Clinical
What is the APA's definition of a psychologically healthy individual?
What's the difference between prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination? Give an example.
Prejudice -- an attitude or feeling (usually negative) -- "I don't like pitbulls because they're aggressive"
Stereotype -- a belief or generalized assumption -- "All pitbulls are aggressive"
Discrimination -- an action or behavior against someone due to a trait -- "I avoid petting pitbulls at the dog park but I'll pet any other dog breed"
What is the difference between normative and information influences on behavior?
Both are fueled by motivation to fit in -- either to be accepted/liked, or to be correct
Normative: Conforming to be liked or accepted
Informational: Conforming because you believe others are correct
What is the name of the statistical technique used to reduce a large number of variables into fewer groups of traits?
Factor Analysis
Pros and cons of diagnostic labels?
Uniform healthcare framework, reduces confusion and improves research, allows collaboration and generalization
Stigma, researchers might think of diagnoses as fixed and enduring
Define psychological disorders and their clinical significance.
Behavior causes "significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning" --> frequency and severity is important
What is cognitive dissonance and give an example.
It is a mismatch / inconsistency between one's thoughts / beliefs and their actions. This is an uncomfortable sensation, so people attempt to reduce this dissonance between belief and behavior by either changing their belief, changing their action, or changing their perception of an action.
Example:
Belief: It is important to eat 2 servings of vegetables per day.
Action : Not eating any any vegetables
Reduce dissonance by: Convincing yourself that it's okay to not eat any vegetables because you go to the gym so you're still "healthy"
How does the Stanford Prison Experiment exemplify the concept of deindividuation and mob behavior?
deindividuation -- reduced self awareness and personal responsibility -- usually caused by anonymity and can encourage mob mentality
The experiment created deindividuation through stripping the participants of their identities -- the prisoners especially were dehumanized -- not given names, only had numbers and were not treated like individuals anymore -- The guards also wore uniforms which also removed individuality.
This can lead to mob behavior because people feel like they're anonymous and can blend in with the crowd, so they personally don't feel responsible. Behavior can become extreme and erratic and do things that they'd never do alone.
What is the big 5?
Openness to experience
Conscientiousness
Extraversion/Intraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
What is preparedness theory? (Seligman)
We are evolutionarily predisposed to fear certain stimuli over others (like snakes or heights) due to natural selection
What are the 3 typical components of a clinical assessment that clinicians use and give an example of each.
Clinical interview (Ex: asking clients about concerns, history, and current mental state)
Self report measures (Ex: like level of sadness or loss of pleasure)
Projective tests (EX: Rorschach ink blot test)
What are social norms and how do they influence our behavior?
They are "patterns of behaviors, traditions, beliefs, and preferences that are reinforced by others and influence behavior". (Think about the movie theatre example)
What is the difference between the foot in the door vs door in the face strategy?
Foot-in-the-door : Asking for something small first just to get your "foot in the door", and then once they agree, making a bigger request. Ex: Asking for help washing one dish, then asking for help unloading the entire dishwasher
-This works because people feel committed and want to be consistent with their previous actions.
Door in the face - asking for something large, and then if that gets rejected, making a smaller request -- Ex: Asking for a 10% raise, but then getting rejected, so asking for a 5% raise.
-This works because it feels like a compromise once you "anchor" the person to the initial expectation --> A 5% raise feels small compared to a 10% raise, so they're more likely to say yes than if you just asked them for 5% raise right off the bat
Who started the person-situation debate and what is it?
Water Mischel -- he stated that behavior can change based off the situation that they are in -- shows that traits are stable over time, but people can still behave differently in different environments
What is agoraphobia?
A subset of panic disorder -- the fear that one will have a panic episode and be in a situation where help or escape could be difficult -- leads to person avoiding leaving the house all together to avoid that situation from occurring (typically accompanies panic disorder)
How has the DSM5 changed from the DSM4?
DSM 5-- no clusters and looks at the degree of a disorder on a spectrum
DSM4 also has 10 personality disorders, whereas the DSM 5 only has 6
Distinguish between the Fundamental Attribution Error, Self Serving Bias, and the Actor Observer Bias and give an example.
FAE: About other people -- we attribute other people's errors to internal factors and disregard external influences -- "That person cut me off because they're rude" instead of "That person might have cut me off because their child is sick and need to get to the hospital fast".
Self Serving: About ourselves and depends on an outcome of a situation -- if we fail we attribute it to external/unstable factors, if we succeed, we attribute it to internal/stable traits -- "I failed because the Professor is a harsh grader", "I passed because I'm a hard worker."
Actor Observer: Comparing yourself to others: We attribute blame to ourselves externally, but for others we assign blame to their internal traits -- If you fail an exam it's because the Professor is a harsh grader, but if someone else fails it's because they aren't smart enough.
What are the cultural differences in how people explain other's behaviors?
Western, individualistic cultures usually explain behaviors in terms of the person's internal traits
Collectivist cultures usually explain behavior in terms of the situation (typically based on external traits)
(Think of the fish example -- "The fish is leading the group of fish towards food vs. The group of fish is working together to catch the other fish)
How do traits lead to consistent behavior across situations?
They shape how people interpret situations, and also influence behavioral tendencies -- For example, a conscientious person would be organized, on time, and responsible throughout most situations.
What are the 6 common symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder?
1. Excessive worrying and tension (usually for unrealistic and irrational reasons)
2. Tiredness + Difficulty sleeping
3. Headaches due to constant tension
4. Problems concentrating due to worries
5. Frequent bathroom trips (due to constant activation of the sympathetic nervous system)
6. Irritability due to worrying
What two primary conditions exist before stating that someone has a psychological disorder ?
Psych dysfunction -- in behavior, thought, and emotion
Impairment in function -- experiencing problems in basic areas of life
Describe Stanley Milgram vs Asch's experiments and what constructs they tested.
Milgram Obedience Study -- "Teacher and Learner" -- Obedience requires an authority figure -- demonstrates our tendency to obey what people in power tell us to do -- 65% of the participants delivered dangerous voltages, obeying the experimentalist's commands, even when the learner (secretly the confederate) was screaming in pain
Asch Conformity Experiment -- Compared different lines -- and participants wrote down the correct line, but verbally conformed 1/3 of the time (even when the group's answer was clearly wrong) -- demonstrates public vs private beliefs
What is transference and how does it influence how we form impressions of others?
We typically form impressions through heuristics (mental shortcuts). Transference is an example of this -- tendency to treat another person as if they possess the traits of another familiar person. For example, treating someone in your class like your hometown best friend just because they look alike.
Personality is relatively stable over time -- for example, someone could become more extroverted as they get older, but they are still relatively introverted when compared to others. Also, some traits such as conscientiousness may naturally increase with age and maturity.
What are the biological risks for depression?
Monamine hypothesis: "Depression is caused by reduced activity of monamine transmitters, such as serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine"
Also consider the diathesis stress model. It is an interaction between one's life history and their biology. (Biopsychosocial)