Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ag orap hobia – anxiety disorder, fear of certain settings that may present unexpected
challenges or demands, parking lots, shopping malls, restaurants
Be havior modi fica tion – altering one’s behavior & rxns to stimuli through positive &
negative reinforcement
Clas sical conditioning (Pav olovian o r re spon dent con ditioning) – form of
associative learning. Involves paired presentations of neutral stimulus along w/
stimulus of significance. Ex – dogs salivate when they see food, bring food and ring bell
dog will salivate, then ring bell dog will salivate
Li bid o – energy created by survival & sexual instincts. According to Freud – the
libido is part of id and is driving force of all behavior
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Mi lie u the rapy – “group therapy” form of psychotherapy for personal growth &
behavior change may be promoted through interaction of individuals w/I therapeutic
environment
De fens e mechanism -
Psychoanalysis and psychodynamic theory have described the process by which we
protect ourselves from awareness of our undesired and feared impulses. Defense
mechanisms are our way of distancing ourselves from a full awareness of unpleasant
thoughts, feelings and desires.
In psychoanalytic theory, defense mechanisms represent an unconscious mediation by
the ego of id impulses which are in conflict with the wishes and needs of the ego and/or
superego. By altering and distorting one's awareness of the original impulse, one makes
it more tolerable.
However, while defense mechanisms are used in an attempt to protect oneself from
unpleasant emotions, they often result in equally harmful problems. Below are some of
the more common defense mechanisms.
Denial is the refusal to accept reality and to act as if a painful event, thought or feeling
did not exist. It is considered one of the most primitive of the defense mechanisms
because it is characteristic of very early childhood development
Disp lacement is the redirecting of thoughts feelings and impulses from an object that
gives rise to anxiety to a safer, more acceptable one. Being angry at the boss and
kicking the dog can be an example of displacement.
Pr oj ection is the attribution of one's undesired impulses onto another. Thus, an angry
spouse accuses their partner of hostility.
Su ppr es sion – person consciously & deliberately pushed down any thoughts that lead
to feelings of anxiety. Old man has sexual feelings for teenager & quickly suppresses
thought
Symb olization – way of handling inner conflicts by turning them into distinct symbol.
Soldier explains his decision to join army as defending the flag
Immatu re de fens es
• Passiv e-agg re ssion - A person who uses passive-aggressive method to cope
with stresses on them does this by 'attacking' others through passive means. Thus
the aggressive intent is cloaked by the passive method.
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• Acting out - 'Acting out' means literally means acting out the desires that are
forbidden by the Super ego and yet desired by the Id. We thus cope with the
pressure to do what we believe is wrong by giving in to the desire. An addict gives
in to their desire for alcohol or drugs. A person who dislikes another person seeks
to cause actual harm to them.
• Diss ocia tion - Dissociation involves separating a set of thoughts or activities from
the main area of conscious mind, in order to avoid the conflict that this would cause.
Dissociation can also appear as taking an objective, third-person perspective, where
you 'go to the balcony' and look down on the situation in order to remove emotion
from your perspective (this is sometimes called 'dissociation of affect'). A religious
person preaches kindness to all, yet is cruelly strict to children, without realizing
that there is a conflict between the two. A politician seeks legislation on
government integrity, yet also has some shady private dealings. When challenged,
they seem surprised that these are conflicting interests.
• Deval uation – find all of your negative qualities of yourself in others
• Id ealization – when you take on the traits of someone else
• Pr oj ection – individual attributes his own unacceptable traits, ideas, or impulses to
another
• Denial – emotional conflict & anxiety are avoided by refusal to acknowledge those
thoughts, feelings, desires, impulses, or facts that are consciously intolerable
• Splitting – seen in borderline personality disorders - splitting is a characteristic
cognitive error. It is characterized by the propensity to either completely idealize or
completely devalue other people, places, ideas, or objects; that is, to see them as
either all good or all bad.
• Re gr es sion - reversion to an earlier stage of development in the face of
unacceptable impulses
• Su ppr es sion - process of deliberately trying to stop thinking about certain
thoughts
• Su blimation - psychological problem turns into physical and subconscious
symptoms. A policeman, who has to be very restricted in his professional behavior,
develops hypertension. A worried actor develops a twitch.
THE ID (“ It”) - functions in the irrational and emotional part of the mind. At birth a
baby’s mind is all Id - want want want. The Id is the primitive mind. It contains all the
basic needs and feelings. It is the source for libido (psychic energy). And it has only one
rule --> the “pleasure principle”: “I want it and I want it all now”. In transactional
analysis, Id equates to "Child". Id too strong = bound up in self-gratification and
uncaring to others
THE EG O - (“I”) : functions with the rational part of the mind. The Ego develops out
of growing awareness that you can’t always get what you want. The Ego relates to the
real world and operates via the “reality principle”. The Ego realizes the need for
compromise and negotiates between the Id and the Superego. The Ego's job is to get
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the Id's pleasures but to be reasonable and bear the long-term consequences in mind.
The Ego denies both instant gratification and pious delaying of gratification. The term
ego-strength is the term used to refer to how well the ego copes with these conflicting
forces. To undertake its work of planning, thinking and controlling the Id, the Ego uses
some of the Id's libidinal energy. In transactional analysis, Ego equates to "Adult".
Ego too strong = extremely rational and efficient, but cold, boring and distant
THE SUPE REGO (“Ov er- I”) : The Superego is the last part of the mind to develop. It
might be called the moral part of the mind. The Superego becomes an embodiment of
parental and societal values. It stores and enforces rules. It constantly strives for
perfection, even though this perfection ideal may be quite far from reality or possibility.
Its power to enforce rules comes from its ability to create anxiety.
The Superego has two subsystems: Ego Ideal and Conscience. The Ego Ideal provides
rules for good behavior, and standards of excellence towards which the Ego must
strive. The Ego ideal is basically what the child’s parents approve of or value. The
Conscience is the rules about what constitutes bad behavior. The Conscience is
basically all those things that the child feels mum or dad will disapprove of or punish.
Superego too strong = feels guilty all the time, may even have an insufferably saintly
personality
Mod eling n. A technique of behavior therapy in which the client or patient learns
appropriate patterns of behavior by imitating another person demonstrating the target
behavior either live or on video; often used in assertiveness training. US modeling
Negative reinf orc ement is an increase in the likelihood of a behavior when the
consequence is the removal of an aversive stimulus. Turning off (or removing) a shock
when a rat presses a bar is an example of negative reinforcement (if this increases the
likelihood of the rat pressing the bar in the future).
• Avoidance conditioning is a form of negative reinforcement that occurs
when a behavior prevents an aversive stimulus from starting or being
applied.
• Escape conditioning is a form of negative reinforcement that occurs when
behavior removes an aversive stimulus that has already started.
Punishment is the opposite of reinforcement, and causes the probability of behaviors to
decrease after a punished is applied. Like reinforcement, punishment comes in two
forms:
• Po sitive p unishm ent changes the surroundings by adding an aversive stimulus
following a behavior in order to decrease the likelihood of the behavior occurring
in the future. An example is shocking an animal whenever it pressed a lever
pressing which had been previously reinforced.
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• Negative punis hment changes the surroundings by removing a stimulus that
is a reinforcer. An example is removal of a food supply contingent on undesirable
behavior.
Nerv e imp uls e - The nerve impulse is an electrical occurrence that travels down a
neuron . This electrical signal transmits commands from the brain to the motor nerves,
and carries sensory messages from sensory nerves (skin, ears, nose, eyes, taste buds)
to the brain. The transmission of nerve impulses from neuron to neuron is performed by
neurotransmitters
Neu rons are the main cells of the nervous system and there are about 100 billion of
them in the brain . Thanks to their numerous branch-like processes, they interconnect
forming a massive network of "wires" that extend throughout the entire body. By
sending messages across this network, the different parts of the human body interact
and communicate with each other.
Neu rotrans mit te rs are chemicals that are used to relay, amplify and modulate signals
between a neuron and another cell
• Genital S tag e
During the final stage of psychosexual development, the individual develops a strong
sexual interest in the opposite sex. Where in earlier stages the focus was solely on
individual needs and, interest in the welfare of others grows during this stage. If the
other stages have been completed successfully, the individual should now be well-
balanced, warm, and caring. The goal of this stage is to establish a balance between the
various life areas.
Psych oac tive dr ugs - Psychoactive drugs are substances that can alter the
consciousness, mood, and thoughts of those who use them. Examples include tobacco,
alcohol, cannabis, amphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine, and heroin
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Psych othe rapy is an interpersonal, relational intervention used by trained
psychotherapists to aid clients in problems of living. This usually includes increasing
individual sense of well-being and reducing subjective discomforting experience.
Psychotherapists employ a range of techniques based on experiential relationship
building, dialogue, communication and behavior change and that are designed to improve
the mental health of a client or patient, or to improve group relationships (such as in a
family).
Shaping - In operant conditioning, when the operant response is not in the organism's
repertoire, a procedure in which the experimenter breaks down the response into those
parts which appear most frequently, begins reinforcing them, and then slowly and
successively withholds the reinforcer until more and more of the operant is emitted.
The practi ce of shaping (also known as "successive approximation") is not, in and of
itself, a method for managing inappropriate behavior. Instead, it is a method that assists
you in setting goals for the behavior of a certain student. Shaping will provide guidance
and direction for your behavior change program, and will help you assess its
effectiveness. It can assist you in changing an aberrant behavior or creating an
appropriate behavior that is not yet in the student's repertoire.
Shaping is used when you want the student to engage in a certain desirable behavior
that is, at present, infrequently or never displayed by him/her. If you were to wait for
the student to show this behavior so that you could reward him/her, you might wait a
very long time. Shaping allows you to build this desired behavior in steps and reward
those behaviors that come progressively closer to the one you have selected as the
final goal. As the student masters each substep, you require that s/he move to the next
increment in order to receive an award or reinforcement.
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For example, John never does his math homework. You would like to have him
complete his homework on a daily basis. You realize that if you wait for him to complete
his homework before you reinforce him in some way, you may never (or infrequently)
have the opportunity to administer a positive consequence. Therefore, you decide to
break down the desired behavior into substeps that are progressively more demanding.
These steps might be:
1. John will write his name at the top of the worksheet.
2. John will complete one problem of his choice.
3. John will complete five problems of his choice.
4. John will complete either all the odd numbered problems or all the
even numbered problems.
5. John will complete all problems except one.
6. John will complete all problems.
As John masters each step, you will tell him that he must now move on to the next
objective to receive a reward. If the jump between two steps is too difficult, then you
must break down the steps even further into smaller increments.
How to use shaping:
1. Identify a desired behavior for this student. Determine the final goal.
2. Identify the student's present level of performance in displaying the desired
behavior.
3. List the steps that will eventually take the student from his/her present level of
performance to the final desired behavior. These levels of skill should be
progressively more demanding.
4. Tell the student that s/he must accomplish step 1 to receive the reward.
5. Once the student has mastered a specified behavior, require that s/he demonstrate
the next stage of behavior in order to receive a reward.
Synapse - Information from one neuron flows to another neuron across a synapse.
The synapse contains a small gap separating neurons. The synapse consists of:
1. a presynaptic ending that contains neurotransmitters, mitochondria and other cell
organelles,
2. a postsynaptic ending that contains receptor sites for neurotransmitters and,
3. a synaptic cleft or space between the presynaptic and postsynaptic endings.
Systematic de sen sitiza tion is a technique used to treat phobias and other extreme
or erroneous fears based on principles of be havior modi fica tion .
Uncon scious - The division of the mind in psychoanalytic theory containing elements
of psychic makeup, such as memories or repressed desires, that are not subject to
conscious perception or control but that often affect conscious thoughts and behavior.