Psychology Paper 1 AQA 2023 Flashcards
Evaluate the failure to function adequately definition of abnormality.
Part 1: Strength
How can a patient’s perspective be a strength of this definition of abnormality?
- A strength of failure to function adequately is that it does attempt to include the subjective experience of the individual.
- It may not be an entirely satisfactory approach because it is difficult to assess distress, but at least this definition acknowledges that
the experience of the patient (and/or others) is important. - In this sense the failure to function adequately definition captures the experience of many of the people who need help. This suggests that failure to function adequately is a useful criterion for assessing abnormality.
Evaluate the failure to function adequately definition of abnormality.
Part 2: Weakness
How can failure to function adequately depend on who makes the judgement?
- In order to determine ‘failure to function adequately’ someone needs to decide whether this is actually the case.
- Although there are people who are distressed about being unable to cope with everyday living, there are some people who are content with the situation they are in or may not be aware that they are coping.
- It is others who identify and judge their behaviour as abnormal.
Ellis proposed an ABC model of depression. Outline and evaluate the ABC model of depression. Refer to this diary extract in your answer.
(8 marks)
A01
Ellis proposed that the key to mental disorders such as depression are due to irrational beliefs.
In his ABC model, the ‘A’ refers to an activating event that is negative such as failing an exam.
B is the belief, which may be rational or irrational. For example, people with rational thoughts would think that they failed the exam because they did not revise whereas people with irrational thoughts would think that they failed because examiners made the exam hard purposefully to make them fail.
C then refers to the consequences. This means rational beliefs lead to healthy emotions (such as acceptance) whereas irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy, negative emotions such as depression.
A03
One strength of the cognitive explanation for depression is its application to therapy. The cognitive ideas have been used to successfully develop effective treatments for depression such as REBT and CBT, which was developed from Ellis’s ABC model.
This is a strength because if depression is alleviated by challenging irrational thinking then this suggests thoughts had a role in depression in the first place.
A03
However, one weakness of the cognitive approach is that it does not explain the origins of irrational thoughts and most of the research in this area is correlational.
Therefore, we are unable to determine if negative, irrational thoughts cause depression, or whether a person’s depression leads to a negative mindset.
A03
It is possible that other factors such as neurotransmitters are the cause of depression rather than negative irrational thoughts by itself.
People who have lower levels of serotonin are more likely to have depression. For example, research from Zhang et al shows that the role of low levels of serotonin in depressed people and has found a gene related to this is more 10 times more common in people with depression.
The fact that there are alternative forms of treatment to treating depression such as SSRIs by increasing the level of serotonin in the brain provide support for the role of neurotransmitters in the development of depression rather than having negative irrational thoughts.
Outline Van Ijzendoorn’s investigation of cultural variations in attachment. ( 4 marks)
Discuss research into minority influence (16 marks)
Discuss research into the effects of anxiety on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (16 marks)
Discuss Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation. Refer to Ryan in your answer. ( 16 marks)
44 Thieves Study
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