PSYAO2: Final Exam

Social Psychology

Study of the causes and consequences of being social

Main aspects of social psych

• Cooperation and competition

• Group behaviour

• Altruism

• Reproduction/romantic relationships

What is animals’ social behaviour governed by?

Scarcity of resources

Social loafing

Individuals put in less effort working in a group compared to when working on their own

Group Cognition

Tend to have positive bias to group members—even as babies

Implicit Bias

In/out group bias we’re not aware of

IAT

Implicit Association Test

• Measures biases we can’t report ourselves

Risks of Group Cognition

• Group polarization

• Diffusion of responsibility

• Groupthink

• Common knowledge effect

Group Polarization

Groups can sometimes make decisions that are more extreme than any member would have made alone

Common Knowledge Effect

Group discussions sometimes revolve around information that everyone shares

Groupthink

Groups can sometimes reach consensus too easily

Diffusion of Responsibility

Individuals feel less responsibility for their actions when surrounded by others acting the same way

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

Animals are aggressive when their desires are frustrated. Often due to scarcity of resources

Individual Differences in Aggression

Biological factors: genetics, sex, testosterone levels

Environmental factors: culture, societal expectations

Testosterone and Aggression

Decreases individuals’ threat assessments when in danger

People with more of it may be less afraid of retaliation (why men are usually more aggressive than women)

Altruism

Kinship selection: being "altruistic" to individuals related to you, increasing chances that one’s genetic material will be passed on

Reciprocation: being "altruistic" with the expectation that the favour will be returned

Physical Attraction

Most powerful factor at first

• Beauty is universally beneficial, but beauty standards differ across cultures

Walster 1966

• Measured university students’ perceptions of potential sexual partners

• Physical attraction was the only attribute that accurately predicted attraction

Situational Attraction

We try hard to like the people that we are around, because we have to live with them.

Spending time with someone may make you more attracted to them.

Psychological Attraction

We are more attracted to people who are similar to us

• Level of education

• Religion

• Socioeconomic status

• Personality

Social Influence

We all attempt to influence others

Hedonic motivation

Attraction to pleasure and aversion to pain

• Can backfire if the desired behaviour is already intrinsically motivated, cause loss of interest

Approval motivation

To have others like us and approve of us

• Normative influence: often causes us to conform to the behaviour of others

Asch’s Conformity Study

• Participants didn’t know the seven other “participants” in the room were research assistants

• Everyone answered correctly for the first two trials, the real participant went last for the third and all the other participants answered the question incorrectly

• 75% of Asch’s participants answered incorrectly, even though they clearly knew the correct answers

Mental Disorder

Constant disturbance/dysfunction in behaviour, thoughts, or emotions that causes significant distress or impairment

Medical Model

Atypical, distressing psych experiences are considered illnesses with biological causes

Biopsychosocial Model

Atypical, distressing psych experiences are considered illnesses with biological, psychological, and social causes

Psychopathology

Scientific study of mental disorders

Overpathologizing

Attributing diverse/atypical behaviours or thoughts to psychological illness, especially when diagnostic criteria are not met

DSM-5

• Uses biopsychosocial model

• Includes information about each disorder that it classifies

Onset

Age or situational period when the symptoms of a disorder first appear

Prognosis

The likely course (trajectory, development) of a disorder

Risk Factors

Set of biological, psychological, and social characteristics that increase the likelihood of having the disorder

Etiology

Biological, psychological, and/or social causes of a disorder

Diathesis-Stress Model

Risk for a disorder combines with life circumstances, leading to the disorder

Comorbidities

Other psychological or physical disorders that frequently co-occur with the disorder in question

DSM-5 Criticisms

• Can lead to overpathologizing

• System is too black and white

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Where worries aren’t focused on a specific threat

Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Criteria

1. Excessive worry for at least 6 months

2. Individual finds it hard to control the worry

3. Three or more of these symptoms:

   1. Restlessness, fatigue

   2. Concentration deficiency

   3. Irritability

   4. Muscle tension

   5. Sleep disturbance

4. Causes significant distress/affects functioning

Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Onset

• Median age for diagnosis is age 30, but symptoms can appear in adolescence

Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Prognosis

Severity of symptoms waxes and wanes across the lifespan, full remission rare

Phobic Disorders

More specific type of anxiety disorder

Social Anxiety Disorder

Maladaptive fear of being publicly humiliated or embarrassed

Preparedness Theory

We may be evolutionarily adapted to fear certain types of stimulus

Mood Disorders

• Depressive disorders

• Bipolar disorders

Depressive Disorders

Affect a lot of ppl, more women than men are diagnosed, most well-known type is major depressive disorder (or unipolar depression)

Major Depressive Disorder

What disorder consists of one or more episodes of depression lasting two weeks or longer

Major Depressive Disorder: Onset

Any age, but more likely 18-29 year-old range

Major Depressive Disorder: Prognosis

Remission without treatment is rare

Approximately 80% of ppl begin to recover within 1 year

Some may have many years of remission between episodes

Major Depressive Disorder: Risk Factors

Temperamental

Environmental

Genetic

Major Depressive Disorders: Comorbidity

Substance-related disorders, panic disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anorexia nervosa, can occur alongside MDD

Major Depressive Disorder: Psych Factors

Theorists argue that it is the way we think about events/stimuli that is associated with depression, rather than the events themselves

Attribution Theory

The way a person thinks about failure makes her more or less likely to be depressed

Persistent Depressive Disorder

Moderate depressive symptoms that last for more than two years

Double Depression

When persistent depressive disorder and major depressive disorders co-occur

Psychiatrist

Medical doctor, can diagnose, prescribe, and practice psychotherapy

Psychologist

Can diagnose and practice psychotherapy, can’t prescribe medicine

Clinical Counsellor and Social Worker

Can practice psychotherapy, can’t diagnose

Barred Access to Treatment

People don’t realize they have a disorder

Personal beliefs prevent them from seeking treatment

Structural barriers

Psychodynamic Theory

Rooted in Freud’s psychoanalysis

• Childhood events, dream analysis, subconscious thoughts and urges, projective techniques

Belief that psychological problems come from:

• Ineffectively repressing urges (often starting in childhood) fixations

• Problematic use of defense mechanisms

• Conflict between parts of the dynamic subconscious

Interpersonal Psychotherapy

Focus on:

• Attachment, grief

• Role disputes, transitions

• Interpersonal deficits

Humanistic (Existential) Therapies

Emphasizes importance of free will, personal improvement, positive aspects of human experience

Person-Centred Therapy

Assumes individuals have a tendency toward growth. Centres on acceptance and genuine reactions from therapist

CBT

Most common type of psychotherapy

Helps individuals identify and change unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors

Behavioural Therapy

Operant and classical conditioning

Cognitive Therapy

Focuses on restructuring irrational thought processes.

Teaches you to question automatic beliefs, assumptions, and predictions that lead to negative emotions

ABC Model

Negative event → rational belief → healthy negative emotion

OR

Negative event → irrational belief → unhealthy negative emotion

Biological Treatment

Includes: medicine, electroconvulsive therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, psychosurgery

Electroconvulsive Therapy

Induces controlled seizures, very effective and safe, but no permanent effect

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Produces longer-lasting changes to brain chemistry

Deep Brain Stimulation

Embedded electrodes produce repetitive brain stimulation

Health Psychology

Examines the relationship between physical health and psychological health

General Adaptation Syndrome

Alarm phase: initial, healthy reaction to stress (fight or flight)

Resistance phase: body adapts to high stress; non-stress-related processes are shut down

Exhaustion phase: body can’t cope with other processes being shut down; illness, injury, or death can occur

Holmes-Rahe Stress Scale

Asked patients to self-report stressful events (stress scale)

Compared their scores on stress scale to their actual medical records

High correlation between stress score and physical illness

Chronic Stress

A prolonged and continuous state of tension that can negatively affect physical and mental health, often resulting from ongoing life challenges

Perceived Control of Stress

We’re more stressed by events we can’t control

Glass & Singer (1972)

Placed individuals into a room and asked them to complete difficult puzzles

• One group did so with intermittent, unpredictable loud noise that they could not control

• One group did so with intermittent, unpredictable loud noise that they could turn off (but did not)

The noisy group without control suffered in performance

Primary Appraisal

Determining whether an event is dangerous/threatening

Secondary Appraisal

Determining whether you can handle the stressor

Repressive Coping

Avoiding situations or thoughts that remind us of a stressor

Rational Coping

Facing the stressor and working to overcome it

Reframing

Changing the way that one thinks about a stressor

Stress Inoculation Training

Developing repetitive, positive ways to think about a stressor

Meditation

Involves the absence of thought, or focusing on one, non stressful thought

Changes the way our brains are structured

• Increased myelination (speed and efficiency of processing)

• Increased connectivity between areas of the brain responsible for rational thought and areas responsible for emotion

Relaxation

Consciously reducing muscle tension

Exercise

Reduces perceived stress and depressive symptoms

Why:

• Increase in serotonin and endorphin production?

• Related to meditation—focusing on the immediate experience?

Microsystem

Daily interactions:

• Roommates, family that you live with, coworkers, classmates, professors

Mesosystem

Interconnections between parts of the microsystem:

• Roommate conflict influencing coursework

• Professor writing a reference for a job

Exosystem

Environments that affect the individual but with which they don’t directly interact:

• University policies

• Parents’ jobs

Macrosystem

The broader cultural context:

• Canadian culture

• Social media

Chronosystem

The influence of history:

• Cohort effects

Person-Environment Transactions

Our personalities affect our environments, which affect our personalities

Diathesis-Stress Model

Individuals have a propensity for illness (nature)

This potential is increased or decreased by experience (nurture)