Psychology and Everyday Life Flashcards
How did Charcot, Freud and others look at psychiatric symptoms as different from those before them?
They saw them as expressions of diseases
What is meant by neurosis?
unconscious conflicts express themselves in symptomatology
What was informative in regards to psychology during world war one?
shell shock becomes important: soldiers develop PTSD-like symptomatology partly as a result of trauma
For the first time, psychological factors are being posited as causes of symptomatology
What effect did psychiatry have on the view of mental disorders?
People discover that certain drugs can be effective treatments (e.g.lithium for psychosis). Antonio Mogaz receives the 1949 de Nobel prize for inventing the lobotomy. This fits with a strongly medical view of mental disorders
What opinion did Carl Rogers have on this?
Carl Rogers introduces humanistic psychology; Unconditional acceptance of patients. Therapist treats by listening as much as by talking. This fits with a strongly psychological view of mental disorders
What input did Aaron Beck have?
Cognitive therapy; Diseases or patterns of interactions between affect, cognition, and behaviour. Again, more psychological
Despite their differences, psychological and psychiatric views of mental disorders share a very important ingredient in comparison to earlier views. What was this ingredient?
They see mental disorders as a part of the natural world that can be systematically studied and understood; Naturalisation.
What is meant by antipsychiatry?
In the 1960s, “antipsychiatry” develops. The way people are treated in psychiatric hospitals is demeaning and expels them from society. Perhaps what psychiatrists consider abnormal is actually just normal!
Describe Rosenham’s study and what effect it had
8 pseudo patients get themselves admitted into psychiatric hospitals
•The say they hear voices saying ʻemptyʼ and ʻhollow’, but present no other symptoms.
•7 out of 8 received the diagnosis ʻschizophreniaʼ… And the pseudopatients spent 7 to 52 days in the institution
•Rosenhan: “We cannot distinguish the sane from the insane in psychiatric hospitals”
-This strengthened the anti-psychiatry movement (although it may have never of happened)
How are these antipsychiatry criticisms still relevent today? (2)
Sharp increases of medication for depression but evidence for effectiveness does not justify this increase. Dehue: Our conception of disorders like depression has radically medicalised. Increasing prevalence indicates a change in society rather than in people
Increases of medication are a general phenomenon, E.g.SSRI’s for depression, Ritalin for ADHD in children. Prevalence however does not seem to get any lower. How should we interpret this?
What is interesting about the concept of burn-out?
It is a prevalent diagnosis of this day and age, especially among our generation. This increase in prevalence raises the question: why and how has this become such a prevalent diagnosis? Burn-out did not develop in a ‘historic vacuum’ (neither do other diagnostic categories)
Burn-out was first observed among employees in human services (health-care, psychology, education). Until 1990s, burn-out was restricted to these professions. •Later, research follows. Now, there is an incredibly extensive line of research on burn-out. Since2003 official diagnosis in Sweden, not in other countries(not part of DSM V), however, informally, we treat it as an official diagnosis.
What argument is there for burn-out not being a 21st century disease?
Neurasthenia and burn-out have some interesting parallels. Fatigue and stress are symptoms that are universal and not time-specific. However, social factors seem to be a crucial aspect of burn-out.
How did Michael Foucalt draw a relation between Psychology and power?
Because scientific categories order society, they are political as well. According to Foucault, mental illness is a way to exercise power and to outcast people. Mental disorders legitimise exercising power and have often done so in the past (runaway slave syndrome, societ union etc). To bring aberrant behaviours ‘under the scientific gaze’ is an important step because disorders become real in the public image.
Describe Ian Hacking’s looping effect of social kinds
Social kinds can start out as arbitrary, but acquire causal power in our social system. Psychological categories often do this, because they become part of people conceptualisation of their own identity.
E.g.the diagnosis “Major Depressive Episode” has arbitrary components (“5 out of 9 symptoms” etc.). However the diagnosis steers social reality. After diagnosis, people may interpret their behaviour differently. Society also treats people differently (e.g. they become eligible for therapy and can access supporting funds)
Who did the first modern psychological test and what did it consist of?
Binet attempts to assess children’s level of intelligence. Instead of assessing basic psychological function like Galton (e.g.response time), he lets children solve problems. Binet’s tests are used as a practical method for the teacher to identify the kids who are in need of extra help.
Why did Binet’s test take off in america rather than europe?
Many(European) immigrants come in through Ellis Island (NY): who are ‘good enough’ to be useful? WWI: which soldiers are mentally stable enough to fulfill their tasks?•How to structure this ‘new country’ (a country without an aristocracy, like manyEuropean countries)
What did Lewis Terman accomplish?
Revised the Binet-Simon test into the Stanford-Binet test.
What did Lewis Termin further argue?
Fascinated by the genetic basis of intelligence. Argued for a social order based on intelligence tests.
Tests were expected to ‘bring tens of thousands of these high-grade defectives under the surveillance and protection of society’ (Terman, 1916), so that crime and poverty could be eliminated.
What was the psychometric core of Binet’s approach?
The total score
Are tests or teacher judgements more reliable?
Tests + less biased
What aspect of psychology did most influences of psychology have to do with? Define this
Applied psychology = the application of psychological knowledge and research methods to solve practical
problems.
What appeared at the end of the nineteenth century which brough about a new era?
Neurologists = physicians who treated milder forms of mental problems outside the asylums using communication, hypnosis and suggestion.
Why were psychologists largely excluded from treatment pre WWII? What was they confined to?
Psychologists were largely excluded from treatment because psychiatrists lobbied to have psychoanalysis confined to practitioners with a medical degree. The main task of psychologists was to administer psychological tests.
What happened during WWII which had an effect on psychology?
One well-known phenomenon during the war was shell-shock. Because of this, among other things, there was increased need for advice (who is prone to shell-shock) and treatment (for those suffering from shell-shock) during the war, so psychologists became more involved.
What other effect did the rising demand for treatment have on psychology?
The rising demand for treatment also provided room for new developments in therapy. Rogers proposed client-centered therapy as an alternative to psychoanalysis.
Name three characteristics of a good therapist according to Rogers
- Unconditional positive regard: unconditional, non-judgmental support;
- Empathic understanding: ensuring that one understand the client’s thoughts, feelings and point of view;
- Congruence: genuine support and understanding, not just the implementation of a therapeutic technique.
What six developments strengthened the position of psychologists after the war?
(1) Antipsychiatry movement: the treatment of patients in asylums was questioned. Psychiatry had
experimented with a number of controversial and invasive biological treatments (lobotomy, electric shocks)
which had adverse consequences.
(2) Input from science: researchers started to evaluate the efficacy of therapies.
(3) Psychoactive drugs: psychiatrists increasingly turned toward medicines as the preferred treatment for
mental health problems, which gave them an edge over psychologists, lowering their resistance to them.
(4) Social management: care for deviant individuals or those in need shifted from private settings to official
social services, which led to the welfare state.
(5) Individualization: greater focus on the self increased the likelihood that people would want to talk to a
professional counsellor about their functioning.
(6) Public interest: psychological knowledge became part of general knowledge of the public.
Throughout history people have used tests in what three types of situations
(1) Authenticity tests = tests that are used to determine whether a person is who he/she pretends to be and to ascertain guilt or innocence.
(2) Qualifying tests = tests that are used to find the person that is best suited for a task.
(3) Diagnostic tests = tests that are used to determine which condition a person has.
According to Hanson tests involve 3 basic conditions. Explain these
(1) Condition of intent: test are planned, arranged and given by someone with a purpose in mind.
(2) Indication: a test is not administered to collect information about performance on the test itself, but as an
indication of some other condition.
(3) Status: a test involves a difference in status between the test giver and taker.
What problems were found with face-to-face interviews when assessed?
It was found that clinical impressions and unstructured interviews did not score high on reliability and validity: there are big differences between raters (inter-rater reliability) and there is little correlation between scores given and subsequent performance levels (validity).
What did decisions on the basis of interviews depend on?
Psychologists showed that decisions on the basis of interviews largely depended on the first impression candidates make, which are based on the implicit personality theory the assessor has.
Implicit personality theory = mixture of stereotypes and individuation information about associations of
personal characteristics, that people use to predict how others will behave in social situations.
