Individual Differences AS AQA A Psychology Notes

DEVIATION FROM SOCIAL NORMS
definition of abnormality

- We can define abnormality based on behaviour being considered undesirable by a majority of
society members. (e.g: a lack of politeness would be considered socially deviant as surliness makes
interpersonal relations difficult).
- These social norms may also be moral: although Western…

DEVIATION FROM IDEAL MENTAL HEALTH
definition of abnormality

- Jahoda (1958) proposed that as we measure physical illness in terms of the absence of physical
health, we can do the same for mental illness. To measure this, she developed a set of criteria to
measure ideal mental health. If a…

THE BIOLOGICAL APPROACH TO PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

This approach believes that mental disorders are caused by dysfunction in the body, j ust as physical
disorders are.

1) - Uses the diathesis-stress model to indicate that a child can inherit disorders from their
parents through genes.
- Researchers test the concordance rate between…

THE PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH TO PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

- Freud's theory of psychoanalysis is one of the best known of the psychodynamic approach to
psychopathology.
- He said that the personality was made up of three parts:
- Id = pleasure principle, demands satisfaction and is irrational.
- Ego = conscious, rational part…

THE BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH TO PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

The behavioural approach to psychopathology focuses on the idea that all be haviour is learned,
in one of three ways.
- Operant Conditioning: positive or negative reinforcement. E.g: reacting badly to a spider +
ensuing attention = repeated behaviour.
- Classical Conditioning: association between two…

THE COGNITIVE APPROACH TO PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

The cognitive approach to psychopathology is based on the idea that abnormality is caused by
maladaptive cognitions (faulty thinking), rather than the problem itself. Ellis (1962) proposed the
ABC model which suggests how these maladaptive cognitions affect behaviour:
A ­ Activating agent. (e.g: the sight…

CHEMOTHERAPY
biological therapies

Antipsychotic drugs
- Controls the symptoms of schizophrenia.
- Binds to the dopamine receptors to block the action of dopamine in the brain (CONVENTIONAL)
- Temporarily occupy dopamine receptors and then disassociate, resuming normal dopamine
receptors (ATYPICAL).
- Atypical antipsychotic drugs have lower amounts of side effects…

ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY (ECT)
biological therapies

- Used for severely depressed patients as a last resort.
- Electrodes are placed on the temples of the patient. They are given a short-acting barbiturate to
make them unconscious, and a nerve blocking agent to stop muscle spasms. They are also put on
oxygen.…

PSYCHOANALYSIS

- Psychoanalysis is a treatment based on the idea that behaviour is influenced by unconscious
processes that are the result of repressed memories or unresolved conflicts during childhood.
- During psychoanalysis, the therapist aims to trace these to their origins and help the individual deal
with them in one…

SYSTEMATIC DESENSITISATION

- A treatment based on behaviourism and the process of Classical Conditioning that gradually
introduces a phobia sufferer to a feared object whilst completing re laxation techniques.
- Patients can then overcome their feelings of anxiety by learning to relax in the presence of stimuli
that had previously…