...The Behavioural Model of Abnormality The Behavioural model works on the basis that mental illness is learned behaviour, and that we learn it through the same ways that we learn normal behaviour. The Model divides these ways of learning into three groups. Classical conditioning, operant conditioning and social learning theory (SLT). Classical conditioning is the idea that our response to something can be changed or “conditioned” using other stimuli. We can see this from the Watson and Raynor experiment. In this experiment, an 11 month old child named little Albert was shown, a white rat. After the intitial encounter in which it was established that he showed no fear for the rat, every time the rat was presented cymbals would be smashed behind his head. After several repetitions of this they found that Little Albert was scared of the rat even if the cymbals were not smashed. This shows that they gave him a conditioned response to the rat, that spread to other white fluffy animals as well such as a rabbit and a small dog. From this we can conclude that abnormal behaviour such as a fear of rats can be learned through classical Conditioning. This experiment was however extremely unethical. Little Albert's mother pulled him out before the end of the experiment, so he was never deconditioned from his fear of white fluffy things. He was also put under sever stress while he was part of the experiment. Classical conditioning...
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...Definitions of Abnormality Defining a person or behaviour as ‘abnormal’ implies something undesirable and requiring change Therefore, we must be careful how we use the term Psychologists need methods for distinguishing ‘normal’ from ‘abnormal’ Our definition of abnormality must be objective: * It must not depend on anyone’s opinion or point of view * It should produce the same results whoever applies it It must not be under or over-inclusive * It must not label as ‘abnormal’ or ‘normal’ behaviours or traits that aren’t Three definitions are used to define abnormality: * Deviation from social norms * Failure to function adequately * Deviation from ideal mental health Deviation from social norms 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. Their behaviour may: * Be incomprehensible to others * Make others feel threatened or uncomfortable With this definition, it is necessary to consider: * The degree to which a norm is violated, the importance of that norm and the value attached by the social group to different sorts of violation. * E.g. is the violation rude, eccentric, abnormal or criminal? Abnormality is defined in terms of behavior which goes against societies accepted standards Different societies have different standards Standards change over time Strengths Should be easy...
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...Health & Clinical Psychology Healthy Living Stress Dysfunctional Behaviour Disorders [pic] [pic] [pic] Contents • Objectives for the Health and Clinical Psychology module 6 • What is Health Psychology? Careers in Health Psychology 7 • Unit G543: Health and Clinical Psychology 8 • Exemplar exam paper 9 PART A – INFORMATION TO HELP EVALUATE STUDIES • Evaluation sheet for the theories/studies of Health Psychology 10 • Guide for answering part A & part B exam questions 11 PART B – HEALTHY LIVING • Introduction to Healthy Living 14 • Theories of Health Belief 17 • Compliance with a Medical Regime for Asthma (Becker 1978) 18 • Internal versus External Locus of Control (Rotter 1966) 21 • Analysis of Self-Efficacy Theory of Behavioural Change (Bandura and Adams 1977) 23 • Summary of the health belief theories 26 • Comprehension questions for theories of health belief 27 • Part A exam question 28 • Part B exam question 29 • Evaluation sheet of health belief theories/studies 30 Introduction to Health Promotion 31 • Theories of Health Promotion • Chip pan fire prevention (Cowpe 1983) 32 • Legislation-Bicycle helmet laws and educational campaigns (Dannenberg et al. 1993) 34 • Effects of Fear arousal (Janis & Feshbeck 1953) 37 • Summary of the health...
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...: “ BEHAVIOURISTS EXPLAIN MALADAPTIVE BEHAVIOUR IN TERMS OF THE LEARNING PRINCIPLES THAT SUSTAIN AND MAINTAIN IT. DISCUSS THIS STATEMENT AND SHOW HOW A BEHAVIOURIST’S APPROACCH TO THERAPY IS IN STARK CONTRAST TO A PSYCHOANALYTIC ONE” Behaviourism is a movement within psychology that works on the principle that all behaviour is “learned” , that we were all born with a “blank slate”. Behavioural approaches use strict experimental measures to study observable behaviour ( or responses ) in relation to the environment, thus resulting in the maladaptive behavioural approaches that we employ to deal with our learning. Behaviourism was first developed in the early 20th century by an American psychologist John B Watson, who at the time was working in the field of animal psychology. He believed that all behaviour was observable and therefore scientific, and worked on the principle and study of the association between a stimulus and response. ( Watson did not deny the existence of inner experiences, but insisted that they could not be studied because they were not observable ) Watson’s stimulus and response theory of psychology claimed that all complex forms of behaviour – emotions, habits etc – are seen as composed of simple muscular and glandular elements that can be observed and measured, and that emotional reactions are learned in much the same way. Watson aimed to prove his beliefs with laboratory experiments, and one of these experiments was known as “ The Little Albert Experiment”...
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...Classical Conditioning Classical conditioning is a type of learning which can explain how we develop fears, phobias and other emotional reactions, and food aversions. Ian Pavlov (1849 – 1936) was the first to study it formally. Pavlov was studying dogs digestive processes. Dogs automatically salivate when food arrives in their mouths, but after being in the experimental situation for a while, they would salivate in anticipation of the food arriving, as if they had learned to recognise the signs that the food was on its way. Pavlov took control of these signs and showed that dogs could be trained to salivate to bells, lights, and cardboard shapes instead of food. The classical conditioning process works like this: There must first of all be an innate reflex action, an automatic involuntary response to a stimulus. E.g. blinking, salivation, startle, these are the areas that are under the control of the autonomic nervous system. Such reflexes consist of an unconditional stimulus (UCS) which brings about an unconditional response.(UCR) The experimenter presents a neutral stimulus just before or along with the UCS. The new stimulus is called a conditioned stimulus (CS), Conditional means dependent upon learning. The UCR occurs as before. After several pairings of the CS and UCS the CS alone will be enough to bring about the UCR. The animal now has a new conditioned reflex. The model gives us an explanation for all kinds of learned behaviour. Watson and Rayner (1920) classically...
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