○ health psychology
● Stages of Change Model:
Stage: Example
Precontemplation Not thiChapter 10: Stress & Health
Key Terms & Concepts:
● Biopsychosocial model: biological, environmental, psychosocial factors are all relevant
for etiologynking much about changing behavior
Contemplation Starting to think maybe I should
Preparation Looking more into what a decision would
entail
Action Making the decision to change behavior
Maintenance Maintaining the decision/behavior, chance for
relapse
● Motivational Interviewing: counseling technique that helps people overcome conflicts
and insecurities to find the motivation to change behavior (short-term)
○ conversation would include empathy (of client’s situation), self-efficacy
(supporting beliefs that client can change), rolling with resistance (helping client
identify roadblocks), discrepancies (identify discrepancies between current
situations do future goals)
● Social relationships are one of most important predictors of health
○ having social support can lower stress before and after events
● Stress
○ Hans Selye: founder of modern stress research
○ stress= the body’s response to stressors
○ Nervous System:
■ Autonomic:
● sympathetic: arousal and expending energy
○ fight or flight
● Parasympathetic: conserves energy; calms you down after stress
(think a “para”chute to help you after free-falling)
○ Yerkes-Dodson Law: different tasks require different levels of stress for best
performance
■ think of the standard bell curve!
● Stress and Health
○ General Adaptation Syndrome: common effects of stressful demands on the
body
■ 3 phases: alarm, resistance, exhaustion
○ Prejudice is a predictor for stress for members of marginalized groups

■ health disparities
● Coping with Stress
○ personal control: internal VS external locus of control
■ external: outside forces determine my fate- I have no control
■ internal: I have control over my fate
○ learned helplessness: we learn that we are helpless to something when we
cannot avoid repeated adverse events
○ optimism VS pessimism
○ mindfulness: reflective practice; linked to boosted happiness, anxiety, improved
sleep and immune system functioning
■ strengthens connections in brain, calms brain down
○ emotional regulation: how we manage our emotions, including how we feel,
express, and respond to them
■ cognitive appraisal: interpretation of life events as harmful, challenging
● But we could engage in positive reappraisal to see the stressful
event as valuable or positive!
● Happiness
○ having more positive than negative feelings
■ When are we most happy?
■ What makes us happy?
Chapter Questions:
1. What are some things you do to cope with stress, and why do you think those are
effective/not effective?
2. What tasks would require more stress to complete, and what tasks may require less
stress to be best completed?

Chapter 11: Social Psychology
Key Terms & Concepts
● Social psychology: study of how people think about, influence, and relate to others
● Sociology: study of human societies, institutions, and organizations
● Social Thinking
○ social cognition: how people select, interpret, remember, and use social info
■ person perception= process of making first impressions of people
○ Attributions: explanations for why people behave the way they do
■ attribution theory: people are motivated to discover the underlying causes
of behavior as part of their effort to make sense of the behavior
● fundamental attribution error: overestimating importance of
internal traits, underestimating external causes
○ Self-serving bias: tendency to take credit for success and deny responsibility for
failure
○ Self-fulfilling prophecy: social expectations cause an individual to act in such a
way that the expectations are realized
● Attitudes and actions
○ attitudes affect actions, and actions affect attitudes!
○ foot-in-the-door phenomenon: tendency for people who have first agreed to a
small request, comply later with a larger request
○ self-perception theory: people make inferences about their attitudes by
perceiving their behavior
○ cognitive dissonance: mental discomfort caused by awareness of a mismatch
between our attitudes and our actions
■ how do we relieve this? -> cognitive dissonance theory-> we need to align
our attitudes with actions
○ altruism: helping others feels good
● The Self
○ self-esteem: the degree to which we have positive or negative feelings about
ourselves
■ social comparisons: process of us evaluating ourselves as compared to
others
○ social contagion: behaviors, emotions, or conditions spreading spontaneously
through a network
■ we imitate others and this helps us empathize!
● Conformity
○ can be positive or negative to conform to others!
■ our brains feel better when we fit in
○ normative social influence: a person conforms because they desire to gain
approval or avoid rejection
○ informational social influence: a person conforms because the group may provide
valuable information
○ Obedience: behavior that complies with explicit demands of authority figures

■ Stanley Milgram!
● Groups
○ social facilitation: improvement in an individual's performance because of the
presence of others
○ Social loafing: exerting less effort in a group because of reduced accountability
for one’s effort
■ which = less attention to personal behavior
■ can be decreased by having specific goals, increased personal
responsibility
○ voter disillusionment: “my vote doesn’t matter, so I won’t vote”
○ group polarization: strengthening a group’s pre-existing attitudes through
discussions within the group
■ positive and negative.
● confirmation bias: we look for info that confirms what we believe
and ignore info that denies it
● Social Identity
○ five types: ethnicity/religion, political affiliation, vocation/avocation, personal
relationships, and stigmatized groups
○ in-group VS out-group
● Prejudice and Discrimination
○ prejudice: unfair and negative attitude towards a group and members
○ discrimination: unjustifiable negative behavior onwards a group and members
■ explicit or implicit
● micro aggressions
○ just-world phenomenon: tendency to believe that the world is just, so people get
what they deserve
○ scapegoat theory: prejudice offers an outlet for anger by giving you someone to
blame
● Aggression
○ aggression has neurobiological influences, and environmental influences
■ hurt people hurt people
○ social scripts: culturally modeled guide for how to act in a situation
● Attraction
○ 3 ingredients of attraction:
■ 1. Proximity
● we tend to like people physically close to us
■ 2. Physical attractiveness
■ 3. Similarity
● Love
○ different types of love
■ passionate love: think beginning of a romantic love: intense positive
absorption in another
● has a short duration

○ 2-factor theory of emotion: emotional experience Involves
physical and cognitive arousal
■ Companionate love: deep, affectionate attachment
● mature relationships
Chapter Questions:
1. What is an example of informational social influence and of normative social influence?
2. What is the difference between in-group and out-group?
3. How are representativeness and availability heuristics related to prejudice and
discrimination?
Chapter 13: Psychological Disorders
Core Concepts
Basic Terminology
● Psychopathology: Study of the nature, development, and treatment of psychological
disorders
● Psychological Disorder: Disturbance in people's thoughts, emotions, or behaviors that:
○ Is deviant (atypical)
○ Is maladaptive (dysfunctional)
○ Causes personal distress
○ Impairs daily life
Causal Frameworks
● Etiology: The causes or manner of causation for a condition
● Comorbidity: Simultaneous presence of two or more disorders in one person
● Risk Factors: Characteristics or experiences that increase disorder likelihood
● Medical Model: Attributes disorders to organic, internal causes
● Biopsychosocial Model: Considers biological, environmental, and psychosocial factors
● Vulnerability-Stress Model: Disorder appears when predisposition meets stressor
Classification
● DSM-5: Common tool for describing and classifying disorders
○ Advantages: Common communication basis, helps predictions, provides comfort
○ Disadvantages: Can lead to stigma, over-diagnosis, focus on weaknesses
Major Disorders
Anxiety Disorders (25-30% lifetime prevalence)

1. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
○ Excessive worry for 6+ months
○ Not specific to any situation
○ Symptoms: persistent worry, jitteriness, insomnia
2. Panic Disorder
○ Recurrent panic attacks
○ Fear of future attacks
○ May include agoraphobia
3. Specific Phobia
○ Irrational fear of specific objects/situations
○ Treated with exposure therapy
4. Social Anxiety Disorder
○ Intense fear of social embarrassment
○ Treatment: exposure therapy, psychotherapy, SSRIs
Anxiety-Related Disorders
1. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
○ Obsessions: Unwanted, intrusive thoughts
○ Compulsions: Repetitive behaviors to reduce anxiety
2. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
○ Develops after trauma exposure
○ Symptoms: haunting memories, nightmares, hypervigilance
○ Associated with decreased hippocampus volume
Mood Disorders
1. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
○ Symptoms (2+ weeks):
■ Depressed mood
■ Loss of interest
■ Sleep/appetite changes
■ Fatigue
■ Feelings of worthlessness
■ Cognitive problems
■ Suicidal thoughts
2. Bipolar Disorder
○ Alternating depression and mania
○ Strong genetic component:
■ Identical twin: 70% chance
■ Fraternal twin: 10% chance
Schizophrenia

● Positive Symptoms (inappropriate behaviors present):
○ Hallucinations
○ Delusions
○ Disordered speech/thoughts
○ Inappropriate motor behavior
● Negative Symptoms (appropriate behaviors absent):
○ Social withdrawal
○ Flat affect
Other Disorders
1. Dissociative Disorders
○ Sudden memory loss or identity change
○ Includes Dissociative Identity Disorder
2. Personality Disorders
○ Chronic maladaptive patterns
○ Up to 15% of Americans affected
3. Eating Disorders
○ Anorexia Nervosa
○ Bulimia Nervosa
○ Binge-eating Disorder
Treatment Approaches
● Clinical Psychology: Integrates science and theory
● Biological Therapy: Alters body functioning
● Psychotherapy: Nonmedical process for recognition/overcoming problems
● Evidence-based Practice: Integrates research with clinical expertise
Mental Health Crisis
Suicide Prevention
● Warning Signs:
○ Depression
○ Talk about suicide
○ Withdrawal
● Resources:
○ 988 – Suicide and crisis lifeline
○ Professional counseling services
Flourishing

● Mental health includes:
○ Positive emotions
○ Positive psychological functioning
○ Positive social functioning
Chapter Questions
1. In what way could schizophrenia and depression look similar?
2. How are panic disorder and PTSD different?
3. Consider one of the major disorders; go through the causal framework, coming up with
an example for each framework on how it could have caused the disorder.