PSY3032 Study Guide - Final Guide: Operant Conditioning, Paresis, Electrodermal Activity
21 Jun 2018
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Week 1 Required Reading
Chapter 1 Introduction and Historical Overview
-Psychopathology: The field concerned with the nature, development, and
treatment of psychological disorders.
Stigma- Destructive beliefs and attitudes held by a society ascribed to group
considered different in some manner
The four characteristics of stigma
-Distinguishing label is applied
-Label refers to undesirable attributes
-People with the label are seen as different
-People with the label are discriminated against
Defining Mental Disorder
-The definition of mental disorder presented in the fifth edition of the American
Diagnostic manual, DSM-5 includes a number of characteristics to the concept of
psychological disorder’
Occurs with the individual
Clinically significant difficulties in thinking, feeling or behaving
Involves personal distress of some sort, such as in social relationship
Involves dysfunction in psychological, developmental, and
neurobiological processes that support mental functioning
Not a culturally specific reaction to an event
Not primarily a result of social deviance/conflict with society
Four characteristics of a comprehensive definition of psychological disorder
Personal distress
Disability in some area of life such as work or personal relationship
Harmful Dysfunction
Violation of social norms
History of Psychopathology
oEarly Demonology- the belief that odd behaviour was caused by possession led
to treating it by exorcism, the ritualistic casting out of evil spirits
oEarly biological explanations: illnesses had natural causes that should be treated.
Hippocrates classified psychological disorders into three categories:
mania, melancholia, and phrenitis (brain fever)
A preponderance of black bile was the explanation for melancholia
Too much yellow bile explained irritability and anxiousness
Too much blood, changeable temperament
oDark ages and demonology- witches, lunacy trials (to protect people with mental
illness).
oAsylums- moral, humane treatment (Pinel’s Reforms)
The term lunatic is derived from the ideas of Paracelsus.
Approaches:
Biological approaches
oDiscovering Biological Origins in General Paresis and Syphilis
-Louis Pasteur established the germ theory of disease, which posited the disease
is caused by infection of the body by minute organisms.
-Genetics (nature) and environment (nurture); forced sterilisation of people with
mental illness
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Week 1 Required Reading
-Treatments: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) originated by Ugo Cerletti and
Lucino Bini
Psychological
Mesmer and Charcot
oHysteria, referred to physical incapacities such as blindness or paralysis
oMesmer regarded hysteria as having strictly biological causes
oThe word mesmerism is a synonym for hypnotism
oCharcot believed that hysteria was a problem with nervous system
oCharcot became interested in psychological interpretations of thse very
puzzling phenomena
Breuer and the Cathartic Method
oThe case of Anna O. became one of the best known clinical cases in the
psychoanalytic literature
Freud and Psychoanalysis
oPsychoanalytic theory= psychopathology results from unconscious conflict in
the individual
Structure of mind
oPsyche: id, ego and superego
oId’s energy as biological, called libido
oPleasure principle
oReality principle
Another key component of psychoanalytic therapy is the analysis of Transference
(refers to the person’s responses to his or her analyst that seem to reflect attitudes and
ways of behaving toward important people in the person’s past.
Psychosexual development:
Oral (birth —> 18 months) - demands of id met by feeding.
Anal (18 —> 3 years) - pleasure through anus.
Phallic (3 —> 5/6 years) - gratification through genital stimulation.
Latency (6 —> 12) - no id impulses motivating behaviour.
Genital- Heterosexual interests predominate
Non-Freudian psychodynamic perspectives:
Jung and Analytical psychology- in addition to unconscious there is a collective
unconscious (archetypes)
Adler and Individual Psychology- people tied to their society (fulfilment found in
doing things for social good-more thinking)
Continuing Influences of Freud and His Followers
Childhood experiences help shape adult personality
There are unconscious influences on behaviour
The causes and purposes of human behaviour are not always obvious
The rise of Behaviourism
-Behaviourism focuses on observable behaviour rather than on consciousness or
mental functioning.
-E.g. Classical functioning (Ivan Pavlov), operant conditioning (positive and
negative reinforcement) and modelling (Bandura and Menlove)
Behaviour therapy
-Systematic desensitization: used to treat phobias and anxiety today
-Includes two components: (1) deep muscle relaxation (2) gradual exposure to a
list of feared situations
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