AQA A-Level Psychology: Psychopathology. Full topic notes
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Course
Psychopathology
Institution
AQA
For A-Level Psychology, new series
Written in an easily understandable, comprehensive, and succinct format that can be converted into essay notes (a plan of each 8/16 mark question) or answers to shorter questions.
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY (Paper 1): Covering all required topics including:
-Definitions o...
DEVIATION FROM SOCIAL NORMS
Psychological abnormalities can be judged by looking at behaviours with regards to social norms,
which can be explicit (written into governing laws) or implicit (unwritten but generally accepted).
Social norms are culturally approved behaviours, and therefore any deviating behaviour is abnormal.
A diagnosis of DFSM allows a psychologist to interfere into the life of the patient.
In the DSM-5, antisocial personality disorder is classified as "absence of prosocial internal standards”
and "absence of lawful or culturally normative behaviour", therefore a psychopath would show
abnormal behaviour according to the definition.
EVALUATION
-The desirability of behaviour is considered in the explanation. This helps to differentiate rate and
desirable characteristics from those abnormal and undesirable
-Takes into account how norms change over time. Homosexuality in the 20s to 70s was seen as a
mental disorder, with many people using aversion therapy to cure themselves. When homosexuality
was normalised, this diagnosis was seen as an abuse of human rights
-Norms must be culturally relative. In some cultures, schizophrenia is seen as a desired religious or
spiritual trait, however by the Western model is a mental disorder. It is difficult to apply the definition
without accusations of culture bias and an imposed etic
-The definition doesn’t distinguish between deviant behaviour and mental disturbance- there are
many socially deviant behaviours that are not psychological abnormalities (for example underage
drinking is an explicit deviation from social norms). This means that the definition is not specific
enough, and risks misdiagnosing a large percentage of the population with a psychological disorder
STATISTICAL INFREQUENCY
Behaviour that is statistically rare is abnormal. Statistics are gathered that claim to measure certain
characteristics and behaviour, with a view to show how these are distributed throughout the
population.
The norm depends on a normal distribution (the percentage of people sharing a behaviour), with
statistically rare falling 2SD away from the mean (5%).
Insomnia and hypersomnia would be classed as abnormal, as the percentage falls 2SD away from the
average sleep time of the population. The results are usually drawn on a non-linear curve
representing the sleep pattern and time of the average population
EVALUATION
-Provides an objective, real life application: once a test is developed so a score can be recorded for a
certain characteristic, it is possible to work out the cut off point for normal behaviour based off
unbiased datsa
-Provides clinical, statistical evidence that a patient has a mental illness, can be used to justify a
request for funded psychiatric treatment. If a patient is shown to be statistically abnormal, the NHS
can easily pass a request for funding
-The lowest 2.5% fall at the every edge of a normal distribution, 2 standard deviations away, and so
this provides a less useful cut off point for professionals, as patients 1 standard deviation away may
benefit from help, but not receive it on account of behaviour not being statistically infrequent enough
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