Psy 329 exam 2 study guide

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Syracuse University PSY 329: Biopsychological Perspectives on Women's Health

Exam 2 Study Guide

1. What are three characteristics of all mental disorders?

• (1) Deviance (2) Maladaptive behaviors (3) Distress – Deviance is when you go against societal norms.

Maladaptive behavior is when actions interfere with normal functioning. Normal functioning is when you

are doing things that are rewarding. Distress is when you feel uncomfortable/bad and is unrewarding.

2. What are three tools used in diagnosing mental disorders for classification by the Diagnostic and Statistical

Manual? What was the tool used in the Baltimore study, and how did it differ from the usual diagnosis

procedure?

• (1) Interviews (2) Psychological tests (3) Physical exams – The Baltimore study used the diagnostic

interview schedule, a list of questions. It differed because you normally have a psychiatrist or psychologist,

but since this was done at a university they used graduate students.

3. What are two reasons that the risk for depression-related cancer might be greater in women than men?

• (1) Female roles (2) Learned helplessness (3) Hormone Role Hypothesis (4) Developmental Hypothesis –

Women have greater stress and more responsibilities than men with bearing and taking care of children.

Women have less control and freedom over their lives than men do. – Menopause decreases levels of

estrogen which leads to stress and depression. The challenges and fear of possible pregnancy at

adolescence for young girls are not shared by men.

4. What was the hypothesis tested in the Baltimore study? Did the results support the hypothesis? Explain

your answer.

• The hypothesis tested in the Baltimore study was compared to other psychological disorders, depression

increases the risk for hormone dependent cancers. Yes, the result did support the hypothesis. Breast cancer,

which is sometimes hormone dependent, was more likely to occur with a history of depression than with

other mental disorders.

1. What are the behavioral and neural changes caused by early life adversity according to the stress-reactivity

explanation?

• The behavioral changes caused by early life adversity are socioemotional, attention, and self-regulation.

The neural changes caused by early life adversity are prefrontal cortex (keeps the limbic system in check in

terms of emotion), the limbic system, and the HPA axis (altering both of those systems by being turned on

too much).

2. What is the procedure by which early life stress is induced in rodents? What is an adult biological

consequence?

• The rodents are separated from their mothers for 2 weeks, for 3 hours a day. An adult biological

consequence is an abnormally high increase in corticosterone in response to restraint stress. The increase

stuck and permanently changed their response to stress.

3. Compared to cross-sectional studies, what is an advantage and what is a disadvantage of longitudinal

studies examining cancer risks?

• Cross-sectional studies look at many groups at one time. Longitudinal studies look at the same group over a

long period of time. An advantage of longitudinal studies examining cancer risks is you prevent people

from forgetting/falsely remembering things because you observe them during their childhood experiences.

A disadvantage of longitudinal studies is that people drop out for various reasons and you lose information.

4. What were three reasons for participant attrition in the British cancer/ACE study?

• (1) Immediately after some of the babies were born, they died. (2) Some of the people did not complete the

ACE survey/information about their childhood adversity. (3) They did not report about cancer.

5. What is the evidence that early life adversity influenced cancer risk from the British prospective study?

• Evidence that early life adversity influenced cancer risk from the British prospective study is that

psychosocial adversity in childhood was related to cancer incidents before age 50 in women, but not men.

The most common cancer in females was breast cancer, which is hormone dependent. This suggests that

the HPA system was affected by adversity.

In autoimmune disease, which has a higher prevalence among women than men, white blood cells produce

(auto-antibodies) which attack (body organs). According to psychoneuroimmunological theory, (stress) may also

trigger autoimmune disease through its effects on the (HPA) system. Gender differences in autoimmune disease

prevalence may result from the fact that estrogen (increases) glucocorticoid levels and testosterone (decreases)

glucocorticoid levels in response to (stress). Moreover, women have a higher (antibody) production than men in

response to (infection). Research with a (longitudinal) design supports the idea that adverse childhood events

significantly increase adult autoimmune disease risk for women, but not men.

1. According to some models, what is the pathway by which psychosocial stress may lead to cardiovascular

disease?

• The pathway by which psychosocial stress may lead to cardiovascular disease is social stress, leading to

increase in blood viscosity and CVD risk.

2. What are two risk factors for CVD mortality?

• (1) Gender (2) Race – Being African American and a woman are two risk factors.

3. What were the two types of psychosocial stress used in the Swiss study? How were they defined?

• (1) Marital stress (2) Job stress – Marital stress was defined by mild (0-1), moderate (2-3), and high (4-14).

Job stress was defined psychological decisions (PD) which was high work pace, deadlines, and conflicting

demands. Plus, decision latitude (DL) which was authority over decision.

4. How was CDV measured in the Swiss study?

• Coronary and geographic examination which was measured by the diameter of the arteries in the heart.

5. What was the effect of psychosocial stress on CDV progression in the Swiss study?

• Higher psychosocial stress led to the biggest decrease in blood vessel diameter. Moderate psychosocial

stress led to less of a decrease in blood vessel diameter. No psychosocial stress led to an increase in blood

vessel diameter. Stress increased and lack of stress reversed CVD progression over 3 years.

1. What is brain self-stimulation? How is it related to drugs of abuse?

• In brain self-stimulation, the rats press a lever that either injects that part of the brain with an electric shock,

or injects that part of the brain with a drug of abuse. The drugs only work where the electric shocks work in

the dopamine receptors.

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Syracuse University PSY 329: Biopsychological Perspectives on Women's Health Exam 2 Study Guide 1. What are three characteristics of all mental disorders? • (1) Deviance (2) Maladaptive behaviors (3) Distress – Deviance is when you go against societal norms. Maladaptive behavior is when actions interfere with normal functioning. Normal functioning is when you are doing things that are rewarding. Distress is when you feel uncomfortable/bad and is unrewarding. 2. What are three tools used in diagnosing mental disorders for classification by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual? What was the tool used in the Baltimore study, and how did it differ from the usual diagnosis procedure? • (1) Interviews (2) Psychological tests (3) Physical exams – The Baltimore study used the diagnostic interview schedule, a list of questions. It differed because you normally have a psychiatrist or psychologist, but since this was done at a university they used graduate students. 3. What are two reasons that the risk for depression-related cancer might be greater in women than men? • (1) Female roles (2) Learned helplessness (3) Hormone Role Hypothesis (4) Developmental Hypothesis – Women ...
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