cognitive explanations - psychological explanation Flashcards
what do cognitive explanations focus on
the role of mental processes
what is schizophrenia characterised as
disruption to normal though processing
what is meta representation
the ability to reflect upon our own thoughts and behaviour
what does meta representation allow us to do
allows us to understand why we say and do things and also helps us make sense of the behaviours of others
what happens if meta representation stops
we fail to recognise our thoughts and actions as being our own, we lose self-awareness
this makes individuals interpret a tune in there head as coming from an external source such as the radio
what is central control
the cognitive ability to supress automatic responses while we perform deliberate actions
what are automatic responses and when do they happen
they happen all the time, they are thoughts that pop into out head but we can choose not to express them and to dismiss them
what happens if central control malfunctions in an individual
a person will have disorganised speech because they can no longer supress every little thought
what are the 4 evaluation points of cognitive explanations
supporting evidence for dysfunctional informational processing
more descriptive than explanatory
direction of cause isn’t clear
led to practical applications
explain the evaluation point that there is supporting evidence for dysfunctional informational processing for cognitive explanations
Stirling et al compared 30 with schizophrenia with 18 people without schizophrenia on the stoop test
the schizophrenic patients took more than twice as long to name the ink colours than the control group suggesting they had central control dysfunction
what is the stoop test
naming incongruent ink colours of colour words by supressing the impulse to read the words
explain the evaluation point how it is more descriptive than explanatory as a cognitive explanation
while there are links between faulty cognitions and symptoms of schizophrenia are clear, it only really describes what the cognitive processing of someone with schizophrenia is like it doesn’t tell us the cause of these dysfunctional cognitions
genetic, neurochemical and neuroanatomical factors might explain why some people have a tendency to think like this and others don’t
explain the evaluation point of direction of causality isn’t clear as a cognitive explanation
cognitive factors could have been causing the symptoms of schizophrenia or the faulty thinking could be a symptom or effect of having the disorder
explain the evaluation point of it has led to practical applications as a cognitive explanation
Yellowlees et al developed a machine that produced virtual hallucinations such as hearing the television telling you to kill yourself or one persons face morphing into another’s. the intention is to show schizophrenics that there hallucinations are not real
they found 76% of users said it improved there understanding of their auditory hallucinations and 69% thought it improved their understanding of visual hallucinations
this does not aim to cure schizophrenia but may help patients to understand that their hallucinations so they are less threating
what does Yellowlees et al’s study suggest
it suggests that understanding the effects of cognitive deficits allows psychologists to create new initiatives for schizophrenics and improve the quality of their life
