AP Psych Exam Review

Biopsychosocial Approach

an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis.

Hoarding Disorder

a disorder characterized by persistent difficulty parting with possessions, regardless of their value.

Tardive Dyskinesia

an unwanted side effect of some antipsychotic medications causing a reduction of motor control.

Anti-anxiety Medications

barbiturates and other drugs intended to reduce symptoms of anxiety disorders

DSM

the APA's widely used system for classifying psychological disorders.

Problem Focused Coping

attempting to alleviate stress directly - by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor.

Therapeutic Alliance

a bond of trust and mutual understanding between a therapist and client necessary for success.

Negative Symptoms

symptoms of a disorder that are a reduction from one's typical experience.

Cognitive Triad

the negative views of oneself, the world and the future that commonly are addressed by cognitive therapies.

Cluster C Personality Disorders

a group of personality disorders characterized by anxious-fearful tendencies including avoidant personality disorder, dependent personality disorder, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

Fight-flight-freeze Response

one's sympathetic nervous system activation tendency in the face of stress.

Eustress

beneficial stress in the face of challenges

Distress

harmful stress in the face of threats

Aversion Therapy

a behavior therapy involving the association of an unwanted behavior with unpleasant stimuli to condition someone away from that behavior.

Token Economy

an operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a form of artificial currency for desired behaviors that can be exchanged for privileges or rewards.

Flat Affect

the lack of emotional expressiveness that results from schizophrenia

General Adaptation Syndrome

Selye's concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three phases - alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

*Dissociative Fugue

the experience of unconscious travel as a result of dissociation, sometimes accompanying amnesia.

Dissociative Identity Disorder

a rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating "personalities" called alters.

Agoraphobia

the fear of open or crowded spaces where one may experience a loss of control and panic.

Psychosurgery

medical procedures that destroy or remove brain tissue in an effort to change behavior.

*Active Listening

empathetic attunement in which the listener echoes, restates, and seeks clarification.

Cultural Humility

the practice of acknowledging and respecting differences between people that is considered an essential trait of a good therapist.

Hoarding Disorder

a disorder characterized by persistent difficulty parting with possessions, regardless of their value.

Antidepressants

SSRI's and other drugs intended to reduce symptoms of mood disorders

Exposure Therapy

a behavioral technique that treats anxiety by providing opportunities for confrontation of typically avoided fears.

Ethical Principles of Treatment

nonmaleficence, fidelity, integrity, and respect - requirements for the administration of psychotherapy.

Taijin Kyofusho

a culturally-bound version of social anxiety affecting Japanese populations characterized by fear of perception of one's body or actions.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

an anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a near-constant state of sympathetic nervous system activation.

Cognitive Restructuring

a therapeutic technique of CBT to help individuals identify, challenge, and modify negative thoughts.

Arachnophobia

The fear spiders

Lithium

a mood stabilizing drug intended to reduce symptoms of bipolar and some personality disorders.

Persistent Depressive Disorder

a disorder in which a person experiences a depressed mood more days than not for at least 2 years.

Diathesis-Stress Model

the concept that genetic predispositions combine with environmental triggers to influence psychological disorders.

Cognitive Therapy

therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and addresses maladaptive patterns of thinking.

Schizophrenia

a psychological disorder category marked by delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking, speech, or movement.

Lobotomy

a psychosurgical procedure once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients by cutting nerves connecting the frontal lobes to the limbic system

Bipolar II

a disorder in which a person experience milder hypomanic states followed by longer or deeper depressive states.

Eclectic Approach

the combination of multiple perspectives or etiologies to explain a disorder

Bulimia Nervosa

an eating disorder in which a person's binge eating is followed by a purging behavior such as vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise.

Panic Disorder

an anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread, often followed by worry over a possible next attack.

Emotion Focused Coping

attempting to alleviate stress indirectly - by avoiding or ignoring the stressor and instead attending to related needs.

PTSD

a disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, hypervigilance, and other symptoms resulting from trauma.

Ataque de Nervios

a culturally-bound version of panic disorder affecting Caribbean-Latino populations characterized by shakiness

Health Psychology

a subfield of psychology that explores the impact of psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors on health and wellness.

Psychodynamic Therapy

therapy that views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences and therefore seeks to enhance self-insight.

Rational-Emotive Behavioral Therapy

a confrontational cognitive therapy that vigorously challenges people's illogical, self-defeating attitudes and assumptions

Catatonia

the disorganization of motor or cognitive processes, resulting in stupor or excitement.

Antipsychotics

drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorders.

Deinstitutionalization

the process of moving people with psychological disorders out of institutional facilities.

ACEs [Adverse Childhood Experiences]

experiences in childhood that contribute to overall stress and susceptibility toward mental illness.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

the application of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain to stimulate or suppress brain activity.

Unconditional Positive Regard

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude believed to help clients develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.

Hallucinations

false sensory experiences, such as seeing or hearing something that is not there.

Major Depressive Disorder

a disorder in which a person experiences depressed mood and/or a loss of interest in pleasure along with other characteristic symptoms for 2 or more weeks.

Stress

the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events that we appraise as threatening or challenging

Autism Spectrum Disorder

a psychological disorder appearing in childhood and marked by limitations in communication and social interaction, and often including rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors.

ADHD

a psychological disorder marked by extreme inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

abnormalities that start in early childhood and alter thinking and behavior.

Word Salad

the disorganized speech that results from schizophrenia

Positive Symptoms

symptoms of a disorder that are in addition to one's typical experience.

Etiology

the study of causation of mental health disorders

Systematic Desensitization

a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli.

Cluster B Personality Disorders

a group of personality disorders characterized by dramatic-emotional tendencies including antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder.

Hypnosis

a social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur.

Biofeedback

a technique that helps individuals gain voluntary control over involuntary bodily functions through monitors, often to reduce stress or anxiety.

false beliefs, often of persecution, grandeur, reference, or control.

Dissociative Amnesia

a disorder in which people with intact brains reportedly experience memory gaps.

the concept that genetic predispositions combine with environmental triggers to influence psychological disorders.

Fear Hierarchies

a therapeutic technique of CBT to help individuals rank objects, situations, or activities in order of increased anxiety-provoking potential in hopes to confront those fears.

Dysfunctional

the diagnostic criteria when a condition impairs someone's day to day life and ability to operate.

Electroconvulsive Therapy

a biomedical therapy for severe depression in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized person.

Psychotherapy

treatment involving psychological techniques by a trained therapist for a client seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve person growth.

Distressing

the diagnostic criteria when a condition causes an emotional burden to oneself or to others.

Humanistic Therapy

therapy types that are focused on improving one's sense of self and helping them reach their full potential.

Person-Centered Therapy

a humanistic therapy in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within an accepting, genuine, empathetic environment to facilitate clients' growth.

Specific Phobias

an anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear or avoidance of an object, activity, or situation.

Anxiety Disorders

a category of disorders characterized by excessive fear, worry, and maladaptive behaviors.

Dissociative Identity Disorder

a rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating "personalities" called alters.

ICD

the WHO's widely used, international system for classifying psychological disorders.

*Deviant

the diagnostic criteria when a condition is statistically infrequent among the population.

*Bipolar I

a disorder in which a person experience euphoric manic states followed by significant depressive states.

Tend and Befriend Theory

under stress, people's (especially women's) tendency to nurture themselves and others by bonding and seeking support from others.

Downward social comparison

comparing to those perceived as inferior

Informational social influence

influence resulting from a person's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality.

Burnout

physical, emotional, or mental exhaustion brought on by an overburdening workload, which may negatively impact motivation, performance, and attitude

Altruism

unselfish regard for the welfare of others.

Implicit attitude

a perspective unconsciously held that informs behavior

Confirmation bias

the tendency to search for information that supports of preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

Superordinate goals

shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation.

Central route persuasion

using evidence and arguments to influence thinking.

Peripheral route persuasion

using incidental cues and emotions to influence thinking.

Groupthink

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

a belief that leads to its own fulfillment

Dispositional attribution

attributing a person's behavior to their traits

Attribution Theory

the theory that we explain someone's behavior by crediting either the situation or the person's traits.

Situational Attribution

attributing a person's behavior to their circumstances

I/O Psychology

the application of psychology to optimizing human behavior in workplaces.

Relative Deprivation

the perception that we are worse off relative to those with whom we compare ourselves

Actor Observer Bias

the tendency for those acting in a situation to attribute their behavior to external causes, but for observers to attribute others' behavior to internal causes.