CLP 4134 Abnormal Child Psychology Lecture Notes Exam 1 This set of notes is really long If you want to find notes for a specific date ex 1 27 or topic epigenetics press Ctrl F on your keyboard Command F for Mac users and type in what you want to find It ll search the document for whatever specific word phrase you typed in and save you the time of scrolling through everything Also this set of notes may exclude material found in the Powerpoints This is because they are available on Blackboard so there is really no need to have them typed out here They are also free Tues 5 13 4 Fundamental Questions Used for clinical and research purposes Problem may be w child or parent teacher etc Problem may be common or unusual Typical for age group or not Infrequent or regular Mild intensity or extreme Brief or extended How to restore typical development Adults go back to how life was before the disorder appeared Kids can t do that Ideally certain skills will be gained at dif age milestones Can t go back a few years for a 6 yr old too much has changed Have to instead make up for lost time Early Psychological Attributions Life experiences matter Older idea disorders either come from inside person or biological disease Experiences had nothing to do with it Current criticisms diagnoses don t discriminate b w age groups Children and elderly get same diagnosis although their needs may vary Behaviorism Founder John Watson Thought he could take any baby and shape it however he wanted Experiences skills personality natural tendencies Little Albert Experiment Brought a toddler furry animals to pet He acted like a normal baby kind of just sat there not too responsive Even showed him fire and he didn t freak out Most fears are learned we discover what s dangerous through experience Then experimenters made a loud noise whenever he went to touch the furry thing After several times they stopped making noise When they brought him animals again he screamed He learned to fear furry animals because of another frightening stimulus Classical conditioning Classical Conditioning Pair neutral stimulus with a natural response to teach subject that they go together Will then give response to neutral stimulus even though it s unrelated Unconditioned stimulus gets reaction w o training Unconditioned response natural response Conditioned stimulus gets reaction after training Conditioned response trained response After conditioning neutral stimulus provokes reaction Reaction may seem unrealistic irrational crazy to others How fears and phobias are learned Define Disorders Symptoms Cognitive thoughts ex pessimism Emotional feelings ex always sad Somatic physical sensations ex appetite changes One or more of the following Distress symptoms are upsetting to self or others Impairment limited functioning Risk of future harm or impairment All of these signs can be seen by self or others Causes aren t as apparent Effects of Diagnoses Treatment Options become clear Healthcare providers can communicate Explain symptoms to patients Brings them relief there s finally an answer it s a known problem Makes them feel less alone other people know about it experience it Research Dif people can build upon past knowledge Can describe symptoms Stigma Stigma negative attitudes beliefs stereotypes Leads to discrimination shame rejection avoidance blaming sufferer Problem defining people as their diagnosis making the disease their identity People have ADD they are not an ADD person Problem giving mental illness stigma but physical illness is perfectly normal Problem using diagnostic labels in jokes and insults They re so OCD Don t be crazy She s so psycho We don t say he s cancerous or don t be so HIV Developmental Pathways Childhood experiences don t have to screw someone over for life Healthy took negative experiences and used them to move on to better things Unhealthy got worse over time Developmental path sequence of events that may be tied to a disorder but may not Do not always cause disorder but can increase chance Molestation as child can lead to certain disorder but not with every person Multifinality 2 ppl have same beginning but dif endings Both from poor neighborhood one became doctor and other went to jail Equifinality 2 ppl have dif beginnings but same ending One from rich family and other from poor one both won Nobel Prize Thurs 5 15 Risk and Protective Factors Risk increases chance of certain outcome disorder Poverty genetics poor childcare Protective decreases chance of outcome disorder Amount chance goes up or down depends on what the outcome is Interactions b w multiple things are complex Prevalence how much something occurs Point prevalence at a given point in time temporary Lifetime prevalence over someone s entire life long term Lifetime rates point rates Outcome is not predetermined just because someone is from poor family etc Poverty as Risk Factor Race and Ethnicity Is a general risk with indirect effect Minority groups were 44 of US population in 2011 Race is a social construct not a biological one People from dif races are very genetically similar we are all people Race tied to SOE and access to treatment Must view with a systematic viewpoint Culture Ex what does shyness mean USA negative trait shy ppl more likely to be rejected feel anxious China positive trait shy ppl more likely to be liked seen as leaders Generalizability how well study with certain group of ppl can apply to others Are Chinese similar enough to Americans for study s results to carry over Compatibility how well treatment created in one culture is appropriate for another USA s treatment won t apply in China b c shyness doesn t cause problems there Sex Differences Externalizing disorders more common in males defiance ADHD conduct disorders Internalizing disorders more common in females anxiety depression mood disorders Could be influenced by biology cultural and social norms or both Extent of differences change by age May be because definitions are dif for the genders Males and females may not be as different as we think But wording used to describe their behavior are different May be because those that break stereotypes are underreported Larger number of women who act like men men who act like women Could be caused by biology society or both we don t know Externalizing graph Male always higher than female Both groups decrease over time Both are almost equal at age 18 Gap between them shrinks over time Internalizing graph Slopes of lines become dif