PSYC1001 Flashcards
Western lay person theories
Practical problem solving
• Verbal abilities
• Social competence
• Overall quite a holistic view of intelligence
What is deemed ‘intelligent’ changes with age
- age of person asked
- age of person asked about
intelligence
“the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations”
“The capacity for goal-directed adaptive behaviour
characteristics of intelligence
- abstract thinking or reasoning abilities
- problem-solving abilities
- capacity to acquire knowledge
Binet and Simon (1904)
- developed age-graded intellectual tasks
- mental age compared to chronological age
not IQ
Henry Goddard (1910)
- brought test to US
- identify mentally retarded children
- intelligence is fixed
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
- Lewis Terman
IQ = Mental Age/Chronological Age x 100 - 100 signifies normal intelligence
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale measures…
- fluid reasoning
- knowledge
- quantitative reasoning
- visual-spatial processing
- working memory
calculating IQ today
- total score is compared to scores of age mates
- IQ 100= average score at each age level
David Wechsler Intelligence
“The global capacity of a person to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his/her environment”
Wechsler improved on tests in 3 ways
- comprehensive: both verbal & nonverbal
- less emphasis on culture knowledge
- more specific: subtests for abilities scored separately
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV)
- 15 subtests
- progressively harder
- overall IQ score and 4 index scores
Index scores (WAIS-IV)
- Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI)
- Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI)
- Working Memory Index (WMI)
- Processing Speed Index (PSI)
Aptitude measures
- Assess potential to learn or perform well in the future
* SAT, ACT, GRE verbal and quantitative tests
Achievement measures
Test specific learning or accomplishments
• GRE subject area tests
• Classroom tests
Culturally fair?
WAIS and WISC rely on the individual having detailed knowledge about mainstream culture in order to perform well, particularly in tasks like information, vocabulary, and other verbal tests
Don’t provide a fair test of abilities for people unfamiliar with the dominant culture
Culture fair tests use items that are applicable across all cultures
May not be language-based
Raven’s Progressive Matrices
Provides a measure of ‘g’ • 60 multiple choice items measuring abstract reasoning Provides overall score only • No subtests • Very different to WAIS IQ
Raven’s Progressive Matrices
Culturally fair?
- No questions require specific factual information
- No questions require knowledge of a specific culture
- Still a western view of logical reasoning
what is a test?
• A systematic procedure •Observe behaviour in a standard
situation
•Describe behaviour with scores or categories
• Advantages of tests:
•Standardised for objectivity •Calculation of norms for comparison
Reliability
repeatable/stable
- test re test
- alternate form
validity
measure what its meant to
Content validity
Criterion validity
Construct validity
Evaluating value of IQ tests
- Statistical Reliability
- Not good before age 7
- Consistent for teens and adults
- Statistical Validity
- Predicts success in school
- Predicts success in life situations and jobs
- Not a perfect measure of “smartness”
- Only measures some abilities
- Variability of individuals’ emotional responses
- Individuals’ motivational differences •Cultural differences
- Not a measure of ‘natural’ ability
- Differing educational and social experiences
factors influencing measurement of cognitive abilities
Emotional arousal can influence scores on cognitive ability tests
Test anxiety
Physiological factors (hunger, fatigue, etc.) Motivation
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Nature vs nurture
Influenced partly by genetics (heritability) Not clear exactly which genes are involved
Intelligence is developed ability
Influenced partly by environment – education, culture & other life experiences
Enriched early environment critical
Can’t easily separate nature/nurture
adoption studies
Many studies of IQ examine siblings who have been adopted by the same or different families
Adoption surprise: Children whose biological parents were wealthy had higher IQs than children whose biological parents were poor, regardless of the socio- economic status (SES) of the adoptive family
12-15 point rise in IQ levels among children from poor SES backgrounds adopted by parents who provided academically enriched environments
But children’s IQ still more correlated with genetic than adoptive parents
Duyme et al 1999
65 deprived children, defined as abused and/or neglected during infancy, were selected
Adopted between 4 and 6 years of age, and they had an IQ <86 (mean = 77, SD = 6.3) before adoption
Average IQs of adopted children in lower and higher socioeconomic status (SES) families were 85 (SD = 17) and 98 (SD = 14.6), respectively, at adolescence (mean age = 13.5 years)
A significant gain in IQ dependent on the SES of the adoptive families (mean = 7.7 and mean = 19.5 IQ points in low and high SES, respectively),
SES & IQ
Parents’ intelligence influences occupation & status
Genetics
Income affects the family environment (books etc)
Motivational differences
High SES value education more
More opportunities for people with higher IQs
Ethnicity & IQ
Differences (variance) within ethnic groups is greater than between ethnic groups
Significant environmental differences & many cultural factors
raising iq
Lower IQ has been linked to poverty, malnutrition, exposure to lead or alcohol, low birth weight & complications during birth
IQ can be raised by early intervention to enrich the child’s environment
Project Head Start - a program of the USA’s Department of health & Human Services that assists children from low- income families – health, nutrition, parent involvement services
Kaler & Freeman 1994
Study of cognitive & social development of a group of 25 children (23-50 mths) in Romanian orphanage
Available Apgar scores (assess newborn health) suggest children were all normal when born & birth weights all within normal range
Assessed orphans & non-orphans on range of cognitive & IQ measures
Romanian orphans with minimal human interaction showed severely delayed development
Particularly in areas of interaction, requesting, play, indicating, self-recognition & social reference
Charles Spearman - 2 factor theory
An individual’s performance at one type of cognitive task tends to be positively correlated to their performance at other kinds of cognitive task – e.g. school subjects
Spearman suggested that all mental performance could be conceptualised in terms of a single general ability factor, which he labelled the g-factor (or g)
Accounts for 40-50% of variance on IQ tests & a person’s IQ test is seen to be indicative of their g-factor status
Some evidence from PET studies
Louis Thurstone
Psychometric approach suggesting 7 primary mental abilities – no g-factor
- Numerical
- Reasoning
- Verbal fluency
- Spatial visualisation
- Perceptual ability
- Memory
- Verbal comprehension
Raymond Cattell
Distinguished between 2 types of general intelligence Fluid intelligence (Gf)– the capacity to think logically and solve problems in novel situations Crystallized intelligence (Gc) – the ability to use skills, knowledge and experience
Information Processing Model
The amount of information that can be processed The speed of the processing
Efficiency of processing
Working memory
Knowledge/long-term memory
intellectual disability
IQ below 70 (75 in some cases) along with
significant difficulty in adaptive functioning
causes of intellectual disability
Severe or profound – almost always biological (genetic or affected by environment)
Genetic causes - Downs Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome
Environmental – Rubella, Foetal alcohol syndrome,
infections
learning disability
Indicated by significant discrepancies between measured intelligence and academic performance
types of learning disability
dyslexia
dysphasia
dysgraphia
dyscalculia
dyslexia
difficulty understanding the meaning of what is read & in sounding out and identifying written words
dysphasia
difficulty understanding spoken words & recalling the words needed for effective speech
dysgraphia
problems with writing, inability to form letters & omission or reordering of words and parts of words
dyscalculia
difficulty understanding quantity & difficulty comprehending basic arithmetic principles and operations
psychopathology
patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that are maladaptive, disruptive or uncomfortable for those who are affected or for those with whom they come into contact
criteria for disorder
deviance
distress
dysfunction
deviance
- unusual/rare
- statistical infrequency
- fail to conform to societal norms
distress
- personal suffering
dysfunction
- significantly impairs ability to function in everyday life
- fail to meet responsibilities
why diagnosis for disorder
assist treatment planning
facilitate communication between professionals
diagnosis predicts behaviour and treatment response
facilitate research
criticisms of dsm-5
labelling
stigmatising
comorbidity
categorical
anxiety disorders
- physiological, cognitive, behavioural symptoms
- perceived threat
- avoid potential harm
- excessive, persistent anxiety in specific, non-threatening situations
anxious cycle
thoughts - behaviours - emotions
anxiety disorders
specific phobia panic disorder agoraphobia social phobia GAD
specific phobia
- intense fear of specific situation or event
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
- obsessions and compulsions
- significant distress or impairment
- more than 1 hr per day
- severely depilating disorder
- anxiety
- comorbid depression
impact on others
obsessions
- persistent, unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images, or urges that because distress or anxiety
(hamring, contamination, religious, sexual, symmetry) - negative interpretation = anxiety
- attempt to suppress the thoughts
- intrusive thoughts frequent
compulsions
- repetitive behaviours (or thoughts) that the person feels driven to perform in response (usually) to an obsession
- internal
- prevent harm/anxiety
- can be ‘logical’ e.g. check all powerpoint
- can be magical/superstitious
- reduce anxiety temporarily and used in future situations
linking obsessions and compulsions
negative interpretations of intrusive thoughts (obsessions) trigger anxiety
compulsions reduce anxiety
depressive disorders
- experience extreme negative moods
- long duration
- impact of behaviour, relationships, work
DSM-5 Depressive disorders
- disruptive mood regulation disorder
- major depressive disorder
- persistent depressive disorder
- premenstrual dysphoric disorder
- substance/medication induced depressive disorder
- depressive disorder due to medical condition
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
- 5 or more of following symptoms in same 2 weeks
- depressed mood most of the day
- loss of interest or pleasure most of day
- significant weight/appetite change
- sleep difficulties
- psychomotor agitation or retardation
- fatigue
- feeling worthless/guilty
- difficulty thinking, concentrating, making decisions
- recurrent thoughts about death, suicidal ideation
- symptoms most of day, nearly every day
- 10-25% women
- 5-12% men
Major depression - why?
- inherited predisposition
- most episodes triggered from major life events
thoughts drive emotion
- situations themselves don’t because emotion (interpretation)
- negative emotions caused by negative thoughts
cognitive-behavioural model of depression
- driven by unrealistic negative thoughts and faulty beliefs
Depressive thinking
- interpreting events/self in negative manner
- responsibility for failure but not success
- mindreading - other people don’t like me
- catastrophising
- black & white thinking
- emotional reasoning
- overgeneralising
Major Depression behaviours
- loss of motivation
- stop pleasurable activities, exercise
- social withdrawal
- problems at work
Persistent Depressive Disorder (Dysthymia)
- similar to MD but less intense
- depressed mood for at least 2 years (1 for children)
- most of day, more days than not
Bipolar disorder
- episodes of depression and episodes of mania
- suicide in 10-15% of cases
- massive negative consequences in manic state
- severe social consequences
- biological/genetic basis
manic episode
- 1 week, 3 or more
- believe can do anything, extraordinary
- decreased need for sleep
- increased talkativeness/pressurised speech
- flight of ideas
- distractible
- increased goal-oriented activity or psychomotor agitation
- risky behaviours
mania
- pleasurable activities without considering consequences
- racing thoughts; bursting with ideas
- rapid speech
- depression lurking underneath elevated mood
mania - consequences
- feels great but poor decisions
- heightened risk-taking
bipolar I disorder
- manic episodes
- often separated by normal mood
bipolar II disorder
- major depression and hypomania
- depression prominent
cyclothymic disorder
- same pattern of moods; less extreme
Dissociative disorders
- disruptions/discontinuity in the normally integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, behaviour
- dissociation - depersonalisation, derealisation, amnesia, flashbacks
- usually following trauma
- dissociative amnesia
- dissociative identity disorder
dissociate amnesia
- sudden memory loss of personal information
- event or general
- usually associated with trauma
- often unaware of missing memory
- depressive symptoms, anxiety, impaired functioning
- controversial
- associated with Fugue state
dissociate fugue
- global amnesia and identity confusion
- sudden wandering; leaves home
- may develop a new identity
- if fugue wears off
- old identity recovers
- new identity forgotten
Dissociative identity disorder (DID)
- 2 or more distinct personality states
- lack of awareness of each other
- almost exclusively history of severe abuse
- depression, anxiety, self-harm, substance use
- often experience all the dissociation symptoms
- linked to trauma
- rare
- rule out psychosis, mania, substances, brain injury
psychotherapy
a psychological intervention designed to help people to resolve emotional, behavioural, interpersonal problems and improve quality of life
- different methods
- common elements; client-therapist relationship, individually tailored, setting, hope, fresh perspective
psychotherapy - goals
- reduce symptoms of disorders
- improve quality of life/happiness
- enhance coping mechanisms
- increase awareness/education
- advice
- improve relationships
psychoanalytic approach
- sigmund freud
- goal = gain insight: make unconscious conscious
psychoanalytic theory - 5 premises
- problematic behaviour motivated by unconscious conflicts (between id, ego, superego)
- psychological and behavioural problems - childhood experiences
- therapist can uncover unconscious causes of disordered behaviours
- re-experiencing important events
- insight can promote change
psychoanalytic techniques - insight
- free association
- interpretation
- dream analysis (unconscious bubbles to surface)
psychoanalytic techniques
- resistance
- transference
- working through
resistance
- refusal to bring unconscious into consciousness
transference
- past emotions/relationship patterns transferred onto therapist
working through
- process patients problems
psychodynamic therapy (modern)
- still focus on unconscious conflicts and transference
- conscious experience
- emphasis on social relationships (early attachment, object relations theory, interpersonal therapy)
- emphasis on client self-directedness
- face to face, goal focused
psychoanalytic contributions
- role of unconscious
- early experiences
- defence mechanisms
- transference/concertransference
humanistic psychotherapy
- carl rogers, abraham maslow
- emphasise good, growth tendency
- therapist role different
- insight still important, but into current feelings, not past
humanistic therapy - theory
- people motivated by innate desire towards growth (self-actualisation)
- positive view of people
- unique worldview
- need positive regard, empathy, genuineness
- problems caused by blocked growth/actualisation - conditions of worth
- goal of treatment = promote growth through promoting insight into current feelings
- if ideal conditions provided client will resume self-actualisation and improve
humanistic therapist
- client and therapist are equals
- therapeutic relationship
- promote insight and growth through close alliance
- unconditional positive regard
- empathy
- genuineness
humanistic contributions
- therapeutic relationship
- empathy
- active listening
group therapy
- multiple (unrelated) clients (6-12)
- similar problems
- meet to work on therapeutic goals
- agree to confidentiality
- approach depends on style
group therapy advantages
- not alone
- learn from each other
- interaction skills
- willingness to share/be open
- empathy and sensitivity to others
- test skills in safe/supportive environment
- cost effective
family therapy
- 2+ family members
- disorder related to problem in family functioning
- focus on structure of family system
- intervention: disrupt dysfunctional patterns
- crucial when working with children
family therapy
- relational patterns
- relationship building
- promoting awareness
- communication
- reduce blame
- perspective taking
- compromise
couples therapy
- communication between partners
- miscommunication and/or lack of communication = barriers to intimacy and happiness
- relationship goals/expectations
- rebuild trust
- role playing
cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT)
- evidence base - testable
- wide range of disorders
- cognitive therapy
- behavioural principles
- modify thinking/behaviour to improve functioning
cbt
- perception of even shapes emotions and behaviour
- identifying and modifying unrealistic negative thoughts
- identify and modify maladaptive behaviours
cognitive - behavioural approach - disorder
- consistently distorted/dysfunctional thinking
- perceiving events/self inaccurately
unhelpful behaviours (avoidance, withdrawal, interactions) - break cycle of maladaptive thoughts, feelings and behaviours
cbt - treatment process
- therapeutic relationship
- assessment
- psycho-education
- behavioural techniques
- identify problematic thinking (ABC)
- challenge unhelpful thinking (ABCD)
- maintenance
therapeutic relationship
- crucial for treatment progress
- trust
- empathy
- active listening
- non-judgemental
- alliance
- hope
assessment
- details of problem
- problem history
- goals
- overview of life situation
- conceptualisation
education
- cognitive-behaviour model
- nature of their problems - maintenance
- normalising
- recognising emotions
treatment plan
- client actively involved
- collaborative
- goals
- steps involved
behavioural modification
- exposure
- behavioural activation
- other techniques, skills training
- therapist support and modelling
cognitive restructuring - identifying thinking
- question client about their reactions/interpretations
- A= activating event
- B=consequent emotions
- C=beliefs/thoughts
