Psychopathology

Question 1

Definitions of abnormality

Answer 1

• Statistical infrequency
• deviation from social norms
• failure to function
• deviation from ideal mental health

Question 2

Statistical infrequency

Answer 2

• A person’s trait, thinking, or behaviour is classified as abnormal if it is rare or statistically unusual

Question 3

Deviation from social norms

Answer 3

• a person’s thinking or behaviour is classified as abnormal if it violates the unwritten rules of what is expected or acceptable in a particular social group

Question 4

Failure to function

Answer 4

• a person is considered abnormal if they are unable to cope with the demands of everyday life, or experience personal distress

Question 5

Deviation from ideal mental health

Answer 5

• The absence of particular ideal characteristics
• jahoda proposed 6 principles of ideal mental health (resistance to stress, positive attitude towards self, self-actualisation, autonomy, environmental mastery and accurate perception of reality)

Question 6

Strengths of statistical infrequency

Answer 6

• fails to distinguish between desirable and undesirable behaviour
• some behaviour that’s statistically abnormal may be desirable and vice verse

Question 7

Weaknesses of statistical infrequency

Answer 7

• fails to distinguish between desirable and undesirable

Question 8

Strengths of deviation to social norms

Question 9

Weaknesses of deviation to social norms

Answer 9

• No universal agreement over social norms
• social norms are culturally specific and they differ significantly from one generation to the next and between different ethnic, regional, and socio-economic groups

Question 10

Strengths to failure to function

Answer 10

-

Question 11

Weaknesses of failure to function

Answer 11

• apparently abnormal behaviour may actually be helpful, functional, and adaptive for the individual

Question 12

Strengths of deviation from ideal mental health

Question 13

Weaknesses of deviation from ideal mental health

Question 14

What is psychopathology?

Question 15

Disorders the course covers and explanation

Answer 15

Depression - cognitive, phobias - behaviourist, ocd - biological

Question 16

What is a phobia?

Answer 16

• a phobia is an anxiety disorder involving excessive and persistent fear of a situation or object
• exposure to the source of the fear triggers an immediate anxiety response

Question 17

Types of phobias

Question 18

Social phobias

Question 19

Agoraphobia

Question 20

Specific phobias

Question 21

Emotional characteristics

Question 22

Behavioural characteristics

Question 23

Cognitive characteristics

Question 24

Behaviourism and key principles

Question 25

Two process model of phobias

Question 26

Classical conditioning to explain initiation of phobias

Question 27

Operant conditioning to explain maintenance of phobias

Question 28

Mowrer 1960

Question 29

Evaluation of behaviourist explanation of phobias