Abnormal Psych Chapter 1

The branch of psychology that deals with the description, causes, and treatment of abnormal behavior patterns.

Unusualness

Social Deviance

Faulty Perceptions

Significant personal distress

Maladaptive or self-defeating behavior

Dangerousness

Abnormal behavior pattern that involves a disturbance of psychological functioning or behavior.

A biological perspective in which abnormal behavior is viewed as symptomatic of underlying illness.

45% and 25%

The notion of supernatural causes of abnormal behavior - was prominent in Western society until the Age of Enlightenment.

A harsh, prehistoric practice of cutting a hole in a person's skull, possibly in an attempt to release demons.

People in this place and time were sent to temples dedicated to Aesculapius, the god of healing. Incurables were driven from the temple by stoning.

According to Hippocratic belief system, the vital body fluids (phlegm, black bile, blood, yellow bile).

An imbalance of humors.

A person with too much of this humor would be lethargic or sluggish.

A person with too much of this humor would be depressed or melancholy.

A person with an excess of this humor would have a sanguine disposition: cheerful, confident, and optimistic.

A person with an excess of this humor would be "bilious" and choleric - which means quick-tempered.

During this time period, the Roman Catholic church was the main institution, and people believed that abnormal behavior was causes by evil spirits or the devil.

This persecution happened during the 15th - 17th century.

In Europe, during the 15th and 16th centuries, this started to happen to people behaving abnormally.

St. Mary's of Bethlehem hospital in England (I think) - a mental hospital. People would buy tickets to see the crazy people. This was the origin of this word.

18th and 19th centuries - started with Jean-Baptiste Pussin and Philippe Pinel.

During the 1800s, this woman traveled the country decrying the deplorable conditions in jails and almshouses where mentally disturbed people were placed. She was a Boston school teacher.

500,000

The goal of this movement was to move people out of state mental hospitals and into community mental health centers.

Phenothiazines

100,000

An attempt to explain abnormal behavior on the basis of underlying biological defects, not evil spirits. First hypothesized by Griesinger and Kraepelin.

The idea that abnormal behavior may be found in the failures of society rather than in the person. Rooted in the ills of society.

Began with Jean-Martin Charcot, and led to Freud's Psychodynamic Model being created.

This is the most contemporary perspective. An integrative model for explaining abnormal in terms of the interactions of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.

A systematic method of conducting scientific research in which theories or assumptions are examined in the light of evidence.

1. Formulating a research question.

2. Framing the research question in the form of hypothesis.

3. Testing the hypothesis.

4. Drawing conclusions about the hypothesis.

These are review boards in institutions such as hospitals and universities that review research studies in light of ethical guidelines.

Theprinciple that subjects should receive enough information about an experimentbeforehand to decide freely whether to participate.

Protectionof the identity of participants by keeping records secure and not disclosingtheir identities.

Aform of research in which behavior is observed and measured in its naturalenvironment. Providesinformation on how subjects behave, but it does not reveal why they do so.

Ascientific method of study that examines the relationships between factors orvariables expressed in statistical terms.

Astatistical measure of the strength of the relationship between two variablesexpressed along a continuum that varies between −1.00 and +1.00.

Atype of correlational study in which individuals are periodically tested orevaluated over lengthy periods of time, perhaps for decades.

Ascientific method that aims to discover cause-and-effect relationships bymanipulating independent variables and observing the effects on the dependent variables.

Factorsthat are manipulated in experiments. (the cause)

Factorsthat are observed in order to determine the effects of manipulating theindependent variable. (the effect)

Inan experiment, a group that receives the experimental treatment.

Inan experiment, a group that does not receive the experimental treatment.

Amethod of assigning research subjects at random to experimental or controlgroups to balance these groups on the characteristics of people that comprisethem.

Atype of bias in which differences between experimental and control groupsresult from differences in the type of participants selected in the groups, not from theindependent variable.

Astate of being unaware of whether one has received an experimental treatment.

Aninert medication or bogus treatment that is intended to control for expectancyeffects.

Subjectsare randomly assigned to treatment conditions in which they receive either anactive drug (experimental condition) or an inert placebo (placebo-controlcondition), but are kept blind, or uninformed, about which drug they receive.

Thedegree to which treatment effects can be accounted for by the theoreticalmechanisms (constructs) represented in the independent variables. - like "what does depression look like?"

Does it measure what it is supposed to measure?

Thedegree to which manipulation of the independent variables can be causallyrelated to changes in the dependent variables.

Thedegree to which experimental results can be generalized to other settings andconditions.

Researchstudies that track rates of occurrence of particular disorders among differentpopulation groups.

The number of new cases of a disorder that occurs within a specific period of time.

Theoverall number of cases of a disorder in a population within a specific periodof time.

Asample that is drawn in such a way that every member of a population has an equalchance of being included.

Theprocess by which members of a research sample are assigned at random todifferent experimental conditions or treatments

Theset of traits specified by an individual’s genetic code.

Anindividual’s actual or expressed traits.

Thecase first diagnosed with a given disorder. Or, a person serving as the starting point for the genetic study of a family

Acarefully drawn biography based on clinical interviews, observations, andpsychological tests.

Atype of case study in which the subject is used as his or her own control.

Anexperimental design that consists of repeated measurement of a subject’sbehavior through a sequence of alternating baseline and treatment phases.