What is the primary function of emotion?;To mobilize the organism to deal quickly with important encounters.
What components make up emotion according to the slides?;Physiology, expression, action tendencies, behavior, appraisal, and feeling.
What characterizes fear?;A response to immediate danger.
What characterizes anxiety?;A response to anticipated future threat.
Why is fear considered a basic emotion?;It involves immediate, automatic responses to danger.
Why is anxiety considered more complex than fear?;It involves anticipation, avoidance, and preparation.
What physiological changes occur during fear?;Increased heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and breathing.
What behavioral responses are associated with fear?;Freeze, flight, fight, and fright.
What is the cognitive component of fear?;Appraisal of danger and need for action.
What is a key behavioral feature of anxiety?;Avoidance.
What is a key function of anxiety?;Preparation for future threat.
When does fear become pathological?;When it is irrational, excessive, prolonged, and causes distress or impairment.
What makes fear irrational?;When the stimulus does not justify the fear or it is excessively intense or long-lasting.
What role does avoidance play in anxiety disorders?;It maintains the disorder by preventing learning that the situation is safe.
Name common anxiety disorders.;Panic disorder, agoraphobia, specific phobia, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder.
What is a key epidemiological fact about anxiety disorders?;They have high lifetime prevalence and high comorbidity with depression.
What is relapse often characterized by in anxiety disorders?;Development of a different anxiety disorder.
What does the general model of psychopathology include?;Diathesis, stress, vulnerabilities, strengths, and symptoms.
What are distal factors in the model?;Early experiences and genetic predispositions.
What are proximal factors in the model?;Current vulnerabilities and stressors.
What is a key feature of the general model of psychopathology?;Dynamic interaction between factors over time.
What is neuroticism and how is it related to anxiety?;A personality trait (~40% heritable) associated with vulnerability to anxiety.
What is behavioral inhibition?;A temperament characterized by cautious, fearful responses to novelty.
Who studied behavioral inhibition?;Kagan.
What is the long-term risk of behavioral inhibition?;Increased likelihood of social anxiety.
Why does behavioral inhibition not always lead to anxiety disorders?;Other factors influence development of disorders.
What environmental factors contribute to anxiety disorders?;Parent modeling, parenting styles, and life experiences.
What is classical conditioning in anxiety disorders?;Learning fear through association between neutral and aversive stimuli.
In Little Albert, what was the UCS?;A loud noise.
In Little Albert, what was the CS?;The rabbit.
In Little Albert, what was the CR?;Fear and avoidance.
What theory explains fear acquisition and maintenance?;Mowrer’s two-factor theory.
What explains the acquisition of fear in Mowrer’s theory?;Classical conditioning.
What explains the maintenance of fear in Mowrer’s theory?;Operant conditioning via avoidance.
What is the neurotic paradox?;Avoidance reduces fear short-term but maintains it long-term.
Why does avoidance maintain anxiety?;It prevents extinction learning.
What are the diagnostic criteria for specific phobia?;Marked fear, immediate response, avoidance, disproportionate fear, duration ≥6 months, distress/impairment.
What types of specific phobia exist?;Animal, natural environment, blood-injection-injury, situational, other.
What is exposure therapy?;Repeated confrontation with feared stimuli without avoidance.
What are forms of exposure therapy?;In vivo, imaginal, and virtual reality.
What is flooding?;Immediate exposure to the most feared stimulus.
What is gradual exposure?;Stepwise exposure increasing in intensity.
What is extinction in exposure therapy?;Learning a new CS-noUS association that inhibits fear.
Which brain areas are involved in extinction?;Prefrontal cortex and hippocampus inhibit amygdala responses.
Why is fear not erased in exposure therapy?;Because extinction creates a new inhibitory memory rather than removing the old one.
Why can fear return after treatment?;The original fear memory remains in the amygdala.
What is evolutionary preparedness?;Biological predisposition to fear certain stimuli (e.g., snakes, spiders).
What are alternative pathways to fear learning besides conditioning?;Vicarious learning, information transfer, and inflation.
What is latent inhibition?;Prior exposure reduces likelihood of developing fear.
What is differential learning?;Individuals differ in how easily they acquire fear.
What are symptoms of a panic attack?;Heart pounding, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, dizziness, fear of dying or losing control.
What distinguishes panic disorder from other disorders?;Panic attacks occur unexpectedly.
What explains panic disorder in Clark’s model?;Catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations.
What is an example of catastrophic misinterpretation?;Interpreting increased heart rate as a heart attack.
What was the older explanation for panic attacks?;Hyperventilation causing physiological imbalance.
Why is the cognitive model preferred over the old explanation?;Because panic can be induced by false beliefs about bodily sensations.
What characterizes generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)?;Excessive, uncontrollable worry across multiple domains for at least 6 months.
What are core symptoms of GAD?;Restlessness, fatigue, concentration problems, irritability, muscle tension, sleep disturbance.
What is Borkovec’s theory of worry?;Worry is a form of cognitive avoidance.
What is Newman & Llera’s alternative view?;Worry maintains a constant negative state to reduce emotional contrast.
What are meta-cognitive beliefs in GAD?;Beliefs about worry itself.
What are Type 1 worries?;Beliefs that worrying is helpful.
What are Type 2 worries?;Beliefs that worrying is uncontrollable and dangerous.
What is repetitive negative thinking?;A transdiagnostic process involving persistent negative thoughts.
How does repetitive negative thinking differ in GAD vs depression?;GAD focuses on future uncertainty, depression on past certainty.
What maintains anxiety disorders at a general level?;Avoidance and maladaptive cognitions.
What is the key treatment principle for anxiety disorders?;Exposure leading to inhibitory learning.