Psych 373 WIP Set

work in progress

2007 United Nations Treaty

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) marked a shift toward recognizing rights and removing physical, linguistic, social, and cultural barriers rather than viewing disability solely as 'special needs.'

Adaptational failure

Failure or difficulty mastering age-salient developmental tasks. Psychopathology can be understood as adaptational failure, where early disruptions compromise later adaptation and increase risk for psychological problems.

Adultomorphism

Historical view treating childhood disorders as downward extensions of adult disorders, incorrectly viewing children as 'mini adults.'

Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA)

Operant conditioning framework examining functional relationships among antecedents, behavior, and consequences (ABCs) to modify behavior through environmental contingencies.

- Antecedent: Parent says to put tablet down for dinner
- Behavior: child screams
- Consequence: parent gives child 5 more mins, reinforcing the behavior.

Attachment styles

Emotional bond with a caregiver regulating stress and supporting exploration. Child patterns: secure, anxious/avoidant, anxious/resistant, and disorganized. Attachment style does not deterministically cause specific disorders.

Behavioral genetics

Study of genetic and environmental contributions to behavioral differences between people. Distinct from behaviorism, which focuses on environmental learning mechanisms.

Behavioral treatment

Interventions based on learning principles aiming to modify maladaptive behavior and build adaptive skills using reinforcement, modeling, time-outs, systematic desensitization, and environmental changes.

Behaviorism

Tradition focused on how environmental experiences and learning mechanisms (classical and operant conditioning) shape observable behavior and psychopathology.

Biological/medical treatment

Treatment based on the view that psychopathology may involve neurobiological dysfunction; primarily uses pharmacological and other biological interventions.

Brain structure and function

• Brainstem manages autonomic functions

• diencephalon regulates behavior, emotion/arousal

• forebrain (limbic system, prefrontal cortex) supports higher cognition, reasoning, and impulse control.

• Basic regions mature earlier; prefrontal systems continue developing through adolescence and into early adulthood.

Classical conditioning

Form of learning where a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus until the neutral stimulus elicits a conditioned response.

Comorbidity

Co-occurrence of two or more psychological disorders in the same individual at rates greater than expected by chance alone.

Competence

A child's ability to successfully adapt to developmental demands using internal and external resources.

Continuity

Developmental change is gradual and quantitative rather than abrupt or stage-like.

Cultural beliefs and values

Cultural context defines what is adaptive versus deviant, shapes expression of distress, and influences how adults interpret and respond to child behavior.

Defining psychological disorder

• Pattern of behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or physical symptoms associated with distress, impairment, or increased risk of harm

• Evaluated relative to developmental norms, frequency, severity, chronicity, pattern, situation, gender, and culture.

Developmental norms

Age-related averages and benchmarks used as comparison points for expected development; they are probabilistic guidelines, not rigid cutoffs.

Developmental pathways

Sequence and timing of behavioral development over time, showing how early experiences and functioning shape later outcomes across developmental trajectories.

Developmental psychopathology

Study of how normal developmental processes become compromised and how normal and abnormal development inform one another across time.

Developmental tasks

Age-salient skills and challenges children are expected to master (e.g., self-regulation, attachment, peer relationships, school adjustment). Success provides a foundation; failure can cascade.

Discontinuity

View that developmental change is abrupt, qualitative, and structured into distinct, qualitatively different stages.

Emotion reactivity

Individual differences in the threshold and intensity of emotional experience.

Emotion regulation

Processes that redirect, control, or modify emotional arousal to support adaptive functioning.

Epigenetics

Environmental experiences can alter gene expression. Professor shorthand: 'how nurture changes nature.'

Equifinality

Concept that different developmental pathways or early experiences can lead to the same clinical outcome (different beginnings -> same ending).

Etiology

The study of causes of disorders; in developmental psychopathology, etiology involves complex, interacting biological, psychological, and environmental processes over time.

Family systems

Framework viewing individual behavior as best understood within the context of the dynamic, reciprocal relationships and structures of the family unit.

• views a family as an interconnected emotional unit rather than a collection of separate individuals (shared emotional patterns)

Gender differences in disorders

Rates and expression vary by sex/gender, age, development, context, and reporting. Boys more often show early externalizing/neurodevelopmental problems; girls more often show internalizing problems later.

History of mental health views and key historical figures

Shift from supernatural/moral explanations toward humane, developmental, biological, psychoanalytic, behavioral, and contextual views.

Locke = stop treating kids harshly, they’re sensitive
Itard = try to teach/treat the child (victor) instead of giving up on them
Hollingworth = intellectual dissability ≠ emotional/behavioral disorder
Rush = children supposedly can’t have adult insanity
Dix = humane hospitals instead of cages/cellars
Beers = reform mental-health treatment after his own experience, promote mental-hygeine

HPA axis

Major stress-response system: Hypothalamus (CRH) -> Pituitary (ACTH) -> Adrenal glands (cortisol). Regulates stress response through negative feedback loops.

Internalizing/externalizing problems

Internalizing = inwardly directed distress (anxiety, depression, somatic complaints, social withdrawal). Externalizing = outwardly directed behaviors (aggression, conduct problems, delinquency).

Jeffrey case study

Key takeaway: multiple cumulative, interacting risks can transform one another over time, producing negative developmental cascades across domains.

Key factors that affect rates/expression mental disorders

Rates and expression are affected by social/contextual conditions such as poverty, inequality, family disruption, homelessness, immigrant adjustment, child-care resources, prenatal/health adversity, stigma, and access to care.

Kauai Longitudinal Study

Werner's multi-decade study showing that some highly at-risk children still adapted successfully despite multiple risks. Resilience was linked to ordinary protective influences such as temperament, supportive relationships, self-concept, and outside support.

Medical model

View that psychopathology has a biological, physical, or physiological basis and can be understood as disease or dysfunction.

Molecular genetics

Research methods directly investigating associations between specific DNA sequence variations and psychological traits or disorders.

Multifinality

Concept that similar initial risk factors or early experiences can lead to diverse developmental outcomes (same beginning -> different endings).

Multiply determined

Principle that psychological disorders stem from multiple interacting biological, psychological, and social risk processes, rather than a single cause.

Neural plasticity and development

The brain is malleable and use-dependent across development; experience strengthens/stabilizes some neural connections while others weaken or disappear.

Neurotransmitters implicated in psychological disorders

Neurotransmitter activity can make behavior more or less likely but does not directly cause behavior.

• GABA: reduce fear + anxiety/arousal

• dopamine: schizophrenia, pleasure, ADHD, motivation, learning

• norepinephrine: regulates fight/flight

• serotonin: regulatory problems, OCD, mood, schizophrenia, sleep

Operant conditioning

Learning mechanism where behavior is strengthened or weakened by its consequences (reinforcement increases behavior; punishment decreases behavior).

Organization of development

Principle that early developmental structures are reorganized and transformed into higher-order, more complex functional systems over time.

Protective factors

Factors that reduce the probability or impact of negative outcomes in the context of risk.

Pruning

Developmental elimination of less-used synaptic connections as neural systems become more specialized.

Psychoanalytic theory

Freud-associated theory emphasizing unconscious conflicts, inborn drives, early experience, and developmental roots of psychopathology.

Resilience

Dynamic process of maintaining adequate adaptive competence despite significant risk or adversity. It is not a fixed trait and does not mean absence of distress or symptoms.

Risk factors (biological, dispositional/psychological, social/ecological)

Preexisting conditions across biological, psychological, and social domains that increase the probability of a negative outcome. Risk is probabilistic, not deterministic.

Sensitive periods

Developmental windows during which environmental experiences have particularly strong positive or negative effects on neural and behavioral development.

Shared/non-shared environmental influences

Shared environment = factors that make siblings more similar. Non-shared environment = factors that contribute to differences between siblings in the same family.

Social cognition

How children understand and interpret others’ thoughts, feelings, motives, social cues, ambiguous events, and social problems.

Social learning

Theory emphasizing that behavior is learned through observation, modeling, and cognitive mediation within a social environment.

Temperament

Early-emerging, relatively stable style of emotional reactivity, activity, attention, and self-regulation. Its adaptive meaning depends on context.

• biologically rooted differences in emotional reactivity

Teratogens

Harmful prenatal agents or substances that can affect the developing embryo or fetus, such as alcohol, drugs, toxins, and some infections.

Transactional model

Framework where child and environment continuously and reciprocally influence and transform each other over time ('dancer and dance').

• Irritated child throws tantrums → makes parent harsher → causes more tantrums → gets more harsh

Vulnerability

A factor that intensifies the effects of risk. Vulnerability matters specifically in the context of risk exposure.

• Two kids experience bullying. One is already anxious while the other is emotionally stable. Anxiety could be a vulnerability because it exasperates the affects of this risk.

Analogue research

Studying something in a controlled, simplified situation that is designed to resemble the real-life situation you actually care about.

• Experiment putting kids in a position to cheat on an exam before they cheat in real life.

Behavior/functional analysis

Figuring out the function of a behavior (why do they do this) and the factors maintaining it

• ABC example: Child gets homework (antecedent) → child screams (behavior) → parent takes HW away (consequence)

  • Can modify the consequence to influence behavior

Behavioral assessment ABCs

Antecedents -> Behavior -> Consequences. Examines what happens before and after behavior to understand its function and guide intervention.

Checklist/rating scales

Standardized reports in which parents, teachers, children, or others rate whether behaviors occur and/or their frequency and intensity.

Consent/Assent

Consent = voluntary, informed legal agreement to research/treatment (given by parent/guardian). Assent = age-appropriate affirmative agreement from a minor.

Correlation coefficient

Statistic from $-1.00$ to $+1.00$ describing the strength and direction of an association. Closer to $\pm 1$ = stronger; $+$ = same direction; $-$ = opposite direction. Correlation does not establish causation.

Cross-sectional research

Research design comparing different groups of participants at different ages or developmental stages at a single point in time.

Epidemiological research

Study of the incidence, prevalence, co-occurrence, and distribution of psychological disorders and competencies across populations.

Ethical issues

Standards protecting participants, including informed consent/assent, confidentiality, voluntary participation, minimizing harm, debriefing, and balancing risks versus benefits.

Hypotheses

Testable proposed explanations or predictions that guide research.

Longitudinal research

Follows the same people across time to study developmental change. Limitations include time, cost, attrition, and measures becoming outdated.

Mediating variables

Mediator = HOW/WHY ($X \rightarrow \text{mediator} \rightarrow Y$). The explanatory mechanism through which an independent variable influences an outcome.

Moderating variables

Moderator = WHEN/FOR WHOM/HOW STRONGLY. A variable that alters the strength or direction of the relationship between $X$ and $Y$.

Multiple-baseline design

Single-case experimental design demonstrating treatment effectiveness by sequentially introducing intervention across different behaviors, settings, or individuals.

Natural experiment

Compares naturally occurring or preexisting groups/conditions without random assignment.

Naturalistic observation

Unstructured observation of child behavior in real-world environments without researcher manipulation.

Neuroimaging

Methods examining brain structure and/or function, including MRI, fMRI, CT, PET, and diffusion MRI.

Operational definition

Defining a construct by the specific, measurable procedures or criteria used to observe and quantify it.

Prevalence vs incidence

Prevalence = all existing cases in a population during a specified period. Incidence = new cases emerging during that period.

Prospective design

Longitudinal design following a group forward in time before outcomes occur to identify predictors and pathways.

Reliability (consistency/inter-rater/test-retest)

Consistency of measurement. Inter-rater = agreement between observers. Test-retest = stability over brief intervals. Stability = consistency over long intervals.

Qualitative research

Research capturing non-numerical narrative data to explore and interpret complex phenomena in context.

Random assignment

Assigns participants to conditions by chance, helping distribute preexisting participant characteristics across groups.

Retrospective design

Design looking backward in time from current outcomes to past experiences; prone to recall and reporting bias.

Semi-structured interview

Uses predetermined core questions to ensure important areas are covered while allowing flexible follow-up.

Single-case experimental design

Repeatedly measures one participant across conditions and time, often using the person as their own control to test treatment effects.

- Multiple baseline: treatment for Kid A after one week of nail biting, treatment for kid B after 3 weeks (shows if behavior changes due to time itself or the treatment)

Standardization

Establishing consistent procedures and norms so a measure can be administered and interpreted comparably across assessments.

• Example: IQ test same test every time, or an experiment with identical conditions

Structured observation

Direct observation in controlled tasks or laboratory setups designed to elicit specific target behaviors.

Validity (construct, internal, face, external, convergent, discriminant, criterion-related)

Internal = whether measures/explanations are sound and competing explanations are ruled out.

External = generalizability.

Construct = whether a measure behaves as theory predicts.

Face = whether it appears to assess the intended construct (does it look relevant, clear, and appropriate at first glance)

Convergent = related measures correlate (high score on your anxiety test also gets high score on well-established ones)

Discriminant = unrelated constructs remain unrelated (new anxiety test doesnt cause same score as a depression test, bc how wld we know the test is actually measuring anxiety)

Criterion-related = relates to/predicts an expected, real-life outcome (higher anxiety score = more social withdrawal)

Categorical vs dimensional systems

Categorical = discrete diagnoses based on professional consensus; fits medical/school systems but may poorly capture continua or subthreshold symptoms.

• Ex: ADHD diagnosis

Dimensional = traits exist on continua and children vary in degree; captures subthreshold symptoms (e.g., HiTOP, Big Five, RDoC).

• Ex: rating how attentive a kid with ADHD is

Classification vs diagnosis

Classification = the system for organizing disorders, categories, or dimensions.

• DSM characterizes anxiety disorders, depressive, etc

Diagnosis = applying that classification system to an individual child based on assessment.

• Based on symptoms/functioning, applying a classification like GAD to someone

Client centered treatment

Humanistic approach emphasizing empathy, unconditional positive regard, and child-led exploration rather than therapist direction.

Clinical interview

Flexible assessment gathering developmental background, symptoms, family context, and personal perspective through direct conversation.

Cognitive behavioral treatment

Integrative approach identifying and modifying distorted cognitive patterns while building adaptive behavioral coping strategies.

Cultural considerations treatment

Clinicians should respect and learn about a family’s beliefs and values, avoid stereotypes, and incorporate nonharmful cultural beliefs into treatment planning.

• Asking families what matters to them

Developmental history

Information about developmental milestones and past events that may help explain the child’s current difficulties.

Diagnosis Pros/Cons

Benefits: improved communication, therapeutic access, relief/understanding, insurance coverage. Harms: social stigma, negative self-concept, self-fulfilling expectations, victimization.

DSM-IV-TR multiaxial

Axis I: Clinical disorders; Axis II: Personality/Intellectual disability; Axis III: Medical conditions; Axis IV: Psychosocial stressors; Axis V: GAF score.

DSM-5-TR changes

Course emphasis: ICD-11 harmonization, procedures for establishing reliability, structural organization replacing the multiaxial format, and a lifespan perspective.

EEG

Scalp electrodes record electrical brain activity; EEG is sensitive to changes in state and emotionality.

Family history

Background information from caregivers about family and historical factors relevant to the child’s current difficulties.

Family treatment

Intervention addressing psychopathology by modifying interactional patterns, family roles, boundaries, and communication dynamics within the family system.

Idiographic assessment

Assessment approach focused on detailed understanding of the unique individual child and family context.

Multimethod assessment

Uses multiple methods, multiple informants (teachers/parents), and multiple settings rather than relying on one source of information.

• Can be use din idiographic assessments to get the bigger picture of a kid

Nomothetic assessment

Assessment approach focusing on general norms, broad principles, and population-level comparisons rather than individual uniqueness.