Two Topics Today

1. Two Topics Today Compliance Defining Mental Illness

2. Compliance

3.   Authority • Obeying another's command/request • Authority • Degree to which believe an individual has control over you can change the degree to which you can comply •  Obedience

4. Milgram study (1963) • P111 students • paid $4.50 • Supposedly random assignment • Learners and teachers •   learners received increasing shocks for errors: 13-300v •   teachers gave the shocks • Wanted to see how long they would comply • Really no shocks ever given, learner = confederate

5. Results: •  65% completed series- killed learner • Compared Yale vs. Slum/gang kids: • Less compliance in slum • Why? • Ethical problems with study (ya think!?!) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcXb1aQruwI

6. Real World Examples: • Real world: •   Hitler •   Vietnam •   Manson killings •   Rodney King incident •  Special attention also can change behaviors: •   Called the Hawthorn effect: •   Any manipulation resulted in increased work output

7.   Two ways to get individuals to comply • Foot in the door • Door in the Face

8. Foot in the Door Effect • Start w/small request and increase size of request • Billboard study •   Started w/small request for donations •   Asked if could put sign in yard •   Kept increasing until asked to put up billboard •   Those who initially gave more likely to allow it • Individuals strived to be consistent in behavior

9. Door in Face Effect • Start w/huge request, then modify down • Volunteer for big thing, then little favor •  Why work? Self concept •    feel bad about denying request •    more likely to then do smaller task

10. Problem: Reactance: • If too much pressure, individual may do the opposite • E.g. in Vietnam: soldiers killed commanding officers when  pushed too hard

11. Mental Health

12. Definitions of Mental Illness (you don’t need to copy this down!!!!!) • WHO’s ICD-10 defines mental illness as a “clinically recognizable set of symptoms or behaviors associated in most cases with distress and interference with personal functions.” • DSM-IV-TR defines mental disorder as “a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual…..is associated with persistent distress…or…disability….or with a significantly increased risk of suffering.”

13. So: What is mental illness? (know this one!) • A substantial disorder and dysregulation of • Thought • Mood • Perception • Memory • Behavior • Which grossly impairs judgment, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to meet the ordinary demands of life

14. Definitional complexity: • World Health Organization (WHO) and national surveys conclude that • There is NO single consensus on the definition of mental illness/disorder • The phrasing depends on the social, cultural, economic and legal context • Terms fall out of favor, new terms emerge • Which term is used is often determined by consensus, intent or purpose

15. What do we use to define? • Normal vs. abnormal behavior • Each of us has all the behaviors in our repertoire • It is the intensity, frequency and degree to which we exhibit the symptoms • Statistics suggest anywhere from 2-25% of population has a mental illness at any one time! • We look for • Unusualness • Social deviance • Emotional distress • Maladaptive behavior • Dangerousness • Faulty perceptions or interpretations of reality

16. Difference between mental health and law! • Being “sane” is different than being mentally ill. • Mental illness/disorders are a psychiatric/medical term; psychologists don’t deal with “sanity” • Sanity is a LEGAL term • Ability to understand proceedings • Ability to understand “right” from “wrong” • Ability to plan and understand consequences of one’s actions.

17. Several “models” of Abnormal Behavior • Attempts to explain how/why • Medical model • Psychological models • Psychodynamic • Humanistic • Cognitive behavioral • Sociocultural • Biopsychosocial • Diathesis stress

18. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV-TR or DSM-IV-TR • A categorical classification system • Divides mental disorders into types • Based on criteria sets with defining features • Diagnosis is by observation: report on • Intensity • Frequency • Severity • Duration of behaviors • Symptoms clustered together in recognizable patterns = SYNDROMES • Must meet certain # of criteria to be given syndrome diagnosis • Several degrees of each syndrome

19. Multi-Axial Assessment of DSM-IV-TR • Axis I: Major mental disorders • Also developmental and learning disorders • Axis II: Underlying pervasive or personality conditions • E.g., mental retardation • Axis III: Acute medical and physical conditions • Axis IV: Psychosocial factors contributing to disorder • Axis V: global assessment of functioning • GAF scale

20. The Major Mental Illnesses • Mood disorders • Psychotic disorders: • Anxiety disorders • Dissociative disorders • Personality disorders • Substance abuse disorders • Behavior or mood problems caused by other neurological or medical illness