Psychology: Psychological Disorders

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

      Abnormal Psychology

• A "harmful dysfunction" in which behavior is judged to be atypical (not normal). disturbing, and unjustifiable. 

      Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 

      (DSM IV)

• Book of disorders.
• Classifies disorders and describes their symptoms.
• DOES NOT explain the causes or possible cures.

      Neurotic

• Distressing, but a person is still able to function in society and behave rationally.

      Psychotic

• Person loses contact with reality and experiences distorted perceptions.

ANXIETY DISORDERS

• Group of conditions where the primary symptoms are anxiety or defenses against anxiety.
• Patient fears something awful will happen to them.
• State of intense apprehension, uneasiness, uncertainty, or fear.

Phobia

• Person experiences sudden episodes of intense dread.

Ex. Achluophobia- Fear of darkness.

      Agoraphobia- Fear of open spaces or of being in crowded,
      public places like markets. 

      Macrophobia- Fear of long waits.

      Microphobia- Fear of small things.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

• Person is continuously tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal.
• Person feels inadequate, oversensitive, cannot concentrate, and can have insomnia. 

Panic Disorder

• Marked by one minute long episodes of intense dread in which a person can experience chest pains, choking, and frightening experiences.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

• Persistent unwanted thoughts (obsessions).
• Causes someone to feel the need (compulsion) to engage in a particular action. 

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• Flashbacks or nightmares following a person's involvement in or oberservation of an extremely stressful event.
• Memories can cause anxiety.

SOMATOFORM DISORDERS

• Occurs when a person manifests a psychological problem through a physiological symptom.

Two Types:

• Hypochondriasis: Frequent physical complaints for which medial doctors are unable to find a cause for.
• Conversion: Report existence of severe physical problems with no biological reason.

DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS

• Involve a disruption in the conscious process.

Three Types:

• Psychogenic Amnesia: Person is unable to remember things with no physiological basis for disruption of memory.
• Dissociative Fugue: People with Psychogenic Amnesia find themselves in an unfamiliar environment.
• Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID): Known as Multiple Personality Disorder. Person has several rather than one integrated personality. People whom had DID Commonly have a childhood of abuse or trauma.

MOOD DISORDERS

• Extreme or inappropriate emotion

Major Depression

• Unhappy for two weeks without a cause
• Common cold for psychological disorders

Dysthymic Disorder

• Type of depression
• Mild depression every day for at least two years

Seasonal Affective Disorder

• Experience of depression during winter months
• Not based on temperature
• Based on the amount of sunlight

Bipolar Disorder

• Formally: Manic depression
• Period of depression and manic episodes
• Manic episodes involve feelings of high energy

Psychology: Psychology's Perspectives

PSYCHOLOGY'S PERSPECTIVES

Neuroscience

• How the physical body and brain creates our emotions, memories, and sensory experiences.

Ex. Doctors believe that Amy's constant fatigue is due to the tumor that has grown on her pancreas, which has affected insulin production in her body.

Evolutionary

• Focuses on Darwinism. We behave the way we do because we inherited those behaviors.

Ex. Doctors believe that Amy only dates tall men with IQ’s over 120 because she believes that those genes will ensure the future financial success of her children.

Behavioral

• Focuses on our observable behaviors. Only cares about the behaviors that impair our living, and attempt to change them.

Ex. Doctors believe that Amy’s good grades are tied to the fact that she gets paid $20 for each “A” that she earns.

Psycho-dynamic

• Fathered by Sigmund Freud. Our behavior comes from unconscious drives.

Ex. Doctors believe that Amy’s fondness for dating men that remind her of her father stems from the fact that her real father abandoned the family when she was a toddler, and she’s been unconsciously seeking a father-figure ever since.

Cognitive

• Focuses on how we think.

Ex. Doctors believe that Amy’s depression is based on the fact that she believes that the world hates her, and that people are always laughing at her behind her back.

Social-Cultural

• How your culture affects your behavior.

Ex. Doctors believe that Amy’s kindness at church, yet her rowdy behavior at rock concerts, can both be explained by the fact that each situation has a different set of expectations; her pastor expects quiet, while the band on stage calls for moshing.

Humanistic

• Positive growth. Attempt to seek self-actualization.

Ex. Doctors believe that Amy’s positive attitude and carefree spirit are due in part to the fact that she is well fed, safe, loved, and enrolled in the best schools.

Psychology: Introduction

Psychology

• Science of behavior and mental processes

Science

• Based on research

Behavior

• Observable

Goals of Psychology

• predict
• observe
• explain
• describe
• control

Mind & Body Are Connected                                      

• The Hebrews                                                   
• Aristotle
• Augustine

 Mind & Body Are Distinct

• Socrates (teacher of Plato)
• Plato (teacher of Aristotle)
• Descartes

Some Ideas Are Inborn

• Socrates
• Plato

The Mind is a Blank Slate

• Artistotle
• Locke

Wilhelm Wundt

• Father of Psychology

Structuralism (First School of Psychology)

• Broke down mental processes into the most basic components of conscious experience.

Introspection

• What did you see? Hear? Taste? Smell? Feel?

Functionalism (Second School of Psychology)

• Focuses less on how, but rather on why. Emphasized the process of how thoughts formed, changed, and how they adapted.

Macroeconomics Unit I: Business Cycle

BUSINESS CYCLE

• Average cycle is six years
• Recessions last about fourteen months
• The bulk of a cycle is the growth stage
• One cycle is from trough to trough

      Expansionary (growth)

• Real output in the economy is increasing and unemployment rate is declining.

      Contractionary (recession)

• Real output in the economy is decreasing and unemployment rate is rising.

      Peak

• Real GDP is at its highest

      Trough

• Real GDP is at its lowest 

Macroeconomics Unit I: Price Elasticity of Demand

Price Elasticity of Demand

• Tells how drastically buyers will cut back or increase their demand for a good when the price rises or falls. 

Types of Demands

        Elastic Demand

• Demand will change greatly if there is a change in price.
• Wants
• e > 1

        Inelastic Demand

• Demand for a product will not change, regardless of price.
• Needs
• e < 1

        Unit Elastic Demand

• e = 1

How to solve a PED Problem

• Follow steps 1-3.
• DO NOT SKIP A STEP OR MOVE AHEAD WITHOUT COMPLETING A STEP

Step One: 

• % change in quantity
• (new quantity-old quantity)/ old quantity

Step Two:

• % change in price 
• (new price-old price)/ old price

Step Three:

• 
  

Macroeconomics Unit I: Demand and Supply

DEMAND AND SUPPLY

Demand Schedule

• We survey individuals as to what prices they are willing to buy donuts for, and we notice a trend. 

         Ex. A trend that we can notice is that...as price increases, the quantity demanded                                 decreases (inversely related). If the price of ice cream cones increases, less people will                  buy ice cream cones, which makes the quantity of cones demanded to decrease.

Demand Curve

• This shows the relationship between price and quantity demanded on a graph.
• Downward slope
• ONLY USE POINTS GIVEN. DO NOT MAKE UP YOUR OWN.
• INCREASE in demand will cause the curve to shift to the RIGHT.
• DECREASE in demand will cause the curve to shift to the LEFT.

Ex. 

Demand is...

• The quantities that people are willing to purchase at various prices.

The Law of Demand

• There is an inverse relationship between price and quantity supplied.

Ex. If the price of carrots increases, less people will buy carrots, meaning the demand will                     decrease.

What causes a "change in quantity demanded"?  (ΔQD) (Δ=CHANGE)

• Δ in price

What causes a "change in demand"? (ΔD)

• Δ in buyer’s taste
• Δ in # of buyers
• Δ in income (two types):

                                            Normal: goods that buyers buy more of when their income rises

                               Inferior: goods that buyers buy less of when their income rises

• Δ in price of related goods (two types):

·                                                             Substitute: goods that serve roughly the same purpose to buyers

·                                                             Complimentary: goods that are often consumed together

• Δ in expectations

Macroeconomics Unit I: Production Possibilities Graph

 Production Possibilities Graph

• Alternative ways to use resources. 

  

Points

A: Inefficient, under utilization, and attainable

Causes: war, famine, unemployment, and recession

B: Efficient, but producing more guns

C: Efficient, but producing more butter

D: Efficient and attainable

X: Unattainable

Causes: Economic growth, technology, and new resources

Key Assumptions

1) Two goods are produced
2) Full employment
3) Fixed resources (land, labor, and capital)
4) Fixed state of technology
5) No international trade

Macroeconomics Unit I: Chapter 2 Introduction

MACROECONOMICS VS. MICROECONOMICS

      Macroeconomics

• Study of the entire economy which covers the ups and downs of the economy.
• WHOLE  

         Ex. Unemployment

               GDP

               Inflation

        Microeconomics

• Study of parts of the economy in which people make decisions and how those decisions interact.
• SEGMENTS

         Ex. Supply and Demand

               Market Structures

POSITIVE ECONOMICS VS. NORMATIVE ECONOMICS

        Positive Economics

• Way the economy actually works
• FACT                                                                                                                                

         Ex. Minimum wage laws cause unemployment.
               The rising price of crude oil on world markets will lead to an increase in cycling to                            work.
               A reduction in income tax will improve the incentives of the unemployed to find                                work.

        Normative Economics

• Way the economy should work.
• OPINION

         Ex. Price of gasoline is too high.

               Pollution is the most serious economic problem.

               Unemployment is more harmful than inflation.

NEEDS VS. WANTS

         Needs

• Required for survival

         Ex. Food

               Water

               Protein 

               Vitamins

               Minerals

         Wants

• Desires of citizens

         Ex. Ice Cream

               Pizza

               Range Rover

               Playstation 4 

SCARCITY VS. SHORTAGE

        Scarcity

• Most fundamental economic problem that all societies face.
• Trying to satisfy unlimited wants with limited resources.
• PERMANENT                                                                                                                   

         Ex. Each year a limited amount of the flu vaccine is available to the population,                                    meaning there is not enough for each individual to be vaccinated.
               When hurricanes have incapacitated refineries on the Gulf Coast, oil prices                                    increase because of the possibility of scarcity of gas for vehicles. 

         Shortage

• Quantity demanded is greater than quantity supplied.
• TEMPORARY

         Ex. A bad crop causes shortage in carrots.

CONSUMER GOODS VS. CAPITAL GOODS

        Consumer Goods

• Goods that are intended for final use by the consumer.

          Ex. Food

               Beverages

               Video Games

        Capital Goods

• Items used in the creation of other goods.

         Ex. Factory Machinery

               Trucks

               Tools