multidimensional integrative approach to the causes of psychological disorders psychopathology the study of mental disorders many different dimensions influences weave together interact to constitute a psychological disorder biological dimensions genetics and neuroscience psychological dimensions behavioral and cognitive processes emotional dimensions social dimensions interpersonal dimensions developmental dimensions passage of time systemic perspective on causality of behavior meaning that you can t consider one particular influence contributing to psychopathology out of context the biology behavior of the individual are intertwined with the cognitive emotional social cultural environment all components of the system affect each other so you can t study any single component in isolation genes are long molecules of DNA located on chromosomes within the cell nucleus normal human cells have 46 chromosomes arranged in 23 pairs a dominant gene is one of a pair of genes that strongly influence a particular trait we need only one of them to determine the trait a recessive gene must be paired with another recessive gene to determine a trait much of our behavior and personality is polygenic influenced by many genes quantitative genetics sums up all the effects across many genes without telling us which genes are responsible for which effects molecular genetics focuses on examining the structure of genes in order to determine broad networks of genes that may be contributing to a particular trait genes exert their influence on our bodies behavior through a series of steps that produce proteins although all cells contain our entire genetic structure only a small amount of the genes in any one cell are turned on or expressed in this way cells become specialized to do certain things environmental factors such as maternal love can influence whether certain genes are turned on roughly of our enduring personality traits and cognitive abilities can be attributed to genetic influence adverse life events can overpower the influence of genes on cognitive abilities genetic factors have some influence on psychological disorders but not a ton 2 different models of gene environment interaction diathesis stress model individuals inherit tendencies to express certain traits or behaviors which can be activated under conditions of stress the inherited tendency is a diathesis vulnerability you could potentially go through life without it ever being activated the diathesis is genetically based while the stress is environmental the greater the vulnerability the less stress is needed to trigger a disorder New Zealand study showed that individuals with certain alleles SS were more likely to become depressed if they had experienced childhood maltreatment than others with the same alleles who had not experienced childhood maltreatment illustrated that neither genes nor life experiences environmental factors alone can explain the onset of a disorder it takes an interaction of the two gene environment correlation model certain genes can increase the probability that an individual will experience stressful life events people with the genetic vulnerability to develop a certain disorder may also have a personality trait that would make them more likely to create a situation that would trigger the vulnerability people have a genetically determined tendency to create the environmental risk factors that would trigger the vulnerability our genes contribute to how we create our own environment for example someone with blood injection injury phobia might also have a personality trait like impulsiveness that would make them more likely to be involved in an accident that would result in them seeing blood rat studies have shown that environmental factors can alter gene expression behavior rats born to easily stressed mothers can grow up calm and supportive if they are raised by calm and supportive mothers who are not their biological mothers environmental manipulations esp early in life can do a lot to override the genetically influenced tendency to develop undesirable behavioral and emotional reactions glia and neurons are the 2 kinds of cells in the nervous system neurons have 2 kinds of branches dendrites w receptors and axons neurotransmitters are biochemicals that are released from the axon of one neuron and transmit the impulse to the dendrite receptors of another neuron the currents of different neurotransmitters intersect and changes in one transmitter result in changes in the one it intersects nervous system is divided between the central nervous system brain and spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system somatic and autonomic nervous systems somatic nervous system controls muscles autonomic nervous system regulates the cardiovascular endocrine systems aids digestion regulates body temp contains sympathetic expends energy emergency reaction adrenaline parasympathetic conserves energy nervous systems endocrine system produces hormones brain is divided between forebrain and brain stem brain stem is older handles essential automatic functions forebrain evolved more recently and is more advanced than the brain stem the largest part of the forebrain is the cerebral cortex 2 types of neurotransmitters monoamines and amino acids glutamate and GABA are chemical brothers glutamate turns on neurons and GABA inhibits the transmission of info APs glutamate is excitatory while GABA is inhibiting GABA reduces overall arousal tempers emotional responses serotonin is a neurotransmitter that moderates our reactions keeps behaviors under control influences the way we process info dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is like a switch that turns on various brain circuits associated with certain types of behavior rhesus monkeys injected with a certain neurotransmitter react w anger or fear depending on their early psychological experiences and naturally occurring neurotransmitters have different effects depending on the previous psychosocial experience of the organism basically our life experiences can change the effects of neurotransmitters in our body early psychological experience affects the development of the nervous system and thus determines vulnerability to psychological disorders later in life cognitive science studies how we acquire and process info and how we store and ultimately retrieve it Seligman studied learned helplessness learned optimism positive psychology Bandura helped develop idea of modeling or observational