoia, hallucinations, and bizarre behaviors.
Term
What are some bizarre behaviors that a schizophrenic might exhibit?
Definition
Being catatonic or using odd gestures.
Term
What is the cognitive view as to why someone might develop schizophrenia?
Definition
They have an inability to keep things in proper focus.
Term
What is the biological view as to why someone might develop schizophrenia?
Definition
A viral infection during pregnancy might impair the development of the fetal brain. Disorder may be hereditary, or too much dopamine may be transmitted in the brain.
Term
What is one major difference between bulimia and anorexia as to how the person views their behavior?
Definition
An anorexic sees no abnormalities in their restrictive eating habits, while a bulimic knows that their behavior is abnormal.
Term
What are the four general steps of treating psychopathology?
Definition
Diagnosis, Etiology (determining cause), Prognosis (estimate course of problem with and without treatment), and Treatment
Term
What is biomedical treatment?
Definition
Dealing with the body, often by changing the brain's functioning. Typically, psychiatrists are involved in this process.
Term
What were some harmful biomedical treatments used in the past?
Definition
Trephining (opening skull), bloodletting, and dunking in water.
Term
What are the three main biomedical treatments today?
Definition
Drug therapy, psychosurgery, and electroconvulsive shock therapy (ECT).
Term
What are some types of drugs used in therapy?
Definition
Anti-psychotics (for schizophrenia), tranquilizers, antidepressants, and lithium (bipolar disorder).
Term
What are some problems with drug therapy?
Definition
Regulating someone's dosage, dealing with side effects, becoming dependent on the drug, interacting the drug with other drugs, and drug therapy is not necessarily a cure.
Term
What is a type of psychosurgery? Describe it.
Definition
A prefontal lobotomy, where they cut the connection between the thalamus and frontal lobes. It is thought to disconnect a person from their emotions and past trauma, but brain damage is often associated (loss of memories, emotions, and/or personality).
Term
When is a prefontal lobotomy used?
Definition
Only in extreme cases when nothing else works.
Term
What is electroconvulsive shock therapy?
Definition
An electrical current is run through the brain, leading to a loss of consciousness and a convulsive seizure.
Term
When is ECT used?
Definition
Originally it was used only with schizos, and then it was used with severely depressed people. Now, it is only used if drugs are ineffective or if the person is suicidal.
Term
What is psychotherapy?
Definition
The use of psychological methods to modify behavior so that the person can better adjust to their environment.
Term
What is involved in psychotherapy?
Definition
Emotional re-education, interpersonal learning, and having the patient achieve a greater self-knowledge.
Term
How do psychoanalysts use psychotherapy?
Definition
They believe that problems stem from childhood, so the person must gain access to their hidden thoughts in order to resolve them. This achieves "intra-psychic harmony" and "victory of reason over passion".
Term
What are some techniques that psychoanalysts use in psychotherapy?
Definition
The analyst sits behind the patient, remaining silent and neutral. They use free association, dream interpretation, and transference in therapy.
Term
What is free association?
Definition
Bringing repressed thoughts into consciousness (manifest- what person actually says, latent- underlying meaning of what they say).
Term
How does dream interpretation work in therapy?
Definition
The person must not only remember repressed thoughts, but relive the feelings associated with them in order for catharsis (emotional release) to occur.
Term
What is transference?
Definition
The patient identifies the analyst with a person who has been at the center of a past emotional conflict, and responds to the analyst like they were that person.
Term
What are the two general techniques used in behavior therapy?
Definition
Classical conditioning techniques and operant conditioning techniques.
Term
What are the three types of classical conditioning techniques used in behavior therapy?
Definition
Systematic desensitization, implosion (flooding), and aversion therapy.
Term
What is systematic desensitization?
Definition
The patient learns relaxation techniques, establishes a "fear hierarchy", and imagines each situation while staying relaxed. It is a way for phobic individuals to replace fear with relaxation.
Term
What is implosion?
Definition
Continuous, intense exposure to the anxiety-producing situation. However, this may lead to even more anxiety.
Term
What is aversions therapy?
Definition
Leaning negative associations in order to change behavior, like associating drinking and nausea.
Term
How is operant conditioning used in behavior therapy?
Definition
Either reinforcing good behavior, or punishing bad behavior (time-out).
Term
What is humanistic therapy?
Definition
Has a goal of self-awareness and self-acceptance, not a cure. Helps the client (not called a "patient") fulfill their potential. Deals with the whole person, unlike behaviorists.
Term
What is client-centered therapy?
Definition
Has the client arrive at their own insights and interpretations, taking responsibility for their thoughts and actions. The therapist doesn't direct the patient to a certain topic, is honest, and is always positive.
Term
What is involved in cognitive therapy?
Definition
Observing models, learning social skills, and restructuring how one thinks about himself and the world (e.g. not true to say that "everyone hates me").
Term
What is the most effective therapy?
Definition
An eclectic approach is best, although certain therapies work better with certain disorders.
Term
What is social psychology?
Definition
The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.
Term
How do we explain the behavior of ourselves and others?
Definition
We make attributions (inferences about the cause of their behavior).
Term
What is the attribution theory?
Definition
We make attributions based on situational or dispositional factors.
Term
What is the fundamental attribution error?
Definition
We overemphasize dispositional factors, especially in others (e.g. "He's a jerk" vs. "He's having a bad day").
Term
What is actor-observer bias?
Definition
Attributing your own behavior to situational factors (e.g. flunking a test because "it was a crappy test").
Term
What are attitudes?
Definition
Beliefs or opinions towards something that predisposes us to act a certain way (e.g. I don't like cigarettes, so I don't smoke).
Term
What is cognitive dissonance?
Definition
An unpleasant state of arousal that arrives when our attitudes and behaviors don't match. We often change our attitude towards the behavior (justifying behavior, etc.) in order to reduce unpleasantness.
Term
What purpose does dehumanization serve?
Definition
It acts as a defense to free us from painful or overwhelming emotions (e.g. Iraqi civilians, women as objects, criminals under the death penalty).
Term
What is social influence?
Definition
Our behavior is controlled by the presence and actions of others without regard to underlying attitudes.
Term
What are two types of social influence?
Definition
Conformity within a group, and obedience to authority.
Term
Describe the experiment that illustrated social conformity within a group.
Definition
The Asch experiment, where the subject had to name the correct length line after five before him gave an obviously incorrect response. Nearly 70% of the subjects conformed to the group mentality.
Term
Why do people conform within a group?
Definition
Because it is socially desirable to be part of a group (e.g. people conforming on the elevator to the group).
Term
Why did people begin to study obedience to authority?
Definition
Because they wanted to know how Nazis could have killed so many people.
Term
What experiment illustrated the ideas of obedience to authority? What were the experiment's results?
Definition
Milgram's shock experiment. About 2/3 of the subjects obeyed the experimenter and went to the highest voltage.
Term
Why are people influence by authority?
Definition
They act out of blind obedience, often assuming that the person has legitimate authority.
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