Abnormal psychology – the scientific study of abnormal behavior in an effort to describe, predict,
explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning.
Norms – a society’s stated and unstated rules for proper conduct.
Culture – a people’s common history, values, institutions, habits, skills, technology, and arts.
Treatment – a systematic procedure designed to change abnormal behavior into more normal
behavior. Also called therapy.
Trephination – an ancient operation in which a stone instrument was used to cut away a circular
section of the skull, perhaps to treat abnormal behavior.
Humors – according to the Greeks and Romans, bodily chemicals that influence mental and physical
functioning.
Asylum – a type of institution that first became popular in the sixteenth century to provide care for
persons with mental disorders. Most became virtual prisoners.
Moral treatment – a nineteenth century approach to treating people with mental dysfunction that
emphasized moral guidance and humane and respectful treatment.
State hospitals – state-run public mental institutions in the US.
Somatogenic perspective – the view that abnormal psychological functioning has physical causes.
Psychogenic perspective – the view that the chief cause of abnormal functioning are psychological.
Psychoanalysis – either the theory or the treatment of abnormal mental functioning that emphasizes
unconscious psychological forces as the cause of psychopathology.
Psychotropic medications – drugs that mainly affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental
dysfunctioning.
Deinstitutionalization – the practice, begun in the 1960s, of releasing hundreds of thousands of
patients from public mental hospitals.
Private psychotherapy – an arrangement in which a person directly pays a therapist for counseling
services.
Prevention – interventions aimed at deterring mental disorders before they develop.
Positive psychology – the study and enhancement of positive feelings, traits, and abilities.
Multicultural psychology – the field of psychology that examines the impact of culture, race,
ethnicity, gender, and similar factors on our behaviors and thoughts, including abnormal behaviors and
thoughts.
Managed care program – a system of health care coverage in which the insurance company largely
controls the nature, scope, and cost of medical or psychological services.
Scientific method – the process of systematically gathering and evaluating information through
careful observations to gain an understanding of a phenomenon.
Case study – a detailed account of a person’s life and psychological problems.
Correlation – the degree to which events or characteristics vary along with each other.
Correlational method – a research procedure used to determine how much events or characteristics
vary along with each other.
Epidemiological study – a study that measures the incidence and prevalence of a disorder in a given
population.
Longitudinal study – a study that observes he same participants on many occasions over a long
period of time.
Experiment – a research procedure in which a variable is manipulated and the effect of the
manipulation is observed.
Independent variable – the variable in an experiment that is manipulated to determine whether it has
an effect on another variable.
Dependent variable – the variable in an experiment that is expected to change as the independent
variable is manipulated.
Confound – in an experiment, a variable other than the independent variable that is also acting on the
dependent variable.
Control group – in an experiment, a group of participants who are not exposed to the independent
variable.
Experimental group – in an experiment, the participants who are exposed to the independent variable
under investigation.
,Random assignment – a selection procedure that ensures that participants are randomly placed either
in the control group or in the experimental group.
Blind design – an experiment in which participants do not know whether they are in the experimental
or control condition.
Quasi experiment – an experiment in which investigators make use of control and experimental
groups that already exist in the world at large. Also called a mixed design.
Natural experiment – an experiment in which nature, rather than an experimenter, manipulates an
independent variable.
Single subject experimental design – a research method in which a single participant is observed and
measured both before and after the manipulation of an independent variable.
Model – a set of assumptions and concepts that help scientists explain and interpret observations. Also
called a paradigm.
Neuron – a nerve cell.
Synapse – the tiny space between the nerve ending and of one neuron and the dendrite of another.
Neurotransmitter – serotonine, dopamine, GABA
Receptor – a site on a neuron hat receives a neurotransmitter.
Hormones – the chemicals released by endocrine glands into the bloodstream.
Genes – chromosome segments that control the characteristics and traits we inherit.
Psychotropic medications – drugs that primarily affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of
mental dysfunctioning.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) – a form of biological treatment, used primarily on depressed
patients, in which a brain seizure is triggered as an electric current passes through electrodes attached
to the patient’s forehead.
Psychosurgery – brain surgery for mental disorders. Also called neurosurgery.
ID – according to Freud, the psychological force that produces instinctual needs, drives and impulses.
Ego – according to Freud, the psychological force that employs reason and operates in accordance
with the reality principle.
Ego defense mechanisms – according to psychoanalytic theory, strategies developed by the ego to
control unacceptable id impulses and to avoid or reduce the anxiety they arouse.
Superego – according to Freud, the psychological force that represents a person’s values and ideals.
Fixation – according to Freud, a condition in which the id, ego and superego do not mature properly
and are frozen at an early stage of development.
Free association – a psychodynamic technique in which the patient describes any thought, feeling, or
image that comes to mind, even if it seems unimportant.
Resistance – an unconscious refusal to participate fully in therapy.
Transference – according to psychodynamic theorists, the redirection toward the psychotherapists of
feelings associated with important figures in a patient’s life, now or in the past.
Dream – a series of ideas and images that form during sleep.
Catharsis – the reliving of past repressed feelings in order to settle internal conflicts and overcome
problems.
Conditioning – a simple form of learning.
Operant conditioning – a process of learning in which behavior that leads to satisfying consequences
is likely to be repeated.
Modeling – a process of learning in which an individual acquires responses by observing and
imitating others.
Classical conditioning – a process of learning by temporal association in which two events that
repeatedly occur close together in time become fused in a person’s mind and produce the same
response. (Pavlov)
Systematic desensitization – a behavioral treatment in which clients with phobias learn react calmly
instead of with intense fear to the objects or situations they dread.
Cognitive therapy – a therapy developed by Aaron Beck that helps people recognize and change their
faulty thinking processes.
Self-actualization – the humanistic process by which people fulfill their potential for goodness and
growth.
, Client centered therapy – the humanistic therapy developed by Carl Rogers in which clinicians try to
help their clients by conveying acceptance, accurate empathy, and genuineness.
Psychodynamic: oldest model
Gestalt therapy – the humanistic therapy developed by Fritz Perlz in which clinicians actively move
patients toward self-recognition and self-acceptance by using techniques such as role playing and self-
discovery exercises.
Existential therapy – a therapy that encourages clients to accept responsibility for their lives and to
live with greater meaning and value.
Family system theory – a theory that views the family as a system of interacting parts whose
interactions exhibit consistent patterns and unstated rules.
Group therapy – a therapy format in which a group of people with similar problems meet together
with a therapist to work on those problems.
Self help group – a group made up of people with similar problems who held and support one another
without direct leadership of a clinician. Also called a mutual help group.
Family therapy – a therapy format in which the therapist meets with all members of a family and
helps them to change in therapeutic ways.
Couple therapy – a therapy format in which the therapist works with two people who share a long-
term relationship. Also known as marital therapy.
Community mental health treatment – a treatment approach that emphasizes community care.
Multicultural perspective – the view that each culture within a large society has a particular set of
values and beliefs, as well as special external pressures, that help account for the behavior of its
members. Also called culturally diverse perspective.
Culture sensitive therapies – approaches that seek to address the unique issue faced by members of
minority groups.
Idiographic understanding – an understanding of the behavior of a particular individual.
Assessment – the process of collecting and interpreting relevant information about a client of research
participant.
Standardization – the process in which a test is administrated to a large group of people whose
performance then serves as a standard or norm against which any individual’s score can be measured.
Reliability – a measure of consistency of test or research results.
Validity – the accuracy of a test’s or study’s results; that is, the extent to which the test or study
actually measures or shows what it claims.
Mental status exam – a set of interview questions and observations designed to reveal the degree and
nature of a client’s abnormal functioning.
Test – a device for gathering information about a few aspects of a person’s psychological functioning
from which broader information about the person can be inferred.
Projective test – a test consisting of ambiguous material that people interpret or respond to.
Personality inventory – a test designed to measure broad personality characteristics, consisting of
statements about behaviors, beliefs, and feelings that people evaluate as either characteristic or
uncharacteristic for them.
Response inventories – tests designed to measure a person’s responses in one specific area of
functioning, such as affect, social skills, or cognitive processes.
Psychophysiological test – a test that measures physical responses (such as heart rate and muscle
tension) as possible indicators of psychological problems.
Neurological test – a test that directly measures brain structure or activity.
Neuroimaging techniques – neurological tests that provide images of brain structure or activity, such
as CT scans, PET scans, and MRIs. Also called brain scans.
Neuropsychological test – a test that detects brain impairment by measuring a person’s cognitive,
perceptual, and motor performances.
Intelligence test - a test designed to measure a person’s intellectual ability.
Intelligence quotient (IQ) – an overall score derived from intelligence tests.
Diagnosis – a determination that a person’s problems reflect a particular disorder.
explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning.
Norms – a society’s stated and unstated rules for proper conduct.
Culture – a people’s common history, values, institutions, habits, skills, technology, and arts.
Treatment – a systematic procedure designed to change abnormal behavior into more normal
behavior. Also called therapy.
Trephination – an ancient operation in which a stone instrument was used to cut away a circular
section of the skull, perhaps to treat abnormal behavior.
Humors – according to the Greeks and Romans, bodily chemicals that influence mental and physical
functioning.
Asylum – a type of institution that first became popular in the sixteenth century to provide care for
persons with mental disorders. Most became virtual prisoners.
Moral treatment – a nineteenth century approach to treating people with mental dysfunction that
emphasized moral guidance and humane and respectful treatment.
State hospitals – state-run public mental institutions in the US.
Somatogenic perspective – the view that abnormal psychological functioning has physical causes.
Psychogenic perspective – the view that the chief cause of abnormal functioning are psychological.
Psychoanalysis – either the theory or the treatment of abnormal mental functioning that emphasizes
unconscious psychological forces as the cause of psychopathology.
Psychotropic medications – drugs that mainly affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental
dysfunctioning.
Deinstitutionalization – the practice, begun in the 1960s, of releasing hundreds of thousands of
patients from public mental hospitals.
Private psychotherapy – an arrangement in which a person directly pays a therapist for counseling
services.
Prevention – interventions aimed at deterring mental disorders before they develop.
Positive psychology – the study and enhancement of positive feelings, traits, and abilities.
Multicultural psychology – the field of psychology that examines the impact of culture, race,
ethnicity, gender, and similar factors on our behaviors and thoughts, including abnormal behaviors and
thoughts.
Managed care program – a system of health care coverage in which the insurance company largely
controls the nature, scope, and cost of medical or psychological services.
Scientific method – the process of systematically gathering and evaluating information through
careful observations to gain an understanding of a phenomenon.
Case study – a detailed account of a person’s life and psychological problems.
Correlation – the degree to which events or characteristics vary along with each other.
Correlational method – a research procedure used to determine how much events or characteristics
vary along with each other.
Epidemiological study – a study that measures the incidence and prevalence of a disorder in a given
population.
Longitudinal study – a study that observes he same participants on many occasions over a long
period of time.
Experiment – a research procedure in which a variable is manipulated and the effect of the
manipulation is observed.
Independent variable – the variable in an experiment that is manipulated to determine whether it has
an effect on another variable.
Dependent variable – the variable in an experiment that is expected to change as the independent
variable is manipulated.
Confound – in an experiment, a variable other than the independent variable that is also acting on the
dependent variable.
Control group – in an experiment, a group of participants who are not exposed to the independent
variable.
Experimental group – in an experiment, the participants who are exposed to the independent variable
under investigation.
,Random assignment – a selection procedure that ensures that participants are randomly placed either
in the control group or in the experimental group.
Blind design – an experiment in which participants do not know whether they are in the experimental
or control condition.
Quasi experiment – an experiment in which investigators make use of control and experimental
groups that already exist in the world at large. Also called a mixed design.
Natural experiment – an experiment in which nature, rather than an experimenter, manipulates an
independent variable.
Single subject experimental design – a research method in which a single participant is observed and
measured both before and after the manipulation of an independent variable.
Model – a set of assumptions and concepts that help scientists explain and interpret observations. Also
called a paradigm.
Neuron – a nerve cell.
Synapse – the tiny space between the nerve ending and of one neuron and the dendrite of another.
Neurotransmitter – serotonine, dopamine, GABA
Receptor – a site on a neuron hat receives a neurotransmitter.
Hormones – the chemicals released by endocrine glands into the bloodstream.
Genes – chromosome segments that control the characteristics and traits we inherit.
Psychotropic medications – drugs that primarily affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of
mental dysfunctioning.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) – a form of biological treatment, used primarily on depressed
patients, in which a brain seizure is triggered as an electric current passes through electrodes attached
to the patient’s forehead.
Psychosurgery – brain surgery for mental disorders. Also called neurosurgery.
ID – according to Freud, the psychological force that produces instinctual needs, drives and impulses.
Ego – according to Freud, the psychological force that employs reason and operates in accordance
with the reality principle.
Ego defense mechanisms – according to psychoanalytic theory, strategies developed by the ego to
control unacceptable id impulses and to avoid or reduce the anxiety they arouse.
Superego – according to Freud, the psychological force that represents a person’s values and ideals.
Fixation – according to Freud, a condition in which the id, ego and superego do not mature properly
and are frozen at an early stage of development.
Free association – a psychodynamic technique in which the patient describes any thought, feeling, or
image that comes to mind, even if it seems unimportant.
Resistance – an unconscious refusal to participate fully in therapy.
Transference – according to psychodynamic theorists, the redirection toward the psychotherapists of
feelings associated with important figures in a patient’s life, now or in the past.
Dream – a series of ideas and images that form during sleep.
Catharsis – the reliving of past repressed feelings in order to settle internal conflicts and overcome
problems.
Conditioning – a simple form of learning.
Operant conditioning – a process of learning in which behavior that leads to satisfying consequences
is likely to be repeated.
Modeling – a process of learning in which an individual acquires responses by observing and
imitating others.
Classical conditioning – a process of learning by temporal association in which two events that
repeatedly occur close together in time become fused in a person’s mind and produce the same
response. (Pavlov)
Systematic desensitization – a behavioral treatment in which clients with phobias learn react calmly
instead of with intense fear to the objects or situations they dread.
Cognitive therapy – a therapy developed by Aaron Beck that helps people recognize and change their
faulty thinking processes.
Self-actualization – the humanistic process by which people fulfill their potential for goodness and
growth.
, Client centered therapy – the humanistic therapy developed by Carl Rogers in which clinicians try to
help their clients by conveying acceptance, accurate empathy, and genuineness.
Psychodynamic: oldest model
Gestalt therapy – the humanistic therapy developed by Fritz Perlz in which clinicians actively move
patients toward self-recognition and self-acceptance by using techniques such as role playing and self-
discovery exercises.
Existential therapy – a therapy that encourages clients to accept responsibility for their lives and to
live with greater meaning and value.
Family system theory – a theory that views the family as a system of interacting parts whose
interactions exhibit consistent patterns and unstated rules.
Group therapy – a therapy format in which a group of people with similar problems meet together
with a therapist to work on those problems.
Self help group – a group made up of people with similar problems who held and support one another
without direct leadership of a clinician. Also called a mutual help group.
Family therapy – a therapy format in which the therapist meets with all members of a family and
helps them to change in therapeutic ways.
Couple therapy – a therapy format in which the therapist works with two people who share a long-
term relationship. Also known as marital therapy.
Community mental health treatment – a treatment approach that emphasizes community care.
Multicultural perspective – the view that each culture within a large society has a particular set of
values and beliefs, as well as special external pressures, that help account for the behavior of its
members. Also called culturally diverse perspective.
Culture sensitive therapies – approaches that seek to address the unique issue faced by members of
minority groups.
Idiographic understanding – an understanding of the behavior of a particular individual.
Assessment – the process of collecting and interpreting relevant information about a client of research
participant.
Standardization – the process in which a test is administrated to a large group of people whose
performance then serves as a standard or norm against which any individual’s score can be measured.
Reliability – a measure of consistency of test or research results.
Validity – the accuracy of a test’s or study’s results; that is, the extent to which the test or study
actually measures or shows what it claims.
Mental status exam – a set of interview questions and observations designed to reveal the degree and
nature of a client’s abnormal functioning.
Test – a device for gathering information about a few aspects of a person’s psychological functioning
from which broader information about the person can be inferred.
Projective test – a test consisting of ambiguous material that people interpret or respond to.
Personality inventory – a test designed to measure broad personality characteristics, consisting of
statements about behaviors, beliefs, and feelings that people evaluate as either characteristic or
uncharacteristic for them.
Response inventories – tests designed to measure a person’s responses in one specific area of
functioning, such as affect, social skills, or cognitive processes.
Psychophysiological test – a test that measures physical responses (such as heart rate and muscle
tension) as possible indicators of psychological problems.
Neurological test – a test that directly measures brain structure or activity.
Neuroimaging techniques – neurological tests that provide images of brain structure or activity, such
as CT scans, PET scans, and MRIs. Also called brain scans.
Neuropsychological test – a test that detects brain impairment by measuring a person’s cognitive,
perceptual, and motor performances.
Intelligence test - a test designed to measure a person’s intellectual ability.
Intelligence quotient (IQ) – an overall score derived from intelligence tests.
Diagnosis – a determination that a person’s problems reflect a particular disorder.
