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Final Study Guide Material Type: Notes; Class: Intro to General Psychology; Subject: Psychology; University: College of Coastal Georgia; Term: Fall 2011;
Typology: Study notes
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Ch. 13 What is personality? o The unique way in which each individual thinks, acts, and feels throughout life. Psychodynamic o Sigmund Freud o Layers of consciousness Unconscious: Difficult to retrieve information/ material; well below the surface of awareness Preconscious: material just beneath the surface of awareness Conscious: contact w/ the outside world o Structures of personality Id: part of the personality present at birth and completely unconscious; (if it feels good, do it!); natural instincts (sex, thirst, hunger, etc) (devil) Ego: part of the personality that develops out of a need to deal w/ reality, mostly conscious, rational and logical Superego: the moral watchdog; part of the personality that serves as a moral center (angel on the shoulder) o Purpose of defense mechanisms Definition: unconscious distortions of a person’s perception of reality that reduce stress and anxiety o Psychosexual stages of personality development Oral Stage Conflict: weaning Difficulties: o Abilities to form interpersonal attachments o Basic feelings about the world o Optimism or pessimism Anal Conflict: toilet training Difficulties:
o Neatness or messiness o Punctuality or tardiness Phallic Conflict: sexual awareness Difficulties o Pride or humility o Identification w/ same-sex parent Latency Conflicts: school, play, same-sex relationships Difficulties: o Ability to get along w/ others Genital Conflicts: sexual relationship w/ partner Difficulties: o Immature love or indiscriminate hate o Uncontrollable working or inability to work o Neo-Freudians Jung He believed the unconscious held much more than personalities, urges and memories. He believed that there were personal and collective unconsciousness’s. o Personal: Jung’s name for the unconscious mind as described by Freud o Collective: Jung’s name for the memories shared by all members of the human species Archetypes: Jung’s collective, universal human memories Adler He developed the theory that as young, helpless children, they all develop feelings of inferiority when
Unconscious processes playing a significant role Defense mechanisms have received some support o Criticisms of Psychodynamic Perspective Too negative Too much faith in the unconscious mind Too much sexuality and too sexist No testable theories Behaviorist/Social Cognitive o Bandura’s model for reciprocal determinism Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory Reciprocal Determinism Interaction of behavior, environment and person/cognitive factors to create personality I f I tell a joke and get a laugh, I’ll do it again in the future o Self-efficacy Belief/expectancy whether one can master situation and accomplish a goal If you were to engage in a behavior, you would either succeed or fail. Criticisms: too reliant on social situations; ignores the role of biology o Rotter’s Locus of control Locus of control: tendency to believe do/do not have control over events and consequences in life. Internal: outcomes are determined by own actions (I got an A because I studied) External: outcomes determined by actions of others’, luck or fate (I just guessed the right answers) Internal people tend to be perfectionists and external tend to be depressed. Humanistic o Self-Concept
Carl Rogers emphasized self-concept as tool for self- actualization What others tell you about yourself and how you see yourself. A good self-concept will help you achieve self-actualization. Real self- who you really are Ideal self- something you should or want to be Not a lot of distance between the two results in a healthy personality. Mismatched = distorted view of yourself Trait theory o What is a trait? Consistent, enduring way of thinking, feeling and behaving o What are the “Big Five” traits? OCEAN Openness High = creative, artistic, nonconforming Low – conventional, down-to-earth, uncreative Conscientiousness High = organized, neat, reliable Low: lazy, careless, unreliable Extroversion High: talkative, sociable, optimistic Low: reserved, comfortable being alone, stays in the background Agreeableness High: good-natured, trusting, helpful Low: rude, irritable, aggressive Neuroticism High: worrying, anxious, insecure Low: calm, secure, relaxed Behavioral Genetics o What is behavioral genetics?
Much more reliable and valid Everyone gets the same questions Ch. 14 Ways of defining abnormal behavior? o Deviation from standard (cultural) norms When does abnormal behavior become a psychological disorder? o When it causes a person “subjective discomfort” o When a person has an inability to function normally What are the different perspectives of psychological disorders? o Sociocultural perspective: abnormal behavior is seen as the product of the learning and shaping of behavior within the context of the family, social group to which one belongs to and the culture within which the family and social group exist. Psychodynamic: believes that disordered behavior is the result of repressing one’s threating thoughts, memories and concerns in the unconscious mind. o These thoughts and urges try to resurface and disordered behavior develops as a way of keeping the thoughts repressed. Behaviorist o Believe that disordered behavior is a set of learned behavior, just like normal behaviors. Cognitive o They believe that abnormal behavior stems from illogical thinking patterns Biopsychosocial o Believes that abnormal behavior is seen as the result of the combined and interacting forces of biological, psychological, social and cultural influences. What is the DSM-IV-TR used for? o It is used for psychological professionals to diagnose disorders.
Anxiety o Generalized anxiety Persistent anxiety for at least 6 months Unable to specify reasons for anxiety or control the feelings of anxiety Often occurs /w other anxiety disorders and depressions Constant worriers; associated w/ stress related diseases 2/3 of these patients are women o OCD Obsessions Recurrent, uncontrollable, anxiety-provoking thoughts Compulsions Repetitive, ritualistic behaviors meant to reduce anxiety caused by obsessions o PTSD Develops after a traumatic event (war, car accidents, etc.) and overwhelms abilities to cope Flashbacks Reduced ability to feel emotions Excessive arousal (constantly stressed) Difficulties w/ memory & concentration (pre-occupation w/ what has happened to them) Feelings of apprehension Impulsive outbursts of behavior (Hunt on Grey’s) o Phobic Irrational, overwhelming, persistent fear of particular object or situation o Panic Panic attacks: recurrent, sudden onsets of intense apprehension or terror When it becomes frequent enough to interrupt life panic disorder
Risky sex, etc Difficult to keep patients on treatment Associated w/ creativity Rapid cycling—Jumping states (elation to depression) Manic states can last days, weeks or even months. With depression, it is 2x as likely to happen w/ females Bipolar disorder occurs equally in both sexes 5.7 million people have this Eating disorders o Bulimia Binging and purging Tend to be of normal weight o Anorexia Less than 85% of their normal body weight Tend to not recover Dissociative disorders o Amnesia Extreme memory loss caused by extensive psychological stress Amnesia—inability to recall important events o Fugue Amnesia, plus traveling away from home and assuming a new identity o Dissociative identity disorder Formerly called multiple personality disorder Two or more distinct personalities or selves Each has its own memories, behaviors, relationships One personality dominates at one time Wall of amnesia separates personalities Shift between personalities occurs under distress Schizophrenia o o Long-lasting psychotic disorder characterized by disturbances in thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and perceptions.
o • Positive Symptoms (adding something to what is normal; excessive amounts of something) o o Marked by distortion or excess of normal function o o Too much dopamine o • Negative Symptoms (We have a less amount of something that is normal; behavioral deficits, etc) o Reflect social withdrawal, behavioral deficits, and loss or decrease of normal functions o Very enlarged ventricles in the brain Symptoms o Delusions Reference—people on TV, movies, radio etc are talking to hem Influence—being controlled by external forces Grandeur—convinced that you are a high powered person or that you have been sent on a special mission o Hallucinations Hearing voices Sensory perceptions o Disturbed Speech o Disturbed emotions Flat affect—show no emotion o Inappropriate—they may laugh at a sad situation o Disturbed behavior o Catatonia—do not move for extended periods of time o Types of Schizophrenia Disorganized Bizarre behaviors Disordered thinking, speech, movement Catatonic Statue-like immobility w/ periods of extreme movement Paranoid
What is insight therapy? What are the types of therapies that use this? o Trying to gain understanding into your motives behind these actions What is action therapy? What are they types of therapies that use this? o Changing the actual behaviors Psychotherapy o What do they hope to reveal? applies psychological principles to help people understand themselves better (all non-medical therapies); trying to change faulty behaviors Talking, interpreting, using rewards and modeling certain types of behaviors. Psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, counselors and social workers use this. Humanistic o Humanistic o Focus on conscious, present, subjective emotions and people’s sense of self o Roger’s Person Centered Therapy (Rogerian therapy) o Reflection Used by therapist The person does most of the work and talking But when the therapist does talk, they reflect what the patient has said It allows the client to gain their own insight w/o the therapist telling them o Unconditional positive regard Not matter what you do, the people that you love will stand by you Warm, accepting and uncritical Accepting of values no matter what Empathy o Part of the therapist
You understand the feelings of the client w/o mixing your own feelings Putting yourself in their shoes Authenticity The patient knows that you care and are genuine and are upfront about your own values o Gestalt Therapy Founded by Fritz Perls Directive Therapist observes verbal and nonverbal language as person works through events of the past They work through planned experiences; work through whatever made them build up their masks Goal is for client to become aware of feelings or take responsibility for their choices in life Having a dialogue w/ themselves or others; talking to an empty chairs Not unconscious issues; probably just denied Very interested in verbal and nonverbal behavior Helps people make career choices, marriage counseling and helping ppl w/ job stress Difficult to test scientifically Requires that the person be intelligent and ok w/ being verbal; not ok w/ psychotic disorders Behavior o Action-based techniques to change undesirable behaviors through use of learning principals o Classical conditioning methods o Systematic desensitization o Mostly used to treat things like phobic disorders o Use three steps o Train person to use relaxation techniques
Good for things like drug addictions, eating problems and educational issues o Extinction Removing a reinforcer to extinguish a behavior To diminish the anxiety Much quicker than insight therapies Good for specific behavior problems (bedwetting, overeating, etc) Not effective for depression and schizophrenia Cognitive o Action therapy that emphasizes changing client’s distorted thinking patterns related to their maladaptive behaviors o Arbitrary inferences o Distorted thinking; not based on any evidence o Selective thinking o Focus on only one aspect of a situation; usually negative o Overgeneralization Overthinking a situation o Magnification Blowing something up o Minimization If something went right, it was out of their control o Personalization Blaming yourself for something that had nothing to do w/ you o Cognitive therapy (Beck) Where did this thinking come from? How long have you had it? Are they rational thoughts? o Cognitive-behavioral therapy Combines changing behaviors w/ thoughts Overlaps w/ behavioral therapy
Goal is to help clients overcome issues w/ thinking more rationally Working through developing strategies What to do to change that irrational thought process o Rational-Emotive behavior therapy (Ellis) Much cheaper than insight therapies Some say they are treating symptoms, not the problems o Good for treating depression, eating disorders, personality disorders, schizophrenia o What are biomedical therapies? o Psychopharmacology Four categories of drugs commonly used Antipsychotic drugs o Typical neuroleptics o Atypical neuroleptics o Partial dopamine agonists (new drug, not FDA approved) o Just help to not release at much dopamine, instead of just blocking it o Can lead to cognitive deficits, tardive dyskinesia, blood disorder Antianxiety drugs o Minor tranquilizer or benzodiazepines o Subject to abuse and other side effects o Antidepressants often used now for anxiety disorders Antidepressant drugs o Tricyclics (increase serotonin and norepinephrine) increase reuptake o Skin rashes, weight loss, blurred vision o 2 weeks before they start to work