Psychology Exam Notes

Motivation

• Definition: Need or desire that energizes and directs behavior.

Perspectives on Understanding Motivated Behaviors

• Instinct Theory (Evolutionary Perspective): Focuses on genetically predisposed behaviors.
• Drive Reduction Theory: Focuses on how we respond to our inner pushes.
• Arousal Theory: Focuses on finding the right levels of stimulation.
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Focuses on the priority of some needs over others.

Instincts and Evolutionary Theory

• Instinct: Complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned.
• Genes predispose some species-typical behavior, but instincts cannot explain most human motives.

Drive-Reduction Theory

• We have physiological needs.
• Unmet needs create a drive that motivates us to reduce that need.
• Homeostasis: Tendency to maintain a balanced/steady internal state.
• Incentives: Learned positive or negative stimuli that help meet our needs and reinforce our drives.

Arousal Theory

• Humans are motivated to engage in behaviors that either increase/decrease arousal levels (CNS arousal).
• Baseline levels can vary from person to person.
• High arousal levels motivate engagement in behaviors that will lower these levels.
• Low arousal levels motivate activities that can increase arousal (through curiosity).
• Yerkes-Dodson Law: Arousal levels can help performance, but too much arousal can interfere with performance.

Hierarchy of Needs Theory

• Abraham Maslow: Described human motives as a pyramid of priorities.
• Base: Basic human needs (food/water).
• Top: Highest human needs (find meaning/identity of oneself).
• We are motivated to meet the lowest unmet need.

The Need to Belong

• Feelings of love/acceptance activate brain reward/safety systems.
• Social isolation increases risk for mental decline/poor health.

Health/Stress

• Stress: Process by which we perceive and respond to certain events (stressors) that we think of as threatening or challenging.
• Stress reactions: Physical or emotional responses to a stressor; physiological arousal (anxiety or fear).

Stress Models

• Appraisal Model of Stress: Whether we experience stress depends on cognitive appraisal of the event and the resources we have to deal with it.

Stressors

• Catastrophes, significant life events/changes, or daily hassles/social stress (homework, poverty, relationships, discrimination, etc.).

Stress and Disease

• Chronic stress increases vulnerability to heart disease and is a strong predictor of high blood pressure and coronary heart disease.
• Stress can reduce the functioning of the immune system, weakening resistance to viruses and diseases.

Personality Types/Stress

• Type A: Competitive, sense of urgency, driven to succeed, impatient, prone to anger/hostility.
• Type B: Easygoing/relaxed.

Individual Factors of Stress

• Personal Control: An important personal/cognitive factor that explains how people account for what happens in their lives.
• Internal Locus of Control: You determine the outcomes in your life; personal traits, effort, abilities, intelligence.
• External Locus of Control: Factors beyond your control determine outcomes in your life; fate, luck, chance, other people.
• Learned helplessness
• Explanatory Style: Optimism vs. pessimism.
• Social Support: Resources provided by others in times of need; emotional support, practical advice, etc.

Coping With Stress

• Coping: The ways in which we try to change or reinterpret circumstances to make them less threatening.
• Problem-Focused Coping: Attempting to directly change the stressor or the way we interact with it (e.g., confronting a hostile family member).
• Emotion-Focused Coping: Attempting to relieve or regulate the emotional impact of a stressful situation (e.g., avoiding a hostile family member or seeking reassurance).

Basic Concepts of Psychological Disorders

• Syndrome: A collection of symptoms marked by a clinically significant disturbance in a person's cognitions (thoughts), emotional regulations (feelings), or behavior.

Defining Abnormal

• Distress: Person's thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that cause personal distress to themselves or others, including being a danger to themselves (suicide/bad thoughts) or others.
• Dysfunction: Person's thoughts, feelings, or behaviors impair their functioning, such as social relationships (job, school, work, hygiene, sleep, eating, driving, housework, etc.).
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-V (DSM-5): Standard system used in the U.S. to diagnose and classify abnormal behavior.
• Causes vary, but a common modern perspective comes from the biopsychological approach, which considers that biological, social-cultural, and psychological factors can combine and interact to produce some disorders.
• 3-5% hospitalization rate

Nonsuicidal Self-Injury (NSSI)

• Cutting, burning, hitting oneself, inserting objects under nails/skin, etc.; painful but not fatal.
• People engage in NSSI to:
  • Gain relief from intense negative thoughts through distraction of pain.
  • Gain attention for help with emotional pain.
  • Relieve guilt by self-punishment.
  • Get others to change their negative behavior (bullying/criticism).
• Typically are suicide gesturers; not attempters, but can escalate to suicidal thoughts.

Anxiety Disorders, OCD, PTSD, and Somatic Symptom Disorders

• Anxiety is a part of life for all of us.
• Some are more prone to notice and remember information perceived as threatening, and the brain's danger-detection system becomes hyperactive.
• When this occurs, we are at greater risk for an anxiety disorder, or for two other disorders that involve anxiety.
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• Anxiety disorders are marked by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety, including:
  • Generalized anxiety disorder.
  • Panic disorder.
  • Specific phobias.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• Person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal.
• Worry continually, often jittery, on edge, and sleep-deprived.
• Difficulty concentrating.
• Two-thirds are women.
• Anxiety is free-floating (not linked to a specific stressor or threat).

Panic Disorder

• An anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations; often followed by worry of the next possible attack.
• Panic attacks: Sudden episodes of intense dread.
• Physical symptoms that accompany attack; irregular heartbeat, chest pain, shortness of breath, choking, trembling, dizziness.
• Agoraphobia: Fear of avoidance of public situations from which escape may be difficult (should a panic attack occur).

Specific Phobias

• Anxiety disorders marked by a persistent and irrational fear and avoidance of some object, activity, or situation.
• Specific phobias include a fear of particular animals, insects, heights, blood, or closed spaces.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

• Characterized by persistent and repetitive obsessions (thoughts), compulsions (actions), or both.
• Obsessions cause anxiety; compulsions relieve the anxiety.
• Occurs when obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors persistently interfere with everyday life and cause distress.
• Most common among teens and young adults.
• Twin studies reveal a strong genetic basis.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• Characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or insomnia lingering for four weeks or more after a traumatic experience.
• Often includes military veterans, and survivors of accidents, disasters, and violent/sexual assaults.
• Women are at a higher risk (1:10) vs. men (1:20) of developing this disorder after a traumatic event.
• Most men and women display impressive survivor resiliency.

Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders

• Somatic symptom disorder (formerly somatoform disorder): Symptoms (often stress-related) take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical cause; dizziness, tingling, numbness, blurred vision, etc.
• Illness Anxiety Disorder (formerly hypochondriasis): Person interprets normal sensations as symptoms of a dreaded disease; EX: a headache is interpreted as a brain tumor.

Mood Disorders

• Most people have an occasional mood swing, but a mood disorder involves significant and persistent disruptions in mood or emotions that cause impaired cognitive, behavioral, and physical functioning.
• The DSM-5 identifies major depressive disorder as the presence of at least 5 symptoms over a 2-week period of time.
• Depressed mood most of the time, significant changes regarding weight/appetite, etc.
• Vicious Cycle of depressed thinking: Stressful experiences, negative explanatory style, depressed mood, cognitive and behavioral changes.

Bipolar Disorder

• Characterized by a person alternating between depression and a state of euphoria, excitement, physical energy, wild optimism, and rapid thoughts/speech (mania), through derailment, and delusions of grandiosity.

Schizophrenia

• Psychological disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished, inappropriate emotional expression.
• Schizophrenia is the chief example of a psychotic disorder, which is marked by irrationality, distorted perceptions, and loss with contact in reality.
• Positive Symptoms: Presence of inappropriate behavior.
• Negative Symptoms: Absence of inappropriate behavior.
• Disturbed perceptions and beliefs
  • Hallucinations: Hearing, seeing, feeling, tasting, and smelling things that only exist in the mind.
  • Delusions: False beliefs that are not true in reality (+); persecution (paranoia), grandiosity, mind control, etc. (+).
  • Breakdown in selective attention leading to thought derailment (difficulty maintaining focus/easily distracted) (+).
  • Word Salad (+); senseless speech.
  • Diminished and inappropriate emotions; emotions that do not match the situation.
  • Flat effect; emotionless, a state of no apparent feeling (-).
  • Impaired theory of mind; difficulty reading other people's facial emotions and states of mind (-).
  • Inappropriate or disruptive motor behavior (-); senseless, compulsive actions(+); or motionless catatonia (-), or senseless/compulsive actions.

Dissociative Disorders

• Controversial, rare disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings.
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly multiple personality disorder): Rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct/alternating personalities.

Personality Disorders

• Inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning.
• Antisocial personality disorder.
• Lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even towards friends/family members.
• Lack of empathy.
• Often impulsiveness, fearlessness, or irresponsibility.
• Sociopaths or psychopaths.

Eating Disorders

• (usually female) maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly underweight
  • People with anorexia nervosa continue to diet and sometimes exercise excessively because they view themselves as fat.
  • This is the deadliest of all psychological disorders.
  • Incidence rate in America (0.6%).
  • Diagnostic Criteria
    • Restriction of energy intake relative to requirements, leading to significantly low body weight for patient’s age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health. Significantly low weight is defined as a weight that is less than the minimal normal weight, or in children and adolescents, less than the minimal expected weight.
    • Intense fear of gaining weight or of becoming fat, or persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain, even though the patient has a significantly low weight.
    • Disturbance in the way in which one’s body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or persistent lack of recognition of the seriousness of the current low body weight.
• Bulimia Nervosa: Person alternates between binge eating (usually of high-calorie foods) with purging (by vomiting or laxative use), sometimes followed by fasting or excessive exercise.
  • Incidence rate in America (1%).
  • Diagnostic Criteria
    • Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by…
      • Eating, in a discrete period of time (ex: within a 2 hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than what most people would eat during a similar time period and under similar circumstances.
      • Lack of control over eating during the episode (ex: a feeling that you can't stop eating, or control what/how much you are eating)
    • Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or other medications, fasting, or excessive exercise
    • The binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors both occur, on average, at least once a week for 3 months.
    • Self-evaluations are unduly influenced by body shape/weight.
    • Binging or purging does not occur exclusively during episodes of behavior that would be common in those with anorexia nervosa.
• Binge-Eating Disorder: Significant binge eating followed by distress, disgust, or guilt, but without the compensatory purging or fasting that marks bulimia nervosa.
  • Incidence rate in America (2.8%).
  • Diagnostic Criteria
    • Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both the following…
      • Eating, in a discrete period of time (ex: within a 2 hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than what most people would eat during a similar time period and under similar circumstances.
      • Lack of control over eating during the episode (ex: a feeling that you can't stop eating, or control what/how much you are eating)
    • The binge eating episodes are associated with 3 or more of …
      • Eating much more rapidly than normal
      • Eating until feeling uncomfortably full
      • Eating large amount of food when not feeling physically hungry
      • Eating alone because of feeling embarrassed by how much one is eating
      • Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty afterwards
    • Marked distress regarding binge eating is present
    • Binge eating occurs on average at least once a week for 3 months
    • Binge eating is not associated with the recurrent use of inappropriate compensatory behavior (ex: purging) and does not occur exclusively during the course of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder.

Understanding Eating Disorders

• Those with eating disorders often have low self-evaluations, set perfectionistic standards, and are intensely concerned with how others perceive them.
• It's extremely important to note that weight or appearance is not part of the diagnostic criteria for binge eating disorder.
• Family environment for those diagnosed with anorexia is often competitive, high-achieving, and protective.
• Cultural pressures.
• Ideal body shapes vary across cultures and time.
• Other influences.
• Low self-esteem, and negative emotions interact with stressful life experiences.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Cognitive and social-emotional disorder marked by social deficiencies and repetitive behaviors.
  • Diagnoses across countries
  • Underlying source of symptoms; impaired theory of mind
  • Levels of severity
  • Biological factors: prenatal environment, genes/genetic mutations; gender differences; brain functioning
  • Childhood vaccinations have no relationship to the disorder.
• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Psychological disorder marked by extreme inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity.
  • Diagnosis in US; gender differences.
  • Symptoms.
  • Causes; genetic, co-existing with learning disorder or with defiant and temper-prone behavior.
  • Treatment; stimulant drugs, psychological therapies.
  • Skeptics and supporters debate.