Abnormal Psych - Ch. 3 Casual Factors And Viewpoints

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Adoption Method

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Comparison of biological and adoptive relatives with and without a given disorder to assess genetic versus environmental influences

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Association Studies

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

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Attachment Theory

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Comtemporary developmental and psychodynamic theory emphasizing the importance of early experience with attachment relationship in laying the foundation for later functioning throughout life

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Attribution

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Process of assigning causes to things that happen

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Behavior Genetics

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Field that studies the heritability of mental disorders and other aspects of psychological functioning such as personality and intelligence

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Biopsychosocial Viewpoint

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A viewpoint that acknowledges the interacting roles of biological, psychosocial, and sociocultural factors in the origins of psychopathology

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Castration Anxiety

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As postulated by Freud, the anxiety a young boy experiences when he desires his mother while at the same time fearing that his father may harm him by cutting off his penis; this anxiety forces the boy to repress his sexual desire for his mother and his hostility toward his father

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Chromosomes

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Chain-like structures within cell nucleus that contains genes

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Classical Conditioning

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A basic form of learning in which a neutral stimulus is paired repeatedly with an unconditioned stimulus (US) that naturally elicits an unconditioned response (UR). After repeated pairings the neutral stimlulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) that elicits and conditioned response (CR).

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Cognitive-behavioral Perspective

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

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Concordance Rate

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The percentage of twins sharing a disorder or trait

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Contributory Cause

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

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Cortisol

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Human stress hormone released by the cortex of the adrenal glands

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Developmental Psychopathology

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Field of psychology that focuses on determining what is abnormal at any point in the developmental process by comparing and contrasting it with normal and expected changes that occur.

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Developmental Systems Approach

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Acknowledgement that genetic activity influences neural activity, which in turn influences behavior, which in turn influences the environment, and that these influences are bidirectional.

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Diathesis

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Predispotioin or vulnerability to developing a given disorder

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Diathesis-stress Models

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View of abnormal behavior as the result of stress operating on an individual who has a biological, psychosocial, or sociocultural predisposition to developing a specific disorder.

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Discrimination

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Ability to interpret and respond differenlty to two or more similiar stimuli

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Ego

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

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Ego Psychology

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Psychodynamic theory emphasizing the importance of the ego- the "executive branch of the personality"- in organizing normal personality development

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Ego-defense Mechanisms

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Psychic mechanisms that discharge or soothe anxiety rather than coping directly with an anxiety-provoking situation; usually unconscious and reality-distorting. Also called defense mechanism.

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Electra Complex

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Excessive emotional attachment (love) of a daughter for her father; the female counterpart of the Oedipus complex.

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Etiology

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Factors that are related to the development (or cause) of a particular disorder.

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Extinction

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Gradual disappearance of a conditioned response when it is no longer reinforced.

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Family History (or pedigree) Method

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Behavior genetic research strategy that examines the incidence of disorder in relatives of an index case to determine whether incidence increases in proportion to the degree of the hereditary relationship.

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Generalization

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

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Genes

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Long molecles of DNA that are present at various locations on chromosomes and that are responsible for the transmission of hereditary traits.

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Genotype

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A person's total genetic endowment.

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Genotype-enviroment Correlation

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Genotypic vulnerability that can shape a child's environmental experiences.

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Genotype-Environment Inteaction

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Differential sensitivity of susceptibility to their environments by people who have different genotypes.

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Hormones

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

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

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Brain-endocrine system involved in responding to stress in which the hypothalamus and pituitary send messages to the adrenal gland which releases a stress hormone that feeds back on the hypothalamus.

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Id

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In psychoanalytic theory, the reservoir of instinctual drives and the first structure to appear in infancy

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Instrumental (or operant) Conditioning

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Reinforcement of a subject for making a correct response that leads either to receipt of something rewarding or to escape from something unpleasant

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Interpersonal Perspective

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

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Intrapsychic conflict

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Inner mental struggles resulting from the interplay of the id, ego, and superego when the three subsystems are striving for different goals

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Learning

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Modifications of behavior as a consequence of experience

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Libido

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In psychoanalytic theory, a term used to describe the instinctual drives of the id; the basic constructive energy of life, primarily sexual in nature.

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Linkage Analysis

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Genetic research strategy in which occurrence of a disorder in an extended 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.

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Necessary Cause

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A condition that must exist for a disorder to occur.

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Neurotransmitters

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

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Object-relations Theory

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In psychoanalytic theory, this viewpoint focuses on an infant or young child's interactions with "objects" (that is, real or imagined people), as well as how they make symbolic representations of important people in their lives.

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Observational Learning

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Learning through observation alone without directly experiencing an unconditioned stimulus (for classical conditioning) or a reinforcement (for instrumental conditioning).

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Oedipus Complex

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Desire for sexual relations with a parent of opposite sex; specifically, the desire of a boy for his mother, with his father a hated rival.

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Phenotype

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The observed structural and functional characteristics of a person that result from interaction between genotype and the environment.

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Pituitary Gland

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Endorcrine gland associated with many regulatory functions.

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Pleasure Principle

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

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Polygenic

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Cause by that action of many genes together in an additive or interactive fashion.

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Primary Pocess Thinking

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Gratification of id demands by means of imagery or fantasy without the ability to undertake realistic actions needed to meet those instinctual demands.

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Protective Factors

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Influences that modify a person's response to an enviornmental stressor, making it less likely that the person will experience the adverse effects of the stressor.

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Psychosexual Stages of Development

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According to Freudian theory, there are five stages of pschosexual develpment, each characterized by a dominant mode of achieving sexual pleasure: the oral stage, the anal stage, the phallic stage, the latency stage, and the genital stage.

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Reality Principle

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Awareness of the demands of the environment and adjustment of behavior to meet these demands

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Reinforcement

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The process of rewarding desired responses.

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Resilience

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The ability to adapt successfully to even very difficult circumstances

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Schema

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

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Secondary Process Thinking

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Reality-oriented rational processes of the ego for dealing with the external world and the exercise of control of id demands.

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Self-schemas

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

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Spontaneous Recovery

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The return of a learned response at some time after extinction has occurred.

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Stress

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Effects created with an organism by the application of a stressor

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Sufficient Cause

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A condition that guarantees the occurrence of a disorder.

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Superego

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Conscience; ethical or moral dimensions (attitudes) of personality.

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Synapse

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Site of communication from the axon of one neuron to the dendrites or cell body of another neuron - a tiny filled space between neurons

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Temperment

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Pattern of emotional and arousal responses and characteristic ways of self-regulation that are considered to be primarily hereditary or constitutional

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Twin Method

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The use of identical and nonidentical twins to study genetic influences on abnormal behavior.