Lecture notes
psychopathology 16 marker plans
- Module
- Psychopathology
- Institution
- AQA
16 mark plans for psychopathology aqa a level psychology
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psychopathology 16 markersDescribe and evaluate two definitions of abnormality.
- Statistical infrequency
- Deviation from social norms
- Failure to function adequately
- Deviation from ideal mental health
Statistical infrequency
- Would be used if their behaviour is rare or uncommon or outside the range of normal
behaviour, using a distribution graph to see if they are outside the normal range.
- E.g., average IQ
Deviation from social norms
- If their behaviour is different from what is socially accepted in society
- Breaking unspoken laws in the specific culture they are in for example cutting in line in a
queue
Failure to function adequately
- Can this person cope with everyday life, for example do they get out of bed everyday
and go to work, are they in distress?
Evaluation
Statistical infrequency
- Used in clinical practices as a part of diagnosis to assess symptoms, however being at
one end of the spectrum doesn’t necessarily make someone abnormal they may have an
iq 0f 69 which is just outside the normal range, suggesting its not the sole basis of
diagnosis of abnormality, as for example depression is very common so isn’t statistically
infrequent or rare but still may require action or treatment.
Deviation from social norms
- Better than statistical frequency as it tries to define abnormality based on opinions of
society but still not an adequate measure of abnormality, although it also helps in clinical
practices for diagnoses. Although its culture bound as its different in each culture what is
socially acceptable in one country may not apply to another for example in asia they
may eat with their hands however in England that would be seen as abnormal. Someone
may be outside what people deem as normal for example have lots of tattoos all over
their face but this doesn’t mean they are in distress or need help which can lead to
treating people unfairly because they don’t conform to what society deems as normal.
Failure to function adequately
- Considers whether an individual is in distress and unhappy which acknowledges the
experience of the individual, subjective threshold for when people need professional
help. Although its subjective whether someone is functioning adequately or not, could
, limit peoples freedom and discriminate against minority groups as we may label a non
standard lifestyle as abnormal which can lead to further problems.
Describe and evaluate the behavioural approach to explaining phobias
Describe phobias extreme fear that’s disproportionate to the actual danger which can lead to
fear or avoidance of an object or situation.
Mowrer proposes a 2 process model to explaining phobias, he suggests phobias are learnt
through classical conditioning where someone learns to associate a neutral stimulus with fear
because of a negative stimulus creating a conditioned response of fear. He then goes onto
explain how a phobia is maintained which is through operant conditioning, people tend to avoid
the thing they have a phobia of which then leads to a sense of relief which is a rewarding
emotion which is known as negative reinforcement leading to avoidance becoming stronger.
Evaluation
Classical conditioning is supported by research from Watson and Rayner and their little albert
study which found fears can be learnt through a negative experience. They taught him to
associate a white rat with fear, as each time he was presented with the rat they made a loud
banging noise. This explains how phobias are learnt and maintained and helped to develop
therapies which explains why a person should not be able to avoid their phobia so it can't be
reinforced.
Reactionist explanation as it doesn’t take into account a biological factor. Seligman suggests
phobias have an evolutionary factor and we acquire phobias of things that were a source of
danger in the past for example snakes, and drowning we have these phobias to remain safe.
However its now uncommon to fear things that are much more dangerous such as guns or cars.
Can't explain more complex phobias such as agoraphobia, as according to this model avoidance
is to reduce anxiety caused by the phobia, but in the case of more complex phobias avoidance
may be associated with positive feelings of safety. So people may want to stay home to feel safe
and not to avoid anything however they may leave the house with a trusted safe person so this
model can't explain all phobias.
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