1. OVERVIEW TO UNDERSTANDING ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR
Chapter 1
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2. DO YOU THINK ANY of these behaviors are abnormal?
Finding a “lucky” seat in an exam
Unable to eat, sleep, or study for days after ending a relationship
Breaking into a cold sweat at the thought of being trapped in an elevator
Refusing to eat solid food for days to stay thin
Thorough hand-washing after riding a bus
Believing government agents monitor your phone calls
Drinking a six-pack of beer a day in order to be “sociable”
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3. How do we define a psychological disorder?
Abnormal behavior that involves disturbance of psychological function or behavior.
Psychological dysfunction associated with distress or impairment that is not typical or culturally appropriate
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4. Criteria for a Psychological Disorder
Clinical significance
Distress
Behavior cannot be a socially expectable response
Psychological or biological disturbance
Behavior cannot be defined in terms of social rebellion or deviance
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5. What Causes Abnormal Behavior?
Incorporate biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.
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6. Abnormal Behavior is created by a variety of factors
Biological Factors (genetics, biochemistry, and brain structures)
Psychological Factors
(Personality traits, coping ability, and perception)
Sociocultural Factors
(Experiences throughout life, family dynamics, and your environment)
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7. When these factors come together in the perfect combination, psychological disorders emerge
Biological Factors
Psychological Factors
Sociocultural Factors
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8. Table 1.1- Causes of Abnormal Behavior
Stigma: Label that causes certain people to be regarded as:
Different, defective, and set apart from mainstream members of society.
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9. Biopsychosocial Perspective
Biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors is seen as influencing the development of the individual
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10. Abnormal Psychology Throughout History
Prominent themes in explaining psychological disorders - Spiritual, scientific, and humanitarian.
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11. Scientific Approach Hippocrates (ca. 460–377 b.c.)
Claudius Galen (a.d. 130–200)
Benjamin Rush (1745–1813)
Hippocrates - Founder of modern medicine.
Believed that there were four important bodily fluids that influenced physical and mental health, leading to four personality dispositions.
Claudius Galen developed a system of medical knowledge based on anatomical studies.
Benjamin Rush - Founder of American psychiatry.
Rekindled interest in the scientific approach to psychological disorders.
Occupational therapy
Treatment - Bloodletting and purging, tranquilizer, fright inducement.
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12. The Scientific Approach
Scientists made very few significant advances in the understanding of abnormality until the eighteenth century.
Benjamin Rush (1745–1813), the founder of American psychiatry, rekindled interest in the scientific approach to psychological disorders.
The scientific approach to psychological disorders also gained momentum as psychiatrists and psychologists proposed behavior models that included explanations and medically-based treatments for abnormality.
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13. Scientific Approach Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936)
B. F. Skinner (1904–1990)
Positive psychology
Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalysis.
Theory and system of practice that relied on the concepts of the unconscious mind, inhibited sexual impulses, and early development.
Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning that became the basis for the behaviorist movement.
B. F. Skinner formulated a systematic approach to operant conditioning.
Specifying the types and nature of reinforcement as a way to modify behavior.
Positive psychology: Emphasizes the potential for growth and change throughout life.
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14. Spiritual Approach
This approach regarded psychological disorders as the product of possession by evil or demonic spirits.
Treatments included:
Trephining
Exorcism
Treatments recommended by church
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15. Humanitarian Approach
The humanitarian approach developed throughout history, in part as a reaction against the spiritual approach and its associated punishment of people with psychological disorders
This approach regarded psychological disorders as the result of cruelty, stress, or poor living conditions
Moral treatment
Mental hygiene movement
Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Center Construction Act
Moral treatment - Notion that people could develop self-control over their behaviors if they had a quiet and restful environment.
Mental hygiene movement - Humanitarian goals that Dix advocated had a lasting influence on the mental health system.
Her work was carried forward into the twentieth century by advocates.
Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Center Construction Act initiated a series of changes that would affect mental health services for decades to come.
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16. Research Methods in Abnormal Psychology
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17. The essence of the scientific method is objectivity, the process of testing ideas about the nature of psychological phenomena without bias before accepting these ideas as adequate explanations.
This process can be conducted with a variety of descriptive and experimental research designs
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18. Scientific Method Objectivity Ideal approach
Testing ideas about the nature of psychological phenomena without bias before accepting these ideas as adequate explanations.
Ideal approach involves a set of steps in which the psychologist:
Proposes a hypothesis.
Conducts a study.
Collects and analyzes the data.
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19. Experimental Design Independent variable Dependent variable
Quasi-experimental
Placebo condition
Double-blind
Independent variable: Level is adjusted or controlled by the experimenter.
Dependent variable: Value is the outcome of the experimenter’s manipulation of the independent variable.
Quasi-experimental - Studies that investigate differences among groups not determined by random assignment.
Placebo condition: Participants receive a treatment similar to the experimental treatment.
Lacking the key feature of the treatment of interest.
Double-blind: Neither the person giving the treatment nor the person receiving the treatment knows:
Whether the participant is in the experimental or control group.
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20. Correlational Design Correlation statistic Positive correlations
Negative correlations
Involve tests of relationships between variables that researchers cannot experimentally manipulate.
Correlation statistic in terms of a number between -1 and +1.
Positive numbers represent positive correlations.
Scores on one variable increase, scores on the second variable increase.
Negative correlations - Scores on one variable increase, scores on the second variable decrease.
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21. Types of Research Studies
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22. Table 1.3 - Research Methods in Abnormal Psychology
Survey
Incidence: Frequency of new cases within a given time period.
Prevalence: Number of people who have ever had a disorder at a given time or over a specified period.
Case study
Qualitative research: Provides research with methods of analyzing complex relationships that do not easily lend themselves to conventional statistical methods.
Behavioral genetics
Concordance rate: Agreement ratios between people diagnosed as having a particular disorder and their relatives.
Gene mapping: Attempt by biological researchers to identify the structure of a gene and the characteristics it controls.
Molecular genetics: Study of how genes translate hereditary information.
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