CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES
ON ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR
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 BIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVES
 PSYCHODYNAMIC
PERSPECTIVES
 BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVES
 HUMANISTIC-EXISTENTIAL PERSPECTIVES
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 The
nerve system
- Neuron
- Soma @ Cell body
- Dendrites
- Axon
- Axon Terminal
- Neurotransmitters
- Synapse
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 Excesses
or deficiencies of neurotransmitters
have been linked to various kind of mental
health problem
 Excesses
and deficiencies of neurotransmitter
norepinephrine have been connected with mood
disorders
 Neurotransmitter
acetylcholine related to
Alzheimer's disease
 Serotonin
linked to various psychological
disorders including anxiety disorders, mood
disorders and eating disorders
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The Structure of the Mind
 Conscious
mind
 Preconscious mind
 Unconscious mind
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 Id:
Operates according to the pleasure
principle
 Primitive and unconscious, hidden from
view
 Contains basic drives
 Ego: Operates according to the reality
principle
 Mediates the conflict between id and
superego
 Superego: Consists of moral ideals and
conscience
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Oral Stage (birth to 18 months)
 First stage of Freud’s theory of personality
development, in which the infant’s erotic
feelings center on the mouth, lips and
tongue.
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Anal Stage (roughly 18 months to 3 ½ years)
 Second stage of Freud’s theory of
personality development in which a
child’s erotic feelings center on the anus
and on elimination
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Phallic Stage (after age 3)
 Third stage of Freud’s theory of
personality development in which erotic
feelings center on the genitals
 Oedipus complex and Electra complex – a
child’s sexual attachment to the parent of
the opposite sex and jealousy toward the
parent of the same sex; generally occurs
in the phallic stage
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Latency Period (5 to 12 @ 13 years old)
 The child appears to have no interest in the other
sex; occurs after the phallic stage
Genital Stage
 Final stage of normal adult sexual development
which is normally marked by mature sexuality
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 Normal
as well abnormal people are driven by the
irrational drives of the id
 Normality
- balance of energy among the psychic
structures of id, ego and superego.
 Abnormality
– the balance of energy is lopsided
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 Classical
Conditioning
- Ivan Pavlov (1849 – 1936)
- A response naturally elicited by one
stimulus comes to be elicited by a
different, formerly neural stimulus
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
- stimulus that invariably causes an
organism to response in specific way
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Unconditioned response (UR)
- A response that takes place in an organism
whenever an unconditioned stimulus occur
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
- An originally neural stimulus that is paired with
an unconditioned stimulus and eventually
produces the desired response in an organism
when presented alone
Conditioned response (CR)
- After conditioning, the response an organism
produces when only a conditioned stimulus is
presented
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Before Conditioning
Bell
No Response
US (food) UR (Salivation
During Conditioning
CS (Bell) –Followed by- US (Food)
UR (Salivation)
After Conditioning
CS (Bell)
CR (Salivation)
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 Operant
Conditioning
involves the acquisition of behaviors
called operant behaviors that are emitted
by the organism and that operate upon or
manipulate the environment to produce
certain effects.
Operant behaviors
Behavior designed to operate on the
environment in a way that will gain
something desired or avoid something
unpleasant
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Reinforcer
- A stimulus that follows a behavior and increases the
likelihood that the behavior will be repeated
Punisher
- A stimulus that follows a behavior and decreases
the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated
Positive Reinforcer
- Any event whose presence increases the likelihood
that ongoing behavior will recur
Negative Reinforcer
- Any event whose reduction or termination increases
the likelihood that ongoing behavior will recur
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 Social
Cognitive Theory
emphasizes the ability to learn by observing a
model or receiving instructions without firsthand
experience by learner
Example – phobias may be learned vicariously by
observing the fearful reactions of others in real life
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 Carl
Roger, Abraham Maslow
 Self
Actualization
- to strive to become all they are capable
of being
To understand abnormal behavior in the
humanistic view, we need to understand
the roadblocks that people encounter in
striving for self actualization and
authenticity
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 Information
processing approach
storage, retrieval, manipulation, and
output
- psychological disorders – disturbance of
these processes
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 Low
socioeconomic status and underemployment
 Prejudice and Discrimination
 Social Change and Uncertainty
 Urban Stressors
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 The
biological perspective adopts a
physiological level of analysis. It examines
the role that biochemical processes such as
imbalances in brain chemistry may play in
the development of psychological disorders
 The
behavioral perspective adopts a
behavioral level of analysis. It focuses on
how our behavior is shaped by learning
experiences.
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 The
humanistic existential perspective adopts a
phenomenological vantage point. It explores
people’s subjective experiences
 The
cognitive perspective focuses on the role of
dysfunctional thinking patterns in psychological
disorders such as irrational belief
 The
psychodynamic perspective probes the
unconscious motives and conflicts that believed
to underlie psychological disorders
 The
socio-cultural perspective focuses
psychological disorders in the context of the
larger society.
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