S - Psychological Explanations

Question 1

What does the cognitive explanation argue schizophrenia is caused by?

Answer 1

Disordered and disorganised thinkining

Question 2

Who developed the attention deficit theory and what is it?

Answer 2

Frith
Schizophrenia is a result of a faulty attention system
May be caused by a breakdown in the filtering system which should filter out preconscious thoughts to leave a small amount to enter our consciousness - causes an overload which means thoughts that are normally filtered out as being irrelevant/unimportant are now interpreted in conscious awareness

Question 3

What symptoms does the attention deficit theory describe?

Answer 3

Positive - delusions, hallucinations

Question 4

What is a limitation of the cognitive explanation?

Answer 4

It’s not clear if the cognitive defects cause schizophrenia or whether the cognitive defects are caused by other factors, such as neurochemical changes

Question 5

How does the family relations explanation explain schizophrenia?

Answer 5

Using the double-bind theory (Bateson)

Question 6

What does the behaviour explanation assume?

Answer 6

Schizophrenia is learnt

People are unintentionally reinforced (getting special attention) for their odd behaviours by others and so repeat them

Question 7

What does the socio-causation hypothesis claim schizophrenia is caused by?

Answer 7

Factors relating to social class
It could be the case that those in lower classes experience more stressful life events than those in upper classes resulting in schizophrenia