Abnormal psychology

ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY- a harmful dysfunction in which behavior is judged by ——>>

U- unjustifiable 

M- maladaptive 

A- atypical 

D- disturbing 

DSM V: diagnostic statistical manual of mental disorders. 

-will classify disorders and describe the symptoms 

-DSM will not explain the causes or possible cures 

DISORDERS 

• ANXIETY

- a group of conditions where the primary symptoms are anxiety or defenses against anxiety. 

- the patent fears something awful will happen to them 

- they are in a state or intense apprehension, uneasiness, or fear. 

>phobias

     - a person experiences sudden episodes of intense dread 

>panic disorder

    - an anxiety disorder marked by a minutes long episode of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking and other frightening sensations. 

>generalized anxiety disorder

    - a person is continuously tense, apprehensive and ima state of automatic nervous system arousal 

    - patient is constantly tense and oversensitive and can’t concentrate and suffers insomnia. 

>OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)

    - persisted unwanted thoughts (obsessions) cause someone to feel the need (compulsion) to engage in a particular action 

    - obsession about dirt and germs may lead to compulsive hand washing. 

>PTSD

    - flashbacks or nightmares following a persons involvement in or observation of an extremely stressful event 

    - memories of the even cause anxiety 

•SOMATOFORM DISORDERS

- occur when a person manifests a psychological problem through a physical symptom 

- two types 

>hypochondriasis

     - has frequent physical complaints for which medical doctors are unable to locate the cause

>CONVERSIÓN DISORDER 

- report the existence of severe physical problems with no biological reason 

- like blindness or paralysis 

>Dissociative disorders

- involve a disruption in the conscious process 

>> psychogenic amnesia: a person cannot remember things with no physiological basis for the disruption or memory 
    - retrograde amnesia 
    - NOT organic amnesia 
    - organic amnesia can be retrograde or anterograde

>> dissociative fugue: people with psychogenic amnesia that find themselves in an unfamiliar environment. 

>> dissociative identity disorder: multiple personality disorder 
    - a person has several rather than one integrated personality 
    - people with D.I.D. commonly have a history of childhood abuse or trauma 

>MOOD DISORDERS 
- experience extreme or inappropriate emotion 

>> major depression: unhappy for at least two weeks with no apparent cause 
    - depression is the common cold or psychological disorders. 

>> SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER
    - experience depression during the winter months 
    - based not on temperature but amount of sunlight 
    - treated with light temperature 

>> BIPOLAR DISORDER: involves periods of depression and manic episodes 
    - formally maniac depression 
    - manic episodes involve feelings of high energy 
    - engage in risky behavior during the manic episode


>> SCHIZOPHRENIA: 
    - about 1 in every 100 people are diagnosed 

- disorganized thinking: fragmented and bizarre and distorted with false beliefs. Comes from a breakdown in selective attention 
- disturbed perceptions: hallucinations which are sensory experiences without sensory stimulation 
- inappropriate emotions and actions: laugh at inappropriate times, flat affect, senseless, compulsive acts, catatonia- motionless waxy flexibility. 
- delusions of persecution and delusions of grandeur 


Positive vs negative symptoms- 

Positive- presence of inappropriate symptoms 
Negative- absence of appropriate ones 

Types of schizophrenia: 

Paranoid schizophrenia
• preoccupation with delusions or hallucinations 
• somebody is out to get me 

Disorganized schizophrenia 
• disorganized speech or behavior, or flat or inappropriate emotion 

Catatonic schizophrenia 
• parrot like repeating of another’s speech and movements

Undifferentiated schizophrenia 
• many and varied symptoms 

>PERSONALITY DISORDERS: psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning 

>> paranoid personality disorder: distrust of others and so stand suspicion that people have sinister  motives 

>> antisocial personality disorder: lack of conscience. They tend to lie and steal. Believe their victims are weak and deserving to be taking advance over. 

>> borderline personality disorder: mood instability and poor self image. Prone to constant mood swings and bouts of anger. 

>> histrionic personality disorder: constant attention seekers. Center of attention 

>> narcissistic personality disorder: self centeredness-> exaggerate

>> schizoid personality disorder: avoid relationships and do not show much emotion. Prefer to be alone 

>> schizotypal personality disorder: need for social isolation, odd behavior and thinking, and often unconventional beliefs suck as being convinced of having extra sensory abilities. This is a mild form of schizophrenia. 

>> avoidant personality disorder: pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, extreme sensitivity to negative evaluations. Consider themselves socially inept or personally unappealing, and avoid social interaction for fear of being ridiculed or humiliated. 

>> dependent personality disorder: pervasive psychological dependence on other people. Has difficulty making regular decisions without an excessive amount of advice and reassurance others 

>> obsessive compulsive personality disorder: General psychological inflexibility, rigid conformity to rules and procedures, perfectionism, and excessive orderliness 

>> 

Motivation and emotion

• Motivation: a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior 

• Instinct Theory: we are motivated by our inborn automated behaviors 
• Drive-Reduction Theory: the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need 
• we are not only pushed by our needs, but pulled by our incentives: a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior 

Hunger

• hunger is both physiological and psychological 

Biological Basis of Hunger

• hunger does NOT come from our stomach 
• hunger comes from our brain; the hypothalamus 

Hypothalamus 

• Lateral Hypothalamus: when stimulated it makes you hungry 
• Ventromedial Hypothalamus: when stimulated you feel full 

Eating Disorders 

• Bulimia Nervosa: characterized by binging (eating large amounts of food) and purging (getting rid of the food) 
• Anorexia Nervosa: starve themselves to below 85% of their normal body weight
• see themselves as fat 
• vast majority are women

Achievement Motivation 

• Intrinsic Motivators: rewards we get internally, such as enjoyment or satisfaction 
• Extrinsic Motivators: reward that we get for accomplishments from outside ourselves (grades or money or etc.) 
• work great in the short run 

Management Theories

• Theory X: manager believes that employees will work only if rewarded with benefits or threatened with punishment
• think employees are extrinsically motivated 
• only interested in Maslow's lower needs 
• Theory Y: managers believe that employees are internally motivated to do good work and policies should encourage this internal motive 
• interested in Maslow's higher needs

When Motives Conflict 

• approach-approach conflict 
• avoidance-avoidance conflict 
• approach-avoidance conflict 
• multiple approach-avoidance conflicts 

Approach-Approach Conflict 

• when one must choose between two desirable or attractive goals

Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict 

• it refers to making a decision between two equally undesirable choices 

When motives conflict;

•Approach- approach conflict

•Avoidance- avoidance conflict

•Approach avoidance conflict
-occurs when there is one goal or event that has both positive and negative effects. 

•Multiple approach- avoidance conflicts
-refers to when an individual is frequently faced with having to chose between two or more goals, each of which have an attractive and repulsive aspect. 

Emotion:

James Lange theory of emotion: 

• Experience of emotion is awareness of physiological 

responses to emotion arousing stimuli. 

• We feel emotion because of biological changes caused by stress.

• The body changes and our mind recognizes the feeling. 

Cannon Bard theory of emotion: 

• emotion arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger..

          - physiological responses 

          - subjective experience of emotion

Schacter’s two factor theory of emotion 

• to experience emotion one must 

          -be physically aroused 

          - cognitively label the arousal 

Emotion- lie detectors 

POLYGRAPH- 

• machine commonly used in attempts to detect lies 

• measures several of the physiological responses accompanying emotion 

     - perspiration 

     - cardiovascular 

     - breathing changes 

Catharsis- 

• Emotional release 

• Hypothesis...

       -releasing aggressive energy (through action or fantasy)     relieves aggressive urges 

Feel good, do good phenomenon-

• people’s tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood. 

Adaptation- level phenomenon- 

• tendency to form judgements relative to a neutral level

- brightness of lights, loudness of sound, level of income 

- defined by our prior experience

Relative deprivation- 

• perception that one is worse off relative to those with whom one compares oneself 

Social Psychology 

* Social psychology is the study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another. *

Social thinking 

•attribution theory:

     - the idea that we give a casual explanation for someone’s behavior. 

     - we credit that behavior either to the situation. 

     - to the persons disposition. 

•fundamental attribution error:

     - the tendency to underestimate the impact of a situation and overestimate the impact of personal disposition. 

•attitude:

     - a belief of feeling that predisposes one to respond ima particular way to something. 

    

•foot in the door phenomenon:

     - the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request. 

•door in the face phenomenon:

     - the tendency for people tank say no to a huge request, to comply with a smaller one. 

[cognitive dissonance theory]

     - we do not like when we have either conflicting attitudes or when our attitudes don’t match our actions. 

     - when they clash, we will change our attitude to create balance. 

Social influence 

Conformity- adjusting ones behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Conditions that’s strengthen conformity; 

- one is made to feel incompetent 

- the group must be at least 3 people 

- the group has to be unanimous

- one admires the groups status 

- one had made no prior commitment 

- the person is observed 

Reasons for conforming 

Normative social influence;

•influence resulting from a persons desire to gain approval or avoid disappointment

Informational social influence;

•influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality.

OBEDIENCE

SOCIAL FACILITATION 

• improves performance of tasks in the prescience of others. 

• occurs with simple or well learned tasks.

• not with tasks that are difficult or not yet mastered. 

Yerkes- Dodson law

• there is an optimal level of arousal for the best performance or any task...

    - easy tasks— relatively high 

    - difficult tasks— low arousal  

    - other tasks— moderate level 

Social loafing;

• the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when polling efforts toward a common goal than if they were individually accountable. 

DEINDIVIDUATION- the loss of self awareness and self restraint occurring in group situations that frosted arousal and anonymity.  

Group polarization- concept that a groups attitude is one of extremes and rarely moderate.




Group think;
• the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision making group overrides common sense.

Self fulfilling prophecies;
• occurs when one persons belief about other leads to one to act in ways that induce the other appear to confirm the belief. 










SOCIAL RELATIONS


Prejudice;
- an unjustifiable attitude towards a group of people
- usually involves stereotype beliefs

Social inequalities;
- in group: “us” people Witt whom one shares a common identity 

SCAPEGOAT THEORY- 
• the theory that prejudice provides an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame 


aggression;
• any physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt or destroy

Conflict;
• a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals or ideas 


Pasión love ❤️- an aroused state of intense positive absorption of another. 

Compassionate love 💕- the deep affectionate attachment we feel for close with whom our lives are intertwined. 



Altruism:
• unselfish regard for the welfare of others 
•Kitty Genovese 
• Bystander effect (bystanders less willing to help if there are other bystanders around)