| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Paradigm | A set of shared assumptions that includes both the substance of a theory and beliefs about how scientists should collect data and test the theory |
| Biopsychosocial Model | Recognizes that the causes of abnormal behavior are contributed to by biological, psychological, and social factors |
| Biological, Psychodynamic, Cognitive-Behavioral, Humanistic | The four most prevalent paradigms of the twentieth century |
| Biological Paradigm | Approach to abnormal behavior that looks for biological abnormalaties |
| John Haslam, 1798 | The man who is credited with having distinguished general paresis (general paralysis) from other forms of "lunacy," and the year that he did so |
| Syphilis | The disease that is now known to be the cause of general paresis (general paralysis) |
| Psychoanalytical Theory | Freud's theory that many memories, motivations, and protective psychological processes are unconscious |
| The Id | Freudian part of the mind that is present at birth and houses biological drives, such as hunger, as well as two key psychological drives, sex and agression; primarily unconscious |
| The Ego | Freudian part of the mind that must deal with the realities of the world as it attempts to fulfill impulses as well as perform other functions; primarily conscious |
| The Superego | Freudian part of the mind that is roughly equivalent to the conscience in that it contains societal standards of behavior |
| Defense Mechanisms | Ways suggested by Freud in which the ego protects itself from anxiety by distorting anxiety-producing memories, emotions, and impulses |
| Defense Mechanism: Denial | Insistence that an experience, memory, or need did not occur or does not exist |
| Defense Mechanism: Displacement | Feelings or actions are transferred from one person or object to another that is less threatening |
| Defense Mechanism: Projection | Attributing one's own feelings or thoughts to other people (i.e., a husband argues that his wife is angry with him, when in fact he is angry with her) |
| Defense Mechanism: Rationalization | Intellectually justifying a feeling or event |
| Defense Mechanism: Reaction Formation | Converting a painful or unacceptable feeling into its opposte (i.e., you hate a former lover, but underneath it all you still really love that person) |
| Defense Mechanism: Repression | Suppressing threatening material from consciousness, but without denial (i.e., "forgetting" an embarrassing experience) |
| Defense Mechanism: Sublimation | Diverting id impulses into constructive and acceptable outlets |
| Psychosexual Development | Freudian theory that ea ch stage of human development is defined by a sexual conflict |
| Oedipal Conflict | Freudian psychosexual developmental stage that involves the child resolving boys' forbidden sexual desire of their mother |
| Electra Complex/Penis Envy | Freudian theory that girls, unlike boys, do not desire their opposite gender parent sexually, as much as they yearn for something their fathers have and they are "missing"-- a penis. |
| Cognitive Behavioral Paradigm | Views (ab)normal behavior as a product of learning |
| Wilhelm Wundt, 1879 | The origins of the Cognitive Behavioral Paradigm can be traced to this year, when this man began the science of psychology at the University of Leipzig |
| (1) Ivan Pavlov (2) B. F. Skinner | Two highly influential twentieth-century Cognitive Behavioral psychological scientists who articulated, respectively, the principles of (1) classical conditioning and (2) operant conditioning |
| Classical Conditioning | Learning through association |
| (1) Unconditioned Stimulus, (2) Unconditioned Response | In classical conditioning, a (1) stimulus that produces an (2) automatic response |
| (1) Conditioned Stimulus, (2) Conditioned Response | In Classical Conditioning, a (1) neutral stimulus, which, when paired with another stimulus, produces a (2) response. |
| Extinction | In Classical Conditioning, this occurs when a conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with an unconditioned stimulus |
| Operant Conditioning | Cognitive Behavioral principle that asserts that learned behavior is a function of its consequences |
| (1, 2) Positive and Negative Reinforcement, (3) Punishment, (4) Response Cost | The four consequences of behavior in Operant Conditioning |
| Positive Reinforcement | In Operant Conditioning, when the onset of a stimulus increases the frequency of the behavior |
| Negative Reinforcement | In Operant Conditioning when the cessation of a stimulus increases the frequency of behavior |
| Punishment | In Operant Conditioning when the introduction of a stimulus decreases the frequency of a behavior |
| Response Cost | In Operant Conditioning when the removal of a stimulus decreases the frequency of behavior |
| Extinction | In Operant Conditioning when the association between a behavior and its consequences ends |
| Behaviorism | The theory that observable behavior is the only appropriate subject matter for the science of psychology, because thoughts and emotions cannot be measured objectively |
| John Watson | An influential proponent of behaviorism, an important concept in the Cognitive Behavior Paradigm |
| Etiology | The study of causation |
| Humanistic Paradigm | This paradigm argues that the essence of humanity is free will, and is also distinguished by its explicitly positive view of human behavior |
| Free Will | The view that human behavior is not caused by either internal or external events, but by the choices we make voluntarily |
| Society is the cause | In the Humanistic Paradigm, what is the cause of dysfunctional, abnormal, or agressive behavior? |
| Systems Theory | An approach to integrating evidence on different contributions to abnormal behavior; it can be thought of as the Biopsychosocial model, but with several key conceptual differences |
| Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1901-1972) | Austrian biologist and philosopher of science who has been called the "father of systems theory" |
| Holism | A central principle of systems theory which states that the whole is more than the sum of its parts (i.e., a human being is more than the sum of all its systems) |
| Reductionism | The scientific counterpoint to holism, this principle attempts to understand problems by focusing on smaller and smaller units, viewing the smallest possible unit as the true or ultimate cause |
| Levels of Analysis | Different but not necessarily inconsistent areas of existence that may influence abnormal behavior |
| Equifinality | The view that there are many routes to the same destination (or disorder) |
| Multifinality | The view that the same event can lead to different outcomes |
| Reciprocal Causality | The idea that causality works in both directions (i.e., parents teach children who,in turn, teach the parents) |
| Diathesis-Stress Model | Model that attempts to understand the causes of a disorder in terms of ones predisposition to it, and an event that triggers it |
| Linear Causality | The idea that influences operate in one direction only (i.e., children learn from parents, but parents don't learn from children) |
| Risk Factors | Events or circumstances that are correlated with an increased likelihood or risk of a disorder and potentially contribute to causing the disorder |
| Developmental Psychopathology | A new approach to abnormal psychology that emphasizes the importance of developmental norms to determine what constitutes normal behavior |
| Developmental Norms | Age-graded averages used in Developmental Psychopathology to determine what constitutes abnormal behavior |
Combine with other sets
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