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Alternatives to the Medical Model - Coggle Diagram
Alternatives to the Medical Model
Behaviourist explanation
Psychology as a science
Can be considered scientific as it uses many lab experiments where everything can be standardised and therefore can be replicated. E.g. Little Albert, where Albert was classically conditioned to fear white furry objects by having him associate loud noises with a white rat. Scientific due to standardisation of white rat and steel bar used
Reductionism/Holism
Holistic as it suggests different ways mental illness is learned. E.g. explains operant/classical conditioning and SLT can cause specific phobias. E.g. if parents fear spider, child can imitate behaviour and develop fear. Considers different ways phobias caused. Little Albert -> classical conditioning
Reductionist as suggests that mental illness is only one factor that is learned. E.g. uses operant conditioning/SLT to explain phobias. Little Albert -> rats. Doesn't take in other factors like cognitive processes
Determinism
Hard determinism: SLT of specific phobias, phobias are required through observing and imitating behaviour, which is environmentally deterministic due to not choosing what you observe so if a child sees a parent scared of a spider, they will unconsciously model
Soft determinism: Operant conditioning for major depression when positive reinforcement is removed, individual less likely to seek out social situations which leads to worsening symptoms due to individual making decision to fill positive reinforcements that were lost
Reliability
Reliable: Explanation people can develop mental illness in the same way. Suggests phobias develop through classical conditioning suggests everyone develops in the same was ->Pavlov
Not reliable as may develop differently. SLT(explain), people may respond differently to phobias, so may develop differently
Validity
Low population validity: explanation relies heavily on the use of animals, e.g. dogs (Pavlov) and rats (Mier). Unrepresentative of human population
High construct validity: relies heavily on the use of lab experiments. Albert, Mier, Sengman studies all are lab experiments allow for direct manipulation of a variable, due to high control of the cause and effect established therefore is more likely to be accurate
Nature/Nurture
Nature (+nurture): Interactionist -> Children's innate personality might make them more/less trusting of an adult. For example, if they see an adult they trust who's fearful of a spider, then if they're a trusting individual, they might follow along and be afraid of the spider as well -> more trusting children are more likely to be influenced by adult role models and be fearful of the same thing
Nurture: suggests mental illness is learned and is determined by external events. Phobias -> imitated through classical conditioning. +SLT explains phobias may be acquired by observing and imitating other behaviour
Usefulness
Not useful as it is not generalisable. E.g. classical conditioning. Mier -> Dogs. Animals can't express emotions. Nopt useful because dogs' experience differs from humans
Useful as it furthers understanding and know why/how depression is caused. E.g. behaviourist explanation uses operant/classical conditioning and SLT and in operant, depression occurs when positive reinforcement is removed. SLT suggests through interactions/observations. Useful because shows depression has different causes
Individual/situational
Individual: operant conditioning gives explanation for depression. E.g. if individual does not seek social situations, they are not rewarded with positive reinforcements which encourages depressive behaviour as they may only be given attention when showing symptoms. This means that each unindividual will develop symptoms differently based on the type of reinforcements they are given
Situational: proposes that SLT offers an explanation for specific phobias. E.g. phobias may be acquired through observing and imitating the behaviours of others. This means the specific phobia will be developed due to the situation the person was in that they are now imitating
Ethical considerations
Socially sensitive
Ethnocentrism
Sampling bias
Humanistic explanation
Psychodynamic explanation
Non-biological treatment of one specific disorder
Summary
Cognitive explanation
Psychology as a science
Scientific as it uses lab experiments and can be replicated. E.g. in Pflugshaupt's study, 26 people with arachnophobia were used along with 26 controls. they were shown 16 pictures of everyday scenes that had one, two or three images of spiders in them. Participants were asked to identify as many spiders as possible. Can be scientific as the pictures used are standardised, allowing for the experiment to be replicated
Not scientific as it cannot be falsified. E.g. in Beck's study, it uses patients thoughts which cannot be observed. Not scientific as the non-observable behaviours, being the participant's thoughts, cannot be proven wrong and therefore cannot be falsified
Reductionism/Holism
Holistic as it suggests mental processes, memory, thinking and attention cause mental illness. E.g. cognitive triad to explain depression. Schemas such as this stem from criticism during early life/childhood. Considers cognitive behaviour affects mental disorders
Reductionist as it focuses on one aspect (cognitive processes). E.g. many explanations of depression. States only negative thoughts causes depression. Doesn't consider other factors
Determinism
Soft determinism: Depression states experiences cognitive triad with negative views of self, future and world. Causes overgeneralising and sweeping conclusions which are chosen to do
Hard determinism: Schizophrenia is biologically deterministic as individuals are not able to filter thoughts before reaching conscious which increases processing that occurs consciously which results in sensory overload. Deterministic as have no choice in quantity of information filtered due to not being able to reach thoughts outside of conscious awareness
Reliability
Reliable: studies used are standardised. Pflugshaupt participants shown 16 pictures of everyday scenes, some with spiders. All in at same time so replicable and reliable
Unreliable: some studies difficult to replicate. Review of Andrew Butler -> improvement in depression symptoms with cognitive therapy which is hard to measure and may differ from therapist to therapist
Validity
Low face validity: relies on individual to report their interpretation of their mental illness. This is a hypothetical measure that we cannot prove, individuals may lie or exaggerate interpretation due to social desirability/wanting validation. The researcher therefore isn't accurately measuring what's intended
High face validity: uses individuals interpretation as a form of data, allows for full picture to be interpreted and explanation is more likely to be accurate
Nature/Nurture
Nature: major depression - interactionist debate (nature and nurture) - an individual's innate personality could be pessimistic so they naturally have a negative outlook on situations. Therefore when faced with an external situation that may be negative it will have an even bigger impact as the individual would already be portraying it negatively
Nurture: major depression - individuals have preconceptions of situations where they expect that situation to be negative and therefore interpret it negatively. Beck explains that these schemas come from criticism and rejection early in life (parents/teachers) -> these symptoms supports nurture as it's external factors like parents and teachers that socialise us into thinking in certain ways
Usefulness
Is useful as it furthers our understanding and explains that internal mental processes are the cause of mental illness. E.g. beck suggests people with depression have cognitive errors (cognitive triad). Patient has vindictive view of self, future, world. Useful as it gives a better understanding of cause of depression and help reduce self bias
Isn't useful as it isn't generalisable to a wider society. Hammen and Krantz found 33 depressed female undergrad students had more cognitive distortion vs 34 non depressed controls. Not useful as it failed to use other members of society. Depression may have other cause
Individual/Situational
Individual: proposes that cognitive bias is a negative appraisal bias. People who have specific phobias interpret harmless situations and objects as dangerous. This interpretation is down to the individual and their underestimation of their ability to cope
Situational: proposes that symptoms of schizophrenia are caused by disordered thinking. Too much information being processed can lead to sensory overload, this would be specific to the situation they are in
Ethical considerations
Socially sensitive
Ethnocentrism
Sampling bias
Cognitive neuroscience explanation
Szaz (2011)