Psych 2301 Final

branch of psychology that
investigates the psychological factors related
to wellness and illness, including the
prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of
medical problems

person’s response to events that are
threatening or challenging

Large-scale events
Increased heart
attacks,
depression,
anxiety, suicides

Can be happy or sad
 Graduation, college, marriage
 Death of a loved one, a friend moving away,
divorce, tragic event
Increased vulnerability to disease

Just about any thing that impedes your
progress on a task, reroutes your plans,
or causes you aggravation or anxiety

three major stages to stress
responses: alarm and mobilization; resistance; and exhaustion

meet + resist stressor

cope w/ stress and resist stressor

negative consequences of stress when coping is inadequate

hostility, competitiveness, time urgency,
and feeling driven

patient, cooperative, noncompetitive, and
nonaggressive manner

insecurity, anxiety, and a negative outlook
 Puts people at risk for repeated heart attacks

study of the
interaction between stress
and immune, endocrine, and
nervous system activity

85%

people attempt to modify the
stressful problem or source of
stress

people try to manage their
emotions by seeking to
change the way they feel
about or perceive a problem.

people
may use wishful thinking or
resort to more direct escape
routes such as drinking.

personality trait
characterized by sense of
commitment, viewing
problems as challenges,
and having sense of control
over life and environment

ability to
withstand, overcome, and
actually thrive after
profound diversity

state in which people
conclude that unpleasant or aversive stimuli cannot
be controlled
 People stop trying to remedy the aversive circumstances even
if they actually can exert some influence on the situation.
 People experience more physical symptoms and depression
when they perceive that they have little or no control.

scientific study of human
flourishing, with the goals of
discovering and promoting
strengths and virtues that
help individuals and
communities to
thrive

Martin
Seligman

after an initial surge of
pleasure, improvements become our “new normal,” and
we then require something even better to give us a
boost of happiness

Clinically significant disturbance in cognition, emotion
regulation, or behavior
Must interfere with day-to-day life
Can change over time

aims to describe
symptoms, predict a disorder’s course, suggest
appropriate treatment, and prompt research into its
causes (uses DSM-V)

1 in 5 adult
Americans live with a
mental illness

unpredictable, recurring panic attacks
 Feels like a heart attack (thumping heartbeat, shortness of breath)
 No specific trigger
 Can lead to agoraphobia – fear of being in a situation in which escape is
difficult

intense fear and avoidance
of social situations (formerly
called social phobia)

disorder characterized by unwanted
repetitive thoughts (obsessions), actions (compulsions), or both

alternating between hopelessness
and lethargy of depression and overexcited state of
mania
When mild, can fuel creativity
Predictor of suicide
More common in America
Less common but more
dysfunctional than major
depression

Genetic and biological causes – major depression runs in
families
Environmental causes – stressors
Unconscious conflicts
Cognitive causes

disorder characterized by delusions,
hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished,
inappropriate emotional expression

-Brain abnormalities
-Prenatal abnormalities
-Genetics
-Situational causes

Personality disorder in which a person (usually a man) exhibits
no regard for moral and ethical rules of society; may be
aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist

Stone Age – trephining: drilling holes in the skull may have
been an attempt to release evil spirits

Middle Ages: mental illness was believed to have been induced
by the Devil and required a harsh cure that would drive out
the evil demon (e.g., caging, beating, teeth or intestine
removal, animal blood transfusion)

19 th Century: reformers opposed brutal treatments (Philippe
Pinel)

people can
achieve healthier, less anxious living by
releasing energy they had previously
devoted to id-ego-superego conflicts

Responsibility for feelings and actions
 Self-actualization
 Promoting growth instead of curing illness
 Use “client” instead of ”patient”

paraphrase, invite clarification, reflect feelings

Therapist displays unconditional positive regard, genuineness, empathy

a person
with a phobia of flying may first learn to
relax when looking at airline sale ads in
the paper, then learn to relax when driving
by an airport.
The therapist may then have the patient
visit a museum of aircraft and work on
relaxation techniques.
As each new level or step of fear is
mastered with relaxation, the patient soon
attempts to sit on a plane or fly on a
plane.

teaches people new, more adaptive ways of
thinking

Benefits:
 Deal with a broad range of disorders
 Therapists may incorporate additional treatment approaches
 Criticisms:
 Changing one’s assumptions to make them more reasonable and logical
may not always be helpful
COGNITIVE THERAPY

(Aaron Beck) combines
cognitive therapy (changing
self-defeating thinking) with
behavior therapy (changing
behavior)
Often considered the “gold
standard” in psychotherapy

provides
benefits from group
interaction
• Helps more people and
costs less per person
• Learn that others have
similar problems
• May not work for shy
people

Temporarily reduce psychotic symptoms (e.g., agitation, hallucinations,
delusions)
 Most block dopamine receptors
 Issues with side effects

depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive
disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder (e.g., Prozac)
 Work by changing the concentration of specific neurotransmitters in the
brain
 Success rate = good
 Side effects

e.g., Xanax)
 Reduce level of anxiety a person experiences, essentially by reducing
excitability and increasing feelings of well-being
 Side effects

Treat mood disorders characterized by intense mood swings

biomedical therapy for
severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is
sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient

we can credit or blame
(attribute) people's behavior to their internal,
stable traits (a dispositional attribution), or to
the external situation (a situational
attribution)

tendency to
underestimate the situation and overestimate
personal dispositions when analyzing another
person’s behavior

the tendency for people who
have first agreed to a small
request to comply later with
a larger request

asking for a large commitment
and being refused, and then
asking for a smaller
commitment

What we do, we gradually become.
Every time we act like the people around us, we
slightly change ourselves to be more like them, and
less like who we used to be.

In Asch’s experiments, college students, answering
questions alone, erred less than 1% of the time.
But what happened when several others—
confederates—answered incorrectly?
More than one-third of the time, these “intelligent and
well-meaning” college students purposely answered
incorrectly to go along with the group.

influence resulting
from a person’s desire to gain approval or
avoid disapproval

influence
resulting from one’s willingness to accept
others’ opinions about reality

Milgram used the foot-in-the-door technique
 Study began with a small level of shock, 15 volts, and
escalated step by step
 In the minds of those throwing the switches, the
small action became justified, making the next act
tolerable
Other examples of obedience?
 Hazing
 Tortured prisoners of war

unjustifiable
(and usually negative)
attitude toward a group
and its members
 Can be implicit or explicit
Typically involves
stereotyped beliefs,
negative feelings, and a
predisposition to
discriminatory action

a favoring of our own group—soon
follows

the tendency for people to believe the world is just, or fair,
and people therefore get what they deserve and
deserve what they get

Proximity (and exposure)
Physical attractiveness
Similarity

Temporary passionate love will mellow into a
lingering
companionate love

tendency for
any given bystander to be less
likely to give aid if other
bystanders are present

Assume responsibility for helping

Social exchange theory: views social behavior as an
exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize
benefits and minimize costs
Reciprocity norm: we help those who have helped us

shared goals that can be
achieved only through cooperation

Boys at camp were put into conflict
 Then, to reduce conflict, they were
given a superordinate goal