Exam 4 Review Outline

Chapter 14: Psychological Disorders

 Perspectives on Psychological Disorders:

  • Define psychological disorders. What are the key aspects of this definition?
  • Describe the Medical Model and the Biopsychosocial approach.
  • What is the DSM-IV-TR? What are the benefits and drawbacks of the DSM and labeling disorders?

 For each disorder: (see specific objectives below)

  • Understand the main features: definition and symptoms
  • Cause of the disorder
  • Theoretical explanation of the disorder (if provided)

 Anxiety disorders

  • Define and give a specific example.
  • Explanations for anxiety disorders: Learning perspective, biological perspective.

 Somatoform disorders: Define.

 Dissociative disorders

  • Define dissociative identity disorder.
  • Relationship to PTSD
  • How do skeptics interpret DID?

 Define Mood Disorders

  • Define major depressive disorder
  • Define bipolar disorder and mania
  • Biological perspective of depression
  • Social-cognitive perspective of depression.

 Define thought disorders.

  • Schizophrenia, disorganized thought, delusions, hallucinations, inappropriate emotions/actions
  • What are some explanations for the development of schizophrenia?

 Define personality disorders.

  • Choose one cluster of personality disorders to define.
  • What is antisocial personality disorder?

 What is the diathesis stress model?

Chapter 15: Therapy

 What is psychotherapy?

  • Psychoanalysis: describe the methods, aims, and drawbacks.
  • Humanistic: Describe the client-centered approach, active listening, and unconditional positive regard.
  • Behavior therapy: Describe the way classical conditioning is used in the therapeutic setting.
  • What is cognitive therapy?
  • Describe the two components of cognitive-behavior therapy
  • Group therapy: Benefits, examples.

 Is therapy effective? What is evidence-based practice?

 Describe biomedical therapy. Why is a double-blind technique useful?

  • What are antipsychotic drugs? Describe the mechanism of action for conventional and atypical antipsychotics.
  • Describe antianxiety medications, antidepressants, and mood stabilizers.
  • Describe the two types of brain stimulation discussed.
  • Describe therapeutic life-style change.

Chapter 16: Social Psychology

 Social Thinking:

  • Describe attribution theory and the fundamental attribution error.
  • Distinguish the central and peripheral routes to persuasion. How do attitudes influence behavior? Describe foot-in-the-door and roles.
  • Describe the ways roles affect attitudes.
  • Describe Philip Zimbardo’s famous Stanford Prison Experiment.

 Social Influence

  • Describe cognitive dissonance and give an example.
  • Be able to describe conformity and obedience, including the work of Asch and Milgram, as well as the lessons from these studies.
  • Describe the effects of group interaction, including performance when being observed and performance as a group. (social loafing and deindividuation)
  • What did you learn about human behavior from these classical studies in Social Psychology? Be prepared to describe something you learned about human behavior, and the study that gave you this insight (e.g. Zimbardo’s Prison Guard Study, Asch’s Conformity Study, Milgram’s Obedience Study, or Dan Ariely’s work on our buggy moral code)

 Social Relations

  • Define prejudice, as well as the cognitive, emotional and social roots for prejudice.
  • Define aggression and factors that contribute to aggressive behavior. Frustration aggression principle
  • What is altruism? Why do we choose to help in some situations?

Ted Talks:

James Fallon on Serial Killers

Sherwin Nuland on Electroshock Therapy

Elyn Saks on Mental Illness

Philip Zimbardo on Evil

Dan Ariely on Our Buggy Moral Code