Behavioural science and socio-cultural psychiatry Flashcards
Personality (definition)
a group of characteristics or traits that assist or ‘define’ the way we think, feel and behave
Nomothetic approach
- an approach to investigating personality in terms of specified dimensions or traits
- an individual’s behaviour is the outcome of a recipe of traits/dimensions that are universally acquired but held in varying degrees by different individuals
Trait (definition)
an ‘internal psychological disposition that remains largely unchanged throughout the lifespan and determines differences between individuals’
Hans Eysenck 1916-1997 (Key theory)
The ‘Gigantic Three’ (dimensions of personality’
The ‘Gigantic Three’
“P.E.N.”
- Psychoticism (/low psychoticism)
- Extraversion (/introversion)
- Neuroticism (/emotional stability)
each dimension is hypothesised to have a biological basis
Psychoticism (characterisation)
Psychoticism - aggressiveness, interpersonal hostility, impulsivity, little respect for social norms, lack of attachment to others
Low psychoticism - caring, thoughtful, responsible, respecting social rules - not normally distributed
Extraversion (characterisation)
Extraversion - energetic, sociable, lively, confident, dominant
Introversion - passive, slow, introspective, lack of confidence, antisocial - normally distributed
Neuroticism (characterisation)
Neuroticism - anxious, tense, moody, low self-esteem, depressed
Emotional stability - stable, positive, calm, confident, relaxed - normally distributed
Psychoticism (biological basis)
hormone levels (androgens)
Extraversion (biological basis)
balance between excitatory and inhibitory processes
Neuroticism (biological basis)
reactivity to the autonomic nervous system
Raymond Cattell 1905-1998
(2 key theories)
16 source factors (primary traits) underlying human personality (leading to the ‘16PF Questionnaire’)
Five Factor Model aka ‘Big Five’
Big Five model
(+ theorist)
Raymond Cattell (1905-1998)
“OCEAN”:
- Openness to experience
- Conscientiousness
- Extroversion
- Agreeableness
- Neuroticism
NEO decreases with age
AC increases with age
Idiographic theory
- theory of personality which focuses on individuals
- proposes that personalities can be changeable, with no fixed traits defining the individual (contrary to nomothetic theory)
Gordon Allport 1897-1967
(two types of personality traits)
1. Common traits - apply to all individuals and form the basis of adjustment to one’s environment e.g. levels of acceptable aggression
2. Individual traits - personal tendencies/dispositions based on unique life experiences and events. 3 forms.
Individual traits - Allport (3 forms)
I. Cardinal - traits that are all pervading and dominate in directing one’s behaviour. Tend to develop later in life. e.g. sociability
II. Secondary traits - one’s attitudes and preferences e.g. political views, taste preferences. Tend to surface on particular occasions.
III. Central - traits that shape the core personality of an individual e.g. kindness, honesty
Carl Rogers’ (1902-1987) ‘humanistic approach’
- Individual personalities are shaped through self-knowledge and interactions with the world
- people search for ways to obtain positive regard; self-worth is measured by how much positive regard one earns
- the concept of ‘conditions of worth’: people learn to restrict self-expression in order to gain positive regard from key people around them
- such restrictions may lead to the suppression of important feelings, causing people to ‘lose’ a sense of who they truly are
Q-sort technique
- Developed by William Stephenson based on Rogers’ humanistic approach
- Involves sorting cards with statements into piles, to demonstrate how you think and how you would like to be.
- The technique may be used in therapy to monitor changes in how a client views themselves
The ‘lexical hypothesis’
States that every aspect of our personality can be described by words we use
Assumed by Cattell in developing his 16 source factors and ‘Big Five
George Kelly 1905-1967 (key theory)
Personal construct theory
theory of personality and cognition - the client is studied in terms of how they view and perceive the world around them, which depends on a variety of ‘constructs’ formed in our minds.
Kelly developed the REPERTOIRE GRID. a technique used in interviewing to help people uncover their own constructs
Abraham Maslow 1908-1970 (key theory)
Hierarchy of needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (7)
Self-actualisation
Aesthetic needs (beauty)
Cognitive needs (understanding)
Esteem needs (achievement)
Belonging and love (acceptance, care)
Safety needs (security, shelter)
Physiological needs (hunger)
the lower levels need to be fulfilled first in order to reach higher levels
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
(2 kinds)
Being/Growth Needs (B-needs)
- Self-actualisation
Deficiency Needs (D-needs)
- Self-esteem needs
- Belonging needs
- Safety needs
- Physiological needs
2 major approaches to understanding personality
Nomothetic approach - general laws (universal dimensions/traits)
Idiographic approach - particular facts (changeable, individual personalities, no fixed traits)
Freud’s topographical model of the mind (3)
Conscious
Preconscious
Unconscious
Freud’s psychodynamic model of personality (3)
The Id
The Ego
The Superego
Freud’s theory of personality development (description)
- Personality develops through different psychosexual developmental stages.
- The stages are based on biological drives that are hypothesised to underlie certain psychological processes
- Personality traits result from fixation at one of the stages of development, resulting in defence mechanisms characteristic of that stage
Freud’s stages of psychosexual development (5, +years)
Oral (0-1.5)
Anal (1.5-3)
Phallic (3-5)
Latent (5-12)
Genital (12+)
Jung’s three levels of the psyche
The ego - the conscious mind. The thoughts, memories, and emotions a person is aware of. Largely responsible for feelings of identity and continuity.
The personal unconscious
The collective unconscious - a level of the unconscious shared with other members of the human species comprising latent memories from our ancestral and evolutionary past
Archetype (definition)
Patterns found in the collective unconscious that help to organise our experiences and may be the root of fantasies, myths and symbols
Central to Jungian psychology
4 Jungian archetypes
Persona (‘mask’)
Anima/animus
Shadow
Self
Persona aka ‘Mask’ (characterisation)
the outward face we present to the world. It conceals our real self and Jung describes it as the “conformity” archetype.
This is the public face or role a person presents to others as someone different to who we really are.
Anima/Animus (characterisation)
the mirror image of our biological sex, that is, the unconscious feminine side in males and the masculine tendencies in women. Each sex manifests attitudes and behaviour of the other by virtue of centuries of living together.
The psyche of a woman contains masculine aspects (the animus archetype), and the psyche of a man contains feminine aspects (the anima archetype).
The Shadow (characterisation)
the animal side of our personality (like the id in Freud). It is the source of both our creative and destructive energies.
In line with evolutionary theory, it may be that Jung’s archetypes reflect predispositions that once had survival value.
The Self (characterisation)
provides a sense of unity in experience.
For Jung, the ultimate aim of every individual is to achieve a state of selfhood (similar to self-actualisation)
Erik Erikson (key theory)
‘Psychosocial development’:
Argued that while Freud’s emphasis on internal impulses was not incorrect, cultural/environmental influences contribute much more to the development of personality than internal impulses.
Erikson’s Psychosocial development
(Stages 1-4; ages)
Trust vs mistrust (0-1)
Autonomy vs shame (1-3)
Initiative vs guilt (3-5)
Industry vs inferiority (5-12)
Erikson’s Psychosocial development
(Stages 5-8; ages)
Identity vs role confusion (12-19)
Intimacy vs isolation (19-35)
Generativity vs stagnation (35-65)
Integrity vs despair (65+)
Defence mechanism (characterisation)
techniques employed by the ego to protect itself from anxiety and danger
Anna Freud defined the first nine defence mechanisms in 1936
They are unconscious and habitual.
They may be normal and adaptive, or pathological. Some are seen as more mature and others more primitive.
George Vaillaint’s classification of defence mechansims (4)
Level I - Pathological (psychotic)
Level II - Immature Level
Level III - Neurotic Level
Level IV - Mature
Psychoanalytic theories of personality (essence)
This approach considers the development of personality in light of
a) the structure of the mind (including the unconscious) and
b) the formation of defence mechanisms.
The key idea is that we are often unaware of the true motives behind our actions.
Key theorists: Freud, Jung, Erikson
Cognitive approach to personality (characterisation)
Cognitive psychologists are interested in how cognitions influence behaviours.
Personality is considered to be strongly dependent on environment (our parents or the culture we have grown up in) and less to with life experiences.
Key ideas: -mental schemata -social perception -attribution theory -cognitive-social learning theory -imitation
Mental schemata/schemas (definition)
a mental structure of preconceived ideas
a framework representing some aspect of the world, or
a system of organising and perceiving new information
Behaviourist approach to personality (characterisation)
BF Skinner (1904-1990) argued that personality is just a perceived pattern with no basis within the individual.
Mental states are inaccessible to scientific study and are therefore irrelevant to understanding behaviour.
All behaviours are determined by experience and explainable through classical and operant conditioning.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
developed by Hathaway + McKinley (1943)
Personality inventories are completed by the patients themselves. 567 self-statements, answered as ‘true’, ‘false’ or ‘cannot say’
Covers mood, physical concerns, and social attitudes
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (essence)
Assess psychological preferences in terms of how individuals perceive the world and make decisions.
Based on Jung’s notion that individuals tend to use 4 principal psychological functions to experience the world.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
(4 dimensions)
Judging - Perceiving
Extraversion - Introversion
Thinking - Feeling
Intuition - Sensing
(‘JETI’)
Projective tests of personality (essence)
Standard techniques used to gain information about an individual using open-ended questions.
Derive from psychodynamic views and attempt to explore intentions and desires that may be unconscious.
Useful in gaining a ‘first impression’, but considered less reliable.
Projective tests of personality (4)
Rorschach Inkblot Test
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Sentence Completion Test
Draw a Man Test
Rorschach Inkblot Test (Projective test of personality)
The subject examines 10 inkblots on a page and is asked to identify designs and shapes.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) (Projective test of personality)
30 black and white pictures of people in ambiguous situations are presented to the subject, who is asked to create a story around them.
Sentence Completion Test (Projective test of personality)
The subject is provided with the first part of an uncompleted sentence and is asked to complete the sentence in their own words.
Draw a Man Test
aka Draw a Person; Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test
(Projective test of personality)
Subject is asked to complete three separate drawings - a man, a woman, themselves.
They are then asked to draw a whole person (head to feet) without any further instructions
Objective tests of personality (essence)
Self-report methods of assessment with a restricted response format, including ordinal scale ratings or True/False questions.
Objective tests of personality (4)
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
Cattell’s Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF)
NEO Personality Inventory
Eysenck Personality Questionnaire
Cattell’s 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF)
measures 16 primary traits and the ‘Big Five’ secondary traits
assumes that personality is multi-levelled and hierarchical
Eysenck Personality Questionnaire
A range of psychometric tests have been developed to measure the ‘Gigantic Three’:
- Maudsley Medical Questionnaire (MMQ)
- Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI)
- Revised Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPQ-R)
- Eysenck Personality Profiler (EPP)
International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE)
2 parts:
- Self-administered screening questionnaire
- Semi-structured interview
Behaviourism (associated learning theories, 3)
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Social learning theory
Classical conditioning (essence)
The acquisition of a new (learnt) behaviour as a result of the association of two stimuli.
Usually involves innate or autonomic responses.
Little Albert
a boy used in John Watson’s experiments, demonstrating classical conditioning.
Little Albert enjoyed playing with a white rat. Whenever he saw the rat, Watson banged two metal bars behind his head, causing distress.
After a while, Albert became distressed when seeing the rat (even without the noise)
Terms in classical conditioning:
Before conditioning:
- -food
- -salivation
- -bell
After conditioning:
- -bell
- -salivation
Before conditioning:
- -food (unconditioned stimulus , UCS)
- -salivation (unconditioned response, UCR)
- -bell (neutral stimulus)
After conditioning:
- -bell (conditioned stimulus, CS)
- -salivation (conditioned response, CR)
Higher/second order conditioning
Once a conditioned response has been learnt, other stimuli can be added to the process e.g. shining a light before the bell
Forward conditioning/delayed conditioning
The traditional model of classical conditioning.
Neutral stimulus (bell) is presented first, 0.5s before UCS (food).
Both stay together until the response develops.
Trace conditioning
Neutral stimulus (bell) is presented but then removed before the UCS (food) is presented.
Thus a memory trace is conditioned to lead to the conditioned response.
Backward conditioning
The UCS (food) is presented before the neutral stimulus (bell).
This model is often used in advertising.
Simultaneous conditioning
Both the neutral stimulus (bell) and UCS (food) are presented at the same time.
Less effective than forward conditioning.
Stimulus preparedness
Some stimuli are more prone to conditioning than others
e.g. we are more likely to develop a fear of insects/snakes than cars. Most likely an evolutionary remnant.
Stimulus Generalisation
The extension of the conditioned response from the original conditioned stimulus to other similar stimuli.
e.g. Little Albert became afraid not only of white rats but also other white/furry objects.
Discrimination
It is possible to use classical conditioning to enable a person or animal to learn to discriminate between two stimuli.
For instance, if a dog is conditioned to salivate to a black card after several trials, an experimenter may introduce white cards, which are not reinforced with food. In doing so, the dog will learn to associate the black card with food, but not the white, and hence will discriminate between the two and only salivate to the black.
Incubation
A process whereby the response to the initial unconditioned stimulus and the neutral stimulus is heightened, despite the two not being paired together repeatedly.
For instance, after just one exposure to the rat and the loud bang together for Little Albert, he could have been exposed just to loud bangs repeatedly (in the absence of the rat). In incubation (unlike extinction) this could lead to a heightened fear response when exposed to the rat again.
Extinction
The process whereby the conditioned response (for instance salivation) will disappear if the conditioned stimulus (bell) is repeatedly presented without the expected food. Essentially the association between the bell and the food diminishes.
Spontaneous recovery
This is the return of the conditioned response, after a period of extinction.
After a period of no association between the two, apparently at random, the previously conditioned stimulus can evoke the earlier conditioned response again.
Operant conditioning (aka)
Instrumental conditioning
Thorndike’s law of effect
the tendency of an action to occur depends on the effect it has on the environment.
Basically this means that actions that have pleasurable responses are strengthened, whereas actions which lead to discomfort are less likely to recur.
Operant conditioning (essence)
Learning is dependent on an animal learning to operate in some way to make a change that leads to a consequence.
Reinforcement (definition)
A stimulus/event that increases the likelihood that a behaviour will be repeated.
Positive reinforcement
The performance of an action/behaviour is strengthened by a pleasant consequence
e.g. food or money for good homework.
Negative reinforcement
The performance of an action/behaviour is strengthened by the removal of an unpleasant stimulus
e.g. Skinner’s rats learnt that pressing a lever would stop an electric shock
Distinction between primary and secondary reinforcers
Primary reinforcers - those that are necessary for survival e.g. warmth, water, food
Secondary reinforcers - those we have learnt to value e.g. wealth, possessions
Punishment (definition)
a stimulus/event that decreases the likelihood that a behaviour will be repeated
Positive punishment
A behaviour is reduced by adding an unpleasant stimulus
Negative punishment
A behaviour is reduced by removing a pleasant stimulus
Fixed ratio (schedule of reinforcement)
Reward is given after a behaviour is repeated a fixed number of times
Variable ratio (schedule of reinforcement)
Reward is given after a varying number of actions (e.g. slot machine).
Yields highest response rates and is most resistant to extinction
Fixed interval (schedule of reinforcement)
Reward is given after a fixed period of time, regardless of the number of completed responses in between
Variable interval (schedule of reinforcement)
Reward is given after a variable time interval
Aversive conditioning
Learning as a result of unpleasant consequences (punishment)
Escape conditioning
An animal learns to perform a behaviour in order to escape or end an aversive stimulus
(essentially another way to describe negative reinforcement)
Avoidance conditioning
Avoidance conditioning is similar to escape conditioning. The difference is that a CS is given before the presentation of an aversive stimulus.
For example, a light may precede the shock by a few seconds. What does the animal do under this new setup? At first, its behavior is no different than it was for escape conditioning. Namely, it jumps the barrier when the shock is delivered. Soon, however, it begins to jump before the shock. It jumps when the light comes on and thus avoids the shock.
Shaping
(aka, characterisation)
aka successive approximation
a way of adding behaviours to a person’s repertoire. Some approximation of the target behaviour is reinforced, until eventually the new behaviour emerges.
e.g. playing ‘hot and cold’ to lead a person to look for an item under the couch
Chaining
A series of behaviours (a behaviour chain) is reinforced.
Each link in the chain provides the cue for the next, to eventually produce a reinforcer. The reinforcer is provided only at the end of the chain.
e.g. saying the alphabet, or step by step making a cake Forward chaining - A-Z Backward chaining - Z-A
Social learning theory (essence)
Classical and operant conditioning do not provide an exhaustive description of the way people learn.
Humans also learn by observing and modelling those around them (particularly as children).
Bandura
(famous experiment demonstrating social learning theory)
Bobo doll experiment
Cognitive learning theory (essence)
Contrary to behaviourism, cognitive learning theorists argued that learning is not simply a a passive process, but instead relies on the active acquisition of new knowledge.
New understanding drives behavioural change, not just simple association.
Anxiety hierarachy
Application of learning theory to phobia.
In CBT, the patient rates the level of anxiety (termed the ‘subjective units of distress’) they would experience in relation to different encounters with a feared stimulus, e.g. touching a spider, seeing a picture of a spider. They then rank these from least to most distressing.
Systematic desensitisation
(traditional model, Wolpe 1968)
Patient was gradually exposed to feared stimuli by progressing up the anxiety hierarchy, while performing relaxation techniques.
This was based on the principle of reciprocal inhibiition.
Reciprocol inhibition
The notion that two contrasting feelings (e.g. relaxation and anxiety) cannot coexist.
e.g. if a child is scared of a dog but is comforted while sat on their mum’s knee, then the fear response will diminish.
Graded exposure CBT for phobias
Contrary to systematic desensitisation and the principle of reciprocol inhibition, CBT does not use relaxation techniques.
The focus is simply on progressive movement up the anxiety hierarchy, assuming that maintained levels of anxiety are unlikely to last for long (habituation).
Habituation
The phenomenon whereby there is a decrease in response to a stimulus over time.
Flooding
Rather than confront the feared stimulus in a graded way, the patient is asked to start at the top of their anxiety hierarchy e.g. holding a spider, and remaining in this situation until their subjective state of anxiety diminishes.
Relies on the process of habituation.
Implosion
The situation at the top of a patient’s anxiety hierarchy is imagined by the patient, with the aid of a therapist, who will talk them through and describe the feared encounter (with potentially even more horrid scenarios added).
Learned helplessness
(key theorist, essence, and application)
Seligman
Dog’s were delivered electric shocks and could not do anything to prevent this. These dogs, in another scenario, learnt to escape the shocks much more slowly than other dogs.
Seligman argued that people with depression similarly learn to become helpless. This is challenged with behavioural activation.
The Premack principle
a concept in operant conditioning.
parents use this regularly - in order to engage with a more desired activity (going out to play), a child must first complete a less desired activity (tidying up).
Token economies
Nominated tokens are are awarded for a desired behaviour. When a specified target is reached, the tokens can be exchanged for an agreed reward (the reinforcer).
e.g. star charts for children
Cueing
(characterisation and application)
The principle that an environmental stimulus (conditioned stimulus) leads to the return of a conditioned response.
e.g. in a smoker who used to smoke with alcohol, returning to the pub with friends may increase the craving for cigarettes
Aversion therapy
an undesired behaviour is coupled with an unpleasant response
e.g. drinking alcohol is coupled with flush reaction secondary to disulfiram
Covert sensitisation
Aversion therapy that relies on mental imagery rather than an actual occurence.
Memory (taxonomy)
Long term memory (LTM)
- Declarative (explicit)
- Semantic
- Episodic
- Non-declarative (implicit i.e. cannot be accessed consciously)
- Classical conditioning
- Priming
- Procedural
Short term memory (STM)
- Declarative (explicit)
- Working memory
Memory process (3)
Registration (encoding)
Storage
Retrieval
3 forms of memory storage
Sensory memory, aka ‘sensory buffer store’ or sensory storage
Short-term memory, aka ‘primary memory’ or short-term storage (STS)
Long-term memory, aka ‘secondary memory’ or long-term storage (LTS)
Sensory memory
(characterisation)
The retention of sensory inputs long enough to decide if further processing is required Modality-specific
e. g.
- iconic memory system - stores visual images
- echoic memory system - stores sounds
Iconic memory (duration)
0.5 seconds
Echoic memory (duration)
2 seconds
The term ‘short-term memory’ (STM) has been superseded by the term ‘…’ However, the term continues to be used to explain various concepts
Working memory
Multi-component working memory model
(4 components) (Baddeley)
Central executive
Visuospacial sketchpad
Phonological loop
Episodic buffer
STM capacity, and key method for expanding
7 +/- 2
(based on digit span experiments)
This can be expanded by ‘chunking’ - combining units of information into chunks e.g. 1-9-7-9 into the date ‘1979’
Brown-Peterson Technique
(characterisation)
Experimental method used in testing short-term memory to overcome maintenance rehearsal (repetition). -subjects hear ‘trigrams’ (groups of three letters) -they are asked to repeat what they just heard. They then have to count backwards - this stops rehearsal.
Long-term memory - range and capacity
Ranges from things occurring within the last few minutes to events spanning a lifetime
Unlimited capacity
Memory retrieval - 2 forms, 3 modes
Forms
- voluntary (active process)
- involuntary (automatic recall)
Modes
- recognition (navigating familiar routes)
- recall (actively searching memory stores)
- reintegration/reconstruction (recollection of past experiences e.g. eye witness testimony)
Memory encoding - 4 strategies to improve
Chunking
Imagery
Mnemonics
Primacy/Recency effects
‘ChIMP’
Central executive (characterisation)
Component of working memory responsible for attention and higher cognitive processes
e.g. planning and problem-solving
Capacity-limited, but modality-free
‘In charge’ of slave systems e.g. phonological loop/visuospacial sketchpad
Central executive (neurological association)
Dorsolateral prefrontal lobe
Phonological loop (characterisation)
Component of working memory that stores speech-based information
It is a verbal rehearsal loop e.g. remembering your pin number by repeating it to yourself
Memory traces fade after about 2 seconds
Phonological loop (neurological association)
Dominant parieto-occipital hemisphere
Visuospacial sketchpad (characterisation)
Component of working memory that stores visual and spacial information.
e.g. map reading and navigation
Visuospacial sketchpad (neurological association)
Non-dominant parieto-occipital regions
Episodic buffer (characterisation)
Component of working memory, added by Baddeley in 2000 to his original model.
Thought to act as a backup store, communicating with components of the working memory and long-term memory.
It is proposed to be a multi-modal store of limited capacity that integrates information from the other systems.
Atikinson + Shiffrin’s multi-store model of memory
An information processing model whereby information flows through each memory component:
- a stimulus is found by the sense organs
- it passes to the sensory memory
- if attention is paid, the information is passed to the STM
- if it is rehearsed, the information is passed to the LTM
Serial position effect (essence)
Subjects tend to remember items from the beginning and end of a series when presented with a list.
Recency effect (STM) - words at the end of list are recalled first
Primacy effect (LTM) - words at the beginning of a list are recalled better than words in the middle
Provides evidence for the multi-store memory model
Episodic memory (characterisation)
Autobiographical memories of our past experiences.
Operates in a spacio-temporal context, including details of time and place.
Flashbulb memories
A form of episodic memory.
Clear and distinct recollections of significant personal or global events.
A high level of emotional arousal at the time the event was committed to memory.
Episodic memory (neural associations)
The structures associated with — are located bilaterally in the limbic system and medial temporal lobe.
Collectively they are known as the ‘circuit of Papez’.
Left hippocampal damage (kind of memory loss)
Memory loss for verbal material (neural region)
Right hippocampal damage (kind of memory loss)
Memory loss for spacial (non-language) memory (neural region)
Reminiscence bump (essence)
Autographical memories are not distributed equally across the lifespan - they peak between the ages of 10 and 30,
Semantic memory (characterisation)
The store of general, factual knowledge about the world, including concepts, rules and language.
It is organised conceptually, without reference to the time and context in which the information was acquired.
Priming (essence)
A form of non-declarative memory.
Learning without conscious recall of learning.
Exposure to a stimulus influences a response to a later stimulus
e.g. introducing the colour blue to a person to help them recognise the word ‘sea’.
Procedural memory (essence)
A form of non-declarative memory.
Knowledge of how to perform skills.
Schema theory (essence)
Concerns the representation of knowledge in semantic memory.
The theory argues that previous knowledge is stored as schemas, and that the schemas play a role in how we represent and organise new knowledge in memory.
Lacks experimental evidence but is generally accepted
The Ebbinghaus Curve (essence)
Empirical plot of the rate of forgetting. Ebbinghaus tried to memories nonsense syllables and retested himself over a period of 31 days.
There is a sharp drop in recall over the first 9 hours, after which the rate of forgetting slows and declines little thereafter, even after a lapse of 31 days.
Key points about forgetting
Forgetting is never complete
Actively recalling information during the test period will increase the likelihood of remembering the information
Continuous motor skills (gymnastic routine) are not forgotten; discrete skills (striking a golf ball) are.
Learned skills need to be refreshed over time
Decay theory, aka trace decay (essence)
A theory of forgetting
Proposes that structural change (formation of an engram) occurs in the brain when something is learnt and remembered.
Breakdown of engrams by metabolic processes over time explains why we forget things.
This theory has been discredited.
Displacement theory (essence)
A theory of forgetting
Once a memory has reached capacity, old information is displaced by new information.
Explains forgetting in a limited-capacity system such as STM
Interference theory (essence)
A theory of forgetting
Events that occur before and after learning are thought to influence forgetting
Motivated forgetting (aka, essence)
A theory of forgetting
aka Repression
Repression is the unconscious forgetting of painful memories in order to protect the psyche.
Tulving’s encoding-specificity principle
(essence)
Recall is improved if the recall environment is the same as the learning environment
Cue-dependent forgetting (retrieval failure seems to be similar)
A theory of forgetting
We forget things because the required cues are not available
Context-dependent forgetting - occurs when required contextual or environmental cues are not available
State-dependent forgetting - occurs when required physiological or psychological cues are not available
Memory impairment (taxonomy, 3)
Age-appropriate memory impairment (AAMI)
Organic amnesias
- Delirium
- Dementia
- Amnesic syndromes
- Short-term amnesias
Psychological causes
Age-appropriate memory impairment (key facts)
People aged 70-74 perform 50% worse in objective memory tasks than those aged 35-44
Non-verbal memory and delayed recall are most affected
AAMI affects 40% of individuals >65
Amnesic syndrome (clinical features)
- Specific memory impairment without loss of other faculties such as speech, intelligence, reasoning.
- Intact short-term memory; unchanged implicit memory
- Anterograde amnesia - inability to create new memories
- Retrograde amnesia - inability to recall information/events from just before the event/illness causing the amnesia
Amnesic syndrome - subtypes (2)
Medial temporal lobe amnesia
Diencephalic amnesia
Medial temporal lobe amnesia
(neural associations and clinical features)
Bilateral damage to the medial temporal lobe and hippocampal system
Limited retrograde amnesia, no confabulation
Diencephalic amnesia (neural associations and clinical features)
Bilateral damage to the medial thalamic area, mammilary bodies and hypothalamic areas.
Marked retrograde amnesia, confabulation and lack of insight.
Key example is Korsakoff’s syndrome
Post-traumatic amnesia, PTA
(definition and grading)
Time between initial head injury and recovery of memory.
Used to grade severity of head injury:
- <1h - mild
- 1-24h - moderate
- >24h - severe
Ribot’s law
This law states that, in retrograde amnesia occurring after brain damage, recently formed memories are more impaired that older memories
Transient global amnesia, TGA
(essence, proposed neurological cause)
memory disturbance lasting several hours.
most common in middle-aged men
the cause is thought to be by temporary loss of function of the limbic-hippocampal circuits
Transient epileptic amnesia, TEA
(essence)
Brief, recurring episodes of amnesia caused by underlying temporal lobe epilepsy
Katathymic amnesia
(aka, essence)
aka motivated forgetting; dissociative amnesia
First described by Freud - forgetting that occurs after traumatic events, possibly by repression
Distortion of recall
(essence)
Contrary to amnesia, this refers to incorrect memories, often psychogenic in origin.
Unintentional distortion of memory that occurs due to an individual’s altered mental state
e.g. feeling low in mood can paint negative picture of past experiences
Retrospective falsification
An individual remembers an event that did not happen
False memory
A memory in its entirety is too painful to recall, so it is remembered part truthfully and part falsely - an individual may recollect an event with different details in order to avoid a painful fact
Screen memory
Confabulation (definition)
falsification of memory in clear consciousness due to an organic pathology
Pseudologia fantastica
Pathological lying
Occurs without brain pathology, usually in individuals with certain personality types e.g. antisocial, hysterical
Munchausen’s syndrome
A type of pathological lying where an individual presents to hospital with a false illness
— by proxy occurs when an adult presents to hospital (usually their child) with a fictitious illness
Vorbeireden
‘Approximate answers’
The patient may understand the question but try to avoid the correct answer
Cryptamnesia
A forgotten memory returns but is not recognised as a memory.
The individual then believes it to be an original thought. e.g. a ‘new’ jokes that has in fact been heard many times before
Retrospective delusions
the patient recalls as remembered an event or idea that is clearly delusional in nature
Hyperamnesia
Exaggerated registration, retention and recall
Examples: - flashbulb memories - flashbacks that occur in PTSD
Digit span test
(essence and normal range)
Tests for auditory, verbal working memory.
Patients are given sequences of numbers to remember (forwards and backwards).
Normal range:
- forward: 6 +/- 1
- backward: 5 +/- 1
Tests for anterograde verbal memory
recall three items (from MMSE)
name/address recall (from ACE-R)
Formal tests:
- Ray Auditory Verbal Learning Test
Test for anterograde non-verbal memory
Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCF)
the individual is shown a drawn figure. it is then covered up and they are asked to redraw it.
Test for retrograde memory
Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI)
Attention (definition)
The focussing of consciousness on an experience.
Voluntary - the subject focusses themselves
Involuntary - an event attracts the subject without their conscious effort
Concentration (definition)
The act of maintaining attention upon an experience.
Alertness (definition)
The state of active attention by high sensory awareness.
Arousal (definition, neural association)
A physiological and psychological state of active attention by high sensory awareness
Involves activation of the reticular activating system in the brain stem, the autonomic nervous system, and the endocrine system
Yerkes-Dodson Law (1908)
This law states that performance increases with arousal, but only up to a point. When levels of arousal become too high, performance decreases.
This is represented graphically with an inverted U-shaped curve.
NREM sleep
(characterisation)
- anabolic (building of organs/tissue)
- controlled lowering of metabolism, temperature, blood pressure, HR and RR
- predominates in the first third of the night
- quantity related to time of commencement of sleep, peaking at 23:00
REM sleep (characterisation)
- autonomic instability (variability in heart rate, respiratory rate, and BP)
- muscle atonia
- fragile in the face of stresses
- majority of dreaming
- predominates in the final third of the night
- important for learning, brain development, information processing
Technique used in sleep measurement:
The corneo-retinal potential is measured to record changes in eye movement.
Electrooculography (EOG)
Technique used in sleep measurement:
Pads are placed under the chin to measure muscle electrical activity - this shows the atonia of REM sleep
Electromyogram (EMG)
Technique used in sleep measurement:
Uses a motion sensor to quantify circadian sleep-wake patterns and to detect movement disorders during sleep
Actigraphy
Technique used in sleep measurement:
Uses EEG, EMG, EOG, ECG, pulse oximetry, and respiratory monitor to diagnose and monitor sleep disorders
Polysomnography (PSG)
First night effect (essence)
The alteration of the structure of sleep during the first night in the sleep lab.
REM latency
(definition, normal time)
Time from sleep onset to first REM.
Should be around 90 mins.
Increased by first night effect.
<60mins suggest a major affective disorder.
NREM latency (definition)
Time from sleep onset to first NREM episode.
Sleep efficiency (equation)
total sleep time/total time in bed x 100
The patient lies on a bed and tries to fall asleep.
This test is used to asses daytime somnolence and daytime REM onset.
Needs to be repeated several times and the scores averaged.
Multiple sleep latency test
The patient sits in a comfortable chair and tries to resist sleep.
Maintenance of wakefulness test
Subjective measure of sleepiness.
Subjects are asked to rate their level of sleepiness from 1-7
Stanford Sleepiness Scale
REM sleep (also known as)
Paradoxical sleep
This is because the EEG in REM sleep is similar to the waking EEG (low voltage <50microvolts, high frequency >8Hz)
Delta waves
(frequency, brain area, associated presentation)
1-4Hz
Frontally in adults, posteriorly in children
Slow wave sleep and in babies.
Should not be present when awake, when present if awake this strongly suggests pathology
Theta waves
(frequency, brain area, associated presentation)
4-8Hz
Generalised
Young children, drowsy and sleeping adults, with certain medications, meditation.
Small amount seen in awake adults, excessive amount when awake may indicate pathology
Alpha waves
(frequency, brain area, associated presentation)
8-12Hz
Posteriorly
When relaxed and when the eyes are closed (whilst awake)
Beta waves
(frequency, brain area, associated presentation)
12-20Hz
Frontally
When busy or concentrating
Sigma waves (aka)
(frequency, brain area, associated presentation)
(aka sleep spindles)
12-14Hz
Frontal and central regions
Bursts of oscillatory activity that occur in stage 2 sleep.
Along with k-complexes they are the defining characteristic of stage 2 sleep
Gamma waves
(frequency, brain area, associated presentation)
30-100Hz
No specific areas
Meditation
Sleep stages
REM sleep - 25%
NREM sleep - 75%
- I
- II
- III
- IV
(III and IV are known as ‘slow wave sleep’)
NREM Stage 1
(% of time spent in stage, EEG findings)
5%
Theta waves
NREM Stage 2
(% of time spent in stage, EEG findings)
45%
K complexes
Sleep spindles
NREM Stage 3
(% of time spent in stage, EEG findings)
12%
<50% Delta waves
NREM Stage 4
(% of time spent in stage, EEG findings)
13%
>50% Delta waves
Brain structure that inhibits muscle tone during sleep
Locus coeruleus
Brain structure that produces melatonin
Pineal gland
Brain structures important for wakefulness (2)
Ascending reticular activating system (brainstem)
Posterior hypothalamus
Endocrine changes associated with sleep
Increase testosterone, growth hormone and somatostatin at start of sleep
Reduced cortisol at start of sleep
Reduced melatonin in REM sleep
Increase prolactin in early morning sleep
Manifest content
In dream interpretation (psychoanalysis) this is what is actually dreamed.
Latent content
In dream interpretation (psychoanalysis) this is what the dream is said to represent.
Circadian rhythm (key facts)
Any biological process that displays an endogenous, entrainable oscillation of about 24 hours.
Examples - body temperature, hormone secretion, sleep-waking.
Although circadian rhythms are endogenous (“built-in”, self-sustained), they are adjusted (entrained) to the local environment by external cues called zeitgebers (from German, “time giver”), which include light, temperature and redox cycles.
Without external influence (including light), humans ‘free run’ with a period of 24-25.5 hours.
Zeitgeber
An extrinsic factor (e.g. sound from a neighbours flat) that sets the timing of a circadian rhythm
Processes involved in regulation of the sleep-wake cycle (2)
Circadian rhythm
- suprachiasmatic nucleus
- pineal gland (producing melatonin)
Homeostasis
- VLPO
- arousal system (ascending reticular activating system)
Brain structure important in the circadian rhythm.
Reset daily by light, received via the retino-hypothalamic tract.
Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus
Brain structure known as the ‘sleep switch nucleus’
Activated by the amount of prior wakefulness.
Induces sleep by suppressing messages from the arousal system. Switched on/off by orexin/hypocretin from the hypothalamus
Ventrolateral preoptic nuclei (VLPO)
Narcolepsy
Disorder of unknown etiology characterized by excessive sleepiness that typically is associated with cataplexy and other REM sleep phenomena, such as sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations.
Repeated episodes of naps or lapses into sleep of short duration (usually less than one hour). The patient typically sleeps for 10 to 20 minutes and awakens refreshed but within the next two to three hours begins to feel sleepy again, and the pattern repeats itself. There may be sudden and irresistible sleep attacks in situations where sleep normally never occurs (e.g. during an examination or while eating).
A history of cataplexy is a characteristic and unique feature: - sudden loss of bilateral muscle tone provoked by strong emotion.
most commonly begins in the second decade, with a peak incidence around 14 years of age.
Kleine-Levin Syndrome (aka, features)
‘Sleeping Beauty Syndrome’
Most commonly seen in adolescent boys
- Hypersomnolence - increased need for sleep
- Hyperphagia - tendency to eat any food in sight while awake
- Emotional and behavioural problems - irritability and aggression
The symptoms often appear abruptly, remain for a few days to weeks and then disappear. This is usually followed by a period of normality followed by another episode. This pattern can repeat for years with a gradual reduction of severity over time. In between episodes, those affected appear to be in perfect health with no evidence of behavioural or physical dysfunction.
The cause is unknown.
Outcome is reported to be good with the majority of people making a full recovery.
Somnambulism
Sleepwalking
- Usually occurs during N3 sleep, during the first third of the night.
- M>F, children more than adults
- More common in depressed patients
- There is a genetic component
- Association with enuresis
Noctural enuresis
(treatment)
Imipramine
Bruxism
Teeth grinding
Pavor nocturnes
Night terrors
- usually occurs in N3 (NREM) sleep, early in the night
- sudden arousal with fright
- patient cannot recall any dream
- most common in children 3-5 yrs
Hypnogogic hallucination
Hallucination occurring when going to sleep
‘-gogic’ - GOing to sleep
Hypnopompic hallucination
Hallucination occurring on waking
Ganser state
(aka, essence)
aka prison psychosis, described in 1898
Symptoms - approximate answers, clouding of consciousness, somatic conversion features, hallucinations
ICD-10 lists it in F44.8 - other dissociation (conversion) disorders
Twilight state
Condition of disordered consciousness.
Actions may be performed without conscious volition and without recall afterwards
Occurs in epilepsy (esp temporal lobe), head injury, hysteria, schizophrenia, illicit substance intoxication
Coined the term ‘hypnotism’
(+date)
James Braid
(1795-1860)
Determinants of figure/ground differentiation (4)
Certain properties of an object make it easier to distinguish as a separate entity:
- Contour (having a clearly defined outline/boundary)
- Size
- Orientation
- Symmetry
Ambiguous figure
(key example, essence)
Rubin’s vase
an image where the perception can change as one looks at it, without any change to the sensory stimulus
Change blindness (essence)
when you look at two very similar pictures but don’t spot small changes in them
Sensation vs Perception
Sensation is the process that begins with information being received by sensory receptors, which then transmit this ‘data’ (in the form of neural impulses) to the brain. The brain interprets this as sound, touch or taste.
Perception is how we make sense of – or find meaning in – the sensory information reaching our brains. It relies heavily on previous experience, memory, emotion, motivation and other psychological factors.
For example: ‘I am listening to Bach’s cello suite no.1 in G.’
Top-down processing
(aka, essence)
aka conceptually-driven processing
this is the view that our perceptions are the end result of ‘higher up’ processes, making inferences about what things are like.
This means we perceive them ‘indirectly’, drawing on our existing knowledge and expectations of the world
Bottom-up processing (essence)
this is the view that perception is stimulus-driven (as opposed to attention-driven), and involves processing information in a more ‘direct’ manner, essentially determined only by the information presented to our sensory receptors
Cocktail party effect (essence)
the phenomenon of the brain’s ability to focus one’s auditory attention (an effect of selective attention in the brain) on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli
3 Gestalt psychologists
Max Wertheimer
Kurt Koffka
Wolfgang Köhler.
Gestalt psychology (essence)
‘The whole is other than the sum of its parts’ – Kurt Koffka
The word ‘gestalt’ roughly translates from German to ‘form’ or ‘shape’, and refers to an organised whole.
Gestaltists see the mind as active and constantly seeking meaning.
Phi phenomenon
(description; who first described it)
Max Wertheimer (Gestalt psychologist)
rapid sequences of perceptual events, such as rows of flashing lights, create the illusion of motion even when there is none
Pragnanz
the central law of Gestalt psychology
it that states that ‘every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible’.
(Etymology: ‘Pragnanz means ‘pithiness’, from the German for concise and meaningful)
Gestalt laws of perceptual organisation (6)
“Some Psychiatrists Can Frighten Small Children”
- Similarity
- Proximity
- Closure
- (Common) Fate
- Symmetry
- Continuity
Gestaltists believe our abilities to perceive in these ways are inborn. They are referred to as ‘nativists’
Processes involved in depth perception
(taxonomy)
Binocular
- Retinal disparity
- Stereopsis
- Convergence
Monocular
- Accommodation
- Motion parallax
- Light and shadow
- Angular declination
- Object overlap
Retinal disparity
A binocular process important for depth perception
Our brain analyses the images formed in each eye and uses the differences between them to judge distance.
Stereopsis
A binocular process important for depth perception
The brain merges the two images from each eye so we see a more solid image.
Convergence
A binocular process important for depth perception
The eyes move inwards as the viewed object gets closer, the degree of inward movement is analysed by the brain and used to figure out how close or far something is from us.
Accommodation
A monocular process important for depth perception
The lens changes shape with distance.
Motion parallax
A monocular process important for depth perception
This is when objects closer to us appear to move faster than those in the distance
A good example is trees seen from a moving train, which seem to flash by when closest to the track.
Angular declination
A monocular process important for depth perception
The further an object on the ground is, the higher in the field of view it looks, with an object at infinity being seen at the horizon.
The visual system uses this fact, the angular declination below the horizon, for distance judgement
Object overlap
A monocular process important for depth perception
If one object in the visual field is seen to overlap another, the first object can usually be judged to be closer than the second object.
Visual cliff test
Test of depth perception in children
Originally devised in the 1960s by Gibson and Walk
A baby was encouraged to crawl across a transparent surface, including over a region that looked like a ‘drop’ (i.e. there was a real change in depth of the level of the ‘ground’ below the transparent surface) about mid-way across.
Babies that hesitated at this point or did not crawl over it were presumed to have acquired depth perception
Studies have suggested babies as young as 3 months old show evidence of recognising the apparent change in depth.
Autokinetic effect (Autokinesis)
a phenomenon of visual perception in which a stationary, small point of light in an otherwise dark or featureless environment appears to move.
Key proponent of ‘top-down’ theory of perception
Richard Gregory - ‘Constructivist theory’
According to this theory, retinal images are sketchy and cannot explain the complex and fully formed perceptions that we experience.
Perception is best defined as a process of using information known already to formulate and test a hypothesis.
Perceptual set
(key theorist, essence)
Originally described in 1955 by top-down theorist Gordon Allport
Refers to an individual’s way of interpreting a stimulus/stimuli being influenced by pre-existing cognitive biases.
For example, aspects of an individual’s personality or emotional state may influence how visual information is actively filtered or interpreted
Cocktail party effect
(theorist, essence)
Edward Colin Cherry - British cognitive scientist
‘The ability of people to be able to switch their attention rapidly to a non-processed message’.
In 1953, Cherry noticed that people had the ability to focus on one conversation at a party, despite all the other stimuli, such as background noise and other conversations carrying on simultaneously. Cherry discovered that the background noise is not consciously processed, and demonstrated this using the dichotic listening task.
Dichotic listening task (theorist, essence)
Different messages are sent to each ear via headphones and the person receiving them is asked to repeat one message.
This is called shadowing, where focusing on one message causes the other message to be neglected
Shadowing (in selective attention theory) - essence
The phenomenon in a dichotic listening task where focusing on one message causes the other message to be neglected
The filter model (theorist, year, essence)
Donald Broadbent (1958)
The model suggests that information is stored in the short-term memory before going through a filter, which selects the relevant stimulus to focus on. The relevant stimulus is then processed centrally.
Short-term memory is often referred to as the ‘sensory buffer’ in this model
Attenuation model (theorist, essence)
Treisman (1964)
‘Attenuators’ are sequential cognitive processes that decide whether or not to allow the information to go through to the next attenuator to be analysed for relevance.
Each attenuator will analyse a different component of the information (e.g. source, words, pitch). Information will either not be used, and therefore lost, or will make it to the working memory to be used.
e.g. hearing your name in the background noise of the room, recognising a face in a busy street
Controlled vs Automatic processing (essence)
Controlled processing is conscious
Automatic processing is unconscious
Stroop test (essence, neuropsychological domain tested)
‘say the colours of the word and not what the word says’
This test demonstrates automatic processing in competition with controlled processing It is used to test executive function
Attentional bias (essence)
the process of being able to attend to an important stimulus despite trying to attend to another
It is a concept in Treisman’s attenuation model of information processing, which can be seen as an extension on the Broadbent’s filter theory
Sapir–Whorf hypothesis (essence)
‘language shapes thought’
Linguistic categories and usage influence thought as well as certain kinds of non-linguistic behaviour.
This was tested on people from the Dani tribe of New Guinea (whose language only has two words for colour - dark and light) and people from North America. They were tested on their speed of colour recognition.
Concept
(definition)
a mental category that groups objects, relations, activities, abstractions, or qualities that have common properties.
Prototype theory (essence)
a mode of graded categorization in cognitive science, where some members of a category are more central than others.
For example, when asked to give an example of the concept furniture, chair is more frequently cited than, say, stool.
Heuristics (essence)
‘short cuts’
In the early 1970’s, Tversky and Kahneman argued that humans make use of cognitive heuristics (short cuts) which reduce the complexity of making probabilistic judgments
These are very useful but can lead to systematic errors.
Examples: representativeness, availability, anchoring-and-adjustment, framing
This heuristic refers to making an uncertainty judgement on the basis of the degree to which it is
(i) similar in essential properties to its parent population and
(ii) reflects the salient features of the process by which it is generated.
e. g. if you were told that Steve is a very shy and withdrawn but helpful man with little interest in people you may assume he is a librarian rather than say for instance a doctor. This may be true most of the time.
Representativeness bias
This heuristic is used to estimate frequency or probability by the ease with which instances or associations come to mind (rather than by a systematic search)
e.g. exposure to media about violent crime will tend to inflate our estimate of the overall frequency of violent crime.
Availability heuristic
This heuristic involves starting from an initial value that is adjusted to yield the final answer.
e.g. in one study a mock jury was told to contemplate the harshest verdict first. The final verdict was found to be relatively harsh.
Anchoring-and-adjustment
This heuristic influences how we make decisions. Choices are often made depending on how information is presented rather than for the correct reason.
Framing
Basic emotions (6 + theorist)
Paul Ekman (1972)
- Surprise
- Happiness
- Anger
- Sadness
- Fear
- Disgust
‘Some Happy Animals Still Fear Death’
Components of an emotional response (3)
a subjective experience (e.g. I feel sad, I feel happy)
a physiological state or change in state (e.g. sweating, heart racing or ‘butterflies in my stomach’)
a specific behavioural response (e.g. freezing, crying, laughing).
Much of the research and debate relating to the study of emotions concerns the inter-relationship of these three components as well as the role of cognitive evaluations in the process.
James-Lange theory of emotion
(characterisation)
‘frightening stimulus -> physiological response -> subjective experience of fear’
the physiological response to perceptions is the cause of emotional experiences
‘we are afraid because we run’ - William James
Cannon-Bard theory of emotion
(characterisation)
‘frightening stimulus leads, independently/simultaneously to:
- > physiological response
- > subjective experience of fear’
the physiological state is not a necessary precursor for an emotional response. Rather, the felt emotion and physiological changes occur at the same time and independently following a perception.
Cannon-Bard theory of emotion (aka)
the ‘thalami theory’
- thalamus -> cortex (conscious emotional experience)
- thalamus -> hypothalamuis (physiological response)
Schachter-Singer cognitive labelling: the ‘two factor’ theory of emotion (characterisation)
‘frightening stimulus -> physiological response -> cognitive evaluation of the physiological response -> subjective experience of fear’
Emotions are the product of two factors:
- a change in our physiological state, of which we become aware
- a cognitive evaluation of that change with respect to what is happening around us.
e.g. if your heart is racing and you’re about to have an exam you label yourself as afraid, but if your heart is racing and your about to kiss your boyfriend/girlfriend you label your emotional state as excited
Lazarus cognitive appraisal theory of emotion (characterisation)
‘stimulus -> evaluation of stimulus as frightening -> subjective experience of fear -> physiological response’
our evaluation of our perceptions determines the resulting emotional response
i.e. thought and appraisal of the situation occur before the emotional response
Explains why you are not as likely to run away from a bear in a zoo as you might be if you encountered the animal in the wild – somehow you have determined that there is no danger in this situation and the emotional response associated with fear does not occur.
Drive Reduction Theory of Motivation
(theorist, essence)
Clark Hull
This theory posits that basic needs, such as a need for energy or sleep, produce an internally experienced sense of tension that motivates behaviour. This physiological need state is called a ‘drive’.
Primary drives fulfil needs that are essential for survival, e.g. hunger.
Secondary drives are acquired through social learning process and in association with primary drives. For example, dominance might help to satisfy basic drives for food.
Theories of human behaviour - classification of models (2)
Extrinsic models suggest that behaviour is motivated by external reward or the avoidance of punishment.
Intrinsic models suggest that some behaviours are rewarding in themselves and motivation is internally generated.
Cognitive dissonance theory
(theorist, year, essence)
Festinger, 1962
People strive for their thoughts and feelings about things to be consistent with each other and with their behaviour. This is called cognitive consistency. If one thought contradicts another thought, feeling or behaviour, this is referred to as cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive dissonance theory suggests that contradiction creates an uncomfortable internal tension that motivates change.
‘need for achievement’ theory (theorist, essence)
David McClelland (1917–1998)
behaviours could be reduced to realising three social objectives:
- Need for achievement (mastery and control of skills)
- Need for affiliation (effective relationships with people)
- Need for power (exerting an impact on others/environment)
These are personality traits measured in the Thematic Apperception Test
Coping (essence)
expending conscious effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems, and seeking to master, minimise or tolerate stress and conflict
Coping mechanisms - subgroups (3)
appraisal-focused strategies
- the person deals with their distress by implementing a change of mindset and reappraises the situation
- e.g. fighting the fear of flying by comparing it to less scaring situations that yield a higher risk, such as driving
problem-focused strategies
- the individual activates strategies to deal with the cause of the problem
- e.g. gathering information on the problem, generating alternative solutions, weighing up alternatives in terms of costs and benefits, implementing the selected alternative and learning new skills to manage a particular problem
emotion-focused strategies
- these aim to deal with the negative emotions that accompany a problem/stressor, and to prevent them from overwhelming the individual. This involves releasing repressed emotions.
- e.g. meditation and systematic relaxation strategies, management of emotional hostility and releasing repressed feelings
cognitive-mediation model
- theorist + stages (3)
Lazarus (1999)
This model describes 3 stages in the coping process:
-
Primary appraisal
the individual evaluates the stressor -
Secondary appraisal
the individual evaluates the resources and options available to manage the stressful situation -
Coping
the individual chooses and uses a strategy to cope with the stressor
— is a valid test of pre-morbid intelligence.
It consists of 50 irregularly spelled words. The subject of the test only receives a correct answer if they successfully pronounce each word.
National Adult Reading Test (NART)
Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM) test (essence)
a non-verbal test of general intelligence.
In each test item, one is asked to find the missing pattern in a series. Each set of items gets progressively harder, requiring greater cognitive capacity to encode and analyze.
There are 3 different tests for different abilities:-
- Coloured Progressive Matrices (younger children and special groups)
-
Stanford Progressive Matrices (average 6 to 80 year olds)
- Advanced Progressive Matrices (above average adolescents & adults)
Stanford-Binet test
First formal IQ test introducted before WWI in 1905
Measures intelligence across 5 factors of cognitive ability: fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing and working memory.
Both verbal and nonverbal responses are measured.
Wechsler Adult Intelligence scale (WAIS) - age-range
(WAIS) is the most famous and commonly used intelligence test in clinical practice.
It can be used for people between the ages of 16 and 90.
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) - age range
6-16
Wechsler Adult Intelligence scale (WAIS-IV) - Index Scores (4)
- Verbal Comprehension Index
- Perceptual Reasoning Index
- Working Memory Index
- Processing Speed Index
The results are presented as two scores:-
- Full Scale IQ (based on the score of the four index scores)
- General Ability Index (based on scores from verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning
The average score is 100 with a standard deviation of 15 (85-115). A score of 100 puts a person on the 50th centile (50% of people score above and 50% score below). It becomes less accurate at the extremes of IQ (70-130).
Wechsler Adult Intelligence scale - subsets of which index?
- Similarities
- Vocabulary
- Information
- Comprehension
Verbal comprehension
Wechsler Adult Intelligence scale - subsets of which index?
- Block Design
- Matrix reasoning
- Visual puzzles
- Picture completion
- Figure weights
Perceptual reasoning
Wechsler Adult Intelligence scale - subsets of which index?
- Digit span
- Arithmetic
- Letter-number sequencing
Working memory
Wechsler Adult Intelligence scale - subsets of which index?
- Symbol search
- Coding
- Cancellation
Processing speed
Attitude
(definition)
learned predispositions to respond in a consistently favourable or unfavourable way towards a given object, person or event
they are based on beliefs and values
Attitude scales (3)
Thurstone scale
Likert scale
Semantic differential scale
Thurstone scale
(essence)
A measure of attitude
- a list of hundreds of statements relating to a particular issue
- each statement is assessed by a panel of judges and given a score (on an 11-point scale) regarding how negative or positive the statement is regarding the issue
- individuals are then given the statements and asked to answer whether they agree or disagree with each statement
- a person who disagrees with all the items has a score of zero.
- the advantage of this scale is that it is an interval measurement scale
Likert scale
(essence)
A measure of attitude
Respondents are asked to indicate a degree of agreement or disagreement with each of a series of statements.
Each scale item has 5 response categories ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree.
Semantic Differential Scale
(theorist, essence)
Osgood
A measure of attitude
a seven point scale with the end points of the scale associated with bipolar labels.
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For example one might wish to compare a group of individuals by an aspect of their personality such as dominant or submissive (bipolar labels).
Each individual could have any score from 1 (submissive) to 7 (dominant) with a score of 3-4 being neutral.
Self psychology
- basic concepts (4)
Self-consciousness
awareness of the self distinct from objects in the environment. Only humans are thought to possess full self-consciousness
Self-image
‘who are you?’ - one’s description of social roles (social self), personality traits and physical characters (bodily self)
Self-esteem
personal judgement of worthiness. Self-image is descriptive, self-esteem is evaluative
Ideal self
what we would like ourselves to be
Self-recognition
(key experiment, theorist)
‘Touching the dot’ experiment
(Gallup)
‘Touching the dot’ experiment
- essence
- age attained
A red dot is placed on a child’s face, the child is put in front of a mirror. The child touches its face to find the dot, indicating self-recognition.
- Children < 15months do not touch the dot
- 5-25% of infants touch the dot by 18 months
- 75% touch the dot by 20 months
Autobiographical memory in humans develops from age —
3.5 - 4.5 years
Attribution
(essence)
a mental process by which we explain the behaviour of others as well as our own behaviour.
We explain behaviour by assigning causes or ‘attributes’ to it.
“Naive psychology”
(theorist, essence)
Fritz Heider (1958)
a person acts like a scientist or psychologist in a naive way, when trying to understand and explain behaviour.
People tend to see cause and effect relationships for all behaviour, even when there is none.
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For example, when we see an angry man, we think:
‘The man is angry because he is bad tempered.’
or
‘The man is angry because something bad happened.’
Kelley’s covariation model of attribution
3 types of observations people make during the process of attributing internal or external causes for behaviour
consensus
(the extent to which others behave in same way)
consistency
(the extent to which a behaviour is stable)
distinctiveness
(the extent to which the same behaviour occurs in other situations).
Weiner’s Attribution Theory
3 dimensions to consider when attributing causes of behaviour
Locus
- Internal - Joey failed his exam because he didn’t study
- External - Joey failed his exam because he did not have a good teacher
Stability
- Stable (permanent) - Joey is always weak in maths, so he didn’t study
- Unstable (transient) - Joey did not study because he was sick
Controllability
- Controllable - Joey went to a party before his exam, so he didn’t do well
- Uncontrollable - Joey failed the exam because it was difficult
Attribution biases (5)
Fundamental attribution error (correspondence error)
Actor-observer effect
Self-serving bias
Just world hypothesis
False consensus effect
Fundamental attribution error
(essence)
An attribution error that occurs when we place more emphasis on internal or personal explanations rather than taking the external circumstances into consideration.
Just world hypothesis
(essence)
An attribution bias - people believe that the world is a just one, where good people deserve to have fair things happening to them.
- When something bad happens to someone, the conclusion is that they have done something bad to bring this upon themselves
- e.g. during a tsunami disaster when people died, the victims were blamed for choosing to live in a disaster-prone area.
- Basically our belief in the ‘just world hypothesis’ is to avoid fear, as it can be frightening to think that bad things can happen to good people.
Actor-observer effect
(essence)
the tendency for actors and observers to make different attributions to the same event
- the actor/agent attributes external causality
(I drove badly because I am late) - observers of the same behaviour atrribute internal causality
(He drove badly because he is reckless)
Self-serving bias
(essence)
the human tendency to attribute success to internal factors but failure to external ones
-
self-enhancing bias: if we are involved in something positive, we take full credit for our success without acknowledging the situational factors
e. g. if we are on time for a meeting we appreciate our planning and organisation skills -
self-protecting bias: When we are involved in something negative, we blame our failure on something external to us
e. g. if we arrive late at a meeting, we might blame it on a traffic jam
False consensus effect
(essence)
The tendency to view another person’s behaviour as representative of a group’s behaviour
(cultural/racial stereotypes are thus formed)
Halo effect
(essence)
the tendency to perceive others has wholly good or bad based on few observed traits
a cognitive bias whereby the perception of one characteristic of a person or object is influenced by the perception of another
e.g. judging a good looking person as more intelligent
=======================
reverse halo effect is known as ‘devil effect’
a common psychological phenomenon whereby individuals give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically to them, that are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people.
This effect can provide a partial explanation for the widespread acceptance of some paranormal beliefs and practices, such as astrology, fortune telling, aura reading, and some types of personality tests
(2 names)
Barnum effect
aka Forer effect
the phenomenon whereby individuals modify an aspect of their behaviour in response to their awareness of being observed
e.g. you may find yourself washing up faster if your wife or husband is watching you.
This concept is highly relevant for research as one may find the results obscured due to the fact that the subjects are being watched.
Hawthorne effect
(2 names)
the phenomenon whereby others’ expectations of a target person affect the target person’s performance
a form of self-fulfilling prophecy
e.g. students with poor expectations from their teachers perform poorly
Pygmalion effect
aka Rosenthal effect
Theory of mind (definition)
the ability to attribute mental states — beliefs, intents, desires, emotions, knowledge, etc. — to oneself, and to others, and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that are different from one’s own.
By what age does a child usually develop theory of mind?
4 y/o
Theory of Mind
- 1st order false belief tasks
- 2nd order false belief tasks
1st order false belief tasks
involved inferring one person’s mental state
e.g. what Jim thinks
2nd order false belief tasks
involve inferrring one person’s thoughts about another person’s mental state
e.g. what Jim thinks Varun thinks
Usually passed by age 6 in typically developing children
Koro
(culture-bound illness)
- aka
- origins
- essence
(Genital retraction syndrome)
Origins: China, Malaysia, Indonesia
Men affected with Koro are terrified that their penis is shrinking and that eventually it will be absorbed into their body. People with Koro believe it is fatal.
Latah
(culture-bound illness)
- origins
- description
Origins: Malaysia and Indonesia
Latah usually affects middle aged women. A typical attack of latah lasts 30 minutes and is characterised by an outburst of screaming, hysterical laughing and obscenities.
Brain fag/brain fog
(culture-bound illness)
- origin
- description
Origin: West Africa
Brain fag is seen in stressed out West African students and is thought to be a response to a western style of education and exams. Symptoms include poor concentration, and unusual somatic sensations such as burning skin.
Amok
(culture-bound illness)
- origin
- description
Origin: Malaysia
People who suffer with Amok are suddenly overcome with a violent outburst and become very aggressive to those around them. This continues until they are overpowered at which point they fall into a deep sleep and upon waking have no recall of the event. It almost always affects males.
Dhat
(culture-bound illness)
- origin
- description
Origin: India
Men affected with Dhat believe they are passing semen in their urine which leads to a loss of physical and mental energy.
Windigo
(culture-bound illness)
- origin
- description
Origin: Native North America
Windigo presents as an intense desire for human flesh and a strong believe that one is turning into a cannibal.
Piblokto
(culture-bound illness)
- origin
- description
Origin: Eskimo societies
Piblokto is seen in Eskimo’s. Affected Eskimo’s develop hysteria and behave oddly for instance by rolling around in snow naked while muttering to themselves.
Power theory
- theorists
- bases of power (5)
French and Raven (1959)
Legitimate power
Referent power
Expert power
Reward power
Coercive power
The power held by an individual in an organisation
Legitimate power
The power held by a person with charisma who people gravitate towards
Referent power
The power of a person with specialist skills or knowledge
Expert power
The power of a person in a position to provide rewards
Reward power
The power of a person who has the ability to apply negative influences such as demotion
Coercive power
the power of a person to bring about outcomes
Outcome power
the power of a person to influence others so that they will bring about outcomes
Social power
the power of the oppressed to counterbalance the elite
Counterpower
Who coined the term ‘groupthink’?
Irving Janis (1972)
Groupthink
(essence)
a phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an incorrect or deviant decision-making outcome.
Group members try to minimise conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative ideas or viewpoints.
Group think
- conditions (6)
- The group must be isolated from outside influences.
- Group loyalty prevents individuals from raising controversial issues of alternative solutions.
- There is a loss of individual creativity and independent thinking.
- The group experiences the ‘illusion of invulnerability,’ an inflated certainty that the right decision has been made.
- Typically the group is under a high level of pressure to make a decision
- The group lacks an impartial leader.
Interventions to reduce groupthink (5)
- Leaders should allow each member to challenge ideas and present objections
- Members should talk about and solicit ideas with people outside the group
- Outside Experts should be invite to attend meetings
- Avoid expressing opinions about the preferred outcome
- Assign ‘Devil’s Advocate’ at all meetings to challenge any and all ideas
the phenomenon in which the initial positions of individual members of a group are exaggerated toward a more extreme position.
e.g. when people are in groups, they assess risk differently from when they are alone. In the group, they are likely to make riskier decisions as the shared risk makes the individual risk seem to be less.
Groupshift
a concept in social psychology that is generally thought of as the loss of self-awareness in groups.
Theories propose that it is a psychological state of decreased self-evaluation and a decreased evaluation of apprehension causing abnormal collective behaviour, such as violent crowds and lynch mobs. Conversely it also explains peoples tendency to donate more readily to charity when in groups.
Deindividuation
Aggression - Freud
(3 concepts)
Freud believed that aggression arose as a result of a primary instinct called thanatos (aka the death instinct). He suggested that each person had this drive which aimed to cause total destruction and death.
He also suggested that there was an opposing instinct called eros (the life instinct).
He described catharsis, which is a process of discharging libidinal energy and making us feel calm. Catharsis occurs when we watch an aggressive act or are involved in a mildly aggressive act.
Aggression - Lorenz
Following his study of birds, Lorenz suggested that aggression is instinctual, and occurs in response to biological stimuli and follows predictable rules.
He also believed that aggression was vital to ensuring a balance in the animal kingdom and that stronger genes were selected.
================
His major work (completed in 1963) is titled ‘on aggression’.
Bystander effect
- aka
- essence
Genovese Effect
a theory which states that the likelihood that a person will help in a particular situation is directly related to the amount of people present in the situation.
A person is far more likely to help should they be in a small number of witnesses.
Factors associated with bystanders being less likely to help (4)
There are many other people
Perpetrators are present
The costs of intervention are physical (rather than non-physical)
When the situation is perceived as dangerous
Factors associated with bystanders being more likely to help (2)
They are male
When the bystanders are not strangers
Social loafing
- aka
- essence
Ringelmann effect
the phenomenon whereby people exert less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when they work alone
Social status and psychiatric disorders
- disorders more common in lower social classes (4)
- disorders associated with higher social classes (1)
disorders more common in lower social classes
- Schizophrenia
- Personality disorder
- Alcohol dependence
- Major depression
disorders associated with higher social classes
- Anorexia nervosa
Social and occupational classification (6)
Social class 0 - Unemployed or student Social class I - Professional Social class II - Intermediate Social class III - Skilled, manual, or clerical Social class IV - Semi-skilled Social class V - Unskilled
(Office of Population Censuses and Surveys)
Jarman Index
(essence)
a scoring system developed by British GP Brian Jarman
measures the level of social deprivation in a community, using census data on:
- % of old people living alone
- single-parent families
- children younger than 5 years of age
- unskilled and unemployed persons
- ethnic minorities
- overcrowded dwellings
- changes of address in previous year
generally not accepted outside the UK
‘Illness behaviour’
- phrase coined by —
- essence
Mechanic and Volkart (1961)
describes the way in which symptoms are perceived, evaluated, and acted upon by a person who recognises some pain, discomfort or other signs of organic malfunction
‘Sick role’
- term coined by —
- essence
Talcott Parsons
Parsons described the sick role as a temporary, medically sanctioned form of deviant behaviour.
He suggested that a sick person has conflicting drives both to recover from the illness and to continue to enjoy the ‘secondary gains’ of attention and exemption from normal duties.
Sick role - components (4)
The sick person:
- is exempt from the normal social roles that the person takes for the duration of the illness.
This exemption is legitimised by society as represented by the physician. Normal role performance and responsibilities are suspended so that the ill person can get well. The strength of the exemption varies directly with the severity of the illness. -
is not responsible for their illnesses.
The illness is beyond personal control. A curative process outside the person is required to restore wellness. -
has the duty to try to get well.
Sickness is societally undesirable and thus society places the obligation to get well on the patient, with the help of the doctor, of course. - must seek competent technical help and co-operate with the caregiver.
Stages of change model
- theorists
- stages (5)
Prochaska and DiClemente
-
Pre-contemplation
The individual is not currently considering change -
Contemplation
Ambivalent about change, ‘Sitting on the fence’ -
Preparation
Some experience with change and are trying to change, ‘Testing the waters’ -
Action
Started to introduce change -
Maintenance
Involved in ongoing efforts to maintain change
Stages of change model
— lack sufficient knowledge about the dimensions of the problem, or the personal impact it can have, to think change is necessary.
Reluctant pre-contemplators
Stages of change model
— are afraid of losing control over their lives and have a large investment in their substance of choice
Rebellious pre-contemplators
Stages of change model
— feel hopeless about change and overwhelmed by the energy required. They probably have been in treatment many times before or have tried repeatedly to quit on their own to no avail. This group must regain hope and optimism about their capacity for change
Resigned pre-contemplators
Stages of change model
— have all the answers. Substance use may be a problem for others but not for them, because the odds are against their being at risk
Rationalizing precontemplators
Double agentry
- essence
- key example
occurs when a psychiatrist has a conflict of interests that interferes with their ability to act soley in the best interests of the patient.
In fact psychiatrists often find themselves acting in the interests of several parties (e.g. patient, family, society, hospital commsisioners etc) and this is refered to as multiagency.
=====================
This is illustrated by the Tarasoff case in which two therapists failed to warn a lady that their patient expressed an intention to kill her. They chose not to do so as they wished to respect confidentiality and failed to see that they had a duty of care to the lady as well as the patient. The lady was eventually murdered by this patient.
This case occured in California and resulted in a change in the law stating that therapists have a legal duty to both patients and potential victims.
Camberwell Family Interview
- theorists
- essence
- measures (5)
Brown & Rutter (1966)
developed to measure expressed emotion within families
individual members of a family (including the patient) are interviewed
5 measures:
- Critical comments
- Positive remarks
- Emotional over involvement
- Hostility
- Emotional warmth
Melanie Klein
- key concepts (2)
The paranoid-schizoid position represents a state of fragmentation where the mind divides the world into good and bad. It is characterised by the defence mechanism known as ‘splitting’.
The depressive position follows the paranoid-schizoid position and is characterised by the ability to accept something can be both good and bad (ambivalence).
Social origins of depression
- theorists
- 4 ‘vulnerability factors’ for depressive illness in women
Brown and Harris (1978)
- Three or more children under the age of 14 at home
- Lack of an intimate relationship with a husband or boyfriend
- Lack of employment outside of the home
- Loss of a mother before the age of 11 years
Declarations:
Introduced following the crimes which had just been committed in Nazi Germany
It was intended as a revision of the Hippocratic Oath.
Declaration of Geneva
Declarations:
Devised in 1964 by the World Medical Association and sets out the key ethical principles involved in biomedical research involving human subjects.
It has undergone several revisions and still serves as a basis for good medical practice today.
Declaration of Helsinki
Declarations:
This states that doctors should refuse to participate in, condone, or give permission for torture, degradation, or cruel treatment of prisoners or detainees.
Declaration of Tokyo
Declarations:
This offers guidelines to doctors treating people who are on hunger strike.
Declaration of Malta
Declarations:
This is an international statement of the rights of patients.
Declaration of Lisbon
Declarations:
This sets out the principles necessary for optimal child health
Declaration of Ottawa
the first international document which advocated voluntary participation and informed consent in medical experimentation
The Nuremburg code
resulted from the trial of the German physicians accused of participating in war crimes and crimes against humanity (1946).
Among the charges were that German physicians conducted medical experiments on thousands of concentration camp prisoners without their consent.
Nuremberg Code
- conditions for human experimentation (6)
- Voluntary consent
- Research is intended for common good of the society
- Avoidance of unnecessary pain and suffering is guaranteed for the subjects
- Subject has liberty to withdraw at any point
- Qualified researchers undertake research
- Scientist must terminate a study if more harm is being caused than expected to the subjects
The Willowbrook School Study
- description
- why it was controversial
The Willowbrook school was a state supported institution for children with learning difficulties located in New York.
During the 1960s a study was carried out there which involved the inoculation of healthy children with hepatitis and the subsequent administration of gamma globulin to assess for its potential to treat the disorder.
The Tuskegee syphilis experiment
- description
- why it was controversial
The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was a follow up study of people with syphilis. It is very controversial as a significant proportion of those in the study were not informed of their illness and did not receive available treatment even though it became available half way through the study.
A report on the study called the ‘Belmont report’ introduced many changes into US law on research ethics.
Stanford’s prison experiment
- description
- why it was controversial
This study involved creating a simulated prison environment at Stanford University. 24 students were recruited who scored highly on measures of maturity and stability. Each participant was then assigned as either a prison or a guard.
Participants were given no guidelines for how to behave, with the exception of the guards who were told not to use physical abuse under any circumstances. Within only two days, the participants literally became the roles they were assigned. The guards began to act very harshly and sometimes even cruel to the prisoners.
While no one was physically hurt during the study, a few of the prisoners displayed extreme emotional reactions that warranted termination of the study after only six days.
The Tearooms Study
- researcher
- description
- why it was controversial
This study (conducted by Humphreys) involved him hanging around ‘tearooms’ (public toilets where men meet to have sex) in order to study the population and learn more about the types of men that did it.
It was the method however that was controversial rather than the topic. He never disclosed his motives when he interview the men and instead pretended to be a ‘watchqueen’. This raised the issue of informed consent in research.
Milgrams’ Study
- description
- why it was controversial
Study of authority and obedience
The participants were told that they were participating in research on the effects of punishment on memory. Milgram studied the extent to which they were willing to deliver fake electric shocks to someone.
Although Milgram expressed concern for the wellbeing of his participants, as some were showing extreme agitation, he decided not to terminate the study on the basis that each prior participant seemed to recover relatively well after his session ended.
Antipsychiatry
- proponents (4)
Thomas Szasz
R.D.Laing
Michel Foucault
Franco Basaglia
Holmes Rahe stress scale
(social readjustment rating scale)
- top 5 life events associated with illness
- Death of spouse
- Divorce
- Marital separation
- Jail term
- Death of a close family member
==========================================
- Personal illness
- Marriage
- Being fired from work
- Marital reconcilitation
- Retirement
Teleological ethical theory
- aka
Consequentialism
Utilitarianism
Deontological ethical theory
- aka
- essence
Kantianism
focused on actions themselves rather than consequences; suggest that there are moral rules and duties that should not be beached
Virtue ethics
- essence
focuses on being rather than doing.
When faced with a moral dilemma, virtue ethics encourages people to do the right thing for the right reason.
The emphasis is on moral character and what the decision says about this.
Principalism
- theorists
- ethical principles
Beauchamp and Childress
1 Autonomy
2 Beneficence
3 Non-maleficence
4 Justice
History of psychiatric terms:
Dementia praecox
Manic depression
Kraepelin
History of psychiatric terms
Schizophrenia
Bleuler
History of psychiatric terms
Hebephrenia
Hecker
History of psychiatric terms
Catatonia
Kahlbaum
History of psychiatric terms
Demence precoce
Morel
History of psychiatric terms
Schizoaffective
Kasanin
History of psychiatric terms
Neurasthenia
Beard
History of psychiatric terms
Unipolar and bipolar
Kleist
History of psychiatric terms
Hypnosis
Braid
History of psychiatric terms
Group dynamics
Lewin
History of psychiatric terms
Group psychotherapy
Moreno
History of psychiatric terms
Psychopathic inferiority
Koch
Who coined the term ‘psychiatry’?
Reil
History of psychiatric terms
Institutional Neurosis
Barton
=========================
Apathy, lack of initiative, loss of interest and submissiveness. Factors attributed to this state include loss of contact with the outside world, enforced idleness, brutality and bossiness of staff, loss of friends and personal possessions, poor ward atmosphere and loss of prospects outside the institution.
Bion
- 2 kinds of groups
Working group
one that is working well and getting the job done
Basic assumption group
acting out primitive fantasies and preventing things from getting done
Bion
- basic assumption groups (3)
Dependency
Here the group turns towards a leader to protect them from anxiety.
Fight-flight
Here the group acts as if there is an enemy who must be attacked or avoided. The enemy can be either within the group or external. The group may at times pursue and defeat the perceived enemy but will soon create another one.
Pairing.
Here the group acts as if the answer lies in the pairing of two of the members. This may be in the form of a friendly pairing or an extremely hostile one.
Total institution
- theorist
- characteristics (4)
Goffman
- All aspects of life are conducted in the same premises and under the same authority
- Members’ daily activities are carried out in the immediate proximity of a large group
- All parts of a day’s activities are strictly scheduled
- A enforced activities are based on a single plan with the purpose of fulfilling the aims of the institution
Goffman - ‘moral career’ of a mentally ill patient
- 4 steps
Betrayal funnel
Family and friends conspire against the ill person, reporting them to mental health professionals
- *Role stripping**
e. g. exchange of personal clothes for hospital issue
Mortification (civil death)
Personal activites go on public display; permission is required for basic activities
Privilege system
Privileges usually involve reductions in the institution’s control over the patient
Social capital
- definition
- components (2)
‘features of social life - networks, norms, and trust - that enable participants to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives’
Structural components refer to roles, rules, precedents, behaviours, networks and institutions. These may bond individuals in groups to each other, bridge divides between societal groups or vertically integrate groups with different levels of power and influence in a society, leading to social inclusion.
Cognitive social capital describes the values, attitudes and beliefs that produce cooperative behaviour.
Acculturation
(definition)
the dual process of cultural and psychological change that takes place as a result of contact between two or more cultural groups and their individual members
Acculturation - 4 paths
Assimilation - when individuals give up home culture and embrace the dominant culture
Integration - maintaining the home culture but also embracing the dominant culture
Separation - maintaining home culture and being isolated from the dominant culture
Marginalization - giving up the home culture and failing to relate properly to the dominant culture
Acculturation
when individuals give up home culture and embrace the dominant culture
Assimilation
Acculturation
maintaining the home culture but also embracing the dominant culture
Integration
Acculturation
maintaining home culture and being isolated from the dominant culture
Separation
Acculturation
giving up the home culture and failing to relate properly to the dominant culture
Marginalization
Discredited and discreditable Stigma
In discredited stigma, an individual assumes that their difference is already known about or is evident.
In discreditable stigma, the person assumes that their stigma is neither known about by those present nor immediately perceivable by them
Felt stigma
Felt stigma (internal stigma or self-stigmatisation) refers to the shame and expectation of discrimination that prevents people from talking about their experiences and stops them seeking help
Enacted stigma
Enacted stigma (external stigma, discrimination) refers to the experience of unfair treatment by others
Courtesy stigma
This is stigma not felt directly.
Often a carer or relative of a stigmatised individual may feel shame or be treated differently
