Survey of Abnormal Psychology Exam 1 Study Guide
Psychology 2510 with Trull at University of Missouri- Columbia
About this deck
By: Ashley Pona
Textbook: Study Guide for Barlow/Durand's Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach, 4th
Study Guide for Barlow/Durand's Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach, 5th
Created: 2011-09-19
Size: 196 flashcards
Views: 56
Textbook: Study Guide for Barlow/Durand's Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach, 4th
Study Guide for Barlow/Durand's Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach, 5thCreated: 2011-09-19
Size: 196 flashcards
Views: 56
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Mental Disorder
A group of emotional (feelings), cognitive (thinking), or behavioral symptoms that cause distress or significant problems.
Abnormal Psychology
The scientific study of troublesome feelings, thoughts, and behaviors associated with mental disorders to better understand and predict mental disorder and help those who are in distress.
Maladaptive Behavior
A behavior that interferes with a person’s life, including ability to care for oneself, have good relationships with others, and function well at school or at work.
Psychopathologists
Professionals who study mental problems to see how disorders develop and continue and how they can be prevented or alleviated psychopathy.
Asylums
Places reserved to exclusively treat people with mental disorder, usually separate from the general population.
Mental Hygiene
The science of promoting mental health and thwarting mental disorder through education, early treatment, and public health measures.
Public Health Model
A model that focuses on promoting good health and good health practices to avert disease.
Primary Prevention
A type of prevention targeting large groups of people who have not yet developed a mental disorder. (Example: Anti-Drug commercials to reduce general substance abuse).
Secondary Prevention
A type of prevention that addresses emerging problems while they are still manageable and before they become resistant to intervention. (Example: Treating college students that may have potential drinking problems).
Tertiary Prevention
A type of prevention aimed to reduce the severity, duration, and negative effects of a mental disorder after it has occurred. (Example: various medical & psychological treatments for mental disorders).
Stigma
A characterization by others of disgrace or reproach based on an individual characteristic.
Distinguishing Abnormal Behaviors
1. Violate social norms or are statistically deviant
2. Interfere with functioning / Difficulty adapting to life's demands
3. Cause great personal distress
Commonality of Mental Disorders
- 1 of 4 American Adults have a mental disorder over a course of a year
- 97% of students know at least one person with a mental disorder
- 63% have a family member with a mental disorder, or they themselves have one
Case of Treva Throneberry
Woman refuses to believe she is older than 18; constantly moves and refers to herself as a 15- or 16-year-old. Insisted her name was Brianna Stewart.
Abnormal Behavior Existence
Anxiety, sadness, anger, & other emotions & behaviors can be best described along a dimension or continuum from extremely low to extremely high levels.
Deviance from the Norm Advantages
- We use our own judgment or gut feeling.
- Once statistical or objective cutoff scores are established they are easy to apply.
Deviance from the Norm Limitations
- Different cultures have different ideas about what normal behavior is.
- "Statistically deviant" behaviors may be valued (I.e. High intelligence).
- Arbitrary cutoffs (I.e. is a score of 80 much different from a score of 81?).
Difficulty Adapting to LIfe's Demands Advantages
- Typically easy to observe if someone is having difficulty.
- Often prompts people to seek psychological treatment.
Difficulty Adapting to Life's Demands Limitations
- Unclear who determines impairment or whether a consensus about impairment is required.
- Thresholds for impairment not always clear.
Experience of Personal Distress Advantages
- Hallmark of many forms of mental disorder.
- Individuals may be able to accurately report this.
Experience of Personal Distress Limitations
- Some psychological problems are not associated with distress.
- Thresholds or cutoffs for distress are not always clear.
Trephination
Cutting a hole in a person's skull to help release a harmful spirit.
Natural Theories
Reject supernatural forces & instead look to things that can be observed, known, & measured as potential causes of events.
Hippocrates
- Rejected demons & evil spirits as causes of abnormal behavior.
- Believed brain was the central organ of the body & that abnormal behavior results from brain disorders or dysfunctions.
Tarantism
Individuals became victims of a tarantula's "spirit" after being bitten.
Lycanthropy
A belief that a person has been transformed into a demonic animal such as a werewolf.
Paracelus
Introduced the notion for psychic or mental causes for abnormal behavior & proposed a treatment initially referred to as bodily magnetism & later called hypnosis
Philippe Pinel
Created a mental hospital with humane living conditions.
Public Stigma
Refers to the general disgrace the public confers on people with mental disorder that can result in prejudice, stereotyping, & discrimination.
Self-Stigma
Refers to disgrace people assign themselves because of public stigma.
Fighting Stigma
- Education: flyers & classes over; short-term effect
- Promoting Personal Contact: becoming close to dispel myths & stereotypes
Models
A systematic way of viewing and explaining what we observe.
Syndromes
Symptoms that cluster or group together within individuals.
Genotype
The genetic composition of an individual that is fixed at birth and received from one’s parents.
Phenotype
Observable characteristics of an individual.
Behavior Genetics
A research specialty that evaluates genetic and environmental influences on development of behavior.
Molecular Genetics
Analysis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to identify links between specific genetic material and mental disorders.
Central Nervous System
The brain and spinal cord, which are necessary to process information from our sensory organs and prompt our body into action if necessary.
Peripheral Nervous System
The somatic and autonomic nervous system that controls muscles and voluntary movement, impacts the cardiovascular and endocrine system, assists with digestion, and regulates body temperature.
Synapse
A small gap between ends of neurons.
Neurotransmitters
Chemical messengers that allow a nerve impulse to cross the synapse.
Reuptake
A feedback mechanism that informs a neuron about the amount of neurotransmitter needed to be released in the future.
Cerebral Cortex
Gray matter of the brain that covers almost all of each hemisphere.
Frontal Lobe
An area of the brain in front of the brain that is responsible for movement, planning, organizing, inhibiting behavior, and decision making.
Parietal Lobe
An area of the brain behind the frontal lobe that is associated with the sensation of touch.
Temporal Lobe
A middle area of the brain associated with auditory discrimination.
Occipital Lobe
An area of the brain behind the parietal and temporal lobes and associated with vision.
Limbic System
An area of the brain in the forebrain that regulates emotions and impulses and is responsible for basic drives like thirst, sex, and aggression.
Basal Ganglia
Brain structures that control posture and motor activity.
Thalamus
A structure within the forebrain that relays sensory information to the cerebral cortex.
Hypothalamus
A region of the brain below the thalamus that influences body temperature, food intake, sleep, and sex drive.
Pons
Located in the hindbrain; involved in sleep & arousal
Spinal Chord
Transmits information between the brain & the rest of the body; controls simple reflexes
Pituitary Gland
Regulates other endocrine glands & controls growth; "master gland"
Hippocampus
Part of the limbic system involved in memory & learning
Psychodynamic Model
A model of abnormal behavior that assumes all mental states, emotions, and behaviors to arise from unconscious motives and intrapsychic conflicts.
Unconscious Motivation
Motivation that resides outside conscious awareness.
Defense Mechanism
Strategies used by the ego to stave off threats from the id or superego.
Psychic Determinism
An assumption of psychodynamic theory that everything we do has meaning and purpose and is goal-directed.
Id
The deep, inaccessible portion of the personality that contains instinctual urges.
Pleasure Principle
The rule of conduct by the id to seek pleasure and avoid pain.
Primary Process
The irrational and impulsive type of thinking that characterizes the id.
Ego
The organized, rational component of the personality.
Reality Principle
The rule of conduct by the ego that defers gratification of instinctual urges until a suitable object and mode of satisfaction are discovered.
Secondary Process
The rational and self-preservative type of thinking that characterizes the ego.
Superego
A component of the personality representing the ideals and values of society as conveyed by parents.
Psychosexual Stages of Development
A series of developmental stages marked by a particular erogenous zone of the body.
Fixation
Frustration and anxiety at a psychosexual stage that can cause a person to be arrested at that level of development.
Repression
A defense mechanism that involves keeping highly threatening sexual or aggressive material out of conscious awareness.
Regression
A defense mechanism that occurs when a person returns to a life stage that once provided substantial gratification.
Reaction Formation
A defense mechanism that occurs when an unconscious impulse is consciously expressed by its behavioral opposite.
Projection
A defense mechanism used when a person attributes his or her unconscious feelings to someone else.
Projective Hypothesis
The assumption that, when faced with unstructured or ambiguous stimuli or tasks, individuals impose their own structure and reveal something of themselves.
Free Association
A psychodynamic technique in which a client speaks continuously without censorship.
Dream Analysis
A psychodynamic technique to access unconscious material thought to be symbolized in dreams.
Manifest Content
The literal meaning of a dream.
Latent Content
The symbolic meaning of a dream’s events.
Insight
(1) An active treatment ingredient whereby a client comes to understand reasons for his maladaptive behavior and how to address it. (2) Understanding the unconscious determinants of irrational feelings, thoughts, or behaviors that create problems or distress.
Interpretation
A method in which a psychodynamic theorist reveals unconscious meanings of a client’s thoughts and behaviors to help the person achieve insight.
Transference
A key phenomenon in psychodynamic therapy in which a client reacts to the therapist as if the latter represented an important figure from the client’s past.
Humanistic Model
model of abnormal behavior that emphasizes personal growth, free will, and responsibility.
Phenomenological Approach
An assumption that one’s behavior is determined by perceptions of herself and others.
Self-Actualization
A striving to be the best one can be.
Conditional Positive Regard
An environment in which others set conditions or standards for one’s life.
Unconditional Positive Regard
An environment in which a person is fully accepted as she is and allowed to pursue her own desires and goals.
Client-Centered Therapy
A humanistic therapy that relies heavily on unconditional positive regard and empathy.
Behavioral Perspective
A perspective of abnormal behavior that assumes that problematic symptoms develop because of the way we learn or observe others.
Classical Conditioning
Pairing of an unconditioned stimulus so the future presentation of a conditioned stimulus results in a conditioned response.
Operant Conditioning
A learning principle that behavior followed by positive or pleasurable consequences is likely to be repeated but behavior followed by negative consequences is not likely to be repeated.
Positive Reinforcement
Presenting a pleasant event or consequence after a behavior to increase frequency of the behavior.
Negative Reinforcement
Removing an aversive event following a behavior to increase frequency of the behavior.
Cognitive Perspective
A perspective of abnormal behavior that assumes that problematic symptoms develop because of the way we perceive and think about our present and past experiences.
Cognitive Schemas
Set of beliefs or expectations that represent a network of already accumulated knowledge.
Cognitive Distortions
Irrational, inaccurate thoughts that people have about environmental events.
Modeling
Learning a new skill or set of behaviors by observing another person perform the skill or behavior.
Avoidance Conditioning
A theory of fear development that combines classical and operant conditioning with internal states such as driving or motivating factors.
Functional Analysis
A behavioral assessment strategy to understand antecedents and consequences of behavior.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
A type of treatment that focuses on the connection between thinking patterns, emotions, and behavior and uses cognitive and behavioral techniques to change dysfunctional thinking patterns.
Rational Restructuring
A set of techniques to teach individuals to examine their assumptions about situations or the world in general and think more realistically.
Systematic Desensitization
A behavioral technique for reducing anxiety in which clients practice relaxation while visualizing anxiety-provoking situations of increasing intensity.
Exposure Treatment
A behavioral technique for reducing anxiety in which clients expose themselves to fear and avoided situations.
Token Economy
An operant conditioning system in which desired behaviors are promoted through reinforcements.
Sociocultural Perspective
A perspective of abnormal behavior that focuses on influences that other people, social institutions, and social forces exert on a person’s mental health.
Culture
The unique behavior and lifestyle shared by a group of people.
Ethnicity
Clusters of individuals who share cultural traits that distinguish themselves from others.
Race
A socially constructed category typically based on physical characteristics.
Culture-Bound Syndromes
Syndromes caused by culturally shared beliefs and ideas that lead to high levels of stress and mental disorder.
Family Systems Perspective
The idea that each family has its own structure and rules that can affect the mental health of individual family members.
Expressed Emotion
Family interactions characterized by high levels of emotional overinvolvement, hostility, and criticism.
Diathesis
A biological or psychological predisposition to disorder.
Etiology
Cause of mental disorders.
Epidemiology
The study of patterns of diseases, disorders, and other health-related behavior in a population of interest.
Epidemiologists
Scientists who study the incidence, prevalence, and risk factors of disorders.
Incidence
Rate of new cases of a disorder that occur or develop during a specific time period such as a month or year.
Prevalence
Rate of new and existing cases of a condition observed during a specific time period.
Lifetime Prevalence
Proportion of those who exhibit symptoms of a disorder up to the point they were assessed.
Comorbidity
Two or more disorders in one person.
Cohort Effects
Significant differences in the expression of a disorder depending on age.
Risk Factor
An individual, contextual, or environmental characteristic correlated with an outcome or condition such as a mental disorder that precedes the development of the disorder.
Protective Factors
A factor that buffers one against the development of a mental disorder.
Resilience
Ability of an individual to withstand and rise above extreme adversity.
Prevention
Interventions intended to arrest the development of later problems.
Primary Prevention
A type of prevention targeting large groups of people who have not yet developed a mental disorder
Universal Prevention
Preventive intervention targeting large groups of people not afflicted by a particular problem.
Secondary Prevention
A type of prevention that addresses emerging problems while they are still manageable and before they become resistant to intervention.
Selective Prevention
Preventive intervention targeting subgroups of people at risk for a particular problem.
Tertiary Prevention
A type of prevention aimed to reduce the severity, duration, and negative effects of a mental disorder after it has occurred
Indicated Prevention
Preventive intervention targeting individuals at high risk for developing extensive problems in the future.
Dimensions
An approach to defining mental disorder along a continuum.
Antecedents
Stimuli or events that precede a behavior.
Axis I
DSM-IV-TR diagnostic axis of major clinical disorders that emerge and end in the life cycle.
Axis II
DSM-IV-TR diagnostic axis of lifelong disorders such as personality disorders or mental retardation.
Axis III
DSM-IV-TR diagnostic axis that highlights current medical conditions relevant to understanding or treating a person’s Axis I or Axis II disorder.
Axis IV
DSM-IV-TR diagnostic axis that highlights psychosocial and environmental problems relevant to a presenting problem.
Axis V
DSM-IV-TR diagnostic axis that involves a quantitative estimate of a person’s overall level of functioning.
Behavioral Assessment
An assessment approach that focuses on measuring overt behaviors or responses.
Case Study Method
In-depth examination and observation of one person over time.
Category
An approach to defining mental disorder by examining large classes of behavior.
Classification
Arranging mental disorders into broad categories or classes based on similar features.
Clinical Assessment
Evaluating a person’s strengths and weaknesses and formulating a problem at hand to develop a treatment plan.
Computerized Axial Tomography (CT Scan)
A neuroimaging technique that uses X-rays of the brain to identify structural abnormalities.
Concurrent Validity
Whether current test or interview results relate to an important feature or characteristic at the present time.
Confounds
Factors that may account for group differences on a dependent variable.
Consequences
Outcomes or events that follow a behavior.
Construct Validity
Degree to which test or interview items actually cover aspects of the variable or diagnosis under study.
Content Validity
Degree to which test or interview items actually cover aspects of the variable or diagnosis under study.
Control Group
Those who do not receive the active independent variable in an experiment.
Controlled Observation
A behavioral assessment technique that involves analogue tests or tasks to approximate situations people face in real life and that may elicit a certain problem behavior.
Correlation Study
A study that allows researchers to make some statements about the association or relationship between variables based on the extent to which they change together in a predictable way.
Cross-Sectional Study
A developmental design examining different groups of people at one point in time.
Dependent Variable
Variables that measure a certain outcome that a researcher is trying to explain or predict.
Diagnosis
A category of mental disorder defined by certain rules that outline how many and what features of a disorder must be present.
Electrocardiogram
A psychophysiological measure that provides a graphical description of heart rate.
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
A psychophysiological measure of brain activity.
Experiment
A research method that allows scientists to draw cause-and-effect conclusions.
Experimental Group
Those receiving the active independent variable in an experiment.
External Validity
Ability to generalize results from one investigation to the general population.
Functional Analysis
A behavioral assessment strategy to understand antecedents and consequences of behavior.
Functional MRI
A neuroimaging technique that assesses brain structure and function as well as metabolic changes.
Galvanic Skin Conductance
A psychophysiological measure of the electrical conductance of skin.
Hypothesis
A statement about the cause of an event or about the relationship between two events.
Independent Variable
A variable manipulated by a researcher that is hypothesized to be the cause of the outcome.
Intelligence Tests
Measures of cognitive functioning that provide estimates of intellectual ability.
Internal Consistency Reliability
Extent to which test items appear to be measuring the same thing.
Internal Validity
Extent to which a researcher can be confident that changes in the dependent variable are truly the result of manipulation of the independent variable.
Interrater Reliability
Extent to which two raters or observers agree about their ratings or judgments of a person’s behavior.
Longitudinal Study
A developmental design examining the same group of people over a long period of time.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
A neuroimaging technique that can produce high-resolution images of brain structure.
Mental Disorder
A group of emotional (feelings), cognitive (thinking), or behavioral symptoms that cause distress or significant problems
Metabolites
By-products of neurotransmitters that can be detected in urine, blood, and cerebral spinal fluid.
MMPI-2 Clinical Scales
Subscales of the MMPI-2 used to identify various problematic behaviors and personality styles.
MMPI-2 Validity Scales
Subscales of the MMPI-2 used to identify a person’s defensiveness during testing and response sets.
Naturalistic Observation
A behavioral assessment technique that involves observing a person in his or her natural environment.
Negative Correlation
Two variables highly related to one another such that an increase in one variable is accompanied by a decrease in the other variable.
Neurochemical Assessment
Biological assessment of dysfunctions in specific neurotransmitter systems.
Neuropsychological Assessment
Indirect measures of brain and physical function by evaluating a person’s performance on standardized tests and tasks that indicate brain-behavior relationships.
Objective Personality Measures
Measures of personality that involve administering a standard set of questions or statements to which a person responds using set options.
Organismic Variables
A person’s physiological or cognitive characteristics important for understanding a problem and determining treatment.
Personality Assessment
Instruments measuring different traits or aspects of character.
Positive Correlation
Two variables highly related to one another such that an increase in one variable is accompanied by an increase in the other variable.
Positron Emission Tomography (PET Scan)
An invasive neuroimaging procedure that assesses brain structure and functioning.
Predictive Validity
Whether test or interview results accurately predict some behavior or event in the future.
Projective Test
Psychological testing techniques based on the assumption that people faced with an ambiguous stimulus such as an inkblot will project their own needs, personality, conflicts, and wishes.
Psychophysiological Assessment
Evaluating bodily changes possibly associated with certain mental conditions.
Quai-Experimental Method
A study in which an independent variable is manipulated but people are not randomly selected or assigned to groups.
Randomization
Selecting and assigning people to groups so each person has the same chance of being assigned to any one group.
Reliability
Consistency of test scores or diagnoses.
Scientific Method
A set of agreed upon rules for systematically gathering information that involves generating a hypothesis, developing a research design, and analyzing and interpreting data to test the hypothesis.
Self-Monitoring
A behavioral assessment technique where a person observes and records his own behaviors, thoughts, and emotions.
Sequential Design
A developmental design involving aspects of longitudinal and cross-sectional studies.
Standardization
Administering or conducting clinical assessment measures in the same way for all examinees.
Structured Interviews
A type of clinical interview that requires an interviewer to ask standardized questions in a specified sequence.
Syndrome
Symptoms that cluster or group together within individuals.
Test-Retest Reliability
Extent to which a person provides similar answers to the same test items across time.
Unstructured Interview
A type of clinical interview in which clinicians ask any questions that come to mind in any order.
Validity
Extent to which an assessment technique measures what it is supposed to measure.
About this deck
By: Ashley Pona
Textbook: Study Guide for Barlow/Durand's Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach, 4th
Study Guide for Barlow/Durand's Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach, 5th
Created: 2011-09-19
Size: 196 flashcards
Views: 56
Textbook: Study Guide for Barlow/Durand's Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach, 4th
Study Guide for Barlow/Durand's Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach, 5thCreated: 2011-09-19
Size: 196 flashcards
Views: 56
About StudyBlue
STUDYBLUE makes things that make you better at school.
Things like online flashcards with photos and audio.
Things like personalized quizzes and friendly reminders about when (and what) to study next.
Think of it as a digital backpack™: access to all of your study materials online and on your phone.
STUDYBLUE exists to make studying efficient and effective for every student, for free. Join us.
“I have been getting MUCH better grades on all my tests for school. Flash cards, notes, and quizzes are great on here. Thanks!”
Kathy
Kathy