Abnormal Psychology / Chapter 2 Terms

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multidimensional integrative approach

Back 1

Approach to the study of psychopathology that holds psychological disorders are always the products of multiple interacting casual factors.

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genes

Back 2

Long deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule, the basic physical unit of heredity that appears as a location on a chromosome.

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diathesis-stress model

Back 3

Hypothesis that both an inherited tendency (a vulnerability) and specific stressful conditions are required to produce a disorder.

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vulnerability

Back 4

Susceptibility or tendency to develop a disorder.

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reciprocal gene-environment model

Back 5

Hypothesis that people with a genetic predisposition for a disorder may also have a genetic tendency to create environmental risk factors that promote the disorder.

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epigenetics

Back 6

The study of factors other than inherited DNA sequence, such as new learning or stress, that alter the phenotypic expression of genes.

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neuroscience

Back 7

Study of the nervous system and its role in behavior, thoughts, and emotions.

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neuron

Back 8

Individual nerve cell responsible for transmitting information.

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synaptic cleft

Back 9

Space between nerve cells where chemical transmitters act to move impulses from one neuron to the next.

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neurotransmitters

Back 10

Chemical that crosses the synaptic cleft between nerve cells to transmit impulses from one neuron to the next. Relative excess or deficiency of neurotransmitters is involved in several psychological disorders.

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hormone

Back 11

Chemical messenger produced by the endocrine glands.

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brain circuits

Back 12

Neurotransmitter current or neural pathway in the brain.

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agonist

Back 13

In neuroscience, a chemical substance that effectively increases the activity of a neurotransmitter by imitating its effects.

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antagonist

Back 14

In neuroscience, a chemical substance that decreases or blocks the effects of a neurotransmitter.

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inverse agonist

Back 15

In neuroscience, a chemical substance that produces effects opposite those of a particular neurotransmitter.

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reuptake

Back 16

Action by which a neurotransmitter is quickly drawn back into the discharging neuron after being released into a synaptic cleft.

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glutamate

Back 17

Amino acid neurotransmitter that excites many different neurons, leading to action.

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gamma-aminobutyric (GABA)

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Neurotransmitter that reduces activity across the synaptic cleft and thus inhibits a range of behaviors and emotions, especially generalized anxiety.

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serotonin

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Neurotransmitter involved in processing of information and coordination of movement, as well as inhibition and restraint. It also assists in the regulation of eating, sexual and aggressive behaviors, all of which may be involved in different psychological disorders. Its interaction with dopamine is implicated in schizophrenia.

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norepinephrine

Back 20

Neurotransmitter active in the central and peripheral nervous systems, controlling heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration, among other functions. Because of its role in the body's alarm reaction, it may also contribute generally and indirectly to panic attacks and other disorders.

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dopamine

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Neurotransmitter whose generalized function is to activate other neurotransmitters and to aid in exploratory and pleasure-seeking behaviors (thus balancing serotonin). A relative excess of dopamine is implicated in schizophrenia (although contradictory evidence suggests the connection is not simple), and irs deficit is involved in Parkinson's disease.

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cognitive science

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Field of study that examines how humans and other animals acquire, process, store, and retrieve information.

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learned helplessness

Back 23

Martin Seligman's theory that people become anxious and depressed when they make an attribution that they have no control over the stress in their lives (whether or not they actually have control).

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modeling

Back 24

Learning through observation and imitation of the behavior of other individuals and consequences of that behavior.

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prepared learning

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Ability to adaptive for evolution, allowing certain associations to be learned more readily than others.

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implicit memory

Back 26

Condition of memory in which a person cannot recall past events despite acting in response to them.

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flight or fight response

Back 27

Biological reaction to alarming stressors that musters the body's resources (for example, blood flow and respiration) to resist or flee a threat.

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emotion

Back 28

Pattern of action elicited by an external event and a feeling state, accompanied by a characteristic physiological response.

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mood

Back 29

Enduring period of emotionality.

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affect

Back 30

Conscious, subjective aspect of an emotion that accompanies an action at a given time.

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equifinality

Back 31

Developmental psychopathology principle that a behavior or disorder may have several causes.