AP Psychology Unit 5: Mental and Physical Health and Research Methods

Health Psychology

Definition

  • Health Psychology: Study of how biological, psychological, and social factors influence health and illness.

Biopsychosocial Model

  • Biopsychosocial Model: Holistic model incorporating biological, psychological, and social factors in health.

Components

  • Biological factors

  • Psychological factors

  • Social factors

Stress

Definition

  • Stress: Body’s response to demands or challenges.

Types of Stress

  • Acute Stress: Short-term stress response.

  • Chronic Stress: Long-term persistent stress.

Coping Mechanisms

Adaptive Coping

  • Adaptive Coping: Healthy stress-management strategies.

  • Example: Problem-solving.

Maladaptive Coping

  • Maladaptive Coping: Unhealthy stress-management strategies.

  • Example: Avoidance.

Behavioral Medicine

  • Behavioral Medicine: Integration of behavioral and medical knowledge to improve health.

Health Behavior

  • Health Behavior: Actions affecting health outcomes.

  • Examples: Exercise, diet, smoking.

Psychoneuroimmunology

  • Psychoneuroimmunology: Study of interactions among psychological processes, nervous system, and immune system.

Chronic Illness

  • Chronic Illness: Long-term health conditions requiring ongoing management.

  • Examples: Heart disease, diabetes, cancer.

Positive Psychology

Definition

  • Positive Psychology: Study of strengths and virtues promoting well-being.

Key Concepts

Subjective Well-Being (SWB)

  • Subjective Well-Being: Evaluation of life satisfaction and emotional experiences.

Flow

  • Flow: Complete immersion and enjoyment in an activity.

Gratitude

  • Gratitude: Appreciation associated with improved well-being.

Mindfulness

  • Mindfulness: Present-focused awareness reducing stress.

Optimism

  • Optimism: Expectation of positive outcomes.

Resilience

  • Resilience: Ability to recover from adversity.

Strengths and Virtues

  • Strengths and Virtues: Positive traits contributing to fulfillment.

Psychological Disorders

Abnormal Behavior

Criteria for Abnormality

  • Maladaptive

  • Disturbing to others

  • Unusual

  • Irrational

Insanity

  • Insanity: Legal inability to distinguish right from wrong.

  • Example: McNaughten Case.

  • Related concept: Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI).

DSM-V

Definition

  • DSM-V: Manual classifying psychological disorders by symptoms.

Characteristics

  • Guides diagnosis and treatment.

  • Does not identify causes.

  • Includes severity ratings from 0–4.

Causes of Abnormal Behavior

Psychoanalytic Perspective

  • Disorders result from unconscious conflicts.

Behavioral Perspective

  • Disorders result from maladaptive learned behaviors.

Humanistic Perspective

  • Disorders result from conditions of worth and poor self-concept.

Cognitive Perspective

  • Disorders result from irrational thought patterns.

Evolutionary Perspective

  • Disorders result from dysfunctional evolved mechanisms.

Biological Perspective

  • Disorders result from genetic, neurological, hormonal, or structural abnormalities.

Anxiety Disorders

Definition

  • Anxiety: Feeling of apprehension, tension, or impending disaster.

Panic Disorder

  • Panic Disorder: Recurrent intense anxiety attacks with physical symptoms.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

  • GAD: Persistent long-term anxiety with less intense symptoms.

Phobias

  • Phobia: Irrational fear of specific stimuli.

Types

  • Agoraphobia: Fear of public spaces.

  • Acrophobia: Fear of heights.

  • Claustrophobia: Fear of enclosed spaces.

  • Zoophobia: Fear of animals.

  • Arachnophobia: Fear of spiders.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Obsessions

  • Obsessions: Persistent intrusive thoughts.

Compulsions

  • Compulsions: Repetitive ritualistic behaviors reducing anxiety.

Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

  • PTSD: Disorder resulting from traumatic experiences.

Symptoms

  • Flashbacks

  • Nightmares

  • Re-experiencing trauma

Somatoform Disorders

Definition

  • Somatoform Disorders: Physical symptoms without identifiable physical causes.

Somatization

  • Somatization: Multiple unexplained physical complaints.

Conversion Disorder

  • Conversion Disorder: Loss of bodily function without physical damage.

Hypochondriasis

  • Hypochondriasis: Misinterpreting normal physical signs as serious illness.

Dissociative Disorders

Dissociative Amnesia

  • Dissociative Amnesia: Memory loss for traumatic events.

Dissociative Fugue

  • Dissociative Fugue: Loss of personal identity with relocation and new identity formation.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

  • DID: Presence of multiple distinct personalities.

Mood Disorders

Major Depressive Disorder (Unipolar Depression)

  • Major Depression: Persistent depressed mood and loss of interest lasting at least two weeks.

Dysthymic Disorder

  • Dysthymia: Chronic less severe depression lasting at least two years.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

  • SAD: Depression associated with reduced winter sunlight.

Bipolar Disorder

  • Bipolar Disorder: Alternating depressive and manic episodes.

Mania Symptoms

  • Inflated self-esteem

  • Reduced need for sleep

  • Excessive talking

  • Impulsivity

Causes of Mood Disorders

Biological Causes

  • Imbalances in norepinephrine and serotonin.

  • Reduced left frontal lobe activity during depression.

Social-Cognitive Causes

Learned Helplessness

  • Learned Helplessness: Perceived lack of control over negative events.

Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Triad

  • Negative views of self, world, and future.

Attributional Style

  • Depressed individuals attribute negative events to internal, global, and stable causes.

Schizophrenia

Definition

  • Schizophrenia: Psychotic disorder involving distorted thinking and impaired reality contact.

Positive Symptoms

  • Positive Symptoms: Excesses or distortions of normal behavior.

Types

  • Delusions of grandeur

  • Delusions of persecution

  • Hallucinations

Negative Symptoms

  • Negative Symptoms: Absence or reduction of normal behaviors.

Types

  • Flat affect

  • Social withdrawal

  • Apathy

  • Inattention

  • Reduced communication

Schizophrenia Subtypes

Disorganized Type

  • Disorganized speech, behavior, or emotions.

  • Includes neologisms and clang associations.

Paranoid Type

  • Dominated by persecutory or grandiose delusions.

Catatonic Type

  • Disturbed movement or immobility.

  • Includes waxy flexibility.

Undifferentiated Type

  • Mixed symptoms.

Residual Type

  • Withdrawal after psychotic symptoms diminish.

Causes of Schizophrenia

Biological Causes

Dopamine Hypothesis

  • Excess dopamine activity contributes to schizophrenia.

Tardive Dyskinesia

  • Parkinsonian side effect of antipsychotic medication.

Brain Abnormalities

  • Enlarged ventricles and brain asymmetry.

Genetic Factors

  • High concordance in identical twins.

Cognitive-Behavioral Cause

  • Double Bind: Contradictory messages contributing to schizophrenia.

Diathesis-Stress Model

  • Diathesis-Stress Model: Genetic predisposition activated by stress.

Personality Disorders

Definition

  • Personality Disorders: Maladaptive personality patterns causing distress or impairment.

Types

Paranoid Personality Disorder

  • Suspiciousness and mistrust.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

  • Social detachment.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

  • Excessive emotionality and attention-seeking.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

  • Inflated self-importance.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

  • Lack of empathy and disregard for others.

Dependent Personality Disorder

  • Excessive dependence on others.

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

  • Perfectionism and rigidity.

Other Psychological Disorders

Paraphilia

  • Paraphilia: Atypical sexual interests.

ADHD

  • ADHD: Disorder involving inattention and impulsivity.

Autism

  • Autism: Developmental disorder involving communication and social impairments.

Alzheimer’s Disease

  • Alzheimer’s Disease: Progressive cognitive deterioration in older adults.

Eating Disorders

  • Includes anorexia and bulimia.

Diagnostic Labeling

Rosenhan Study

  • Pseudopatients admitted to psychiatric hospitals after claiming hallucinations.

  • Normal behaviors interpreted as pathological.

  • Demonstrated dangers of diagnostic labeling.

Treatment of Psychological Disorders

Historical Approaches

Trephining

  • Drilling holes in skulls to release evil spirits.

Medieval Approaches

  • Exorcism, drowning, and punishment.

Enlightenment Reformers

  • Philippe Pinel and Dorothea Dix promoted humane treatment.

Deinstitutionalization

  • Transition from hospitals to community-based treatment.

Prevention Levels

Primary Prevention

  • Reducing societal causes of disorders.

Secondary Prevention

  • Assisting at-risk individuals.

Tertiary Prevention

  • Preventing worsening of existing disorders.

Psychotherapy (Insight Therapy)

Psychoanalysis (Sigmund Freud)

Free Association

  • Speaking uncensored thoughts.

Dream Interpretation

  • Manifest Content: Surface dream content.

  • Latent Content: Hidden symbolic meaning.

Resistance

  • Avoidance of anxiety-provoking material.

Transference

  • Redirecting feelings toward therapist.

Catharsis

  • Emotional release.

Humanistic Therapy

Client-Centered Therapy

  • Uses unconditional positive regard and active listening.

Gestalt Therapy

  • Focuses on present awareness and the whole self.

Behavioral Therapies

Classical Conditioning Techniques

Systematic Desensitization

  • Gradual exposure paired with relaxation.

Reciprocal Inhibition

  • Relaxation inhibiting anxiety.

Flooding

  • Immediate exposure to feared stimuli.

Aversive Conditioning

  • Pairing unwanted behavior with unpleasant stimulus.

Operant Conditioning Techniques

Behavior Modification

  • Reinforcement-based behavior change.

Token Economy

  • Use of symbolic rewards.

Modeling

  • Learning through observation.

Behavioral Therapy Criticism

  • Symptom removal may not address underlying causes.

Cognitive and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

  • Challenging irrational beliefs using the ABC model.

Cognitive Triad Modification

  • Changing negative attributional patterns.

Other Therapies

Group and Family Therapy

  • Treating interpersonal systems.

Self-Help Groups

  • Peer support without therapists.

  • Example: Alcoholics Anonymous.

Light Therapy

  • Treatment for SAD.

Biomedical/Somatic Therapies

Anti-Anxiety Drugs (Anxiolytics)

  • Benzodiazepines and barbiturates.

Antidepressants

  • MAO inhibitors

  • SSRIs

  • Lithium for bipolar disorder

Antipsychotics

  • Neuroleptic medications.

  • Examples: Thorazine, Haldol.

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

  • Electrical stimulation for severe depression.

rTMS

  • Magnetic stimulation treatment.

Psychosurgery

  • Surgical removal of brain tissue.

  • Example: Prefrontal lobotomy.

Kinds of Therapists

Psychiatrist

  • Medical doctor prescribing medication.

Clinical Psychologist

  • Ph.D.-level therapist treating severe disorders.

Counseling Psychotherapist

  • Treats less severe psychological issues.

Psychoanalyst

  • Uses Freudian methods.

Research Methods and Statistical Analysis

Hindsight Bias

  • Hindsight Bias: “I knew it all along” phenomenon.

Scientific Method

Steps

  1. Formulate hypothesis.

  2. Conduct research using operational definitions.

  3. Revise, replicate, confirm, or reject.

  4. Develop theory.

Validity

  • Validity: Measuring intended construct.

Reliability

  • Reliability: Consistency of results.

Applied Research

  • Applied Research: Practical problem-solving research.

Basic Research

  • Basic Research: Research for theoretical understanding.

Sampling Methods

Population

  • Population: Entire group of interest.

Sample

  • Sample: Representative subgroup.

Random Sampling

  • Random Sampling: Equal selection probability.

Stratified Sampling

  • Stratified Sampling: Sampling within subgroups.

Experiments

Independent Variable (IV)

  • IV: Manipulated variable.

Dependent Variable (DV)

  • DV: Measured outcome.

Random Assignment

  • Random Assignment: Equal placement probability in groups.

Experimental Group

  • Receives treatment.

Control Group

  • Does not receive treatment.

Placebo Effect

  • Improvement due to belief in treatment.

Confounding Variables and Biases

Participant Bias

  • Acting according to perceived study expectations.

Demand Characteristics

  • Cues revealing study purpose.

Social Desirability Bias

  • Behaving to appear socially favorable.

Experimenter Bias

  • Researcher influence on outcomes.

Hawthorne Effect

  • Behavioral change due to being observed.

Experimental Controls

Single-Blind Procedure

  • Participants unaware of group assignment.

Double-Blind Procedure

  • Participants and experimenters unaware of group assignment.

Descriptive and Correlational Research

Correlational Research

  • Examining relationships without proving causation.

Quasi-Experiments

  • Studies without random assignment.

Naturalistic Observation

  • Observing behavior without intervention.

Survey

  • Collecting data through questionnaires or interviews.

Case Study

  • In-depth examination of a rare individual or event.

Statistical Analysis

Frequency Distribution

  • Organized presentation of data.

Measures of Central Tendency

Mean

  • Arithmetic average.

Median

  • Middle score.

Mode

  • Most frequent score.

Outliers

  • Extreme scores distorting distributions.

Positive Skew

  • High outliers pull mean upward.

Negative Skew

  • Low outliers pull mean downward.

Normal Distribution

  • Symmetrical distribution where mean = median = mode.

Measures of Variability

Range

  • Difference between highest and lowest scores.

Standard Deviation (SD)

  • Average variation from the mean.

Z-Score

  • Distance from mean measured in SD units.

Percentile

  • Relative standing from 0–100.

Empirical Rule

  • 68.2% within 1 SD.

  • 95.4% within 2 SD.

  • 99.7% within 3 SD.

Correlation Coefficient (r)

  • Strength and direction of relationships from -1 to +1.

Inferential Statistics

P-Value

  • Probability findings occurred by chance.

Null Hypothesis

  • Assumes no effect.

Alternative Hypothesis

  • Assumes a significant effect exists.

Type I Error

  • False positive.

Type II Error

  • False negative.

Meta-Analysis

  • Combining results from multiple studies.

Ethical Guidelines

APA and IRB

  • APA establishes ethical standards.

  • IRB reviews research proposals.

Human Research Ethics

  • Informed consent

  • Debriefing

  • Protection from harm

  • Confidentiality

Animal Research Ethics

  • Humane treatment required.

  • Benefits must outweigh harm.