Summary
Summary Psychopathology model answers
- Module
- Psychopathology
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- AQA
A* student notes on model answers for AQA exam-style questions in note format, very helpful for a level revision!
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Outline two cognitive characteristics of obsessive-compulsive disorder. (4 marks)One cognitive characteristic of OCD is obsessive thoughts, where a person would experience
intrusive and persistent thoughts, for example fear of germs. This is an intrusive thought as the
individual has no control over the it and the thought repeatedly crops out as they go about their
everyday activity and can be rather distressing.
Individuals can then develop cognitive strategies to ignore, supress or deal with their obsessions. For
example, some coping strategies may include a religious person, tormented by excessive guilt, may
pray to reduce their feelings of immortality
Outline and evaluate one or more neural explanations of obsessive-compulsive disorder (8 marks)
A first neural explanation of obsessive-compulsive disorder states that OCD is the result of abnormal
levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. Research from animal studies has found
that a high dosage of drugs which enhance dopamine induce movements resembling compulsive
behaviours found in OCD patients. Whereas Pigott et al found that antidepressant drugs, SSRIs,
which increase serotonin activity have been seen to reduce OCD symptoms. Suggesting high levels of
dopamine and low levels of serotonin may influence the disorder. The levels may be associated with
abnormal transmission of mood-related information and obsessive thoughts.
A second neural explanation of OCD states that OCD is due to abnormal brain circuits. Hyperactivity
in the Basal Ganglia has been linked to repetitive actions (compulsions) in OCD patients because it
controls the co-ordination of movement. Researchers refer to the ‘worry circuit’ in the brain, in
which there is a loop involving the Caudate Nucleus and the Thalamus. Damage in the Caudate
Nucleus has been found to cause an inability in patients to filter small and insignificant worries. The
‘worry circuit’ consequently becomes overactive, and the Thalamus tries to respond to all the threats
it is receiving, resulting in compulsive behaviour.
, Outline and evaluate the behavioural approach for explaining phobias (16 marks)
A01 –
classical conditioning + operant conditioning to maintain
generalisation to other stimuli
inconsistently paired can cause extinction.
A03 –
Point 1 (supporting evidence)
- Watson and Rayner 1920
- Barlow and Durand 1995
- Hackmann Clark + McManus 2000
Watson and Rayner 1920 – little albert, fear of white rats that generalised to other similar objects.
Barlow and Durand 1995 found that 50% of people treated for a driving phobia recalled a traumatic
incident that triggered it, additionally Hackmann Clark + McManus (2000), 96% of social phobias
remembered a socially traumatic experience. Support classical conditioning because they verify the
suggestion that phobias occur when a person associates a previously neutral stimuli with a fear
response, as a result this supports the two-process model and its explanatory power in explaining
phobias.
Counter argument: On the other hand, lots of people have phobias of snakes, spiders, and the dark
despite not having had a traumatic experience with these things. Although these people may have
had traumatic experiences but simply forgotten them (argued by Ost 1987), Sue et al (1994)
provided a different explanation based on their finding that although agoraphobics were most likely
to explain their disorder in terms of a specific incident, arachnophobias were most likely to cite
modelling as the cause. This suggests that different phobias may result from different processes and
suggests that the two-process model is limited as it can only explain the acquisition of some phobias.
Other explanations (such as those based on social learning theory) are required for a full
understanding.
Point 2 (real-world application)
- Wolpe
- Gilroy et al (2003)
Behavioural approach had been beneficial to the development of treatments for phobias, these
treatments would by unlearning the phobias through exposing people to the stimulus they are
frightened of, so they can unlearn the fear response and replace it with a different relaxation
response e.g., systematic desensitisation (shown to be up to 91% effective Wolpe) and flooding.
Helps people to unlearn fears and stop negative reinforcement. Gilroy et al (2003) found that
patients who had 3, 45-minute sessions of systematic desensitisation for spider phobia were less
fearful than a control group treated without exposure, both 3 months and 33 months after
treatment. Thus, the two-process approach is valuable as it identifies a successful means of treating
phobias; it can help people and improve their quality of life by reducing their fearfulness, and these
results can be achieved quickly and are long-lasting.
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