Individual Behaviour OPTIONAL TOPIC. Psychopathology/ Atypical Behaviour REVISION NOTES

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1 Higher/Nat 5 Psychology Individual Behaviour OPTIONAL TOPIC Psychopathology/ Atypical Behaviour REVISION NOTES Edward Sutherland

2 WHAT COULD I BE ASKED ABOUT? Definition: Psychopathology studies mental disorders and their causes; also, behaviour which may indicate mental disorders Atypical Behaviour This is behaviour which is considered to deviate from normal, for various reasons. In this course, Psychopathology and Atypical Behaviour are considered to mean the same thing. We are focusing on behaviour. Exam Question: Explain the topic, using two (Nat 5) or three (Higher) different approaches. (20 marks) You almost certainly will not get such a big question. However, what to do is split it into parts. So, treat a 20 mark question about two approaches as if it were two 10 mark questions, each about one approach. You could expect two marks out of ten, or four marks out of twenty, to be awarded for definitions or examples. Do give examples. LEARN YOUR APPROACHES!!!! We have looked at four approaches - Biological, Psychoanalytic, Cognitive, Behaviourist. These are general ways of thinking about psychology. Remember: at Nat 5 you need Biological, Psychoanalytic, plus one other at Higher you need Biological, Cognitive, plus one other. Edward Sutherland

3 Biological approach: Strengths: - Abnormal behaviour caused by physical changes in body - Reasons can be: genes, biochemical changes in brain or micro organisms - Abnormal behaviour can be signs of a disorder which can be treated medically, eg drugs or ECT - Weaknesses: - Scientific approach, based on empirical research - Evidence of some genetic cause for some abnormalities - Does not blame the person who is behaving atypically. They are treated as a patient. - Disorders appear to have more than one cause - Not clear whether physical symptoms are the cause or effect of the illness - Does not take enough account of environmental factors - Once people are labelled as ill, even medical professionals may perceive them differently (eg Rosenhan Being Sane in Insane Places) RESEARCH EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THIS APPROACH Support for genetic causes of psychopathology from twin studies. If genes are the reason, we would expect to find higher concordance between identical twins than non-identical twins: McGuffin et al (1996) much higher concordance in identical (MZ) twins than non-identical (DZ) twins for depression. This suggests that there may be a genetic basis for depression. Edward Sutherland

4 Allen (1976) found high concordance in MZ twins, and low concordance in DZ twins, for bipolar depression. Allen found much greater differences in concordance than McGuffin et al. This could be because genes affect some disorders more than others. For example, Gottesman (1991) found 48% concordance between MZ twins for schizophrenia, but only 17% for DZ twins. This strongly suggests a genetic element to schizophrenia, but only a weak link to inheritance (only a 6% concordance between parents and children) and it is not the only cause. Even a majority of MZ twins were not concordant! A weakness of these studies is that the twins may have grown up in the same home environment, so the depression may be due to the influences from home. The higher concordance of MZ twins could be the result of identical twins being treated more similarly than non-identical twins. Wender et al (1986) found that children who had been adopted and who developed depression were 7-8 times more likely to have a depressed natural parent than a depressed adoptive parent. This strongly suggests a genetic element to depression. Cognitive Approach: This approach assumes three things: - Abnormality is caused by faulty thinking - We have free will - The individual is able use free will to correct their thinking Ellis s ABC Model (1962) - An activating agent (eg a spider) leads to a Edward Sutherland

5 - Rational Belief (eg the spider is harmless) or an Irrational Belief (eg the spider is dangerous), which leads to a - Healthy Consequence (eg ignore the spider) or an Unhealthy Consequence (eg scream hysterically) - Beck s Cognitive Triad (1976) - Three unhelpful schemata interact to reinforce each other Negative views about the world Negative self-image Negative views about the future The person with a disorder has a poor opinion of themselves. They are liable to see the world as a hostile place where they will not find the support they need. They also do not have a sense of anything changing for the better in the future. This leads back to self-image and confirmation that they were right to feel helpless and worthless. Each schema is based on cognitive biases. Two possible biases are: - Over-generalisation: I failed at this before, so I will always fail at everything I do. - Arbitrary inference: It rained the day I failed my exam, so that just proves nothing will go right for me. Newmark et al (1973) - Found that patients who were diagnosed as having clinical anxiety (ie needing treatment) were likely to have a poor selfimage Edward Sutherland

6 STRENGTHS OF THE COGNITIVE APPROACH Some therapies (eg stress inoculation training) have been found to be very successful. This suggests that disorders do arise from faulty thinking. It empowers the patient to believe that they can be in control of their own destiny. Smith et al (1980) analysed 475 studies which looked at different psychological therapies. They found that cognitive therapies were the most effective for a range of illnesses. WEAKNESSES OF THE COGNITIVE APPROACH Faulty thinking could be the outcome of a disorder, not its cause Blames the patient: they are seen to be at fault for their problems Some disorders may have a biological cause which cannot be overcome just by altering our thinking Behaviourist Approach: All behaviour is learned from the world around us. Where behaviour has a positive outcome, it is most likely to be repeated. Where it has a negative outcome, it is most likely to be avoided in future. This approach assumes three things: 1. Abnormal behaviour is learned through experience. According to classical conditioning, a conditioned response (eg to be afraid) to a situation (eg seeing a spider) means that the person will seek to avoid that situation in the future. Phobias may have their origin in classical conditioning. Edward Sutherland

7 According to operant conditioning, atypical behaviour is strengthened by being rewarded. For example, if someone gets away with bullying another, this acts as a reward and they are more likely to do it again. Addictions may have their origin in operant conditioning. 2. There is no such thing as a mental disorder. The mind is beyond the scope of a behaviourist. The only disorders are behavioural. 3. The same principles can be applied to human and to animal behaviour. For example, Watson (1920) conditioned Little Albert to be afraid of white objects in just the same way as Pavlov (1902) had conditioned dogs to salivate. STRENGTHS OF THE BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH - Evidence such as that of Watson indicate that certain behaviour (eg phobias) can be conditioned WEAKNESSES OF THE BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH - Cannot explain all human behaviour: people react in different ways to the same stimuli - Does not consider the importance of cognition - Deals with the symptoms and not the causes Psychoanalytic Approach: This approach assumes three things: 1. Disorder comes from psychological causes in the unconscious mind. In particular, neuroses arise from conflicts in childhood which have not been resolved. Edward Sutherland

8 2. Anxiety comes from conflicts between the id, ego and superego. The ego, which has to deal with reality, protects itself through various defence mechanisms. These can lead to disturbed behaviour. 3. Experiences in early childhood are particularly important. The young child s ego is not able to deal with trauma, so it represses bad experiences. When the adult has to deal with new traumas, they re-experience the earlier bad experience. STRENGTHS OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH - As an alternative to the medical model, it shows the importance of psychological factors in disoders - Like the behaviourist approach, it shows the importance of past experiences in forming behaviour patterns - It focuses on getting to deeper reasons for disorders than any of the other approaches WEAKNESSES OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH - Freud used a biased sample, because his patients tended to come from a particular section of society - Denies the importance of free will, by suggesting that so much behaviour comes from the unconscious mind - Lack of scientific support for many of Freud s ideas Edward Sutherland

9 EXAM QUESTION - Explain the topic, using two theories. Theories are people s ideas about how to understand the topic, or elements of it. We looked at two main theories which define atypical behaviour: Rosenhan & Seligman tries to define characteristics of it and Jahoda defines characteristics of ideal mental health, and atypical behaviour can be seen as deviating from that. You could also use Ellis s ABC Model or Beck s Cognitive Triad as a theory!!! Rosenhan & Seligman (1989) - Criteria of Abnormality 1. Suffering/Distress the person has emotional suffering. This may be due to feelings of guilt or anxiety 2. Maladaptiveness their behaviour puts them in some danger 3. Irrationality their thoughts or behaviour do not make sense to others 4. Unpredictability they lose control or behave inappropriately 5. Vividness/unconventionality their behaviour stands out as unusual 6. Observer discomfort their behaviour makes other people uncomfortable 7. Violates morality their behaviour is seen as immoral or socially wrong by others Strengths of this definition 1. Covers a wide range of behaviours 2. Recognises that atypical behaviour can affect the sufferer, people around them, or both 3. Allows for categorising of behaviour: it may be useful to only consider behaviour atypical if it meets more than one criteria Weaknesses of this definition Edward Sutherland

10 1. We all suffer at some point: only a psychopath never feels guilty. At what point does suffering become abnormal? 2. Skiing, mountaineering and motor cycling are all dangerous activities. However, participants are not usually seen as abnormal. 3. Society s views of what is moral change over time. Two gay men holding hands in public may cause observer discomfort or be seen as unusual. In some places, it would be a crime. However, most people would not see it as abnormal. Jahoda (1958) Ideal mental health 1. Attitudes towards self (eg self-confident, self-reliant) 2. Personal growth towards becoming self-actualising 3. Ability to cope with stress 4. Autonomy able to make own decisions and take responsibility 5. Realistic perception of what is reality 6. Being able to adapt to change Strengths of this definition 1. Provides a positive basis for individual to enhance their behaviour and health 2. Recognises that a range of factors are important to ensure ideal mental health Weaknesses of this definition 1. As it says on the tin, these are measurements of an ideal. Someone can be less than ideal but perfectly healthy and content. These ideals may be seen to apply best to a middle class, western perspective. In some cultures, for example, autonomy is not valued because people are expected to conform. People struggling to pay their bills may not be concerned with self-actualisation as described by Maslow. In neither case should they be seen as abnormal Edward Sutherland

11 EXAM QUESTION: Explain your topic, using detailed evaluations of two research studies STUDY 1 ROSENHAN (1973) ON BEING SANE IN INSANE PLACES Aim: To test whether psychiatrists could reliably tell the difference between sane and insane people. Method: Participant observation: eight participants including Rosenhan attempted to be admitted to twelve psychiatric hospitals in the United States. They claimed to hear a voice in their head saying empty, hollow or thud. Apart from this, and giving a false name and occupation, they did not tell any lies. As soon as they were admitted, they behaved normally and tried to get themselves discharged. Results: All eight participants were admitted and seven were diagnosed with schizophrenia. Once labelled, even perfectly sane behaviour was seen as part of their illness. For example, when nurses saw participants making notes, this was recorded as engaging in writing behaviour. No one would believe they were really healthy, so the participants had to pretend to be recovering in order to get released. Conclusions: It can be difficult to define precisely what is atypical behaviour; once people are labelled, it can be very difficult for them to be accepted as normal; the biological approach can have a serious weakness where medical staff are too reliant on a diagnosis and do not pay enough attention to other possible factors in behaviour. Weaknesses it was unethical, as it deceived the medical professionals and could have caused harm to the participants by being trapped in a psychiatric hospital; it may also have caused distress to the real patients, some of whom identified the participants as fake. Edward Sutherland

12 STUDY 2 FREUD (1909) LITTLE HANS Aim: To report the findings of the treatment of 5 year old boy for his fear of horses Method: Case study: Hans father wrote to Freud, describing his son s behaviour and Freud wrote back with instructions about what the father should try. Hans was afraid of horses and there seemed to be a connection between this and Hans excessive interest in his penis and those of others. Results: Freud concluded that the horse was a symbol of Hans fear of his father. As Hans entered the phallic stage of development and developed an Oedipus complex, he began to have fantasies about his mother. Hans therefore began to fear that his father would be jealous and would castrate him. His fears began to reduce when his father assured him that he was not going to do that. Conclusions: Hans condition appeared to improve, so it appears that Freud s method was successful. The case study collected a very large amount of qualitative data and shows the benefit of the therapist having detailed knowledge of the patient s history. Weaknesses Hans father was already a fan of Freud. It is possible that this influenced how he saw Hans behaviour; a case study cannot be generalised, so we don t know how common Hans behaviour is even if we accept the psychoanalytic approach; there may have been other explanations for Hans behaviour. Edward Sutherland