Study Guides Chapters 15 & 17

Chapter 15 Study Guide

Describe the vulnerability-stress model of abnormal behavior and how it illustrates person–situation interactions.
Cite and define the “Three Ds” that enter into diagnoses of abnormal behavior.
Define reliability and validity as applied to diagnostic classification systems. Describe the five axes of the DSM-IV-TR. Describe the effects of psychiatric labeling on social and self perceptions.
Differentiate between competency and insanity as legal concepts, and explain how they have affected recent court cases.
Describe the four components of anxiety. Describe the characteristics of anxiety disorders, including phobic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Describe the four major features of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Describe the three types of dissociative disorders and their causal factors. Describe the trauma-dissociation theory of dissociative identity disorder (DID) and how critics challenge and explain DID.
Describe the four classes of symptoms that characterize depression and mania, and describe sex differences in symptom manifestation. Describe the cognitive triad, the depressive attributional pattern, and learned helplessness in relation to depression. Describe the sociocultural factors related to prevalence, manifestations, and sex differences in depression. Describe the motives for suicide, identify the warning signs of suicide, and state four guidelines for helping a suicidal person.
Define schizophrenia, and describe the major cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and perceptual features of schizophrenia. Describe the differences among the four major types of schizophrenic disorders.
Describe the characteristics of antisocial personality disorder. Describe the major features of borderline personality disorder.
Describe the major features and causal factors in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autistic disorders.

Chapter 17 Study Guide

Differentiate between personal and situational attributions. Describe and provide examples of the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias, and explain how they are affected by culture.
Define the term attitude, and describe three factors that explain the variability of observed relations between attitudes and behaviors. Explain the causes of cognitive dissonance and how it produces attitude change.
Differentiate between social norms and social roles. Explain how norms and roles guide behavior, differentiating between informational and normative social influences.
Describe situational factors that influence group conformity, and describe when minority influence will be strongest. Describe the purpose, methods, and results of Milgram’s study on obedience and the implications for society. Describe four common compliance techniques, and explain how they work.
Describe social loafing and social compensation and describe the causes and consequences of group polarization and groupthink.
Describe deindividuation, its main cause, and how conditions in the Stanford prison study may have fostered it.
Describe how implicit prejudice is measured and explain the cognitive and motivational roots of prejudice. Describe how self-fulfilling prophecies and stereotype threat perpetuate prejudice and how equal status contact reduces prejudice.
Describe evolutionary and social learning and empathy-altruistic explanations for helping behavior. Describe when and whom people are most likely to help and how prosocial behavior can be increased.