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Summary AQA A level psychopathology
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AQA A level paper 1 psychopathology essay plans
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Describe and evaluate two definitions of abnormality.AO1 statistical infrequency
- Classified as abnormal if behaviour is numerically rare or statistically unusual, either
above or below the average.
Devastation from social norms
- Classified as abnormal if it violates social expectations and acceptable behaviours in a
particular social group.
- Their behaviour may be incomprehensive to others or make others feel uncomfortable.
AO3 SF
There is an objective and scientific way of measuring the abnormality.
- The mathematical nature of this definition means that it is clear what is defined as
abnormal and what is not.
- There is no opinion involved which means there is no bias
However, it is not always accurate.
- As it is objective, it disregards social desirability.
- For example, having IQ in society is seen as a good and beneficial thing, however, it will
be classed as abnormal according to statistical infrequency.
Deviation from social norms
It is flexible depending on the situation and age.
- A social norm is to wear full clothing whilst out shopping, but a bikini is acceptable on a
beach.
- It is also socially acceptable to drink milk out of a bottle with a test if you are a baby, but
not as an adult
- Therefore, you can adapt it to each situation and still receive a clear answer
However, socially normal in one culture may be seen as abnormal in another.
- For example, finishing your plate in the UK is seen as polite but in India, finishing your
plate means that you’re still hungry and would like some more food.
- Therefore this is not a consistent nor accurate definition.
Describe and evaluate the behavioural approach to explaining phobias.
AO1 The two process model: the behavioural approach
Classical conditioning explains the development of phobias
- association of fear/anxiety with neutral stimulus to produce conditioned response
- assumes experience of traumatic event; generalisation of fear to other similar objects; one
trial learning
- For example, a child with no previous fear of dogs gets bitten by a dog and due to that
they associate the dog with the fear of pain. Through generalisation, the child is not just
afraid of the dog that beat them, but now has a phobia of all dogs.
Operant conditioning maintains the phobia
- By avoiding the conditioned stimulus, for example, the object of the situation, it lessens the
fear, which is rewarding
- The reward of negative reinforcement strengthens the avoidant behaviour and through
that the phobia is maintained.
AO3 there is supporting evidence of the maintenance of phobia
- Watson and Rayner (little Albert) demonstrated how phobias could be induced.
- By making a loud noise (hitting a metal bar behind the child’s head) when presenting a
white rat to the child.
- They found that the child generalised this fear to other white fluffy objects such as rabbits.
- Therefore, proving the two process model as an accurate explanation.
, However, the evolutionary biological theory is a better explanation.
- phobias of snakes, birds and dogs have an evolutionary origin due to our very early
ancestors, being hunted or attacked by these animals.
- This could explain why these phobias are common and why modern day object phobias
such as knives and cars are less common.
- Therefore suggesting that there are other explanations for the development of phobias,
such as through evolution.
Another weakness is that a large proportion of people cannot relate to the development of their
phobias to a specific traumatic event.
- Research suggests that this may just be down to people forgetting the events that sparked
the phobias.
- On the other hand, many people say that they have similar phobias to their parents, which
may suggest that specific phobias tend to be down to imitating and modelling someone
else, rather than from a traumatic event.
Describe and evaluate the behavioural approach to the treatment of phobias.
AO1 systematic desensitisation
- Aims to gradually reduce the phobic anxiety over several short sessions.
- Uses classical conditioning to counter condition and pair the conditioned phobic stimulus
with a new response.
It uses reciprocal inhibition as anxiety and relaxation is incompatible
- Therefore, the therapist teaches relaxation techniques such as taking deep breaths.
- The therapist and patient collaborate on making an anxiety hierarchy from most feared
situations to least feared situations.
- Then the patient gradually works through this hierarchy and so a new stimulus response
link is learned. This results in my street of fear relaxation relaxation.
Flooding
- implosion therapy, which takes place over one long, intense session
It uses reciprocal inhibition as anxiety and relaxation is incompatible
- The therapist teaches the patient relaxation techniques such as breathing.
- The goal is the extinction of fear.
- There is immediate exposure to the fear and escaping is prevented.
- The exposure lasts around 2 to 3 hours, and once the initial fear dissipates relaxation
techniques are employed.
- Therefore a new stimulus response link is learnt and the patient has mastered the fear.
AO3 The behavioural approach for treating phobias might just be treating symptoms and not the
cause.
- This is because of symptom substitution that replaces the symptom of fear with something
else.
- A possible reason for this is that the anxiety is being displaced and actually has other
underlying causes example, the psychodynamic approach may suggest that there is
unresolved conflict which has led to phobias.
- Therefore this treatment is not effective as it can still result in the development of another
phobia.
SD
Systematic desensitisation has a long-term effect on the individual.
- Research of 42 patients: 21 in the experimental group of systematic desensitisation, and
21 of the control group of relaxation with no exposure.
- They each had 3 x 45 minute sessions with their therapist.
- They were assessed on several measures including the spider phobia questionnaire.
- The research found that at 3 months and 33 months the experimental group were less
fearful than the control group.
Flooding
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