Describe and Discuss the psychodynamic explanation of behaviour
Describe and Discuss the psychodynamic explanation of behaviour(10marks) Sigmund Freud was the key pioneer of the psychodynamic perspective. The psychodynamic explanation of behaviour looks at the approach that all human behaviour can be explained in terms of inner conflict of the mind. The structure of the mind is the conscious and the unconscious. The unconscious is the part of our mental life we are unaware of while the conscious is the part we are aware of. A key assumption of the psychodynamic approach is that the unconscious mind determines behaviour although we are unaware of it. The conscious mind we are aware of and also determines behaviour. Another key assumption is that our personality is divided into id, ego and super ego. Id is the part of us that wants immediate gratification and pleasure- connected to sex instinct (unconscious level). It is the personality construct we are born with and operates on the pleasure principle. The id is kept in check with the ego (conscious) which determines the most satisfying outcome. The super ego is the part of us that is most like our conscious. The ego is the reality principle which balances the drives of the id. The id uses defence mechanisms, such as, denial, to cope with anxiety caused by conflict of id and super ego. Another key assumption is that we develop through five psychosexual stages through birth to
Outline and evaluate one psychodynamic explanation of personality development
Outline and evaluate one psychodynamic explanation of personality development Freud's psychodynamic model of personality development focuses on what drives us to behave in particular ways. It is primarily concerned with the role of past experiences, particularly those from childhood, and internal processes such as innate drives. Freud believed that the mind was split into three conflicting parts: the id, the ego and the superego. He described the id as being innate, unconscious and concerned with immediate gratification of needs or desires (the pleasure principle). The ego is conscious and operates on the reality principle, which balances the desires of the id with social restrictions by turning such desires into socially acceptable desires, or blocks them out completely. The superego does not develop until about the age of five, and is described as the internalised voice of the child's parents. It consists of two parts: the conscience and the ego ideal. The conscience reflects the image of what the person would like to be, and rewards matching behaviours, and the ego ideal is what the person feels like they ought to be, punishing the person by making them feel guilty should they deviate from their moral path. Freud outlined three different personality types which derived from one of the three components of the psyche being more dominant than the other two. People with a
Outline and Evaluate One Biological and One Psychological Explanation of Schizophrenia
Outline and Evaluate One Biological and One Psychological Explanation of Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterised by 'abnormal' thought processes, psychomotor problems, lack of motivation, and disturbance of affect. As a syndrome there are a variety of symptoms that fall under these categories, although they will not all be displayed in one individual. It is thought that it may be incorrect to label schizophrenia as one disorder, as it is believed to in fact be a series of separate disorders that have been placed under this overarching diagnosis. Currently there is no one explanation that can completely explain why the development of schizophrenia happens, however there are many approaches from both biological and psychological areas that attempt to explain the aetiology. One of the biological theories of schizophrenia is the Dopamine Hypothesis. This is a biochemical explanation that suggests the disorder is caused by an excess of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. The main evidence for this has come from studies on both living and post-mortem brains of sufferers from schizophrenia, and also from observations made during drug therapies. This theory acts as one explanation of how the genetic theory may work, in that certain genes that are inherited could cause an increase in dopamine production or receptor density. Originally, studies of the
Psychological Explanations for Schizophrenia
Psychological explanations Biological factors alone cannot account for the origin and maintenance of schizophrenia and therefore psychological explanations look at other important contributory factors shown through psychodynamic views, family models and cognitive models. According to one psychodynamic view, schizophrenia arises from the inability to test reality for instance, draw up logical conclusions and to be able to distinguish between the internal and external world. It is also said that childhood experiences can then lead to the unconscious conflict within the ego, id and super-ego which can contribute to schizophrenia. Although this approach provides us with an alternative explanation to schizophrenia, it is very weak. This is a retrospective approach to studying schizophrenia which means overtime memory fades and therefore reports back to childhood cannot be completely reliable. Also by being a retrospective approach it overemphasises childhood. Childhood may have a large impact on schizophrenia but what it fails to consider is recent events. For instance, the Diathesis-Stress Model suggests that schizophrenia can occur due to stressful life events that could trigger psychotic symptoms. Perhaps recent events that cause stress are a more important factor rather than childhood. Lastly, the approach focuses on the unconscious which is difficult to falsify
Schizophrenia. This essay shall discuss the various theoretical causes of schizophrenia including; biological explanations such as genetics and chemicals in the brain, Freud`s psychodynamic explanations of the illness, and the family relationships that ca
Schizophrenia is a mental illness in which an individual is unable to differentiate between fantasy and reality. This essay shall discuss the various theoretical causes of schizophrenia including; biological explanations such as genetics and chemicals in the brain, Freud`s psychodynamic explanations of the illness, and the family relationships that can worsen, or perhaps even cause schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is quite a serious illness that affects about one per cent of the general population at some point in their lives, and may exhibit itself through a variety of symptoms. Around eighty per cent of people with the illness display 'positive' symptoms such as: delusions, hallucinations and disordered thinking; while the remaining twenty per cent suffer 'negative' symptoms such as: catatonic behaviour, loss of drive, and flattening of affect. There has been a lot of research undertaken in to how our biology may cause us to develop schizophrenia, and it is now quite widely accepted that an individual's genetic makeup may cause them to development schizophrenia, as the illness does have the tendency to run in families. Studies have shown that the more closely one is related to someone who already has the illness, the greater the risk of them also becoming ill. Non-identical (dizygotic) twins, who share fifty per cent of their DNA, have a seventeen per cent risk factor if their
Describe & evaluate explanations of schizophrenia (1 bioloigcal & 1 psychological).
SCHIZOPHRENIA DESCRIBE & EVALUATE EXPLANATIONS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA (1 BIOLOIGCAL & 1 PSYCHOLOGICAL). One explanation of schizophrenia is genetics. Gottesman (1991) summarized about 40 twin studies; the concordance rate was 48% for monozygotic twins, and 17% concordance for dizygotic twins. This suggests that there is a link between genes and schizophrenia, but this does not apply to the whole population, as twins are not typical of the general population. Twin studies only take very small sample sizes. Also the twins share the same environment, which could also be the reason why both twins develop schizophrenia. Gottesman also reviewed concordance rates in family studies. If both your parents have schizophrenia, then you have a 46% chance of developing schizophrenia as well, if one parent has schizophrenia it is 16%, if a sibling has it then the concordance rate is 8% and the concordance rate is 1% for a random individual. This suggests that the stronger the genetic link the greater the chance that you will get schizophrenia. However, the fact that family members who are more similar genetically tend to spend more time together means that environmental factors are also indicated in this evidence. The concept that genetic factors are important in producing schizophrenia is supported by adoption studies. Tienari (1991) managed to find 155 schizophrenic mothers who had given up
DISTINGUISH BETWEEN PSYCHODYNAMIC AND SOCIAL LEARNING APPROACHES TO THE EXPLANATION OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
DISTINGUISH BETWEEN PSYCHODYNAMIC AND SOCIAL LEARNING APPROACHES TO THE EXPLANATION OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT What is personality development? "Psychologists define personality in many ways, but common to all of the ways are two basic concepts, uniqueness and characteristic patterns of behaviour. We will define personality as the complex set of unique psychological qualities that influence an individuals characteristic patterns of behaviour across different situations and over time." (Psychology In Life, Phillip .G. Zimbardo, page 509) The psychodynamic approach: " Psychodynamic refers to any approach that emphasises the process of change and development, and moreover any theory that deals with the dynamics of behaviour (the things that drive us to behave in particular ways). " The psychodynamic approach focuses on the role of internal processes (such as motivation) and of past experience shaping personality." (PSYCHOLOGY FOR A2 LEVEL, MICHAEL W. EYSENCK, page 475) Sigmund Freud developed a theory to explain psychoanalytic or psychodynamic theory he was the founder and practised as a psychotherapist and much of his work comes from self-analysis. Freud's work suggests that early experiences determine adult personality; he identified five stages within the first five years of life. Freud believed that personality consisted of three main elements, The Id: Basic
Discuss the biological explanation for schizophrenia taking in to account genetics and brain structure
Discuss the biological explanation for schizophrenia taking in to account genetics and brain structure Schizophrenia is a complex illness that affects people’s moods, feelings, perceptions, thoughts, behaviour and ability to communicate. Sufferers are usually withdrawn and prefer to be left alone and are not especially prone to violence. One biological explanation involves genetics to describe how schizophrenia occurs. This theory relies on twin studies, family studies and adoption studies to provide support for their opinions. Gottesman et al (1987) constructed a family study to investigate the genetic component of schizophrenia. The results showed that for closer relations, there was a higher concordance rate. This concludes that genetic factors do play a moderate role in family patterns of schizophrenia. Gottesman also reported that in twins, the concordance rate for monozygotic twins, the concordance rate was 46%, whereas the concordance rate for dizygotic twins was only 17%. Rosenthal (1963) also found a case of female schizophrenic quadruplets. This makes the evidence for a genetic basis for schizophrenia stronger. However, they only looked at three studies, which is still a very small number. We cannot base our opinions on concordance rates because they suggest that there are other factors that influence schizophrenia, therefore it can be considered quite vague.
Outline and evaluate one or more psychological exlpanations for Schizophrenia
Outline and evaluate one or more psychological exlpanations for Schizophrenia. One psychological explanation for Schizophrenia (Sz) is the cognitive model. Sz according to the cognitive model suggests that faulty thought processes are linked to many schizophrenic symptoms, such as hallucinations and disordered thinking, which suggest a cognitive input. This explanation acknowledges the role of biological factors in causing the initial sensory experiences of Sz. The cognitive viewpoint is that maladaptive thinking is strongly linked to Sz and many of its symptoms such as hallucinations. A particular focus of interest has been the role of attention with the possibility that Schizophrenics cannot filter out irrelevant sensory information and so are bombarded with data that they cannot interpret meaningfully and therefore experience a different sensory world from that of others. Frith (1992) claimed that the filter between the conscious and the preconscious are faulty and so unimportant information gets into our conscious awareness and Schizophrenics feel they have to pay attention to it because it is important. Frith believes that auditory hallucinations come from being bombarded from sounds both verbal and non verbal and he believes that the preconscious mechanisms test out various hypotheses before a final interpretation is passed to the conscious awareness. Frith believes
Psychology questions - Evaluate the models of explanation of mental disorders.
Psychology Test 5: . Give examples to distinguish between cognitive and behavioral models (use treatment for a condition to explain). (3 marks) Ans) The cognitive model is a reaction to the behavioral approach. The basic assumption of this approach is that abnormal behavior is caused due to faulty thinking processes. The cognitive model is based on the idea that faulty thinking causes faulty behavior and that negative thoughts lead to irrational beliefs and illogical errors. For example, cognitive treatments for depression try to restructure the faulty cognitions which are the assumption of the cognitive theory about depression. The aim of this therapy is to restructure thoughts from illogical thinking to rational thinking. The behaviorists have a deterministic view of mental disorders. The two basic assumptions of the behaviorist model are that all behavior, including maladaptive behavior, is learnt and what is learnt can be unlearnt. For example, behaviorist treatments for depression are based on the assumption that depressed behaviors are learnt and so can also be unlearnt. The treatment teaches patients by reinforcing them for non-depressive behaviors. 2. Define mood disorders. (3 marks) Ans) Mood disorders are characterized by marked disturbances in emotional state, which affect thinking, physical symptoms, social relationships, and behavior. Mood disorders include
