IB Psychology
  • IB Psychology
    • IB Psychology Products
    • IB Psychology Blog
  • Biological
  • Cognitive
  • Social
  • Abnormal
  • Relationships
  • Model Essay Answers
  • Research Methods
  • The IA
    • Ultimate Guide to the IA
  • Syllabus Guide
  • Command Terms
  • Textbooks and Resources

The solution to social anxiety?

31/7/2015

 
Picture
... and a nice way to add some critical thinking to your IB Psychology Abnormal ERQ!
We wouldn't recommend it, but you may find your IB Psychology teacher approaching the Abnormal Psychology option by teaching you about anxiety disorders, rather than affective or eating disorders. Anxiety disorders can be fun to study (e.g., look at these funny phobias) but research and theory can be difficult to discuss in depth and detail. However, IB Psychology students, if you find yourself in a classroom where anxiety disorders are the focus of the Abnormal Option, then we have a great way to incorporate that all important critical thinking into your extended response answers (i.e., that 22 mark essay question you are required to answer in your IB Psychology Paper 2 exam).

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent of mental disorders in the United States. Social Anxiety Disorder (social phobia) is a subset of anxiety disorders. A whopping 15 million individuals in the US, or  6.8 per cent of the total population suffer from social anxiety. It's equally prevalent between men and women, and individual onset is typically around 13 years of age. Lots of people live with it for a long time before seeking help. 36 per cent of those with social anxiety disorder live with the disorder for over 10 years before seeking help.
What social anxiety feels like

The IB Psychology learning outcomes, which we all know by now are the examination questions, right? (see previous post), in the Abnormal option will ask students to learn and answer the following examination questions:
  • Examine biomedical, individual and group approaches to treatment.
  • Evaluate the use of biological, individual and group approaches to the treatment of one disorder.
  • Discuss the use of eclectic approaches to treatment.
  • Discuss the relationship between etiology and therapeutic approach in relation to one disorder.
Now we're not going to run you through the model answers to each of these four IB Psychology exam questions here. Our model answers focus on the affective disorders (depression). But we are going to show you how to incorporate that all important critical thinking and craft a perfect response, yourself. 

The majority of the content you will need to discuss and evaluate in the treatment of anxiety disorders will be psychotherapy and drugs. You will likely look at cognitive behavioural therapy.
Picture
The complete set of model answers to ALL of the IB Psychology ERQs
Of course, you will need to be able to fully discuss and evaluate concepts, theories, models and studies relevant to anxiety treatments. But also, a great way to show the IB Psychology examiner that you are able to engage in and demonstrate your ability to think critically around this topic is to incorporate the study below into your answer.

TRew and Alden (2015)

Unsurprisingly, socially anxious people often avoid social interactions. They will go out of their way to limit their opportunities to engage in social interactions ("Sorry, I'm washing my hair that night, thanks.") and reduce the number of social interactions they engage in, such as the number of people they will interact with at a party they haven't been able to get out of.

These two researchers found that people who were socially anxious were able to mingle more easily with other people in social situations if they busied themselves with acts of kindness. They split their participants into three groups. One group was asked to perform three acts of kindness for two days each week. THis could be mowing a neighbours lawns, giving to charity or cooking dinner for friends. Another was asked to engage in a social interaction three times for days each week. The final group was just asked to record what they had done each day.

I know what you're thinking (and please make it clear to the IB Psychology examiner!), getting people to do acts of kindness forces those with social anxiety to go out there and interact with the people they're performing kind acts for.
Picture

TRew and Alden (2015)

Social anxiety PDF
However, these socially anxious participants in the study could perform their acts of kindness - mowing lawns, giving to charity without engaging in any social interactions whatsoever and still experience the same positive effects. In fact, the same positive effects have been found by doing something as simple as feeding coins into the expiring parking meters of strangers.

Traditional cognitive behavioural therapy works by the therapist asking her patient to imagine social situations while practicing mental relaxation techniques, to the point where they no longer feel intimidated by the thought of social interactions. This is then followed by a set of baby steps towards small scale social interaction (asking someone for the time, talking about the weather at the water cooler, etc.) while practicing the same relaxation techniques. Continuing on until the patient is comfortable in larger social situations like an office party or joining a club.

The acts of kindness study shows how cognitive behaviour therapy can be effectively and quickly modified. Social anxiety, by and large, is the result of individuals thinking about themselves too much. When they are in social situations they are monitoring their behaviour and constantly judging themselves as to how they might be being perceived by others they're interacting with. Stressful stuff. The Trew and Alden study shows that the best cognitive therapy is to get them doing nice things for others. This stops them thinking about themselves by forcing them to think of others instead. Once they're thinking about themselves less, they become naturally more relaxed in the presence of others. Boom! everyone's a winner ... the anxiety sufferers, the people receiving these acts of kindness, even you, as you receive full marks for critical thinking in your IB Psychology exam!

Do something nice for someone before you go to your next party

Author: Derek Burton – Passionate about IB Psychology

I have a gut feeling about this one ...

31/1/2015

 
Feeling a little distressed? Socially anxious? 'Yogurt therapy' highlights the incredible link between your gut flora and mood.
Picture
We may have always intuitively understood the mind-stomach connection. Anxious? - butterflies in the stomach. Terrified? - Bring my brown pants. Disgust? - sick to he bottom of my stomach, and so on and such forth. Now some rather startling science is shedding some light onto this connection. 
We have previously looked at the dreaded swim test, every lab rat's worst nightmare. Here it is used again to shed some light on a few different questions posed in the IB Psychology syllabus, both in the biological Level of Analysis and the Abnormal Psychology option.

The IB Psychology Biological Level of Analysis (BLOA) learning outcome: Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the biological level of analysis (for example, experiments, observations, correlational studies). With the focus being a good experimental study. We can can also use it to address the IB Psychology Biological Level of Analysis (BLOA) learning outcome: Discuss two effects of the environment on physiological processes.

The hypothesis, good bacteria, in the right balance in the gut, will have positive effects on mental health - reducing stress and anxiety. To test this experimentally. Take two experimental groups of lab rats and manipulate an independent variable. One group is fed probiotics in their diet and the other a broth (a broth is cooked and thus has no bacteria, good or bad, present). 

Choose the dependent variable, how long rats will keep swimming in a standard water maze (safe haven platform removed!) before giving up and going into a 'dead float'. Now this isn't actually the rats dying, they're just giving up on finding a way out of their stressful environment. No rats were harmed in the making of this experiment. 

The results? Rats with a digestive system loaded with good bacteria did not give up. They continued to explore their environment looking for a way out until the experimenters took pity on them, lifted them out and gave them a fluffy towel and a quick blow dry. Those rats with less healthy gut flora gave up, en masse, within about two minutes. This is a classic sign of depression, less exploration and stress avoidance escape behaviour. 

The conclusion, the good gut bacteria were somehow altering brain function in a positive way. Further experiments, this time with the unfortunate effects of euthanising the participants, pin pointed the vagus nerve - the vagus nerve is one of 12 cranial nerves, extending from the brain stem to the abdomen. When this was surgically severed, the probiotics conferred no such protective effects in stress avoidance or blood cortisol levels.

Use this study, embedded below, to address the IB Psychology Abnormal Psychology option learning outcome: Analyse etiologies  of one disorder (major depression). As well as IB Psychology Abnormal Psychology option learning outcome: Evaluate the use of biomedical, individual and group approaches to the treatment of one disorder (again, major depression).


Feeling sad? Anxious about that party you are attending on the weekend? Simple answer ... get stuck into a big tub of healthy (and delicious) of natural yogurt. Yum yum!
A really funny, insightful and illuminating 15 minutes of Radiolab. Listening to this is guaranteed to send you straight out to your local supermarket to stock up on yogurt. 

Picture

Of course, if you don't have time to prepare your own model IB Psychology exam questions, you can borrow ours! All answers to the IB Psychology extended response questions have been prepared for you. Full marks guaranteed!
Picture
Author: Derek Burton – Passionate about IB Psychology

Shine a light on me

6/5/2014

Comments

 
Hate being in the spotlight? Relax, no one is watching.
We are talking anxiety disorders. People with a social phobia tend to fret about being noticed by others. It is not actually being noticed that leads to stress and anxiety, it is the fear of being judged by others that can cause the onset of a panic attack. 

The most interesting IB Psychology option available to us is our Abnormal Option (not doing this one? berate your terrible Psychology teacher!). And within Abnormal, we can study anxiety disorders as one of our three groups of disorders: anxiety, affective and eating disorders. Again, a pretty interesting route to explore. For example, I'm sure you are all high achieving IB Psychology students and as such could have a degree of  atychiphobia - the fear of failure!

Social phobias are our most prevalent anxiety disorders. Who out there is not just a  little bit anxious about getting up on a stage and addressing an audience - having the spotlight shone upon us to be judged? A teacher might just be immune perhaps? ...
Picture
Discussing the 'Spotlight Effect'
We tend to vastly overestimate how much attention other people are paying to us. This snippet of a Freakanomics podcast below is an entertaining discussion about the spotlight effect. Honestly, we''re only the centre of our own universes, not everyone elses'.

Psychology in everyday life. One of the things about devoting a rather large proportion of my life to the study and teaching of Psychology is that I'm very much aware of the many, many cognitive biases that we have. Sometimes I find myself in the midst of a particular situation where I'll suddenly think, "hang on! didn't I read a study about this somewhere?"

As if being a teacher doesn't put me out in front of literally hundreds of people each day, the classroom I teach in tends to accentuate the fact I'm up in front of my students, ahem, performing. My classroom used to be the old music room and I have this little stage to teach from, hopping up and down as the lesson dictates; down to students, up to the whiteboard, computer and projector.

Today in class, in front of my lovely, lovely Year 11s I took a dive off my 'stage' . Hilarious! Much, much better than the time I tripped over my laptop chord and brought everything crashing down around me. This was all fine, after a number of near mishaps I had resigned myself to the fact that this was an inevitability. I've been preparing for this for the last two years and as a teacher I'm used to my students laughing at (surely with?) me, so finding myself the sudden and  undignified centre of attention wasn't what interested me. I picked myself up, shrugged off the laughter of twenty giggling school girls and went to help answer a student's question, admittedly, a little redder than usual.

What piqued my psychological interest wasn't the glare of unwanted attention from my stage dive, it was the fact that I now had a rather large rip across one knee of my trousers. Which, I might add, I had only just got back from the drycleaners having spent $15. What suddenly gave me pause for thought was this: Am I suddenly in the middle of the Barry Manilow t-shirt experiment?

In Gilovich et al.'s (2000) classic experiment ''Barry Manilow t-shirt experiment', participants were misinformed that they were in an experiment which aimed to examine memory. Memory for details about other people. First, picture this. Assume you are not a 12 year old girl and someone has asked you to put on a t-shirt with a big Justin Bieber face on it, walk through a door and briefly face a room full of complete strangers before exiting the room. The spotlight was on them, they were probably self-conscious enough already and now they had to wear this ridiculous t-shirt in front of a group of peers without being able to explain themselves. Fantastic! You have to love Psychology experiments.

The Spotlight Effect

The original journal article on the spotlight effect on social judgement - Gilovich et al. (2000).
PDF Download Gilovich et al. (2000)
Picture
The Justin Bieber of his generation?
The experimenters were interested in comparing two things. Firstly, an estimate from participant as to how many of the other participants would have noticed they were actually wearing an embarrassing Barry Manilow t-shirt. Gilovich wanted to then compare this estimate to the number of observing participants who had actually noticed the t-shirt.

By now, you will be able to take a pretty good stab at the results. Wearing an embarrassing t-shirt made participants very self-conscious, and being self-conscious vastly inflated overestimations of other people being aware of the ridiculous t-shirt. The assumption was that almost all of the observing participants would have noticed. The reality was that when questioned, hardly any of these observing participants could recall the t-shirt when prompted. No one notices the embarrassing stuff. I'll repeat that, because it is enormously liberating ... No. One. Notices. The. Embarrassing. Stuff. 

Humans are highly, highly social beings. Evolution has shaped us to be able to think about what other people are thinking about us. This ability to 'read minds'  helps us function is social situations. We know it is not OK to eat with our mouths open because other people will think badly of us. We know it is good to make others laugh, we will be socially accepted and more readily able to belong to our ingroups. And we know, for sure, that it is not OK to wear a Justin Bieber t-shirt, because we will be shunned by others if we do. It turns out that we are terrible mind readers, at least in situations where we think we have made fools of ourselves.

Anyway, back to the classroom. Ripped trousers a bit embarrassing, yes. After all, have you ever had the pleasure of being taught by a teacher wearing nice shiny shoes, a  crisp shirt (this was only second period), nice tie ... and a massive big rip across the knee of his nice dress trousers? No? I didn't really think so.

However, armed with my Psychology, I knew that, apart from significant numbers of students in my initial stage-diving class, almost no one else I encountered that day would notice that I was dressed like a fool. Knowledge is power, as the saying goes. With this knowledge I was free to roam the corridors, teach my classes and sit down and chat naturally with my colleagues in the teachers' lounge.

Yeah, you might think. First chance I got, I gapped it home to change ...

Every normal person, in fact, is only normal on the average. His ego approximates to that of the psychotic in some part or other and to a greater or lesser extent. - Sigmund Freud

Author: Derek Burton – Passionate about IB Psychology



Comments

Abnormality is in the eye of the beholder

14/4/2014

Comments

 
Another ERQ model answer from IB Psychology
Picture
Abnormal psychology is based upon the assumption that we know what 'abnormal' is, which in turn, is based upon us knowing what 'normal' is. So, how exactly do we make these judgments?

You're hanging out a LOT in your dark, smelly and incredibly messy bedroom, not talking to family and only interacting with your friends online. Teachers are concerned about you, your family is worried sick. Do you have some sort of social anxiety disorder? Surely this is a manifestation of a mental illness? ... but hang on! Isn't this just 'normal' teenage behaviour?


Have you ever wondered just how easily you could  be confined to a mental hospital if say, your parents, didn't like the way you were behaving? If their concepts of normality and abnormality differed from yours? The answer is, probably pretty easily, but not as easily as in the past, and more easily in some countries than in others. Thus, we need some some sort of objective definition or classification of what abnormal behaviour actually is, and how we can make a judgement as to whether someone has a mental illness or not. 


The IB Psychology learning outcome: Examine concepts of normality and abnormality, takes a very good look at this thought-provoking issue.

Much of what we examine in the model ERQ answer focuses on Rosenhan's seminal research. Rosenhan (1973) performed some ground-breaking research with his quasi-experimental study. Here, he and his fellow researchers managed to gain admittance to a variety of psychiatric hospitals around the US after presenting themselves and claiming that a voice in their head was saying "empty", "hollow" and "thud". They found that getting committed was very easy, and getting out was very, very hard ...

short videos examining concepts of mental illness and abnormality


Picture
Just Give Me the Answers! provides you with the complete collection of model answers for all extended response questions in the Paper 1 and 2 IB Psychology exams. This will save you hundreds of hours of work!
Rosenhan's 1973 original article
This article, published in the very prestigious 'Science' journal caused a great deal of controversy and forced the Psychiatric industry to examine their understand of, and practices and procedures around the 'mentally ill'. It changed the way we diagnose and assess degrees of mental illness.

Examine concepts of normality and abnormality

Another exemplar model ERQ answer for the IB Psychology course. This one is from the Abnormal option and if the student manages to replicate in their IB Psychology exams they are guaranteed to be awarded the full possible 22/22 marks.

Picture
Examine concepts of normality and abnormality

The presence of a mental disorder may be considered a deviation from mental health norms and hence the study of mental disorders is often known as abnormal psychology. ‘Normal’ and ‘abnormal’, as applied to human behaviour, are relative terms. Many people use these classifications subjectively and carelessly, often in a judgmental manner, to suggest good or bad behaviour. As defined in the dictionary, their accurate use would seem easy enough: ‘normal’ – conforming to a typical pattern and ‘abnormal’ – deviating from a norm. The trouble lies in the word norm. Whose norm? For what age person? At what period of history? In which culture?

The definition of the word abnormal is simple enough but applying this to psychology poses a complex problem. The concept of abnormality is imprecise and difficult to define. Examples of abnormality can take many different forms and involve different features, so that, what at first sight seem quite reasonable definitions, turns out to be quite problematical. There are several different ways in which it is possible to define ‘abnormal’ as opposed to our ideas of what is ‘normal’

Defining normality

Mental health model of normality (Jahoda, 1958)

The model suggests criteria for what might constitute normal psychological health (in contrast to abnormal psychological health). Deviation from these criteria would mean that the health of an individual is ‘abnormal’:

  • The absence of mental illness
  • Realistic self-perception and contact with reality
  • A strong sense of identity and positive self-esteem
  • Autonomy and independence
  • Ability to maintain healthy interpersonal relationships (e.g., capacity to love)
  • Ability to cope with stressful situations
  • Capacity for personal growth and self-actualisation

Evaluation of the mental health model of normality

The majority of people would be categorised as ‘abnormal’ if the criteria were applied to them. It is relatively easy to establish criteria for what constitutes ‘physical health’ but it is impossible to establish and agree on what constitutes ‘psychological health’. According to Szasz (1962) psychological normality and abnormality are culturally defined concepts, which are not based on objective criteria.

Taylor & Brown (1988) argue that the view that a psychologically healthy person is one that maintains close contact with reality is not in line with research findings. People generally have positive ‘illusions’ about themselves and they rate themselves more positively than others (Lewinshohn et al., 1980). For example most people rate themselves as being above average in driving ability, and above average in physical appearance, both of which are a statistical nonsense when considering the essential nature of an average. 

Further, the criteria in the model are culturally biased value judgements; i.e., they reflect an idealised perception of what it means to be human in a Western culture. For example, self-actualisation (Maslow, 1968) means the achievement of one's full potential through creativity, independence, spontaneity, and a grasp of the real world. The concept of self-actualisation to a South Sudanese in the middle of sectarian strife, war and famine would be nonsensical at that point in time.

Defining abnormality

The mental illness criterion (the medical model)

The mental illness criterion sees psychological disorders (abnormality) as psychopathology. Pathology means ‘illness’ so it literally means ‘illness in the psyche’. The criterion is linked to psychiatry, which is a branch of medicine, specifically, a branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental and emotional disorders. Patients with psychological problems are seen as ‘ill’ in the same way as those who suffer from physiological illnesses.

Diagnosis of mental illness is based on the clinician’s (clinical psychologist, psychiatrist) observations, the patient’s self-reports and diagnostic manuals (classification systems) that classify symptoms of specific disorders to help doctors find a correct diagnosis. The most widely used classification system is the new DSM-5, which is the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In the United States the DSM serves as a universal authority for the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders. Treatment recommendations, as well as payment by health care providers, are often determined by DSM classifications.

Being diagnosed or labelled as being abnormal – mentally ill can have striking consequences in this model, as a controversial study designed to test the medical model and its conception of normality and abnormality. 

Rosenhahn (1973) – on being sane in insane places

Aim: To test reliability and validity of diagnosis in a natural setting. Rosenhahn wanted to see if psychiatrists could distinguish between ‘abnormal’ and ‘normal’ behaviour.

Procedure: This was a covert participant observation with eight participants consisting of five men and three women (including Rosenhahn himself). Their task was to follow the same instructions and present themselves at 12 psychiatric hospitals in the US. These pseudo-patients telephoned the hospital for an appointment, and arrived at the admissions office complaining that they had been hearing voices.  They said the voice, which was unfamiliar and the same sex as themselves, was often unclear but it said “empty”, “hollow”, “thud”.

After they had been admitted to the psychiatric ward, the pseudo patients stopped simulating any symptoms of abnormality. The pseudo patients took part in ward activities, speaking to patients and staff as they might ordinarily.  When asked how they were feeling by staff they said they were fine and no longer experienced symptoms.  Each pseudo patient had been told they would have to get out by their own devices by convincing staff they were sane.

Results and conclusion: All participants were admitted to various psychiatric wards and all but one were diagnosed with schizophrenia (the other diagnosis was for manic depression). All pseudo-patients behaved normally while they were hospitalised because they were told they would only get out if the staff perceived them to be well enough.

The pseudo-patients took notes when they were hospitalised but this was interpreted as a symptom of their illness by the staff. It took between 7 and 52 days before the participants were released. They came out with a diagnosis (schizophrenia in remission) so they were ‘labelled’.

A follow-up study was done later where the staff at a specific psychiatric hospital were told that imposters would present themselves at the hospital and that they should try to rate each patient whether he or she was an imposter. Of the 193 patients, 41 were clearly identified as impostors by at least one member of the staff, 23 were suspected to be impostors by one psychiatrist, and 19 were suspected by one psychiatrist and one staff member. There were no impostors.

Rosenhahn claims that the study demonstrates that psychiatrists cannot reliably tell the difference between people who are sane and those who are insane. The main experiment illustrated a failure to detect sanity, and the secondary study demonstrated a failure to detect insanity. Rosenhahn explains that psychiatric labels tend to stick in a way that medical labels do not and that everything a patient does is interpreted in accordance with the diagnostic label once it has been applied.

Evaluation: This controversial study was conducted nearly 40 years ago but it had an enormous impact on psychiatry. It sparked off a discussion and revision of diagnostic procedures as well as discussion of the consequences of diagnosis for patients. The development of diagnostic manuals (e.g., DSM-V) has increased the validity and reliability of diagnosis of what is abnormal or normal in terms of mental health, although diagnostic tools are not without flaws.

The method used raises ethical issues (the staff were not told about the research) but it was justified since the results provided evidence of problems in the diagnosis of mental illness (i.e., being non-beneficially abnormal) which could benefit others. There were serious ethical issues with the follow-up study since the staff thought that imposters would present, but they were real patients and may not have had the treatment they needed.

Evaluation of the mental illness criterion

Proponents of the mental illness criterion argue that it is an advantage to be diagnosed as ‘sick’ because it shows that people are not responsible for their acts. For example, an individual who does not get out of bed because they have been diagnosed for depression; i.e., labelled as being ‘depressed’ and not because they are fatigued (a symptom).

Although the origin of some mental disorders (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease) can be linked to physiological changes in the brain, most psychological disorders cannot. Also, critics of the mental illness criterion argue that there is a stigma (i.e., a mark of infamy or disgrace) associated with mental illness.

Abnormality as statistical deviation from the norm

Deviance in this criterion is related to the statistical average. The definition implies that statistically common behaviour can be classified as ‘normal’. Behaviour that is deviant from the norm is consequently ‘abnormal’. In the normal distribution curve most behaviour falls in the middle. A normal distribution curve is a theoretical frequency distribution for a set of variable data (e.g., scores on an IQ test), usually represented by a bell-shaped curve symmetrical about the mean.

Picture
An individual with an intelligence quotient (IQ) of 150 is a deviation from the norm of 100. It is statistically rare but it is considered desirable to have high intelligence. Mental retardation seen as an abnormality in the other direction (sometimes defined as having an IQ below 70) but this is considered undesirable. Obesity is becoming statistically ‘normal’ but obesity is considered undesirable.

Evaluation of the statistical criterion

The use of statistical frequency and deviation from the statistical norm is not a reliable criterion to define abnormal behaviour since what is ‘abnormal’ in a statistical sense may both be desirable and undesirable. What may be considered abnormal behaviour can differ from one culture to another so it is therefore impossible to establish universal standards for statistical abnormality. The model of statistical deviation from the norm always relates to a specific culture.

Abnormality as deviation from social norms

Social norms constitute informal or formal rules of how individuals are expected to behave. Deviant behaviour is behaviour that is considered undesirable or anti-social by the majority of people in a given society. Individuals who break rules of conduct or do not behave like the majority are defined as ‘abnormal’ according to this criterion.

Social, cultural and historical factors may play a role in what is seen as ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’ within a certain society. For example, around the 1900s in the UK, homosexuality was seen as abnormal and people could be imprisoned or forcibly treated for this ‘mental illness’. Homosexuality was classified as an abnormal sexual deviation in the DSM-II (1968). In later revisions of the manual, homosexuality in itself was not seen as abnormal – only feeling distressed about it was.

Evaluation of the deviation from statistical norms criterion

This criterion is not objective or stable since it is related to socially based definitions that change across time and culture. Further, because the norm is based on morals and attitudes it is vulnerable to abuse. For example, political dissidents could be considered ‘abnormal’ and sent to hospitals for treatment, which was something that occurred in the former Soviet Union. Using this criterion could lead to discrimination against minorities, including people who suffer from psychological disorders. 

Psychological disorders may be defined and diagnosed in different ways across cultures and what seems to be a psychological disorder in one culture may not be seen the same way in another culture. The DSM includes disorders called ‘culture-bound syndromes’; for example, penis panic (!) or Koro. This indicates that it is impossible to set universal standards for classifying a behaviour as abnormal.

General conclusion

None of the above definitions provide a complete definition of abnormality. Mental health (e.g., Jahoda) and mental illness (i.e., the medical model) are probably two-sides of the same coin, but do provide insights of their own. Examining these concepts through statistical deviations from norms does not tell us about the desirability of the deviation.  Attempting to define abnormality is in itself a culturally specific task. What seems abnormal in one culture may be seen as perfectly normal in another, and hence it is difficult to define abnormality.

Word count: 2 000
Author: Derek Burton – Passionate about IB Psychology
Model IB Psychology ERQ Answer


Comments

    IB DipLOMA PsychologY:

    The IB Psychology Blog. A place to share research and teaching and learning ideas for those studying and teaching Psychology for the IB Diploma Programme.

    Archives

    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014


    Categories

    All
    Abnormality
    Abnormal Psychology
    Antidepressants
    Anxiety Disorders
    Attraction
    Attributions
    Biological Level Of Analysis
    Biological Psychology
    BLOA
    Bystander Effect
    Bystanderism
    Classroom Experiments
    CLOA
    Cognition
    Cognitive Level Of Analysis
    Cognitive Psychology
    Command Terms
    Communication
    Decision Making
    Decision-making
    Depression
    Diagnosis
    Discrimination
    ERQ
    Errors In Attribution
    Essay Questions
    Ethics
    Evolutionary Psychology
    Examinations
    Exams
    Experiment
    Extended Response Question
    Getting A 7
    Getting An IB Psychology 7
    HL
    Human Relationships
    IA
    IB Psychology
    IB Psychology 7
    Learning Outcomes
    Long Answer Questions
    Mental Illness
    Model Answers
    Paper 1 Examinantion
    Paper 2 Examination
    Paper 3 Examination
    Paper 3 HL Exam
    Placebo
    QRM
    Qualitative Research Methods
    Realtionships
    Relationships
    Revision
    SAQ
    SCLOA
    Short Answer Questions
    SL
    Socio Cultural Psychology
    Socio-Cultural Psychology
    Stereotypes
    Study
    Syllabus
    Teaching
    Teaching Ideas
    Teaching Tips
    Treatment
    Treatment Of Depression

    RSS Feed

© Burton Inc. and VIBE Education Ltd.  2012-2021. All rights reserved.