Psychology Chapter on Disorders and Brain Functions

Psychology 110 - Course Overview

• Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior.
• The word "psychology" comes from the Greek words "psyche," meaning life, and "logos," meaning explanation.
• Psychology is a popular major for students, a popular topic in the public media, and a part of everyday lives.
• Psychology emerged as its own scientific discipline in the 1870s.

Big Ideas

• History of Psychology
• Biological factors in Psychology
• Emotions
• Consciousness
• Learning and Intelligence
• Society and Culture
• Personal Development
• Psychological Disorders
• Research Methods
• Careers in Psychology

The Mind

• The mind is the totality of psychological phenomena and capacities, including:
  • Consciousness (awareness of experience)
  • Thought (reasoning, judgment, concept formation)
  • Sensation
  • Perception (interpretation of sensations)
  • Mood
  • Motivation
  • Behavior

Schools of Thought

• Structuralism
• Functionalism
• Behaviorism (founded by John B. Watson)
  • Focuses on observable behaviors.
  • Abandons the study of consciousness.
  • Believes that behavior is primarily governed by the environment, downplaying heredity.
• Psychoanalytic Theory (Sigmund Freud)
  • Emphasizes the unconscious mind.
  • Contains thoughts, memories, desires below conscious awareness.
  • Explores unconscious determinants of behavior, personality, and mental disorders.
• Humanism
  • Emphasizes unique qualities and freedom of humans, especially their potential for personal growth.
  • An optimistic view of human nature, emphasizing free will and individual potential.
  • Criticizes behaviorism and psychoanalysis for dehumanization.

Applied Psychology

• Psychology became a profession in the 1950s.
• Psychologists provide practical professional services to the public.
• Includes mental testing, intelligence testing.
• It is the branch of psychology concerned with everyday, practical problems.

Clinical Psychology

• Clinical psychology focuses on diagnosing and treating psychological problems and disorders.
• Became more mainstream after World War II, with demand for help with mental health.
• Today, involves a broad range of professional services.

Cognitive Psychology

• Cognition refers to mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge ("thinking").
• Behaviorism previously discouraged the study of mental processes.
• Starting in the 1950s and '60s, there was increasing emphasis on cognitive psychology.

Seven Major Perspectives of Modern Psychology

• Psychodynamic
• Behavioral
• Cognitive
• Biological
• Cross-Cultural
• Evolutionary
• Humanistic

The Nervous System

• The nervous system has two major divisions:
  • Central Nervous System (CNS):
    • Brain and spinal cord
  • Peripheral Nervous System (PNS):
    • Somatic nervous system (voluntary movements)
    • Autonomic nervous system (involuntary movements:
      • Sympathetic nervous system (mobilizes resources, fight or flight response)
      • Parasympathetic nervous system (conserves resources)

Neurons

• Neurons are individual cells in the nervous system that integrate and transmit information.
• Parts of a neuron:
  • Dendrites: receive signals from other neuron cells.
  • Cell Body: contains the cell nucleus.
  • Nucleus: contains the genetic material (chromosomes) of the neuron cell.
  • Axon: conducts electrical impulses along the neuron cell.
  • Myelin sheath: insulates the axon to help protect the neuron cell & speed up transmission.
  • Axon terminal: transmits electrical & chemical signals to other neuron cells & effector cells.

Synapse

• A synapse is a junction where information is transmitted from one neuron to another.
• Neurons do not touch; there's a synaptic cleft.
• Neurotransmitters transmit information across the synaptic gap.

The Brain (General)

• The brain is divided into different lobes, each with specific functions.

The Brain - Lobes

• Frontal Lobe: Decision-making, problem-solving, planning, motor control, personality, emotions, language processing
• Parietal Lobe: Sensory processing, navigation, spatial orientation, attention, and focus, processing sensory information from the body
• Temporal Lobe: Hearing and auditory processing, memory formation and retrieval, language comprehension, emotional processing, processing sensory information from the ears
• Occipital Lobe: Visual processing, recognizing shapes, colours, and patterns, processing visual information from the eyes
• Cerebellum: Coordination and balance, motor learning and memory, regulation of movement and posture

The Hindbrain

• Medulla: Regulates unconscious but vital functions (circulation, breathing, muscle tone, sneezing, coughing, swallowing)
• Pons: A bridge of fibers connecting the brainstem to the cerebellum, involved in sleep and arousal.
• Cerebellum: Crucial for coordination of movement and equilibrium.

The Midbrain

• Located behind the hindbrain and the forebrain.
• Involved in sensory processes and locating things in space

The Forebrain

• Largest and most complex area of the brain, including:
  • Thalamus: Relay station for sensory information except smell, to the cerebral cortex
  • Hypothalamus: Involved in regulating basic biological needs (e.g., hunger, thirst, sleep)
  • Limbic System: A loosely connected network of structures involved in emotions, memory, and motivation, including the hippocampus (memory) and amygdala (emotion).

The Endocrine System

• GLANDS that produce hormones, chemical messengers that carry instructions.
• Influences almost every cell, organ, and function of the body.
• Regulates growth and development, reproductive function, and blood sugar levels.

Emotions

• Emotion involves a subjective conscious experience, accompanied by bodily arousal and expressions.
• Three key elements of emotion: subjective experience, physiological response, behavioral response
• The cognitive component: how we interpret and think about our emotions which involves evaluative aspect where people characterize, pleasant or unpleasant.
• The physiological component: how the body reacts to an emotion and includes autonomic nervous system, the limbic system(amygdala and hypothalamus)
• The behavioral Component: emotions expressed by people through overt expressions (frowning, smiling).

Theories of Emotion

• James-Lange Theory: Physiological response comes first, then the interpreted response; interpreted response is emotion.
• Cannon-Bard Theory: Physiological response and emotion occur simultaneously
• Schachter-Singer Theory: Physiological response, the interpretation of the situation, then emotion.
• Schachter-Singer's Two-Factor theory: Physiological arousal and cognitive labeling

Learning

• Unlike instincts and reflexes, learned behaviors involve change and experience, a relatively permanent change in knowledge or behaviour.
• Associative learning: connecting events that happen together in the environment. (central to classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning)

Types of Learning

• Classical Conditioning: associating a neutral stimulus with a naturally occurring response, example, Pavlov's dog - learning to associate a bell with food.
• Operant Conditioning: learning through consequences, either reinforcement or punishment, example, Skinner Box.
• Observational Learning: learning by watching and imitating others, example, Bobo Doll experiment
• Positive Reinforcement
• Negative Reinforcement
• Positive Punishment
• Negative Punishment

Psychological Disorders

• A mental disorder is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning.

• Anxiety disorders: A group of mental disorders characterized by significant and uncontrollable feelings of anxiety or fear, impairing social and personal functioning.

  • Generalized anxiety disorder
  • Specific phobias, Agoraphobia, Social Anxiety Disorder.

• Depressive disorders: Mood conditions where a person experiences sad, empty, or irritable moods accompanied by symptoms.

• Personality disorders: Enduring patterns of maladaptive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that interfere with relationships and daily functioning.

Different types of Psychological Disorders

• Neurodevelopmental disorders: typically diagnosed in infancy, childhood, or adolescence (e.g. Intellectual Development Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD))
• Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders
• Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
• Trauma-Related Stress Disorders: Exposure to stressful or traumatic event, like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Dissociative Disorders: Disruptions in consciousness or identity
• Feeding and Eating Disorders: Obsessive concerns with weight and disruptive eating with significant impact on physical and mental health.
• Substance Use and Addiction Disorders: Misuse of substances (e.g., alcohol, drugs, gambling)
• Sleep-Wake Disorders

Self-Diagnosis in Mental Health

• Self-diagnosis is the process of diagnosing one's own medical conditions, including mental health conditions
• Confirmation bias: The tendency to search for information that supports existing beliefs.
• Dangers of self-diagnosis: Risk of misdiagnosis, increased anxiety, reinforcing negative stereotypes, using diagnosis to excuse harm

Case studies

• Case studies illustrate specific mental disorders and their impact on individuals. Examples may cover schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and dissociative identity disorder.

Altered states of Consciousness

• Includes psychoactive drugs (effects on body, neurotransmitters, consciousness and physiological states), Meditation (focus increasing awareness), and Hypnosis (psychological phenomenon characterized by heightened focus, reduced peripheral awareness, and heightened response to suggestion).

This quiz focuses on identifying various feeding and eating disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, and the roles of different brain structures. It also covers concepts related to brain functions and specific medical conditions. Test your knowledge of psychology topics related to disorders and brain functionalities.