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Social Psychology and Psychological Disorders Study Notes

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Chapter 12: Social Psychology

★ We make snap judgments about people (little difference from first impressions; to some extent accurate. We decide based on nonverbal behavior, facial expressions, etc.)

★ Attribution: Personal vs. Situational (internal cause of oneself vs. external situational cause)

Permanent vs. Temporary, Controllable vs. Uncontrollable (e.g., skipped breakfast vs. heavy rain)

★ Just world hypothesis (the world is a very fair place, so people blame the individual for all responsibility)

★ Fundamental attribution error (when I do it, it's romance; when others do it, it's infidelity)

★ Actor/observer bias (Observer: "Why is he acting like that, and why did he get a red card?" Actor: "He didn't really do anything wrong; the person next to him pushed him.")

♥ Stereotype

  1. Mental shortcut
  2. Once formed...
  3. Subtyping (e.g., uniforms or else; exceptions)
  4. Self-fulfilling prophecy (behaving according to expectations)

★ Effects of stereotypes

  1. Prejudice
  2. Discrimination
  3. Ingroup/Outgroup bias => Ingroup favoritism

♥ Attitude: Mere exposure effect (repeated exposure forms a favorable attitude)

Conditioning (learning through social exposure)

★ Cognitive dissonance theory: Postdecisional dissonance (after deciding to buy A, if it doesn't match your expectations, you try to resolve the contradiction by liking A and looking for its good points)

Insufficient justification (e.g., $1 = no, $20 = yes; people try to justify their behavior anyway)

Justification of effort (if you struggled to get into a group, it is harder to drop it; you justify it by liking it because of the effort you put in)

★ LaPiere's study on attitudes and behaviors (attitudes and behaviors do not always match; people know smoking is bad but still smoke)

★ Elaboration likelihood model: persuasive message -> elaboration high (low) -> central (peripheral) -> careful (not) -> depends on quality of arguments (presence of persuasion cues)

♥ Being in a group: Facilitation (a crowd cheering creates energy and improves performance; however, for someone who is bad at basketball, it can backfire)

Loafing (people pass responsibility to others, so efficiency drops in a group)

★ Zimbardo's experiment at Stanford (when people focus too much on a role, they lose individuality through deindividuation and act out of character)

★ Group decision making: Risky-shift effect (people choose riskier options when together)

Group polarization (opinions gradually shift toward one extreme)

Groupthink (when risky shift and polarization occur, the group's perceived strengths make it choose that direction over alternatives; e.g., Nazi Germany)

★ Conformity

  • Informational influence (the information I have may be wrong and the majority may be right)
  • Normative influence (following the group avoids social discomfort)

★ Compliance (persuasion): Foot-in-the-door technique (gradually moving from small requests to larger ones)

Door-in-the-face technique (a very large request, then a smaller one)

Lowballing technique (e.g., rent is $1,000 -> sign the contract -> it becomes $1,050)

★ Obedience: Milgram's Experiment (electric shocks)

Study with the nurses (unapproved medication ordered over the phone)

Jonestown Massacre (a cult leader told followers to drink poison, and they drank it knowing what it was)

★ Aggression: Biological factors, situational factors, social and cultural factors

★ Altruism (the desire to help others) => Bystander effect! Kitty Genovese case (murder and rape while bystanders did nothing)

Darley & Latané's experiment (questionnaire completion, staged emergency)

★ Developing relationships: Proximity (you need to be near each other)

Birds of a feather (people similar to each other are drawn together)

Personal characteristics (introverted, extroverted)

Physical attractiveness (in early stages, people prefer attractive faces)

Chapters 14 & 15: Psychological Disorders

★ Psychological disorder (not easily diagnosed; key questions: Does it deviate from cultural norms? Is it maladaptive? Does it need treatment?)

★ Causes

  1. Diathesis-stress model (genetic disposition + childhood trauma -> diathesis, a vulnerability to mental disorder)
  2. Biopsychosocial approach (biological + psychological + sociocultural)

★ Assessing the symptoms

  1. Assessment (MMPI, IQ tests, TAT, interviews, self-reports, observation)
  2. Diagnosis (an X-ray is assessment; saying "your leg is broken" is diagnosis)
    • DSM-5: a manual that diagnoses by category; nowadays symptoms often overlap
    • Dimensional approach: looks at all aspects (e.g., 80% A, 60% B)
    • Comorbidity: the relationship between disorders
  3. Treatment
  4. Ongoing assessment (continuously checking whether the treatment is working)

♥ Anxiety disorders

  1. Specific phobia (abnormal behavior caused by fear and anxiety, sometimes harming others)
  2. Social anxiety disorder (anxiety in social gatherings, leading to withdrawal and passivity)
  3. Generalized anxiety disorder (constant anxiety, e.g., worrying about burglars, feeling uncontrollable)
  4. Panic disorder (based on anxiety; panic attacks cause sweating, trembling, and a racing heart)
  5. Agoraphobia (fear of open or crowded spaces)

★ Causes and explanations: 1. Biopsychosocial approach 2. Classical conditioning (flooding: exposing someone to a fear all at once to help them overcome it)

★ Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (e.g., extreme cleanliness obsession)

  1. Classical conditioning
  2. Genetics (OCD has a strong family history; anxiety relates to excessive glutamate, meaning too much action potential activity)
  3. Caudate nucleus (a brain region; a smaller caudate is associated with more frequent OCD)

★ Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

  1. Re-experiencing
  2. Avoidance (e.g., avoiding everything related to Vietnam)
  3. Arousal (sleep disturbances)

♥ Depressive disorder (sleeping too much or too little, eating too much or too little, and intense sadness)

★ Types

  1. Major depressive disorder (lowered self-esteem; the person feels others look down on them)
  2. Persistent depressive disorder (symptoms that have lasted at least two years at the time of diagnosis)

★ Causes

  1. Genetic influence
  2. Lack of neurotransmitters (low serotonin causes sleep problems and loss of happiness; low dopamine reduces reward sensitivity and increases frustration)
  3. Damage to the prefrontal cortex (responsible for rational thinking; damage leads to distorted, pessimistic judgments)
  4. Aaron Beck's cognitive triad (three patterns that reinforce each other: 1. self: personal defects are emphasized; 2. situation: helplessness, with no motivation and no active behavior; 3. future: "I am this kind of person," creating a repeating cycle)
  5. Gender roles and social environment factors (women and people with low income have a higher likelihood)

♥ Bipolar disorders

  • Bipolar I (severe manic episodes)
  • Bipolar II (severe depressive episodes)

These are difficult to study, and research is often inconsistent. There is a genetic possibility.

♥ Schizophrenia

★ Symptoms

  1. Positive symptoms: delusions, hallucinations (including hearing voices), disorganized speech and behavior (incoherent speech and actions)
  2. Negative symptoms: apathy (lack of motivation), no emotional expression

★ Causes

  1. Genetic influence
  2. Less brain tissue (frontal and medial temporal lobes)
  3. Loss of connections between brain regions (difficulty integrating information)
  4. Neurotransmitters
  5. Diathesis-stress model (vulnerability in childhood, and sensitivity to stress)

♥ Personality disorders

★ Cluster A (odd or eccentric behavior)

  1. Paranoid (strong sense of persecution)
  2. Schizoid (distant from social relationships and does not express emotions)
  3. Schizotypal (odd behavior similar to schizophrenia, but it appears from childhood)

★ Cluster B (emotional or dramatic behavior)

  1. Antisocial (only their own rights matter)
  2. Borderline (unstable emotions, self-harm)
  3. Histrionic (dramatic, with intense mood swings)
  4. Narcissistic

★ Cluster C (anxious or fearful behavior)

  1. Avoidant (from childhood)
  2. Dependent
  3. Obsessive-compulsive (perfectionist)

♥ Psychotherapy

★ Psychodynamic therapy

  1. Dream analysis (Freud's couch; the patient is asked about their dreams and the hidden meanings within them are explored)
  2. Free association (if a word is avoided, why might that be?)

★ Humanistic therapy

  1. Client-centered therapy (listening carefully through active listening)
  2. Behavior therapy (changing behaviors)
  3. Cognitive therapy (restructuring faulty thinking)
  4. Group therapy (discussion and organizing thoughts reduces burden)
  5. Family therapy (systemic approach; a third party observing the family gains new insights)

★ Biological therapy

  1. ECT (electroconvulsive therapy, which temporarily stops brain activity to regulate thinking)
  2. TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation, similar to ECT but uses magnetic fields)
  3. DBS (deep brain stimulation, which sends electrical current deep into the brain)

★ Effective treatments for disorders

  • Anxiety disorders: counterconditioning
  • Bipolar disorder: lithium is important for treating mania; for depression, antidepressants are used together with it
  • Seasonal affective disorder: phototherapy, which increases vitamin D synthesis and serotonin
  • DBT (dialectical behavior therapy): combines behavioral, cognitive, and psychodynamic approaches. When depression first appears, behavioral therapy is used to prevent self-harm; once the patient calms down, psychodynamic approaches help uncover the underlying problems and improve daily life

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