PSY 303 Unit 1

What are the three things that might help to define a psychological disorder?

Distress/impairment, not culturally expected, psychological dysfunction

What is etiology?

The study of the origin of a disorder

Which age group is most likely to go see a therapist? What are two reasons why?

Middle-aged; more financially affordable; lots of life pressures

Why are women more likely than men to see a therapist?

Men are expected to not acknowledge feelings and mental health

True or false: Those with higher education are more likely to seek out therapy.

True

Which profession in psychology requires a BA/BA + 4-6 years of grad, and a PSY D or PhD? Its PhD programs are very selective, less expensive due to funding their selections, and is research-focused

Clinical psychology

Which profession in psychology requires a PhD, focuses on developmental issues (transition periods, cultural diversity, etc), and interactions with humans?

Counseling psychology

Which psychology profession requires an MD (4 years) and a residency fellowship (3-6)? It is paid the most

Psychiatrist

Which psychology profession requires a BA/BS + 2 years grad in social work (MSW)? It focuses on talk therapy

Clinical social worker

Which psychology profession requires a BA/BS + 2 years studying at the masters level? It has specialized treatment in one area (substance abuse, marriage, etc)

Counselor

Which psychology profession requires a BA/BS + 3 years (specialist degree)? It focuses on work during assessment and intervention in school settings.

School psychology

How would you test to see if therapy works? (hint: use depression as an example)

Treatment vs no treatment groups, use Beck Depression Inventory to measure depression before and after treatment

What are the four things that a scientist practitioner must do at least one of?

Keep up with scientific developments; evaluate own assessments/treatments; conduct research (into something lol idk)

How to define genetics in terms of how it defines your development? (Ex: Polish husband example)

Provides boundaries to your development. Environmental factors influence where you fall within those boundaries

Twin studies have been done to study genetic and environmental factors. What is concordance?

Rate at which twins have the same thing

Do fraternal twins have lower or higher concordance rates with each other? Why?

Lower. Genes’ impact

What is the Diathesis Stress Model?

Diathesis: genetic vulnerability. Stress: nongenetic factors

What is a stressor? It is involved with the Diathesis Stress Model. (Hint: does not have to be stressful)

Anything non-genetic that increases risk

How may the environment impact genes? When can the environment impact genes?

May activate genes that are “turned off” during critical period

Describe the rat study (Francis et al., 1999). What was found when Cameron et al. (2005) repeated the study, but looked at gene expression?

Half stressed pups raised by bio moms, half went to calm moms. Calm moms’ pups less easily stressed; calm moms’ behavior only affected pups in critical period

What are the four aspects of Classical Conditioning?

Unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response

Apply classical conditioning to Little Albert.

Gong

Fear

Rat

Fear

UCS: Gong. UCR: Fear. CS: Rat. CR: Fear

What is generalization?

Have CR to anything similar to the CS

What is extinction?

CR eventually goes away when CS is repeatedly shown without UCS

What is operant conditioning?

Associating behavior with consequences

What is positive punishment vs negative punishment?

Positive punishment: adding something to discourage a behavior. Negative punishment: removing something to discourage a behavior.

What is positive reinforcement vs negative reinforcement?

Positive reinforcement: adding something to encourage a behavior. Negative reinforcement: removing something to discourage a behavior.

What is the main function of the hindbrain? What three parts make up the hindbrain?

Medulla, pons, cerebellum

What is the main function of the midbrain, thalamus, and hypothalamus?

Midbrain: arousal, sleep/wake cycle. Thalamus/hypothalamus: behavior and emotion. Relay between brain stem and forebrain

What makes up the forebrain, and what are their functions?

Limbic system: regulate emotions. Basal ganglia: regulates motor behavior. Cerebral cortex: plan and reason.

What does the left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex control? What about the right one?

Left: verbal and cognitive tasks. Right: perception, images

Briefly summarize the following neuroimaging techniques:

CT/MRI

PET/SPECT

fMRI

CT/MRI: Brain structure X-ray. PET/SPECT: Brain activity expensive. fMRI: Brain activity with event related responses

Briefly summarize the following neurotransmitters:

Glutamate

GABA

Serotonin

Norepinephrine

Dopamine

Glutamate: Excitatory; GABA: inhibitory; serotonin: associated with depression; norepinephrine: adrenaline; dopamine: pleasure-seeking behavior

What is shaping?

Operant principles used to form new behavior

What is shaping’s two factor theory? What does operant conditioning create?

Factor 1: classical (how fears and phobias are made); factor 2: operant (how fears and phobias are maintained); avoidance

What treatment is best to eliminate phobias and how?

Exposure therapy. Get rid of CR by being exposed to CS without UCS

What is prepared learning? (Think of snakes, spiders, foods that make us sick, heights)

Genetic material passed down so we can develop fears to “prepared stimuli”

What other ways can we learn and how? Identify what kinds of learning came from these experiments:

Bobo doll experiment

Mineka research with monkeys

Seligman’s dogs with the shuttle box

Social learning through observation, anxiety learned through observation, learned helplessness

What are the top two leading causes of death in the US?

Heart disease and cancer

What lifestyle choice causes 19% of deaths in US?

Smoking

What happens to someone’s health the more stressed they are?

Immune system weakens

List the different axes of the DMS IV-TR

Axis I

Axis II

Axis III

Axis IV

Axis V

Axis I: Mental health and substance abuse. Axis II: Personality disorders and intellectual development disorder. Axis III: General medical conditions. Axis IV: Psychosocial and environmental problems. Axis V: Global assessment of functioning