Psychological Process: Comprehensive Semester III Notes

MODULE 1 ABNORMALITY

  • Definition & Scope

    • Anything deviating from statistical, social-normative, functional, or moral expectations
    • Abnormal psychology studies nature, causes, treatment of mental disorders
    • DSM-5: Mental disorder = clinically significant disturbance in cognition, emotion regulation, or behaviour, reflecting dysfunction in biological, psychological or developmental processes; must cause distress/impairment

  • Seven Indicators of Abnormality

    • Suffering
    • Maladaptiveness
    • Statistical deviancy
    • Violation of societal standards
    • Social discomfort in observers
    • Irrationality & unpredictability
    • Dangerousness

  • Historical Perspectives

    • Supernatural (demonology, exorcism)
    • Biological (Greek humoral theory – black bile, blood, yellow bile, phlegm)
    • Middle Ages/Renaissance: witchcraft, asylums
    • Humanitarian reform: Pinel, Tuke, Dix, Rush
    • Scientific models: psychoanalytic (Freud), behaviourism (Pavlov, Skinner), cognitive (Beck, Ellis), humanistic (Rogers)
    • Biopsychosocial/Diathesis–Stress framework: Disorder=f(diathesis×stress)\text{Disorder}=f(\text{diathesis}\times\text{stress})

  • Causal Factors

    • Biological: neurotransmitter imbalance (NE, DA, 5-HT, GABA), HPA-axis cortisol, genetics, chromosomal anomalies
    • Psychosocial: early deprivation/trauma, parenting styles, marital discord, maladaptive peers, schemas/self-schemas
    • Sociocultural: SES, unemployment, discrimination, role conflict

MODULE 2 STRESS DISORDERS

  • Stress

    • Stimulus, response, or transactional process (person–environment)
    • \text{Stress}=\text{perceived demand}>\text{resources}
    • Eustress vs distress (Selye)

  • Stressors

    • Frustration, conflict, pressure; life events, crises

  • Adjustment Disorder

    • Reaction within 3 months to identified stressor; out-of-proportion distress; resolves ≤6 months after stressor ends
    • Symptoms: low mood, worry, insomnia, anger, impaired function
    • Unemployment highlighted as common precipitant

  • Acute Stress Disorder (ASD)

    • Exposure to trauma; 9+ symptoms across intrusion, negative mood, dissociation, avoidance, arousal; duration 3 days–1 month
    • CBT, anxiety-management, early intervention

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

    • DSM-5 clusters: intrusion, avoidance, negative mood/cognition, hyper-arousal (≥1 month)
    • Preschool & dissociative subtypes
    • Treatments: CBT, exposure/VR-ET, EMDR, SSRIs

MODULE 3 PANIC, ANXIETY, OBSESSIONS

  • Anxiety vs Fear
    • Anxiety = future-oriented, muscle tension; Fear = present threat, fight-or-flight

Specific Phobia

  • Persistent, excessive fear + avoidance; ≥6 months
  • Subtypes: animal, natural-environment, blood-injury, situational, other
  • Treatment: exposure, CBT, hypnosis/self-help, meds adjunct

Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia)

  • Fear of scrutiny & negative evaluation; DSM-5 performance specifier
  • Etiology: amygdala hypersensitivity, conditioning, cognitive biases
  • Treatment: CBT with exposure, SSRIs, group therapy

Panic Disorder & Agoraphobia

  • Recurrent unexpected panic attacks + worry/avoidance ≥1 month
  • Agoraphobia: fear ≥2 situations (public transport, open spaces, etc.)
  • Causal: genetics, CO₂ sensitivity, anxiety-sensitivity, learning
  • Treatment: CBT (interoceptive exposure), SSRIs/benzodiazepines

OCD & Related

  • Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder: obsessions +/or compulsions >1 h/day
  • Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Hoarding, Trichotillomania, Excoriation within OCRD category
  • Etiology: fronto-striatal circuitry, low 5-HT, conditioning, inflated responsibility
  • Treatment: ERP + CBT, SSRIs/clomipramine; motivational/family work

MODULE 4 SOMATIC & DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS

Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD)

  • Distressing somatic symptoms + excessive thoughts/behaviour ≥6 months
  • Replaces DSM-IV somatization, hypochondriasis, pain disorder

Illness Anxiety (Hypochondriasis)

  • Fear of serious illness with few/no somatic symptoms

Conversion Disorder

  • Neurologic-like symptoms (motor/sensory/seizures) inconsistent with pathology

Dissociative Disorders

  • DID: ≥2 identity states + amnesia
  • Dissociative Amnesia/Fugue: autobiographical memory loss; fugue = travel + new identity
  • Depersonalization/Derealization: persistent detachment, intact reality testing
  • Treatment: trauma-focused therapy, hypnosis, integration, CBT; meds limited

MODULE 5 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

  • Scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, behaviours are influenced by real/imagined others (ABC: Affect–Behaviour–Cognition)
  • Historical roots: Triplett (1898) social facilitation; Milgram, Zimbardo, Lewin; cognitive & biological turns
  • Methods: experiments (IV/DV, control, random assignment), correlational & survey, observation (naturalistic, participant), ethical concerns

MODULE 6 SOCIAL COGNITION

  • Schemas guide attention, encoding, retrieval; priming ↑accessibility
  • Dual processing: automatic vs controlled
  • Biases: optimistic bias, planning fallacy, overconfidence, counterfactuals, magical thinking

MODULE 7 SOCIAL PERCEPTION & INFLUENCE

  • Non-verbal cues: facial expressions (Ekman’s 6), eye contact, body language, touch, paralanguage
  • Attribution
    • Jones–Davis correspondent inference
    • Kelley covariation (consensus, distinctiveness, consistency)
  • Impression Formation & Management
    • Implicit personality theories; self-enhancement & other-enhancement tactics
  • Social Influence
    • Conformity (Asch): normative & informational; factors—group size, unanimity, cohesion
    • Compliance principles: reciprocity (door-in-face, that’s-not-all), commitment/consistency (foot-in-door, low-ball), scarcity, liking, authority, social proof
    • Obedience (Milgram) and factors; destructive obedience, resistance strategies

MODULE 8 PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR & AGGRESSION

Prosocial / Helping

  • Motivations: evolutionary kin selection, empathy-altruism, negative-state relief, empathic joy, competitive & defensive altruism
  • Bystander decision model (Latane & Darley): notice → interpret → responsibility → ability → decide; diffusion of responsibility, pluralistic ignorance
  • Personal & situational factors: personality, gender, culture, mood (feel-good/do-good; feel-bad/do-good), rural vs urban, residential stability

Aggression

  • Definition: intentional behaviour to harm
  • Types: hostile vs instrumental; direct vs indirect; bullying/cyber
  • Theories: biological (thanatos, instincts, hormones), evolutionary, frustration–aggression, social learning, general aggression model Input→(Affect, Arousal, Cognition)→Appraisal→Behaviour\text{Input}\to(\text{Affect, Arousal, Cognition})\to\text{Appraisal}\to\text{Behaviour}
  • Causes: provocation, heat, alcohol, media violence, cultures of honour, gender (m>f direct; f indirect), personality (Type A, narcissism)
  • Control/Prevention: punishment (limited), self-regulation, catharsis myth, fostering empathy, bolstering self-esteem