cognitive explanations

Question 1

what causes symptoms?

Answer 1

dysfunctional attention and dysfunctional reasoning = cause symptoms

Question 2

describe dysfunctional thought processing

Answer 2

Low levels of information in some areas of the brain suggests that cognition is impaired.
e.g reduced levels of info in the ventral striatum is associated with negative symptoms.

Question 3

describe metarepresentations

Answer 3

Dysfunction in the area would lead to person not being able to recognise thoughts as their own and therefore may lead to sensations of hearing things (hallucinations) and the input of thoughts by others (insertion of delusions)

Question 4

how does dysfuntional lead to speech poverty and avolition?

Answer 4

speech poverty = to supress their symptoms they shut out from everyone and stop communicating with others
(derailment of thoughts)

Question 5

evaluation: stroop test support

Answer 5

Stirling et al compared performance of different cognitive tasks (e.g. the Stroop test) in people with and without SZ. As the central control theory suggests, those with SZ took twice as long on average to name the front colours.
This shows that people with SZ have impaired cognitive processes.

Question 6

evaluation: limitation
biological factors not considered

Answer 6

psychological explanations for SZ can be hard to reconcile with the biological explanations. It could be that both psychological and biological factors can produce the same symptoms which raises the question as to if both outcomes are really schizophrenic.
( view this in terms of the diathesis stress model where the diathesis may be biological)

Question 7

evaluation: strength
practical applications

Answer 7

Yellowless et al. developed a machine that produced virtual hallucinations, such as hearing the television telling you to kill yourself or one person’s face morphing into another’s.
intended to show schizophrenics that their hallucinations are not real.
(understanding the effects of cognitive deficits allows psychologists to create new initiatives for schizophrenics and improve the quality of their lives.)

Question 8

evaluation: weakness
reductionist

Answer 8

The reason for this is because the approach does not consider other factors such as genes.
It could be that the problems caused by low neurotransmitters creates the cognitive deficits. This suggests that the cognitive approach is oversimplistic when consider the explanation of schizophrenia.