Psychopathology: Theories of Behavior I

What does the biological perspective suggest about mental illness?

Mental illness is due to a disruption in brain function, specifically biochemical changes.

What does the cognitive perspective state about behavior?

Behavior is influenced by the way a person thinks, especially how they interpret information.

What are cognitive distortions?

Negative thought patterns that can lead to maladaptive behaviors.

Name 2 types of cognitive distortions.

Overgeneralization and Catastrophizing.

What is classical conditioning?

Learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response originally evoked by another stimulus.

What defines operant conditioning?

Learning that results from the consequences of acting on the environment.

What are the 2 types of reinforcement?

Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement.

How does Negative Reinforcement differ from Positive Punishment?

Negative reinforcement increases behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus, whereas positive punishment decreases behavior by adding an unpleasant stimulus.

What is the outcome of extinction in operant conditioning?

The gradual disappearance of a response because it is no longer reinforced.

What does the behavioral perspective primarily focus on?

Observable and measurable behaviors, rather than internal mental processes.

What is overgeneralization?

Making a negative global

statement based on a single event (e.g., a

woman thinks that all men are untrustworthy

after one man cheats)

Excessive Responsibility

Blaming oneself for

negative events that the person does not have

control over (e.g., blaming oneself for another

person’s shortcomings)

Arbitrary Inference

Making a conclusion

without sufficient and necessary evidence (e.g.,

concluding that a spouse is unfaithful because

of arriving home late)

Catastrophizing (magnifying)

Viewing a

situation as considerably worse than it is— it is

an excessive REACTION to a thought

Selective Abstraction (filtering):

Focusing on a

detail out of context while ignoring everything

else in the context (e.g., dwelling on the one

mistake made during a presentation and ignoring

the good parts)

Dichotomous (polarized) Thinking

Viewing

people, actions, and experiences in one of two

extreme categories (e.g., good-bad/all-none)

Unconditioned. Stimulus

The cue that elictis a natural response

Unconditioned Response

The natural response to unconditioned stimulus

Neutral stimulus

Stimulus that prior to conditioning did not produce a response

During learning

Neural stiumulus + Unconditioned stimulus (pair)

after learning

Conditioned stimulus leads to conditioned response

Stiumulus Generalisation

When CR is elicted by a stimuli similar to the CS, not just the CS

Stimulus Discrimination

When a CR is elicited by only the CS, not by something similar

Classical Extinction

Reversing classical conditioning.

The goal is to eliminate unwanted learned response by disassociating the CS and the US.