"Attempts to define abnormality are always limited by cultural differences" Consider how definitions of abnormality may be influenced by cultural differences

"Attempts to define abnormality are always limited by cultural differences" Consider how definitions of abnormality may be influenced by cultural differences Cultural differences are always a problem when defining abnormality. What one would consider completely normal in one culture would be considered abnormal in another, for example the island of Java often set fire to a ball soaked in petrol and then play football with it. Here that would be considered wrong and abnormal but is an everyday occurrence for the people of Java. This concept doesn't only apply to eastern cultures; the English could be defined as abnormal by other cultures definitions, even by other western societies e.g. it would not be considered normal by the Italians to wait at a red light when there are no other cars around as the British often do. The 'Deviation from Social Norms' definition of abnormality is greatly limited by cultural differences, for example in Japan there is a very strong work ethic. Those who do not wish to conform and work hard are labelled insane and confined in asylums. If such behaviour was displayed in England they would not be considered insane, they are only treated in such a way in Japan because they have deviated from that cultures social norm. When using this approach to define abnormality you would first have to consider what is normal behaviour for that particular

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Outline the clinical characteristics of one anxiety disorder

Outline the clinical characteristics of one anxiety disorder (10 Marks) Anxiety is an adaptive response, an individual with an anxiety disorder experiences anxiety that is disproportionate to threats that are presented. Phobias are the most common form of anxiety disorders. Phobias are an extreme irrational fear of certain situations, objects, people or activities; the level of fear is so great the object or situation is avoided whenever possible. Phobias are classified into three categories, specific phobia, social phobia and agoraphobia. Agoraphobia and social phobia usually interfere with the individuals' daily life, whereas specific phobia generally has less impact. Specific phobias are a fear of specific objects such as animals, the environment, a situation or blood and guts. The prevalence is 4-7% of the population. Specific phobias can be caused from direct experience, observation or from being told to fear the object. The clinical characteristic for this is for the individual with the phobia to avoid the feared object. The anxiety from the situation often results in restlessness, jumpy behaviour; in general the individual finds it difficult to relax and may experience a startled response when presented with the feared stimuli. Social phobias are due to the individual's self-consciousness of their behaviour and a fear of being negatively judged by others in social

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Outline and evaluate one or more biological explanations for depression. In your evaluation you should refer to research evidence.

Outline and evaluate one or more biological explanations for depression. In your evaluation you should refer to research evidence. (8 marks + 16 marks) The biological explanations for depression centre on the mood disorder being biologically caused. Genetic factors suggest that you are born with a biological weakness which makes you unable to resist stressors, which consequently leads to depression. This is known as the diathesis stress model. The main piece of research that supports this comes from the Maudsley Hospital twin register, where concordance rates of 46% were found in MZ twins and 20% in DZ twins. This suggest that depression must be passed on through genes if there is a high concordance rate between twins which share the same genetic makeup both having depression. However, biological factors such as the amine hypothesis states that if amines such as serotonin and noradrenalin become unbalanced, they can lead to depression. PET scans support this idea as they show that low levels of serotonin are present in people that are depressed. Other supporting evidence is that drugs such as MAOI's, which work by increasing the available amount of noradrenalin in the brain, were found to be effective in alleviating the symptoms of depression. A problem with this is that it doesn't state whether it is cause or effect. Significant support for the biological explanation

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Describe and evaluate theories of hypnosis

Theories of Hypnosis Describe and evaluate theories of hypnosis (25 marks) Frank Mesmer was an Austrian physicist who believed in magnetism and was one of the first hypnotists. He claimed that illnesses were caused by an imbalance in the body's own magnetic field. A process known as mesmerism came about. Patients would hold on to an iron bar in a dark room and sit around wooden barrels filled with water, ground glass and iron filings. Mesmer would play soft music, wearing a lilac robe and would tap the patients with his bar. They would often suffer convulsions and enter a trance-like-state. Mesmer claimed to be able to cure minor ailments with this method. This may have been true magnetism or the patients could just believe they are feeling the effect but it is due to their own imagination which is known as the placebo. A British physician amputated a man's leg using nothing more than hypnosis. This can be used nowadays to help people quit smoking, lose weight and go through painful dental treatment. Hypnosis is usually carried by asking the patient to stare upwards and focus on a target, and are then made suggestions about relaxation, tiredness and sleepiness. The patient's eyes should naturally close and if not then they are told to close them after 10 minutes. The individuals will sit quietly and show little or no activity unless it is suggested. Post-hypnotic amnesia

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Freuds Psychosexual Stages of Development

Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development Freud advanced a theory of personality development that centred on the effects of the sexual pleasure drive on the individual consciousness. The following five stages are based around the notion that with each stage, the child's libido becomes centred around certain erogenous zones. The Oral Stage The oral stage begins at birth, when the oral cavity is the primary focus of libidal energy. The child, of course, preoccupies himself with nursing, with the pleasure of sucking and accepting things into the mouth. The oral character who is frustrated at this stage, whose mother refused to nurse him on demand or who truncated nursing sessions early, is characterized by pessimism, envy, suspicion and sarcasm. The overindulged oral character, whose nursing urges were always and often excessively satisfied, is optimistic, gullible, and is full of admiration for others around him. The stage finishes at the weaning stage. The stage lasts approximately one and one-half years. The Anal Stage At one and one-half years, the child enters the anal stage. With the advent of toilet training comes the child's obsession with the erogenous zone of the anus and with the retention or expulsion of the faeces. This represents a classic conflict between the id, which derives pleasure from expulsion of bodily wastes, and the ego and superego, which

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Neural mechanisms of eating behaviour

Outline and evaluate the role of neural mechanisms involved in the controlling of eating and satiation Our diet is essential to the maintenance of a constant internal environment- or homeostasis. One of the most obvious signs of homeostasis is that humans need to regulate their body weight within very narrow limits; so in order to do this people have to regulate their eating behaviour and food intake. Psychologists have undergone a lot of research into how we regulate eating behaviour. Early studies have shown that lesions to the Lateral Hypothalamus (LH) resulted in aphagia- failure to eat when hungry. Further evidence such as electrical stimulation of this particular area of the brain has lead researchers to believe that the LH acts as feeding centre in eating behaviour. Ranson et al found that a lesion in the VMH of rats would result in overeating and obesity. They concluded that the VMH was a satiety centre in the brain, its role to inhibit feeding behaviour. This research lead to the formation of the dual centre model of feeding: The first stage in eating behaviour is often characterised by feelings of hunger which prompts feeding to start. It has been suggested that the hormone Ghrelin is a key component in the feeding process and researchers say that increased ghrelin production may result in feelings of hunger. Cummings et al investigated the changes in blood

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Describe what psychologists have learned about environmental disaster and/or technological catastrophe.

Essay on environmental disaster and catastrophe a) Describe what psychologists have learned about environmental disaster and/or technological catastrophe An environmental disaster is a natural disaster that few people will experience in their lifetime. These are relatively infrequent natural events that are the product of natural physical forces governing the earth and atmosphere. A technological catastrophe is a human made disaster, the result of some human error or miscalculation. These events are usually called disasters when there is a substantial degree of destruction and disruption and the events are uncontrollable either because they are natural disasters or because they represent the occasional loss of control over something which humans normally control very well. Psychologists have studied disasters and catastrophes in an attempt to ascertain what characterises a disaster and what the psychological effects of disaster and catastrophe. It has been found that the characteristics of a disaster effect how people react. One important characteristic is the amount of warning available. Fritz & Marks (1954) found that a lack of warning about a disaster can make the consequences worse, however Drabek & Stephenson (1971) found that the effectiveness of repeated warnings of flash floods was undermined by factors such as families being separated at the time of warnings

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Outline and evaluate research into obedience (12)

Outline and evaluate research into obedience (12) In Milgram's original obedience to authority study, his aims were to set up a situation in which single individuals were ordered to act against a stranger in an inhumane way and to see at what point they would refuse to obey the order. Milgram advertised for male volunteers by placing an advert in a local paper, which offered $4.50 as payment for taking part in a study of 'punishment and learning'. 40 respondents from a range of backgrounds were selected and were told to attend the laboratory in Yale University. They were greeted by the experimenter, and were introduced to a 'supposedly' participant, Mr Wallace, but actually he was a confederate. They were both experienced to a role-assignment but it was rigged so that the real participant was the teacher. The experimenter explained to the teacher that it was his job to teach the learner a series of word pairs and then test their recall. If an error was made in the answer, an electric shock was made, starting from 15V working upwards each time. As the shocks became higher, the learner screamed and became more dramatic, and complained of a weak heart at around 180V. The participants showed signs of extreme tension, even showing nervous laughing fits, but they were still told to 'please go on' even though they didn't want to continue. Along side that, when the teacher refused

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Describe and evaluate psychological research into conformity and obedience in humans, and consider ways in which this research can be applied to real life.

Joleen Moret 25th November 2002 Access to H.E. Psychology Coursework Describe and evaluate psychological research into conformity and obedience in humans, and consider ways in which this research can be applied to real life. Conformity is a change in behaviour or beliefs as a result of real or imagined group pressure; the feeling that others are putting pressure on us to change our beliefs or behaviour. Asch (1956) compiled a study to see how many subjects would conform and give an incorrect answer to a simple unambiguous task. Apart from one naïve participant, all other members of the group were confederates of the experimenter. The group were sat around a table and asked what line (with a choice of three) matches the single line in a box. The lines were easy to distinguish and if tested on their own, observers made few if any errors. The confederates were instructed to give the same wrong unanimous answer to see if the naïve participant would conform. Thirty-two percent conformed to the group's answer, and seventy-four percent conformed once; thus denying the evidence of their own eyes, giving the wrong answer when it was their turn. During post-experimental interviews with his participants, Asch found that conformity occurred at three levels. Few conforming participants experienced distortion of perception, most conforming participants experienced a distortion

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Behaviourism essay

Psychology is defined as a science that focuses on the study of and to explain the way human's think, behave, and feel. The behaviourist school of psychology is concerned with the explanation of behaviour through observable outcomes without making reference to mental events. Behaviourism is very narrow and can be strongly objected in its approach to psychology, as it does not consider the mental thought process involvement in behaviour. This school of psychology is very much about nurture rather than nature. (Harre and Lamb, 1983). In early 20th century there was a surge of interest in the explaining of how learning takes place by exploring the observable mechanisms of learning. This new interest focused on observable forms of behaviour, which included bodily movement that was visible by an observer, and also the internal physical processes connected to overt bodily movement and how these could be modified. This interest developed into the psychological theory of behaviourism. (McInerney, 1998) Behaviourists believe that behaviour is simply learned habits and reactions humans and animals and personality merely a collection of these habits. Therefore the goal of behaviourism is to predict, modify and condition human behaviour (" The Behavioural Approach"). A behaviourist psychologist aims to recondition patients' behaviour and reactions to stimuli. These goals would be used

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