Provide an overview of the cognitive perspective on the etiology of somatic symptom disorders
What will be an ideal response?
Distorted perceptions may play a role in the etiology of the somatic symptom disorders. A cognitive process termed somatic amplification is a tendency to perceive bodily sensations as intense, noxious, and disturbing. This theory suggests that some people have heightened sensory, perceptual, and/or cognitive-evaluative processes that make them more sensitive to the presence of physical symptoms. Few studies have assessed how these cognitions contribute to the onset of the disorder. A second perspective proposes that somatic symptom disorders develop from inaccurate beliefs about (A ) the prevalence and contagiousness of illnesses, (B) the meaning of bodily symptoms, and (C) the course and treatment of illnesses. These beliefs may be activated by hearing or reading about an illness or after perceiving vague bodily sensations. As a result, the person becomes hypervigilant about having, and perhaps dying from, the illness.
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Which of the following situations is NOT processed primarily by the limbic system?
a. You remember how your grandmother's living room looked. b. You get angry and want to hit a person who has just bumped into you. c. You are feeling hungry because you have not eaten since yesterday. d. You are trying to reason through a logic problem in math class. e. You feel sexually aroused by the good-looking person sitting next to you.
Lifespan development focuses on
a) nonhuman species. b) test tube babies. c) biological and environmental development. d) human development.