Unit 12 + 13: Clinical and Social Psychology

What is psychotherapy and why do people choose it?

Psychotherapy refers to the treatment of mental health problems by talking with a psychiatrist or psychologist

People choose psychotherapy because it offers hope, a new perspective, and a supportive relationship. It treats mental health through talking and can happen in counseling, clinical, or group settings. A strong therapeutic alliance (trust between client and therapist) is key. It’s influenced by psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioral, and cognitive perspectives and is an evidence based practice—meaning that it combines:

• The best research – proven scientific studies that show what kinds of therapy actually help people.

• The clinician’s expertise – the therapist's own experience, training, and judgment.

• The patient’s characteristics – each person’s unique needs, background, personality, and preferences

When it comes to psychotherapy’s historical content, who played a major role?

Sigmund Freud

• Freud’s psychodynamic therapy and psychoanalysis techniques set the original standard of psychotherapy—it introduced how talking about your thoughts, memories, and dreams could reveal unconscious conflicts and help relieve mental distress.

• Freud believed he could provide self-insight (gaining a deeper understanding of your hidden thoughts, motivations, and inner conflicts) by bringing anxiety-laden thoughts into a conscious awareness

• Psychoanalysis helped one to understand the themes/patterns that run through past and current relationships.

• Key Words in Psychoanalysis:

  • resistance: the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material.

  • interpretation: the analyst's noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in order to promote insight.

  • transference: the patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent).

Carl Rogers

• Founder of client/person-centered therapy, which focuses on a person's potential for growth by using active listening within a genuine environment.

• Rogers popularized a growth-fostering technique that focused on unconditional positive regard (accepting someone without judgment, no matter what they say or do).

• Used insight therapy: a technique that helps clients become more aware of their thoughts and feelings so they can make better life choices.

What is eclectic therapy?

ET is a flexible and multifaceted approach that uses different therapy styles and techniques in order to find what fits a client’s specific needs.

Examples of Eclectic Therapy: play therapy, service animals, hypnosis, mindfulness, and desensitization (gradually exposing someone to something they fear)

What type of therapy is considered the gold standard and what are it’s different components?

Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT)—because it helps clients learn and practice new ways of thinking and behaving. Through active listening and open dialogue, CBT helps individuals replace self-defeating thinking with more positive, constructive thoughts. Rather than dwelling on past experiences, the focus remains on present issues, helping clients improve how they feel and act in their daily lives.

The Cognitive Component:

• Cognitive therapies—teaches people a new way of thinking, believing that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions

• Rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT)—helps clients confront irrational beliefs and replace them with rational ones.

• Example: A person afraid of failing learns that one mistake doesn’t define their worth.

The Behavioral Component

• Behavior therapies—use learning principles to change negative behaviors.

• Counterconditioning—uses classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering negative behaviors, techniques include:

  1. Exposure therapy - desensitization to perceived threats

     1. general ex. Someone afraid of dogs gradually interacts with friendly dogs.

     2. Systematic Desensitization - associates pleasant/relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli, used to treat phobias

     3. Virtual Reality Exposure therapy - anxiety treatment that exposes people to electronic stimulations (vr) of their greatest fears

  2. Aversive conditioning - using counterconditioning to create new responses to old stimuli

     1. ex. A person trying to quit smoking associates the taste with something unpleasant.

  3. Token economies - rewarding new desired behavior (operant conditioning)

     1. ex. A student earns tokens for good behavior that they can exchange for a reward.

Alongside CBT, what are some other types of psychotherapy that are effective?

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

1. Teaches patients how to accept that their behaviors and experiences are valid and focuses on changing harmful behaviors to positive one

2. Designed to change the way a patients brain reacts to stress

Holistic Therapy

1. It uses more than one type of therapy

2. Therapists take a well- rounded approach, focusing on all areas of one life, to meet all of their needs

   1. Sessions may focus on diet, sleep, spirituality, relationships, and exercise 

Group Therapy

1. therapy conducted in groups, allowing for interaction and benefits

Family Therapy

1. treats family as a system, meaning it views an individual's unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members

What Is Biomedical Therapy, its relation with psychotherapy and psychiatry, and what are it’s techniques/treatments?

Definition and use:

• Biomedical Therapy: Uses medications or procedures that directly affect a patient’s physiology (brain and body) to treat psychological disorders.

• Often combined with psychotherapy to ease symptoms of treatment outcomes.

• Psychiatry: A medical field focused on diagnosing, preventing, and treating mental disorders.

Main Techniques/Treatments in Biomedical Therapy

1. Psychopharmacology

   • The study of the effects of drugs/medications for mental disorders on mind and behavior:

     • Antipsychotic Drugs: Treat schizophrenia, mania, and delusions by blocking dopamine receptors.

     • Antianxiety Drugs: Calm the central nervous systems to treat anxiety related disorders.

     • Antidepressants: Boost the reuptake of serotonin/norepinephrine to treat depression/anxiety disorders.

     • Anti-Cycling Drugs: Stabilize mood swings and limited overstimulation to treat bipolar disorders.

2. Non-Invasive Treatments

   • the use of visual or auditory stimulation to treat mental disorders without altering brain structure:

     • Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR): Eye stimulation during REM sleep to reduce trauma symptoms.

     • Light Exposure Therapy: Treats seasonal depression by activating arousal-related brain areas.

3. Invasive Treatments

   • the use of electricity, magnetism, or psychosurgery to treat mental disorders causing impact on brain functions or structure:

     • Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): Sends small electric currents through the brain to treat severe depression.

     • Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS): Uses magnetic pulses to calm overactive brain areas (can be used to suppress or stimulate brain activity).

     • Psychosurgery: Last-resort removal or destruction of brain tissue in hopes of modifying behavior (e.g., lobotomy).

What do Regression Toward the Mean and Meta-Analysis reveal about psychological studies?

• Regression Toward the Mean:
  The tendency for extreme or unusual scores or events to fall back (regress) toward the average over time.
  Example: If a student scores unusually high on one test, their next score may be closer to their average.

• Meta-Analysis:
  A statistical method that combines the results of many different studies on the same topic to identify overall trends.
  Example: A meta-analysis of therapy studies may show that cognitive-behavioral therapy is generally effective across disorders.

What is social psychology and what are its key themes?

• Social psychology is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another.

• It combines elements of anthropology (the study of human societies and cultures) and sociology (the study of social behavior, institutions, and relationships).

• FF: Several of psychology’s most controversial experiments involve social-cultural concepts 

• Key themes:

  • Social Thinking: How we think about others, especially when they do things that are unexpected.

    • Example: Judging someone’s intent based on their tone of voice.

  • Social Influence: How others affect our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.

    • Example: Changing your opinion to match your friends’.

  • Social Relations: how people divide themselves into groups.

    • Example: Acting differently in a team versus when alone.

  • Social Norms: How culture influences actions and beliefs.

    • Example: prioritizing being polite due to cultural expectations.

What is attribution theory and what are fundamental attribution errors?

• Attribution Theory: Explains how we determine the causes of others' behavior.

  • Dispositional Attribution: Behavior is due to personality ("he’s just rude").

  • Situational Attribution: Behavior is due to environment ("he’s having a bad day").

  • Example: Assuming someone who is quiet in class is unfriendly (dispositional), when they may just be tired (situational).

• Fundamental Attribution Error: Overestimating personality and underestimating the situation when judging others. **FF: People emphasize dispositional over situational behavior in others but not in ourselves (ex. they are lazy vs I am busy)

  • Self-Serving Bias: Credit ourselves for success and blame environment for failure.

  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: our expectations about others influences how we treat them thus affecting how they treat us

What role does exposure play in shaping our social interactions?

• Familiarity Principle: We prefer things we are exposed to regularly.

  • Example: Choosing a familiar restaurant over a new one.

• Mere-Exposure Effect: The more we see someone, the more we tend to like and empathize with them.

  • Example: Sitting next to the same person in class makes you more likely to befriend them.

• Reciprocity Principle: We are more likely to interact with people who we believe will return our interest.

  • Example: Being kind to someone who smiles at you regularly.

What are the different ways persuasion works in social psychology?

• Central Route: Focuses on facts, evidence, and logical reasoning.

  • Example: A political ad showing data and statistics to earn your vote.

• Peripheral Route: Relies on emotions and surface-level cues.

  • Example: A celebrity endorsing a product.

• Persuasion Techniques:

  • Foot in the Door: Agreeing to a small request makes you more likely to agree to a larger one. (asking for something small to get something bigger)

    • Example: Signing a petition, then donating money.

  • Door in the Face: Refusing a large request increases the chances of agreeing to a smaller one. (asking for something big to get something small)

    • Example: Being asked for $100, then being convinced to give $10 instead.

How do group dynamics and social settings influence individual behavior and performance?

Behavior:

• Automatic Mimicry (Chameleon Effect): We unconsciously imitate others' behaviors in social settings.

  • Example: Yawning after someone else yawns or mimicking a friend’s gestures.

• Our mood aligns with the group’s mood; we tend to absorb the prevailing emotional tone.

• Cognitive Dissonance: Discomfort from acting against our beliefs; people adjust beliefs to ease discomfort.

  • Example: Liking a group activity you once disliked to feel more at ease.

• Group Norms: Informal/formal expectations that guide behavior within a group.

  • Example: Wearing formal clothes to a job interview.

• Deindividuation: Losing self-awareness in a group setting, especially when anonymous.

  • Example: Shouting in a protest crowd.

• Group Polarization: the tendency for group discussions to lead individuals to adopt more extreme opinions than they held before the discussion.

• Groupthink: Desire for harmony overrides realistic decision-making.

Performance:

• Social Facilitation: Presence of others boosts performance on well-learned tasks.

  • Example: Running faster in a race with others.

• Social Impairment: Performance worsens on tasks that are not well-practiced.

  • Example: Messing up a piano piece in front of an audience.

• Social Loafing: Individuals exert less effort in group tasks.

  • Example: Not trying as hard in a group project because others will contribute.

What did major social psychology experiments teach about conformity, obedience, and compliance?

A. Conformity 

1. Asch Conformity Experiment: People conform to group opinions even when they are clearly wrong.

2. Conclusions: both normative (to fit in) and informational (accepting other’s opinion is reality/correct) social influence can create conformity when…

   1. We feel incompetent or insecure

   2. Everyone in our group all agrees

   3. We admire the group’s status

   4. We are not committed to another response

B. Obedience 

1. Milgram Experiment: People followed orders to harm others when authority was present.

2. Conclusions: obedience is highest when…

   1. Research is supported by a prestigious institution

   2. An authority figure is nearby

   3. The victim was depersonalized or at a distance

   4. There were no role models for defiance

C. Compliance

1. Stanford Prison Experiment: will modify their behavior to match assigned roles

2. Conclusions: our behavior in stressful situations…

   1. Is not necessarily a true indicator of our real personality

   2. Is based of a collection of expectations that accompany a particular social position 

What is prejudice, ethnocentrism, and their components?

• Prejudice: Unjustifiable negative attitude toward a group.

  • Components:

    • Beliefs (stereotypes)

    • Emotions (hostility or fear)

    • Predisposition to act (discrimination)

  • While explicit prejudice (Conscious and visible) is frowned upon implicit prejudice (Unconscious and automatic) often goes unnoticed

• Ethnocentrism: We favor our own group (ingroup bias) as we divide ourselves into “us” (ingroup) and “them” (outgroup)

  • Example: Thinking your culture’s way of life is superior.

• Just-World Phenomenon: Belief that people get what they deserve

  • Higher-status groups often use to justify their privileged position

    • Example: Blaming poverty on laziness

• Scapegoating: Blaming others to justify group superiority

  • Example: Blaming immigrants for job loss

How does bias shape our desire to help others?

A. The Bystander Effect

1. We help others when it's in our own self-interest

2. Social Responsibility Norm and Reciprocity- societal rules dictate that we should help others because we many need help in the future

3. We are least likely to help if other bystanders are present

B. Altruism 

1. An unselfish regard for the well-being of others (helping people just to help them)

2. Problem: social exchange theory: The goal of social behavior is maximizing personal benefits and minimizing costs

3. We are most likely to help when we…

   1. Interpret it as an emergency

   2. Assume responsibility for helping 

   3. Our similarity to the victim

What factors trigger aggression?

A. Nature

1. Biological influences include genetics and higher levels of the monoamine oxidase (the warrior gene)

2. Evolution argues that aggression can be a positive trait that is attributed to leadership

3. Brain trauma due to injury or heavy drug use can trigger overly aggressive behavior

B. Nurture

1. Frustration Aggression Principle- feeling frustrated, or having one's goals blocked, often leads to aggressive behavior

2. Parenting techniques such as corporal punishment can trigger more aggressive behaviors 

3. Social influences include observing violent TV, video games, and pornography

What are cultural norms and social script?

Social Script: Culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations

• Culture: Shared beliefs, behaviors, and values

• People often find their cultural normal (ethnocentrism) and foreign ones strange (culture shock)

• Subcultures: Smaller cultural groups within a society

Norms vs Taboos:

• Norms: prosocial behaviors

  • Examples: Marriage, language, kinship/family

• Taboos: Forbidden or antisocial behaviors

  • Examples: Incest, theft, murder

Cultural Beliefs:

• Relativism: All cultures are valid if functional

  • Relativists argue that it's wrong to impose one’s beliefs on another culture

• Universalism: believe that there are fundamental rights that should be protected regardless of the culture (like human rights)

• Tradition vs Modernity: Younger people embrace change; older generations prefer traditions

How do societal rules shape personal beliefs and love?

• Belief Systems:

  • Religion/spirituality shape norms and control behavior

  • Spiritual beliefs are shaped by the ingroup (a social group with which an individual identifies) who dictates the norms and taboos as a means of control (diet, sexual relations, and fashion)

  • Fear of death/misfortune strengthens faith and belonging

• Love:

  • Biological: Oxytocin (love hormone), reproduction drive

  • Cognitive: Attraction, similarity, self-disclosure (revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others), reciprocity

  • Social: Romantic vs contractual marriage

  • Stages: Passionate love (beginning of relationship, an aroused/intense state) to companionate love (deep affection and equity, which is a condition in which people receive what they give in a relationship)

  • Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love: love consists of…

    • Intimacy

    • Passion

    • Commitment

What is the other-race effect/cross-race effect/own-race bias?

the tendency to recall faces of your own race more accurately than faces of other races

What social aspects are related to conflict?

Social Trap: A situation where individuals, groups, or even entire societies act in ways that seem beneficial in the short term but lead to negative long-term consequences for everyone involved

Mirror-Image Perceptions: mutual view in conflicting people, where they see themselves as peaceful and view the other as evil and aggressive

Superordinate Goals: Shared goals that override differences among people and require cooperation

GRIT: Graduated and reciprocated initiatives in tension-reduction, a strategy designed to decrease International tensions. It involves a party taking a series of small steps, and then inviting the other party to reciprocate these steps, hoping to create a positive cycle of cooperation and mutual trust. This approach is particularly useful when there's a history of conflict