The Biological and Behavioural Models of Abnormality

A model in this sense is a simple, general theory - or a set of assumptions on which specific theories of disorders are based. We covered the four approaches on which the four models of abnormality you need to know are based in our first few lessons in September.

The biological model (also called 'physiological' or 'medical') assumes that psychological disorders have physical causes in the brain/body (e.g. genes, neurotransmitter chemicals) and that treatments should also be physical (e.g. drugs).

Here is the biological model presentation.

The behavioural model is a psychological one (meaning it assumes the causes of abnormality are non-physical). It assumes that faulty learning results in abnormal behaviour, and this can be explained without involving the mind, thoughts or memories, but rather by looking at simple 'associative learning' (learning associations between stimuli, or between our behaviours and reward/punishment) - classical and operant conditioning.

Here is the behavioural model presentation.

You need to be able to write a description of each model worth six marks - at least half a side, ideally with examples of how the model can be used to explain specific disorders e.g. Depression (low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, perhaps as a result of a faulty gene, or 'learned helplessness' as a result of conditioning with negative stimuli that can't be escaped). You also need to be able to write an evaluation of each, explaining their strengths and limitations.

More Definitions of Abnormality

We have now covered three different ways psychologists use to define psychological abnormality - different answers to the question 'what does "abnormal" mean?'.

Deviation from Social Norms (DSN) is covered in an earlier post.

Failure to Function Adequately (FFA) is also based on observable behaviour (so shares many of the same strengths and limitations as DSN - in both cases it is relatively easy for observers to agree who is abnormal - they are objective - but arguably they are reductionist in that they reduce the normal/abnormal question down to a certain type of behaviour, rather than looking at how people think and feel). Rather than focusing on social behaviour it looks at whether a person is coping with their daily routine - normality is getting to work / school on time, in clean clothes.

Here is the FFA presentation.

Deviation from Ideal Mental Health (DIMH) differs from the other two important respects. It deals with signs of normality rather than abnormality, and it focuses on thoughts and feelings rather than behaviours. It is less reductionist, but less objective (it's harder to agree when someone's mental state has deviated far enough from the ideal for them to be considered 'abnormal').

Here is the DIMH presentation.

Make sure you can describe how each definition works, with details e.g. a few of Jahoda's criteria for DIMH, give examples of abnormality according to each, and explain strengths and limitations.

The working memory model

A big criticism of the multi-store model is that it is over-simplistic and doesn't allow for the complexity of human memory. The working memory model breaks down short-term memory into a number of different components and is significantly more complex. You need to be able to describe both models, give an account of the research that supports them and also compare the models in terms of their validity. 

The big powerpoint containing all the research from the last few lessons on the working memory model is here.

You also have to complete your practical work and write up the results (due after half term - Thursday 9th November). The title of the project is 'Does articulatory suppression eliminate the word length effect?'. A copy of the guideline sheet for the write-up is here.

The multi-store model

You need to be able to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the multi-store model of memory. Complete the tables we started in class comparing the strengths and weaknesses. The powerpoint is here. This includes the findings from Glanzer & Cunitz - the recency and primacy effects that we discussed and demonstrated in our own experiment. 

Also, don't forget that your essays on STM and LTM are due in on Thursday. We will also have a 15-minute progress test on the multi-store model, with some experimental design thrown in as well.

Failure to Function Adequately

Today we looked in more detail at the FFA definition of abnormality.

Here is the presentation from the lesson.

Here is the video of Jon Ronson plugging his recent Psychopath book:

Psychopaths (or sociopaths to give them their more modern name) are relevant to your evaluation of FFA because in most senses they function perfectly well - in fact they are usually 'high functioning' individuals who, partly because of their lack of empathy and ability to manipulate, rise to the top of their professions.

Your homework for Thursday is to add a half-page evaluation of FFA to your one for DSN - make sure you can explain the difference between the definitions - there is some overlap, so examples of behaviours which are normal according to one but abnormal according to the other are useful.

Deviation from Social Norms

The first of our definitions of abnormality - these are not theories or explanations of abnormality (they don't seek to answer the question 'why?') but ways of deciding who has a psychological disorder.

Here is the presentation from the lesson.

You need to:

• Make sure you have an outline of the definition, and can define 'social norms' with examples.
• Give examples of behaviours which deviate from social norms, which are genuine signs of abnormality and which are actually 'normal' behaviour (that is, examples where DSN isn't working).
• Write a half-page evaluation discussing strengths (recognition of the desirability of behaviour - its effect on others / the fact that it is based on observable behaviour) and limitations (without understanding the context it can be hard to say whether such behaviour is related to abnormality / social norms vary between cultures and over time but abnormality shouldn't).

Encoding in STM and LTM

Information enters our brain via our sense organs:

Encoding refers to how information is changed so that it can be stored in memory. The conclusions from today's lesson and class experiments are as follows:

- information in STM is stored acoustically (as sounds)
- some visual (picture) codes are also used in STM
- information in LTM tends to be encoded semantically (in terms of meaning)

We discussed two key studies in this area. Baddeley (1966) gave participants lists of words and tested the effects of acoustic and semantic similarity on recall. Brandimote (1992) demonstrated that visual coding does take place in STM as well as acoustic. The two powerpoints containing all the stimuli used are here (Baddeley) and here (Brandimote).

Today's homework is to complete the following essay:

'Give a brief account of the differences between STM and LTM and discuss the extent to which research supports this distinction' (12 marks). 

A suggested essay plan is here. This should be handed in by Thursday 18th October.