...OUTLINE and EVALUATE the BEHAVIOURAL MODEL (explanation) of ABNORMALITY The basic assumption of the Behavioural Model is that all behaviour is learnt. This can happen in 3 ways: - Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning and Social Learning. Classical Conditioning is ‘learning through association’ e.g. a phobia of small spaces may develop when someone has been frightened having been trapped in a lift. They associate fear with small spaces. As demonstrated by the study on little albert by Watson and Rayners 1920. Before conditioning the loud noise was the unconditioned stimulus and led to fear and crying as an unconditioned response. The white rate was a neutral stimulus and there was no response. During conditioning the loud noise paired with the white rat let to fear and crying as such, after conditioning the white rat led to fear and crying. Operant Conditioning is ‘learning through the consequences of behaviour’. If behaviour is rewarded it will be reinforced. E.g. If a child’s tantrum is rewarded by sweets it will be maintained or increased but if it is punished it will decrease. This is known as direct reinforcement. Social Learning is when behaviour is observed and copied. E.g. a child might develop a fear of spiders by watching a parent being frightened by them. This is shown through the Bobo Doll studies by Bandura and Ross. In the study 3 groups of children watched a video in which they witnessed and adult aggressive towards a Bobo doll but with...
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...The behavioural approach believes all behaviour is learnt through conditioning, there are two types of conditioning. Classical conditioning is learning by association. This can be used to explain abnormal behaviour and used to treat it through systematic desensitisation (Wolpe) which is based on the ideas behind classical conditioning. Classical conditioning can explain abnormal behaviour through the study of ‘Little Albert’ in which experimenters taught Albert to associate a white rat with a loud banging sound that led to Albert developing a rat phobia. They also believe abnormal behaviour can be the result of operant conditioning when you learn by reinforcement/ reward. For example, if a child showed fear of a dog and parent rewarded the child with a treat the child would repeat the same behaviour in order to get rewarded which could then develop into a phobia. Abnormality, according to behaviourists, can also be explained through vicarious conditioning ‘social learning’. This is when people learn by imitating or observing role models. For example, for some young girls their role model may be older female celebrities who are thin and often complimented on their figure. Young girls may aim to lose weight to imitate their role models which could develop into eating disorder. The behavioural approach to abnormality does not place blame on the person with an abnormality which means they are not stigmatised but the ethics of this approach are debatable as it could be placing blame...
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...Outline and evaluate the behavioural approach to abnormality. The behavioural approach to abnormality focuses on observable behaviour not what is in the mind. This approach says that behaviour is learned through a process called conditioning. There are three types of conditioning these are; classical, operant and social learning. The first type of conditioning is classical. Classical conditioning says that behaviours are learnt through a stimulus-response association. This means when someone has an experience (stimulus) and it causes a reaction (response) then that person might associate that stimulus and response every time. For example if someone saw a snake (stimulus) and someone screamed (Response) then a child could associate snakes with screaming and become scared. Classical conditioning is believed to be the cause of phobias. This was shown in the study of Little Albert. The next type of conditioning is operant. Operant conditioning is the child being conditioned by reinforcement and reward/punishment. Operant conditioning is based on two types of reinforcement, positive and negative. Positive reinforcement is behaving in a particular way because it brings a rewarding feeling, whereas negative reinforcement is behaving in a particular way to avoid a punishing feeling. This was looked at by Skinner and was tested in experiments like Skinner’s rats and Pavlov’s dogs. This theory can be also used to explain conditions like OCD. This is because being tidy as...
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...Outline and evaluate the behavioural approach to psychopathology (12 marks) One assumption of the behavioural approach is that only behaviour is important and that this behaviour is learned through experience. The processes of this learning include classical conditioning where associations are made between one thing and the other. Operant conditioning where abnormal behaviour is reinforced or the social learning theory (SLT) where abnormal behaviours are learnt vicariously. For example, a child may observe its mother obsessively cleaning the house and being praised by the father for doing so. This consequence (e.g. praise) may be enough to initiate the same abnormal behaviour (e.g. OCD) in the child. The behaviourist approach assumes that abnormal behaviours that have been learnt can be unlearnt using the same processes (operant conditioning, classical conditioning and SLT). So, undesirable or abnormal behaviour e.g. a phobia, can be replaced with more desirable or normal behavior using therapies such as systematic desensitisation. One strength of the behavioural approach is that therapy can focus directly on the client's maladaptive behaviour. For example, if a patient suffers from arachnophobia then the treatment can be directed solely towards getting rid of the fear of spiders instead of referring to the client's previous or medical history. This shows that changing the behaviour from maladaptive to adaptive is sufficient for a cure. One...
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...TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Plagiarism Declaration 2 2 Assignment Table 3 3 References 5 Plagiarism Declaration |I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is using another’s work and pretending that it is one’s own work. | | | |I have used the American Psychological Association (APA) as the convention for citation and referencing. Each significant | |contribution to, and quoted in, this assignment from the work, or works of other people has been attributed and has been | |cited and referenced. | | | |This assignment is my own work. | | | |I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the intention of passing it off as his or her own work.| | | |I acknowledge that copying someone else’s assignment, or part...
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...psychological illnesses have a physical cause; it focus is on the treatment not the cure this can support the reason why relapse rates are high for individuals with depression. The biological approach to abnormality states that abnormality is caused by a range of different physical factors: Genetics and chemical imbalances in the brain. It is suggested that people possess certain genetic characteristics that make them more prone to developing abnormal behaviour such as depression. It is also thought that chemical imbalances in the brain produce abnormal behaviour, for example a lack of serotonin causes depression. This approach is better at explaining endogenous depression. Family, twin and adoption studies are used to research into depression. Supporting evidence for the biological approach is that depression is universal, as they are increasing and found cross culturally. Weismann (1987) stated that family evidence suggests that a person is 10 times more likely to suffer from depression, if a parent or sibling has a similar disorder. This could be because living with a person who is depressed could be depressing. However, according to a behavioural explanation this behaviour could have being modelled as the female could identify with the eating disorder and use them as a role model. Also family studies are conducted using retrospective data (looking back) and rely on correct and accurate diagnosis and records which aren’t always reliable. This could be because older generations...
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...exhibits some possible biological abnormalities. He could have inherited a genetic pre-disposition to be aggressive from his father. Serotonin levels maybe unbalanced in his brain due to his depression, add this with his alcohol consumption which will have an impact too. Any one of these things could be an explanation to John’s aggressive behaviour. Psychodynamic approach Psychodynamic approach could say John experienced some kind of emotional disturbance/trauma when he was going through the Psychosexual developmental stages he is verbally aggressive and has now started drinking which would say he could have regressed back to being fixated around the oral stage. Around the oral stage a child will develop an ego and will start to differentiate himself from others. The ego has many defences projection seems to be a big one for John he is projecting his anger from his dad to his boss and his boss to his wife and family. He is also displacing his angry thoughts of his boss and father onto his family as it may be that John is threatened by his father and boss so goes home and takes it out on his wife and family instead who he is not intimidated by. Behaviourist approach Behaviourist approach says all behaviour is learnt. John exhibits several behavioural problems which could be related to learnt behaviour, such as his great need for his bosses approval of things, which has an obvious relationship/connection to his childhood role model his father who was often angry and...
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...Outline and Evaluate the Behavioural Approach to Psychopathology The behaviourist approach assumes that all behaviours are learnt. It suggests that there are three ways in which this learning can happen, these are classical conditioning, operant conditioning and social learning. The first method is classical conditioning this is when behaviour is learnt through association; via a stimulus and a response. This is an explanation for phobias, an abnormal behaviour can be learned by associating an environmental stimulus; a dog, with a biological response; fear and pain when bitten by the dog. Therefore, every time a person previously bitten by a dog sees a dog, they experience the same fear they felt when being bitten. Thus, the person would develop a phobia of dogs. Another example is, the fear of small spaces, this may develop if fear is felt in a situation involving a small space – an elevator for example. Therefore a past distressing event in the elevator may lead to associating fear with small spaces. The second way is operant conditioning, this is when behaviour is learnt through positive reinforcement; rewarded by a pleasant outcome or a negative reinforcement; rewarded by the removal of the unpleasant condition. This can be associated to abnormalities like anorexia for example. If a person is dieting and they then begin to gain compliments from the weight loss, these compliments act as a positive reinforcement and they will carry on behaving the same way. If this were to...
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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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...can be defined for instant one concept is based on statistical for example something which is unusual to the society. Statistically: In this definition of abnormality behaviors which are seen as statistically rare are considered to be abnormal. In terms of statistics, abnormal behaviour involves any behaviour that is significantly different from the norm. for instance some one who is very clever is considered normal in terms of cleverness average on the other hand if some one is less or below the average he or she is considered abnormal. Therefore in the statistical impression, strange behavior improper behaviour could be classified as abnormal. Deviation from Social Norms defines the change or deviation of an individual, from society's traditional acts for example in some cultural backgrounds when couple are getting married women is responsible for every thing while others give the responsibility to the man and they thing other except from their tradition cultural believes is abnormal and they think if some does something different that he or she is deviated from cultural and social norms. There are also a number of principles for one to look at before reaching a judgment as to whether someone has deviated from society's norms. Firstly one of these for instant are cultural norms the cultural definition of abnormality includes any behaviour that deviates from cultural norms because what some one may be seen as normal in one culture, may be seen as...
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...Abnormal Psychology - Models of Abnormality Behavioral Model Taking over psychology in the first half of this century, particularly in the USA, the behavioural model focuses on the observable behaviour of a person. Its assumptions were that behaviour is primarily the result of the environment rather then genetic and so the behaviourists reject the view that abnormal behaviour has a biological basis. the focus is on reinforcing positive behaviors and not reinforcing maladaptive behaviors. Maladaptive behaviours can be un-learnt by changing the environment. Behaviourists have a deterministic view believe that our actions are based on life experience. This model is completely opposite to the biological model. Classical conditioning is behaviour learned through stimulus-response association. Stimulus being the environment and response being the reaction given. This is an early form of behaviourism pioneered by Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov (1897) demonstrated classical conditioning by using dogs. the dogs would salivate every time meat was put before them he then rang a bell. Eventually the dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell so when they heard the sound of the bell they would salivate even though there was no meat present. Watson and Rayner (1920) proposed that children learn phobias through paired associations. It is suggested that through classical conditioning people can learn to associate an unconditioned response with a neutral stimulus. Therefore resulting...
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...and psychological abuse (persistent abuse to the point of anxiety or stress). It should also be noted that aggression is a form of anti-social behaviour, a concept that varies culturally, for example one study concludes that Western cultures are far more likely to resort to physical violence, whilst Eastern cultures would more readily resort to verbal abuse (Andreu et al, 1998). The most interesting aspect of aggression, particularly in children, comes from the debate of Nature/Nurture. The debate is the belief that all behaviour can be explained in one of two ways. Nature states that biological factors are the most deterministic and behaviour is predetermined by said factors; Nurture implies that environmental factors are the cause of behavioural tendencies. The argument for Nature is most analogous with the Biological explanation of aggression, postulating that aggression originates from factors such as: hormone imbalance, faulty brain chemistry, genetic defects and...
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...MODELS OF ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOUR To read up on models of addictive behaviour, refer to pages 609–618 of Eysenck’s A2 Level Psychology. Ask yourself * Is there a biological basis to addictive behaviour? * Can somebody learn to be an addict? * How might explanations of addiction differ for different addictions? What you need to know MODELS OF ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOUR | EXPLANATIONS OF ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOUR | * Biological, behavioural (learning), and cognitive models of addictive behaviour | * Biological, behavioural (learning), and cognitive explanations for initiation, maintenance, and relapse * Specific explanations of particular addictions including smoking and gambling | MODELS OF ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOUR The models of addictive behaviour attempt to explain the causes and thereby offer insights into how an addiction develops. The assumptions as to the causes of addiction also affect the approach taken to treatment. Biological model of addictive behaviour According to this model, the main causes of addictive behaviour are biological factors within the individual, for example, a neurochemical imbalance or a genetic predisposition towards addictive behaviour. Thus, the vulnerability to develop an addiction may be inherited and family studies are used to support this explanation. Thus approach assumes that addiction has physical causes and can therefore only be cured through medicine. Behavioural (learning) model of addictive behaviour This model is...
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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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...Comprehensive assessment Parent teacher Situational variability, and Important tio have different views of the situation for diagnosis Equally important is the need for gathering information about the child's parents and siblings, which provides a context for understanding how problem behaviors manifest. This information also often serves as a basis for determining how well parents and other caretakers will be able to implement treatment strategies. The clinical evaluations of ADHD must be comprehensive and multidimensional in nature, so as to capture its situational variability, its associated features, and its impact on home, school, and social functioning. This multi-method assessment approach should include: parent and child interviews parent- and teacher-completed child behavior rating scales parent self-report measures clinic-based psychological tests review of prior school and medical records individually administered intelligence testing, educational achievement testing, or screening for learning disabilities (only necessary if not completed within the past year a standard pediatric examination or neurodevelopmental screening to rule out any unusual medical conditions that might produce ADHD-like symptoms additional assessment procedures may be recommended, including vision and hearing screening, as well as formal speech and language assessment. The Key Components of a Comprehensive Assessment of AD/HD," by Arthur Anastopoulos, Ph.D., E. Paige Temple, M...
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