101 Psych What this discussion is NOT about TV is bad The effect is simple and direct The effect is identical on everyone - Use what you know about developmental tasks What this IS about Media are powerful, far more than most people admit - Spheres of Influence Society Community Family Media affect everyone The main power is changing cultural norms Some basic statistics 99% of American households have TVs The average household has 2.9 46% of homes with kids have at least 1 TV, VCR, video game system, AND computer 68% of children 8 and up have TVs in their bedrooms A True example Youre an advertiser who has been asked to come up with a campaign for cigarettes 5 problems to overcome The Triune Brain Stem: Regulates basic body functions Limbic System: Emotion Center Cortex: Complex thought The Four Step Process Build brand awareness Build brand preference Product purchase/use Build Brand loyalty 5 Roles Emotion Plays in How Our Minds Work Attention Memory Attitudes Motivation Behavior PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS What is "extreme"? Disorders are just normal behaviors/feelings carried to an extreme - Its not just extreme behaviors They must also hurt the ability to function well in the world
The Three Ds: Distress Dysfunction Deviance On Being Sane in Insane Places "If sanity and insanity exist, how shall we know them?" David Rosenhan - Sent 8 pseudopatients into 12 psychiatric hospitals Psych grad student, 3 psychologists, a pediatrician, a psychiatrist, a painter, and a housewife (3 F, 5 M) Said that they had been hearing voices that said "empty," "hollow," and "thud." Once admitted, they stopped simulating any symptoms All admitted as schizophrenic - None detected as sane - Average length of hospitalization = 19 days Range 7-52 days! - All discharged with a diagnosis of "schizophrenia in remission" - The only people who recognized them as sane were the other patients (35 out of 118 patients in the first 3 hospitals) Basically, once labeled, the label stuck "...there is enormous overlap in the behaviors of the sane and the insane. The sane are not ,,sane all of the time. We lose our tempers for ,,no good reason." The point of names of diagnoses is NOT to label people The point is to provide a vocabulary so that other psychologists/psychiatrists can understand what the problem is - Its the difference between telling the doctor have you a cold or you have cancer. Prevalence of Mental Illness National Comorbidity Study: - Percent afflicted in any 6 month period: 40% - Probability-------60% Types of Disorders There are a number of ways we could categorize disorders - Mood disorders - Anxiety disorders - Schizophrenia Mood disorders - Mood disorders involve extremely sad, low-energy moods or swings between extremely high and low moods - 1. Major Depressive Disorder Major Depressive Disorder - The person with major depression experiences more than two weeks of depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness, and diminished pleasure in usual activities. - DSM-IV Criteria for Depression: 5 or more for 2 weeks Self blame
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Very low self esteem Difficulty concentrating Agitation Psychomotor retardation Sleep disturbance Appetite disturbance Loss of sexual drive Fatigue - Lifetime prevalence: Women: 24% Men: 15% - Genetic Causes Concordance rates Identical twins: 20% Fraternal Twins: 14% This is a relatively weak genetic influence - Biological causes of depression Insufficient or poorly utilize norepinephrine and/or serotonin in brain synapses Insufficient production Overly rapid re-absorption Insensitive receptors - Other mood disorders The person with mania experiences hyperactive states. In bipolar disorder, the person alternates between depression and mania Very strong genetic component Anxiety Disorders - Anxiety that is so intense or so frequent that it causes serious problems Level of anxiety Source of anxiety Consequences of anxiety - Many types, such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Panic Disorder, and Phobias Phobias www.phobialist.com - Ophidiophobia fear of snakes - Acrophobia Fear of Heights - Arachnophobia Fear of Spiders - Aviophobia Fear of Flying - Triskadekaphobia Fear of the Number 13 - Uxoriphobia Fear of ones wife Schizophrenia - A group of disorders - Distorted thoughts Delusions - Distorted perceptions
Hallucinations - Odd communication No logic, "word salad" - Inappropriate emotion Absence of emotion or emotions are unrelated to events - Abnormal motor behavior Bizarre gestures or posturing - Social withdrawal Biological Causes - Too much dopamine - Enlarged brain ventricles - Thalamus is abnormal - The thalamus filters, processes and relays information in the brain May cause brain to be flooded with information and sensory input - Also a large genetic component