RESEARCH METHODS- in Psychopathology

Question 1

Demographics of a Disorder

Answer 1

Prevalence
Lifetime prevalence
Gender distribution
Age of onset

Question 2

Prevalence =

Answer 2

no. of people with a diagnosis at one particular time

Question 3

Why are demographics useful?

Answer 3

Identifies trends of disorders on a larger scale (global)
Identifies cross-cultural differences
Identifies potential risks
Helps with allocation of resources

Question 4

What are limitations of demographics?

Answer 4

Purely correlational- cannot make conclusions about causation
Too broad
Unrepresentative sample

Question 5

Why are questionnaire samples used?

Answer 5

to find VALID measures of symptoms

Question 6

If a questionnaire has validity it…

Answer 6

is testing what it is intending on testing

Question 7

Questionnaires can also be used to find out…. ?

Answer 7

To find out how different disorders may relate/ symptoms overlapping

Question 8

What is the Dimensional Theory of Disorders?

Answer 8

= idea that psychological disorders lie on a continuum
& that everyone is placed somewhere on it, with thresholds

Question 9

What is Phenomenology?

Answer 9

= Study of personal experiences

Question 10

What techniques are used in phenomenology?

Answer 10

Structured interviews
- Allows to get as much detailed info. as possible from patient

Question 11

LIMITATION OF PHENOMENOLOGY:

Answer 11

Time consuming
- takes time to recruit/collect data
- analyse it
- & credibility checks between researchers also

Question 12

STRENGTHS OF PHENOMENOLOGY:

Answer 12

Helps examine areas with little previous research
Helps with picking up info. that falls through gaps of questionnaires
Helps with getting wider picture of their experiences/understanding their quality of life

Question 13

Purpose of retrospective questionnaires?

Answer 13

To see if NEGATIVE things in their past, have led to onset of disorder

Question 14

LIMITATIONS OF RETROSPECTIVE QUESTIONNAIRES

Answer 14

Memory is unreliable
- memory bias
- memory for negative events may have been suppressed
- possibility of false memories

Question 15

Evidence of false memories?

Answer 15

‘Did you meet Bugs Bunny at Disneyland?’ Study
Many said Yes.
Because they had seen advertising, making them believe they had!

Question 16

Purpose of experimental approaches=

Answer 16

To experimentally manipulate a variable in a controlled environment to see if a variable has a causal effect on a psychological disorder

Question 17

What were Webb&Davey’s aim in their 1993 experiment?

Answer 17

= to see if disgust was involved in people’s fears of animals

Question 18

What did Webb&Davey find in their disgust study?

Answer 18

Fear increased following disgust-induction to certain animals

Question 19

When unable to access clinical samples, but want sample similar we can use __ sample?

Answer 19

Analogue

Question 20

What are analogue samples?

Answer 20

= these are non-clinical individuals with HIGH levels of disorder symptoms, but not over the clinical threshold

Question 21

Purpose of twin studies?

Answer 21

= to find correlation between pairs of MZ & DZ twins

Question 22

What % genes do twins share?

Answer 22

MZ= 100%
DZ= 50%

Question 23

Definition of heritability=

Answer 23

= how much variance of a trait is due to inherited genetics

Question 24

When is a disorder genetic?

Answer 24

When trait differed between DZ twins, and not in MZ twins

Question 25

Purpose of genetic association studies=

Answer 25

= to look for similarities/differences between disease status & genetic variation

Question 26

Purpose of post mortems=

Answer 26

= to study abnormalities in patient’s brains AFTER death

Question 27

Purpose of brain-imaging studies=

Answer 27

= to study how active certain brain regions are at rest/during tasks

Question 28

Examples of brain-imaging methods:

Answer 28

fMRIs
EEGs
MRIs
PET scans

Question 29

What did Reiss find in 2016?

Answer 29

= he found people with Schizophrenia showed lower levels of activity in striatum than control ps. during learning task

Question 30

Purpose of animal models=

Answer 30

=to study hypothesis using animals, rather than humans

Question 31

Example of animal study by which researchers?

Answer 31

J.T. Andraesen & Redrobe (2009)
- found that nicotine may enhance antidepressant action
- used mice

Question 32

What are randomised control trials?

Answer 32

= Compares groups who are randomly allocated to either treatment/no treatment condition