S: individual difference explanation

Question 1

what is the first individual explanation of addiction

Answer 1

the cognitive explanatoin

Question 2

what cognitive assumption is the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia based on

Answer 2

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. problems with making sense of and being able to interact with the social world

Question 3

hallucinations - cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 3

hallucinations are a common symptom of schizophrenia that vary from person to person. hallucinations can be in any modality. auditory hallucinations is the most common.

Question 4

hallucinations link to Frith
cognitive explanation of schizphrenia

Answer 4

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

Question 5

supportive research to Friths theory
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 5

McGuire found schizophrenics have reduced activity in parts of the brain involved in monitoring inner speech. PET scans have shown there is and under-activity in the frontal lobe of the brain of schizophrenics which is linked to self-monitoring, therefore supporting the explanation

Question 6

negative symptoms
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 6

Beck applied his cognitive triad to schizophrenia which has helped explain negative symptoms

Question 7

what symptoms can be explained by Becks triad
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 7

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 no emotion to their world (their surroundings)

Question 8

lack of pre-conscious filters
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 8

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 areas of the brains that use dopamine (prefrontal cortex) this links to disordered thinking

Question 9

what do brain scans show?
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 9

brain scans show reduced brain activity during certain tasks in schizophrenics, this can account for positive symptoms

Question 10

attentional bias
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 10

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

Question 11

what issues might having attentional bias cause for individuals
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 11

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

Question 12

strength of the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 12

theories produced by Frith and Beck have stimulated a lot of scientific investigation so there’s lot of research evidence to support such explanations

Question 13

research to support the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 13

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

Question 14

what did Barch’s research conclude

Answer 14

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

Question 15

first weakness of the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 15

cognitive explanation is reductionist-taking a highly complex condition and simplifying it down to the action of one simple factor.

Question 16

evidence to go with the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia being reductionist

Answer 16

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

Question 17

another weakness of the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 17

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

Question 18

what does the explanation only accounting for cognitive based symptoms suggest
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 18

we should be cautious about claims made by the cognitive approach as a single explanation for the disorder of schizophrenia

Question 19

final weakness of the cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 19

psychologists are starting to appreciate that schizophrenia needs to be considered in a more holistic way which can include cognitive factors

Question 20

research to support schizophrenia being treated in a more holistic way
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

what does Howes and Murray’s research suggest
cognitive explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 21

that alone, the cognition explanation of schizophrenia is insufficient but can add valuable contribution to a wider integrated theory

Question 22

what is the second ID explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 22

the schizophrenogenic mother

Question 23

what was said about parent child relationships and schizophrenia
the schizophrenogenic mother

Answer 23

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)

Question 24

what did Fromm-Reichman say about the schizophrenogenic mother

Answer 24

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

Question 25

what was a schizophrenogenic mother like? the schizophrenogenic mother

Answer 25

overprotective and controlling, also cold and distant,

Question 26

how do the characteristics of a schizophrenogenic mother affect a child? the schizophrenogenic mother

Answer 26

the overprotection stifles the child's development, and the distance between them and their mother leaves the child feeling emotionally insecure.

Question 27

strength of the second ID explanation the schizophrenogenic mother

Answer 27

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.

Question 28

what does Freuds theory link well to? the schizophrenogenic mother

Answer 28

with many of the symptoms and characteristics of schizophrenia (e.g. delusions of grandeur)

Question 29

weakness of Freuds theory Freud linking to schizophrenia the schizophrenogenic mother

Answer 29

as there are many symptoms, this explanation is unable to account for all cases,

Question 30

PB point for Freuds theory linking to schizophrenia

Answer 30

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

Question 31

what does freuds theory suggest

Answer 31

suggesting Freud may have had some insight into why schizophrenia might develop but may only be able to offer a partial explanation

Question 32

weakness of the schizophrenogenic mother explanation of schizophrenia

Answer 32

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

Question 33

what does the weakness of the schizophrenogenic mother explanation suggest

Answer 33

if the concepts that Freud's theory of schizophrenia cannot be proved, it reduces the validity of the whole explanation