Key Psychology Concepts: Experiments, Disorders, Therapies
Key Psychology Concepts
Social Psychology
Stanford Prison Experiment (Zimbardo): In this study, participants were randomly assigned to the roles of either guards or prisoners. Students quickly adapted to their assigned roles, with prisoners becoming helpless and guards becoming cruel and inhuman. This experiment highlights the concept of deindividuation (reduced self-awareness when people are part of a group) and has been compared to the Abu Ghraib prison situation in Iraq.
Conformity vs. Compliance: Conformity involves changing your behavior or opinion to meet others’ expectations, vs. Compliance is the tendency to agree to do things requested by others, often influenced by factors like a good mood or lack of attention.
Bystander Effect: The phenomenon of not offering help to someone in need when other people are present.
Implicit vs. Explicit Attitudes: Implicit attitudes influence a person’s feelings and behavior at an unconscious level, vs. Explicit attitudes are those that a person can consciously report.
Milgram Experiment: Demonstrated that average people will obey even awful orders given by an authority figure, illustrating the power of obedience (following orders from a person or authority).
Personality
Personality: A person’s characteristic thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviors.
Defense Mechanisms: Unconscious mental strategies that the mind uses to protect itself from anxiety.
Psychological Disorders
Prognosis: A medical term for predicting the likely or expected development of a disease, including whether the signs and symptoms will improve, worsen, or remain stable over time.
Anxiety Disorders
Generalized Anxiety Disorder vs. Panic Disorder: Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a diffuse state of constant anxiety not associated with any specific object or event, vs. Panic Disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by sudden, overwhelming attacks of terror.
Mood Disorders
Major Depressive Disorder vs. Persistent Depressive Disorder: Major Depressive Disorder is characterized by severe negative moods or lack of interest in normally pleasurable activities, vs. Persistent Depressive Disorder is a form of depression that is not severe enough to be diagnosed as major depressive disorder.
Bipolar I vs. Bipolar II Disorder: Bipolar I Disorder is characterized by extremely elevated moods during manic episodes and frequently depressive episodes as well, vs. Bipolar II Disorder is characterized by alternating periods of extremely depressed and mildly elevated (increased) moods.
Dissociative and Schizophrenic Disorders
Dissociative Identity Disorder vs. Schizophrenia: Dissociative Identity Disorder involves the occurrence of two or more distinct identities in the same individual, vs. Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder characterized by a split between thought and emotion, involving alterations in thoughts, perception, and consciousness.
Therapies and Treatments
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Therapy that incorporates techniques from cognitive therapy and behavior therapy to correct defective thinking and change inappropriate behaviors.
Antipsychotic vs. Antidepressant Medications: Antipsychotic medications are a class of psychotropic medications used for the treatment of schizophrenia and other disorders that involve psychosis, vs. Antidepressant medications are a class of psychotropic medications used for the treatment of depression.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): A form of therapy used to treat borderline personality disorder that combines elements of behavioral and cognitive treatments with a mindfulness approach based on Eastern meditative practices.
Placebo Effect: An improvement in physical or mental health following treatment with a placebo—that is, with a drug or treatment that has no active component on the disorder being treated.
Benefits of Group Therapy:
- Less expensive than individual therapy
- Helps to realize that you are not alone
- Learn from other’s experiences
- Improve social skills