Psychological Disorders
A disorder characterized by feeling sad and blue most of the day nearly every day for at least 2 weeks.
Depression
A type of therapy, pioneered by Freud, in which the therapist attempts to uncover a patient’s unconscious desires and urges in order to identify problem areas.
Psychoanalytic Therapy
The type of conditioning identified by Ivan Pavlov in his work with dog salivation.
Classical Conditioning
The chemical transmitters that pass messages between neurons.
Neurotransmitters
The lobe of the brain where higher-order processes occur, such as organization, judgments, and decision-making.
Frontal Lobe
A classification of disorders with symptoms that include feeling worried, having elevated arousal, inability to concentrate, fear, and sometimes panic.
Anxiety Disorders
A type of therapy in which learning principles are applied in order to eliminate unwanted behaviors or increase desired behaviors.
Behavior therapy
The type of learning or conditioning pioneered by B.F. Skinner in his work with rats and pigeons—including the use of a “Skinner Box.”
Operant Conditioning
DAILY DOUBLE
The chemical messengers that run through the bloodstream as part of the endocrine system.
Hormones
The lobe of the brain that contains the visual cortex
Occipital Lope
A type of psychotic disorder that includes disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and behaviors.
Schizophrenia
DAILY DOUBLE
The therapy introduced by Carl Rogers, in which clients are assumed to have the resources they need to get well in the company of a warm, compassionate relationship with a therapist.
Person Centered OR Humanistic Therapy
The type of learning, discussed by Albert Bandura, in which we learn by observing other people and imitating them.
Social Learning
The part of the nervous system that includes the brain and the spinal cord.
Central nervous system
The lobe of the brain that contains the auditory cortex
Temporal lobe
Eating disorder characterized by a preoccupation with being thin, and maintaining a starvation diet despite being significantly underweight.
Anorexia Nervosa
A type of therapy in which it is assumed that a person’s thoughts and interpretation of situations contribute to maladaptive feelings and behaviors.
Cognitive Therapy
The type of behavior that is targeted in Classical Conditioning
Involuntary or Reflex behaviors
The part of the Peripheral Nervous System that prepares the body for the “fight or flight” response when presented with a possibly dangerous situation.
Sympathetic Nervous System
The space in the brain between neurons where neurotransmitters move between neurons
Synapse
Formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, when a person demonstrates at least two distinct and alternating personalities.
Dissociative Identity Disorder
A type of alternative therapy that has been shown to be most effective for Seasonal Affective Depression.
Light Exposure Therapy
The type of reinforcement described here (in reference to the child’s behavior): When a parent yells at a child to get her to stop whining, and the child continues to whine even more.
Positive reinforcement
The Master Gland of the Endocrine System, and also regulates growth.
Pituitary gland
The “sensory switchboard” of the brain, through which all sensory input gets processed (except the sense of smell.)
Thalamus