Developed by Freud (1856-1939) and others through clinical work with mentally disordered patients. Challenged the biomedical view. The psychodynamic approach views abnormal behaviour as caused by unconscious, underlying psychological forces.

• The model is based on Freud’s division of personality into the id, ego and superego.
• It also uses his stages of development - the oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital stages.
• The model suggests that conflict and anxiety may occur during childhood because the ego is not yet developed enough to deal with the id’s desires, understand real-world issues or cope with the superego’s moral demands (e.g. knowing right from wrong)
• Psychological disorders may also come from conflict or anxiety which happens in a certain stage of development. For example, during the anal stage, conflict may occur during potty training.
• Anxiety from the conflicts is repressed into the unconscious mind. Stress or trauma in adulthood may ‘trigger’ the repressed conflicts, leading to psychological disorders.

Treatment - psychoanalysis

Freud introduced psychoanalysis as a treatment in the early twentieth century. It’s aim was to allow the patient to access repressed thoughts and unconscious conflicts - Freud called this ‘insight’. Patients were encouraged to deal with the conflicts. Freud recognised that this process would be painful and cause anxiety, and that people would be resistant at first. However, patients were encouraged to focus on the feelings that the repressed thoughts brought about.

Freud used 3 psychoanalytic techniques to uncover his patients’ repressed thoughts:

Hypnosis - an altered mental state, involving deep relaxation. Freud believed that people could access repressed thoughts whilst in this state. He gradually lost interest in the technique for two main reason - he found it difficult to hypnotise people, and also found that people became very suggestible when hypnotised.

Free association - In free association, the patient is given a cue word and is asked to say any ideas or memories that come into their mind. Freud believed that by doing this, repressed thoughts would eventually emerge, giving an insight into the unconscious problems causing abnormal behaviour.

Dream analysis - It was thought that a certain part of the mind keeps repressed thoughts in this unconscious and that this part is less active during sleep. Therefore, Freud believed that repressed thoughts are likely to appear in dreams.

Advantages

• It is a unique approach to abnormality, suggesting that disorders may be linked to unresolved conflicts related to biological needs.
• It offers methods of therapy which may also uncover unconscious conflicts. The client can then understand the causes of their problems and so resolve them and release their anxieties.
• It was the first theory to focus on psychological causes of disorders. Before this, the focus had been on physical causes or things like possession by evil spirits.

Disadvantages

• Freud’s claims are based on his subjective interpretations of his patients dreams, etc. Therefore they’re hard to scientifically test and so can’t be proved right or wrong.
• Psychoanalysis may take a long time and so be very expensive. The childhood conflicts that are ‘uncovered’ may be emotionally distressing and possibly inaccurate, depending on the reliability of the patient’s memory, the techniques used to uncover them and the analyst’s interpretations.
• The focus is on the patients past, rather than on the problems that they are currently suffering.

6:28 am  •  7 June 2011  •  6 notes

Regards abnormality of mental functioning as an illness or disease - mental disorders are thought to be related to the physical structure and functioning of the brain. Some mental disorders are thought to be due to things like alcohol poisoning or drug abuse that result in anatomical deterioration. The medical model believes that all mental disorders have an underlying physical cause.

Brain damage
Abnormal behaviour may occur if the structure of the brain is damaged in some way. Mental disorders caused by disease or brain damage are often irreversible e.g. alzheimers disease.

Infection
e.g. syphilis is the cause of deterioration in specific regions of the brain resulting in symptoms of a mental illness known as ‘general paresis’. Symptoms were:

• delusions of grandeur, such as believing that you are God
• delusions of persecution, believing that everyone is plotting against you.
• bizarre, irrational behaviours

Biochemistry
Neurotransmitters (chemicals that transmit nerve impulses from one nerve cell to the next) are thought to be out of balance in the nervous systems of individuals with certain psychological disorders.
e.g. schizophrenia has been associated with an excess of the neurotransmitter ‘dopamine’, and depression with decreased availability of serotonin.

Hormones (chemical messengers released by the endocrine system) have also been implicated in the origins of some mental disorders.
e.g. people with depression are often found to have higher than normal levels of the hormone ‘cortisol’. These chemical changes may be due to infections, life stress or a genetic defect.

Genes
Some people may be genetically at risk of developing a mental disorder. So far the only strong evidence relates to conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar depression. It has been demonstrated, for example, that a first-degree relative (e.g. son, daughter) has a 10% change of developing schizophrenia. There is no research that directly proves that mental disorders run through families.

Treatment
Mental problems in the medical model are viewed as physical illnesses so they are given physical treatment.

Drug therapy
To treat chemical imbalances, drugs range from minor tranquilisers (for anxiety disorders) to anti depressants, through major tranquilisers (for severe psychotic disorders like schizophrenia)
These drugs have been found to be effective in relieving the symptoms of mental disorders in many people.

Electro-convulsive therapy
Passing a high current through the brain for approx. half a second. Induces convulsions that last approx. one minute.
Used mainly for people with depression and can be an effective short-term treatment. Approx. 60% of patients will become depressed again within a year.

Psychosurgery
Involves removal of brain tissue and the effects are irreversible. Rarely used and only offered as a last resort. 

6:00 am  •  7 June 2011  •  3 notes

Abnormality - psychopathology
Definitions of abnormality

Deviation from social norms
It is a violation of acceptable patterns of social norms, e.g. something that may be considered emotionally inappropriate and an unacceptable form of behaviour, for example, a person with schizophrenia may laugh at a funeral. However, different cultures have different social norms. (Dress code, general etiquette, laws, queuing etc)

Limitations
DSN is not always evidence for psychopathology, the behaviour needs to be put into context.
People use DSN as a political weapon - control
Changes over time, womens rights, etc
The legal system - assumes that people have control over their own behaviour
Cultural relativity - psychopathology varies from culture to culture.

Failure to function adequately
If a person is unable to live a ‘normal’ life.
Focuses on everyday behaviour. Cannot support themselves (e.g. wash, leave the house, keep a job) Can’t cope with life, viscous cycle - depression. Much more of a sign of psychopathology.
Ronenhan and Seligman, 1989 suggested characteristics related to this condition.

• Dysfunctional behaviour (maladaptive) - behaviour that interferes with a persons ability to live a normal life. e.g. alcoholism, dug addicts, agrophobics.
• Personal distress - sometimes a sign of psychopathology. Normal response to certain things/a stressful situation - only if it becomes extreme will it ‘maybe’ turn to something more.
• Observer discomfort - another persons behaviour is causing you discomfort/embarrassment - could be a perception problem
• Unpredictability - sudden changes in behaviour. Could be a sign of FFA. You cannot predict how they will react to a situation - over reaction/exaggeration/aggression etc - Abnormal/uncontrolled behaviour. Could be bipolar, brain tumor, undiagnosed, alzheimers. Abnormal behaviour could be a sign of something serious..
• Irrational behaviour - behaviour that doesn’t make sense. Confusing behaviour - could be associated with schizophrenia.

Limitations
Dependent on context - behaviour has to be in the context of the situation. e.g. starving self - could be a prisoner doing it for a reason, could be anorexia - mental condition.
May not be linked to a psychopathology, could be a physical illness.
Opposite applies - could be suffering from a psychopathology - depression, OCD, schizophrenia, anxiety, phobias
Cultural dimensions - culture could dictate that they cannot function adequately.

Deviation from ideal mental health, Jahoda 1958
Behaviour of the individual is affecting their mental well-being. Does not mean abnormality. e.g. someone who has lost a relative would be distressed - but that is not abnormal. Tries to define normality (so according to Jahoda, if you deviate from IMH you are abnormal)

Characteristics for IMH

• Positive view of self - self aware, high self esteem, self acceptance
• Personal growth - able to develop talents and abilities
• Autonomy - act independently/make your own decisions
• Accurate view of reality - you see the world for what it is. No ‘distortions’
• Positive relationships - able to form close relationships
• Environment mastery - meeting the demands of situations and being able to adapt to change

Limitations
Characteristics have western roots, cannot be generalised to all societies. Cultural bias.
Nobody can match all of the criteria - peoples views are not consistent enough
Unclear how far a person could deviate from IMH before being abnormal. 

5:44 am  •  7 June 2011  •  1 note

Locus of control - Refers to the sense of control people have over the successes, failures and events in their lives.

High internal locus of control - you largely feel that your own actions and choices are your own responsibility

High external locus of control - the actions are from outside your control (e.g. fate, luck)

Rotter, 1966

5:24 am  •  7 June 2011

In 2000, psychologists identified 3 factors that they believe may have led to disobedience.

• The importance of a group - establishing a strong group identity. Higher status members leading the lower status members.
• Reactance - rebelling against ‘controlled’ behaviour
• Systematic processing - people are more likely to rebel if they are given time to think about the instructions

5:22 am  •  7 June 2011  •  2 notes

How do people resist conformity?

The role of situational factors in disobedience.
Gamson et al, 1982
Set out to explore the factors that led to a rebellion and disobedience in an ingenius study.

• Situation set up where participants were encouraged to rebel against an unjust authority.
• Advert in local paper for volunteers (discussion on standards of behaviour in the community)
• Put into groups of 9
• Met by consultant of a fictitious human relations company
• Told that they were conducting research for an oil company taking legal action against a petrol station manager
• The manager has been sacked because his lifestyle is offensive to the local community. He said he’s been sacked because he spoke out on TV about high petrol prices.
• Group discussion about sacking was filmed
• It becomes apparent that the ppts own views are irrelevant. The HR company just wanted them to argue in favour of the sacking.
• Every so often the camera stopped filming and they were asked to argue in favour of the oil company’s decision to sack the manager (stirring up the group)
• They were asked to sign a consent form allowing the film to be used in the court case.

Findings

Of the 33 groups tested, 32 rebelled at some point during the group discussion. 25 groups - the majority of members refused to sign the consent form. 9 groups threatened legal action against the HR company.

Rebellion against authority in this context involved challenging teo established social norms:

• Norm of obedience
• Norm of commitment

Advantages

• High ecological validity
• Low demand characteristics

Disadvantages

• Deceived
• Hard to separate factors that led to disobedience
• Conformity? - group status
• No full informed consent

5:19 am  •  7 June 2011  •  3 notes

Situational factors:

• Legitimate authority - The person who is asking someone to obey is actually of a higher status than them. (Amount of social power held by the person giving instructions)

Do we obey because we trust them or because they have the power to punish us?

Does the authority take responsibility for their actions?

Agency theory:

People will operate in two different ways in social situations

• When they act as autonomous individuals (responsible for their own actions). Autonomy - independence, right to choose.
• In an ‘agentic state’ - they see themselves as an agent/subordinate - carrying out orders of others. They do not feel personally responsible for their actions.

‘Agentic shift’ is when you’ve gone from being autonomous to being an agent.

5:40 pm  •  6 June 2011  •  7 notes

Hofling, 1966. Took place in a hospital.

Fake doctor (Dr. Smith) phones 22 nurses who were working alone on a ward in different hospitals. No real Dr Smith existed. Nurses were instructed to check the drug cupboard for a drug called ‘Astroten’, when they had done this, they were ordered to administer 20mg to a patient on the ward. This order broke several hospital rules:

1. Not allowed to take orders over the phone, the doctor should come to the ward.
2. Not allowed to take orders from an unknown doctor
3. The dosage was twice the maximum amount indicated on the bottle
4. The drug was fictional - not on the ward list

21 out of the 22 nurses obeyed the order, but were stopped before they could administer the drug.

Bickman, 1974 - Power of a uniform.

Dressed as a security guard in one situation, and in his normal clothes in another. Asked the public to do things (not challenging)

92% complied when he was in a uniform.
49% complied when he was in his normal clothes.

He got a female to do the same experiment, she asked passers by to give change to a motorist.

70% complied when she was in a uniform
58% complied when she was not.

5:29 pm  •  6 June 2011  •  20 notes

Setting of the experiment

Yale university is prestigious - Milgram felt this could have influenced the results. He moved the experiment to a ‘seedy’ office in town and called it ‘Research Associated Ltd.’ - replicated the study exactly. 48% obeyed to 450 volts.

He concluded that it was the actual prestige of the university that influenced the people who obeyed.

Reducing the power of the experimenter

Removed the experimenter from the room - Milgram wondered whether the presence of the experimenter made a difference. Instead, the orders were given over a telephone. 20% obeyed to 450 volts.

He got two teachers (as another way of reducing the power of the experimenter) - one was a confederate who would refuse to continue (as an ally) and 10% obeyed to 450 volts.

The awareness of the learner

Being able to see the victim. Milgrim brought the learner into the same toom as the teacher. The obedience rate dropped.

They were in the same room, in order for the learner to receive the shock, the teacher was instructed to force the learners hand onto the shock plate. Obedience went up to 30%.

5:09 pm  •  6 June 2011  •  1 note

Stanley Milgrim, 1963

Because of the way, he wanted to see how far people would go to obey authority.
Yale university - male volunteers.

Introduced to a middle-aged man who was a confederate but who they assumed was a participant. They were given the roles of teacher and learner - confederate was always learner.

Participants were taken into a room and shown buzzers that gave electric shocks. The learner was asked questions to which they had pre-decided answers, and pre-recorded sounds of screaming.

The teachers were told to continue on with the experiment no matter what, and 65% of them gave the most extreme shock.

Evaluation

Advantages

• Equipment available (lab exp)
• Wide range of social backgrounds
• Results were easy to analyse
• Control over variables
• Repeatable
• High reliability

Disadvantages

• Only male participants
• Demand characteristics
• Low ecological validity
• Lacking external and internal validity
• Some people knew it was a set up

Ethics

• Caused people stress
• Participants were deceived
• They were told they had no choice (right to withdraw)
• Could cause psychological harm
• No full informed consent

5:02 pm  •  6 June 2011  •  12 notes