Chapter 1 & 9
What are the three interacting components (biological, psychological, and social) described in the biopsychosocial model?
biological (genetics, physiology), psychological (thoughts, emotions, behaviors), and social (culture, relationships, friends, family)
What is the need hierarchy?
5 tiers
Physiological: food, water, warmth, air, and sleep
Safety: security, protection, freedom from threats
Belonging: acceptance, friendship
esteem: Good self-opinion, accomplishments, and reputation
self-actualization: living to full potential, achieving personal dreams and aspirations
What is diffusion responsibility?
A large group of people so individual responsibilty decreases
Give examples of anxiety disorders.
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• Panic disorder
• Social Anxiety Disorder
• Specific Phobia
• Agoraphobia: intense fear of situations where escape feels difficult or help unavailable
What are the two main approaches of psychological treatment?
psychological therapy and biological therapy
What type of bias describes the tendency for assuming you "knew it all along" after something has already happened?
Hindsight Bias
anything that is stimulating, they activate behavior (e.g. the desire for fitness may motivate you to get up and go for a run on a cold morning)
What is fundamental attribution error?
Overestimating personality and underestimating the situation
What are the causes of psychological disorders? (the factors)
Diathesis stress, biological factors, situational factors, cognitive-behavioral factors, and cultural factors
Disorders develop from a mix of:
Vulnerability (diathesis)- genetic or early life trauma
Stress- Challenging life events
High vulnerability + high stress → higher risk of disorder
Biological factors:
Genetics influence risk (shown in twin/ adoption studies)
Brain structure & chemistry differences linked to disorders
Neuroimaging (PET, fMRI) shows altered brain functioning
Environmental Influences
Prenatal risks (toxins, malnutrition, maternal illness)
Childhood stress and trauma can change brain development
Epigenetics: environment can change gene expression
Situational/ Social Factors
Environment and family interactions can shape behavior
Family systems model: problems in a person can reflect family patterns
Cognitive- Behavioral Factors:
Abnormal behaviors are learned
Thoughts can become distorted → negative emotions and behaviors
CBT treatments helps replace harmful thoughts and responses
Sociocultural Factors
Cultural norms affect what is seen as “disordered”
What is social skills training?
The client may have difficulty initiating a conversation so the therapist could target that by using modeling
What is Functionalism?
Focuses on the purpose or function of mental processes (like thinking, feeling, and consciousness)
What are the four different types of stressors and give an example of each?
Major life stressors, daily hassles, chronic stress, and discrimination related
Give examples of each type of social influence: Conformity, compliance, and obedience.
Conformity: Changing your behavior to match the group.
Compliance: Changing your behavior because someone asked you to (not an authority figure).
Obedience: Changing your behavior because an authority figure tells you to.
What are the positive symptoms and the negative symptoms of scizophrenia?
Positive symptoms are disorganized speech, topic to topic, words are all over the place, where it doesn’t make sense, make up words, disorganized behavior, outward behavior doesn’t match, it doesn’t make sense. Negative symptoms are not engaging in basic hygiene, missing the basic day-to-day functions that we often take for granted; they are harder to treat than positive symptoms (isolation can be considered one).
What is exposure therapy and systematic desensitization?
uExposure therapy, the person is repeatedly exposed to an anxiety-producing stimulus or situation, the principle behind this is classical conditioning
Systematic desensitization (fear hierarchy), gradually expose a person to their phobias or anxiety-inducing situations while teaching them relaxation techniques to counter the fear response
What are the different attachment styles?
1. Secure Attachment - Secure attachment is defined as the bond between a child and caregiver that promotes positive emotional and social development, enabling the child to cope with stress, develop self-worth, and trust others.
2. Avoidant Attachment - Avoidant attachment is characterized by a strong need for independence and emotional distance from others.
3. Ambivalent / Anxious Attachment - Wants closeness but worries people will leave. Often feels unsure or clingy.
4. Disorganized Attachment - Feels confused or scared in relationships. Acts in unpredictable ways because trust is hard.
What is Primary and Secondary appraisal? Give examples of both.
Primary appraisal is the initial judgment of a situation as irrelevant, positive, or stressful (a threat/challenge), while secondary appraisal assesses one's ability to cope with a situation deemed stressful, asking, "What can I do about it?"
Behavioral Approach System: The brain system involved in the pursuit of incentive or rewards (go system) / Behavioral Inhibition System: The brain system that monitors for threats in the environment and is sensitive to punishment. It slows down behavior in order to be aware of pain or threat
What is the difference between Bipolar I and Bipolar II?
Bipolar 1 involves full-blown manic episodes (requiring hospitalization) and often depressive episodes, while Bipolar 2 features less severe hypomanic episodes (no hospitalization needed) and significant depressive episodes, making depressive symptoms more dominant in Bipolar 2
What type of medication would be used for someone with major depressive disorder?
anti-depressant like an SSRI
What happens in each stage of alarm, resistence, and exhaustion?
The alarm stage is the flight or fight response, the resistence stage, the body prepares to defend against the stressor, exhaustion is when your body can no longer cope and is causing issues when health due to stressor.
What are the Big Five personality traits (O.C.E.A.N.), and what is an example of each?
O: Openness: someone who loves exploring new cultures, experimenting with art, or trying unusual foods has high openness. Someone who prefers routine and avoids change has low openness.
C: Conscientiousness: A student who plans ahead, keeps a clean workspace, and turns assignments in on time has high conscientiousness. Someone who forgets deadlines or acts impulsively scores lower.
E: Extraversion: A person who enjoys parties, starts conversations easily, and feels energized by being around people is high in extraversion. Someone who prefers quiet time and feels drained after social events is lower on this trait.
A: Agreeableness: Someone who is helpful, trusting, and considerate of others' feelings shows high agreeableness. Someone who is more competitive, skeptical, or blunt is lower in agreeableness.
N: Neurotism: Someone who becomes easily anxious, upset, or overwhelmed has high neuroticism. Someone who stays calm under pressure and rarely gets upset has low neuroticism.
What are the different types of dissociative disorders?
• Dissociative amnesia: forgets an event that happened or loses awareness for a substancial amount of time
• Dissociative fugue: loss of identity, unsure how they ended in unfamiliar endings
• Dissociative identity disorder: used to be known as multiple personality disorder, two or more distinct identities in the same individual
What is humanistic therapy?
Humanistic approach to personality emphasizes personal experience and individual’s belief systems, treats the person as a whole and not as a collection of behaviors or thoughts that are repressed
Reflective listening, in which the therapist repeats clients’ concerns to help them clarify their feelings
Motivational interviewing helps them recognize the problems and questions would be asked like where would they like to be in their lives, which sparks the client’s motivation to change
Client centered therapy, the client has all the tools they need to solve their problems, you don’t need to be given the answers but will be guided to our own answers