Introduction to Psychology: Attention, Emotion, Psychological Disorders, and Therapy

Comprehensive review flashcards covering cognitive attention models, failures of awareness, emotion and well-being dynamics, anxiety and mood disorders, psychodynamic constructs, and therapeutic interventions.

Major Depressive Episode (MDE)

A period characterized by symptoms co-occurring for at least $2$ weeks that cause significant distress or impairment in functioning, requiring at least $5$ of $9$ DSM-5 symptoms, including depressed mood or anhedonia.

Anhedonia

The loss of interest or pleasure in activities that an individual previously found enjoyable or rewarding.

Manic Episode

A distinct period of abnormally and persistently euphoric, expansive, or irritable mood and persistently increased goal-directed activity or energy present for at least $1$ week (unless hospitalization is required) accompanied by significant impairment in functioning.

Hypomanic Episode

A period of abnormally euphoric, expansive, or irritable mood and increased energy lasting at least $4$ consecutive days, distinguished from mania by a shorter duration and the absence of marked functional impairment.

Persistent Depressive Disorder (PDD)

A unipolar depressive disorder (dysthymia) defined by depressed mood occurring most of the day for more days than not for at least $2$ years, without being symptom-free for more than $2$ months at a time.

Bipolar I Disorder (BD I)

A mood disorder characterized by the occurrence of a single or recurrent manic episode; a major depressive episode is commonly present but not strictly required for diagnosis.

Bipolar II Disorder

A mood disorder characterized by single or recurrent hypomanic episodes along with at least one major depressive episode.

Cyclothymic Disorder

A mood disorder characterized by numerous and alternating periods of hypomania and depressive symptoms lasting at least $2$ years, where depressive periods do not meet full criteria for an MDE.

Perinatal Depression

Depression occurring following the birth of a baby (formerly known as postpartum depression), afflicting approximately $1$ in $20$ mothers ($5\%$) and often complicated by social stigma and feelings of shame.

Social Zeitgeber Theory

A theory proposing that environmental cues (such as meal times and social interactions) entrain biological rhythms and that life events disrupting sleep or these daily routines can trigger mood episode relapses.

Pessimistic Attributional Style

A cognitive tendency to make internal, global, and stable attributions for negative events, serving as an underlying vulnerability for developing Major Depressive Disorder.

Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy (IPSRT)

A psychosocial intervention for bipolar disorder aimed at increasing daily rhythmicity and stabilizing circadian sleep-wake routines to reduce the risk of episode recurrence.

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs)

The earliest class of antidepressant medications that inhibit the enzyme deactivating dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin; they require dietary restrictions to avoid tyramine-induced hypertensive crises.

Lithium

The first-line pharmacotherapeutic agent for bipolar disorder that reduces excitatory neurotransmission (dopamine and glutamate) and increases inhibitory neurotransmission (GABA).

Psychotherapy

A collaborative, confidential psychological treatment between a trained professional and a patient that applies scientifically validated procedures to help change thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

Sliding-Scale Fee Policy

A payment arrangement utilized by some mental health practitioners where the cost of therapy sessions is adjusted based on the client's income.

Primacy of the Unconscious

A core assumption of psychodynamic theory asserting that the majority of psychological processes (memories, motives, and feelings) occur outside conscious awareness.

Psychic Causality

The psychodynamic principle stating that nothing in mental life happens by chance, meaning every thought, motive, feeling, or behavior stems from identifiable biological or psychological processes.

Topographic Model

Sigmund Freud's early spatial model of the mind divided into three distinct realms: the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious.

Structural Model

Freud's model of personality positing three interacting mental agencies: the instinct-driven id, the reality-oriented ego, and the moral conscience known as the superego.

Ego Defenses

Automatic, unconscious mental strategies deployed by the ego to manage anxiety and threats, each involving some degree of reality distortion.

Repression

The primary ego defense mechanism that involves moving upsetting or anxiety-producing thoughts and feelings from consciousness into the unconscious.

Reaction Formation

An ego defense mechanism in which a person expresses outwardly the exact opposite of what they are feeling inwardly.

Sublimation

An ego defense mechanism characterized by channeling socially unacceptable impulses into constructive, culturally rewarded activities.

Object Relations Theory

A modern psychodynamic theory positing that mental representations of significant early caregivers (introjects) form enduring internal templates or scripts for subsequent interpersonal relationships.

Neuropsychoanalysis

An integrative discipline envisioned by Eric Kandel that merges psychodynamic concepts with the methods and empirical findings of neuroscience.

The Talking Cure

The foundational psychoanalytic concept originating in the historical treatment of hysteria (such as the case of Anna O.) where verbalizing thoughts and memories alleviates psychological symptoms.

Dr. Gena Gorlin

The clinical psychologist featured in the Expert's Chair for the therapy lecture module discussing cognitive and motivational therapy processes.

Free Association

A psychoanalytic technique where the patient freely expresses all uncensored thoughts as they arise, allowing the therapist to discern underlying unconscious patterns.

Transference

The unconscious displacement of feelings, expectations, and attitudes regarding significant figures from the patient's past onto the therapist.

Countertransference

The process occurring when a therapist displaces their own unresolved emotional reactions and feelings onto the patient.

Person-Centered Therapy (PCT)

A humanistic therapeutic approach formulated by Carl Rogers that provides a non-directive, supportive platform allowing patients to discover their self-worth and actualize personal growth.

Unconditional Positive Regard

An attitude of complete warmth, nonjudgmental acceptance, and empathy communicated by a therapist toward a client in Person-Centered Therapy.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

A goal-oriented, present-focused family of psychotherapy interventions aimed at alleviating psychological distress by identifying and modifying maladaptive cognitions and behaviors.

Automatic Thoughts

Spontaneous, evaluative thoughts that arise rapidly without conscious deliberation, rooted in underlying cognitive schemas regarding the self, the world, and the future.

Ellis's ABC Model

A cognitive-behavioral framework illustrating the causal sequence in psychopathology: A (Antecedent event), B (Belief or interpretation), and C (emotional or behavioral Consequence).

Cognitive Restructuring

A core CBT technique (reappraisal) where therapist and client collaborate to identify, challenge, and replace inaccurate or maladaptive appraisals with realistic alternatives.

Exposure Therapy

A behavioral intervention in which patients systematically confront feared objects or situations without escape or avoidance, facilitating extinction learning.

Mindfulness

A nonjudgmental, present-oriented mental state centered on receptive awareness of ongoing bodily sensations, thoughts, and external environmental stimuli.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

A structured program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn using yoga, meditation, and attention to bodily sensations to reduce overall somatic stress.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

A treatment designed by Marsha Linehan for borderline personality disorder combining CBT and mindfulness, focused explicitly on skills training such as distress tolerance.

Cognitive Bias Modification

The use of computerized or game-based tasks to target and alter automatic, subconscious cognitive biases (such as training attentional avoidance of alcohol cues).

Attention

Defined by William James ($1890$) as the mind taking possession in clear and vivid form of one out of several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought, involving focalization and concentration.

Selective Attention

The cognitive capability to select certain relevant environmental stimuli for prioritized processing while actively ignoring irrelevant or distracting information.

Dichotic Listening

An experimental paradigm in which two distinct auditory streams are presented simultaneously to each ear through headphones to investigate selective attentional processing.

Shadowing

A laboratory task requiring an individual to repeat an auditory message aloud word-for-word as it is being delivered to an attended ear channel.

Broadbent's Filter Model

An early selection model of attention proposing that sensory information is filtered out based on physical characteristics prior to any processing for semantic meaning.

Treisman's Attenuation Model

A selective attention model proposing that unattended sensory messages are not completely blocked, but rather attenuated (weakened), permitting highly salient information (like one's name) to reach conscious awareness.

Late Selection Model

A model of selective attention proposed by Deutsch and Deutsch ($1963$) stating that all sensory inputs are analyzed for semantic meaning prior to selection, with only task-relevant information entering conscious awareness.

Multimode Model

A flexible attention framework by Johnston and Heinz ($1978$) demonstrating that selection can occur at early or late processing stages depending on task difficulty and cognitive capacity demands.

Inattentional Blindness

The failure to perceive a fully visible, unexpected object or event in plain sight because cognitive attentional resources are focused elsewhere.

Inattentional Deafness

The auditory counterpart to inattentional blindness, occurring when an individual fails to notice an unexpected sound or voice while focusing attention on a demanding task.

Subliminal Perception

The cognitive processing of information for meaning when the stimulus is presented below the threshold of conscious awareness.

Supertaskers

A rare subpopulation (estimated at approximately $2\%$) of individuals who can manage complex cognitive multitasking tasks simultaneously without measurable performance impairment.

Change Blindness

A perceptual phenomenon where observers fail to detect noticeable visual changes to an object or scene across visual disruptions or saccades.

Dr. Art Markman

The cognitive psychologist featured in the Expert's Chair for the attention lecture discussing attentional mechanisms, checklists, and awareness failures.

Executive System

Neural networks located primarily within the brain's frontal lobes that control planning, prioritize task goals, and coordinate rapid switching of attention between competing operations.

Rapid Task Switching

The neurological process of shifting attention back and forth between multiple tasks with great speed, which is mistakenly perceived as simultaneous multitasking.

Dr. Daniel Weissman

A neuroscientist who uses fMRI scanning at the University of Michigan to demonstrate that the brain pauses to resolve interference when switching between color and font judgment tasks.

Shawn Swinson

A short-order cook at the Tastee Diner in Bethesda, Maryland, studied as an exemplar of handling multiple rapid verbal food orders under extreme task switching demands.

PSY 301 Student Transcripts

The archival course transcript repository hosted on Box recording lecture meetings across introductory psychology modules (methods, conditioning, emotion, abnormal, and money).

Anxiety Sensitivity

An individual difference factor characterized by the fear of anxiety-related bodily sensations, rooted in beliefs that these sensations have harmful somatic, psychological, or social consequences.

Dr. Katherine Schaumberg

The clinical psychology expert featured in the Abnormal Psychology outline discussing abnormal diagnostic criteria and psychological treatments.

Triple Vulnerabilities Model

The etiological framework proposing that anxiety disorders develop from the interaction of biological vulnerabilities, generalized psychological vulnerabilities, and specific psychological vulnerabilities.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

An anxiety disorder defined by excessive, uncontrollable worry about multiple everyday domains occurring more days than not for at least $6$ months, accompanied by physical symptoms like muscle tension and restlessness.

Panic Disorder (PD)

An anxiety disorder marked by recurrent unexpected panic attacks accompanied by at least $1$ month of persistent apprehension about future attacks or significant behavioral changes designed to avoid them.

Interoceptive Avoidance

The avoidance of internal bodily sensations and somatic cues (such as accelerated heart rate or shortness of breath) that resemble the onset of a panic attack.

Agoraphobia

An anxiety disorder marked by intense fear and deliberate avoidance of situations (such as public transit, open spaces, or crowds) where escape might be difficult or help unavailable during panic-like symptoms.

Specific Phobia

An irrational, debilitating fear of a circumscribed object or situation, categorized into blood-injury-injection, situational, natural environment, animal, and other subtypes.

Blood-Injury-Injection (BII) Phobia

A subtype of specific phobia characterized uniquely by a biphasic vasovagal response that leads to a drop in heart rate and blood pressure, often resulting in fainting.

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)

An anxiety disorder characterized by marked fear or avoidance of social or performance situations where the individual is exposed to potential scrutiny or negative evaluation by others.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A trauma- and stressor-related disorder triggered by exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence, characterized by flashbacks, intrusive memories, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A disorder characterized by intrusive, distressing thoughts, urges, or images (obsessions) and repetitive mental or physical behaviors (compulsions) performed to neutralize anxiety.

Thought-Action Fusion

A cognitive distortion common in OCD where an individual equates thinking about an unacceptable event with actually performing it or believes the thought increases the likelihood of the event occurring.

Emotion

An experiential, physiological, and behavioral response coordinated across systems to a personally meaningful internal or environmental stimulus.

Emotion Coherence

The degree of convergence and alignment across the various components of an emotional response, including subjective experience, overt behavior, and autonomic physiology.

Emotion Fluctuation

The degree to which emotional experiences vary or change in intensity over time; excessive instability across time is empirically associated with reduced well-being and psychopathology.

Inverted U-Shaped Curve of Positive Emotion

The empirical model demonstrating that positive emotion enhances well-being up to a moderate point, beyond which extremely high intensities correlate with risk-taking, mania, and decreased well-being.

Emotional Suppression

An emotion regulation strategy that involves intentionally inhibiting the outward behavioral expression of an internal emotional experience, linked to adverse social and psychological outcomes.

Mixed Emotions

The co-activation of positive and negative affective states simultaneously (such as experiencing nostalgia or schadenfreude), which aids in coping and long-term physical health.

Valence

The fundamental emotional dimension describing whether an affective experience is intrinsically felt as pleasant (positive) or unpleasant (negative).

Preparedness

The evolutionary predisposition to rapidly acquire fears of stimuli (such as snakes, spiders, or heights) that posed ancestral survival threats.

Dr. Desmond Ong

The research psychologist featured in the Emotion Expert's Chair investigating computational models of emotion, affective appraisal, and emotional intelligence.

Dr. Mark Hayward

The sociology and population health expert featured in the Money outline discussing the long-term socioeconomic and health impacts of childhood inequality.

Childhood Inequality

Early developmental exposure to disparities in wealth and socioeconomic status that produces enduring psychological, biological, and health consequences in adulthood.