Chapter 3

Front 1

Adoption Methods

Back 1

Comparison of biological and adoptive relatives with or without a given disorder to asses genetic VS. enviromental influences

Front 2

Association Studies

Back 2

Genetic research strategy comparing frequency of certain genetic markers known to be located on particular chromosomes in people with or without a particular disorder.

Front 3

Attachement Theory

Back 3

Contemporary psychodynamic theory empahsizing the importance of early expirience with attachement relationships in laying the foundation for later functioning throughtout life.

Front 4

Attribution

Back 4

Process of assigning causes to things that happen

Front 5

Behavioral Genetics

Back 5

Field that studies the heritability of mental disorders and other aspects of psychologycal functioning such as personality and inteligence.

Front 6

Biopsychosocial Viewpoint

Back 6

Acknowledges the interacting roles of biological, psychosocial and sociocultural factors in the origin of psychopathology.

Front 7

Castration Anxienty

Back 7

The anxiety a young boy expiriences when he desires his mother while at the same time fearing that his father may harm him by cutting off his penis; this anxienty forces he boy to repress his sexual desires for his mother and his hostility towards his father.

Front 8

Chromosomes

Back 8

Chain-like structure within a cell nucleus that contains genes

Front 9

Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective

Back 9

A theory of abnormal behavior that focuses on how thoughts and information processing can become distorted and lead to maladaptive behavior and emotions

Front 10

Concordance rate

Back 10

The percentage of twins sharing a disorder or trait.

Front 11

Contributory Cause

Back 11

A condition that increases the probability of developing a disorder but that is neither a necessary nor sufficient for it to occur.

Front 12

Cortisol

Back 12

Human stress hormone released by the cortex of the adrenal gland

Front 13

Develomental Psychology

Back 13

Field pf psychology that focuses on determening what is abnormal at any point in the develomental proccess by comparing and contrasting it with normal and expected changes that occur.

Front 14

Developmental systems approach

Back 14

Acknowledges that genetic activity influences neural activity, which in turn influences the enviroment and these influences are bidirectional.

Front 15

Diathesis stress modules

Back 15

view of abnormal psychology as the result of stress operating on an individual who has a bioogical, psychosocial or sociocultural predisposition to developing a specific disorder.

Front 16

Discrimination

Back 16

Ability to interpret and respond diffrently to various stimuli

Front 17

Ego

Back 17

In psychanalitic theory, the rational part of the personality that mediates between the demands of the id, constraints of the superego and the reality of the external world.

Front 18

Ego Psychology

Back 18

Psychodynamic theory emphasizing the importance of the Ego- " the excecutive branch of the personality" in organizing normal personality development.

Front 19

Ego Defense mechanisim

Back 19

Phychic mechanisims that discharge or soothe anxienty rather than coping directly with an anxiety provoking situation; usually unconsious and reality distorting. also called defense mechanism.

Front 20

Electra Complex

Back 20

Excessive emotional attachment of a daughter for her father.

Front 21

Etiology

Back 21

Casual pattern of abnormal behavior

Front 22

Extinction

Back 22

Gradual disapearence of a conditioned response when it is no longer reinforced

Front 23

Family History (or pedigree) method

Back 23

Behavior genetic research strategy that exsamines the incidence of disorders in relatives of an index case to determine whether incidence increases in proportion to the degree of heredity relationships

Front 24

Generalization

Back 24

Tendency of a response that has been conditioned to one stimulus to be elicited by another similar stimuli.

Front 25

Genotype

Back 25

A person's total genetic endowment

Front 26

Genotype Enviroment Correlation

Back 26

Genotype vulnerability that can shape a child's enviromental expiriences

Front 27

Hormones

Back 27

Chemical messengers secreted by the endocrine glands that regulate development of an activity in various parts of the body.

Front 28

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-cortical axis (HAP axis)

Back 28

Brain endocrine system involved in responding to stress in which the hypothalamus and pituitary send messenges to the adrenal gland which releases stress hormones that feeds back on the hypothalamus

Front 29

ID

Back 29

In psychanalytic theory, the reservior of instictual drives and the 1st structure to appear in infancy.

Front 30

Instrumental (operant) Conditioning

Back 30

Reinforcement of a subject for making a correct response that leads to either to recipt of something rewarding or to escape something unpleasent

Front 31

Interpersonal Perspective

Back 31

Approach to understanding abnormal behavior that views much of the psychopathology as rooted in the unfourtunate tendencies we develop while dealing with our interpersonal enviroments; it thus focuses on our relationships , past and present with other people.

Front 32

Intrapsychic conflict

Back 32

Inner mental struggles resulting from the interplay of the ID, ego and super ego when the 3 subsystems are striving for diffrent goals.

Front 33

Libido

Back 33

In psychoanalytic theory, is a term used to describe the instictual drives of the ID; the bsic constructive energy of life; primarily sexual in nature.

Front 34

Likage analysis

Back 34

Genetic reearch strategy in which occurence of a disorder in an exteded family is compared with that of a genetic marker for a physical characteristic or biological process that is known to be located on a particular chromosome

Front 35

Necessary cause

Back 35

A condition that must exist for a disorder to occur.

Front 36

Neurotransmitters

Back 36

Chemical substances that are released into a synapse by the presynaptic neuron and which transmit nerve impulses from one neuron to another

Front 37

Object-relation theory

Back 37

in psychoanalytic theory, this view point focuses on an infant or young child's interactions with "objects" as well as how they make symbolic representations of important people in thier lives

Front 38

Observational Learning

Back 38

Learning through observation clone without directly experiencing an unconditioned stimulus (fro classical conditioning) or a reinfrcement (for instrumental conditioning).

Front 39

Oedipus complex

Back 39

Deisire for sexual realtions with a parent of opposite sex; especifically the desire of a boy for his mother with his father as a hated rival.

Front 40

Phenotype

Back 40

The observed structural and functional characteristics of a person that are the results of interactions between the genotype and the enviroment.

Front 41

Pituitary gland

Back 41

Endocrine gland associated with many regulatory functions.

Front 42

Pleasure principle

Back 42

Demand that an instinctual need be immidiatley gratified, regardless of reality or moral considerations.

Front 43

Primary Process thinking

Back 43

Gratification of ID demands by means of imagery of fantasy without the ability to undertake the realistic actions needed to meet those instictual demands.

Front 44

Protective Factors

Back 44

Influences that modify a perso's response to an enviromental stressor, making it less likely that the person will expirience the adverse side effects of the stressor.

Front 45

Psychosexual stages of development

Back 45

According to Freudian theory, there are five stages of psychosexual development, each haracterized by a dominant mode of achieving sexual pleasure; the oral stage, anal stage, the phalic stage, the latency stage and genital stage.

Front 46

Reality Principle

Back 46

Aawreness of the demandsof the enviroment and adjustment of behavior to meet standards

Front 47

Reinforcement

Back 47

The process of rewarding deisred responses

Front 48

Resilience

Back 48

The ability to aapt succesfully to even very difficult circumstances

Front 49

Schema

Back 49

An underlying representation of knowledge that guides current processing of information and often leads to distosions in attention, memory and comprehension.

Front 50

Self Schema

Back 50

Our views of what we are, what we might become and what is important to us.

Front 51

Secondary process thinking

Back 51

Reality oriented rational process of the ego for dealing with the external world and the excercise of control over the demands of the ID

Front 52

Spontaneous recovery

Back 52

The return of a learned resonse sometime after extision has occured.

Front 53

Sufficient cause

Back 53

A cndition that guarantees the occurence of a disorder

Front 54

Superego

Back 54

Conciense; ethical or moral dimension of personality

Front 55

Synapse

Back 55

Site of communication from the axon of one neuron to the dendrites of another.

Front 56

Temperament

Back 56

Pattern of emotional and arousal responses and characteristic way of self regulation that are considered to be primarily heredetary or constitutional

Front 57

Twin Method

Back 57

The use of identical and non identical twins to study the genetic influence on abnormal behavior.