Paper One

pscyhopathology

the scientific study of the origins, symptoms, and development of psychological disorders

abnormality: deviation from social norms

social judgements about what is acceptable

deviation from social norms evaluation (3 points)

not a sole explanation - other factors matter e.g. distress to others.

cultural relativism - unfair to judge someone from another culture.

human rights abuses - social norm approach maintains control over minority groups, e.g. women.

abnormality: statistical deviation

numerically unusual behaviour or characteristics

statistical deviation evaluation (3 points)

real life application - diagnosis of mental disorders.

unusual characteristics may be positive - e.g. higher than average IQ

not everyone benefits from a label - lower than average IQ might be able to live a normal life but the label could negatively impact self-esteem

abnormality: failure to function adequately

failing to cope with demands of everyday life

failure to function adequately evaluation (3 points)

patient's perspective - capture experience of people with mental distress problems

is is different from DSN - alternative lifestyles or doing extreme sports may be examples of both definitions

subjective judgments - requires a subjective judgement during assessment

abnormality: deviation from ideal mental health

Jahoda considered normality rather than an abnormality
e.g. lack of symptoms, rationality, self -actualisation, coping with stress

deviation from ideal mental health evaluation (3 points)

comprehensive - covers a wide range of criteria

cultural relativity - self-actualisation may not be as normal in other countries

unrealistically high standard for mental health - would see us all as deviant

phobias

an anxiety disorder

three main types of phobias

specific - fear of things or situations

social - fear of social interactions

agoraphobia - fear of public spaces/leaving a safe place

phobias characteristics

behavioural - panic. avoidance or endurance

emotional - irrational and unreasonable fear and anxiety.

cognitive - selective attention. irrational beliefs. cognitive distortions

phobias: behavioural explanation: two-process model

Mowrer: two processes of conditioning

two-process model: method

shocked rats after sounding a buzzer until they developed fear response (CC) then taught them to escape using OC. Automatically ran when heard the buzzer (OC)

phobias: behavioural explanation: process 1

phobias are acquired through classical conditioning.

phobias: behavioural explanation: process 2

phobias are maintained through operant conditioning.

phobias: behavioural explanation: evaluation (3 points)

good explanatory power - explains how phobias can be both acquired and maintained

alternative explanation for avoidance - may be motivated more by seeking safety rather than anxiety reduction

incomplete explanation of phobias - cannot account for preparedness to acquire phobias of some stimuli and not others

systematic desensitisation: anxiety hierarchy

a list of situations ranked for how much they produce

systematic desensitisation

a treatment for phobias where the person is taught to relax and then is gradually exposed to the feared object, activity or event

systematic desensitisation: relaxation

reciprocal inhibition. includes imagery and/or breathing techniques

systematic desensitisation: exposure

exposure to phobic stimulus whilst relaxed at each level of the anxiety hierarchy

systematic desensitisation: evaluation (3 points)

effective - Gilroy (2003) follows up 42 patients who had three 45 minute sessions, at both 3 & 33 months they had less anxiety than the control group.

suitable for a diverse range of patients - can be understood & engaged with by those with learning difficulties.

acceptable - not traumatic, lower refusal & attrition rates

flooding

a treatment for phobias in which clients are exposed repeatedly & intensively to a feared object & made to see that it is actually harmless

how does flooding work?

works by extinction of the conditioned fear response

flooding: ethical safeguards

patients must give informed consent to and be prepared for flooding

flooding evaluation (3 points)

cost-effective - fewer sessions needed.

less effective - complex phobias like social phobia wouldn't apply.

traumatic treatment - high refusal & attrition rates, wasted time & money.

depression

a mood disorder

depression characterists

behavioural - lethargy or agitation. increased or decreased sleeping/eating. aggression and self-harm

emotional - lowered mood. anger towards self and others. low self-esteem

cognitive - poor concentration. negative bias. absolutist thinking

depression cognitive explanation: Beck's theory (3 points)

faulty information processing - attending to the negative aspects of a situation

negative self-schemas - negative information about ourselves is accessed whenever we encounter a self-relevant situation

the negative triad - negative views of the world, the self and the future

depression cognitive explanation: Beck's theory evaluation (3 points)

supporting evidence - solid support for idea that certain cognitions make us vulnerable to depression (Clark and Beck)

practical application in CBT - negative thoughts can be identified and challenged by a therapist

doesn't explain all aspects - cannot easily explain extremes of anger or hallucinations and delusions

depression cognitive explanation: Ellis's ABC model (3 points)

activating event - a negative life event that triggers a response.

beliefs - beliefs that lead us to over-react to the activating event e.g. that life should always be fair.

consequences - depression results when we over-react to negative life events.

depression cognitive explanation: Ellis's ABC model evaluation (3 points)

partial explanation - some cases of depression follow life events but not all.

practical application in CBT - irrational thoughts can be identified and challenged by a therapist.

doesn't explain all aspect - cannot easily explain extremes of anger or hallucinations and delusions

depression cognitive explanation: cognitive-behavioural therapy

Beck's CT - aims to identify negative thoughts and challenge them, including through testing them.

Ellis's REBT - aims to identify and challenge irrational beliefs by argument.

Behavioural activation - includes techniques from CT and REBT but also behavioural techniques.

depression cognitive explanation: CBT evaluation (3 points)

it is effective - significantly more effective than no treatment (Culipers et al.).

may not work for the most severe cases - not effective where patents are too depressed to engage with therapy

patient-therapist relationship - all therapies fairly similar (Luborsky et al.).

extra - some patients want to explore their past. overemphasis on cognition.

OCD

an anxiety disorder

OCD characteristics

behavioural - compulsions usually decrease anxiety. avoid situations that trigger anxiety

emotional - intense anxiety. depression. guilt and disgust.

cognitive - obsessive thoughts. cognitive strategies, e.g. prayer. self-insight.

OCD biological explanations: genetic

candidate genes - genes that may be involved in producing symptoms of OCD, e.g. 5HT1-D beta

OCD is polygenic - different combinations of up to 230 genetic variations.

different types of OCD - different combinations of gene variations may cause different kinds of OCD

OCD biological explanations: genetic evaluation (3 points)

good supporting evidence - twins studies show OCD is influenced by genes (Nestadt et al.).

too many candidate genes - so many genes involved means little predictive value.

environmental risk factors - OCD is associated with trauma so it is clearly not entirely genetic in origin.

OCD biological explanations: neural

serotonin - low levels of serotonin linked to OCD

decision-making systems - frontal lobes and parahippocampal gyrus may be malfunctioning.

OCD biological explanations: neural evaluation (5 points)

supporting evidence - antidepressants that work on the serotonin system alleviate OCD (Nestadt et al.).

not clear what mechanisms are involved - all the neural systems associated with OCD are only involved in some cases.

shouldn't assume neural mechanisms cause OCD - neural abnormalities may be the result of OCD, not the cause.

twin studies are flawed as genetic evidence - overlooks fact that identical twins may also be more similar in terms of shared environments

OCD biological treatment: drug therapy

SSRIs - antidepressants that increase levels of serotonin at the synapse.

combining SSRIs with other treatments - combine with CBT or other drugs.

alternatives to SSRIs - Clomipramine (acts on serotonin plus other systems) or SNRIs (noradrenaline).

OCD biological treatment: drug therapy evaluation (4 points)

effective at tackling symptoms - SSRIs are superior to placebos in treating OCD (Soomro et al.).

cost effective - compared to psychological treatments drugs are cheap and non-disruptive.

can have side effects - indigestion, blurred vision and loss of sex drive; worse for Clomipramine.

unreliable evidence for drug treatments

attachment

a strong, enduring, emotional & reciprocal bond between two people, especially an infant & caregiver, characterised by a desire to maintain proximity

primary caregiver

the person mainly responsible for providing or assisting with the child's basic needs

Bowlby's attachment theory

takes an evolutionary perspective, believes that infants are born with an innate tendency to form attachment in order to increase their chances of survival.
• Adaptive
• Social releasers
• Critical period
• Monotropy
• Internal working model

Bowlby TOA: adaptive

forming an attachment helps to ensure the survival of a child. Attachment gives our species an 'adaptive advantage', making us more likely to survive.

Bowlby TOA: social releasers

babies have social releasers which. 'unlock' an innate tendency in adults (in particular mothers) to care for them

Bowlby TOA: critical period

attachment between infant and caregiver must occur within a certain time period if children are to form attachments, up to 3 years

Bowlby TOA: monotropy

infants form one very special attachment with their mother. If mother unavailable, the infant could bond with another ever-present adult mother-substitute

Bowlby TOA: internal working model

special model for relationships, all future adult relationships will be based on their early attachment relationship

Bowlby TOA: strengths

support for social releasers - Brazleton et al. (1975): when social releasers ignored, babies were upset
support for internal working model - Bailey et al. (2007): quality of attachment is passed on through generations in families
Lorenz (1935)

Bowlby TOA: weaknesses

Mixed evidence for monotropy - some babies form multiple attachments without primary attachment. Suess et al. (1964): other attachments may contribute as much as primary one
Monotropy is a socially sensitive idea
Temperament may be as important as attachment
Rutter et al. (1998)

Lorenz (1935): procedure

Lorenz divided a group of good eggs into two groups:
group 1 was left with their natural mother.
group 2 was placed in an incubator.
made sure when the eggs in the incubator hatched, he was the first moving object the goslings saw. then he marked the two groups & returned them to natural mother

Lorenz (1935): findings

the geese that had hatched in the incubator continued to follow him, while those who had hatched naturally continued to follow their mother

Lorenz (1935): conclusion

goslings are programmed to imprint onto the first moving object they see, highlighting the rapid formation of attachment in animals

Lorenz (1935): evaluation

sexual imprinting - adult birds try to mate with whatever species or object they imprinted on
generalisability - birds and mammals have different attachment systems, results may not be relevant to humans. (extrapolation)
some observations questioned - Guilton et al.: birds imprinting on rubber gloves did later prefer their own species

Hazan and Shaver (1987) procedure

used a questionnaire called 'The Love Quiz' to examine current attachment experiences & attachment history.
620 people responded

Hazan and Shaver (1987) findings

found there was a positive correlation between attachment type & later love experiences

Hazan and Shaver (1987) conclusion

the results support Bowlby's idea of an internal working model & suggest that our early childhood experiences affect our later adult relationships

Hazan and Shaver (1987) issues

Volunteer sample - bias sample, specific people participate in these studies
Population validity
Sampling bias
Social desirability
Privacy

Rutter et al. (2007)

carried out research on orphans adopted by US/UK families.

Rutter et al. (2007) findings

adoptees who had failed to form an attachment during critical period still able to form attachments outside this period. However, he also noted the later the adoption took place, the more time it took the children to develop a strong attachment.

Rutter et al (2007) conclusions

Rutter said that the term critical period was incorrect & that it should refer to as the 'sensitive period'

learning theory approach: classical conditioning

caregiver (neutral stimulus) associate with food (unconditioned stimulus). caregiver becomes conditioned stimulus (Pavlov's research with dogs)

learning theory approach: operant conditioning

crying behaviour reinforce positive for infant and negatively for caregiver

attachment as a secondary drive

attachment becomes a secondary drive through association with hunger

learning theory approach evaluation

animal studies - Lorenz and Harlow showed that feeding is not the key to attachment
human research - Scheffer and Emerson: most primary attachment figure with there mother even when others did most feeding
ignores other factors - cannot account for the importance of sensitivity and interactional synchrony

Caregiver-infant interactions: reciprocity and interactional synchrony

reciprocity: mothers respond to infant alertness
interactional synchrony: interactions become co-ordinated. Isabella et al.: quality of attachment related to synchrony

Meltzoff and Moore (1977)

demonstrated spontaneous imitative behaviour in 12- to 21-day-old infants with an adult model (sticking tongue out, opening mouth, pouting)

Meltzoff and Moore (1977) evaluation

- questionable reliability of testing infants
+ supports Bowlbys theory of attachment
- lack of research support from other studies

Harlow's Monkeys (1959) procedure

8 rhesus monkeys placed with two surrogate mothers, one wire & one cloth. For half of the monkeys, food (milk bottle) was attached wire mother, for other half food was attached to cloth mother

Harlow's Monkeys (1959) findings

Harlow found that all the monkeys spent most of their time cuddled to the soft cloth-covered mother

Harlow's Monkeys (1959) conclusions

Harlow concluded that monkeys develop attachments based on contact comfort & not based on food
monkeys grew up socially dysfunctional
after 90 days attachments wouldn't form

Harlow's Monkeys (1959) evaluation

theoretical value - demonstrate the attachment depend more on contact comfort than feeding
practical value - Howe: informed understanding of risk factors for child abuse
ethical issues - the suffering of the monkeys would be human-like
extrapolation

Ainsworth's Strange Situation - procedure

7-stage controlled observation.
assessed proximity seeking, exploration and secure base, stranger and separation anxiety, response to reunion.

Ainsworth's Strange Situation - findings

infants showed consistent patters of attachment behaviour

Ainsworth's Strange Situation - types of attachment

secure: enthusiastic greeting, generally content
avoidant: avoids reunions, generally reduced responses
resistant: resists reunions, generally more distressed

Ainsworth Strange Situation - strengths

support for validity - attachment type predicts later social and personal behaviour, e.g. bullying
good reliability - different observers agree 90%+ of the time on children's attachment types

Ainsworth Strange Situation - weaknesses

culture-bound - attachment behaviour may have different meanings in different cultures so the strange situation may be measuring different things.
there is at least one more attachment type - Main and Solomon (1986) found a minority displayed atypical attachments, known as disorganised attachment

disorganised attachment

display an odd mix of resistant and avoidant behaviours

key study of cultural variations: van ljzendoorn

compared rates of attachment type in 8 countries
found more variation within than between countries

cultural variations: other studies

Simonella et al.: Italian attachment rates have changed, may be due to changing practices
Jin et al.: Korean attachment rates similar to japan, could be due to similar child-rearing styles

cultural variations: conclusions

it appears that attachment is innate and universal and secure attachment is the norm.
however cultural practices affect rates of attachment types

cultural variations: strengths

large samples - reduce the impact of anomalous results so improve internal validity

cultural variations: weaknesses

samples unrepresentative of culture - countries do not equates to cultures nor to culturally specific methods of child rearing so cant make generalisations.
method of assessment is biased - research using the strange situation imposes a USA test on other cultures (imposed etic).
the strange situation lacks validity.

bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation: separation vs deprivation

physical separation only leads to deprivations when the child loses emotional-care

bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation: critical period

the first 30 months are critical and deprivation in that time causes damage

bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation: effects on development

Goldfarb: deprivation causes low IQ
Bowlby: emotional development, e.g. affection-less psychopathy

bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation: 44 thieves study (bowbly)

many more affection-less psychopaths than controls had prolonged separation

bowlby's theory of maternal deprivation: evaluation

evidence may be poor - orphans have experienced other traumas, bowlby may have been a biased observer
counter evidence - Lewis: sample of 500, no link between early separation and later criminality
a sensitive period - bowlby exaggerated the importance of the critical period
failure to distinguish deprivation from privation

Romanian orphan studies (effects of institutionalisation): Rutter's study

165 orphans adopted in Britain
some of those adopted later show low IQ and disinhibited attachment

Romanian orphan studies (effects of institutionalisation): Bucharest Early intervention project

random allocation to institutional care or fostering
secure attachment in 19% of institutional group vs 74% of controls

Romanian orphan studies: effects of institutionalisation

disinhibited attachment and delay in intellectual development if institutionalisation is prolonged

Romanian orphan studies (effects of institutionalisation): strengths

real life application - both institutional care adn adoption practive have been improved using lessons from romanian orphans
fewer extraneous variables - romanian orphans had fewer negative influences before institutionalisation than e.g. war orphans
practical applications to adoption and institutional care practice

Romanian orphan studies (effects of institutionalisation): weaknesses

Romanian orphanages not typical - conditions were so bad that results may not generalise to better institutions
ethical issues especially Bucharest Early Intervention project

influence of early attachments on later relationships: internal working model

bowlby's idea that the primary attachment relationship provides a template for later relationships

influence of early attachments on later relationships: relationships in later childhood

Kerns: securely attached children have better friendships
Myron-Wilson and Smith: securely attached children less likely to be involved in bullying

influence of early attachments on later relationships: relationships with romantic partners

McCarthy: securely attached adults have better relationships with friends and partners
Hazan and Shaver: secure responders had better and longer-lasting relationships, avoidant responders had fear of intimacy

influence of early attachments on later relationships: parental relationships

Bailey et al.: mothers' attachment type matched that of their mothers and their babies

influence of early attachments on later relationships: evaluation

evidence is mixed - Zimmerman et al.: found little relationship between quality of attachment and later attachment
low validity: most studies assess infant attachment by retrospective self-report which lacks validity
association does not mean causality - a third factor like temperament might affect both infant attachment and later relationships
the influence of attachment is probabilistic
self-report is conscious but working models are not