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Introduction and Methods of Research
Chapter Outline

Chapter One Outline: Introduction and Research Methods

  1. How Do We Define Abnormal Behavior?
    1. Criteria for Determining Abnormality
    2. Cultural Biases of Abnormal Behavior
  2. Historical Perspectives on Abnormal Behavior
    1. The Demonological Model
    2. Origins of the Medical Model: In "Ill Humor"
    3. Medieval Times
    4. Witchcraft
    5. Asylums
    6. The Reform Movement and Moral Therapy
    7. A Step Backward
    8. The Community Mental Health Movement: The Exodus from State Hospitals
    9. Contemporary Perspectives on Abnormal Behavior: From Demonology to Science
      1. Biological Perspectives
      2. Psychological Perspectives
      3. Sociocultural Perspectives
      4. Biopsychosocial
  3. Research Methods in Abnormal Psychology
    1. Description, Explanation, Prediction, and Control: The Objectives of Science
    2. The Scientific Method
    3. Ethics in Research
    4. The Naturalistic-Observation Method
    5. The Correlational Method
      1. The Longitudinal Study
    6. The Experimental Method
      1. Experimental and Control Subjects
      2. Controlling for Subjects' Expectations
      3. Experimental Validity
    7. Epidemiological Method
      1. Samples and Populations
    8. Kinship Studies
      1. Twin Studies
      2. Adoptee Studies
    9. The Case-Study Method
      1. Types of Case Studies
      2. The Single-Case Experimental Design
  4. Summing Up

Learning Objectives

  1. Discuss six criteria that are used to define abnormal behavior.
  2. Discuss the relationships between cultural beliefs and norms and the labeling of behavior normal or abnormal.
  3. Recount the history of beliefs about disturbed behavior and treatment of people deemed "mad" or mentally ill.
  4. Discuss the following contemporary perspectives on abnormal behavior: biological, psychodynamic, learning-based, humanistic, cognitive, and sociocultural.
  5. Discuss the steps involved in the scientific method.
  6. Explain how experimenters control for subjects’ and researchers’ expectations and the differences between three types of experimental validity.
  7. Discuss the various methods used to study abnormal behavior, including the naturalistic observation method, the correlational method, the experimental method, kinship studies, the epidemiological method, and the case study method



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