PSYC 105 Final Exam Study Guide PDF

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PSYC 105 Final Exam Study Guide Your final exam will consist of 40 multiple choice questions, and 6 short answer questions. The topics of the questions will all relate in some way to the material that we used or discussed in our activities or the lecture videos. (So, if you see it in the textbook but it wasn’t mentioned in the video or in an activity then you don’t need to study it.) To help you get a sense of the range of content you might expect, this guide contains some suggestions for things you should know, and some opportunity to practice your skills. This includes a series of questions that are similar in either content or style to the short answer questions on the final exam (This guide refers to material since the midterm. Remember that your midterm study guide is still relevant!). Terms to know: You should be able to define the following terms and use them properly in a sentence Prejudice vs discrimination, stereotypes Prejudice: is thoughts (I think that person is smart because they are asian) Discrimination: is actions (I will not hire a woman because they are too emotional) In-group bias/out-group homogeneity In-group bias: tendency to favor individuals within our group over those from outside our group Out-group homogeneity: tendency to view all individuals outside our group as highly similar Attributions, fundamental attribution error, ultimate attribution error Conformity vs obedience Attributions: process of assigning causes to behavior Fundamental attribution error: our tendency to explain someone's behavior based on internal factors, such as personality or disposition, and to underestimate the influence that external factors, such as situational influences, have on another person's behavior. Ex. Sheila failed her final exam. Rita automatically assumes that the reason is Sheila's inability to study. Ultimate attribution error: assumption that behaviors among individual members of a group are due to their internal dispositions Ex. Liberals like us have a deep compassion for our fellow humans whereas conservatives just care about themselves. Conformity: following a certain group of people and adapting to their beliefs and lifestyles ex. I will stand because other people are Obedience: is an act or behavior in response to a direct order or authority ex. I will stand because the prof told me to Deindividuation, social loafing, pluralistic ignorance, diffusion of responsibility Enlightenment effect Deindividuation: the loss of self-awareness in groups Ex: Groups of excited, rioting sports fans celebrating a big win can end up committing acts they would never do alone, such as vandalism or arson. Social Loafing: a person exerting less effort to achieve a goal when he or she works in a group than when working alone Pluralistic Ignorance: is a situation in which a majority of group members privately reject a norm, but go along with it because they incorrectly assume that most others accept it. Ex: You are sitting in a large lecture hall listening to an especially complicated lecture. The lecturer pauses and asks if there are any questions. No hands go up. You are lost. You take their failure to

raise their hands as a sign that they understand the lecture, that they genuinely have no questions. These different assumptions you make about the causes of your own behavior and the causes of your classmates’ behavior. Diffusion of Responsibility: is a psychological phenomenon in which people are less likely to take action when in the presence of a large group of people. Enlightenment effect: the enlightenment effect refers to the idea that public knowledge about psychological research can change the world in a positive way. Psychodynamic, humanist, behaviourist, and cognitive perspectives (or schools of thought) Psychodynamic: is an approach to psychology that emphasizes systematic study of the psychological forces that underlie human behavior, feelings, and emotions and how they The Psychoanalytic perspective sees disordered behaviour as a consequence of the unconscious mind keeping things away from the conscious mind, or as some failure of the ego to balance between the id and superego. As a reminder, these ideas didn’t hold up well under scientific examination when it came to personality and they don’t do particularly well for mental disorders either. The Humanistic perspective sees people as striving for improvement and toward an ideal self, so mental disorder (especially depression and anxiety) is the result of that struggle. The Biological perspective, or the medical model, tends to focus on genetic and physiological explanations for disorders. This is really helpful for a disorder like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, but is less helpful for something like a phobia or a personality disorder. Finally the Learning perspective is based on classical and operant conditioning explanations for behaviour, and that includes disordered behaviour. For example, the concept of learned helplessness is useful for understanding some aspects of depression. It’s not very helpful for understanding hallucinations, however. Behaviorist: is a theory of learning based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. ... Basically, only observable behavior should be considered—cognitions, emotions, and moods are far too subjective. Cognitive perspectives: is concerned with understanding. mental processes such as memory, perception, thinking, and. problem solving, and how they may be related to behavior. Id, ego, and superego, and defense mechanisms Id: instincts, presented at birth The id operates on the pleasure principle (Freud, 1920) which is the idea that every wishful impulse should be satisfied immediately, regardless of the consequences. When the id achieves its demands, we experience pleasure when it is denied we experience ‘unpleasure’ or tension. Ego: reality, It is the decision-making component of personality. Ideally, the ego works by reason, whereas the id is chaotic and unreasonable. Superego: morality, The superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are learned from one's parents and others. It develops around the age of 3 – 5 during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. 

The id, ego, and superego are names for the three parts of the human personality which are part of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic personality theory. According to Freud, these three parts combine to create the complex behavior of human beings.

Defense mechanisms: is an unconscious psychological mechanism that reduces anxiety arising from unacceptable or potentially harmful stimuli. Dimensional vs categorical approaches (for personality, and diagnosis) Dimensional: refers to a continuum on which an individual can have various levels of a characteristic (rated along a spectrum for each symptom and their final ‘diagnosis’ would be a description of where they are at for each symptom) Categorical approaches: is the approach to classifying mental disorders involving assessment of whether an individual has a disorder on the basis of symptoms and characteristics that is described as typical of the disorder. Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Openness, Extraversion (the Big Five) Conscientiousness: responsibility and carefulness Agreeableness: ability and desire to get along with others Neuroticism: negative emotions Openness: willingness to consider new ideas Extraversion: sociability and liveliness Structured vs projective tests of personality Structured: test we took in class, In general, subject is asked to respond to an objective, written statement that is designed to minimize ambiguity. Different from projective tests, where subjects respond to purposely ambiguous stimuli. Projective test: inkblot, examination that commonly employs ambiguous stimuli, notably inkblots(Rorschach Test) and enigmatic pictures (Thematic Apperception Test) to evoke responses that may reveal facets of the subject's personality by projection of internal attitudes, traits, and behaviour patterns Criteria for abnormality (rarity, biological dysfunction, impairment, subjective distress) Rarity: we could define someone’s behavior or traits as being abnormal because they are statistically rare. People with hallucinations associated with schizophrenia experience something that most of us don’t, for example. Biological dysfunction: For example, we know that there are some unusual patterns of neurotransmitter function in some disorders, and there are some types of brain damage or dysfunction that are associated with mental disorders. Impairment: the impact of symptoms upon the person’s relationships, employment, safety, and health. Subjective Distress: to whether someone is suffering as a result of the symptom or trait. With mental disorders, we often have to rely on people to tell us that they are experiencing something and that it bothers them. (we can only see signs of depression or anxiety we can't know until the person shares their experiences.) Mood disorders, Personality Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Schizophrenia Mood disorders: In order to diagnose most mood disorders, you must establish the existence of mood episodes. A mood episode is the experience of severe mood symptoms for a prolonged period of time (a week or two, or longer). Personality disorders: are associated with extreme versions of personality traits that all of us have

Anxiety disorders: For these disorders, the major consideration is the subjective distress of the person with anxiety and the likelihood that anxiety will impair relationships, work, or other aspects of the person’s life. Schizophrenia: With schizophrenia, people experience psychosis which is a distortion or disruption to their experience of reality. They may hear or see or feel things that aren’t there. They may develop associations between things that shouldn’t be associated. Anxiety and Related Disorders • GAD : It tends to be always present and has been described as ‘free floating’ anxiety that isn’t tied to a particular trigger or situation. People with GAD tend to always be worried or on edge, but not about anything specific. It’s not hard to imagine how this would lead to subjective distress or impairment that would lead someone to seek treatment. • Panic Disorder : Panic attacks often seem to come out of nowhere (although worrying about panic can bring on a panic attack) and is an extra large and unhelpful fight-or-flight reaction complete with high heart rate, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, and a feeling like you’re about to die. It can be confused with the symptoms of a heart attack. • Phobias: Fear of an animal is the most common type, like fear of dogs or spiders, but other forms include triggers like lightening or heights, needles, clowns, or flying in an airplane. Most of us have fears of specific items or animals, but to be diagnosed with a phobia the fear has to be out of proportion to the risk, and it has to cause subjective distress or lead to some sort of impairment. • PTSD : has a specific trigger that starts the disorder. A traumatic event is defined, in this case, as one in which the person felt that their life was at risk or where they are exposed to the trauma of others • OCD : a person will have obsessions, compulsions, or both. Obsessions are intrusive thoughts or ideas that the person tries to suppress or get rid of. Compulsions are mental acts or actions (like praying, counting, or handwashing) that are used to reduce anxiety (typically brought on by the obsessions). Further, the obsessions or compulsions must take up a significant amount of time or cause distress or impairment, and they can’t be explained by some other disorder. Personality Disorders • Borderline : includes very volatile emotions, and some very dichotomous or black-and-white thinking. For people with Borderline PD, things are either great or terrible, exciting or boring, friend or enemy. • Antisocial : associated with low levels of conscientiousness and agreeableness, but unlike borderline has low levels of neuroticism. People with Antisocial PD don’t tend to be afraid of much and they are calm in social situations where others might get nervous. This might be because they don’t really have strong bonds with other people, and tend to not care how others view them. People with antisocial personality disorder don’t typically seek treatment, so subjective distress isn’t a problem for them. They are more likely to cause problems for others, but their lives may not be impaired by their personalities because they can be quite contented with how things work out for them, and they tend to take advantage of others. Mood Disorders • Major Depression : also known simply as depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of low mood that is present across most situations. It is often accompanied by

low self-esteem, loss of interest in normally enjoyable activities, low energy, and pain without a clear cause. • Bipolar I : Bipolar I includes manic episodes, and may also include depressive episodes or mild depressive symptoms that alternate with the manic episodes. • Bipolar II : Bipolar II includes hypomanic episodes as well as depressive episodes. • Dysthymia : Dysthymia is a milder chronic depression • Cyclothymia : Cyclothymia is a milder chronic version of Bipolar Schizophrenia • With positive symptoms: are things that most of us don’t have but people with schizophrenia have them. This includes hallucinations and delusions, as well as some odd movements and thought processes. • With negative symptoms: can be thought of as things that most of us have, but people with schizophrenia are lacking. For example, negative symptoms include flat affect which is the absence of emotional reactions. Another negative symptom is the absence of normal speech, and the most extreme version is complete catatonia where the patient seems zombie-like, or unresponsive. A depressive episode includes the symptoms that were mentioned earlier: depressed mood, loss of interest in things that used to be important, loss of appetite, fatigue or insomnia, agitation, and feelings of worthlessness or guilt A manic episode is very much the opposite of a depressive episode. It includes feeling elated, energetic, powerful or grandiose. People in a manic episode may feel like they don’t need sleep, and tend to be very impulsive and risky, with little thought of consequences or the feeling that things can’t possibly go wrong. A hypomanic episode is a milder version of a manic episode. It’s definitely more ‘up’ than normal but doesn’t include any delusions or really extreme behaviours. In a hypomanic episode people may be more productive than usual, or more creative and excitable. Panic, obsession, compulsion, mood episode, mania vs hypomania, psychosis, hallucination vs delusion Psychologist vs psychiatrist Mania: mental illness marked by periods of great excitement or euphoria, delusions, and overactivity Hypomania: a mild form of mania, marked by elation and hyperactivity. Psychosis: a severe mental disorder in which thought and emotions are so impaired that contact is lost with external reality. Hallucination: Hallucinations affect your perception, so you might see, hear, feel, or even taste and smell things that aren’t there or you will experience distortions of your perception. This is similar to the effects of hallucinogenic drugs, so that would obviously have to be ruled out before you diagnose someone with schizophrenia Delusion: Delusions are beliefs that are improbable or impossible, and sometimes emerge because of weird or seemingly random associations that the person makes. For example, someone might have a delusion that everyone in his neighbourhood is a government agent that

is spying on him and he knows this because several of his neighbours drive the same model of car so that must mean that they all came from the same place, provided by the government. Psychologist: focus extensively on psychotherapy and treating emotional and mental suffering in patients with behavioral intervention. Psychiatrist: trained medical doctors, they can prescribe medications, and they spend much of their time with patients on medication management as a course of treatment. Spontaneous remission, comorbidity, side effects (especially tardive dyskinesia) Spontaneous remission: some disorders will go away on their own because of environmental or social changes. Someone might become less depressed if they end a bad relationship, or start a new job Comorbidity: the simultaneous presence of two chronic diseases or conditions in a patient. Tardive dyskinesia: is a side effect of antipsychotic medications. These drugs are used to treat schizophrenia and other mental health disorders. TD causes stiff, jerky movements of your face and body that you can't control. Meta-analysis Meta-analysis: is the statistical procedure for combining data from multiple studies. When the treatment effect (or effect size) is consistent from one study to the next, meta-analysis can be used to identify this common effect Biomedical, insight, behavioural, and eclectic therapies Biomedical: are physiological interventions that focus on the reduction of symptoms associated with psychological disorders. Three procedures used are drugtherapies, electroconvulsive (shock) treatment, and psychosurgery. Insight: is a type of psychotherapy in which the therapist helps their patient understand how their feelings, beliefs, actions, and events from the past are influencing their current mindset. Behavioral: Behavioral therapy is an umbrella term for types of therapy that treat mental health disorders. This form of therapy seeks to identify and help change potentially self-destructive or unhealthy behaviors. It functions on the idea that all behaviors are learned and that unhealthy behaviors can be changed. Eclectic: eclectic therapy is a therapeutic approach that incorporates a variety of therapeutic principles and philosophies in order to create the ideal treatment program to meet the specific needs of the patient or client. Token economy, systematic desensitization, exposure and response prevention Cognitive-behavioural therapy Token economy: A token economy uses physical tokens, which could be coins, or buttons, or stickers on a chart, to indicate when the client has done a ‘good’ behaviour. Tokens can also be taken away for ‘bad’ behaviours. Saved up tokens can be traded for special items or privileges, so that residents can get ice-cream or outings or extra TV time. This helps to increase the rate of behaviours that are positive or prosocial (like taking showers, or eating dinner with the group) and decrease the rate of behaviours that are aversive (like yelling, or hurting oneself). This treatment is based entirely on operant conditioning, and is very useful for patients with limited self-control or limited cognitive abilities. It is also a really useful technique for parenting, or for the management of kids in classrooms! Systematic desensitization: a treatment for phobias in which the patient is exposed to progressively more anxiety-provoking stimuli and taught relaxation techniques.

Exposure prevention: facing or confronting one's fears repeatedly until the fear subsides Response prevention: refraining from compulsions, avoidance, or escape behaviors. Cognitive-behavioral therapy: a type of psychotherapy in which negative patterns of thought about the self and the world are challenged in order to alter unwanted behavior patterns or treat mood disorders such as depression. SSRI, anxiolytic, typical vs atypical antipsychotic or neuroleptic, mood stabilizer SSRI: they prevent reuptake of serotonin by the presynaptic neuron. This means that if the brain is low on serotonin, or the receptors for serotonin are damaged or not functioning properly, then there are added chances for that serotonin to be effective. Anxiolytic: is a medication or other intervention that inhibits anxiety Typical antipsychotic: reduce the positive symptoms of schizophrenia (remember that includes hallucinations and delusions) but doesn’t help with the negative symptoms of schizophrenia (which includes flat affect, absence of speech, and catatonia). These drugs are also sometimes used to trea...