Psych 105 UofA Final review

Psychological Disorders

A persistent disturbance or dysfunction in behavior, thoughts, or emotions that causes significant distress or impairment.

DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)

A classification system that describes symptoms used to diagnose recognized psychological disorders and distinguishes these disorders from similar problems.

The Medical Model

An approach that conceptualizes abnormal psychological experiences as illnesses with biological and environmental causes, defined symptoms, and possible cures.

Bipolar Disorder

Characterized by cycles of abnormal, persistent high mood (mania) and low mood (depression).

Phobic Disorders

Characterized by marked, persistent, and excessive fear and avoidance of specific objects, activities, or situations.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Chronic excessive worry accompanied by three or more symptoms such as restlessness, fatigue, and sleep disturbance.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Characterized by repetitive intrusive thoughts and ritualistic behaviors that interfere with an individual's functioning.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Characterized by chronic physiological arousal, recurrent unwanted thoughts of the trauma, and avoidance of reminders of the traumatic event.

Causation of Disorders

The biopsychosocial perspective considers biological, psychological, and social factors in the causation of psychological disorders.

Cultural Syndromes

Groups of symptoms clustered together in specific cultures, affecting how disorders are experienced, assessed, and treated.

Diathesis-Stress Model

Suggests a person may be predisposed to a psychological disorder that remains unexpressed until triggered by stress.

Mood Disorders

Mental disorders that have mood disturbances as their predominant feature, primarily including depression and bipolar disorder.

Major Depressive Disorder

Characterized by a severely depressed mood and/or inability to experience pleasure lasting at least 2 weeks, alongside feelings of worthlessness and sleep disturbances.

Preparedness Theory

The idea that we are predisposed to certain fears based on evolutionary factors.

Social Phobia

Irrational fear of being publicly humiliated or embarrassed, with an onset typically in adolescence to early adulthood.

Rosenhan Study (1973)

Study in which eight pseudopatients admitted themselves to mental hospitals claiming to hear voices; average stay was 19 days.

Emotional Symptoms of Depression

Include sadness, hopelessness, and the inability to enjoy activities.

Cognitive Symptoms of Depression

Include negative cognitions, feelings of misery, and hopelessness about oneself, the world, and the future.

Motivational Symptoms of Depression

Include loss of interest, lack of drive, and difficulty starting activities.

Schizophrenia

A psychotic disorder characterized by profound disruption of basic psychological processes; includes distorted perception of reality, altered emotions, and disturbances in thought.

Positive symptoms of Schizophrenia

Hallucinations and delusions experienced by individuals with schizophrenia.

Negative symptoms of Schizophrenia

Emotional and social withdrawal, apathy, poverty of speech, and blunted or flat affect.

Disorganized symptoms

Symptoms including disorganized speech, grossly disorganized behavior, and catatonic behavior seen in schizophrenia.

Cognitive symptoms of Schizophrenia

Deficits in cognitive abilities, specifically executive functioning, attention, and working memory.

Personality Disorders

Enduring patterns of thinking, feeling, or relating to others that cause distress or impaired functioning, typically beginning in adolescence or early adulthood.

Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD)

A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, characterized by illegal behavior, deception, impulsivity, physical aggression, and lack of remorse.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

Attention-seeking behaviors characterized by theatrical, overly dramatic, and flirtatious actions, often with radical emotional shifts.

Gender differences in psychological disorders

Women report anxiety disorders and depression at twice the rate of men, while men report antisocial personality disorder at three to four times the rate of women.

Cognitive deficits

Deficits in cognitive functioning that may be seen in individuals with schizophrenia, affecting executive functioning and working memory.

Delusions

Fixed false beliefs not grounded in reality, often associated with schizophrenia.

Hallucinations

Sensory experiences that occur without an external stimulus, commonly seen in schizophrenia.

Executive functioning

Higher-order cognitive processes that enable goal-oriented behavior, which can be impaired in various psychological disorders.

Cognitive-behavioral model

A psychological framework that focuses on the interconnections between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

Social withdrawal

A key feature of negative symptoms in schizophrenia, where individuals isolate themselves from social interactions.

Apathy

Lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern; often observed as a negative symptom in schizophrenia.

Familial factors in mental disorders

Influences from family environment and genetics that may contribute to the development of mental health disorders.

Magical thinking

Beliefs in phenomena that are not grounded in reality, often featured in Schizotypal personality disorder.

Developmental Psychology

The field focusing on the continuity and changes across the lifespan, addressing stages such as prenatal, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

Teratogens

Environmental agents that can harm prenatal development, such as alcohol and tobacco.

Habituation

A basic form of learning in which an organism decreases or ceases its response to a stimulus after repeated presentations.

Cognitive Development

The progression of thinking and understanding as infants grow into childhood, highlighted by stage models.

Piaget's Theory

A theory asserting that children’s thinking changes qualitatively with age, involving stages of cognitive development.

Schema

Mental frameworks or structures used to organize and interpret information.

Object permanence

The understanding, typically developing around 8-12 months, that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen.

Theory of Mind

The ability to understand that others have beliefs, desires, and intentions that are different from one’s own.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

The range of tasks that a child can perform with the help of a more competent individual, indicating the potential for learning.

Scaffolding

Support provided by experts to guide a novice in their learning process.

Secure Attachment

A healthy attachment style characterized by trust and a positive sense of self in relationships.

Strange Situation Test

A laboratory procedure developed by Mary Ainsworth to assess infant attachment styles.

Authoritative Parenting

A parenting style characterized by high warmth and high control, associated with positive outcomes for children.

Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development

A theory proposing a sequence of moral reasoning that progresses from self-interest to universal ethical principles.

Gender Identity

A sense of being male or female that becomes a significant part of personal identity.

Socialization

The process through which individuals acquire the beliefs, values, and behaviors of their culture.

Adolescence

The developmental stage between the onset of sexual maturity and the beginning of adulthood, characterized by various physical and psychological changes.

Psychosocial Development

Erik Erikson's model outlining conflicts experienced at different lifespan stages, affecting personal identity and interactions.

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

The theory suggesting that as people age, they prioritize emotionally meaningful relationships and experiences.

Animal Behaviour

Study of nonhuman species in natural or laboratory environments; includes genetics, brain processes, social behaviour, evolutionary processes.

Cognitive Psychology

Study of mental processes such as memory, problem solving, consciousness, and language.

Clinical Psychology

Diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders; research on causes of disorders and treatment effectiveness.

Developmental Psychology

Study of physical, mental, emotional, and social development across the entire lifespan.

Social Psychology

Examination of how the social environment influences an individual's behaviour, thoughts, and feelings.

Cognitive Neuroscience

Examination of brain and hormonal processes that underlie cognition and behaviour.

Behaviorism

Focus on observable behavior and principles of reinforcement.

Cultural Psychology

Study of cultural transmission and psychological similarities and differences among people from different cultures.

Free Will and Determinism

Philosophical concepts relating to human agency and the extent to which behavior is controlled by external factors.

Structuralism

An early approach in psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the mind.

Functionalism

An early approach that emphasized the purpose of mental processes in adapting to the environment.

Cognitive Revolution

A movement in the late 1900s that redefined psychology to focus on the role of mental processes.

Neuroscience

The scientific study of the nervous system, impacting the understanding of behavior and cognitive functions.

Personality

Consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that a person exhibits.

Trait Approach

A method of personality assessment that focuses on identifying and measuring individual traits.

The Big Five

A dominant model in personality psychology that includes Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.

Psychodynamic Approach

A theory of personality development focusing on the interplay of inner forces, developed by Sigmund Freud.

Id

The primitive and unconscious part of the personality that contains instincts and operates on the pleasure principle.

Ego

The part of the personality that mediates between the id, superego, and reality, operating on the reality principle.

Superego

The moral part of the personality that internalizes societal standards and serves as one's conscience.

Defense Mechanisms

Psychological strategies used by the ego to protect itself from anxiety arising from inner conflicts.

Flow

A state of complete absorption in an activity, leading to a sense of fulfillment and potential realization.

Terror Management Theory

The idea that humans create cultural worldviews and self-esteem to cope with the awareness of mortality.

Self-actualization

The realization or fulfillment of one's talents and potential, regarded as a primary drive in humans.

Expectancies

Anticipated outcomes that inform how individuals approach goals and behaviors.

Self-efficacy

Belief in one's ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task.

Sociometer Theory

A theory suggesting that self-esteem acts as a gauge of social acceptance.

Self-serving Bias

A cognitive thought that favors one's own group and attributes successes to internal factors, while blaming failures on external factors.

Conditions of Worth

Conditions imposed on us by others, determining our self-approval based on meeting those expectations.

Projective Tests

Psychological tests that use ambiguous stimuli to evoke responses that may reveal aspects of an individual's personality.

Cohesive Individual Differences

Distinct variations in personality traits and behavior among individuals that contribute to their uniqueness.

Internal vs. External Locus of Control

The belief about the extent to which individuals can control events affecting them; internal locus signifies personal control, while external locus signifies influence by outside forces.

Behavioral Assessment

A method of evaluating personality through direct observation of a person's behavior in specific situations.

What is Intelligence?

This term refers to the ability to learn, understand, and apply knowledge, but its definition varies culturally and may represent a singular ability or multiple skills.

Spearman’s g

This is a theory that posits a general intelligence factor () exists, which is the underlying ability responsible for performance across various cognitive tasks.

What does g predict?

The academic achievement, pay, perceptual performance, self-control, and hiring and job performance.

Thurstone's Primary Mental Abilities

This theory included space, verbal comprehension, word fluency, numerical ability, perceptual speed, rote memory, and reasoning.

Cattell and Horn's Intelligence Model

These theorists divided g into fluid intelligence (problem-solving and adaptability) and crystallized intelligence (knowledge and skills acquired through experience).

Fluid Intelligence

This form of intelligence refers to the capacity to think logically and solve problems in novel situations, independent of prior knowledge or experience.

Crystallized Intelligence

This form intelligence relates to the ability to utilize knowledge gained from past experiences, and it typically increases with age.

Sternberg’s Triarchic Model of Intelligence

This theorist proposed three forms of intelligence: analytical (problem-solving), practical (real-world skills), and creative (innovation and imagination).

Gardner's Multiple Intelligences

This theorist suggests there are multiple intelligences beyond traditional IQ, including verbal, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist, and existential intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence

This form of intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others, impacting personal and professional success.

Wechsler tests

These tests, including WAIS and WISC, are popular intelligence assessments that consist of various subtests measuring verbal and non-verbal skills, producing an overall IQ score.