psychological explanations to schizophrenia: dysfunctional thinking Flashcards
what is dysfunctional thinking
lower than usual levels of processing
what is a cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
looks at how schizophrenic patients think and process information. Suggests Schizophrenic cognition may differ from non-schizophrenic cognition in several ways
what is metarepresentation
the cognitive ability to reflect on one’s own thoughts and behaviour
what does metarepresentation allow us to do
gives us insight into our own intentions and goals + allows us o interpret the actions of others
how might dysfunction in metarepresentation explain some symptoms of schizophrenia
dysfunction would disrupt our ability to recognise our own actions and thoughts as being carried out by ourselves.
which may explain some symptoms of schizophrenia such as hallucinations. For example, an inability of schizophrenic patients to recognise their thoughts as their own may explain hearing voices: The patient attributes their own thoughts to some external source outside their mind.
schizophrenia has been linked to central control dysfunction, what is this, how can it explain some symptoms?
Central control refers to the ability to suppress automatic responses while performing deliberate actions, deficits may mean the person is unable to suppress automatic thoughts and speech triggered by other thoughts. This could explain speech disorganisation - thoughts trigger schemas that are linked loosely, therefore speech no longer makes sense
what is another cognitive deficit linked to schizophrenia
auditory selective attention deficit - meaning they often struggle with maintaining concentration can result in negative symptoms such as withdrawal. This might be a cognitive coping strategy used by an individual to keep mental stimulation to a manageable level
outline a study that shows information processing is different in the mind of a schizophrenic patient. (AO3)
Stirling et al studied the performance of people with schizophrenia and a control group using the Stroop test. compared 30 patients to 18 non patient controls.
Found that schizophrenic patients took over twice as long to completed the stroop test. This suggests they have problems with supressing automatic control (reading the word rather than the colour its written in)
why is a cognitive explanation not a complete explanation (AO3)
does describe how info processing is affected however does not provide a complete explanation of what causes these cognitive impairments. Ignores the role of biology eg. genes ect - perhaps a cognitive explanation is only a proximal explanation that explains the symptoms. Whereas the true root cause is the underpinning biology. More holistic would be to look at both biology and cognition and the interaction of both. eg. low activity in prefrontal cortex and dysfunctional thinking.
how is a cognitive explanation useful (AO3)
identifying cognitive impairments such as dysfunctional thinking and the link to symptoms, has led to development of cognitive treatments that target the impairments. For example cognitive activities and training can help improve cognitive abilities such as central control as they stimulate more brain activity.
