Predictions Flashcards

Question

Dopamine Hypothesis A03

Answer 1

✔Seeman -conducted post mortems on SZ patients -found double the density of D2 receptor sites X2 Patients are dead -also would have been taking anti-psychotics throughout their life which can increase the number of D2 receptor sites Therefore we may be viewing the effect of SZ not the cause x3 Seeman is supported by Wong -PET scans on live SZs with no history of taking anti-psychotics -60% to 110% denser D2 receptor sites Therefore supports D.Hypothesis whilst removing concerns of previous research X4 Wong’s research has not been successfully replicated ✔Leucht’s Meta-analysis -212 studies -all studies showed anti-psychotics were more effective at reducing positive symptoms than a placebo ✘Biological Reductionism -assumes dopamine is the sole cause of SZ Noll found numerous SZ with normal dopamine level -also found numerous non-SZs with elevated dopamine

Answer 2

-help manage the most disturbing forms of psychotic illness -can help reduce symptoms, improve day to day functoning and increase subjective wellbeing -reduce action of dopamine in the brain

Answer 3

-antagonists; bind to but do not stimulate dopamine receptors Therefore blocking dopamine’s actions Therefore reduce positive symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations -these usually decreased within a few days of first taking the drugs; other symptoms may take several weeks to subside

Answer 4

60% to 75% of D2 receptors in mesolimbic pathway must be blocked in order for it to be effective -blocks dopamine receptors in all areas of brain indiscriminately, leading to side effects

Answer 5

-lower risk of side effects, suitable for treatment-resistant patients and can help negative symptoms and cognitive impairment as well -also act on D2 receptors, but they ‘rapidly dissociate’ which helps to reduce side effects as they are messing with dopamine transmission less -less focused on blocking D2 receptors -have an affinity with serotonin receptors

Answer 6

✔Leucht et al - Effective -meta-analysis of 65 studies -patients stabilised with antipsychotics, then some were switched to a placebo -within a year, 64% of placebo group relapsed; only 27% of those who stayed on drugs Therefore significantly more effective than placebo ✘ Side effects -can include minor issues such as drowsiness or changes in weight -or more serious issues i.e depression -prolonged use can lead to tardive dyskinesia; uncontrollable movements of tongue, face and jaw -around 30% of patients taking conventional antipsychotics for 7 years develop this; irreversible in 75% of cases but only 5% of atypical experience this -can lead to revolving door phenomenon Therefore have to weigh up costs and benefits of taking drugs ✘Ethics - can a person with a mental disorder give fully informed consent? -recently cases have been brought against doctors and pharmaceutical companies due to side effects; negative consequences are deemed to outweigh the benefits -a recent case saw a tardive dyskinesia sufferer given a large settlement Therefore there are issues over the wellbeing and rights of SZ patients to consider before applying drugs ✔Crossley - Atypical vs Typical -meta-analysis of 15 studies -found no significant difference between effectiveness on symptoms but noted different side-effects -typical led to more pyramidal side effects; atypical led to weight gain -fewer side effects in atypical drugs therefore patients are more likely to continue with treatment increasing effectiveness

Answer 7

SZs have dysfunctional thought processes which can lead to positive symptoms

Answer 8

-key characteristic in forming delusions= how far a person sees themselves as the central component of events (ego bias) -SZs have delusions because they jump to conclusions about external events irrelevant to them, relating them to themselves and coming to false conclusions -delusions are resistant to reality testing (attempting to show patients the truth and getting them to admit they are wrong) -this is because SZs have impaired insight inability

Answer 9

inability to recognise cognitive distortions and subsequently come to more logical conclusions of events

Answer 10

-SZs hear voices more because they pay excessive attention to auditory stimuli (hypervigilance) Therefore they expect to hear voices SZs that hallucinate=more likely to incorrectly attribute the source of an internal auditory experience to an external source as SZ’s don’t reality test as much as other ppl do, these errors are not corrected

Answer 11

SZs find it hard to distinguish between an inner representation of an idea and the actual sensory stimuli -what a person imagines they perceive overrides what is actually there e.g the expect ppl to speak negatively about them and this overrides what they actually say

Answer 12

confirming with others as to where an experience came from

Answer 13

claim that SZ is caused by abnormal patterns of communication within the family

Answer 14

Bateson et al -children who frequently receive contradictory messages from parents are likely to develop SZ -the child becomes confused by the contradiction in words and meaning so they cannot respond appropriately -this prevents them developing a coherent version of reality developing into SZ

Answer 15

✔Support from Berger -SZ patients reported higher levels of double bind statements at home -however this self-report may not be reliable as they are SZs ✘Lots of opposition -Liem found no difference in parental communication in SZ and non SZ families -however results may have been subject to demand characteristics ✘Hall and Lerin -studied data from various studies, finding no differences between families with and without as SZ member and the amount of double bind present

Answer 16

suggests that families where emotions - especially negative ones- are often expressed at a high level are more likely to lead to SZ -e.g criticisms, hostility, emotional over-involvement The emotions are beyond what the patient’s coping mechanisms can cope with, causing stress to occur. Overloads already impaired coping mechanisms, triggering an episode

Answer 17

found that high EE relatives talk more and listen less

Answer 18

an SZ returning to a family with high SZ is 4X more likely to relapse than a patient whose family is low in EE

Answer 19

✘ Causality is an issue -can’t explain all SZs; many patients in high EE families don’t relapse; many patients in low EE families do relapse Altofer et al -1/4 of patients studied showed no physiological responses to high EE comments from relatives ✘Lebell et al -key factor is how patients interpret high EE comments, not whether they are present or not -if a patient does not interpret a high EE comment as negative or stressful, it won’t affect them Has led to effective therapy; teaching family members to reduce the EE they show in order to support SZ patient better and reduce relapse rates (Hogarty et al)

Answer 20

Aggression is adaptive because: it increases the chance of survival for a species by reducing competition for resources within species or acts as a method of increasing one’s social status in a hierarchy to gain access to food, mates and resources.

Answer 21

aggression is used to threaten other members of their species without harming them (to gain access to food, partners and protect territory) after losing they will make themselves vulnerable as a sign of accepting defeat e.g wolves displaying their neck (appeasement display)

Answer 22

innate, fixed set of behaviours that occur in response to a specific stimulus

Answer 23

Stereotyped - always occurs in the same way Universal - same across the species Independent of experiences - behaviour is innate with no learning involved Ballistic- FAP cannot be stopped once triggered Specific- each FAP has a specific trigger

Answer 24

cause fixed action patterns. IRM receives input from sensory recognition that are stimulated from the presence of the sign stimulus and then releases the FAP associated with it.

Answer 25

Male stickleback show ritualistic attack patterns other males. presented male sticklebacks with realistic models of male sticklebacks but without their distinctive red bellies and also unrealistic models with red undersides. Found that males only attacked the models with red undersides Therefore suggests male sticklebacks have IRMs for aggression triggered by red bellies of other male sticklebacks causing a FAP of aggressive behaviour.

Answer 26

✔Tinbergen ✘Goodall- Aggression isn’t always ritualistic -observed chimpanzees in a National park and found that rival communities slaughtered each other despite signs of appeasement by the victims -This is not adaptive since it leads to the species being injured or dying therefore it is unlikely to be due to natural selection ✘Nisbett- Cultural differences -studied aggression in white males in the USA -found that those from the south were more likely to display aggressive behaviour Therefore suggests that cultural factors influence aggressive behaviour. ✘Animal Studies cannot be generalised

Answer 27

suggests that aggression has helped humans in the past survive and reproduced therefore it adaptive through natural selection

Answer 28

having to raise offspring that are not your own

Answer 29

-strong in men due to paternity uncertainty -prevents males wasting resources Therefore anti-cuckoldry behaviours are adaptive

Answer 30

-Male Retention Strategies: 1. Direct Guarding 2. Negative Idnucements

Answer 31

involves male vigilance over a partner’s behaviour e.g checking who they’ve been with, coming home early etc

Answer 32

issuing threats of dire consequences for infidelity

Answer 33

-questionnaires by 107 married couples (less than a year) -men completed Mate Retention Inventory and women completed the Spouse Influence Report -strong positive correlation between men’s reports of their mate retention behaviours and women’s reports of their partner’s physical violence Therefore retention behaviours reliably predicted use of aggression in relationships

Answer 34

-Explanations of bullying -in males; suggested that dominance, acquisition of resources and strength can be achieved through bullying behaviour -this leads to access to more females and minimal threat of competing males Therefore such behaviour would be naturally selected because the males are more likely to successfully reproduce -in women; used to secure partner’s fidelity Therefore such behaviour of enhanced reproductive success

Answer 35

✔ Campbell -suggested that females are more likely to engage in acts of non physical aggression as it protects them and ensures the survival of their offspring -also prevents females being involved in life-threatening physical confrontations Therefore this takes into account gender differences ✔There is research to support the link between sexual jealousy and aggression e.g Shakleford -shows that there is a link between the risk of cuckoldry and aggression which supports the evolutionary explanations of aggression ✘There are methodological issues with evolutionary theories. -The studies only show correlation between aggression and male retention strategies. Therefore there may be a contributing factor that has no been considered reducing the validity.

Answer 36

any explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of the individuals personality

Answer 37

Importation Model; -example of a dispositional explanation -argues that aggression is caused by individuals bringing in their own subculture of typical criminality and willingness to use violence inside prison rather than the prison context

Answer 38

-studied juvenile confined in institutions in California -found that those with more dispositional traits i.e childhood trauma etc are more likely to engage in suicidal activity and physical violence compared to a control group with fewer dispositional traits Therefore this suggests that dispositional traits are the more important predictor of aggression as opposed to the prison environment.

Answer 39

Deprivation Model; -places the causes of institutional aggression within the prison -harsh prison conditions are stressful for inmates who cope by using violence -conditions include deprivation of freedom, independence, safety etc

Answer 40

The structure of the prison regime also influences aggression If the regime is unpredictable and often uses “lock ups” to control behaviour this creates frustration reduces mental stimulation and further limits access to resources Violence becomes an adaptive response to these deprivations

Answer 41

✘Dilulio- importation model fails to consider situational factors -suggests that the administrative control model which states that poorly managed prisons are more likely to experience the most serious forms of violence -such factors may act as ‘triggers’ for aggressive behaviours Therefore this casts doubt over the validity of dispositional explanations ✘Dobbs and Waid - interactionist model -suggest that inmates first entering prison will suffer from deprivation but this does not necessarily lead to aggression until it combines with characteristics imported into the prison influencing the prison’s culture Therefore it is unlikely that institutional aggression only has just one cause as it is much more complex ✅real world applications This understanding allows for targeted intervention eg anger management, rehabilitation schemes and social skills training which focus on changing an inmates pre-existing attitudes and behaviours * This will create a safer, less aggressive prison environment * This explanation has practical value in reducing prison aggression

Answer 42

❌completely ignores the role of free will Suggests that the aggressive behaviour of the inmates is due to the environment of the prisons and not their personality * Suggests that prisoners have no free will over if they behave aggressively or not * This may be used as an excuse or justification by prisoners to behave more aggressively as they believe they have no control over their behaviour ❌contradicting research * Male inmates who had similar criminal histories and predispositions to aggression were randomly allocated to a low security or a high security prison * Research found that there was no significant difference in the number of prisoners involved in aggressive behaviour between the two prisons * This suggests that features of a prison don’t influence aggressive behaviour but it is the characteristics of the inmates ✅supporting evidence * It has been found that poorly managed prisons have the worst violence due to weak leadership, unofficial rules, staff being distant from inmates and barely any opportunities for education * this suggests that the prison environment influences aggressive behaviour of inmates * So the situational explanation is a valid explanation

Answer 43

-lab based study -students either played a violent computer game (Mortal Kombat) or a non violent game (PGA Tournament Golf) -measured aggression using the TCRTT and found that ppts in the violent group delivered louder levels of white noise compared to the non violent players

Answer 44

-studied 1037 people in New Zealand and measured TV viewing hours at regular intervals up to age of 26 years old -found that time spent watching TV was a reliable predictor of aggressive behaviour in adulthood measured by criminal convictions and violent crimes * excessive TV viewing, influences aggression regardless of whether content is violent or not

Answer 45

✔ Anderson and Dill ✘Measure of aggression is artificial and unrealistic ✅research findings can be explained by a scientific theory SLT supports it through children watching film of adults behaving violently towards bobo doll ❌research into media influences on aggression is highly flawed * most of the research into media influences on aggression is correlational * findings only show an association between media and aggression not causation * There may be an intervening variable (a third variable eg personality traits) responsible for the association between violent media exposure and aggression * Or aggressive individuals may be more drawn to violent media rather than violent media causing aggression * So we can’t conclude that a greater exposure to media such as video games causes aggression

Answer 46

repeated exposure to violence can also promote a reduced sensitivity to violence, this may be psychological (e.g. less emotional response) or physiological (eg lowered heart rate). These reduced responses make a behaviour such as aggression more likely.

Answer 47

describes the process where our restraints towards violence and aggression is lowered, through direct and indirect learning through SLT the media is particularly important due to rewarding aggressive behaviour and minimising negative consequences This results in new social norms and attitudes towards aggression being developed

Answer 48

suggests that exposure to violent media leads to an increase in the accessibility of aggressive thoughts and ideas

Answer 49

research support * Research found that participants who were usual viewers of violent media showed lower levels of physiological arousal when watching violent film than non usual viewers * They also gave louder burst of white noise to a confederate without even being provoked by the confederate * This shows that repeated exposure to violent media reduces physiological arousal in response to violence, making aggression more likely ❌alternative explanation to why violent media leads to aggressive behaviours * desensitisation explanation suggests that overexposure to violent media reduces physiological and psychological responses to violence, increasing aggression * however the SLT suggests viewers observe and imitate aggressive behaviour of media model’s they identify with. If behaviour is rewarded its more likely to be imitates (vicarious reinforcement) * this challenges the desensitisation theory as it suggests that media violence doesn’t just numb individuals to aggression but actively teaches them it * desensitisation theory ignores the role of social learning so it is an incomplete explanation

Answer 50

✅research support * participants were shown a film of a boxing match with two alternative endings – either shown the loser of the fight taking a bad beating and dying or shown no consequences of the fight * Participants who saw no consequence of the fight were more likely to behave aggressively after viewing the fight compared to those who saw the negative consequences * This supports the disinhibition explanation which suggests that when media violence is not shown to have negative consequences then disinhibition to aggression occurs and therefore aggressive behaviour is more likely ❌disinhibition happening depends on other factors *Not everyone experiences disinhibition when regularly watching violent media– it depends on environment * children growing up in households with strong norms against violence are unlikely to experience sufficient disinhibition for them to behave aggressively * children from violent homes where physical punishment is normal are more likely to experience disinhibition * the relationship between media violence and disinhibition is affected by

Predictions Flashcards

(76 cards)