Explaining Serial Killer-Steven Wright
Steven wright In 2006, Steve Wright brutally murdered five prostitutes in a spate of killings that shocked the nation and saw him dubbed the Ipswich Ripper/Suffolk Strangler, Wright holds the dubious record of carrying out the highest number of murders in the shortest span of time. But how did a seemingly ordinary man who lived an ordinary life become a prolific serial killer virtually overnight? Perhaps it’s not that serial killers are made but that the majority of us are unmade by good parenting and socialisation. What remains behind is incompletely-socialised beings with the capacity to attack and kill, grafted into sexual impulse or aggression over time. This brings us to the first aspect to explaining behaviour – Social learning theory Refers to learning through observation, imitation and reinforcement. Many serial killers are victims of abuse and family dysfunction, emotionally distant or absent parents. Steve himself falls into this category Eg: Social learning Case I: Richard the Night Stalker Ramirez from El Paso, Texas. Found guilty of murdering 13 people in San Francisco and Los Angeles, Ramirez had a disturbed childhood, enduring brutal beatings by his father. Eg: Serial killer duo Ottis Toole and Henry Lee Lucas, who were believed to have murdered hundreds of people, were both victims of physical and psychological abuse. Specifically, they were
Classical and Operant Conditioning
Describe and Evaluate One Therapy Based on Classical Conditioning and One Therapy Based on Operant Conditioning. Behavioural therapies emerged in the 1950s. The main assumption of the behavioural view is that abnormal behaviour is acquired in the same way as normal behaviour, through the principles of Classical and Operant Conditioning. Behavioural therapy is usually targets at specific, well-delineated anxiety disorders such as phobias and compulsions. One therapy that is used through Classical Conditioning is Systematic Desensitisation. Classical Conditioning is learning that occurs through association. Systematic Desensitisation is used for people with phobias as it de-conditions phobias using relaxation and gradual contact. Individuals might learn that their feared stimulus was not so fearful after all if they could only re-experience the feared stimulus - but the anxiety it creates blocks such recovery. This is overcome by introducing the feared stimulus gradually. In this type of behavioural therapy, based on the principle of counter-conditioning, a fearful person imagines a series of progressively more fearsome situations while he or she is deeply relaxed. The responses of relaxation and fear are incompatible, and the fear is eventually dispelled. The use of Systematic Desensitisation was first developed by Wolpe in the 1950s. Systematic Desensitisation enables
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
Personal Identity
Marisa Lourdez Philosophy Personal Identity There are several questions that have puzzled the human mind throughout our life spam. Therefore, as a person grows and develops cognitive thinking and reasoning. One's begins to create more complex and fundamental questions that would aid us to understand who we are and who we will become. Consequently, at a young age we begin to explore the most fundamental question of all, those of identity and reality. Personal identity theory is the philosophical confrontation with the most ultimate questions of our own existence: who are we, and is there a life after death? In distinguishing those changes in a person that constitute survival from those changes in a person that constitute death, a criterion of personal identity through time is given. Such a criterion specifies, insofar as that is possible, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the survival of persons. If a survey was conducted with random people of random ages based on the question of what is personal identity? Most certainty a frequent response would be that personal identity is those qualities and characteristics that make us who we are or our psychological and physical aspects that separates us from others. In view of the fact, that there isn’t an specific answer to solve such puzzle of which of the two mentioned aspects of a human being is more important to
Why cant one approach explain all human behaviour?
Why can’t one approach explain all human behaviour? Freud’s’ theory of development based on the psychosexual stages proposes that adult behaviour is a direct consequence of how well individuals get through the stage sequence. The stages follow a child’s development when an erogenous zone becomes their focus in accordance with their age and these include the mouth (breast feeding), anus (potty training), genitalia (recognition of different sexes) and the phallic (genitalia) stage where the Oedipus/Electra complex results in a child identifying with the same sex parent. Freud theorised that in order to have a normal personality as an adult the stages must be satisfactorily passed without fixation by overindulgence or frustration as this would result in undesirable characteristics such as vanity. For example if a man appears too uptight and stingy this could be a result of anal retention because he gains pleasure from controlling as and when he goes to the toilet. Freud believed that the id, ego and super-ego are parts of our psyche that develop during the psychosexual stages and are an ever changing dynamic that interact to influence our behaviours. The id is our innate unconscious that thrives on the “pleasure principle” without societal restraints; it wants to be satisfied right now regardless of the consequences. The ego develops between the ages of 2-3
Level 2 Counselling skills. Theories -CBT, Psychodynamic and Person Centred.
UNIT 3 – ASSESSMENT 6 – RESEARCH PROJECT CHARMIAN BELLINGHAM PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY Freud is one of the most influential psychologists ever. His theories radically altered the way that people understand the mind and behaviour, and the therapy he developed for psychological problems was the first to be based on the idea that you could help people just by talking. He was the founder of psychoanalysis and one of the best-known figures in psychology. If Freud represents your layperson's idea of psychology, then you probably have an image of a patient lying on a couch talking about their deepest and darkest secrets. Psychodynamic psychology ignores the trappings of science and instead focuses on trying to get 'inside the head' of individuals in order to make sense of their relationships, experiences and how they see the world. The psychodynamic approach includes all the theories in psychology that see human functioning based upon the interaction of drives and forces within the person, particularly unconscious, and between the different structures of the personality. Freud believed that we are aware of very little that goes on in our unconscious minds. Most of our thoughts, feelings and many of our memories are locked away in the unconscious. We don’t know they are there, but they have a huge impact on what we say and do. In other words, any of our actions may
Case Study for psychology. The boy who couldnt stop washing
Case Study – The boy who couldn’t stop washing At school, Charles had been an enthusiastic student with particular abilities in chemistry and biology. He was a very easy going boy with a friendly and playful disposition. There had been talk of him pursuing a medical career. However, at about the age of 12, he had started to wash compulsively. There appeared to be no reason why this behaviour started, but washing took up more and more of his time each day. He tried to keep his obsessive compulsive symptoms under control during the time he was at school. However, over months, his resistance weakened and his OCD became so severe that his time – consuming rituals took over his life. Charles was forced to leave school because he was spending so much of the day washing. His washing ritual always followed the same deliberate pattern. He would hold the soap under the water spray for one minute in his right hand and then out of the water for one minute in his left hand, He would repeat this for at least one hour. After washing for about three hours, Charles would spend about two hours getting dressed. Charles mother discouraged his strange washing rituals, but later, not wanting to see his misery ‘helped’ him by obsessively cleaning items in the house with alcohol and stopped people from entering in the house with their ‘germs’. Charles father could not
Discuss the behavioural approach to explaining psychological abnormality. (12 marks) Updated
Discuss the behavioural approach to explaining psychological abnormality. (12 marks) The behavioural approach believes that all mental disorders are learned through experience. Classical and operant conditioning plus social learning theory can explain the formation of maladaptive behaviours known as abnormal behaviour. For instance with operant conditioning if a person is rewarded with attention for displaying depressive behaviour then they will repeat the behaviour. Anorexia can be seen as being caused by people observing and imitating super-thin role models presented in a positive light by the media. This is a social learning theory explanation. Behaviourists believe the mind is an unnecessary concept and so therefore there is no such thing as mental disorders or mental illnesses, only abnormal behaviours. Also if abnormal behaviours are learned, then they can be unlearned and it is this idea that underpins behavioural treatments. Behaviourism is very good at explaining disorders that do have an environmental component, for instance a lot of phobias are learned through experience. However, there are also a lot of mental conditions, such as schizophrenia, which cannot be explained in this way. Thoughts and emotions have been shown to be involved in a lot of mental disorders and yet behaviourism doesn’t even acknowledge their
Discuss psychological therapies for obsessive compulsive disorder
Discuss psychological therapies for obsessive compulsive disorder (8+16 marks) One behavioral therapy is Exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy. The behavioral approach assumes that obsessions and compulsions are learned through conditioning and therefore for patients to recover they must unlearn these behaviors. ERP provides opportunities for re-conditioning the compulsions and obsessions the patient has learnt. Firstly the psychiatrist constructs a list of compulsions and obsessions using Y-BOCS and then is ranked by the patient from least to most anxiety provoking circumstances. The psychiatrist moves up the rank, enabling the patient to experience the feared stimulus and then learns to associate the stimulus with relaxation, until the anxiety subsides (habituation). The second step is response prevention, where the patient is prohibited from engaging in a compulsive behaviour. This enables the patients to see that anxiety subsides even when the compulsive ritual is not performed, allowing the person to unlearn the compulsive acts. Research has supported the effectiveness of ERP in treating patients with OCD. For example, an investigation by Albucher et al (1998) showed that between 60 and 90% of patients who suffered with OCD improved considerably using ERP. Furthermore Foa and Kozak (1996) support Albucher’s claims, as their research demonstrated that ERP
Accurately describe the four definitions of abnormality we have covered, include two weaknesses and two strengths for each definition.
Accurately describe the four definitions of abnormality we have covered, include two weaknesses and two strengths for each definition. Which definition do you think is most appropriate? Support your answer. ________________ Abnormal behaviour can be difficult to identify; attempts have been made to recognise what characteristics or features define abnormality. Each definition describes to us what we should be looking for to draw a line between normal and abnormal; but each definition also has limitations. This shows us that it isn’t as simple as ticking boxes and classing someone as abnormal; there are many things to consider before any diagnosis can be considered. Statistical infrequency. This method of defining abnormality can be really useful in terms of showing us what is different or infrequent about a person’s behaviour. For example, if a child has not started walking by the age of 18 months, this may be considered as abnormal and undesirable, which would trigger offers of support and possible treatment. If someone were to have a particularly low I.Q, then this person would be identified as having learning difficulties, receiving help and support to bring out their potential. Both of the two examples show us how practical and beneficial this definition can be; but if you look at the examples in a different light, it is clear to see the flaws of using statistical
