Abnormal Psychology Study Guide
What do "distress," "dysfunction," "deviance," and "danger" mean in the context of
psychopathology? -
✅Defining abnormality:
1. Deviance: different, extreme, unusual
2. Distress: unpleasant or upsetting to the person
3. Dysfunction: interfere with the person's ability to carry out his/her everyday life
4. Danger: pose some amount of danger to self and others
DEDI DADY
What role did Hippocrates play in the development of ideas about abnormality? -
✅Greek and Roman Times
C: Hippocrates- diseases result from a physical imbalance of the humors (yellow bile, black bile,
blood, phlegm)
T: physical treatment (excess black bile causing melancholia could be reduced by quiet life, exercise,
celibacy)
What was the relationship between witchcraft and mental disorders in the Middle Ages? -
✅Middle Ages: Conceptualization of mental disorders: result of evil
Treatment: exorcisms
What was moral treatment? -
✅was an approach to mental disorder based on humane psychosocial care or moral discipline
that emerged in the 18th century and came to the fore for much of the 19th century, deriving partly
from psychiatry or psychology and partly from religious or moral concerns. The movement is
particularly associated with reform and development of the asylum system in Western Europe at that
time.
19th Century
Conceptualization: Philippe Pinel argued that individuals with mental illnesses were sick and needed
to be treated with compassion and kindness
Treatment: asylum reform; moral temperament
1|Page
,Who provides most of the treatment in the United States? -
✅Social Workers (42%)
Others
Counselors (37%)
Psychologists (17%)
Psychiatrists (4%)
What is a hypothesis? What is the null hypothesis? -
✅hypothesis: testable statement of what we predict will happen (EX: exercise influences mood)
null hypothesis: (opposite) alternative version of our hypothesis, opposite outcome (EX: exercise
does NOT influence mood)
What are the dependent and independent variables? Be able to identify them in a description of a
research study. -
✅dependent = measured, changes, expected to change as independent variable is manipulated
(ex: depressive symptoms)
independent = manipulated, controlled (ex: type of medication)
What are some advantages and disadvantages of case studies? -
✅detailed description of a patient's psychological functioning
Pros
1. tentative support for a new theory or techqniue
2. study uncommon problems
Cons
1. biased observers
2. subjective evidence (bias)
3. difficult to replicate
4. low internal and external validity
2|Page
, What are some advantages and disadvantages of correlational studies? -
✅degree to which events or characteristics vary with each other; correlations index the
relationship between two variables
Pros
1. high external validity (can be generalized)
Cons
1. low internal validity -Third variable problem (they describe a relationship between two variables,
but do not explain the relationship)
What is the difference between a cross-sectional and a longitudinal study? -
✅(Correlational Method)
Cross-sectional: A cross-sectional study is an observational one. This means that researchers record
information about their subjects without manipulating the study environment. The defining feature
of a cross-sectional study is that it can compare different population groups at a single point in time.
Think of it in terms of taking a snapshot.
Longitudinal study:
examine same individuals over time and calculate changes in variables of interest; A longitudinal
study, like a cross-sectional one, is observational. So, once again, researchers do not interfere with
their subjects. However, in a longitudinal study, researchers conduct several observations of the
same subjects over a period of time, sometimes lasting many years. (able to detect
developments/changes in the target population at both group and individual levels)
What do correlations of ‐.9, 0, and +.9 mean? -
✅.8 and .9 are high correlations (there is a very close relationship between scores on one of the
variables with the scores on the other); .2 and .3 low correlations (correlations range between -1 and
1)
-.9: (do opposite things) negative magnitude - as one variable decreases, the other once increases (or
vice versa) (EX: as hours of sleep decreases, fatigue increases)
.9: (both do same thing) positive magnitude - as one variable increases/decreases, so does the other
one (EX: weight increases as height increases)
0: A correlation of 0 means there's no relationship between the two variables
3|Page
What do "distress," "dysfunction," "deviance," and "danger" mean in the context of
psychopathology? -
✅Defining abnormality:
1. Deviance: different, extreme, unusual
2. Distress: unpleasant or upsetting to the person
3. Dysfunction: interfere with the person's ability to carry out his/her everyday life
4. Danger: pose some amount of danger to self and others
DEDI DADY
What role did Hippocrates play in the development of ideas about abnormality? -
✅Greek and Roman Times
C: Hippocrates- diseases result from a physical imbalance of the humors (yellow bile, black bile,
blood, phlegm)
T: physical treatment (excess black bile causing melancholia could be reduced by quiet life, exercise,
celibacy)
What was the relationship between witchcraft and mental disorders in the Middle Ages? -
✅Middle Ages: Conceptualization of mental disorders: result of evil
Treatment: exorcisms
What was moral treatment? -
✅was an approach to mental disorder based on humane psychosocial care or moral discipline
that emerged in the 18th century and came to the fore for much of the 19th century, deriving partly
from psychiatry or psychology and partly from religious or moral concerns. The movement is
particularly associated with reform and development of the asylum system in Western Europe at that
time.
19th Century
Conceptualization: Philippe Pinel argued that individuals with mental illnesses were sick and needed
to be treated with compassion and kindness
Treatment: asylum reform; moral temperament
1|Page
,Who provides most of the treatment in the United States? -
✅Social Workers (42%)
Others
Counselors (37%)
Psychologists (17%)
Psychiatrists (4%)
What is a hypothesis? What is the null hypothesis? -
✅hypothesis: testable statement of what we predict will happen (EX: exercise influences mood)
null hypothesis: (opposite) alternative version of our hypothesis, opposite outcome (EX: exercise
does NOT influence mood)
What are the dependent and independent variables? Be able to identify them in a description of a
research study. -
✅dependent = measured, changes, expected to change as independent variable is manipulated
(ex: depressive symptoms)
independent = manipulated, controlled (ex: type of medication)
What are some advantages and disadvantages of case studies? -
✅detailed description of a patient's psychological functioning
Pros
1. tentative support for a new theory or techqniue
2. study uncommon problems
Cons
1. biased observers
2. subjective evidence (bias)
3. difficult to replicate
4. low internal and external validity
2|Page
, What are some advantages and disadvantages of correlational studies? -
✅degree to which events or characteristics vary with each other; correlations index the
relationship between two variables
Pros
1. high external validity (can be generalized)
Cons
1. low internal validity -Third variable problem (they describe a relationship between two variables,
but do not explain the relationship)
What is the difference between a cross-sectional and a longitudinal study? -
✅(Correlational Method)
Cross-sectional: A cross-sectional study is an observational one. This means that researchers record
information about their subjects without manipulating the study environment. The defining feature
of a cross-sectional study is that it can compare different population groups at a single point in time.
Think of it in terms of taking a snapshot.
Longitudinal study:
examine same individuals over time and calculate changes in variables of interest; A longitudinal
study, like a cross-sectional one, is observational. So, once again, researchers do not interfere with
their subjects. However, in a longitudinal study, researchers conduct several observations of the
same subjects over a period of time, sometimes lasting many years. (able to detect
developments/changes in the target population at both group and individual levels)
What do correlations of ‐.9, 0, and +.9 mean? -
✅.8 and .9 are high correlations (there is a very close relationship between scores on one of the
variables with the scores on the other); .2 and .3 low correlations (correlations range between -1 and
1)
-.9: (do opposite things) negative magnitude - as one variable decreases, the other once increases (or
vice versa) (EX: as hours of sleep decreases, fatigue increases)
.9: (both do same thing) positive magnitude - as one variable increases/decreases, so does the other
one (EX: weight increases as height increases)
0: A correlation of 0 means there's no relationship between the two variables
3|Page
