Psychology U3 Behaviors

    Cards (220)

    • ASD
      Autism Spectrum Disorder
    • Characteristics of ASD
      • Communication issues
      • Repetitive behaviours
    • Definition of ASD
      A lifelong, developmental disorder of communication that affects how the individual understands the world around them
    • National Autistic Society estimates 1.1% of UK population (700,000) may have ASD
    • 5x more males are diagnosed with ASD than females
    • 2 broad categories of ASD symptoms (ICD-11)

      • Communication issues
      • Repetition behaviours
    • Communication issues in ASD
      • Lack of social-emotional reciprocity
      • Not using/understanding non-verbal communication
      • Problems with developing and maintaining relationships
    • Social reciprocity
      The ability to maintain a back and forth everyday communication / create relevant response to a previous comment while in a conversation
    • Someone with ASD lacks the ability for social reciprocity
    • Someone with ASD tends not to begin social interactions or respond to other people's attempts to begin a conversation (ie. ignoring the cashier’s attempts at small talk when checking out at the grocery store)
    • When someone with ASD attempts to interact with others, their attempts may seem socially inappropriate (ie. licking the other person)
    • Non-verbal communication
      Expressing emotions through means other than speech, such as facial expressions or gestures
    • Someone with ASD lacks the ability to understand or rarely uses non-verbal communication
    • Someone with ASD may avoid eye contact and rarely use social smiles in social settings, and may not understand gestures, tone of voice or have issues with body posture
    • Problems with developing and maintaining relationships in ASD
      • Lack of theory of mind (difficulty understanding others have their own minds and perspectives)
      • Lack of awareness of social rules
    • Theory of mind
      The ability to understand that others have thoughts and feelings that are different from one's own
    • Someone with ASD may be unable to understand that their friend is upset due to getting a bad grade on a test where the ASD individual got a high grade
    • Someone with ASD may be aware of social rules but fail to pick up on social cues others give, making it difficult to make friends
    • Repetitive behaviours in ASD

      • Repetitive behaviour patterns
      • Ritualistic behaviour and resistance to change
      • Restricted/fixated interests
      • Unusual reactions to sensory input
    • Echolalia
      Repeating words that have been heard
    • Stimming
      Performing repetitive movements to self-stimulate
    • Individuals with ASD may stick to routines and find any change from this pattern of behaviour distressing (ie. if a phone call causes them to miss their usual bedtime story, disrupting their bed time routine)
    • Individuals with ASD may have an obsessive interest with a particular object or topic
    • Some individuals with ASD may show 'savant' behaviours, having exceptional abilities in a particular area
    • Individuals with ASD may have unusual reactions to sensory input such as touch, smell/taste, or sound
    • Children with ASD may be easily stimulated when going to the mall due to exposure to many loud and unsettling noises and bright lights
    • Genetic predisposition
      The general population (who don't have any relatives with ASD) has a 0.11% risk of developing ASD, but the risk increases to 2.2% if a sibling has a diagnosis (Szatmari, 1999)
    • Bailey et al (1995) found a concordance rate of 60% for monozygotic (MZ) twins and 0% for dizygotic (DZ) twins, suggesting a genetic component to ASD
    • When including social or cognitive impairments, the concordance rates increased to 92% for MZ and 10% for DZ twins
    • Genetic deficits, such as 20p13, could run in families and potentially affect neuronal development, leading to impaired empathy (Theory of Mind) or savant behaviours
    • Bernier (2014) found 15 CHD-8 mutations in a study of 3730 children with ASD or developmental delay (explaining syndromic ASD
    • Around 60% of those with Fragile X syndrome also meet the diagnostic criteria for ASD, suggesting the FMR1 mutation may be a genetic factor in the development of ASD
    • De novo copy number variations may account for about 10% of all diagnosed cases of ASD, while de novo mutations may account for about 25% of cases
    • The various genes involved help explain why ASD is a spectrum disorder where severity between siblings can vary
    • Colvert et al (2015) found concordance rates of 77-99% for MZ twins and 22-65% for DZ twins, supporting the theory that increased DNA leads to increased risk of developing ASD
    • Hallmayer et al (2011) estimated heritability to only be 55%, suggesting other factors account for the remaining 45% of the influence in the development of ASD
    • Landrigan (2010) suggests there are possible environmental triggers for ASD, such as toxic chemicals and viruses the mother is exposed to while pregnant
    • Amygdala
      A brain region implicated in ASD as it is crucial for social and emotional responses
    • There is no difference in amygdala volume during adulthood and teenage between those with and without ASD, but a 6-9% increase in volume is found in those with ASD during childhood
    • The early growth in amygdala volume may lead to abnormalities in the connections between neurons, damaging its functioning
    See similar decks