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Model

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a set of assumptions and concepts that help scientists explain and interpret observations. Also called a 'paradigm.'

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Biological Model

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sees physical processes as key to human behavior.

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Psychodynamic Model

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looks at people's unconscious internal processes and conflicts.

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Behavioral Model

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emphasizes behavior and the ways it is learned.

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Cognitive Model

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concentrates on the thinking that underlies behavior.

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Humanistic-Existential Model

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stresses the role of values and choices.

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Sociocultural Model

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looks to social and cultural forces as the keys to human functioning.

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Family-Social Perspective

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focuses on an individual's family and social interactions.

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Multicultural Perspective

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the view that each culture within a larger society has a particular set of values and beliefs, as well as special external pressures, that help account for the behavior of its members. Also called 'culturally diverse perspective.' Emphasizes an individuals culture and the shared beliefs, values, and history of that culture.

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Neuron

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a nerve cell.

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Synapse

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the tiny space between the nerve ending of one neuron and the dendrite of another.

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Neurotransmitter

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a chemical that, released by one neuron, crosses the synaptic space to be received at receptors on the dendrites of neighboring neurons.

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Receptor

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a site on a neuron that receives a neurotransmitter.

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Hormones

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the chemicals released by endocrine glands into the bloodstream.

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Genes

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chromosome segments that control the characteristics and traits we inherit.

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Psychotropic Medications

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drugs that primarily affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental dysfunctioning.

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Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

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a form of biological treatment, used primarily on depressed patients, in which a brain seizure is triggered as an electric current passes through electrodes attached to the patients forehead.

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Psychosurgery

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brain surgery for mental disorders. Also called 'neurosurgery.'

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Id

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according to Freud, the psychological force that produces instinctual needs, drives, and impulses.

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Pleasure Principle

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always seeks gratification

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Repression

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defense mechanism; person avoids anxiety by simply not allowing painful or dangerous thoughts to become conscious.

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Denial

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defense mechanism; person simply refuses to acknowledge the existence of an external source of anxiety.

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Projection

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defense mechanism; person attributes own unacceptable impulses, motives, or desires to other individuals.

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Rationalization

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defense mechanism; person creates a socially acceptable reason for an action that actually reflects unacceptable motives.

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Displacement

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defense mechanism; person displaces hostility away from a dangerous object and onto a safer substitute.

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Intellectualization

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defense mechanism; person represses emotional reactions in favor of overly logical response to a problem.

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Regression

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defense mechanism; person retreats from an upsetting conflict to an early developmental stage at which no one is expected to behave maturely or responsibly.

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Ego

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according to Freud, the psychological force that employs reason and operates in accordance with the 'reality principle.'

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Reality Principle

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the knowledge we acquire through experience that it can be unacceptable to express our id impulses outright.

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Ego Defense Mechanisms

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according to psychoanalytic theory, strategies developed by the ego to control unacceptable id impulses and to avoid or reduce the anxiety they arouse.

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Superego

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according to Freud, the psychological force that represents a person's values and ideals.

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Fixation

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according to Freud, a condition in which the id, ego, and superego do not mature properly and are frozen at an early stage of development.

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Free Association

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a psychodynamic technique in which the patient describes any thought, feeling, or image that comes to mind, even if it seems unimportant.

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Resistance

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an unconscious refusal to participate fully in therapy.

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Transference

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according to psychodynamic theorists, the redirection toward the psychotherapist of feelings associated with important figures in a patient's life, now or in the past.

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Dream

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a series of ideas and images that form during sleep.

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Catharsis

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the reliving of past repressed feelings in order to settle internal conflicts and overcome problems.

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Conditioning

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a simple form of learning.

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Operant Conditioning

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a process of learning in which behavior that leads to satisfying consequences is likely to be repeated.

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Modeling

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a process of learning in which an individual acquires responses by observing and imitating others.

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Classical Conditioning

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a process of learning by temporal association in which two evens that repeatedly occur close together in time become fused in a person's mind and produce the same response.

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Systematic Desensitization

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a behavioral treatment in which clients with phobias learn to react calmly instead of with intense fear to the objects or situations they dread.

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Cognitive Therapy

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a theory developed by Aaron Beck that helps people recognize and change their faulty thinking processes.

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Self-Actualization

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the humanistic process by which people fulfill their potential for goodness and growth.

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Client-Centered Therapy

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the humanistic therapy developed by Carl Rogers in which clinicians try to help clients by conveying acceptance, accurate empathy, and genuineness.

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Gestalt Therapy

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the humanistic therapy developed by Fritz Perls in which clinicians actively move clients toward self-recognition and self-acceptance by using techniques such as role playing and self-discovery exercises.

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Existential Therapy

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a therapy that encourages clients to accept responsibility for their lives and to live with greater meaning and value.

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Family Systems Theory

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a theory that views the family as a system of interacting parts whose interactions exhibit consistent patterns and unstated rules.

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Group Therapy

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a therapy format in which a group of people with similar problems meet together with a therapist to work on those problems.

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Self-Help Group

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a group made up of people with similar problems who help and support one another without the direct leadership of a clinician. Also called a 'mutual help group.'

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Family Therapy

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a therapy format in which the therapist meets with all members of a family and helps them to change in therapeutic ways.

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Couple Therapy

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a therapy format in which the therapist works with two people who share a long-term relationship. Also called 'marital therapy.'

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Community Mental Health Treatment

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a treatment approach that emphasizes community core.

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Culture-Sensitive Therapies

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approaches that seek to address the unique issues faced by members of minority groups.

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Gender-Sensitive Therapy

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therapies geared to the pressures of being female.

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Diathesis-Stress Explanation

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people must FIRST have a biological, psychological, or sociocultural predisposition to develop a disorder and must THEN be subjected to episodes of severe stress. "Diathesis" means a predisposed tendency.

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Endocrine System

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researchers have learned that mental disorders are sometimes related to abnormal chemical activity in this body's system. The glands of this system, work along with neurons to control such vital activities as growth, reproduction, sexual activity, heart rate, body temperature, energy, and responses to stress.

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Ego Theory

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theorists of this theory emphasize the role of the ego and consider it a more independent and powerful force than Freud did.

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Self Theory

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theorists of this theory give the greatest attention to the role of the 'self'-- the unified personality. They believe that the basic human motive is to strengthen the wholeness of the self.

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Object Relations Theory

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theorists of this theory propose that people are motivated mainly by a need to have relationships with others and that severe problems in the relationships between children and their caregivers may lead to abnormal development.

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Working Through

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a single episode of interpretation and catharsis will not change the way a person functions. The patient and therapist must examine the same issues over and over in the course of many sessions, each time with greater clarity.

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Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapies

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patients choose a single problem-- a dynamic focus-- to work on, the therapist and patient focus on this problem throughout the treatment and work only on the psychodynamic issues that relate to it.

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Relational Psychoanalytic Therapy

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therapists are key figures in the lives of patients--figures whose reactions and beliefs should be included in the therapy process.

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Self-Efficacy

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behaviorist must know that they can master and perform needed behaviors whenever necessary.

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Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies

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help clients to change both counterproductive behaviors and dysfunctional ways of thinking.

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New Wave of Cognitive Therapies

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in response to limitations of the cognitive model, a new group of cognitive-behavioral therapies.

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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

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help clients to simply be mindful of and accept many of their problematic thoughts rather than judge them, act on them, or try fruitlessly to change them.

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Abnormal Psychology

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the scientific study of abnormal behavior in an effort to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning.

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Deviance

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behaviors, thoughts, and emotions that are different from those that are considered normal in our place and time.

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Norms

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a society's stated and unstated rules for proper conduct.

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Culture

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a people's common history, values, institutions, habits, skills, technology, and arts.

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Distress

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The end result of factors-eg, psychogenic pain, internal conflicts, and external stress that prevent a person from self-actualization and connecting with 'significant others'.

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Dysfunction

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interferes with daily functioning; it so upsets, distracts, or confuses people that they cannot care for themselves properly, participate in ordinary social interactions, or work productively.

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Danger

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individuals whose behavior is consistently careless, hostile, or confused may be placing themselves of those around them at risk.

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Treatment

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a systematic procedure designed to change abnormal behavior into more normal behavior.

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Trephination

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an ancient operation in which a stone instrument was used to cut away a circular section of the skull, perhaps to treat abnormal behavior.

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Humors

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according to the Greeks and Romans, bodily chemicals that influence mental and physical functioning.

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Asylum

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a type of institution that first became popular in the sixteenth century (1500s) to provide care for persons with mental disorders. Most became virtual prisons.

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Moral Treatment

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a nineteenth-century (1800s) approach to treating people with mental dysfunction that emphasized moral guidance and humane and respectful treatment.

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State Hospitals

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state-run public mental institutions in the United States.

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Somatogenic Perspective

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the view that abnormal psychological functioning has physical causes.

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Psychogenic Perspective

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the view that the chief cause of abnormal functioning are psychological.

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General Paresis

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an irreversible disorder with both physical and mental symptoms, including paralysis and delusions of grandeur.

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Hypnosis

answer

physicians could make normal people experience deafness, paralysis, blindness, or numbness by means of hypnotic suggestion--and they could remove these artificial symptoms by the same means.

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Psychoanalysis

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either the theory or the treatment of abnormal mental functioning that emphasizes unconscious psychological forces as the cause of psychopathology.

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Psychotropic Medications

answer

drugs that mainly affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental dysfunctioning.

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Deinstitutionalization

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the practice, begun in the 1960s, of releasing hundreds of thousands of patients from public mental hospitals.

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Private Psychotherapy

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an arrangement in which a person directly pays a therapist for counseling services.

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Prevention

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interventions aimed at deterring mental disorders before they develop.

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Positive Psychology

answer

the study and enhancement of positive feeling, traits, and abilities.

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Multicultural Psychology

answer

the field of psychology that examines the impact of culture, race, ethnicity, gender, and similar factors on our behaviors and thoughts, including abnormal behaviors and thoughts.

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Managed Care Program

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a system of health care coverage in which the insurance company largely controls the nature, scope, and cost of medical or psychological services.

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Scientific Method

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the process of systematically gathering and evaluating information, through careful observations to gain an understanding of a phenomenon.

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Case Study

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a detailed account of a person's life and psychological problems.

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Correlation

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the degree to which events or characteristics vary along with each other.

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Correlational Method

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a research procedure used to determine how much events or characteristics vary along with each other.

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Epidemiological Study

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a study that measures the incidence and prevalence of a disorder in a given population.

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Incidence

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the number of new cases that emerge during a given period of time.

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Prevalence

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the total number of cases in the population during a given time period; it includes both existing and new cases.

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Longitudinal Study

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a study that observes the same participants on many occasions over a long period of time.

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Experiment

answer

a research procedure in which a variable is manipulated and the effect of the manipulation is observed.

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Independent Variable

answer

the variable in an experiment that is manipulated to determine whether it has an effect on another variable.

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Dependent Variable

answer

the variable in an experiment that is expected to change as the independent variable is manipulated.

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Confound

answer

in an experiment, a variable other than the independent variable that is also acting on the dependent variable.

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Control Group

answer

in an experiment, a group of participants who are not exposed to the independent variable.

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Experimental Group

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in an experiment, the participants who are exposed to the independent variable under investigation.

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Random Assignment

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a selection procedure that ensures that participants are randomly placed either in the control group or in the experimental group.

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Blind Design

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an experiment in which participants do not know whether they are in the experimental or the control condition.

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Placebo Therapy

answer

something that looks or tastes like real therapy but has none of its key ingredients; an "imitation" therapy.

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Double-Blind Design

answer

a research strategy where either the participants or the experimenter may be kept blind in an experiment, it is best that both be blind.

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Quasi-Experiment

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an experiment in which investigators make use of control and experimental groups that already exist in the world at large. Also called a 'mixed design.'

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Natural Experiment

answer

an experiment in which nature, rather than an experimenter, manipulates an independent variable.

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Analogue Experiment

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an experiment in which the investigator produces abnormal-like behavior in laboratory participants and then conducts studies on the participants.

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Single-Subject Experimental Design

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a research method in which a single participant is observed and measured both before and after the manipulation of an independent variable.

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Idiographic Understanding

answer

an understanding of the behavior of a particular individual.

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