Psychological explanations of schizophrenia

The powerpoint is here and the summary table to fill in is here.

None of the psychological theories are really satisfactory, but this gives you more opportunity for AO2 marks when evaluating them - plus they will be useful to use as evaluation for the biological explanations in an essay.

The next essay is due in two weeks time -

'Discuss two or more biological explanations of schizophrenia' (24 marks). I have written a plan and this is here.

Relationships in different cultures

We've spent the last two lessons looking at research into relationships in different cultures, which really means collectivist cultures.

You should be able to describe the differences between relationships in individualist and collectivist cultures (the 'obligatory, permanent and collectivist (between families) idea is useful here) - including a brief outline of how marriages are arranged, and outline and evaluate research into relationships in collectivist cultures. This mainly involves comparisons of levels of satisfaction between couples in arranged marriages and 'love marriages'. The results are inconclusive - some studies find that those in arranged marriages are happier in the long term, but not all - there are many issues with the reliability and validity with this research, the big one being culture bias (caused by the use of Western research tools e.g. questionnaires).

Here is the presentation.

We spent 15 minutes answering this question in today's lesson:
"Discuss research into relationships in different cultures." 4 marks AO1 + 8 marks AO2

Relationships - links from childhood to adulthood

Today we finished off this section today with a look at the Nature / Nuture debate as it applies to three different explanations for links between childhood attachment style, relationships with friends, parents and 'dates' in adolescence, and adult romantic relationships. These are Bowlby's 'Continuity Hypothesis' based on his Internal Working Model concept, the 'Temperament Hypothesis' which assumes genes are responsible, and Social Learning Theory (reinforcement, modelling and tuition). See slides 3 and 4 of the second presentation in the post below.

We then answered this question in 15 minutes:
"To what extent does research support the claim that relationships in adolescence affect those in adulthood?"
4 marks AO1 + 8 marks AO2

I then set a homework to read chapter 9 'God and the limbic system' in 'Phantoms in the Brain' by neuroscientist V.S.Ramachandran by two weeks today. This relates to the study of anomalistic psychology which we will begin next week. There is one copy between two of you.

See Ramachandran in action on Youtube.

The influence of childhood on adult relationships

The central theory we have looked at relating to the link between infant relationships and adult romantic relationships is Bowlby's 'continuity hypothesis' - that is, that the continuity is a result of the 'internal working model' acquired through the attachment relationships with the child's primary care giver, during the critical period.

You should know the evidence from Hazan and Shaver's 'Love Quiz' that the link exists, and be able to evaluate the use of this (and other questionnaires) and the Adult Attachment Interview. There are plenty of studies, looking at the related questions of how early childhood relationships may affect adolescent relationships, which in turn may affect adult ones... This sheet summaries a range of studies with clues as to how you might use them.

This topic is a good opportunity to use the Free Will vs Determinism and Nature / Nurture debates, as well as lots of research methodology issues to do with sample bias and participant effects (especially social desirability bias). The big problem with the research is that it doesn't really help to answer the question 'why is there continuity in relationship / attachment style?' - is Bowlby right, or could it be Temperament (nature) or Social Learning (nurture of a different kind)?

First presentation, introducing continuity.
Second presentation - more on research into continuity.

Essay question for Edmodo submission end of next week (Friday 20th):

“Mothers need to be aware that the way they treat their young children will determine their chances of finding love in later life”
Discuss the validity of this statement with reference to psychological research.
25 marks – 9+16

Is there a biological basis for schizophrenia?

We have now looked at three different biological explanations of schizophrenia - genetics, biochemistry and neuroanatomy. Each has different strengths and weaknesses as you might expect. It's always good to add in some issues, debates or approaches if possible- and here you can add in some criticisms of the biological approach in general - accusations of being reductionist, mechanistic and deterministic.

The Biological explanations powerpoint is here.

On being sane in insane places (Rosenhan, 1973)

A fascinating and shocking chapter of psychiatric history.8 pseudopatients with no history of psychiatric problems managed to get admitted to different US psychiatric hospitals, after reporting brief auditory hallucinations. The study was a very influential criticism of psychiatric diagnosis at the time.

Do have a read of the original Rosenhan article - it is long but give it a go.

Also worth watching (or reading), in a similar vein, is 'One flew over the Cuckoo's nest'.

Today's powerpoint is here - you need to distinguish between problems of reliability and validity of diagnosis.