GenPsych FINAL - Dr. Turner

Ekman's 6 basic emotions

Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, surprise.

James-Lange Theory

Emotion comes from awareness of physiological arousal; we feel afraid because our heart races.

Cannon-Bard Theory

Emotion and physiological arousal occur at the same time; the brain sends both signals simultaneously.

Schachter-Singer Theory

Emotion = physical arousal + cognitive interpretation; context labels the emotion.

Two-Track Pathway Theory

Emotion has a fast 'low road' to the amygdala and a slower 'high road' through the cortex.

Autonomic Nervous System and Emotion

Sympathetic activates arousal; parasympathetic calms and restores baseline.

Micro-expressions

Very brief facial expressions that reveal true emotions before they can be hidden.

Positive effects of negative emotions

They can improve motivation, awareness, and decision making.

Focus of Social Psychology

How people think, feel, and behave in social situations.

Social cognition

How people interpret themselves and others; includes dispositional and situational attributions.

Dispositional vs Situational Attributions

Dispositional = personality causes behavior; Situational = environment causes behavior.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Overestimating personality causes and underestimating situational causes for others' behavior.

Actions affect attitudes

Behaviors shape beliefs through foot-in-the-door and cognitive dissonance processes.

Peripheral route persuasion

Persuasion via cues like attractiveness or emotion rather than logic.

Central route persuasion

Persuasion based on evidence, logic, and thoughtful argument.

Social contagion

Spread of behaviors and emotions through groups.

Conformity

Adjusting behavior to match group norms.

Social referencing

Looking to others to determine how to react.

Asch Line Study

Shows people conform even when the group is clearly wrong.

Reasons for conformity

Unanimity, group size, status, desire for approval.

Milgram obedience study

People obey authority even when asked to harm others.

Follow-up Milgram findings

Obedience drops when authority is distant or when others disobey.

Deindividuation

Loss of self-awareness in groups leading to impulsive behavior.

Social facilitation

Improved performance with audience on easy or practiced tasks.

Social loafing

Reduced effort when working in groups toward a common goal.

Groupthink

Desire for harmony leads to poor decision making.

Group polarization

Group discussion strengthens preexisting opinions.

Freud psychodynamic theory

Freud created it; influenced by neurology and Victorian society.

Three components of personality

Id (instincts), ego (reality), superego (morality).

Psychosexual development

Freud's stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital.

Defense mechanisms

Unconscious strategies that reduce anxiety by distorting reality.

Underlying process of defenses

Repression underlies all defense mechanisms.

Neo-Freudians

Adler (inferiority), Jung (collective unconscious), Horney (basic anxiety).

Psychodynamic assessments

Projective tests like the Rorschach and TAT; free association.

Pros and cons of psychodynamic theory

Pros: role of unconscious, early experience matters; Cons: unscientific and hard to test.

Humanistic vs psychodynamic

Humanistic emphasizes growth and free will; psychodynamic focuses on conflict and unconscious.

Hierarchy of needs

Maslow's pyramid from physiological needs to self-actualization.

Carl Rogers

Created person-centered therapy with unconditional positive regard.

Trait perspective

Focuses on stable, measurable traits.

Factor analysis

A statistical method that identifies clusters of traits.

Eysencks' two factors

Extraversion and neuroticism.

The Big Five traits

Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.

Objective personality tests

Standardized self-report measures; empirically derived through research.

Medical vs clinical diagnosis

Medical diagnoses physical illness; clinical diagnoses mental or behavioral disorders.

DSM-5

A manual that provides criteria for diagnosing psychological disorders.

Stigma

Negative stereotypes causing shame, avoidance of treatment, and discrimination.

Percent experiencing disorders

About 20 percent of people yearly; anxiety and depression most common.

Anxiety disorders in DSM

GAD, phobias, panic disorder, PTSD, OCD, social anxiety.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Chronic, excessive worry lasting at least six months.

Nervous system in GAD

Malfunctioning parasympathetic system, which normally calms the body.

Treating GAD

Therapy plus medication; meds alone risk dependence and do not teach coping.

Specific phobias

Intense, irrational fears of specific things causing impairment.

How phobias develop

Conditioning, modeling, or biological predisposition.

General phobias

Fears like heights, enclosed spaces, animals, storms.

Social Anxiety Disorder

Fear of being judged negatively.

Agoraphobia

Fear of places where escape might be difficult.

Major Depressive Disorder criteria

At least 5 symptoms for 2 weeks including depressed mood or loss of interest.

Bipolar disorder symptoms

Alternating episodes of depression and mania.

Persistent Depressive Disorder

Chronic, less severe depression lasting at least two years.

Causes of depression

Genetics, brain chemistry, stress, negative thinking.

Most genetic mood disorder

Bipolar disorder.

Suicide attempts vs completions

Women attempt more; men complete more.

NSSI

Non-suicidal self-injury such as cutting or burning without intent to die.

Schizophrenia symptom categories

Positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms.

Hallucinations

False sensory experiences.

Delusions

False beliefs resistant to logic.

Flat affect

Lack of emotional expression.

Anhedonia

Inability to experience pleasure.

Word salad

Disorganized, incoherent speech.

Thought blocking

Sudden stopping of speech due to interrupted thought.

Hardest schizophrenia symptoms to treat

Negative symptoms.

Dopamine overactivity in schizophrenia

Excess dopamine contributes to positive symptoms like hallucinations.

Abnormal brain activity in schizophrenia

Disruptions in frontal and temporal lobes contribute to cognitive and emotional symptoms.

Psychotherapy definition

Treatment using psychological techniques between therapist and client.

Psychodynamic therapy

Explores unconscious conflict and early childhood experiences.

Humanistic therapy

Focuses on growth, self-acceptance, and empathy.

Behavioral therapy

Changes maladaptive behaviors through conditioning.

Cognitive therapy

Changes distorted thinking patterns.

CBT

Combines cognitive and behavioral strategies.

Family systems therapy

Views family as an interconnected system affecting behavior.

Classical conditioning therapy

Exposure therapy, systematic desensitization, aversive conditioning.

Operant conditioning therapy

Token economies, reinforcement, behavioral modification.

Cognitive distortions

All-or-nothing thinking, catastrophizing, overgeneralizing, mind-reading.

Genogram

A family map used to understand multigenerational patterns.

Advantages of group therapy

Support, reduced isolation, skill practice, cost-effective.

Types of therapists

Psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, social workers, and others.

When to go to therapy

Persistent distress, impairment, trauma, major life changes, harmful coping.

Qualities of a good therapist

Empathy, confidentiality, respect, collaboration, evidence-based treatment.

Antipsychotic drugs

Reduce dopamine to treat hallucinations and delusions.

Antianxiety drugs

Slow central nervous system activity, often through GABA.

Antidepressant drugs

Increase serotonin and/or norepinephrine to improve mood.

Why drugs alone are not ideal

Do not address underlying causes; no skill building; risk of relapse and side effects.