PSYC 155 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Systematic Desensitization, Habituation, Genetic Predisposition
Document Summary
Anxiety and fear: can be moods (normal), symptoms (of an underlying cause) and syndromes (disorders: can be conceptualized in these ways, exist along a continuum, experienced differently across people. Fear- sense of fight or flight, response to an immediate threat (present-oriented) Anxiety-uncertainty about what will or might happen in the future (future-oriented) Worry about uncontrollable or unpredictable things (in contrast with fear- where you know if you don"t do something you will die) Yerkes-dodson rule- arousal exists along a continuum and affects performance. People will very high or low anxiety levels do not perform well on tests, do best if moderately aroused. Low because no motivation to prepare, high leads to maladaptive behaviors/ways of coping with. A little bit of anxiety is good because it leads to preparation/behavior change. Anxiety disorders arise when: anxiety and fear is pervasive (extends to multiple life areas) and persistent disproportionate to the threat.
