BehSci Final - Includes GR's 1, 2, & 3

Stress

A psychological and physical response to perceived challenges or threats.

Psychological Disorders

Conditions characterized by abnormal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that cause significant distress or impairment.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

A type of psychotherapy that helps individuals identify and change negative thought patterns and behaviors.

Biopsychosocial Approach

A model that considers biological, psychological, and social factors in understanding health and illness.

Appraisal Theory

Suggests that the way we evaluate or appraise a situation affects our emotional response and stress levels.

Biopsychosocial Model

A framework for understanding psychological disorders that considers biological, psychological, and social factors.

Learned Helplessness

A condition in which a person feels unable to control or change a situation, leading to stress and depression.

Aaron Beck

Developed cognitive therapy, focusing on changing negative thought patterns

Sigmund Freud

Introduced psychodynamic therapy, emphasizing unconscious processes and childhood experiences.

Carl Rogers

Known for humanistic therapy, which emphasizes personal growth and self-actualization.

How does our appraisal of an event affect our stress reaction?

Understanding the role of perception in stress response.

What are the causes and consequences of anger?

Exploring the impact of anger on health and relationships.

How do psychological disorders predict violent behavior?

Psychological disorders do not inherently predict violent behavior; context and individual circumstances play significant roles.

Three main types of stressors

Catastrophes, Significant Life Changes, Daily Hassles.

What is the link between stress and health?

Chronic stress can lead to increased vulnerability to diseases such as coronary heart disease.

Faith factor in health

Faith can lead to healthier lifestyles and better coping mechanisms.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Persistent and excessive worry about various aspects of life, differs from panic disorder, which involves sudden attacks of intense fear.

Panic Disorder

Characterized by recurrent, unexpected panic attacks. Unlike specific phobias, panic disorder is not limited to a specific object or situation.

Specific Phobias

Intense fear of a specific object or situation. Specific phobias are focused fears, while generalized anxiety is more pervasive.

OCD

Obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. OCD involves specific rituals, while anxiety disorders may not have compulsive elements.

PTSD

Anxiety and flashbacks following a traumatic event. PTSD is specifically linked to trauma, while other anxiety disorders may not have a trauma history.

Depressive Disorders

Characterized by persistent feelings of sadness and loss of interest. Bipolar disorders include episodes of mania, which are not present in depressive disorders.

Bipolar Disorders

Involves mood swings from depressive lows to manic highs. Bipolar disorder includes both extremes, while depressive disorders focus solely on the low.

Catastrophic events

Sudden, unexpected events that cause significant stress (e.g., natural disasters).

Significant life changes

Major transitions that require adjustment (e.g., divorce, job loss).

Daily hassles

Routine challenges that can accumulate and lead to stress (e.g., traffic jams, work deadlines).

fight-or-flight response

Activates the sympathetic nervous system and releases cortisol and adrenaline.

Coping strategies

Problem-focused (addressing the stressor) or emotion-focused (managing emotional responses) ways to deal with and relieve stress.

Self-control

Crucial for managing stress and achieving long-term goals; however, it can be depleted through overuse, leading to poorer decision-making.

Social support

Vital for good health; it provides emotional comfort, practical assistance, and a sense of belonging.

Aerobic exercise

Has been shown to reduce stress, improve mood, and enhance overall well-being through the release of endorphins.

Relaxation techniques and meditation

Can lower stress levels, improve focus, and promote emotional health by fostering mindfulness and reducing anxiety.

Happiness

A state of well-being characterized by positive emotions and life satisfaction.

Why does happiness matter?

It is linked to better health, improved relationships, and greater productivity.

What do time and adaptation have to do with happiness?

Individuals often return to a baseline level of happiness after significant life changes (hedonic adaptation).

Predictors of happiness

Strong social connections, meaningful work, and engaging in activities that promote flow and fulfillment.

Medical model

Views psychological disorders as illnesses that can be diagnosed and treated, while the biopsychosocial approach considers biological, psychological, and social factors.

How are disorders classified?

Clinicians classify disorders using the DSM-5, but some psychologists criticize diagnostic labels for potentially stigmatizing individuals and oversimplifying complex behaviors.

Risk Factors and Suicide

Factors increasing the risk of suicide include mental health disorders, substance abuse, and significant life stressors.

Nonsuicidal self-injury

Often a coping mechanism for emotional distress, and understanding its prevalence is crucial for prevention.

Somatic symptom disorder

Involves experiencing physical symptoms that cannot be fully explained by medical conditions, often linked to psychological factors.

How are anxiety disorders formed?

Learning, cognition, and biology contribute to the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders, with conditioning and cognitive distortions playing key roles.

Psychotherapy

Involves talking therapies aimed at addressing psychological issues, while biomedical therapies include medical interventions such as medication.

Behavior therapy

Focuses on modifying maladaptive behaviors through conditioning techniques, contrasting with psychodynamic and humanistic approaches that explore underlying thoughts and feelings.

Cognitive therapies

Aim to change negative thought patterns to improve emotional well-being, with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) combining cognitive and behavioral techniques.

CBT Techniques

Techniques in CBT include cognitive restructuring, exposure therapy, and skills training to enhance coping strategies.

Therapeutic Lifestyle Change

Emphasizes the importance of lifestyle factors (e.g., diet, exercise, sleep) in improving mental health and preventing disorders. 

Drug therapies

Involve the use of medications to manage symptoms of psychological disorders, with double-blind studies being a standard method for evaluating their effectiveness.

How do we define learning? (20-1)

The process of associating new & relatively enduring information/ behaviors.

What are the basic forms of learning? (20-1)

• Association

• Conditioning

  • Classical Conditioning

  • Operant Conditioning

• Cognitive Learning

Association (20-1)

When our mind naturally connects events that occur in sequence.

Classical Conditioning (20-1)

Learning to associate 2 stimuli, thus anticipating events.

What is memory, and how is it measured? (23-1)

Memory

• The persistence of learning over time through the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information.

Measuring Retention

• Recall

• Recognition

• Relearning 

How do memory models help us study memory? (23-2)

They help us relate memory to things we understand better to make it easier for us to understand as a whole— like today’s information-processing model:

• encode—get information into our brain.

• store—retain that information.

• retrieve—later get the information back out.

How has later research updated the three-stage information-processing model? (23-2)

It is now considered:

• Sensory memory

• Short term / working memory

• Long term memory

Parallel processing (23-2)

processing multiple aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously.

Sensory memory (23-2)

How we first record to-be-remembered info as sensory information.

short-term memory (23-2)

briefly activated memory of a few items (such as digits of a phone number while calling) that is later stored or forgotten

long-term memory (23-2)

the relatively permanent and limitless archive of the memory system. Includes knowledge, skills, and experiences.

working memory (23-2)

a newer understanding of short-term memory; conscious, active processing of both (1) incoming sensory information and (2) information retrieved from long-term memory.

Explicit (declarative) memories (23-3)

retention of facts and experiences that we can consciously know and “declare”— uses effortful processing

effortful processing (23-3)

encoding that requires attention and conscious effort, makes explicit memories.

automatic processing (23-3)

happens without our awareness, makes implicit memories

implicit (nondeclarative) memories (23-3)

retention of learned skills or classically conditioned associations without conscious recollection.

What information do we process automatically? (23-4)

procedural memory and associations, like info about:

• Space

• Time

• Frequency

How does sensory memory work? (23-5)

Sensory memory feeds our working memory, recording momentary images, sounds, and strong scents. Only fleeting memories/ sensations. 

iconic memory (23-5)

a fleeting sensory memory of visual stimuli

echoic memory (23-5)

a fleeting sensory memory of audio stimuli

What is our short-term memory capacity? (23-6)

we tend to remember about six letters and only about five words. short term memories last only ~3 seconds.

Effortful Processing Strategies (23-7)

• Chunking

• Mnemonics

• Hierarchies

Chunking (23-7)

organizing items into familiar, manageable units; often occurs automatically.

Mnemonics (23-7)

memory aids, especially those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices.

Hierarchies (23-7)

organizing what you study into headers, highlighting important info, etc. 

distributed practice (23-8)

spacing effect:

• the tendency for distributed study or practice to have better long-term retention than cramming

testing effect (23-8)

better memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading, information. Also sometimes referred to as a retrieval practice effect or test-enhanced learning.

Shallow processing (23-8)

encoding on a basic level, based on the structure or appearance of words

Deep processing (23-8)

encoding through re-wording the information you’re trying to learn tends to yield the best retention

Why do we forget? (25-1)

We forget non-important memories to make room for more important memories or because of memory failures. 

anterograde amnesia (25-1)

an inability to form new memories

retrograde amnesia (25-1)

an inability to remember information from one’s past

Encoding failure (25-1)

The failure of the mind to correctly encode memories into long-term memory. More common in older individuals. 

Storage Decay (25-1)

The decay of memories stored in long-term memory.

Retrieval Failure (25-1)

When we can’t retrieve a memory from long-term memory. Causes the ‘tip-of-the-tongue’ phenomenon.

Proactive Interference (25-1)

older learning disrupting the recall of new information.

Retroactive Interference (25-1)

newer learning disrupting the recall of old information

Motivated Forgetting (25-1)

forgetting that has a self-serving purpose— from hiding an unintentional lie to shielding someone from trauma.

reconsolidation (25-2)

when previously stored memories, when retrieved, are potentially altered before being stored again

misinformation effect (25-2)

occurs when a memory has been corrupted by misleading information.

source amnesia (25-2)

faulty memory for how, when, or where information was learned or imagined. (Also called source misattribution.)

Why have reports of repressed and recovered memories been so hotly debated? (25-2)

Memory construction errors and/ or memory construction can lead to false memories that lead to accusation of innocent people

How reliable are young children’s eyewitness descriptions? (25-4)

When questioned about their experiences in neutral words they understand, children often accurately recall what happened and who did it.

cognition (26-1)

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

metacognition (26-1)

cognition about our cognition; keeping track of and evaluating our mental processes.

concepts (26-1)

mental groupings of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

prototype (26-1)

a mental image or best example of a category

algorithms (26-2)

step-by-step procedures that guarantee a solution

heuristics (26-2)

a simple thinking strategy—a mental shortcut—that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently. More error prone than an algorithm.

insight (26-2)

an abrupt, true-seeming, and often satisfying solution

Confirmation bias (26-2)

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

fixation (26-2)

an inability to come to a fresh perspective