...Discuss two or more definitions of abnormality (12 marks) One definition of abnormality is “deviation from social norms” and under this definition a person’s thinking or behaviour is classified as abnormal if it violates the unwritten rules about what is expected or acceptable behaviour in a particular social group. Behaviour may be incomprehensible to others or make others feel threatened or uncomfortable. For example, someone would be classified as being abnormal if they laughed at a funeral, as this is socially unacceptable. A weakness of this definition is that it lacks cultural relativity as social behaviour varies when different cultures are compared. For e.g. it’s common in south Europe to stand much closer to strangers than in the UK. As well as this voice pitch and volume, touching, directions of gaze and acceptable subjects for discussion have all been found to vary between cultures. This means what is considered deviant or abnormal varies considerably across cultures, thus weakening this definition. Another limitation of deviation from social norms is that it lacks time validity. This is because social norms change over time; behaviour that was once seen as abnormal may be acceptable and vice versa. For example, drink driving was once considered acceptable but is now seen as socially unacceptable whereas homosexuality has changed the other way. Until 1980 homosexuality was considered a psychological disorder but is considered acceptable today. This is a weakness...
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...definitions of abnormality (12 marks) One definition of abnormality is “deviation from social norms” and under this definition a person’s thinking or behaviour is classified as abnormal if it violates the unwritten rules about what is expected or acceptable behaviour in a particular social group. Behaviour may be incomprehensible to others or make others feel threatened or uncomfortable. For example, someone would be classified as being abnormal if they laughed at a funeral, as this is socially unacceptable. A weakness of this definition is that it lacks cultural relativity as social behaviour varies when different cultures are compared. For e.g. it’s common in south Europe to stand much closer to strangers than in the UK. As well as this voice pitch and volume, touching, directions of gaze and acceptable subjects for discussion have all been found to vary between cultures. This means what is considered deviant or abnormal varies considerably across cultures, thus weakening this definition. Another limitation of deviation from social norms is that it lacks time validity. This is because social norms change over time; behaviour that was once seen as abnormal may be acceptable and vice versa. For example, drink driving was once considered acceptable but is now seen as socially unacceptable whereas homosexuality has changed the other way. Until 1980 homosexuality was considered a psychological disorder but is considered acceptable today. This is a weakness because it means abnormality cannot...
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...Q(a): Explain in your own words what is meant by a 'model of abnormality'?[2] A: Models of abnormality each offers a different explanation for the origins of mental disorders. They are basically the conceptual models, each research and treatment adopted according to it. (b): Describe models of abnormality. [8] A: There are four type of models: Medical model (or Biological method), Psychodynamic model, Behavioral model and the Cognitive model. Medical model (or Biological model) is a view of abnormality that sees mental disorders as being caused by abnormal physiological processes such as genetics, brain damage and chemical imbalance. Abnormality according to this model is seen as an illness or disease. They treat mental disorders with the help of chemotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy and psycho surgery. According to Psychodynamic model, abnormal behavior is caused by underlying psychological forces of which the individuals is probably unaware. It focuses on unconscious mind primarily and according to Sigmund Freud, if a child does not successfully complete any of the psychosexual stages, it will cause abnormality. It is treated by talk therapies and test like the rorshack and free-word association. The Behavioral model has a view that abnormal behavior are maladaptive, learned responses in the environment which can be replaced by more adapted behaviors. These disorders emerge due to classical conditioning, operant conditioning or social learning. It can be...
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...Describe and evaluate therapies derived from either the psychodynamic or the cognitive-behavioural models of abnormality. /30 marks Psychodynamic therapies were suggested by Sigmund Freud at the start of the twentieth centaury. Freud started off with the main therapy witch is psychoanalysis therapy. This therapy is based on neurotic problems that develop during the oedipal stage. The conflicts were suggested to be repressed memories and thoughts that the immature ego can not handle. The role of the psychoanalyst was to recover these repressed memories that was causing the patients undesirable behaviour, these memories would then be talked and discussed with the therapist in the safety of their surgery. Freud suggested the key to unlocking these thoughts was for the surgery to be the right situation for them to come out and develop. This therapy technique is said to be the principle on what all other psychodynamic therapies work on such as word association, free association, dream analyses and psycho drama. Free association is another such psychodynamic therapy, in this therapy a patient is required to lay down and get into the right atmosphere by being relaxed to allow the free flow of thoughts to come to mind. The first thoughts that enter the patients mind must be recalled to the practitioner because these thoughts are supposed to represent unconscious drives and desires . This aims to recall underlying thoughts that you may not be aware you are thinking about. Patients...
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...Discuss the behavioural approach to explaining psychological abnormalities (12 marks) The behavioural approach focuses on the behaviour of an individual in order to explain psychological problems. Behaviourists claim that abnormal behaviour is learned through experiences in the same way as most other behaviour through classical and operant conditioning. Behaviourists believe the concept of classical conditioning can be used to explain the development of many abnormal behaviours, including phobias and taste aversions. The theory of classical conditioning is used to explain how behaviour is learnt through ‘stimulus-response’ associations. An event in the environment (stimulus) results in a physiological reaction (response) in the individual. Then the events and reactions are forged into an association which can lead to the development of phobias. For example a person may climb the top of a high hill and when looking down (environmental stimulus) may experience nausea or dizziness (physiological response). This then will be made into a stimulus-response association and will lead to the development of a phobia e.g. the fear of heights, which means the person, will be scared of heights and will avoid them whenever possible. Watson and Rayner demonstrated how phobias are learnt through conditioning in their experiment involving “Little Albert”. They experimented with an 11-month-old boy, ‘little Albert’, producing fear of a white rat by associating it with loud and frightful noise...
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...INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY (McLeod, 2015) Psychodynamic approach includes human functioning that drives within the unconscious and between different structures of personality. The understanding of human behaviour is called ‘psychoanalysis’. (Freud, 1939), the father of psychology, assumed that mental illnesses wasn’t something to be treated medically but by what has come to be known as psychodynamic therapy. He advocated that the unconscious mind could influence the mental illness whilst recovering (Cardwell, 1996). This approach to psychoanalysis is demonstrated in his treatment of Anna O. Freud assumed that mental illnesses wasn’t something to be treated medically but by therapy. He implicated that unconscious mind could influence the mental illness whilst recovering (Cardwell, 1996). He diagnosed her illness as hysteria and developed a form of therapy to treat her symptoms (Webster, 2015). (Cardwell, 2004) Freud compared the mind to an iceberg with the water above being the conscious and the water beneath the unconscious part of the mind. The id - the primary part of personality follows pleasure and gratification, and dominates the unconscious part of the mind. Ego - driven by reality principles and penalties of an action dominates the conscious mind. Superego contains conscience and guilt, and also dwells mostly in the conscious mind. The superego develops as we become aware of societal rules. (Cardwell, 1996) According to Freud we have two drives which are sex and...
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...up on biological explanations of schizophrenia, refer to pages 397–408 of Eysenck’s A2 Level Psychology. Ask yourself * How would the psychodynamic approach explain schizophrenia? * How would the behavioural approach explain schizophrenia? * How would the cognitive approach explain schizophrenia? What you need to know PSYCHODYNAMIC EXPLANATION | COGNITIVE EXPLANATIONS | SOCIO-CULTURAL EXPLANATIONS | * Freud’s explanation of the factors involved in the development of schizophrenia | * Based on the assumption that cognitive impairments play a role in the development and maintenance of schizophrenia | * Life events * Interpersonal communication within families * Social causation hypothesis | Psychodynamic explanation According to the psychodynamic approach, abnormality is caused when trauma from unresolved conflict between the id, ego, and superego is repressed into the unconscious and this causes regression to an earlier stage of psychosexual development. (see A2 Level Psychology pages 397–399 for a more detailed review of the psychosexual stages and fixation and regression). Fixation and regression mean that the ego is not fully developed and so the individual may be dominated by the id or the superego, and because the ego is weak the individual will lack a sound basis in reality. The psychodynamic explanation suggests most schizophrenics experienced very harsh childhood environments, often because their parents were very cold and unsupportive...
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...“Defining psychopathology (abnormal behaviour) can be difficult when it comes to mental health. Identify, explain the clinical characteristics of ONE disorder, and evaluate one biological and one psychological explanation for the chosen disorder using research evidence.” This essay will define schizophrenia and evaluate one biological and one psychological explanation of the illness. According to Cardwell and Flanagan (2004) schizophrenia symptoms are divided into positive and negative symptoms. Cardwell and Flanagan (2004) states that the diagnostic criteria from DSM IVR (2000) identifies positive symptoms as delusions, experiences of control, auditory hallucinations and disorganised thinking. The negative symptoms are affective flattening, alogia and avolition. The essay will explain difficulties of defining abnormality before evaluating the explanations for the disorder. According to Eysenck (2012) one way of defining abnormality is deviation from social norms. Eysenck (2012) defines social norms as rules of what forms of behaviour and attitudes are acceptable within a society. Therefore behaviour that does not follow accepted social patterns is considered abnormal. According to Eysenck (2012), the social deviance approach gives too much importance to behaviour and not what is going on inside a person. An example would be that of a person suffering from major depressive disorder. The person tries hard to behave in a way acceptable to the public in spite of the fact...
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...Word Count 2453 “Evaluate the extent to which Freud's theory of psychosexual development can help us to understand a client's presenting issue.” The main aim of this essay is to demonstrate an understanding of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development and how this theory may help us to explain and identify adult neurotic behaviour. I shall be evaluating the pros and cons of psychosexual theory and the extent to which it helps us to understand a client’s presenting issue. I shall also define and consider the relationship between the Id, Ego and Superego and the way in which these constructs of our psyche are in many ways representative of earlier experiences and of those early situations and conflicts we had faced. Freud’s approach to understanding human behaviour – psychoanalysis – has had a profound effect on psychology. His approach is one of many that share some common assumptions, while differing fundamentally in others. Contemporaries of Freud, such as Jung and Adler were inspired by Freudian theory, but emphasised different issues in human development and experience. Collectively these theories are described as “psychodynamic” because they emphasise the factors that motivate behaviour (i.e. the dynamics of behaviour). They challenged the biomedical view that mental disorders had physical origins. The psychodynamic approach views abnormal behaviour as caused by unconscious, underlying psychological forces. Key features of the psychodynamic approach Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)...
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...theoretical field known as 'abnormal psychology' may form a backdrop to such work, but clinical psychologists in the current field are unlikely to use the term 'abnormal' in reference to their practice. * Psychopathology is a similar term to abnormal psychology but has more of an implication of an underlying pathology, and as such is a term more commonly used in the medical specialty known as psychiatry. * There have been three main approaches to abnormal behavior: * Supernatural * Biological * Psychological traditions * Abnormal psychology revolves around two major paradigms for explaining mental disorders, the psychological paradigm and the biological paradigm. * There are recent concepts of abnormality: *...
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...provided to plan your answer. In Question 3, you will be marked on your ability to: – use good English – organise information clearly – use specialist vocabulary where appropriate. (Jun10psya201) G/T52601 6/6/6/ PSYA2 2 Section A Biological Psychology Answer all questions in the spaces provided. Do not write outside the box Total for this question: 6 marks 1 The following data show the results from a study into different strategies for coping with stress. 100 student volunteers were first given a talk about emotion-focused approaches and then given a talk about problem-focused approaches. They were then asked which one of these strategies they generally preferred. Preferred coping strategy Emotion-focused approach Men Women 1 (a) 11 27 Problem-focused approach 39 23...
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...LESSON FIVE & SIX – ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EATING DISORDERS ------------------------------------------------- Specification link: You will be able to outline and evaluate: ------------------------------------------------- Biological, including neural and evolutionary, explanations of anorexia nervosa ------------------------------------------------- Psychology explanations of anorexia nervosa Outline and description of theories | Research evidence and commentary | IntroductionThe DSM-IV Rev identifies three categories of eating disorder: * Anorexia nervosa 1. AN -restricting type – refusal to eat 2. AN- binge eating/purging type – episodes of binge eating followed by removal of food from the body by vomiting, laxatives, or enemas.Both of these are associated with significant weight loss and the other symptoms of AN. * Bulimia nervosa – episodes of binging followed by removal of food from the body by vomiting, laxatives, or enemas (no significant weight loss). * Eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS)The four major symptoms of anorexia nervosa are: * The body weight is 85% or less of normal weight for age and height * Distorted perception of body weight/shape, and/or denial that the weight loss is severe * Intense fear of becoming fat * Loss of three consecutive menstrual cycles in women (amenorrhoea)Anorexia nervosa (AN) and Bulimia nervosa (BN) have much in common, particularly a dissatisfaction with body weight and/or shape....
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...HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY Health psychology is defined as the application of psychology to the relevant areas of health, disease and the health care system. Medicine and health psychology have many common themes and interests but they differ in their approaches. The primary focus of medicine is the diagnosis, treatment and cure of illness. The focus of health psychology goes beyond that of medicine to stress the prevention and enhancement of health. It expands the biological framework of medicine to also include psychological and social factors. The scope of health psychology is very broad because many theories and methods of psychology can be applied to health-related issues. Maes & van Elderen (1998) (cited in Gross, 2009) defines health psychology as “…a sub-discipline of psychology which addresses the relationship between psychological processes and behaviour on the one hand and health and illness on the other...”. Health psychology aims to understand, explain, develop and test theories by evaluating the role of psychology and its perspectives as factors affecting illness, predicting unhealthy behaviours and understanding and evaluating the role of psychology in the experience and treatment of illness. It also aims to put theory into practice by promoting healthy behaviour, preventing illness and thereby improving the health care system and health policy. For example, from programmes developed to help people reduce risk factors to their health, such as obesity and...
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...commit criminal behaviour, these include: genetic theory, hereditary theory, psychosis and brain injury theory. In the next few paragraphs examples of each will be shown. The first theory to be explored is the hereditary theory, which stems from Cesare Lombroso (1876) father of criminology, (Feldman, 1993) whose studies were carried out by morphology. Lombroso tried to show a relationship between criminal behaviour and physical characteristics. Lombrosco suggested that an individual was predisposed to becoming a criminal, as a result of internal or innate characteristics, rather than environmental factors. Lombroso observed both criminals and non- criminals by their physical abnormalities, such as physical measurements and examinations. He concluded that most prisoners show the same physical abnormalities, which supported his claim that they were of the same criminal type. Abnormal characteristics may have included; large jaws, high cheekbones, large ears and extra toes and fingers. Lombroso claimed that these physical ‘stigmata’ indicated that the criminals were ‘atavistic’, - a kind of neathandal like creature. Thus claiming that the individual could not adapt to modern morality. This research...
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...science seeking to describe, understand, and predict the behavior and mental processes of organisms. > the goals of psychology are to describe, explain, predict, and control behavior. ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY * Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that studies unusual patterns of behavior, emotion and thought, which may or may not be understood as precipitating a mental disorder. * Although many behaviors could be considered as abnormal, this branch of psychology generally deals with behavior in a clinical context. * There is a long history of attempts to understand and control behavior deemed to be aberrant or deviant (statistically, morally or in some other sense), and there is often cultural variation in the approach taken. * The field of abnormal psychology identifies multiple causes for different conditions, employing diverse theories from the general field of psychology and elsewhere, and much still hinges on what exactly is meant by "abnormal". * There has traditionally been a divide between psychological and biological explanations, reflecting a philosophical dualism in regards to the mind body problem. * There have also been different approaches in trying to classify mental disorders. * Abnormal includes three different categories, they are: * subnormal * supernormal * paranormal * The science of abnormal psychology studies two types of behaviors: adaptive and maladaptive behaviors. *...
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