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Lesson 1: Abnormal Behavior
Abnormal Psychology Terms
Let’s start with the definition of this course.
Abnormal Psychology = The scientific study whose objectives are to describe, explain, predict, and control (or treat) behaviors that are considered strange or unusual.
Let’s break down this definition. Who determines what is or is not abnormal? There is some degree of subjectivity to this. There are certain entities with the power to determine standards of abnormality, such as the American Psychiatric Association or the World Health Organization. A major part of this chapter is learning some of the criteria for judging abnormality, but for now let’s go over a few more important terms.
Psychopathology = The study of the symptoms, causes, and treatments of mental disorders.
Etiology = The possible causes of a mental disorder. The etiology of a disorder is usually a combination of nature (i.e. biological or genetic) and nurture (i.e. learned or environmental) factors.
Psychodiagnosis = An attempt to describe, assess, and systematically draw inferences about an individual’s psychological disorder. We will learn about diagnosis in more detail in Lesson 3.
Psychotherapy = A program of systematic intervention designed to improve a person’s affective (emotional), behavioral, or cognitive state.
Etiology = The possible causes of a mental disorder. The etiology of a disorder is usually a combination of nature (i.e. biological or genetic) and nurture (i.e. learned or environmental) factors.
Psychodiagnosis = An attempt to describe, assess, and systematically draw inferences about an individual’s psychological disorder. We will learn about diagnosis in more detail in Lesson 3.
Psychotherapy = A program of systematic intervention designed to improve a person’s affective (emotional), behavioral, or cognitive state.
We will examine psychotherapy in more depth on the subsequent pages, starting with our first “Fact or Myth” game of the semester: