PSY 366 - Chapter 1 - Exam 1

what constitutes a psychological disorder?

4 D’s: deviance, distress, dysfunction, dangerousness

deviance (4 D’s)

different, extreme, unusual, bizarre

distress (4 D’s)

unpleasant and upsetting to the person

dysfunction (4 D’s)

interfering with the person’s ability to conduct daily activities in a constructive way

cultural relativism

the idea that different cultures have their own values and standards; values and standards should be understood within the culture

thomas szasz

psychiatrist who argued that medicine is an institution of social control that cloaks values and politics

positive psychology

the study and enhancement of positive feelings, traits, and group directed virtues (happiness, optimism, hard work, altruism)

development of prevention programs

identify risk factors, select theoretical framework, design interventions based off of evidence based practices

focus of intervention programs

prevent disorders before they occur

primary prevention

efforts to improve community attitudes and policies, goal is to prevent disorders altogether (universal prevention), community workers may consult with a school board, public workshops

secondary prevention

Identifying and treating psychological problems in the early stages before they become serious, Community workers may work with teachers, ministers, or police to help them recognize the early signs of psychological dysfunction and teach them how to help people find treatment

tertiary prevention

Provide effective treatment to specific people who have already developed moderate or severe disorders so that these disorders do not become long term problems 

community treatment

allows clients to receive treatment in a familiar setting, day programs

prevalence

The total number of cases of a disorder occurring in a population over a specific period of time 

incidence

The number of new cases of a disorder occurring in a population over a specific period of time 

difference between prevalence and incidence

prevalence: total cases

incidence: new cases

national comorbidity survey

Large scale & nationally representative survey that aims to assess prevalence, risk factors, and consequence of mental disorders within the general population 

median age of onset psychological disorders

18

% of patients that receive treatment

50.6%

median delay in treatment

11 years

% of patients who receive treatment from specialists

46%

case study

detailed account of a person’s life and psychological problems

strengths of case studies

source of new ideas about behavior, shows values of new therapeutic techniques, offer opportunities to study unusual problems that don’t occur often enough to permit a large number of observations

weaknesses of case studies

Reported by biased observers, Relies on subjective evidence, Provides little basis for generalization

correlational method

Research procedure used to determine how much events or characteristics vary along with each other 

why is it essential to conduct research in the treatment of disorders?

provide the most optimal care

how was confirmation bias exhibited by those in the frontline video?

Once they saw the experiment that proved that facilitated communication is false and not real, a lot of people said that the experiment itself was flawed 

skepticism

the process of subjecting claims to scientific scrutiny

internal validity

how certain are you that there isn’t another explanation for a phenomenon?

confounds

variable other than the independent variable that is also acting on the dependent variable

control groups

research participants who are not exposed to the independent variable

why do experimenters use control groups?

experimenter can better determine the effect of the independent variable

why do experimenters use random assignment?

to reduce the effects of preexisting differences between groups

why do experimenters use masked designs?

to avoid participant bias

types of control groups

placebo groups, no treatment groups

strongest/most rigorous control group? why?

placebo group; allows for the most rigorous assessment of a treatment’s efficacy

clinical significance

does the treatment have a real, noticeable difference on the patient’s day to day functioning?

quasi experimental designs

doesn’t include key elements of a pure experiment and/or intermixes elements of both experimental and correlational studies

matched designs

Matches experimental participants with control participants who are similar in key characteristics 

natural experiments

quasi experiment, nature manipulates an independent variable while the experimenter observes the effects; used to study psychological effects of unusual and unpredictable events

analog experiments

manipulating a situation or behavior in a lab setting, then conducts experiments on participants

epidemiological studies

measures incidence and prevalence of a disorder in a population