Psychopathology: Definitions of Abnormality and Characteristics, Explanations, and Treatments of Phobias

Vocabulary flashcards covering definitions of abnormality, the characteristics and behavioral explanations of phobias, and behavioral treatments including systematic desensitisation and flooding.

Failure to Function Adequately

A definition of abnormality where a person is unable to live a 'normal' day-to-day life, lacks a normal range of physical abilities, emotions, or behaviours, and engages in behaviours that disrupt their ability to work and maintain relationships.

Rosenhan and Seligman's Checklist of Dysfunction

A criteria set used to assess failure to function adequately, stating that the more features a person displays, the more unusual they are viewed. The categories are: personal distress, maladaptive behaviour, unpredictable behaviour, irrational behaviour, causing observer discomfort, and deviation from social norms and values.

Statistical Infrequency

A definition of abnormality based on deviation from the statistical norm or average on a measured distribution, where individuals whose characteristics fall at either end ($2\text{ SD}$ above or below the mean) are considered unusual (e.g., IQ, mood, weight).

Deviation from Social / Cultural Norms

A definition of abnormality stating that any behaviour violating the written or unwritten norms and values established by a given society is considered unusual (e.g., cannibalism).

Deviation from Ideal Mental Health

Jahoda's approach to defining abnormality by outlining characteristics of 'normal' psychological health, asserting that deviating from any of these ideal criteria indicates poor mental health.

Jahoda's Checklist of Ideal Mental Health

An eight-part set of criteria for psychological well-being: 1) No symptoms of distress, 2) Rational and accurate perception of the self, 3) Ability to self-actualise, 4) Ability to cope with stress, 5) Realistic view of the world, 6) Good self-esteem, 7) Independence of other people, and 8) Ability to successfully work, love, and enjoy leisure.

Cultural Relativism (Psychopathology)

The view that definitions of mental health and abnormality are culture-bound, warning that applying one culture's standards across different societies creates ethnocentric bias, as norms and daily activities vary internationally.

Phobia

An irrational fear that stops a person from functioning, characterised by excessive fear and anxiety triggered by an object, place, or situation that is out of proportion to any real danger.

Behavioural Characteristics of Phobias

Actions displayed by a phobic individual, including panic reactions (fight, flight, freeze, or faint) and avoidance behaviour that significantly interferes with daily living.

Cognitive Characteristics of Phobias

Ways of processing information regarding the phobic stimulus, specifically irrational beliefs resistant to rational argument and selective attention causing fixation on the feared object.

Emotional Characteristics of Phobias

Persistent, extreme, and unreasonable anxiety coupled with feelings of panic and intense, unreasonable fear in response to the phobic stimulus.

Two-Process Model

Mowrer's behavioural model proposing that phobias are acquired or initiated through classical conditioning (association) and maintained through operant conditioning (consequences).

Stimulus Generalisation

A feature of classical conditioning where the conditioned fear response to a specific phobic stimulus is elicited by other similar items.

Extinction (Classical Conditioning)

The gradual deterioration and disappearance of a conditioned phobic response when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly encountered over time without the negative unconditioned stimulus ($\text{UCS}$).

Negative Reinforcement (in Phobias)

The mechanism that maintains a phobia in operant conditioning, where avoiding the feared stimulus removes an unpleasant state (anxiety); this rewarding outcome reinforces avoidance behaviour and prevents extinction of the fear.

Watson and Rayner's Little Albert Study

Experimental support for the initiation phase of the two-process model, showing that an infant was conditioned to fear a neutral stimulus (a white rat) by repeatedly pairing it with a loud noise ($\text{UCS}$).

Systematic Desensitisation (SD)

A behavioural therapy developed by Wolpe that teaches patients to substitute a relaxation response for a fear response in the gradual presence of a phobic stimulus across three steps.

Reciprocal Inhibition

The psychological premise underlying systematic desensitisation stating that it is impossible to experience two opposing emotions simultaneously, meaning relaxation is incompatible with fear.

Anxiety Hierarchy

A stepped ladder of feared scenarios compiled in systematic desensitisation, progressing from least frightening (e.g., viewing a picture) to most frightening (e.g., direct interaction with the phobic stimulus).

Counter Conditioning

A systematic desensitisation technique where the patient practices relaxation methods at each level of the anxiety hierarchy to establish a calm response in place of fear.

Flooding

A behavioural therapy where the patient learns full muscle relaxation and undergoes immediate, prolonged exposure to their feared stimulus, preventing avoidance until the initial fight-or-flight response exhausts itself and the phobia goes extinct.

Little Peter Case Study (Jones et al.)

Research supporting systematic desensitisation where Jones successfully eliminated Peter's rabbit phobia through relaxation techniques and gradual exposure until he could calmly hold a rabbit.