Abnormal Psych Exam 1 Ch 1-3, 5

Front 1

Necessary cause

Back 1

a condition that must exist for a disorder to occur

Front 2

Sufficient cause

Back 2

a condition that guarantees the occurrence of a disorder

Front 3

Contributory cause

Back 3

increases the probability of the disorder developing but is neither necessary nor sufficient for the disorder to occur

Front 4

Distal causal factor

Back 4

causal factors occurring relatively early in life may not show their effects for many years, that may contribute to a predisposition to develop a disorder.

ex: loss of a parent in life

Front 5

Proximal causal factors

Back 5

other causal factors operate shortly before the occurrence of symptoms of a disorder.

ex: difficulties with friends or marital partners

Front 6

Protective factors

Back 6

influences that modify a person’s response to environmental stressors, making it less likely that the person will experience the adverse consequences of stressors.

-Not always positive, exposure to stressful situations that are dealt with success build self-esteem

Front 7

Developmental psychopathology

Back 7

determining what is abnormal at any point in development by comparing and contrasting it with the normal and expected changes that occur in the course of development

Front 8

Biopsychological view point

Back 8

that biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors all interact and play a role in psychopathology and treatment.

Front 9

Genotype-environment correlation

Back 9

genotype vulnerability that can shape a child’s environmental experiences.

ex: child and aggressive behavior

Front 10

Genotype-environment interactions

Back 10

differential sensitivity or susceptibility to their environments by people who have different genotypes

Front 11

Behavior genetics

Back 11

the field of study that focuses on the heritability of mental disorders

methods: family history method, twin method, concordance, adoption method

Front 12

psychosocial perspectives

Back 12

perspectives attempt to understand humans not as biological organisms but also as people with motives, desires, and perceptions.

- Humanistic perspective and the existential perspective

Front 13

Fundamentals of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory

Back 13

Id: source of instinctual drives, first structure in infancy.
• Two opposing factors: 1) life instincts which is libido-sexual drive 2) death instincts which are destructive drives
• The id operates on a pleasure principle- which is immediate gratification
• Primary process thinking: wish-full thinking and mental images

Ego: mediates between the demands of the id and the realities of the external world.
• Ex: toilet training, it is the ego that mediates the physical need of the body/id (going to the bathroom) and knowing a place and time to do it (dealing with the outside world)

Superego: when we develop our conscious, our inner control system that deals with the desires of the id.

Front 14

Oedipus and Electra complex

Back 14

the Oedipus complex is when a boy has sexual desires for his mother and the Electra complex is when a daughter has sexual desires for her father.

Front 15

Humanistic perspective

Back 15

focuses on the positive image of what it means to be human. Human nature is viewed as basically good, emphasis on peoples inherit capacity for responsible self-direction.

Front 16

Existential perspective

Back 16

is the quest for meanings and values, for freedom and self-fulfillment, but its takes a less optimistic view of human beings and places more focus on their irrational tendencies. Existential thinkers try to understand and deal with the deepest human problems.

Front 17

Behavioral perspective

Back 17

a viewpoint organized around the theme that learning is central in determining human behavior

Learning: the modification of behavior as a consequence of experience.

Classical conditioning:

Operant conditioning:
•Reinforcement:

Observational learning:

Front 18

Cognitive behavior perspective

Back 18

how thoughts and information processing can become distorted and lead to maladaptive emotions and behavior.

Internal reinforcement: when we human beings regulate behavior by internal symbolic processes—thoughts.
Self-efficiency: the belief that one can achieve desired goals
Schema:
Self-schema:

Front 19

attribution

Back 19

the process of assigning causes to things that happen.

Front 20

Early deprivation or trauma

Back 20

 Institutionalized: children in Romanian Orphanages lack physical contact and social stimulation at a young age and develop sever emotional, behavioral and leaning problems later on

 Neglect and abuse at home: physical abuse, lack of love, lack of interest in child’s activities, not spending time with them.
•Leading to aggressive children, depression, anxiety, leaning disabilities

 Separation: secure attachment, insecure attachment

Front 21

Parental styles

Back 21

 Authoritative: high on warmth and moderate on control—children friendly

 Authoritarian: low on warmth and high on control—children irritable

 Permissive/indulgent: high on warmth and low on control—aggressive

 Neglectful/uninvolved: low on warmth and control—low self-esteem, moody

Front 22

Marital discord and divorce

Back 22

 Marital discord: expose children to stressors such as abuse or neglect, effects of living with a parent with a mental disorder, spouse abuse.

 Divorce: for children—feel rejected and insecure, depression, anxiety

Front 23

The sociocultural viewpoint

Back 23

is concerned with the impact of culture and other features of the social environment on mental disorders

Front 24

Sociocultural causal factors

Back 24

 Low socioeconomic status and unemployment: lower the socioeconomic class the higher the incidence of mental and physical disorders. Urban places tend to have more low socioeconomic status, ghettos. Unemployment causes people to suffer (suicide).

 Prejudice and discrimination in race, gender, and ethnicity: perceived discrimination may serve as a stressor threatening low self-esteem, which may increase psychological distress.

 Social change and uncertainty:

 Urban stressors: violence and homelessness: 3.5 million people die worldwide from violence. Such violence and stress increase the risk of post traumatic stress syndrome.

 Impact of the sociocultural viewpoint: research has led to improving the social conditions that foster maladaptive behavior and mental disorder, and to help early detection, treatment, and long rang prevention of mental disorders.

Front 25

Factors predisposing a person to stress

Back 25

 No two people are faced with exactly the same patterned of stressors.

 Some people develop long term problems under stress while others don’t

 Different coping styles linked to genetic traits

 Stress tolerance: person’s ability to withstand stress without becoming seriously impaired.

Front 26

Characteristics of stress

Back 26

1) severity of the stressor 2) its chronicity 3) its timing 4) how closely it effects our own lives 5) how expected It is 6) how controllable.

Front 27

Cortisol

Back 27

glucocorticoid, released from the adrenal glands, fight or flight response

Front 28

Psychoneuroimmunology

Back 28

the study of the interaction between the nervous system and the immune system.

 Immunosupression: down-regulation of the immune system

Front 29

Leukocytes

Back 29

(white blood cells) are stored in bone marrow, two types of “white blood cells”, B cells, produces certain antibodies to fight off specific antigens (viruses, bacteria, cancer cells). The other is T cells, matures in the thymus.