EVAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL EXP

Question 1

what are 4 evaluation points for psych exp of sz?

Answer 1

+ evidence for family dysfunction
+ evidence for dysfunctional thought processing
- lack of evidence for family based explanation
- blurred direction of causality

Question 2

evidence for family dysfunction?

Answer 2

P - evid to support fam dys
E - Read et al metanalysis of sz patients with history of child abuse
69% women with sz history of child abuse, 59% for males
E - shows that difficult fam relationships linked with inc risk of developing sz in adulthood
C - sz distort recall of events, not huge amount of evid = inconsistent
L - evidence inc IV and application to remove sz children from dys fam

Question 3

evidence for dysfunc info processing

Answer 3

P - evidence supporting dysfunc info processing
E - Stirling et al study 30 sz patients comp to 18 control, doing stroop test where say colour of word rather than word itself, found that sz took 2x longer
E - supports dysfunc info processing for example cannot supress automatic responses
L - increases the credibility of exp as lab exp is highly controlled, can see causality
C - small sample means we can question generalisability and application to wider population

Question 4

lack of evidence for family based explanations

Answer 4

P - weakness of psych exp is lack of evidence for fam based exp
E - although a lot of evid for EE, lack of evid for sz mother and double bind
E - psych exp ‘parent blame’, who go through trauma by receiving, lack of sz mother due to shift to community care
L - decreased reliability of fam based exp, question relevancy in today’s society

Question 5

direction of causality

Answer 5

P - blurred direction of causality
E - unclear what causes what e.g. does psych exp cause cog or vice versa
E- we can see how both of the exp are involved, but cannot see if cog factors, neural correlates or abnormal nt cause
L - question the validity of exp and reduces application as questions are unanswered