3.1.4 Clinical Psychology & Mental health

What are the definitions of abnormality?

• Deviation from social norms

• Failure to function adequately

• Deviation from ideal mental health

• Statistical infrequency

What are Jahoda’s six criteria?

1. Positive attitude towards the self

2. Self-actualisation of potenial

3. Resistance to stress

4. Personal autonomy

5. Accurate perception of reality

6. Adapting to and mastering the environment

AO3 for Deviation from Social Norms

• Eccentric or abnormal? (cat lady)

• Social norms change according to context (opera vs football)

• Social norms change with the times (homosexuality)

AO3 for Failure to Function adequately 

• Most people fail to function adequately at times, like after a bereavement

• There are highly functioning psychopaths (Harold Shipman)

AO3 for Deviation from Ideal Mental Health

• Criteria set the bar too high, few people met criteria

• Difficulty of self-actualising - few people achieve full potential

• Possible benefits of stress - some people work well under pressure

• Idea of ‘ideal’ is culturally and historically specific (based on western ideas)

AO3 for Statistical infrequency

• Sometimes statistical infrequent behaviour is desirable (high IQ)

• Sometimes statistical frequent behaviour is undesirable (depression)

• Subjectivity - when is the cut off point?

• Real life application - used to diagnose IDD

Define Deviation from Social Norms

Not following the implicit or explicit rules made by society

Define Failure to Function Adequately

Not being able to cope with the demands of everyday tasks expected of you

Define Deviation from Ideal Mental Health

Not meeting Jahoda’s six criteria, the more you don’t meet, the more vulnerable you are to being abnormal

Define statistical Infrequency

Exhibiting rare or uncommon behaviour

Emotional characteristics of Phobias

• Persistent, excessive fear

Behavioural characteristics of Phobias

• Excessively avoid the phobic object or situation

• Avoidance impacts individuals life

• Panic reaction when individual encounters feared object or situation

Cognitive characteristics for Phobias

• Irrational thoughts

• Selective attention (hyperawareness)

• Awareness that fear is irrational

What are the 3 types of phobias?

• Specific Phobia - most common, e.g. spiders, flying

• Agoraphobia - fear of being trapped in public space

• Social Phobia - fear of social situations

Behavioural Approach to Explaining Phobias

• Phobias are acquired through classical & operant conditioning

• ‘Two process model’ - Classical conditioning happens first, individual learns through association then phobia continues because of operant conditioning & rewards feelings the individual experiences when they avoid the object or situation

Describe Classical Conditioning

• Fears are acquired when an individual associates a neutral stimulus with a fear response. E.g. a person with no fear of cats is scratched one day and reacts with intense fear

• From this point onwards the individual associates all cats with fear/pain they felt & a phobia emerges

AO3 - Classical Conditioning Evidence

• Watson & Rayner (1920) sought to provide experimental evidence that fear could be learned in this way

• They worked with an 11 month old boy - Little Albert

• Albert showed no fear when exposed to white fluffy objects (rat) (neutral stimulus)

• Albert showed fear when an iron bar was struck loudly behind his head (unconditioned stimulus causing unconditioned response)

• These white fluffy objects (rat) were repeatedly paired with clanging of the bar

• Albert soon showed great fear to fluffy objects when presented alone (conditioned stimuli now causing a conditioned response)

• Watson has induced a phobia in Albert via classical conditioning

Describe Operant Conditioning

• Second stage of two process model is operant conditioning whereby avoiding the phobic stimulus is reinforcing and rewarding because it greatly relieves anxiety. E.g. avoiding cats makes the person feel much better, relieving their fear anxiety

• This behaviour has become positively reinforcing & operant conditioning has occured

AO3 - Munjack (1984)

• Refuted this theory

• Investigated