RETRIEVAL PRACTICE Take a moment to answer each of these Learning Objective Questions (repeated here from within this section). Then click the 'show answer' button to check your answers. Research suggests that trying to answer these questions on your own will improve your long-term retention (McDaniel et al., 2009).

Dissociative disorders are conditions in which conscious awareness seems to become separated from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings. Skeptics note that dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, increased dramatically in the late twentieth century; is rarely found outside North America; and may reflect role playing by people who are vulnerable to therapists’ suggestions. Others view this disorder as a manifestation of feelings of anxiety, or as a response learned when behaviors are reinforced by anxiety-reduction.

Personality disorders are disruptive, inflexible, and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning. This disorder forms three clusters, characterized by (1) anxiety, (2) eccentric or odd behaviors, and (3) dramatic or impulsive behaviors.
     Antisocial personality disorder (one of those in the third cluster) is characterized by a lack of conscience and, sometimes, by aggressive and fearless behavior. Genetic predispositions may interact with the environment to produce the altered brain activity associated with antisocial personality disorder.

In those with eating disorders (most often women or gay men), psychological factors can overwhelm the body’s tendency to maintain a normal weight. Despite being significantly underweight, people with anorexia nervosa (usually adolescent females) continue to diet and exercise excessively because they view themselves as fat. Those with bulimia nervosa (usually females in their teens and twenties) secretly binge and then compensate by purging, fasting, or excessive exercise. Those with binge-eating disorder binge but do not follow with purging, fasting, and exercise. Cultural pressures, low self-esteem, and negative emotions interact with stressful life experiences and genetics to produce eating disorders.