S: individual difference explanation Flashcards
what is the first individual explanation of addiction
the cognitive explanatoin
what cognitive assumption is the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia based on
based on the assumption that internal mental processes are all important, these mental processes help us make sense of the world around us. schizophrenics have impairments with cognition e.g. social cognition problems with making sense of and being able to interact with the social world
hallucinations - cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
hallucinations are a common symptom of schizophrenia that vary from person to person. hallucinations can be in any modality. auditory hallucinations (hearing voices) is the most common type of hallucination experienced.
hallucinations link to Frith
cognitive explanation of schizphrenia
frith provided an explanation as to why schizophrenics hear voices. we all have an ‘inner voice; we think with it and feel we have control over it. frith argues schizophrenics fail to monitor their own thoughts, they believe these voices belong to ‘the devil’ they are actually misinterpreting their own voice
supportive research to Friths theory
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
McGuire found schizophrenics have reduced activity in those parts of the brain involved in monitoring inner speech. PET scans have shown there’s and under-activity in the frontal lobe of the brain of schizophrenics which is linked to self-monitoring, therefore supporting the explanation
negative symptoms
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
Beck applied his cognitive triad to schizophrenia which has helped explain negative symptoms
what symptoms can be explained by Becks triad
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
the cognitive triad can explain flatness of affect. a schizophrenic may show no emotion as they have a negative view on themselves, cannot see a future and who emotion to their world (their surroundings)
avolition can also be explained, an individual may think ‘what is the point’ they’ve given up on themselves. the world and their future
lack of pre-conscious filters
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
Frith proposed schizophrenics lack the attentional filters. things that would usually be filtered out as being irrelevant or not important are now seen as more important as they really are. Frith said these deficits are caused by abnormalities in those areas of the brains that use dopamine (prefrontal cortex) this links to disordered thinking
what do brain scans show?
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
brain scans show reduced blood flow to these areas (reduced brain activity) during certain tasks in schizophrenics, this can account for positive symptoms
attentional bias
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
Bentall suggested schizophrenics have attentional bias towards stimuli associated with threat and violence, they are more likely to perceive stimuli as threatening when it isn’t
what issues might having attentional bias cause for individuals
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
schizophrenics are not attending to the world in a logical way and so their memories are incomplete and this can also explain delusions that an individual might experience
strength of the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
theories produced by Frith and Beck have stimulated a lot of scientific investigation so there’s lot of research evidence to support such explanations
research to support the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
Barch et al. compared performance on a stroop test of people with and without schizophrenia, found that those with schizophrenia were slower and made more mistakes in their trials
what did Barch’s research conclude
this was evidence that those with schizophrenia couldn’t filter the information as effectively suggesting evidence has been produced to support Frith’s idea that the attentional filters of schizophrenia are defective
first weakness of the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
cognitive explanation is reductionist-taking a highly complex condition and simplifying it down to the action of one simple factor.
evidence to go with the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia being reductionist
Frith has proposed the faulty operation of cognitive mechanisms is due to impairment within the frontal cortex of the brain (decision making etc.) and more posterior areas of the brain (perception), despite the progress Frith has made with supportive evidence, it is almost impossible to imagine that the complex experience of schizophrenics is down to the mere functioning of a few brain cells
another weakness of the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
a flaw is that the proposed theories can only account for the cognitive based symptoms of schizophrenia, cannot explain other characteristics of schizophrenia (issues with movement) the cognitive explanation also fails to explain the distal causes of schizophrenia only the proximal causes of schizophrenia
what does the explanation only accounting for cognitive based symptoms suggest
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
we should be cautious about claims made by the cognitive approach as a single explanation for the disorder of schizophrenia
final weakness of the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
psychologists are starting to appreciate that schizophrenia needs to be considered in a more holistic way which can include cognitive factors
research to support schizophrenia being treated in a more holistic way
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
Howes and Murray have described an integrated model of schizophrenia which proposes that genes or other factors in early life (birth complications) combined with difficult life events or social stressors (e.g poverty) provokes the dopamine system into releasing dopamine this causes problems with cognitive processing, specifically the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. individual gets caught in a viscous circle as the stress induced by experiencing these symptoms prompts the release of more dopamine.
what does Howes and Murray’s research suggest
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia
that alone, the cognition explanation of schizophrenia is insufficient but can add valuable contribution to a wider integrated theory
what is the second ID explanation of schizophrenia
the schizophrenogenic mother
what was said about parent child relationships and schizophrenia
the schizophrenogenic mother
during the 40s and 50s, a number of studies suggested that the mother-child relationship was disordered in cases where the child was schizophrenic (Lidz and Lidz)
what did Fromm-Reichman say about the schizophrenogenic mother
placed the blame for schizophrenia on the mothers of schizophrenics and suggested that the trigger for schizophrenia came from the mothers who were overly dominant in the home and dominant in their interactions with the schizophrenic child
what was a schizophrenogenic mother like?
the schizophrenogenic mother
overprotective and controlling, also cold and distant,
how do the characteristics of a schizophrenogenic mother affect a child?
the schizophrenogenic mother
the overprotection stifles the child’s development, and the distance between them and their mother leaves the child feeling emotionally insecure.
strength of the second ID explanation
the schizophrenogenic mother
a strength of the psychodynamic approach can be seen in the explanatory power that Freud’s theories bring to the table. model provides an explanation as to why schizophrenics lose touch with reality ad Freud would argue that schizophrenia is a regression to an infant state.
what does Freuds theory link well to?
the schizophrenogenic mother
with many of the symptoms and characteristics of schizophrenia (e.g. delusions of grandeur)
weakness of Freuds theory Freud linking to schizophrenia
the schizophrenogenic mother
as there are many symptoms, this explanation is unable to account for all cases,
PB point for Freuds theory linking to schizophrenia
freud based his theory of schizophrenia on a memoir of one schizophrenic and spent little time with actual schizophrenics, this is a weakness as he’s only taking information from a book, hasn’t actually met the individual. there is also only one individual, it is therefore lacking reliability and validity. he cannot generalise to all people with schizophrenia as everyone is different and experiences symptoms differently
what does freuds theory suggest
suggesting Freud may have had some insight into why schizophrenia might develop but may only be able to offer a partial explanation
weakness of the schizophrenogenic mother explanation of schizophrenia
Freudian concepts are out of date and widely discredited by psychologists today, the psychodynamic being unable to produce a testable hypothesis has meant there is little evidence to bring to the table. being unable to verify the existence of psychodynamic concepts such as the id,ego or defence mechanism such as regression, it becomes almost impossible to trust in this explanation
what does the weakness of the schizophrenogenic mother explanation suggest
if the concepts that Freud’s theory of schizophrenia cannot be proved, it reduces the validity of the whole explanation
