PSY100: Introduction to Psychology

EXPERIENTIAL EXAM #2

Instructions: Read each essay question carefully, and type your response on this
exam form. The exam is comprised of 7-10 concepts that you will apply to your own
life via short (200-word) essay responses. (25 points)

1. Imagine that a group home for schizophrenics is being proposed for your
neighborhood. What would be some of the arguments for and against this
population living in your community?

I think some people would think that this was a good idea. Some people would
probably think that it is good that these people with schizophrenia are being cared
for and are with each other. They are getting the appropriate treatment, care, and
everything else they might need, so that is great! On the other hand, I am sure
some people would be scared, especially people with kids. They would be scared to
let their kids outside. The expressed emotions and actions of people with
schizophrenia are often inappropriate, so some people might be scared that that
would frighten their children.

2. What is the Bystander Effect and why does it occur? Describe a time when you
experienced or witnessed the Bystander Effect.

The Bystander Effect is when someone is likely NOT to help someone in need if
other bystanders are around. It happens mostly because when there is no one
around, we most likely feel that we are responsible, our responsibility is to help that
person. When we feel like the responsibility to help is shared, we usually do not do
anything.
A time I really witnessed this is probably in New York with some of the homeless
people, or anytime I see a homeless person. Whenever there is a ton of people
around, no one helps them at all (there are always a few exceptions). However,

when there is only a few people, or just one other person, that person will help. It is
definitely something I have done before. The last time I gave to a homeless person
was when it was just him and me, and he walked up to my car in the parking lot, so
I gave him some money. It was only a one dollar bill, though.

3. What is Learned Helplessness and when did you experience this phenomenon in
your own life?

Learned Helplessness is when humans and animals experience a traumatic or

depressing event over and over agin without being able to escape it. Later, if they
are able to escape these happenings or event, they don't because they feel helpless
or hopeless. They feel. Like they have lost control. It can start with one repeated
situation, but maybe later generalize to other stressful situations.
I do not know if I have ever experienced this, I am sure I have before but I can't
think of a specific example. The only one I can think of is back a couple years ago, I
heard a story about a girl who was kidnapped. Her kidnapper abused her,
physically, sexually, emotional, for many many years. Eventually, he didn't have to
tie her up anymore, he even took her out in public (but with a disguise of course).
She never tried to run away or get help, because she felt helpless and hopeless. I'm
pretty sure she was found, though, so that's awesome.

4. What do we know about the connection between Irving Janis, Groupthink and Bay
of Pigs? Describe your own encounter with Groupthink.

Irving Janis came up the term groupthink, which is where people feel the need to
conform or be like other people, usually at like meetings or in group settings. The
topic might be uncomfortable, or you don't like where the meeting or discussion is
going, but you don't say anything so that you fit in.
Something happened with former President John F. Kennedy, where groupthink
occurred, and he made a really bad decision to do something that supported this
bad operation to get rid of Fidel Castro, and it started this whole Bay of Pigs chaos.
There have been quite a few times that I'll be at work, and we will be having a
group just talking or a meeting, and some of these people like to gossip, or make

weird decisions, and instead of saying something like I should, I usually just sit
where I am quietly, without saying what I think I should say.

5. What are the symptoms of autism and how does it differ from Asperger disorder?

Autism symptoms can vary greatly, but a few common symptoms are problems with
nonverbal communications, has a hard time making friends their own age, lack of
interest and empathy, delay in or lack of learning to talk, repetitive use of phrases,
difficulty understanding someone's perspective, a need for sameness and routine,
and stereotyped behaviors.
One difference is that people with autism usually have a delayed start to learning to
talk, and a below average IQ, and people with Asperger's start talking at the same
time as a kid without autism or Asperger's and have an average or high IQ. Also,
another difference is that people with Asperger's may know what they are not
achieving socially. I can see this in my cousin who has Asperger's. One day he was
texting me, and he asked if I had a boyfriend now, or have had one since the last
time I saw him (he lives far away). I said no, and he said, "oh, I've had three since
Christmas, and they all cheated on me!" He knew that something was up with this.

6. What is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)? Do you
believe that classification systems of the DSM do more good than harm or more
harm than good? Explain.

It is a way or system for psychologists and psychiatrists to diagnose a patient with a

psychological disorder. Its kind of like a punch of guidelines, and if someone fits
into a certain category, then they can diagnose that patient with that disorder.
I do think that a system like this is essential for finding out what psychological
disorder someone might. I can definitely see where the other side is coming from,
though. In Exploring Psychology, it talked about how some critics noticed that, as
the number of disorder categories rise, so do the number of adults who fit in some
of those categories. So some believe that eventually, we will be thinking everyone
has some type of psychological disorder. I get that, but the idea that we need some
of test to be able to categorize these patients disorders, to me anyways, outweighs
the critics arguments.

7. Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) once known as Electroshock therapy is one of

many different types of treatment for depression. When is this form of treatment
used and how does it work? Describe two other forms of depression treatment.

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) manipulates the brain by shocking it. ECT is used
usually on patients with severe depression, and are treatment-resistant, or have
no response to drrug therapy. No one knows for sure how or why ECT does such
good for people with depression, but we at least kind of know how it happens. The
patient is given a general anesthetic and a muscle relaxant to prevent convulsions,
and then a psychiatrist delivers 30 to 60 seconds of electric current in brief pulses
to the brain, sometimes only the right side. The patient then wakes up, with no
memory of the treatment, and there have been cases of memory loss, but it is not
nearly as common as it was in the past. The past gave ECT a bad name, but it
seems a lot humane now.
A few other forms of depression treatment are antidepressant drugs, which Im sure
is a pretty common one, and another is repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
(rTMS). This one is where a doctor sends repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the
brain.

8. Identify a specific fear or phobia and describe how a therapist might use
systematic desensitization to help you overcome this fear.

I guess one would be bugs. I am not really deathly afraid of them, but they are
creepy and gross, and I just do not like them. Systematic desensitization is kind of a
long process, but a therapist might have me write a list of bugs that scare me, from
least to greatest. Then, he/she might relax me, having me relax all my muscles, and
then he would ask me to imagine that I am walking with my dog, and I am trying to
decide if I should take a short cut through a field of tall grass that might consist of
bugs flying or crawling around, or give scenarios that just consist of a specific bug
on my list, and gradually go down the list. Once I get through all my sessions,
maybe he would make me have encounters with actual (safe) bugs that were on my
list. I would freak out if a therapist made me do this, but maybe it would eventually
help!

9. Sociopaths exist amongst us. They might be your boss, your neighbor, or even
your pastor. How would you know that someone is a sociopath? What etiological
factors are attributed to sociopathic behavior?

Some common things that we see are in sociopaths are nervousness, short temper,
maybe uneducated but still intelligent, loner, cant hold a job or stay in the same
place, or criminal background, and any crimes committed are usually spontaneous.
Many sociopaths seem charming. They feel no shame or guilt or remorse. They may
say beautiful things, but they never apologize, and they almost believe their own
crazy lies.
Not a lot is known as to why people have sociopathic behavior. Some of it has been
linked to child abuse and neglect, because when a child experiences abuse or
neglect, their chances of becoming a sociopath increases. Another cause may be
just the brain chemistry. There may be a chemical imbalance in the prefrontal
cortex, which controls judgement, impulsiveness, aggression and decision making.

10. Compare and contrast the basic tenets and techniques of Humanistic Therapy,
Cognitive Therapy, and Behavior Therapy.

Humanistic therapy has emphasized peoples inherent potential for self-fulfillment.

It attempts to reduce the inner conflicts that interfere with natural development.
With this kind of therapy, they try to give patients a new insight, by helping them
grow in self-awareness and self-acceptance. Humanistic therapy includes clientcentered therapy.
Cognitive therapies assume that our thinking colors our feelings. Between the
event and our response lies the mind. Therapists aim to help people change their
minds with new, constructive ways of thinking.
Behavior therapists view learning principles as useful tools for eliminating unwanted
behaviors. They see phobias and sexual disorders as learned behaviors. If this is the
case, why not replace them with new, constructive behaviors learned through
classical or operant conditioning? A therapy in this category is exposure therapies.

11. Whats my psychopathology? Read the following scenarios and provide a

diagnosis:
. Identify the Disorder:

When Jacks wife brought him to the psychiatrist, he was talking incessantly. It was
difficult for him to slow down his thoughts. He was also feeling quite euphoric, on
top of the world as though he could accomplish anything. He described himself as
superhuman and was exhibiting heightened energy despite not sleeping. He was
spending excessive amounts of money and had maxed out all of the credit cards.
His wife was at a loss. Jack had exhibited similar behavior before, but never to this
extent and never for this long.
Im not sure if this is correct, but it sounds a bit like bipolar disorder. The only
symptom I could pick out that fit was the euphoric state, rambling and talking a lot,
and extreme optimis.

. Identify the Personality Disorder:

Annie is a 28 year old woman who presents with a history of self-mutilation along
with frequent threats of suicide. She has been in and out of relationships and
cannot seem to keep a job. When you ask her about her most recent break-up she
becomes overly emotional, even angry at you. She accuses you of not caring
about her and says that nobody loves her.
This one sounds a bit like schizophrenia. Her symptoms seem to be paranoia,
loud, extreme negativism, and self mutilation.

. Identify the Disorder:

John is feeling hopeless and helpless. He is experiencing sleep issues (namely

insomnia) along with a loss of interest in nearly all of his usual activities. On most
days he cannot even get out of the bed, much less leave the house. He described a
sensation of a big thick heavy cloud of doom sitting on his chest. He admits to
feeling worthless and reveals that has had frequent thoughts of wanting to die (but
denies a specific plan). He says, I just wish I could close my eyes and not wake
up. These symptoms have endured for nearly a year with no identifiable
precipitating factor.

I believe John had major depressive disorder. He seems to be experiencing

five or more symptoms of depression for longer than than two weeks. His symptoms
are insomnia, loss of interest in all usual activities, cant get out of bed, cloud of
doom sitting on his chest, feeling worthless and has feelings of wanting to die.

. Identify the Disorder:

When Jenny comes to your office, you notice that she is wearing gloves and a hat (in
the middle of summer). She tells you that she is trying to protect herself from
germs. She has a deathly fear of germs and admits that, due to this fear, she rarely
leaves her house. She doesnt even kiss her 2 year old son or her husband for fear
of germs. She admits to staying awake at night thinking about germs and dying.
She cleans incessantly in an attempt to destroy germs. Her hands are raw from the
frequent hand washing.
Two sentences in, and I knew this had to be obsessive-compulsive disorder, or
OCD. Obsessive thoughts (being terrified of germs) turn into compulsive behaviors
(not kissing son or husband, frequently cleaning, trying to destroy the germs).

. Identify the disorder:

Sara, age 21, came to you seeking help for what she thought was ADHD. But, after
talking with Sara you determine that some of her ADHD-type symptoms (i.e,
inability to concentrate, being easily distracted, etc.) have only become manifest in
the past year. A diagnosis of ADHD requires that the symptoms existed prior to age
7. These symptoms can also be attributed to an alternative explanation. Whats
more, she is experiencing symptoms not typical of ADHD, including nightmares,
heart palpitations, and insomnia. She is easily startled and has developed some
anger issues. She reveals to you that she was drugged and raped by a fellow med
student a little over a year ago, but she hasnt told anyone about this rape.
Well, this sounds like post-traumatic stress disorder. Her symptoms seem to
be the nightmares, heart palpitations, and insomnia. Many soldiers who have been
in wars and what not, experience nightmares that consist of bad memories from the
wars. (And we are also doing something about her rape incident, because thats
really scary and something needs to be done about that!)