ocd: cognitive explanations

Question 1

the root of cog psychology lies in thought processes- language, attention, memory and perception.
- cog explanations centre on faulty info processing as being the root of disorder.

Question 2

general negative belief systems

Answer 2

• this suggests that unwanted thoughts stem from early childhood experiences, these cause a general negative belief system about how the world works, for example that it is full of threats.
  the thoughts are misinterpreted and made important thus creating anxiety.
• in order to deal with that anxiety, people try to suppress it by performing neutralising rituals - the compulsions. these provide temporary relief, but they only serve to reinforce the faulty thought patterns.

Question 3

lack of confidence in memory

Answer 3

checking behaviour
it is not that they do not have a memory for, say turning oven off it is that they don’t trust their recall and feel compelled to check again.

Question 4

hyper vigilance

Answer 4

constantly scanning for threats in the environment and these form the basis of their obsessions.
the detection of a threat then triggers anxiety along with compulsive behaviour to reduce it.

Question 5

evidence

Answer 5

• salvo skis and Kirk conducted a diary study of people with ocd where on some days they were told to try and suppress their obsessive thoughts, whereas on other days they didn’t have to. they found that the recorded frequency of intrusive thoughts was higher on the days they try to suppress them.
• this therefore provides evidence for thought suppression, but it is based on self report which can be unreliable , so such evidence may not be considered objective and does not give the explanation scientific credibility.

Question 6

evidence: lack of confidence in memory

Answer 6

woods et al had a meta analysis of people who found they had a worse memory for recalling stimuli presented. they also felt their memories were in adequate compared to controls.

Question 7

evidence: hyper-vigilance

Answer 7

case study where someone who’s ocd centred on blood could, due to hyper vigilance recall all past events when she had come into contact with blood.

Question 8

application

Answer 8

CBT:
found just as effective as drugs
POTS
this research show CBT to be effective, therefore suggesting cognition plays a role.

Question 9

S/W

Answer 9

:) has face validity. this is because it makes sense that the condition is a result of faulty thinking as obsessive thoughts are one of the main features.
ca= does not show cause and effect

:( cog theory alone could be considered reductionist as it reduces the complex disorder down to an individuals thought process without taking other possible factors into account. a more holistic explanation would involving combining the cog theory and neural

Question 10

alternative

Answer 10

bio: role of neurotransmitters and brain circuits.