Psychology AS

Revision cards for AS Psychology

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  • Created by: Sian
  • Created on: 02-06-10 14:40

ABNORMALITY

Devation from social norms:
Every society has commonly accepted standards of behaviour: e.g. unwritten laws or unwritten norms such as queing.
One approach to defining abnormality is therefore devation from social norms as an indication of abnormality.
This can provide a explanation to skitzophrenia and OCD
Problems: Not always a sign of Psychopathlogy eg. someone who avoids cracks in the pavement is superstious not abnormal.
Social norms vary over time e.g. homosexuality
Cutral relativity: it changes where you are in the world e.g. spain have seiesters.

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Failure to function adequately

When someone deviates from their normal pattern of behaviour (e.g. wake up in the morning. get dressed, go to work) we might argue they are failing to function adequately.. e.g servere depression - may fail to get up in the morning let alone hold down a job. (Agonaphobic and Schizophrenic both fail to function adequatley)

Problems: May represent normal behaviour depending on contex (political prisoners go on hunger strike this is acceptable in economic situations)
may not be linked to psychopathlogy e.g no job (economic situation)
Cutural Dimension

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Devation from ideal mental health

This definition stands out by not defining abnormality directly but instead attempting to define a state of ideal mental health.

JAHODA: ideal mental heath
- In touch with identity and feelings
- Resistant to stress
- Focused on future and self acutlisation
- Acurate perception of reality
- Show empathy and understanding of others

PROBLEMS
Cultural Relativity - autonomy and self actulisation is noted from women western societys not recongnized in other cultures.
few people match Jahodas critera; therefore by definition most of the population is abnormal

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Deviation from statistical norms

Behaviours which are statistically none are said to be abnormal. e.g. An individual who has a high IQ above average is abnormal.
-If behaviour is frquent its normal
-If behaviour is none its abnormal
Key Psychologists - Davidson and Neale - Great athletes are statisicly abnormal then

PROBLEMS:
- fails to reongnise abnormality e.g- Intelligence
- Norms change over time
- How much should behaviour deviate before considered abnormal
- Cultural relativity

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Psychodynamic model

Behaviour refelcts complex dynamic interactions between concious and inconsious processes.
ASSUMPTIONS - Why/Where does mental illness develop
-Unconsious root - to all problems
- Structure of Personality: Superego - Pleasure conflict disorder
ID - conduct disorder (child), Sociopath (Adult)
Libido (Sex/death instincts)
Defence mechanism failure e.g. repression, displacement.
Psychosexual stage failures - Phallic - Fixated on stages
Childhood trauma

Treatments:
Hypnosis, ink blocks, word assosiation, transference, dream analysis.

Pros: Explains sociopaths, PTSD, Hypnosis popular.
Cons: Hypnosis- side effects e.g. false memory syndome, eyesenek (2groups depressed people, one had it, one didnt, no diffrence), long and expensive, doesnt treat skitzophrenia.

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Behavioural Model

Emphasis the roles of learning and enviroment in causing psychological disorders.
Classical conditioning - assosation of conditioned and unconditioned stimulus through repeated pain presentations (Pavlov dogs)
Operant - how voluentary responses could be controlled through positive reinforcement. (Watson and Raynor- Little Albert)
SLT - Learning through observation and imnination of others.

Treatment:
Classical - flooding, systematic desensitization, aversion therapy.
Operant - token economy
SLT- Social skills training e.g phobic people can benifit from observing a model coping effectivly with the phobic situation

Pro: Systematic desentilisation is effective and can explain phobias.
Con: Treats symptoms not cause, ethical issues (flodding), reductionist.
Seligman - down to evoultionary role

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Humanistic Model

No such thing as mental illness its a problem with living

KEYPEOPLE:
Frankl - consentration camp - why havent you commited sucide? - meaning of life
Maslow - Self actulisation and meta needs.
Rogers: would/should dilema - anxiety, ideal and perceived self

TREATMENTS:
logotherapy - find meaning in life - love, acheivment, attitude when faced with something awful.
CCT - Client driven, theropist (Facicilitator)

Pros: Lack of labels and stigma, CCT is popular and client friendly.
Cons: Doesnt belive in mental illness therefore cant treat it, emotional connection

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Cognitive Model

Assumptions: Mental illness is caused by distirbance in thought processes, irrational thoughts dominate.
Key people:
Beck - Sucide and depression scale
Negative triad - future self world
Ellis: ABC model
A - Activating event
B - Beleif
C - Consequences
Treatments -
Meichenbourn - Stress innoculation therpy
1.Indify stressor
2.Aquire Skills
3. Pratice.
CBT - helf identify negative thoughts, therapist challenges thoughts by painting positive thoughts of experiences, by changing thought it is hoped behaviour alters.
Pro: Effective treatments, helps most disorders, Identidys cause.
Con: Fails to help skitzophrenia, ignores biology and role of the enviroment.

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CONFORMITY: Majority Influence

Conformity: the tendency to change what we do (Behaviour) or think and say (attitudes) in reponse to the influence of others on social pressure. This pressure can be real or imagined.
Majority Influence(K)
Kelman: 3types of conformity:
-Complience - Privatly think one thing and publicly think another
- Identification - starts to identify with others and change our minds
- Internalization - completley changed your opinion
Deutch and Gerard
1. Informative - Conform because we dont know the answer
2. Normative - Conform to fit in
Turner: (Referent)
Group ingrational social influence: fitting into a group seeking membership (LongTerm)Crutchfeild Personality traits:
Conformative: Insecure, Submissive, Introvert, Lacks Confidence.
Non Conformative: Confidence, Extrovert, Loud, Dominant.
Gender and Conformity: Women conform more: Zimbardo - due to the tasks women are given.

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Majority Influence Continued

(A)
Asch - Line study
conformity rate 37%, 123male students, task of visual perception, groups of 7-9, 18 trials each and it was unambigous.
Pro: Shows normative social influence - Confederates
Con: Ecological validity, decietful.
Sherif Autokinetic Effect: Light in a dark room, Stationary spot - optical illusion, appeared to move. Asked indivual and group
Ambigious, sherif found that individuals changed their individual opinions and agreed with the group norm.
Jennes: Beans in a jar: Changed opinion to group norm, Ambiguious.
Pro: Shows conformity
Con: Lack Ecological Validity
Majority Influence (E)
Smith and Bond: Sherif and Asch study are outdated and culturally irelevent.
Ash: Ethical issues and methological issues - not relevant to real life, demand charcteristics.
Group size effects conformity

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Minority Influence (K)

Moscovici: 3things: Consistent, non dogmatic and inline with social trends.
(36slides)
Consistent (8%) Not consistent (1.25%)
Study strongly suggests minorites should be consistant to event on influence.
Perez: Social cryptomnesia (dissociation model)
-Minorites raide on idea, it it is discussed then you forget the source.
Kelley: Covariation attribution
- People experience 'dispositional attribution' they belive minority people express their own veiws and not those of others which makes them powerful.

Latane:
Social impact therory
A Persons ability to talk you round; strength, status, consitency. A minority influence would occur when numbers are low but the people saying the message has high social status and consistancy.

Turner:
Ingrational Influence:
Fitting into a group to seek membership.
Self catergrisation - in and out group

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Minority Influence (A+E)

(A)Moscovici: 36slides
Clark: 12 angry men
Study1. counter evidence was only sometimes given and information given by minorites is important.
Study2: Amount of counter evidence varied.
Supports veiw that minorites can influence people to change their veiws by changing their behaviour
Suffragettes: Consistent protest - Equal voting rights

(E)
Clarke
Pro: ethically acceptable, shows how research into social psychology has changed of last 30years, can be related to real life, supports the idea of minority influence.
Con: Lacks ecological validity, deception, demand characteristics.

Moscovici:
Pro: Shows minoriry influence
Con: Lacks ecological validity, deception, demand charcteristics

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OBEDIENCE

Definition: responce to a direct order: dissent, defience - refusal to obey, anti conformity - People who deliberaty avoid conformity.
(K)
Milgram - Agency Theroy: We are all agents of other people and therefore are not ultimatley responsible.
-Buffers; something in the way of action and consequence.
-Sociocultural explanations: Learn to obey those in authority
-Fear of punishment
(A) Milgram: Teacher learner study 150v-450v.
300V - Silent no responce
65% went to 450v
Variations; seedy office setting participant closer to confederate, someone else pressing lever.

Hofling: Nurse study: Feild experiment in a hospital:
Nurses asked to issue lethal dose of astroten. (Broke hospital regulations, twise dosage, no orders allowed over phone)
21/22 obeyed
19/22 Quit after

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A Continued and E of Obedience

(A)
Bussman: Female uniform 70% smart 50%
Bickman; asks participants to pick up litter, uniform 92% obeyed, in street clothes 49%

Zimbardo: Stamford prision study
Prisonors/guards: 2weeks called off after 6days due to participants beliving there roles.

(E)
Milgram: Pros: shows obedience to authority, proved psychologists wrong
Cons: Unethical (Deception: Baurmind - gives psychology a bad name)
Lacks EV, demand characteristics.

Hofling: Pros: Ecologically valid and shows obedience
Cons: Unethical, deception, protection of participants.
Rank and Jacobson: Lack of knowledge of astroten and had no oppertunity to seek advise. Replicated with valium: 2/18

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Independent Behaviour

Takes place when an individual does not respond to a group norms, although they can see how others are behaving they do not pay attention to this and are not influenced by this.
Anti Conformity: people who deliberatly avoid conforming.

(K)
Asch- Independence based on confidence, accompained by withdrawral, and tension and doubt.
Individuation- remind people of there identity (Maslach)

When participants are remined of their behaviour and what they are responsible for obedience declines (Hamiltion et al)

Kohleberg:Those who have more advance moral reasoning with not obey.
Smith and Mackel: Explained dissent, importance of a group with shared veiws e.g. Gamsons study, strong group identity, objected agaisnt authority.
Reactence: When someone tries to limit your veiw e.g. in gamsons study participants had sufficient time to study their actions.
Systematic processing: When people have time to think about what is going on.

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Independent Behaviour (A)

Gamson: what leads to rebellion and dissent?
Holiday inn, consultation company disscusses with particpant with a particular life style should have been fired, participant veiws are told to be irrelevent and company asked them to sign a consent form saying the film would be used in court. 33Groups tested 32 rebelled in one way or another. 25/33 Refused to sign and 9 Threatened legal action

Oliner and Oliner: 2 groups of non jewish people. (Holecaust) 406 helped protect and rescue 126 hadnt. Rescuers - high measures of social responsability and had a high internal locus of control. Dissent in milgrams study was down to the above.

(E)
Gamson: Pros: Had high level of realism. Participant behaviour was likley to be free of demand characteristics.
Cons: Difficult to seperate the factors that led to disobedience, ethical issues, deception, stress.

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Social Change

Occurs when society embraces new behaviours and beliefs. The term given to the range of strategies used by groups to improve their social status.

Implications of social change;
Can be positive and negative
When minorites attract enough attention they become majorites.
Kruglonski: Argued that terrorism is an example of social change, minorites use their veiw to persuade others.

Social change;
Rebellious role models can change their behaviour, reversal of gradual commitment - Zimbardo: people give gradual commitment, initally saying yes to small things getting bigger, obedience is increase. The opposite is also true

Nemeth and Chiles: Proposed that by exposing individuals to models of independent behaviour can make people becoome more independent in their own lives.

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Comments

Kazveen Aamer

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this is really good, apart from one thing, too many spelling mistakes... at some points i cannot understand what is written.... sorry

but apart from that its good =)

Syma

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It's really good but iI would like it to have more colour :]

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