©BRIGHTSTARS 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 11:22 AM A+
PSY 657 Test #1 Exam Questions And
Answers |Latest 2025 | Guaranteed Pass.
Psychopathology - Answer✔Scientific study of mental disorders which include efforts to
understand their genetic, biological, psychological, and social causes.
Concentrates on mental health conditions and disorders.
What does Psych mean? - Answer✔The totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious.
What does pathology mean? - Answer✔Comes from the Greek word "pathos" which means
disease, so it is the study of disease.
Clinical Psychology - Answer✔Refers to treatments designed to assist individuals with any
number of ailments, which includes psychopathology.
Abnormal psychology - Answer✔Concerned with understanding the nature, causes, and
treatment of mental disorders.
Where are places we see abnormal psychology take place? - Answer✔Newspapers
Movies
Surfing the web
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, ©BRIGHTSTARS 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 11:22 AM A+
Family members
College campus (peer support groups)
TV shows
Mothers on the news
Celebrities
What does family aggregation mean? - Answer✔Whether a disorder runs in families
What are the 7 indicators of abnormality? - Answer✔1. Subjective Distress
2. Maladaptiveness
3. Statistical Deviancy
4. Violation of the Standards of Society
5. Social Discomfort
6. Irrationality and Unpredictability
7. Dangerousness
Subjective Distress - Answer✔If people suffer from psychological pain we tend to consider this
as indicative of abnormality (depression, feeling distressed)
-Not sufficient nor necessary
Maladaptiveness - Answer✔Interferes with our well-being and ability to enjoy our work and
relationships.
Ex: Anorexia, depression.
-If society considers behavior to be abnormal.
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, ©BRIGHTSTARS 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 11:22 AM A+
Statistical deviancy - Answer✔Statistically rare behaviors.
Ex: The common cold is a statistically common diagnosis? Is it abnormal? Yes, it is an illness so it
strays from the normal.
-Statistically rare and undesirable: abnormal
-Statistically rare and desirable: normal (genius)
Violation of the standards of society - Answer✔People failing to follow the conventional social
and moral rules of their cultural group.
Ex:
Behavior is more likely to be considered abnormal when violating the standards of society and
is statistically deviant or rare.
Illegal parking, no.
Mother drowning child: yeah
Social Discomfort - Answer✔Violating an implicit or unwritten social rule, those around him or
her may experience a sense of discomfort.
-Empty bus: bus is empty but you choose to sit next to that person.
irrationality and unpredictability - Answer✔behavior or states of mind that are so out of the
expected and ordinary that it impairs one's participation in the culture.
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, ©BRIGHTSTARS 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 11:22 AM A+
-Consider a given uncommon behavior abnormal.
Ex: the disordered speech and the disorganized behavior of patients with schizophrenia are
often irrational.
Dangerousness - Answer✔A danger to him or herself or to another person is psychologically
abnormal.
-A bad driver is dangerous but will not be considered mentally ill because we can't rely on
dangerousness are a sole feature of abnormality.
-More of an exception than a rule to be dangerous when mentally ill.
DSM-5 - Answer✔American Psychiatric association's diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders.
ICD-10 - Answer✔The International Classification of Diseases
-Differences are that similar disorders have different names.
How does DSM-5 define a mental disorder - Answer✔A syndrome present in an individual and
that involves clinically significant disturbance in behavior, emotion regulation, or cognitive
functioning.
-These disturbances are thought to reflect a dysfunction in biological, psychological, or
developmental processes that are necessary for mental functioning.
Classification and Diagnosis Advantages - Answer✔Nomenclature (a naming system): gives
clinicians and researchers both a common language and shorthand terms for complex clinical
conditions.
4|P a g e
PSY 657 Test #1 Exam Questions And
Answers |Latest 2025 | Guaranteed Pass.
Psychopathology - Answer✔Scientific study of mental disorders which include efforts to
understand their genetic, biological, psychological, and social causes.
Concentrates on mental health conditions and disorders.
What does Psych mean? - Answer✔The totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious.
What does pathology mean? - Answer✔Comes from the Greek word "pathos" which means
disease, so it is the study of disease.
Clinical Psychology - Answer✔Refers to treatments designed to assist individuals with any
number of ailments, which includes psychopathology.
Abnormal psychology - Answer✔Concerned with understanding the nature, causes, and
treatment of mental disorders.
Where are places we see abnormal psychology take place? - Answer✔Newspapers
Movies
Surfing the web
1|P a g e
, ©BRIGHTSTARS 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 11:22 AM A+
Family members
College campus (peer support groups)
TV shows
Mothers on the news
Celebrities
What does family aggregation mean? - Answer✔Whether a disorder runs in families
What are the 7 indicators of abnormality? - Answer✔1. Subjective Distress
2. Maladaptiveness
3. Statistical Deviancy
4. Violation of the Standards of Society
5. Social Discomfort
6. Irrationality and Unpredictability
7. Dangerousness
Subjective Distress - Answer✔If people suffer from psychological pain we tend to consider this
as indicative of abnormality (depression, feeling distressed)
-Not sufficient nor necessary
Maladaptiveness - Answer✔Interferes with our well-being and ability to enjoy our work and
relationships.
Ex: Anorexia, depression.
-If society considers behavior to be abnormal.
2|P a g e
, ©BRIGHTSTARS 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 11:22 AM A+
Statistical deviancy - Answer✔Statistically rare behaviors.
Ex: The common cold is a statistically common diagnosis? Is it abnormal? Yes, it is an illness so it
strays from the normal.
-Statistically rare and undesirable: abnormal
-Statistically rare and desirable: normal (genius)
Violation of the standards of society - Answer✔People failing to follow the conventional social
and moral rules of their cultural group.
Ex:
Behavior is more likely to be considered abnormal when violating the standards of society and
is statistically deviant or rare.
Illegal parking, no.
Mother drowning child: yeah
Social Discomfort - Answer✔Violating an implicit or unwritten social rule, those around him or
her may experience a sense of discomfort.
-Empty bus: bus is empty but you choose to sit next to that person.
irrationality and unpredictability - Answer✔behavior or states of mind that are so out of the
expected and ordinary that it impairs one's participation in the culture.
3|P a g e
, ©BRIGHTSTARS 2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 11:22 AM A+
-Consider a given uncommon behavior abnormal.
Ex: the disordered speech and the disorganized behavior of patients with schizophrenia are
often irrational.
Dangerousness - Answer✔A danger to him or herself or to another person is psychologically
abnormal.
-A bad driver is dangerous but will not be considered mentally ill because we can't rely on
dangerousness are a sole feature of abnormality.
-More of an exception than a rule to be dangerous when mentally ill.
DSM-5 - Answer✔American Psychiatric association's diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders.
ICD-10 - Answer✔The International Classification of Diseases
-Differences are that similar disorders have different names.
How does DSM-5 define a mental disorder - Answer✔A syndrome present in an individual and
that involves clinically significant disturbance in behavior, emotion regulation, or cognitive
functioning.
-These disturbances are thought to reflect a dysfunction in biological, psychological, or
developmental processes that are necessary for mental functioning.
Classification and Diagnosis Advantages - Answer✔Nomenclature (a naming system): gives
clinicians and researchers both a common language and shorthand terms for complex clinical
conditions.
4|P a g e
