tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25282237429389446112024-03-08T00:01:23.007-08:00A Level Psychology NotesTAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-13003397467258128862007-10-21T08:20:00.002-07:002007-10-21T08:21:37.453-07:00Anxiety DisordersAnxiety Disorders<br /><br />Aims:<br />· Describe the genetic, biological and psychological characteristics of:<br />o Phobias;<br />o Obsessive-compulsive behaviour.<br />· Assess the value of various explanations of these disorders.<br /><br /><br />Phobia’s<br /><br />Definition: A pathological condition which stops the individual functioning normally.<br /><br />Female to Male ratio for seeking help : 2:1.<br />I.e. they’re twice as likely to seek help.<br /><br />Four clinical sub types of phobias have been found (Can these be separated???):<br />Animal<br />Situational<br />Natural environment<br />Injury<br /><br />Psychological explanations:<br />Behavioral model;<br />Classical conditioning<br />Operant conditioning<br />Social learning theory.<br />Cognitive behavioral;<br />Diathesis stress model:<br /><br /><br />1. Behavioral model:<br />· Classical conditioning.<br />Certain stimuli elicit reflexive, involuntary responses. E.G. Pavlov’s Dogs…<br />E.G. Watson & Rayner (1920) infants fear of furry objects<br /><br />Hans Eysenck (1970) attempted to link anxiety disorders such as phobias to personality dimensions, notably neuroticism and introversion (Inward looking, passive and withdrawn from social contact.)<br /><br />· Operant Conditioning:<br />‘All behaviour is learned by its consequences’<br />B.F. Skinner (1981) claimed that all behaviour including inappropriate, phobic responses was learned through experiences that had consequences.<br /><br />· Social Learning theory:<br />Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (1963) claims that direct experience of the anxiety producing stimulus such as flying in an aircraft isn’t necessary for the acquisition of phobic response. – We learn much by observing and imitating people.<br /><br /><br />· Psychodynamic explanations for phobic anxiety disorders:<br />Freudian. Suggests that (Hypothetical) unconscious ‘urges’ drive us to think and behave in certain ways.<br />Displacement and suppression (Source of anxiety becomes attached to something else and buried deep in the unconscious mind) reduce and remove the mind from potential harm. Thus the original anxiety is displaced onto something which should not have originally resulted in a fear response.<br /><br />e.g. The Case of Little Hans = fear of horses – jealous of fathers relationship with mother<br />and castration anxiety resulting in fear of horses. :S.<br /><br />John Bowlby emphasized the importance of early emotional attachments in shaping later behaviour and saw that children who are insecurely attached may show agoraphobic symptoms, reflecting their fear of being left alone.<br /><br />2. Cognitive behavioral explanations for phobic anxiety disorders<br />Ellis (1962) and Beck (1963) point out that the behavioral model ignores the role of cognition. They see phobias as being the result of an illogical association that we have made in our minds following an unpleasant experience.<br />Suggest that the catastrophic thoughts and irrational beliefs contribute to the development of a phobia.<br /><br />Beck states that phobic’s tend to have belief systems whereby they know at a rational level that danger is minimal yet also truly believe that their feared object or situation will cause them physical or psychological harm.<br /><br />Beck et al (1985) found that danger beliefs are activated when a person is in close proximity to a stimuli yet decrease with distance to zero. People with phobias are more preoccupied with their ‘fear of fear.’<br /><br />Bieling and Alden (1997) found that people with social phobia scored significantly higher on controls on perfectionism and had lowered perceptions of their social ability.<br /><br />3. Diathesis stress model explanation of phobias<br />Refers to the (probably) genetically inherited predisposition that we each have to develop certain illnesses, diseases, or other conditions. In this case the condition is stress or anxiety.<br /><br />Suggests an interaction between vulnerability factors and triggering events<br />Holmes & Rahe (1967) explain the cumulative effects of major life events and the work of Kobassa (1979) highlight the effects of everyday minor hassles.<br /><br />Kleiner & Marshall (1987) found that in a group of agoraphobics 84% had experienced family problems prior to the onset of their first panic attack this was confirmed by a number of other studies.<br /><br />However, many people who do not experience the most adverse life events do not develop an anxiety disorder.<br /><br />It is suggested that each individual have their own tolerance thresholds which form their predisposition to stress this being known as our diathesis / vulnerability factor.<br />This may be genetic or inherited through early experience.<br />Explanations being psychodynamic, cognitive and behavioral.<br />We all have fears and anxieties this only develops into a mental disorder when they become so severe that they prevent the individual getting on with life and their life becomes dysfunctional.<br /><br />Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder<br />· Range of intensity from fairly minor to pathological affliction.<br />· One of the most severe of all anxiety disorders<br />· One of the most difficult to deal with.<br /><br />· Obsessions dominate ones thinking and are persistent and recurrent thoughts images or beliefs entering the mind uninvited and which cannot be removed.<br />· Compulsions are the behavioral responses intended to neutralize these obsessions.<br /><br /><br />DSM-IV defines the diagnostic features of OCD as:<br />Recurrent obsessions or compulsions that are severe enough to be time consuming (I.e. take more than 1 hr a day) or cause marked distress or significant impairment.<br />At some point during the course of the disorder the person has recognized that the obsessions or compulsions are excessive or unreasonable. The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (E.G. alcohol or drug abuse, or medication) or a general medical condition.’<br /><br /><br /><br />Clinical characteristics:<br />· Sufferers are generally aware of how behaviors and thoughts are irrational but are powerless to overcome them. Often they attempt to hide them from others.<br />· Suffer severe anxiety however:<br />Initial obsessions and compulsions do not relieve initial anxiety<br />Rather they add to form additional anxieties as a consequence.<br />· Often suffer from severe depression – an understandable reaction.<br /><br />· Onset from late teens to early twenties.<br />· Affects 2% of USA population (American Psychiatric Association.)<br />· Occurs equally in males and females though females are more likely to have compulsions involving cleaning.<br /><br />Explanations of OCD:<br />· Research is in its infancy – evidence for each claim tentative.<br />· Some evidence that there is a genetic link and that biochemical imbalances may also be involved.<br />· Some drugs have proved successful treatment.<br />· Behavioral therapies effective therefore can’t be entirely biological.<br /><br />Biological explanations of OCD:<br />Genetics, Biochemistry and Neuroanatomy.<br /><br />· Genetics:<br />o Carey & Gottesman (1981) – 10% prevalence in 1st degree relatives.<br />o Hoeker & Schnurr (1980) – concordance rate of 50-60% in twin studies.<br />§ N.B. people share same environment and therefore evidence can be disputed.<br />o Repoport (1989) most people have individual fixed action patterns in their brain that have evolutionary significance for survival. Under stress they are triggered and cease when actions have been completed.<br />For people with OCD the patterns are triggered by an overly active sense of danger.<br />· Biochemistry:<br />o OCD resulting from insufficient or malfunctioning serotonin metabolism.<br />o Support comes from certain drugs which inhibit the re-uptake of neurotransmitter serotonin – Zohar et al. (1996) found beneficial in up to 60% of patients.<br />o Lydiard et al (1996) shows partial alleviation of symptoms only, therefore medication only alleviates and is not a cure.<br />· Neuro-anatomical explanations:<br />o Rapoport & Wise (1988) have suggested that OCD arises from structural dysfunction in the central nervous system. – probably the basal ganglia.<br />o Rapoport et al. (1994) have reported that surgery which disconnects the basal -ganglia from the frontal cortex brings relief in severe cases of OCD.<br /><br />Evaluation: Biological explanations.<br />Genetics Vs environment debate continues.<br />Inconsistent findings regarding serotonin:<br />§ Studies on role of serotonin in OC have yielded inconsistent findings.<br />Much of the evidence is flawed and studies have not included controls to rule out the possibility that anti-depressant drugs bring relief because they alleviate the symptoms of depression that frequently accompany OCD.<br />Psychological therapy can be very successful treatment and this is difficult to account for in the serotonin hypothesis.<br />Possible dysfunction in the basal ganglia.<br />Aylward et al (1996) found no difference between this and matched control patients.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Psychological explanations of OCD.<br />1. Psychodynamic;<br />2. Behavioral;<br />3. Cognitive-Behavioral.<br /><br />1. Psychodynamic:<br />· Freud states that OCD occurs from a fixation at the anal stage of development<br /><br />Evaluation: Psychodynamic explanation.<br />· Hard to test the idea of unconscious motivation experimentally.<br />· Importance of obsessive personality style:<br />· There is evidence of an obsessive personality style.<br />· Peterson (1992) States such people do not seem any more likely to be diagnosed with OCD than anyone else.<br /><br />2. Behavioral:<br />· An extreme form of learned avoidance behaviour.<br />· Initial event is linked to anxiety / fear initially fear is alleviated and then becomes a conditioned response.<br />Evaluation: Behavioral Explanation:<br />· Flawed argument:<br />o Behavioral explanation falls down in that the symptoms of OCD e.g. avoidance behaviour, creates anxiety. It’s hard to argue that people learn these responses to reduce fear.<br />· Effectiveness of behavioral therapies:<br />Baxter et al. (1992) behavioral therapies not only reduce symptoms of OCD but also bring about changes in biochemical activity.<br />Marks (1981) Behavioral therapy helps in reducing obsession behaviour but not the obsession thoughts.<br /><br />3. Cognitive-Behavioral explanations<br />· Disorder is a consequence of faulty or irrational ways of thinking taken to a extreme.<br />· Specific or environmental stimuli are paired at some time with anxiety provoking thoughts and compulsive rituals are then used to try and neutralize them.<br />· Rachman & Hodges (1987) some people are more susceptible to developing obsession thoughts. Vulnerability factors include genetically determined hyper-arousability depressed mood and poor socialization.<br />Evaluation: Cognitive-Behavioral Explanation.<br />· Lack of evidence that OCD reduces through increased socialization.<br />· Emmelkamp et al. (1988) Effectiveness of CBT has shown a reasonably effective result in OCD.<br />· No long term solution – remains a difficult disorder to understand and treat effectively.<br /><br /><br /><br />References:<br /><br />Watson & Rayner (1920) - Infants fear of furry objects<br />(Classical conditioning.)<br />Hans Eysenck (1970) - Attempted to link anxiety disorders such as<br />phobias to personality dimensions, notably neuroticism and introversion<br />(Inward looking, passive and withdrawn from social contact.)<br />B.F. Skinner (1981) - Claimed that all behaviour including<br />inappropriate, phobic responses was learned through experiences that had consequences.<br />Albert Bandura’s<br />Social Learning Theory (1963) - Claims that direct experience of the anxiety<br />producing stimulus such as flying in an aircraft isn’t necessary for the acquisition of phobic response. – We learn much by observing and imitating people.<br />Ellis (1962) and Beck (1963) - point out that the behavioral model ignores<br />the role of cognition. They see phobias as being the result of an illogical association that we have made in our minds following an unpleasant experience.<br />Beck et al (1985) - Found that danger beliefs are activated when<br />a person is in close proximity to a stimuli yet decrease with distance to zero. People with phobias are more preoccupied with their ‘fear of fear.’<br />Bieling and Alden (1997) - Found that people with social phobia scored<br />significantly higher on controls on perfectionism and had lowered perceptions of their social ability.<br />Holmes & Rahe (1967) - Explain the cumulative effects of major life<br />events<br />Kobassa (1979) - Highlights the effects of everyday minor<br />hassles.<br />Kleiner & Marshall (1987) - Found that in a group of agoraphobics 84%<br />had experienced family problems prior to the onset of their first panic attack this was confirmed by a number of other studies.<br />Carey & Gottesman (1981) – 10% prevalence in 1st degree relatives<br />as genetic link for OCD<br />Hoeker & Schnurr (1980) – concordance rate of 50-60% in twin<br />studies with OCD. N.B. people share same environment and therefore evidence can be disputed.<br />Repoport (1989) - Most people have individual fixed<br />action patterns in their brain that have evolutionary significance for survival. Under stress they are triggered and cease when actions have been completed.<br />For people with OCD the patterns are triggered by an overly active sense of danger.<br />Zohar et al. (1996) - Support comes from certain drugs which<br />inhibit the re-uptake of neurotransmitter serotonin have been found beneficial in up to 60% of patients.<br />Lydiard et al (1996) - Shows partial alleviation of symptoms only,<br />therefore medication only alleviates and is not a cure.<br />Rapoport & Wise (1988) - Have suggested that OCD arises from<br />structural dysfunction in the central nervous system. – probably the basal ganglia.<br />Rapoport et al. (1994) - Have reported that surgery which<br />disconnects the basal ganglia from the frontal cortex brings relief in severe cases of OCD.<br />Aylward et al (1996) - Found no difference between this<br />and matched control patients.<br />Rachman & Hodges (1987) - Some people are more susceptible to<br />developing obsession thoughts. Vulnerability factors include genetically determined hyper-arousability depressed mood and poor socialization.<br />Peterson (1992) - States such people do not seem any more<br />likely to be diagnosed with OCD than anyone else.<br />Baxter et al. (1992) - Behavioral therapies not only reduce<br />symptoms of OCD but also bring about changes in biochemical activity.<br />Marks (1981) - Behavioral therapy helps in reducing<br />obsession behaviour but not the obsession thoughts.<br />Emmelkamp et al. (1988) - Effectiveness of CBT has shown a<br /> reasonably effective result in OCD.<br />Concepts to note:<br /><br />Define these terms:<br />· Autonomic nervous system<br />· Diathesis<br />· Displacement<br />· obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD)<br />· Oedipus complex<br />· operant conditioning<br />· panic disorders<br />· phobic disorders<br />· repression<br />· somatic nervous system<br /><br />What did they do or say?<br /><br />· Asso and Beech<br />· Bandura<br />· Beck<br />· Brenner<br />· Ellis<br />· Eysenck<br />· Freud<br />· Holmes and Rahe<br />· Horowitz<br />· Kobasa<br />· Lader and Mathews<br />· PavlovTAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-40753781898867223722007-10-21T08:20:00.001-07:002007-10-21T08:20:54.969-07:00Depression (Unipolar Disorder)Depression (Unipolar Disorder)<br /><br />Aims:<br />· Describe the clinical characteristics of unipolar depression;<br />· Outline genetic and biochemical explanations of depression;<br />· Discuss psychological explanations of depression.<br /><br /><br /><br />The shit from having a bad day to clinical depression can be very gradual and go unnoticed to the sufferer until quite late.<br />The term clinical depression refers to a state of depression where the persons ability to cope with everyday life is seriously impaired.<br /><br />Everyone (Especially if they have had any family history of suffering from depression) is vulnerable to developing it.<br /><br />Up to 5% of the population can be diagnosed as having some form of depression and there is a 20% chance of having an episode of clinical depression at some point in one’s life<br /><br />List of symptoms, loosely divided into those that have psychological and those who have physical consequences – overlaps occur considerably.<br /><br />Psychological:<br />· Loss of concentration<br />· Indecisiveness<br />· Inability to experience pleasure<br />· Loss of appetite or food loosing its taste;<br />· Increase in harsh, negative, self-critical thoughts;<br />· Feeling that others are being over-critical;<br />· Guilt feelings;<br />· Feeling helpless and / or without hope that things can improve;<br />· Seeking to be alone more often;<br />· Changes in habitual behavior;<br />· Thoughts of suicide;<br />· Loss of interest in sexual matters or increased sexual promiscuity;<br /><br />Physical:<br />· Feeling exhausted after 12 hours sleep;<br />· Sleep disturbance;<br />· Headaches, chest pains;<br />· Appetite or weight change;<br />· Increased alcohol / drug use.<br /><br />If someone experiences most of these for >2 weeks there is a good chance that they are suffering from depression.<br /><br /><br />The above is for unipolar depression.<br />For bipolar depression they’re:<br />· Reactive depression – resulting from a reaction to external events;<br />· Endogenous depression – resulting from conditions within oneself<br />(Aetiology refers to the causes of an illness.)<br /><br />Who is most at risk?<br />· Typically appears at 18-22<br />· Possibly linked to stressors during these years<br /><br />What causes depression?<br />Single personal trauma / stressful life event è stress è symptoms of depression.<br /><br />More often it is evoked by combinations of bad experiences. Physical causes include:<br />· Side effects of surgical operation or medication;<br />· Alcohol / drug abuse;<br />· Withdrawal from drugs;<br />· Thyroid disease.<br /><br />Biological explanations of depression:<br /><br />1. Genetic;<br />2. Biochemical;<br /><br />Genetic Explanation of depression:<br />· Research concentrates on the individual sufferer, the families of sufferers, and the twin studies in which one twin suffers from unipolar depression.<br />· If an individual persistently has episodes of depression a genetic factor may be suspected. Several family and twin studies are reported that show concordance rates (when 1 member other than the twin suffering from the condition) between 30 – 40% which is higher than would occur by chance.<br /><br />Evidence from family studies:<br />· Gershon (1990) reviewed ten family studies and found that rates of unipolar depression in 1st degree relatives ranged between 7 and 30%. However, this may arguably be genetically or environmentally produced.<br />· DSM-IV states that there is a high incidence of unipolar depression with those offspring of those with bipolar (manic) depression. However, that could be a reaction to exactly that situation.<br /><br />Evidence from twin studies:<br />· Twin studies comparing MZ to DZ but cannot separate out the environmental and genetic effects.<br />· McGuffin et al. (1996) found 46% concordance in MZ twins compared with 20% DZ in total of 109 twin pairs with no evidence of the effect of shared environment. <br />· Bierut et al. (1999) carried out a study of 2662 pairs of twins in Australia and although they reported a hereditability factor of between 36 and 44 % they claimed that environmental factors played a larger role.<br /><br />Evidence from adoption studies:<br />· Most show an increased risk in the biological relatives of people with depression rather than adopted relatives.<br />· Wender et al. (1986) found that biological relatives were 8 times more likely to have depression than adoptive relatives.<br />· It seems unlikely that a single unipolar gene will ever be identified.<br /><br />Evaluation: Genetic explanations.<br />· Some genetic evidence, but, shared genes normally share the same environment; therefore it could equally be learned behavior.<br />· Risk seems to be increased for MZ twins however, the risks are never thought to be 100%. Genetics seems to be a risk factor but not a whole explanation.<br />· Predisposing factor: There may be a genetic component operating as a predisposing factor, with additional precipitating causes.<br />· Genetic uncertainty: Even if genetic factors do play a part in the origins of unipolar depression, it is not clear what the precise mechanism is that is transmitted. Without knowing the specific genes involved, it is impossible to understand how they code biological structures and functions that produce the symptoms of depression.<br /><br />Biochemical explanations of depression:<br /><br />The biochemical explanation claims that depression is the cognitive state resulting from imbalances in brain chemistry that can he controlled in many cases by antidepressant drugs known as tricyclic drugs. However, it does not claim that these imbalances are genetic in origin — and, indeed, they may be the consequence rather than the cause of some aspects of the depression. Three brain chemicals are principally involved. These are noradrenaline, serotonin, and dopamine.<br /><br /><br />Post-mortems of depressed people do not show abnormally low levels of noradrenaline. Serotonin levels are also associated with depressive symptoms, but we do not know whether a low serotonin level is the cause or the consequence of the depression. According to Iversen, low dopamine levels are associated with unipolar depression.<br /><br />Cases of depression in old age were thought to be associated with the fact that dopamine production naturally diminishes after the age of 45. However, giving elderly sufferers a dopamine replacement doesn’t seem to help.<br /><br />Although these three neurotransmitters may be involved in depression we do not know how. Researchers investigating the endocrine (hormonal) system have found that the adrenal cortex produces cortisol and cortisone — two hormones involved in metabolism of fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Cortisol production is increased as the individual experiences stress, and this may then trigger other physiological responses leading to the experience of depression. Hormonal (oestrogen and progesterone) imbalances are known to be involved in some menstruation-related depression, although the precise involvement isn’t known.<br /><br />Some people appear to become more depressed and lethargic and have trouble sleeping during the winter months. This pattern can indicate a mood disorder called seasonal affective disorder (SAD). One suggestion is that this is caused by a lack of daylight.<br />Some evidence exists for links with the brain chemicals, particularly, serotonin and noradrenalin.<br /><br />It’s been found that treatment with anti-depressive drugs, which contain serotonin are effective, whereas those drugs containing noradrenaline have no effect (Lam et al. 1996) Speculation concludes that SAD may be linked to serotonergic related mechanisms. Cannot be causal because treatment does not cure the problem, which returns when the drug treatment has ceased. Perhaps a genetic component?<br />Madden et al. (1996) reports a significant genetic influence in winter patterns SAD. Data was collected from 4,639 adult twins in Australia via a mailed questionnaire – however people lie.<br /><br />Evaluation: Biochemical explanations.<br />1. Role of neurotransmitters:<br />· Significant body of evidence for this argument.<br />· Theories based on deficit of these chemicals are too simplistic – they do not have an immediate effect on neurotransmitter availability and take several weeks to affect mood.<br />2. Delayed effects:<br />· Much evidence implying noradrenaline comes from observations of resperine etc. these do not simply affect levels of noradrenaline – other properties of these drugs may relate to their reaction with noradrenaline.<br />3. Isolating cause and effect<br />4. Impairment of stress response system:<br />· Abnormal levels of regulation of cortisol suggest depression may be related to impairment of the stress response system.<br />· Such irregularities are not found in all people with depression and are sometimes found in people with other kinds of mental disorder.<br />5. Role of female hormones:<br />· Females more likely to suffer from depression, however, only few suffer from post natal depression – so not the inevitable response to hormonal changes.<br />6. Biological factors as predisposing factor:<br />· There is no definite evidence of biological features as the cause of depression, although there is a lot of support for the idea that they are a contributory factor. It is likely they predispose people to depression, but that environmental triggers are required before the disorder emerges.<br /><br />Psychological explanations of depression:<br /><br />1. Psychodynamic explanations for depression.<br />· Psychoanalysis:<br />Freud’s view is that where early relationships with parents are unsatisfactory because parents are neglectful, unloving, or abusive the child represses its feelings of anger towards the parents and these manifest themselves later as self-criticism, and lack of self esteem and self confidence. Depression develops from these negative feelings.<br /><br />· Monotropy:<br />Bowlby’s (1973) attachment theory supports the idea that inadequate attachments also contribute to depression. Bowlby was supported by Robert Hinde (1977) at London zoo involving the removal of half a dozen or so infant monkeys from their parents and other monkeys and rearing them at various periods. Hinde investigated the nature of early social relationships and one way of testing this was to see what happened when they were disrupted. This research, which Hinde admits that he would not want to carry out now, caused great disruption in the animals behavior from which most never recovered. However, to generalize these findings with baby monkeys to humans is potentially simplistic and misleading.<br /><br />Evaluation: Psychodynamic explanations<br />· Difficult to test:<br />Impossible to tell if Freud’s theory is true as impossible to demonstrate unconscious motivations.<br />· Presence of anger:<br />Some evidence people with depression show increased anger but findings are inconsistent. Studies unable to show this anger is directed inwards.<br />· Effect of loss of parent:<br />Some evidence that loss of parent in childhood is associated with later depression. However, such loss effects the environment in which the child lives as well as the child’s psychological functioning. It might be that the social and financial hardships that such a loss might entail create a vulnerability to depression.<br /><br />2. Behavioral explanations of depression:<br /><br />Lewinsohn (1974) suggests that when someone is deprived of social reinforcement such as feeling appreciated and encouraged and enjoying social interaction, they may become depressed. The individual displays the symptoms of depression, which are then reinforced by others paying them attention, and giving the sympathy that was lacking in the first place.<br /><br />Martin Seligman’s theory of learned helplessness is influential.<br />Basically Seligman found that dogs that couldn’t escape from an electric shock learned that escape and avoidance were impossible, and didn’t even attempt to escape subsequently when it was possible. They had learned a ‘helpless’ reaction. Something similar may explain human depression. If you simply cannot achieve something, no matter how hard you try, you may give up and become depressed, knowing that you will never be able to achieve your goals. However, there are many other variables here. Some people are even more motivated to try harder when they fail. There may be a gender difference here, too. One study found that females tend to become depressed, whilst males tend to get angry, when frustrated by failure.<br /><br />Seligman incorporated an element of cognition in order to refine his ‘learned helplessness’ model, It was developed from Aaron Beck’s faulty self-perception theory (1963). This proposed that people who suffer the symptoms of depression are likely to have negative views about themselves, the situation they are in, and their future prospects. Such feelings become an obsession and interfere with the individual’s ability to deal with the world. This leads to the symptoms of depression.<br />Beck claims that we inherit strategies for dealing positively with the world. However, environmental factors such as divorce and unemployment can undermine them.<br /><br />3. Cognitive—behavioral explanations and Beck’s cognitive theory of depression<br /><br />Most of the evidence for the cognitive—behavioural model comes from Aaron Beck’s work. He believed that depression is largely the result of negative thinking (which he called ‘cognitive errors’).<br /><br />Beck’s view (1991) states there are three components to depression:<br />· regarding oneself as worthless<br />· believing that the world is filled with obstacles<br />· believing that nothing much is ever likely to change.<br />This seriously gloomy view distorts the ability to think logically about the world and relationships with it.<br /><br /><br /><br />Evaluation: cognitive – behavioral explanations<br />· Research subjects:<br />Most of Seligman’s studies were conducted on college students, rather than on clinically depressed patients.<br />· Perception of control:<br />One of the key elements of hopelessness theory is that the depressed people have little control over their lives. Ford & Neale (1985) however, found that depression students did not underestimate their degree of control.<br />· Hopelessness as cause or effect?<br />It is not clear whether hopelessness is a cause of depression or a side effect of becoming depressed. If it is the cause, then it would have to precede the onset of depression.<br />A 5 year longitudinal study of children by Nolen-Hoeksema et al. (1992) found no connection between attributional style and depression in young children. However, they did find a connection as the children grew older, suggesting that attributional styles may develop over a number of years.<br />· Hopelessness expectancy:<br />Abramson et al. (1989) further reinforced the theory of hopelessness to inc. the role of expectancy. Outlining the sequence of events that they thought would lead to hopelessness. This begins with the negative event which interacts with the persons already held negative schemas and a stable and global attribution is made of why the event occurred. These beliefs lead to hopelessness expectation in the future that then may result in depression. They even suggest that hopelessness expectation is a sub type of depression.<br />DeVellis and Blalock (1992) is a longitudinal study of 57 adults tested the claim that hopelessness expectancy is a sufficient cause for depression. They found support for the link between expectancy and depression, but as moderating, rather than mediating factor, i.e. it does not by itself cause the depression merely by the degree.<br /><br /><br /><br />4. Diathesis stress model:<br />No single explanation can account for depression.<br /><br /><br />Stressful life events<br />There is no doubt that the traumatic effects of stressful life events can build up overwhelming the ability to cope.<br />Some people are more vulnerable, genetically, endocrinologically and socially.<br /><br />Brown & Harris’s longitudinal studies (1993) identify severe life events and long term difficulties as the two factors that trigger depression, especially when the person is feeling vulnerable because of lack of support or an inability to do anything about the situation.<br /><br />Lock & Key hypothesis:<br />Parker et al. (1998) proposed a ‘lock and key’ hypothesis of depression which posits that the early adverse experiences establish locks that can be activated by keys mirroring the earlier adverse experience. Theses in turn induce depression. Interviewing 270 severely clinically depressed patients this worked in 1/3rd of their sample (Approx.)<br />The remaining 2/3rds were diagnosed as reactive depression – therefore not chronic depression.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Topic summary<br /><br />Unipolar depression is a medical condition, typically first appearing in adolescents and young adults, which is recognised by an enduring group of symptoms including feelings of isolation, guilt, helplessness and even thoughts of suicide. It can be precipitated by environmental and/or biological triggers. Up to 5 per cent of the population may be diagnosed with a depressive illness at any one time.<br /><br />Some types of depression may run in families and there is growing evidence that vulnerability to depression may be genetically transmitted. However, many behavioural scientists believe that some types of depression may have roots in learning arising from childhood experiences. Where the consequences of one’s actions lead, even unintentionally, to a desired consequence, the behavior may become learned. Showing symptoms of sadness may attract attention and support, which may thus reinforce the sad behaviour, leading ultimately to the experience of depression.<br /><br />Beck’s cognitive—behavioural model suggests that people’s thinking becomes negative when one’s endeavors’ fail. One becomes self-critical and convinced that one cannot succeed, slowly leading to increasingly severe symptoms of depression.<br /><br />On balance, it is probable that depression is caused by a combination of several factors — notably genetic predisposition, biochemical imbalances, early psychological deprivation, inadequate parenting, and an excessive exposure to adolescent and adult stressors.<br /><br /><br /><br />References:<br /><br />Gershon (1990) - Reviewed ten family studies and found that<br />rates of unipolar depression in 1st degree relatives ranged between 7 and 30%. However, this may arguably be genetically or environmentally produced.<br /><br />McGuffin et al. (1996) - Found 46% concordance in MZ twins<br />compared with 20% DZ in total of 109 twin pairs with no evidence of the effect of shared environment. <br /><br />Bierut et al. (1999) - Carried out a study of 2662 pairs of twins in<br />Australia and although they reported a hereditability factor of between 36 and 44 % they claimed that environmental factors played a larger role.<br /><br />Wender et al. (1986) - Found that biological relatives were 8 times<br />more likely to have depression than adoptive relatives.<br /><br />Robert Hinde (1977) - Supported Bowlby at London zoo involving<br />the removal of half a dozen or so infant monkeys from their parents and other monkeys and rearing them at various periods. <br /><br />Lewinsohn (1974) - Suggests that when someone is deprived of<br />social reinforcement such as feeling appreciated and encouraged and enjoying social interaction, they may become depressed. The individual displays the symptoms of depression, which are then reinforced by others paying them attention, and giving the sympathy that was lacking in the first place.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Nolen-Hoeksema et al. (1992) - A 5 year longitudinal study of children<br />found no connection between attributional style and depression in young children. However, they did find a connection as the children grew older, suggesting that attributional styles may develop over a number of years.<br /><br />Abramson et al. (1989) - Further reinforced the theory of<br />hopelessness to inc. the role of expectancy. Outlining the sequence of events that they thought would lead to hopelessness. This begins with the negative event which interacts with the persons already held negative schemas and a stable and global attribution is made of why the event occurred. These beliefs lead to hopelessness expectation in the future that then may result in depression. They even suggest that hopelessness expectation is a sub type of depression.<br /><br />DeVellis and Blalock (1992) - Is a longitudinal study of 57 adults tested the<br />claim that hopelessness expectancy is a sufficient cause for depression. They found support for the link between expectancy and depression, but as moderating, rather than mediating factor, i.e. it does not by itself cause the depression merely by the degree.<br />Brown & Harris’s longitudinal<br />Studies (1993) - Identify severe life events and long term<br />difficulties as the two factors that trigger depression, especially when the person is feeling vulnerable because of lack of support or an inability to do anything about the situation.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Parker et al. (1998) - Proposed a ‘lock and key’ hypothesis of<br />depression which posits that the early adverse experiences establish locks that can be activated by keys mirroring the earlier adverse experience. These in turn induce depression. Interviewing 270 severely clinically depressed patients this worked in 1/3rd of their sample (Approx.) the remaining 2/3rds were diagnosed as reactive depression – therefore not chronic depression.<br />Concepts to note:<br /><br />Define these terms:<br /><br />· Bipolar (manic) depression<br />· Depression<br />· Dopamine<br />· Endogenous depression<br />· Monotropy<br />· Noradrenaline<br />· Reactive depression<br />· Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)<br />· Serotonin<br />· Tricyclic drugs<br />· Unipolar depression<br /><br />What did they do or say?<br /><br />· Beck<br />· Bierut<br />· Bifulco<br />· Bowiby<br />· Brown and Harris<br />· Ford and Neale<br />· Hinde<br />· Iversen.<br />· Kendler and Prescott<br />· Lewinsohn<br />· McGuffin<br />· Seligman<br />· SilbergTAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-6994924173284988922007-10-21T08:19:00.001-07:002007-10-21T08:19:57.942-07:00SchizophreniaSchizophrenia<br /><br />‘Schizophrenia’ = Skhizein (To split) and Phren (Mind) in Greek.<br /><br />Schizophrenia is completely different to DID.<br />Schizophrenia is a loss of contact with reality – sufferers are not aware of the effects of their behaviour on others around them.<br /><br />Speculations on the origins and development of schizophrenia range from entirely ‘genetic and biological’ through to ‘genetic predisposition and environment trigger’ to the ‘entirely environmental/social.’<br /><br />Clinical Characteristics:<br /><br />Catatonic Schizophrenia is one type of schizophrenia, there are several and all hold several features in common:<br />· Sufferers cognitive, social and emotional state suffers a general deterioration leading to difficulties and breakdowns in normal relationships including those at work and home;<br />· Onset occurs between 15-45 years.<br />· Equally common in males as females;<br />· Occurs 4-5 yrs earlier in males than females.<br />· Symptoms always appear before the age of 50 – usually in teens and early twenties for males and females respectively.;<br />· In most countries across the world the lifetime risk of acquiring schizophrenia is 1%.<br />· Symptoms last at least 6 months before they can be taken as symptoms of schizophrenia;<br />· Auditory hallucinations and visual delusions occur. Other symptoms include severe disturbances in thought and a loss of self understanding.<br />· Sufferers are unaware of the impact that they have on others around them and seem to live in their own distorted worlds.<br /><br />A distinction exists between acute and chronic onset:<br />1. Chronic = Insidious change in an apparently normal young person who gradually starts to lose drive and motivation and drift away from friends. After months or even years of this deterioration, more obvious signs of disturbance, such as delusional ideas or hallucinations appear.<br />2. Acute = more obvious signs of stressful event are represented in very disturbed behaviour within a few days..<br /><br /><br />Sub types of schizophrenia include:<br />1. Paranoid schizophrenia:<br />Delusions and or hallucinations are the predominant characteristics. Negative symptoms such as flattening of affect and poverty of speech are less apparent than in other types.<br />2. Hebephrenic (AKA Disorganised) Schizophrenia<br />Disorganised behaviour and rambling incoherent speech; <br />Marked flattening, inappropriateness of affect.<br />3. Catatonic Schizophrenia<br />Psychomotor abnormality is the central characteristic;<br />Adoption of strange postures and flailing limbs;<br />Often show negativism where they resist all instruction or attempts to move them<br />4. Undifferentiated schizophrenia<br />Labelled where they have insufficient symptoms to fit into a sub type or excessive symptoms to fit into one single type.<br />5. Post Schizophrenic depression (Not in DSM-IV)<br />Criteria met in last 12 months for classification but not currently present;<br />Depressive symptoms are long and severe.<br />6. Residual Schizophrenia<br />Criteria met in past though not at the present time;<br />Have been many signs of negative symptoms throughout the previous 12 months.<br />7. Simple schizophrenia (Not in DSM-IV)<br />Minimum of 12 months progression development of social withdrawal, apathy, poverty of speech and marked decline scholastic / occupational performance.<br />General criteria must be met as well as specific criteria for each sub type.<br /><br /><br />Positive symptoms:<br />Symptom<br />Explanation<br />Example<br />Delusions<br />False beliefs that the sufferer thought to be true.<br />Persecution – having special knowledge or a belief that powers, thought or actions are being controlled by an external force.<br />Hallucinations<br />Imagined sensory perceptions.<br />Auditory – hearing imagined voices (And holding prolonged conversations with these voices)<br />Thought Disorder<br />Confused thinking that is evident in what they say and how they say it.<br />Incoherent speech – jumping from one subject to another with little or no logical connection. The grammar may be strange and only makes sense to the speaker. They may claim that thoughts are being broadcast or stolen from them or are being controlled or influenced by an alien, demon, or foreign power.<br />Bizarre Behaviour<br />Strange and inappropriate behaviour (Contravening social norms)<br />Undressing in public or making odd faces, body gestures and postures for no apparent purpose.<br /><br />Negative Symptoms:<br />Symptom<br />Explanation<br />Example<br />Blunted Emotional Responses<br />No emotional involvement in or response to things in their immediate environment<br />Unchanging facial expression, gestures, or tone of voice regardless of whether the environment would require a happy or sad response, or an inappropriate response e.g. laughing at a funeral.<br />Loss of drive<br />Little interest or motivation to work or enjoy leisure activities<br />Inability to wash and feed to take decisions and being entirely passive.<br />Social Withdrawal<br />Difficulty making and keeping friends acquaintances or more intimate relationships<br />Negativity and passivity and a reluctance to engage in social interaction<br />Poverty of Thought<br />Considerable reduction in cognitive activity: Thinking limited to immediate concerns.<br />Limited amount of speech and may answer questions with ‘yes’ ‘no’ or ‘I don’t know’<br /><br /><br /><br />Genetic Explanations for Schizophrenia:<br /><br />Sample sizes and modestly positive results do not add up to certainty, however, a summary of evidence to this end includes:<br /><br />Twin studies showing higher than expected probability that if one twin presents symptoms the other is likely to do so;<br />The closer the relative to the sufferer, the higher the probability that they might develop schizophrenia;<br />Adopted children who’s natural family contained a member who had developed schizophrenia were more at risk;<br />A child adopted by a family where a member later develops schizophrenia is no more likely to develop the illness itself.<br /><br />Where biological changes do occur they could be the result of the schizophrenia rather than the cause, or linked in ways we have yet to discover.<br /><br />The longitudinal Copenhagen High Risk Study (1962 - early 90’s) examined children who’s mothers were diagnosed as having schizophrenic symptoms and found them much more likely to develop the illness compared to those who did not. There was less than 1 in 10,000 chance (p<0.0001) that these findings could have occurred by chance.<br /><br />However, this study cannot differentiate between the effects of genes and the effects of the environment.<br /><br />Adoption studies provide some of the strongest evidence in support of the argument that genetics play a key role in the development of schizophrenia.<br /><br /><br />Below shows the evidence indicating strong genetic links between genetics and schizophrenia. However, it must be remembered that sample sizes are small and that circumstances of each study were not directly comparable. Also, there are issues to do with the fact that not all social groups are equally likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia.<br /><br />Evaluation:<br />· Research evidence is pretty persuasive for genetic linked risk factors;<br />· Degree of risk for relatives is never 100% - even with Mz Twins its less than 50%, therefore genetics cant be a complete explanation.<br />· Search for the relevant gene:<br />o Without knowing the exact gene it’s impossible to isolate the underlying mechanisms that lead from genetic risk to symptoms of the disorder. The search for the gene continues.<br /><br />Biochemical explanations of schizophrenia<br /><br />Dopamine is a brain chemical that increases the sensitivity of the brain cells that promote the individual’s awareness of events around her or him when in danger or aroused and when under stress. If, however, the individual’s level of brain activity is already highly aroused, then the effects of additional dopamine activity may trigger the onset of a psychotic state, such as schizophrenia. (Anti- psychotic drugs block the dopamine-2 (D2) receptors and reduce the severity of some psychotic symptoms.) Studies of other brain chemical (serotonin and noradrenalin) activity are also being extensively researched.<br /><br />Neurons are individual nerve fibres that carry electrical/chemical ‘messages’. Many millions are densely packed into brain structures. There are tiny gaps between their endings and messages are carried across them by a neurotransmitter substance.<br />Neurons that have dopamine as their transmitter substance (Dopaminergic neurons) are overactive in individuals who exhibit schizophrenic symptoms. The dopamine hypothesis suggests that ‘excessive activity’ in the dopamine neurons leading to increased dopamine production and limited absorption of existing dopamine is associated with schizophrenia.<br /><br />An interesting parallel exists with Parkinson’s Disease, where a dopamine increasing drug (L Dopa) seems to have the opposite effect.<br /><br /><br />Further support for the dopamine hypothesis comes from the post-mortems of patients with schizophrenia. These have revealed specific increase of dopamine in the left amygdale (Falkai et al. 1988) and increased dopamine receptor density in the caudate nucleus putamen (Owen et al. 1978)<br /><br />Wong et al. (1986) shows in live patients using pet scans that the dopamine receptor density in the caudate nuclei is indeed greater in those with schizophrenia than in controls. This however is not supported in subsequent studies.<br /><br />Evaluation of Dopamine Hypothesis:<br />1. Current available evidence supports some form of the dopamine hypothesis.<br />Drugs alleviate positive symptoms but are not so effective with negative symptoms.<br />2. Effects of different drugs on different sub types (Type I and II):<br />Amphetamines worsen positive symptoms (associated with acute schizophrenia) and lessen negative symptoms (Associated with chronic) while phenothiazines (Anti-psychotics) alleviate positive symptoms but aren’t as effective in lessening negative symptoms.<br />3. Cause or effect cant be established<br />4. Role of dopamine in other disorders:<br />Dopamine also implicated in mania and other disorders which have quite different symptoms. Main evidence in dopamine schizophrenia is the effectiveness of phenothiazines in alleviating symptoms.<br /><br /><br />Neuroanatomical explanations<br /><br />Advances in brain scanning (neuro-imaging) technology are allowing cognitive and medical researchers to seek structural, organic abnormalities in the brains of people who exhibit behavioural disorders. Two such scanning technologies are Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).<br /><br />PET scans are used in the diagnosis of problems in bodily organs, particularly the brain. The patient is injected with glucose that contains a tiny amount of radioactive substance — which emits positrons that can be detected by the scanner. As various brain centres use up the glucose their size, location, and connectivity to other brain centres can be recorded.<br /><br />MRI is a complex diagnostic technique whereby a patient is surrounded by a cylinder that contains a strong magnet. Radio waves from the cylinder cause the atoms of the body to resonate. Each type of body tissue resonates at a different, known, frequency. Since these are known, a computer can build these resonances into a two-dimensional picture. It can ‘see through’ bone and can produce detailed images of just about all parts of the brain and body.<br /><br />These technologies have shown abnormal brain structures in many patients exhibiting schizophrenic symptoms, for example, the differences in the density of receptor cells for dopamine in schizophrenia patients who were being treated with anti-psychotic drugs and those who were not.<br /><br />Evidence for neuro-anatomical explanations:<br />Brown et al (1986) found decreased brain weight and enlarged ventricles, which are the cavities in the brain that hold cerebrospinal fluid.<br />Flaum et al. (1995) also found enlarged ventricles along with smaller thalamic hippocampal and superior temporal volumes.<br />Buchsbaum (1990) found abnormalities in the frontal hippocampus and the amygdale. As more MRI studies are being undertaken, more abnormalities are being identified.<br /><br />The critical time period for the onset of schizophrenia is not usually before adolescence. Therefore if the brain abnormalities precede the onset of clinical symptoms this would confirm the view that schizophrenia is a developmental disorder. Weinberger (!988) claims that despite much research evidence remains inconclusive as to whether there are progressive structural brain changes prior to the initial onset of schizophrenia or whether they follow the onset of clinical symptoms.<br /><br />Castner (1998) subjected monkeys to brain damaging x rays during fetal development and found that they showed no ill effects in childhood compared to the control group, but at puberty they developed symptoms of schizophrenia such as hallucinations. There are of course ethical issues associated with animal research of this kind.<br /><br />Evaluation: The neuroanatomical explanation<br />· Conflicting findings about structural abnormalities.<br />While MRI studies appear to provide conclusive evidence of structural abnormalities they don’t always agree on the area of the brain that is affected.<br />Flaum (1995) found no abnormalities in the temporal lobe region,<br />while Woodruff et al. (1997) found quite significant reductions in the temporal lobe compared with control.<br />· Structural abnormalities as cause or effect?<br />Because most studies using MRI techniques have been carried out on people already<br />diagnosed with schizophrenia it is not clear whether structural abnormalities<br />predispose to schizophrenia or whether the onset of clinical symptoms cause<br />structural changes.<br />· Types of Study:<br />Prospective studies, which could have shed light on the direction of causality have been carried out only on animals and it is difficult to generalise findings to humans.<br /><br />Pregnancy and birth factors as explanations for schizophrenia.<br /><br />Viral illness may damage brain structure and functioning.<br />This increases if the pregnant woman contracts the illness. <br />E.g. Influenza, measles and chicken pox.<br /><br />There is a significant correlation between being born in the winter and early spring and developing schizophrenia. This increases after epidemics of viral infections. (Torrey et al 1988; 1996)<br /><br />In the southern hemisphere a high proportion of those diagnosed with schizophrenia were born July to September (I.e. Winter months.)<br /><br />These facts support schizophrenia having a biological origin.<br />However, not all schizophrenia is associated with brain damage and not all can be linked to viral infection.<br /><br />Mednick et all (1988) suggestion is that if the mother is infected during the pregnancy there is pre birth exposure to the influenza A virus. It is thought that the 25-30 week foetus is most vulnerable because of accelerated growth of the cerebral cortex at this time.<br /><br />Its hypothesised that the viral infection enters the brain and gestates until it is activated by hormonal changes in puberty. Alternatively there may be a gradual degeneration of the brain which eventually becomes so severe that symptoms of schizophrenia emerge.<br /><br />Torrey et all (1988) furthered support for the viral hypothesis comes from the observation that throughout its history peaks in schizophrenia diagnosis have corresponded with major flue epidemics<br /><br />There are conflicting views as to whether abnormalities result from genetic defect or from birth complications leading to brain damage.<br /><br />A longitudinal study by Dalman et al. (1999) found significant links between birth complications and later development of schizophrenia, with pre-eclampsia being the most significant risk factor.<br /><br /><br />Evaluation: Pregnancy and birth factor explanations.<br />· Methodological problems:<br />Evidence suggests some link between infection and schizophrenia; however, Torrey inferred causation while doing a correlation study.<br />Data was based on DSM-II rather than the tighter DSM-III diagnostic range.<br />· Genetic predisposition:<br />Torrey et al. (1988) claims the link between viral infection and schizophrenia only exists between those that have a genetic predisposition. Also MZ & DZ twins sharing the same uterus are exposed to same virus and therefore correlation should be 100% - is this the case?<br />· Birth complications as sole cause?<br />It’s unlikely that birth complications like pre-eclampsia could be the sole cause of schizophrenia, because this is a common problem and not all such infants go on to develop schizophrenia.<br /><br />Diathesis-Stress explanations for Schizophrenia<br /><br /><br />While 51% of all schizophrenics in high EE families suffered a relapse, 49% didn’t.<br /><br />Other triggers that herald the onset of an episode include momentous life events (Serious illness, Unexpected Bereavement etc.) or a combination of factors which could in isolation be dealt with. E.g. Unemployment, lowered sense of self worth, heavy drinking, marital problems, minor criminal activity, apprehension by the police and a magistrate courts appearance could all trigger an episode.<br /><br /><br />Schizophrenia did not always develop in those genetically vulnerable.<br /><br />The Finnish adoption study undertaken by Tienari (1987) investigated environmental factors by assessing the quality of parenting through a battery of tests and interviews. All of the reported cases of schizophrenia occurred in families rated as ‘disturbed.’the high risk sample in healthy environments had occurrences well below the general populations rates. However, unfortunately, low risk children from disturbed envornments did not develop schizophrenia.<br /><br />The Israeli High Risk Study (Marcus 1987) investigated environmental factorsby assessing the parents on hostility, inconsistency and over involvement.<br />All the reported cases of schizophrenia had poor parenting ratings. However, all the cases also showed signs of neurological abnormalities at the time of initial assessment (13 years previous) which raises the question of whether these abnormalities had influenced the parent child interaction.<br /><br />These studies are ongoing and many of the children have not yet passed through the critical period for the onset of schizophrenia. However, the evidence so far strongly supports the diathesis-stress model.<br /><br />Psychological explanations of Schizophrenia<br /><br />1. Dysfunctional families:<br /><br />This discredited theory claimed that families who were secretive, critical and punitive, created such anxieties and tensions that the child was predisposed to developing schizophrenia later. Such explanations are not supported by studies of schizophrenia sufferers and their families, and would not account for biological influences.<br /><br />Several retrospective clinical studies identified the dysfunctional family, and breakdowns in communication between its various members, as the key cause of schizophrenia.<br /><br />However, they simply assumed that the patterns of behaviour between family members that they observed would also have been found in the past. Nor were there any control groups of families who had similar patterns of behaviour, but no evidence of schizophrenia amongst their members.<br /><br />It is hardly surprising that communication becomes strained and routines are disrupted when a family is trying to live and cope with the behaviour of a schizophrenic member. It seems highly likely that the dysfunctional behaviour observed in some families with a schizophrenic member is caused by having to live with someone who has lost contact with reality. Furthermore, more recent studies of dysfunctional families show that few people reared in such homes actually develop schizophrenia and most schizophrenia sufferers come from ‘normal’, well adjusted families.<br /><br />2. Expressed Emotion (EE):<br /><br />It was obvious that families may be involved in the progress of the condition, but they are unlikely to have been the cause of it. However, the environment the schizophrenia sufferer returns to after treatment influences the likelihood of successful recovery. Homes where face-to-face interaction is characterised by intense emotional concern or criticism are less conducive to recovery than homes with more emotionally stable interactions. Relapse rates are highest where contact is most fraught.<br /><br />Brown (1972) showed that patients who returned from hospital to homes where there was a high level of emotionality (High levels of Emotion were Expressed — HEE) were more likely to have a relapse, and would have it sooner than those with LEE (Low levels of Emotion Expressed) families. The kinds of emotions that were expressed were high levels of concern for the sufferers, leading to doing everything for them, being highly critical of their attempts to help themselves, and being very ‘strung out’ generally. These families were characterised by people (mothers usually) rushing around and driving themselves to exhaustion, looking after each other, fussing constantly and being overly possessive. Vaughn and Leff (1976) found 51 per cent of schizophrenic relapses in HEE families, compared to 13 per cent in LEE homes. The more contact the sufferer had with HEE relatives, the higher the relapse rate.<br />The evidence for the effect of other family members and their emotional responses on recovery from schizophrenia is now well established (and the care package for schizophrenia recovery usually includes some education and support for other family members).<br /><br />Evidence for the importance of expressed emotion has been found in studies across different cultures so there can be little doubt of its importance in explaining relapse. Unfortunately for the EE explanation, there are also high relapse rates amongst those recovering from schizophrenia who are not in contact with any former family members, so the expressed emotion hypothesis may not be entirely true.<br /><br />Cognitive explanations for schizophrenia<br /><br />Whilst not disputing schizophrenia’s genetic and biological origins, cognitive psychologists regard schizophrenia as a thought disorder. They are interested in studying whether there are abnormalities in the cognitive processes of those with schizophrenia, and of their close relatives.<br /><br />For example, cognitive psychologists are trying to find out if there are similarities in memory function in individuals diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia and their nearest relatives. Some similarities have been found, but the data available so far fail to explain why only some people with cognitive malfunctioning actually develop schizophrenia while others in the family do not.<br /><br />Research into similarities and differences in cognitive functioning between schizophrenia and non-schizophrenia sufferers is in its infancy and no acceptable conclusions about the origins or causes of schizophrenia have been established yet.<br /><br />Cognitive psychologists suggest that disturbed thinking processes are the cause rather than the consequence of schizophrenia.<br /><br />It is suggested that people with schizophrenia cannot filter information in this way and they simply let in too much irrelevant information.<br /><br />Explanations that relate underlying biological impairments to psychotic symptoms are often referred to as neuropsychological theories’.<br /><br />One such hypothesis has been proposed by Hemsley (1993) who suggested that the central deficit in schizophrenia is a breakdown in the relationship between information that has already been stored in memory and new, incoming sensory information.<br /><br />Hemsley suggests that this processing break down in schizophrenia and those schemas are not activated. As a result, people with schizophrenia are subjected to sensory overload and do not know which aspects of a situation to attend to and which to ignore.<br /><br /><br />Hemsley further suggests that internal thoughts are sometimes not recognized as arising from memory and so are attributed to an external source are - experienced as auditory hallucinations.<br /><br />Frith’s model (1992) was an attempt to explain the onset and maintenance of sonic of the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. His idea is that people schizophrenia are cognitively impaired in that they are unable to distinguish between actions that are brougi about b external forces and those that are generated internally. He believes that most of the symptoms of schizophrenia can be explained in terms of deficits in three cognitive processes:<br /><br />· Inability to generate willed action;<br />· Inability to monitor willed action;<br />· Inability to monitor the beliefs and intentions of others.<br /><br />According to Frith, faulty operation of this mechanism is due to a functional disconnection between frontal areas of the brain concerned with action arid more posterior areas of the brain that control perception. He has produced some evidence for his ideas by detecting changes in cerebral blood flow in the brains of people with schizophrenia when engaged in specific cognitive tasks.<br /><br />Cognitive psychologists are attempting to find evidence for genetic links by examining whether malfunctioning cognitive processing is a family trait.<br /><br />Park et al. (1995) identified working memory deficits in people with schizophrenia arid in their first-degree non-schizophrenic relatives, a study that has been supported by Faraone et al. (1999), who also found impairments in auditory attention. Faraone and colleagues claim that these memory and attention impairments are a manifestation of the genetic predisposition to schizophrenia and are even bold enough to claim that these are the cause.<br />They admit they cannot explain why their relatives do not develop the illness, even though they have the predisposing genes.<br />They suggest that further work is needed to establish whether some people have a low ‘dose’ of the genes, or, alternatively, whether they have not been exposed to any environmental agents that may trigger the disorder. Cannon et al. (1994b), who also identified verbal memory and attention, but not visual memory deficits, in people with schizophrenia and their non- schizophrenic siblings, suggested that the mediating factors that determine the expression of these genes are birth complications.<br /><br />References:<br /><br />Falkai et al. (1988) & Owen et al. (1978) - Further support for the<br />dopamine hypothesis comes from the post-mortems of patients with schizophrenia. These have revealed specific increase of dopamine in the left amygdale and increased dopamine receptor density in the caudate nucleus putamen<br /><br />Wong et al. (1986) - Shows in live patients using pet scans that<br />the dopamine receptor density in the caudate nuclei is indeed greater in those with schizophrenia than in controls. This however is not supported in subsequent studies.<br /><br />Brown et al (1986) - Found decreased brain weight and enlarged<br />ventricles, which are the cavities in the brain that hold cerebrospinal fluid.<br /><br />Flaum et al. (1995) - Also found enlarged ventricles along with<br />smaller thalamic hippocampal and superior temporal volumes.<br /><br />Buchsbaum (1990) - Found abnormalities in the frontal<br />hippocampus and the amygdale. As more MRI studies are being undertaken, more abnormalities are being identified.<br /><br />Castner (1998) - Subjected monkeys to brain damaging x rays<br />during fetal development and found that they showed no ill effects in childhood compared to the control group, but at puberty they developed symptoms of schizophrenia such as hallucinations. There are of course ethical issues associated with animal research of this kind.<br /><br />Mednick et all (1988) - Suggestion is that if the mother is infected<br />during the pregnancy there is pre birth exposure to the influenza A virus. It is thought that the 25-30 week foetus is most vulnerable because of accelerated growth of the cerebral cortex at this time.<br /><br />Torrey et all (1988) - Furthered support for the viral hypothesis<br />comes from the observation that throughout its history peaks in schizophrenia diagnosis have corresponded with major flue epidemics<br /><br />Dalman et al. (1999) - Longitudinal study which found significant<br />links between birth complications and later development of schizophrenia, with pre-eclapsia being the most significant risk factor.<br />Tienari (1987) - The Finnish adoption study investigated<br />environmental factors by assessing the quality of parenting through a battery of tests and interviews. <br />Marcus (1987) - The Israeli High Risk Study investigated<br />environmental factors by assessing the parents on hostility, inconsistency and over involvement.<br /><br />Brown (1972) - Showed that patients who returned from<br />hospital to homes where there was a high level of emotionality (High levels of Emotion were Expressed — HEE) were more likely to have a relapse, and would have it sooner than those with LEE (Low levels of Emotion Expressed) families.<br />Vaughn and Leff (1976) - Found 51 per cent of schizophrenic relapses<br />in HEE families, compared to 13 per cent in LEE homes. The more contact the sufferer had with HEE relatives, the higher the relapse<br />Hemsley (1993) - Suggested that the central deficit in<br />schizophrenia is a breakdown in the relationship between information that has already been stored in memory and new, incoming sensory information.<br /><br />Park et al. (1995) - Identified working memory deficits in<br />people with schizophrenia arid in their first-degree non-schizophrenic relatives, a study that has been supported by Faraone et al. (1999)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Faraone et al. (1999) - Found impairments in auditory attention.<br />Faraone and colleagues claim that these memory and attention impairments are a manifestation of the genetic predisposition to schizophrenia and are even bold enough to claim that these are the cause.<br /><br />Cannon et al. (1994b) - Identified verbal memory and attention, but<br />not visual memory deficits, in people with schizophrenia and their non- schizophrenic siblings, suggested that the mediating factors that determine the expression of these genes are birth complications.<br />Concepts to note:<br /><br />Define these terms:<br /><br />· bizarre behaviour<br />· blunted emotional responses<br />· delusions<br />· diathesis-stress explanations<br />· dissociative identity disorder<br />· dopamine<br />· dopamine hypothesis<br />· expressed emotion (EE)<br />· functional schizophrenia<br />· hallucinations<br />· loss of drive<br />· neurochemical theory<br />· neurons<br />· organic schizophrenia<br />· poverty of thought<br />· schizophrenia<br />· social withdrawal<br />· thought disorder<br /><br />What did they do or say?<br /><br />· Brown<br />· Faraone<br />· Kendler<br />· Park<br />· Vaughn and LeffTAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-17623674000592098532007-10-21T08:18:00.001-07:002007-10-21T08:18:44.000-07:00Culture Bound SyndromesCulture Bound Syndromes<br /><br />Sam (1996) states that western psychological explanations don’t account for all the experiences and behaviour of people from other cultures, psychology being western culture bound and blind to influences from elsewhere<br /><br />Defining Culture:<br /><br />The word Culture refers to the beliefs, norms, and values (Standards of acceptable behaviour and thoughts) that govern the way people within a defined group (Such as society or a nation) interact with one another.<br />Each new member of the group has to learn these beliefs and understandings<br /><br />Although ICD and DSM aim to be universal and scientific, culture bound syndromes do not fit comfortably into them. The DSM now lists 25 culture bound syndromes, but does not provide criteria for them. CBS raise a serious challenge to both of these classifications systems in this topic we will look at what are CBS. Finally whether CBS are really unique ways of being mad or localised manifestations of illness.<br /><br />Definition of culture bound syndromes:<br /><br />We musty always consider the ideas of ‘Value freedom’ and ‘value biases’<br />Behaviour that can be thought of as a disorder in one society may be thought of as an appropriate response or acceptable behaviour in another. In which case ICD-10 and DSM-IV aren’t going to be acceptable.<br />This would be described as a culture bound syndrome (CBS) as it is supposed to be specific to that culture. This is also known as a Culture bound Disorder (CBD) or Culture Specific Syndrome (CSS).<br /><br />Not everyone accepts that CBS exist. ICD-10 defines them as localised forms of depression, anxiety and somatoform disorders – something being wrong with their bodies without there being physical evidence.<br /><br />Culture bound syndromes of mental disorders are associated with ‘folk illnesses’ that are treated with ‘folk medicines’<br /><br />ICD-10 defines CBS as behaviour that doesn’t easily fit into the usual categories and appears only amongst particular groups of people.<br /><br />DSM agrees and adds the idea that other members of the specific culture consider them as illnesses.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Looking for patterns:<br /><br />What we are interested to know is :<br />Do particular syndromes of pathological behaviour exist amongst specific groups of people at all?<br />Or, are they similar to syndromes that can be found everywhere, except that they are triggered by a feature of the culture in which they are found?<br /><br />Every example of abnormal behaviour must be understood in terms of the norms and values of the group to which the person exhibiting it belongs. It wouldn’t make sense to apply DSM and ICD which reflect Western Cultural experiences, to the behaviour of some Malaysian Males.<br /><br />Hall (1998) categorises CBS in the following way:<br />1. A psychiatric Illness (Not originally caused) which is locally recognised as an illness and which does not match a recognised western category;<br />2. A psychiatric illness (Not originally caused) which is locally recognised as an illness and resembles a Western category, but may lack some symptoms that are regarded as important in many cultures;<br />3. A psychiatric illness not yet recognised in the west;<br />4. A psychiatric illness (Which may or may not by organically caused) that is found in many cultures, but is only regarded as an illness in one or a few ;<br />5. Culturally accepted forms of illness which would not be regarded as acceptable in mainstream Western medicine;<br />6. A syndrome supposedly occurring in a given culture, but which does not in fact exist which is used to justify the expulsion or execution of an outcast in the same way as witchcraft was.<br /><br />Arguments for and against the existence of culture-bound syndromes.<br /><br />Here we ask the following three questions:<br />Do culture bound syndromes exist?<br />Can CBS be classified in any meaningful way?<br />Do the symptoms described as CBS actually exist everywhere (And as described by DSM and ICD) but influenced by culture or are the syndromes really specific to the culture in which they are found and do not exist anywhere else?<br /><br />The development of the ‘global village’ will result in differences between people declining and therefore CBS declining<br /><br />Yap (1974) believes that the conditions described in CBS actually exist everywhere but are triggered by factors in specific cultures making their forms vary.<br />Pfeiffer (1982), however, believes that the only way to understand these syndromes is as a response to the specific cultural circumstances that surround the individual but when clustered into a syndrome they are qualitatively different from other syndromes triggered by events in other cultures.<br />Universal or culturally relative?<br /><br />Berry et al. (1992) argues that three positions can be taken in relation to abnormalities, mental disorders etc, these are:<br />1. Absolute:<br />Unchanging in terms of origin, symptoms etc. all cultures studies;<br />2. Universal:<br />Found in all cultures, but affected by cultural influences in terms of what brings them out, what forms they take etc.<br />3. Culturally relative:<br />Unique to some cultures and understandable only in terms of values and concepts held within those cultures.<br /><br /><br />Yap (1974) argues :<br />1. Human mental disorders are broad, spanning all cultures i.e. they are supra cultural. Thus it could be argued that symptoms emerge from within the individual and these symptoms cluster together to form discrete categories of mental illness. This was the precise starting point of contemporary psychiatry in the early work of Kraeplin in the late 19th Century;<br />2. Comparative psychiatry aims to establish common links across cultures in a similar manner to the way in which comparative psychology explores links seen as culturally specific expressions of common human problems and disorders that are addressed by the ICD and DSM. Yap (1974) believes that Latah is a local cultural expression of ‘primary fear reaction’<br /><br />Commentary - CBS’s and the universal view of these disorders<br />Supracultural or specific to cultures? — Pfeiffer (1982) argues against the supracultural position on CBS’s. He agrees with Yap (1974) that the manifestations of illnesses, i.e. the human behaviours, may indeed be ‘a universally human character’, but argues that this is only one part of the issue. His view is that the diagnostic and classificatory systems of the Western world are so qualitatively different in nature to the folk illnesses and medicines specific to particular cultures that they cannot be integrated except by distortion. He writes:<br />‘The attempt to bring the culture-bound syndromes into a psychiatric diagnostic system is doomed to failure because the symptoms in the two spheres are selected and ordered from qualitatively disparate points of view.’<br /><br />Why CBSs might not be ‘at home’ in the DSM?— Pfeiffer argues that CBSs must be viewed at the level of the individual culture, rather than from the vantage point of Washington DC, the home of the American Psychological Association, because they are specific in the following four aspects:<br />1. Cultures differ in those things that place people under unbearable stress; in one culture it may be work and status; in another, family relations.<br />2. Different cultures allow and ban certain expressions and behaviours. What might be permitted as a culturally acceptable release mechanism in certain cultures may not be allowed in others.<br />3. We may have culture-specific interpretations — a behaviour is one thing, but what we take it to mean and what sense we make of it, is entirely another. Think how certain women were ‘discovered’ to be witches because of culturally specific interpretations of their behaviour (Ussher 1992).<br />4. We have not explored the variety of cultural-specific ways of treating disorders, but folk medicine is a good example of the ways in which indigenous people treat their illnesses. <br /><br />So, if CBS’s are a form of folk illness to be treated by folk medicine, then they are qualitatively inconsistent with the aims and purposes of the ICD and DSM<br /><br /><br />References:<br /><br /><br />Sam (1996) - States that western psychological explanations don’t<br />account for all the experiences and behaviour of people from other cultures, psychology being western culture bound and blind to influences from elsewhere<br /><br />Hall (1998) - categorises CBS as a series of 6 points which<br />assess CBS existence.<br /><br />Yap (1974) - believes that the conditions described in CBS actually exist<br />everywhere but are triggered by factors in specific cultures making their forms vary.<br />Berry et al. (1992) - argues that three positions can be taken in relation to<br />abnormalities, mental disorders etc<br /><br />Pfeiffer (1982) - argues against the supracultural position on CBS’s. He<br />agrees with Yap (1974) that the manifestations of illnesses, i.e. the human behaviours, may indeed be ‘a universally human character’, but argues that this is only one part of the issue. His view is that the diagnostic and classificatory systems of the Western world are so qualitatively different in nature to the folk illnesses and medicines specific to particular cultures that they cannot be integrated except by distortion.<br />Concepts to note:<br />Define these terms:<br />Culture<br />Culture Bound Syndromes<br /><br />What did they do or say?<br />Hall<br />Pfeiffer<br />YapTAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-11319369468263851182007-10-21T08:16:00.001-07:002007-10-21T08:16:47.235-07:00Dissassociative Identity DisorderMultiple Personality Disorder /<br />Dissociative Identity Disorder<br /><br />DSM-IV locates the symptoms of multiple personality disorder (Failure to remember significant items and events) with other such dissociative conditions; hence multiple personality disorder is now called ‘dissociative identity disorder’ (DID)<br />(The ‘split’ in schizophrenia refers to the loss of contact with reality.)<br /><br />In Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) this integrity of the overall personality is said to break down and one or more independent sub personalities may appear.<br /><br />Defining DID:<br />· Disassociation is a disorder in which a disruption ion memory leads to a separation of one part of a person’s identity from another. Disassociative Identity Disorder (DID) occurs when two or more distinct personalities (Referred to as ‘Alters’ or sub personalities’ exist within one person.<br />· Alters have their own distinct identity, personal history and self image. They often have their own name and age. Two or more of these control the persons behaviour from time to time.<br /><br />Thigpen & Cleckley (1954; 1957) reported the case of ‘The three cases of Eve’<br />· Conducted 14 month long case study on the patient including over 100 hours of interviews, hypnosis, and several kinds of psychological tests.<br />· Chris Sizemoore was Eves real name;<br />· Wife and mother;<br />· Quiet and shy;<br />· Troubled housewife who sought psychotherapy;<br />· Complained of hearing an imaginary voice and suffered blackouts – did not disturb her;<br />· Had three distinct personalities – Eve white, eve black & Jane;<br />· Eve Black was confident and appealing;<br />· Much later eve claimed that she had 22 different personalities and they assisted in coping with difficulties;<br />· Multiple personality disorder usually involves average of 15 personalities.<br />o Each with different appetites, handwriting, skills, IQ and facial expressions and dress codes.<br />o Persons with DID display two or more personalities, often called ‘;sub personalities’ each with a unique set of behaviours, emotions and thoughts.<br />§ At any given time, one of the sub personalities dominates the persons consciousness and interactions with other people.<br /><br />Not everyone believes that DID is a legitimate mental disorder. Some claim that it emerges as a patients response to therapy. Spanos (1994) states this is due to demand characteristics.<br />Just about all the cases of DID have been in N. USA. Relatively few exist elsewhere.<br />What is DID?<br />A cluster of problems that involve changes in a persons memory, sense of identity or consciousness.<br />Taking on a new identity and wandering from home for a time;<br /><br />Four major sub-types of disassociate disorders are defined by DSM-IV-TR:<br />1. Dissociative Amnesia:<br />· Individuals unable to recall important personal information.<br />2. Dissociative Fuge:<br />· Dreamlike altered state of consciousness.<br />3. DID:<br />4. Depersonalisation disorder:<br />· Self perception is altered in a disconcerting way.<br /><br />Alters (Ego states)<br />· In order to be diagnosed as suffering DID under current DSM guidelines an individual must have at least two separate modes of internal state and response. <br />· They should exist separately from one another and in extreme cases not even be aware of the others existence.<br />· Typically between two and four alters exist. Possibly more, this being not uncommon.<br />(Davison et al 2004)<br /><br /><br /><br />Theoretical Explanations of Dissociative Identity Disorder<br /><br />Psychodynamic Explanations:<br /><br />· Supporters of the existence of DID claim the ‘alter’ protects the child’s personality from the memory of the trauma.<br />· Traumatic events could disrupt normal personality functioning and we can develop a means of coping with this potential disruption.<br />o Therefore our unconscious mind may deploy a defence mechanism.<br />§ Defends our rational ego from our irrational Id which are often in conflict<br />§ Painful thoughts and memories about early experiences may disrupt early personality development and therefore defence mechanisms are deployed here too.<br />§ A child suffering from abuse and neglect may develop another personality (Alter) to escape from the pain suffered by the child with the dominant or host personality.<br /><br />§ N.B. Many children suffer abuse and neglect but few of them seem to develop DID.<br /><br />§ Many children suffer abuse and neglect but few of them seem to develop DID.<br /><br /><br /><br />Process map:<br /><br />Healthy<br />↓<br />Defence Mechanism<br />↓<br />Alter(s) Development<br />↓<br />Conflict Resolution / Defences fail<br />↓<br />DID.<br /><br />Case Study: Sybil.<br /><br />1980’s è DID sufferer, eager for help<br />Screened on horizon in 1999 titled ‘Mistaken identity’<br />Professor Hubert Spiegel – doubts DID is a disorder.<br />Sybil “Do you want me to be Helen?”<br />Replies that’s unnecessary but you may if you would like to..<br />She preferred not to.<br />Relived experiences as if in another person when recalling them.<br />Did not display alters.<br />Overnight DID – a formerly fairly unknown / unheard of illness became more common.<br />Could this be behavioural reinforcement?<br /><br />Kluft (1984) supports the role of abuse in DID – finds 97% of cases studied to involve physical or sexual abuse.<br /><br />However, DID is relatively rare in comparison to known incidence of child abuse.<br /><br /><br />Behavioural Explanations.<br />Majority of behaviour is learned through the process of reinforcement where the consequences of something were unpleasant – the process of negative reinforcement, that this becomes reinforced.<br />Seligman (1971) claims that people may be biologically pre-programmed to react in several way, including exhibiting DID. This challenged behaviourists who only recognise factors in the environment as being able to provide reinforcement.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Psychodynamic model<br />Behavioural Model<br />Agree<br />Early traumas lead to DID<br />DID relieves otherwise damaging situations<br /><br />Disagree<br />DID results from unconscious conflicts<br />DID reflects the. personality<br />DID is a learned response<br />DID reflects behaviour<br /><br />Socio-cognitive explanations<br /><br />State dependant learning<br />Knowledge acquired when in one emotional state is best remembered when in that state again. Memories when feeling sad may cluster into a sub personality, which could be recreated when made to feel sad again.<br /><br />Self-hypnosis<br />Argues that children, who are highly suggestible to external influences, escape into a dream world through a form of self hypnosis. There are too many unknowns about what hypnosis is to be convinced by this explanation.<br />Comer (2004) argues that people with DID are particularly susceptible to hypnosis. <br />Others suggest that while using hypnosis to treat psychological problems therapists have unwittingly created ‘alters’ that DID sufferers report (Cohen 1995)<br /><br />Trance like state Vs normal social, attention and cognitive processes in which it is a social role where people carry out their perceived obligations in line with their expectations of that role (Demand characteristics).<br /><br />Despite these facts Coons (1989) found that most DID patients had not been hypnotized. <br /><br />DID as a spontaneous ‘iatrogenic’ phenomenon.<br />Here it is claimed that people seek psychological help for a variety of reasons .<br />During therapy they start to talk about themselves as if they were someone else – creating another personality. The therapist asks them to elaborate on their behaviour as someone else. – They ere creating another personality. Iatrogenic means ‘created by the treatment – or mistreatment by - itself.’ In short induced unintentionally by therapeutic practice.<br />Spanos (1994) suggests that DID is created by role play influenced by their therapists goals and expectations<br />Gleaves (1996) notes that although the disorder occurs in other cultures, it is extremely rare in Europe and Japan leading to some e.g. Mersky (1992) suggesting its merely a ‘North American fad.’<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Two explanations are put forward for DID:<br /><br />The Post Traumatic Model<br />Sees DID resulting from traumatic early experiences as already described.<br /><br />The Socio-Cognitive model (SCM)<br />Claims that DID is largely the result of iatrogenic factors.<br /><br />Evaluation: DID as a spontaneous or Iatrogenic Disorder<br /><br />Can iatrogenic factors alone explain DID?:<br /><br />Gleaves (1996) argues that no disorder can be solely due to Iatrogenic factors.<br />This may be a common cause of DID but DID can occur spontaneously in their absence.<br />e.g. occurring in societies where exposure to mental health professionals is minimal.<br /><br />Scroppo et al. (1998) suggests that people suffering from DID show increased imaginative activity, a reduced ability to integrate mental components, a complex and driven cognitive style and a highly unconventional view of reality.<br /><br />Lilienfield et al (1999) argues that supporters of SCM do not deny that ‘much of the psychopathological raw material from which DID is sculpted exists prior to professional intervention.’ In short it contributes to DID no more than other social influences.<br /><br />Shaped during therapy or spontaneous?:<br /><br />It is recognised that in some instances DID may be feigned in order to avoid responsibility for criminal actions or to attract attention. This throws doubt on the existence of DID.<br /><br />SCM model enthusiasts do not claim that DID is not a real phenomenon, they do however wonder if the condition’s best described as a response to trauma (PTSD) or as a ‘socially influenced product that unfolds largely in response to the shaping influences of therapeutic practices culturally based scripts and social expectations (Lilenfield et all (1999)<br /><br />Are the patterns of abnormality consistent between sufferers of DID?<br />Sceptics maintain that iatrogenesis is one of the main reasons for the reported increase in numbers and believe that DID patients do not really share any underlying causes or psychological processes that one would expect to see in a real mental disorder (Cohen 1995)<br /><br /><br />In a study of 21 DID and 21 non DID patients Scroppo et al (1998) reported that the DID patients demonstrated fairly consistent patterns of behaviour in a number of different areas and also showed a distinctive and theoretically consistent set of perceptual and cognitive characteristics that clearly differentiated them from the non-DID participants.<br /><br />Commentary: The increase in reported cases of DID<br /><br />DID diagnosis have been on the increase for 30 years. This raises the question of whether it is really becoming far more common or whether clinicians are simply diagnosing it more frequently.<br /><br />Tightening up the DSM.<br />Turkington & Harris (2001) state early editions of the DSM led to diagnosis of a wide range of abnormal behaviours being classified as DID. Fewer people with problems of identity which previously overlapped with schizophrenia are now classified as having DID. (Comer 1994)<br /><br />Differences in acceptance of DID between the USA and the UK:<br />Although rates of reported cases of DID have soared in recent years, the vast majority have been due to diagnosis in the USA<br />Cohen (1995) in new Scientist describes a population of 1200 American doctors of whom 70% stated they have seen at least 1 case of DID. Only 12% did not believe in the diagnosis. Cohen found the condition contrived. If this is the case the increase may be due to largely due to a different interpretation of the DSM compared to UK clinicians.<br /><br />The motivation for developing DID.<br />Mowrer’s View of the ‘Neurotic paradox’ (1948) is relevant here, people without a home, friends, possessions, and hope may feel prison is a refuge or sanctuary with food. Most view it as a punishment. This is the paradox.<br /><br /><br /><br />References:<br /><br />Davison et al. (2004) - Typically between two and four alters exist.<br />Possibly more, this being not uncommon.<br /><br />Kluft (1984) - Supports the role of abuse in DID – find 97% of<br />cases studied to involve physical or sexual abuse.<br /><br />Seligman (1971) - claims that people may be biologically pre-<br />programmed to react in several way, including exhibiting DID. This challenged behaviourists who only recognise factors in the environment as being able to provide reinforcement.<br />Comer (2004) - argues that people with DID are particularly<br />susceptible to hypnosis. <br /><br />Coons (1989) - found that most DID patients had not been<br />hypnotized. <br /><br />Spanos (1994) - suggests that DID is created by role play influenced<br />by their therapists goals and expectations<br /><br />Gleaves (1996) - notes that although the disorder occurs in other<br />cultures, it is extremely rare in Europe and Japan<br /><br />Mersky (1992) - suggested that DID is merely a ‘North American<br />fad.’<br /><br />Gleaves (1996) - argues that no disorder can be solely due to<br />Iatrogenic factors. This may be a common cause of DID but DID can occur spontaneously in their absence. e.g. occurring in societies where exposure to mental health professionals is minimal.<br /><br />Scroppo et al. (1998) - Suggests that people suffering from DID show<br />increased imaginative activity, a reduced ability to integrate mental components, a complex and driven cognitive style and a highly unconventional view of reality.<br /><br />Lilienfield et al (1999) - argues that supporters of SCM do not deny that<br />‘much of the psychopathological raw material from which DID is sculpted exists prior to professional intervention.’ In short it contributes to DID no more than other social influences.<br /><br />Lilenfield et all (1999) - SCM model enthusiasts do not claim that<br />DID is not a real phenomenon, they do however wonder if the condition’s best described as a response to trauma (PTSD) or as a ‘socially influenced product that unfolds largely in response to the shaping influences of therapeutic practices culturally based scripts and social expectations<br /><br />Cohen (1995) - Sceptics maintain that iatrogenesis is one of the<br />main reasons for the reported increase in numbers and believe that DID patients do not really share any underlying causes or psychological processes that one would expect to see in a real mental disorder<br /><br />Scroppo et al (1998) - In a study of 21 DID and 21 non DID patients<br />reported that the DID patients demonstrated fairly consistent patterns of behaviour in a number of different areas and also showed a distinctive and theoretically consistent set of perceptual and cognitive characteristics that clearly differentiated them from the non-DID participants.<br /><br />Turkington & Harris (2001) - state early editions of the DSM led to diagnosis of a<br /> wide range of abnormal behaviours being classified<br />as DID.<br /><br />Comer (1994) - Fewer people with problems of identity which<br />previously overlapped with schizophrenia are now classified as having DID.<br /><br />Cohen (1995) - In new Scientist describes a population of 1200<br />American doctors of whom 70% stated they have seen at least 1 case of DID. Only 12% did not believe in the diagnosis. Cohen found the condition contrived. If this is the case the increase may be due to largely due to a different interpretation of the DSM compared to UK clinicians.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Concepts to note:<br />Define these terms:<br />· Alters<br />· Defence mechanism<br />· Dissociative identity disorder (DID)<br />· Dissociation<br />· Iatrogenic<br />· Multiple personality disorder (MPD)<br />· Negative reinforcement<br />· Post-traumatic model (PTM)<br />· Socio-cognitive model (SCM)<br />· State-dependent learning<br /><br /><br />What did they do or say?<br />· Freud<br />· Gleaves<br />· Mersky<br />· Mowrer<br />· Seligman<br />· Skinner<br />· Spanos<br />· Thigpen and CleckleyTAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-62834927675189599972007-10-21T08:15:00.001-07:002007-10-21T08:15:57.012-07:00Classificatory SystemsClassificatory Systems<br /><br />For various organic and psychological reasons some people will behave markedly differently from the majority of others.<br /><br />It wasn’t until the mid nineteenth century that scientists, notably Jean Martin Charcot in Paris and Sigmund Freud in Vienna began to note how some symptoms in patients with abnormal behaviour frequently occurred together.<br /><br />Freud’s earliest classification system distinguished between three groups of disorders. They were:<br />· Neuroses – Phobias which were mild and didn’t require medical attention;<br />· Psychoses, e.g. Dementia Praecox (Schizophrenia) which were severe and could be life threatening;<br />· Personality Disorders e.g. excessive timidity, excessive aggressiveness etc which were permanent.<br /><br />“Signs” are the manifestations of a condition that can be observed and measured.<br />Changes in your temperature, blood pressure, cholesterol level, weight and how frequently you use the toilet etc.<br />A cluster of signs and symptoms that generally occur together is called a “syndrome” which indicates the existence of a particular disorder.<br /><br />The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has published four editions of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) which lists the syndromes of disorders. This is used by American psychiatrists and psychologists for basis of diagnosis.<br />The WHO (World Health Organisation) has developed another classification of disorders called the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) now in its tenth edition (ICD-10). However, this is not used specifically for diagnosis.<br /><br /><br />Describing Mental Disorders:<br />DSM-IV defines a mental disorder as a syndrome that is associated with the individuals condition at the present time or with the increasing likelihood that they might suffer from it in the near future. It leads to them behaving dysfunctionally. We need to distinguish between classification and diagnosis.<br /><br />Classification:<br />This is deciding what something is e.g. schizophrenia as opposed to depression and what the characteristics of the different types are.<br />Diagnosis:<br />What happens when we look at one particular example. In mental health diagnosis is the clinical judgement that a particular person is suffering e.g. schizophrenia.<br /><br /><br />The classification of mental disorders:<br />Main purpose of classification systems is being able to generate agreement between psychiatrists and mental health care professionals as to:<br />The recognition of symptoms (Subjective experience of the patient or client);<br />Signs (Objective or measurable, such as high temperatures);<br />and Syndromes (Clusters or signs and symptoms that occur together.)<br />Some psychologists are sceptical about the categorisation of clusters of signs and symptoms into syndromes and the classification of syndromes as the bases for diagnosis.<br /><br />Since every individual is a unique fusion of all their biological and social experiences, classifying behaviours into syndromes is unhelpful to understanding their unique perceptions, and misleading if used to imply a course of ‘treatment.’<br />· The ICD classification system dates back to 1893,<br />· ICD-10, published in 1992 by the World Health Organization (WHO), is a large work consisting of three volumes and over 2,000 pages.<br />· The primary function of the ICD is to make it easier to collect and report general health statistics.<br />o Mental disorders were not included until the sixth revision in 1952 (ICD-6).<br />Main purpose = to gain agreement on a universal definition for specific disorders or syndromes. This helps to ensure that whenever research is carried out on a disorder with a particular set of symptoms, the disorder can be universally recognized. Without agreed definitions and labels, it would be difficult for researchers and clinicians to communicate effectively. ICD-10 identifies 11 general categories of mental disorders, listed below:<br /><br /><br />· While the primary purpose of ICD is the classification of disorders, the DSM classification system has an additional purpose of assisting clinicians to diagnose a person’s problem as a particular disorder. Clinicians can also use the available information on a given disorder to decide on the most appropriate course of treatment. The American Psychiatric Association first published the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental, Disorders (DSM-I,)<br />· DSM-l and DSM-II (published in 1968)<br />· DSM-III (published in 1980) included many more disorders than its predecessors.<br />· DSM-IV, (Current version) was developed in 1994 and a text revision’ — DSM-IV-TR — was published in June 2000.<br />· DSM-IV-TR lists around 400 disorders covering clinical disorders , personality disorders and mental retardation.<br />· DSM-III saw the first use of multi-axial classification, which is used to rate an individual on five separate dimensions (Or axes) that may affect functioning.<br /><br />A mental disorder may be defined as “…a clinically significant behavioural or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual and that is associated with present distress (E.g. a one or more important arreas of functioning) or with a significant increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability or an important loss of freedom.” (DSM-IV)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />State University of New York at Buffalo, Lecture 2 (1999) criteria for a useful classification system:<br />· Provide an Exhaustive system that includes all types of abnormal behaviour;<br />· Classificatory categories should be mutually exclusive;<br />· Must be valid;<br />o Content validity;<br />o Criterion validity;<br />o Construct validity;<br />· Must be reliable.<br /><br />Critical Issues in classification:<br /><br />Are the categories of mental illness real and meaningful?<br />Each disorder is a distinct entity<br />Must not consider them merely to be ‘figments of scientists’ imaginations’ (SUNYB2 1999)<br />When description becomes diagnosis:<br />It is important to appreciate that terms used in psychology, including those used in clinical psychology have a variety of meanings and can refer to different things.<br />The description becomes the explanation – a circular and thus meaningless explanation is set up. The description is used to explain itself! (SUNYB2 1999, pp. 7-8)<br />Over inclusion and ‘pathologizing’ problems:<br />Comer (2004) suggests that as high as 48% of the adult population of the USA might qualify for a diagnosis on the DSM.<br />Improved specificity:<br />When using DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10 clinicians have found that previous editions did not spell out the criterion for inclusion clearly enough, leading to misdiagnosis (Oltmanns & Emery, 2004)<br />DSM-IV-TR contains exclusion criteria, which means that some specific diagnosis may be ruled out under certain conditions.<br /><br />Some things in the world are real and you can touch them.<br />Is a condition however real or a socially created concept must be asked at frequent occasions.<br />If you believe that schizophrenia is an organic disorder, with certain parts or functions of the sufferers brain not working properly, and that drugs or surgery or other physical treatment will be able to fix that you may say that schizophrenia is ‘real’.<br /><br />If you believe that humans are capable of a vast range of alternative cognitions and behaviours it is only because society has evolved to accept that some are right and acceptable because they conform to socially generated norms while those that do not are considered deviant and disordered then you may think that schizophrenia is a socially created concept.<br /><br />Labelling is a process by which people are defined in a way that makes others treat them according to their label<br /><br />Professional bodies such as APA and BPS insist that present classification systems should be used to enable diagnoses to be made, not to attach labels.<br />Even terms used in clinical psychology can refer to different things and that those terms can be quite closely related to others.<br /><br />Sometimes in clinical psychology peoples behaviour is attributed to their condition.<br /><br />Research into the reliability and validity of classification and diagnosis:<br /><br />Reliability simply means consistency. It is reliable if we lead to the same diagnosis when given the same signs and symptoms in the future.<br /><br />Validity refers to accuracy of description. It concerns the concepts used describing the same set of signs and symptoms in different people. It is the accuracy of describing real signs and symptoms that enable real syndromes to be accurately labelled.<br /><br />Sadly the record for accuracy and agreement amongst psychiatrists on these matters has been very poor indeed. Several studies have found disturbing errors and inconsistencies.<br />Studies have shown that even very inexperienced psychiatrists may only agree about 50 per cent of the time (Spitzer and Williams 1985)<br /><br />Aaron Beck (1976) had 153 patients diagnosed separately by two experienced psychiatrists on admission to hospital. For only 83 patients (54%) did they make the same diagnosis.<br /><br />Key research: Classification and diagnosis – on being sane in insane places. (Rosenhan 1973)<br /><br />· Nine healthy people presented themselves at different psychiatric hospitals and said they were hearing voices saying things like ‘empty’ and ‘thud’;<br />· All were admitted, and all except one, diagnosed with schizophrenia;<br />· Changed names and jobs, but all other info given to hospital was true;<br />· On admission all eight stopped simulating symptoms of abnormality;<br />· Never detected<br />· Eventually discharged with a diagnosis of schizophrenia in remission.<br />· Hospitalization was from 7 to 52 days – averaged 19.<br />· Other patients detected their sanity<br />· Rosenhan suggested that psychiatrists are unable to determine who is sane and who is insane.<br />· Is it fair to accuse psychiatrists of t6his on basis of this study?<br />o Hearing voices is the most common diagnosis of schizophrenia<br />(Davidson et al. 2004)<br /><br />Rosenhans (1973) study raises questions about validity of the DSM, i.e. how well a measuring instrument really measures what it is designed to measure.<br /><br />Validity for mental illness is less than physical illness;<br />Construct validity is determined for schizophrenia by observing the extent to which a person when given this diagnosis then behaves in a way that can be predicted;<br />Criterion validity may be verified if a sufferer has similar associated problems to others with the same diagnosis and as generally the case they may have difficulty forming relationships.<br /><br />With each new edition of the DSM, attempts are made to improve both the reliability and validity of the diagnostic criteria. The current version is considered to have reliability and validity for most of its anxiety disorder and mood categories (Brown et al. 2001).<br />In contrast, its validity for some of the other classes such as personality disorders has been questioned, as has the validity of axis 5 (GAF scale) (Moos et al. 2000).<br /><br />Use of a computer programme, the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) developed by Andrews and Peters (1997) in Australia, claimed to improve reliability and validity, although it wont be apt. for those suffering the more intense consequences of schizophrenia or depression, who may be unable or unwilling to use the machine.<br />If certain symptoms are endorsed and they occur in certain patterns or clusters, a clinical diagnosis is made. All of this is carried out automatically by the computer programme.<br /><br />Bias in the diagnosis of mental disorders:<br />Social class:<br />Diagnoses were more likely to be as the more serious conditions and;<br />Treatments more likely to be harsher, inc. drugs and ECT<br />And were more likely to take longer and be disabling rather than empowering.<br /><br />People from poorer backgrounds may have a poorer educational experience and be less able to express themselves clearly when describing their symptoms.<br /><br />Umbenhauer & DeWite (1978) found that upper class people were treated more favourably and were more likely to experience psychotherapy than working class.<br /><br />Pilgrim & Rogers (1993) suggest that a lack of self esteem results from vulnerability related to employment and is an important predictive factor in the development of mental illness.<br /><br />Self knowledge of ones position in society and the possible consequences of this may make real mental illness more likely.<br /><br />Sociogenic theory suggest that poorer people in society are placed under the greatest stress and that this, in turn, makes mental illness more likely (Susser et al. 1996)<br /><br />Social selection theory proposes that people who suffer from schizophrenia become or remain poor because they are unable to function correctly / effectively (Munk & Mortensen 1992) i.e. they exhibit a drift downwards in society (Davison et al. 2004)<br /><br /><br /><br />Ethnicity:<br /><br /><br />Institutional racism is used to convey the idea that an entire organisation has some principles and practices built into its structure and functions.<br /><br />Three possible explanations exist for differential rates of diagnosis based on race:<br /><br />· Western bias on diagnosis of non western people;<br />· Genetic predisposition of disorders by people from non western and western backgrounds;<br />· Differences between people from different backgrounds.<br /><br />People from different backgrounds may simply be more prone to some disorders than others.<br /><br />Cochrane and Sashidharan (1995) point out that there is a common assumption that the behaviours of the White population are normative and any deviation from this by another ethnic group reveals some racial or cultural pathology.<br /><br />Sue & Sue (1999) states that African Americans may be suspicious of white clinicians based on previous prejudices experienced. This may be mislabelled paranoia.<br /><br /><br /><br />Gender:<br /><br />There are genetic differences between the sexes that pre-dispose each to suffer from some disorders more than others. Another reason being that socially prescribed gender roles over the last few centuries have led each sex to have different expectations about their roles, and when these expectations are not met, behaviour and cognitions may become distorted in different roles.<br /><br />Broverman et al. (1981):<br />· Found that clinicians have different concepts of health for men and women and that these differences do tend to be parallel the common gender role stereotypes in our society.<br />· Asked 46 and 33 female mental health professionals to rate the characteristics of the healthy man, woman, and adult.<br />· The healthy woman was regarded as more submissive dependant and emotional than the healthy man.<br /><br />· Certain behavioural characteristics thought to be pathological in members of one gender, but not in the other gender.<br /><br />Worell & Remer (1992) claim that sexism can occur in assessment and diagnosis of patients in four ways:<br /><br />Disregarding the environmental context<br />· Such as poverty patriarchy and powerlessness.<br />Differential diagnosis based on gender<br />Therapist misjudgements<br />Theoretical orientation gender bias.<br /><br />· One of the dangers of mental health professionals adopting the adjustment view of health is that they then actively reinforce and perpetuate gender role stereotypes (Nolen-Hoeksema 2002)<br /><br />Diagnosing the person or the situation:<br />· Western culture predisposes women to depression. Cochrane (1995) links this to long term child abuse which links to increased female vulnerability.<br />· Also she believes that unemployed men have a higher rate of breakdown and by labelling the problem as a disorder stigma is attached.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Concepts to note:<br />Define these terms:<br />· The American Psychiatric Association;<br />· (CIDI) (Composite International Diagnostic Interview);<br />· Diagnosis;<br />· Dissociative disorders;<br />· (DSM) (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual);<br />· (lCD) (International Classification of Diseases);<br />· Labelling;<br />· Organic Disorder;<br />· Reliability;<br />· Sign;<br />· Socially Created Concept;<br />· Somatoform disorders;<br />· Symptoms;<br />· Syndrome;<br />· Validity;<br />· WHO (World Health Organisation)<br /><br /><br />What did they do or say?<br />· Beck<br />· Broverman<br />· Cochrane and Sashidharan<br />· Hamilton<br />· Howell<br />· Johnstone<br />· RackTAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-74543512854275897942007-10-21T08:13:00.000-07:002007-10-21T08:14:18.349-07:00Developmental Psychology - Late AdulthoodLate Adulthood<br /><br /><br />Explanations of Adjustment to Old Age<br /><br />Social Disengagement Theory<br />Activity Theory<br /><br />Let us now turn to each in turn and consider their merits:<br /><br /><br />Social Disengagement Theory:<br />Cumming and Henry’s Theory (1961) rests on the claim that as people they have less energy and enthusiasm for activities in which they were keenly involved earlier<br />Becoming more isolated and separated from previous social roles, less concerned with family and friends and more self sufficient. Evidence for this gradual disengagement can be found amongst some people in the west, in other cultures old age is treated as a sign of maturity.<br /><br />They described three phases in the process of disengagement as people move towards the end of their lives:<br />There is shrinkage of life space brought about by fewer interactions with others and the relinquishing of some of our roles.<br />There is increased individuality as the individual becomes more flexible in the way in which the remaining roles are expressed.<br />There is acceptance of these life changes. This is not meant to imply that the individual is resigned to disengagement. Instead, acceptance leads to the person becoming more inward and self reliant as though preparing for death.<br /><br />Evaluation of social disengagement theory:<br />· Culturally specific view in which society is seen as withdrawing itself from the person.<br />· Disengages and reorganisers:<br />· People who disengage may simply be embracing a life style that they prefer but were prevented from adopting before.<br />· Cumming & Henry (1961) and Havinghurst et al. (1968) identified different personality types there were some called disengaged who’s activity but not contentment levels had fallen. By contrast there were reorganisers who’s activity levels had not dropped, they had simply changed.<br />· It’s a case of Quality not Quantity.<br />· Cohort effects:<br />· Latter generations of elderly people may be healthier, more financially secure, generally better catered for socially and have a greater choice. If this proves to be the case then ‘disengagement’ may disappear. Bromley (1988)<br /><br /><br />Activity Theory:<br />Havinghurst’s Activity Theory (1968) is a direct reversal of disengagement theory. It portrays elderly people as striving to remain socially involved, despite society offering them fewer opportunities to engage socially.<br /><br /><br /><br />· The benefits that a child, teenager, young married or middle aged person, derives from parents will be different, as will those from various friends and acquaintances.<br />· Field and Minkler (1988) identify the benefits that certain social relationships provide for elderly people.<br />· There is an obvious need for companionship. Teenagers, who have their whole life before them can afford not to be too selective and keep a wide circle of friends.<br />· Older people can afford to be more selective in their remaining years and choose to spend time only with those who provide them with pleasure and satisfaction.<br />· Even people from within one culture have widely different physical and mental abilities and considerably different health, social circumstances and support systems. Its hardly surprising, therefore, that no-one theory can explain all reactions to aging.<br /><br />Evaluation of Activity Theory:<br />Cultural Differences<br />Occupational Re-engagement<br />Bond et al. (1993) observed that activity theory might underestimate the importance of western culture. Places emphasis on being economically productive. However, anxieties about the adequacy of pensions and the need to retain older workers in employment has led some companies to recruit actively from older age groups.<br />Selectivity theory – e.g. Field & Minkler (1988) Lang & Carstensen (1994):<br />Focuses on the way in which social relationships and the needs they fulfil change with age. In our younger years we select relationships not just for companionship but for guidance information and affirmation. Older people appear to disengage from unrewarding relationships and engage or reengage with those that are primarily emotionally supportive and pleasant. This theory suggests that at least in an ideal world, individuals can find a balance that works for them.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Effects of retirement:<br />In previous centuries many working class people worked until they were physically unable to do so. They could only stop then if other people such as family supported them.<br /><br />Atchley (1982, 1988) identified five periods of adjustment to retirement. It is not suggested that all people will pass through them all, or that any of them will last for a given period.<br /><br />Honeymoon period:<br />Period of relative enjoyment and euphoria.<br />Extensive travel and house moves are possible.<br /><br />Rest and Relaxation Period:<br />Time to take stock after the initial activity of the honeymoon phase.<br /><br />Disenchantment period<br />Affects only a small portion of retirees.<br /><br />Reorientation period<br />Take stock and adjust expectations in line with the more clearly understood reality of the situation.<br /><br />Routine period.<br />A stable and satisfying routine is established giving structure and meaning to retirement.<br /><br /><br />Evaluation : Studies of retirement:<br /><br />Individual differences & problems of adjustment:<br />Schaie & Willis (1991) – problems are least likely among those who retired voluntarily and who enjoy financial security and good health. People with high personal involvement in their jobs or who’s leisure time is unsatisfactory, feel the greatest disruption to their lives following retirement. Some of these will cope by retaining a foothold in their occupation for as long as possible.<br />Research Suppport:<br />Australian study by Sharpley & Layton (1998)<br />Questioned 349 males and 385 females between 44 and 90 years old the first five years after retirement from full time work.<br />Key finding was that voluntary retirement results in less anxiety than those who retired for ill health grounds.<br /><br /><br /><br />Easing the effects<br />Sharpley & Layton’s findings suggested that pre-retirement education which addressed social health, personal, relationship and of course financial aspects of the retirement could help to reduce some of the psychological distress which is sometimes part of this phase of life.<br /><br /><br />Cognitive processing changes in late adulthood<br />· There is no automatic link between age and changes in cognitive functioning.<br />· A common sense intuition suggests that as we get older we get slower, both mentally and physically. Berk (1998) suggests that the neural networks that are involved in mental processing become disrupted and die with age. Cognitive processing takes longer as different cell assemblies have to become involved to access memories, thought and speech centres.<br /><br />· A more optimistic conclusion is that what appears to be slower mental processing is, in fact a consequence of taking more factors into account, and considering the increased number of possibilities that age and experience have provided.<br /><br />People with particular experiences have brains that excel in particular kinds of processing.<br /><br />Intellectual ability is also difficult to define. Most researchers have identified several; types of intelligence. A distinction is often made between the type of intelligence that allows us to use stored information gleaned from past experiences (Crystallised intelligence) and the more abstract kind of reasoning needed for puzzle solving (Fluid intelligence) The first may continue to increase with experience while the other may decline with age.<br /><br />The same cautions need to be expressed here as when claiming that memory loss occurs with age. There are different kinds of memory functioning and some (Such as recall) decline with age. Others, such as recognition, do not.<br /><br />Laurenson (1997) involved 711 participants in a study:<br />1. Four cohorts born in 1922, 1932, 1942, 1952;<br />o Followed up every 11 years between 1982 and 1994.<br />2. Found a decline in:<br />o Non verbal; learning and memory<br />o Retention of verbal memory;<br />o Concentration and reaction time, which could underpin performance on other tests.<br />3. Problems inc. the fact that he started with over 1000 participants and lost 300.<br />o This could account for the apparent increase in participants’ loss of ability.<br /><br /><br /><br />Evaluation: Research into cognitive changes in late adulthood:<br />1. Compensating for age related changes:<br />Stuart-Hamilton (2000) argues that elderly may be able to consider more complex strategies for problem solving and arrive at a better solution albeit more slowly.<br />2. Corhort effects.<br />3. The ‘Terminal Drop’:<br />Bee (1998) points out that there is little decline in intellectual functioning until about the last five years of life (A phenomenon referred to as the ‘terminal drop’. Because each cohort contains more and more people within this range, it looks as though the whole cohort is declining intellectually.<br />4. Cultural attitudes to ageing:<br />Levy & Langer (1994) found that persons own attitudes towards aging can affect specific cognitive tasks.<br /><br /><br /><br />Coping with Bereavement:<br />For many people advancing age, and the death of loved ones, increases concern about their own mortality<br />Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (1969) Identified over 30 years five stages that many though not all terminally ill pass through.<br /><br /><br />People should be allowed to pass through these stages in their known time and with as much dignity as can be given them<br /><br /><br />Fulton (1970) outlines four stages that a person goes through when anticipating bereavement:<br /><br /><br /><br />Murray Parke’s (1972) four stages of coping with loss following the bereavement:<br /><br /><br />Mourning rituals and support:<br />Performs the following important functions: (AKA a healing process)<br />Allowing the re-affirmation of social networks of friends and family;<br />Permitting the sharing of feelings about the dead person<br />Encouraging the expression of emotions;<br />Allowing all concerned to come to terms with the loss;<br />Allowing others to recognise the status of the bereaved person.<br /><br />Individual differences:<br />For those who cherished the individual who has died the loss will be most keenly felt, mitigated by their own beliefs about death and possible afterlife.<br />Lindstrom’s Norwegian research (1999) that found that women who adopted more modern , feminist roles coped better with the deaths of their husbands than women who followed those of a traditional caring and supportive female nature.<br /><br />Factors in supporting the bereaved:<br />· Close communities also provide a sense of solidarity, which can assist in providing support.<br />· Time is said to be a great healer both in the mourning process after the bereavement and the sudden ending of a relationship.<br />· Just about all religious faiths have ceremonies associated with death.<br />· Many people who proclaim no religious faith at all still seek and say they benefit from a religious ceremony.<br />· Littlewood (1992) – 1966 in Abberfan:<br />o 116 children & 28 adults died when a coal waste tip engulfed a school and neighbouring buildings.<br />o Close community and family ties lead to ability top cope being high with relatively little outside help.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Concepts to note:<br /><br />Define these terms:<br />Activity theory<br />Convoy<br />Selectivity theory<br />Social disengagement theory<br /><br />Crystallised Intelligence<br />Fluid Intelligence<br /><br />Terminal Drop<br /><br />What did they do or say?<br />Atchley<br />Bee<br />Cumming and Henry<br />Durkin<br />Field and Minkler<br />Fulton<br />Havighurst<br />Kübler-Ross<br />Laursen<br />Levy and Langer<br />Murray-ParkesTAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-83808479998289882902007-10-21T08:11:00.000-07:002007-10-21T08:13:19.215-07:00Developmental Psychology: Family and relationships into adulthoodFamily and Relationships in Adulthood<br /><br />Revolves around sex.<br />Reproduction is the central concern for any species.<br />Many human societies have marriage of one form or another as the institution within which reproduction is located. Religious rituals and social laws govern who can marry whom and who can have sexual contact with whom.<br /><br />We now look at some similarities and differences in the systems and expectations of marriage, as well as what happens when marriage fails.<br /><br />Marriage or Partnering<br />Towards the end of the twentieth century marriage has become less popular, with an increasing number of people choosing to co-habit instead.<br />About ¾ of people who divorce subsequently remarry – suggesting it is not the institution of marriage they dislike, but the person to whom they were married.<br /><br />The U-Shaped Curve. – Helen Bee (1998)<br /><br />Helen Bee (1998) suggests the u shaped curve to represent high levels of relationship satisfaction in the early years dropping to lower levels during the ‘children at school’ stage, and rising again later in retirement.<br /><br />Psychometrics refers to attempts to measure psychological aspects of human functioning.<br />These are all problematic because humans have all kinds of ‘hidden agendas’ therefore how do we accurately measure marriage satisfaction.<br /><br />Retrospective case studies of individual partnerships or a larger survey with many respondents. The case study approach would provide high quality and detailed insights into relationships but not lend itself to testing and measuring or to generalising findings. Surveys however, are a very blunt instrument.<br />Apart from the obvious difficulties of finding a sample to test there are also difficulties with:<br />Devising questions<br />Deciding how to record and measure the answers;<br />Ethical Issues raised.<br /><br />· In addition psychological studies of long term memory have shown that the process of recollection causes a mental reconstruction of the meanings the event had for us at the time – interpreted by the state of knowledge one has at the time of recall. The result is that what we recall isn’t exactly what happened. <br />· Forgotten details are invented and added, those that are inconsistent with the version we are recalling are forgotten and the significance of our own and other people’s contributions are altered. So people do not necessarily remember accurately.<br />· Research that employs the retrospective approach will have to be interpreted very cautiously indeed.<br />Marriage or Partnering:<br />Marital Trends<br />· 1996 had lowest rate of marriage since 1917.<br />· Corresponding increase in cohabitation, but most common reason for cohabitation ending is still marriage<br /><br />Why marry:<br />· Practicalities:<br />o Companionship & Security<br />· Erikson (1980) cites marriage as a way to solve psychological crisis of intimacy versus isolation.<br /><br />Marital Satisfaction:<br />· Bee (1998) cites the U shaped curve of marital satisfaction which occurs because of satisfaction being at its highest before children are born declines after marriage reaches a low when children are at school and rises to peak in retirement.<br /><br />Cohabitation<br />· Bee (1994) – Cohabiters that go on to marry are more likely to be dissatisfied with their marriage and go on to divorce later. She suggests that co habitués are more likely to challenge the norms and status quo and therefore more likely to terminate an unsatisfactory marriage.<br /><br />Cross cultural comparisons of marriage<br />· Levine et al’s cross cultural research (1995) noted for example that individualist cultures use love as an essential requirement for marriage. <br />o People living in more collectivist cultures see companionship and sharing as more important.<br />· Schumm et al. (1998) – Comparisons of marital satisfaction in men and women persistently show that western women are less satisfied with their marriages then man.<br />· Kamo (1993) discovered the quality of marital interactions was regarded as important in both cultures of American and Japanese spouses. However, he also found that age and satisfaction were negatively related in USA but not in Japan. Similarly husband’s income mattered more in Japan than in USA to wives.<br />· Levine et al. (1995) - Individualistic cultures attach more importance to marriage than collectivist. Also love mattered in cultures with higher standards of living, higher marriage and divorce rates and lower fertility rates.<br /><br />Marital status, gender differences and mental health<br />The benefits of marriage<br />· Regards marital status and health, Bee (1998) showed that compared with married individuals they enjoy better physical health and markedly better mental health.<br />Single men are worst off in these respects and married men fare best with married and<br />single women falling between these two extremes.<br /><br />· Argyle & Henderson (1985) argue that it is the quality of the relationship that seems to contribute most to this effect a close confiding relationship matters more than simply living in the same house or having a sexual relationship. The arrival of children requires relatively greater adjustment for women than it does for men.<br />· Berk (1998) and Bee (1994) summarize a number of factors that correlate with marital quality and stability including length of courtship, similar family background, higher social class, approval from friends and family, stable marital patterns in extended family, effective communication and secure financial and employment status. These are co relational, however, so offer no guarantee of marital success.<br /><br />Parenthood.<br /><br />· Once the function of marriage.<br />· In the west the major responsibility for childcare has been left to the mother, and whilst babies can be a source of great joy often lead to exhaustion, consequently people often express less satisfaction with their marriage than they do their partners.<br />· Sadly for some the strains of parenthood will be sufficient to break up the partnership.<br /><br /><br />Stages of parenthood:<br />· Wide variations in the ages at which parents typically have their children, and in the support they receive from other family members, that it is almost meaningless to talk about the ‘stages of parenthood.’<br />· Bringing up a child can be very expensive.<br />· For most couples parenthood seems to improve their relationship and enjoyment of life, despite the exhaustion caused by demanding young children.<br />· Bee (1994) reported that the happiest couples were young parents with few financial pressures. In spite of this 80 to 90 percent are happy and say that parenthood had improved their relationship.<br /><br />Cultural differences in parenthood:<br /><br />Nickel et al. (1995) showed a general decrease in marital satisfaction after the birth of children in Germany, USA, Austria and Korea.<br />Berk (1998) states that in non western cultures, where parenthood is highly valued and the extended family is supportive, the decline in satisfaction levels are less marked.<br /><br />Turner & helms (1983) suggest a number of reasons why adults choose parenthood:<br />Ego expansion – sense of importance and purpose;<br />Creativity – sense of achievement;<br />Status and conformity satisfaction – fulfilling the expectations of your culture;<br />Control and authority – over your dependants;<br />Love and affection – both given and received;<br />Happiness and security – through the creation of a stable family unit.<br /><br />These remain remarkably stable across cultures. Barnes (1995) adds that in some cultures the child’s ability to work and / or contribute to the families’ income is critical<br /><br />Parenthood and Gender Roles:<br />Different cultures have different expectations of mothers and fathers.<br />Terry et al. (1991) found that mothers express greater satisfaction in their marriages when they perceive that their partner is contributing equally to household and childcare routines<br />Olsson et al. (1998) found that new parents agreed the metaphor of the spider’s web described the tension in their changed relationship – the mother spider carrying the baby on her back and the father only enters the web on her terms. <br />Levine (1976) suggests that the roles nee to be redefined and revitalised so that the more of the satisfactions of parenthood are open to men and women (as well as more of the strains.)<br /><br /><br />Divorce:<br /><br />One of the most traumatic life crises we are likely to meet. This is almost always true for one partner than the other.<br />Steven Duck (1981) suggested that divorce is more likely where:<br />The couple married too young;<br />They have low socio economic status;<br />Where they came from different backgrounds;<br />Where one partners parents were divorced.<br />In addition:<br />If either / both of them felt unable to express or achieve their needs within the relationship;<br />Deception;<br />Boredom;<br />Moving house / location to one where they felt uncomfortable.<br /><br />Marital status is correlated with mental health:<br />Argyle & Henderson (1985) found that divorced or separated people were the most likely to become ‘mentally ill’<br />Cochrane (1983) argues that divorced are most often admitted to mental hospitals, with married people the least in each case (Although there are gender differences.)<br /><br />Stages in the divorce process:<br />Bohannon (1970) suggests six stages in the divorce process:<br />Emotional – Marriage collapses, there is conflict and antagonism;<br />Legal – Marriage contract is dissolved;<br />Economic – decisions are made over money and property;<br />Co-parental – custody of access to children is decided;<br />Community – Relationships with friends and family are adjusted.<br />Psychic – There is adjustment to single hood and autonomy is regained.<br /><br />Parents and children in divorce:<br />Many things will determine the precise effects that divorce will have on a child:<br />How close was the child to either parent?<br />How old is the child and how much can it understand?<br />What is the relationship between the parents following the divorce?<br /><br />Mavis Heatherington et al. (1993) identified the ‘crisis phase’ and the ‘adjustment phase’.<br /><br />The crisis stage:<br />Can be made better or worse by the actions of the other parent and the behaviour of relatives.<br />M A Fine and colleagues found that it depended on the relationships the child had with each of its parents in the year before their divorce. If a boy was closer to his father, he will feel the loss more intensely.<br />The adjustment stage:<br />Children become accustomed to their new circumstances. May continue to blame one parent or the other and wish the two back together again. Anxieties reduce with the passage of time.<br /><br />Judith Wallerstein and Joan Kelly (1980) also claim that ‘an unhappy couple may divorce for the good of the children’ and that ‘an unhappy marriage is also unhappy for the children.’<br />Michael Rutter (1979) showed conflict between parents may lead to emotional disturbance in children.<br /><br />Cultural differences and similarities in divorce:<br />Religion plays a dominant role in determining people’s behaviour in some cultures.<br />For adults, divorce related disorganization tends to decline after two years depending on the degree of financial pressure, number and age of children, and the emotional support available<br />Kaffman (1993) found that in Israeli Kibbutzim, because of their collectivist, non materialistic and simple life style, the legal parenting and economic obstacles that usually exacerbate stress in divorce in more individualistic and materialistic cultures were relatively minor considerations.<br /><br />References:<br /><br />Helen Bee (1998) - Suggests the u shaped curve to<br />represent high levels of relationship satisfaction in the early years dropping to lower levels during the ‘children at school’ stage, and rising again later in retirement.<br /><br />Erikson (1980) - Cites marriage as a way to solve<br />psychological crisis of intimacy versus isolation.<br /><br /><br />Bee (1994) - Cohabiters that go on to marry are<br />more likely to be dissatisfied with their marriage and go on to divorce later. She suggests that co habitués are more likely to challenge the norms and status quo and therefore more likely to terminate an unsatisfactory marriage.<br /><br />Levine et al’s cross cultural research (1995) - Noted for example that individualist<br />cultures use love as an essential requirement for marriage. <br />People living in more collectivist cultures see companionship and sharing as more important.<br /><br />Schumm et al. (1998) – Comparisons of marital satisfaction<br />in men and women persistently show that western women are less satisfied with their marriages then man.<br /><br />Kamo (1993) - Discovered the quality of marital<br />interactions was regarded as important in both cultures of American and Japanese spouses. However, he also found that age and satisfaction were negatively related in USA but not in Japan. Similarly husband’s income mattered more in Japan than in USA to wives.<br /><br />Levine et al. (1995) - Individualistic cultures attach more<br />importance to marriage than collectivist. Also love mattered in cultures with higher standards of living, higher marriage and divorce rates and lower fertility rates.<br /><br />Bee (1998) - Regards marital status and<br />health showed that compared with married individuals they enjoy better physical health and markedly better mental health.<br />Single men are worst off in these respects and married men fare best with married and<br />single women falling between these two extremes.<br /><br />Argyle & Henderson (1985) - Argue that it is the quality of the<br />relationship that seems to contribute most to this effect a close confiding relationship matters more than simply living in the same house or having a sexual relationship.<br /><br />Bee (1994) - Reported that the happiest couples<br />were young parents with few financial pressures. In spite of this 80 to 90 percent are happy and say that parenthood had improved their relationship.<br /><br />Nickel et al. (1995) - Showed a general decrease in marital<br />satisfaction after the birth of children in Germany, USA, Austria and Korea.<br /><br />Berk (1998) - States that in non western cultures,<br />where parenthood is highly valued and the extended family is supportive, the decline in satisfaction levels are less marked.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Turner & helms (1983) - Suggest a number of reasons why<br />adults choose parenthood:<br />Ego expansion – sense of importance and purpose;<br />Creativity – sense of achievement;<br />Status and conformity satisfaction – fulfilling the expectations of your culture;<br />Control and authority – over your dependants;<br />Love and affection – both given and received;<br />Happiness and security – through the creation of a stable family unit.<br /><br />Barnes (1995) - Adds that in some cultures the<br />child’s ability to work and / or contribute to the families income is critical<br />Terry et al. (1991) - Found that mothers express greater<br />satisfaction in their marriages when they perceive that their partner is contributing equally to household and childcare routines.<br /><br />Olsson et al. (1998) - Found that new parents agreed the<br />metaphor of the spider’s web described the tension in their changed relationship – the mother spider carrying the baby on her back and the father only enters the web on her terms.<br /> <br />Levine (1976) - Suggests that the roles nee to be<br />redefined and revitalised so that the more of the satisfactions of parenthood are open to men and women (as well as more of the strains.)<br />Steven Duck (1981) - Suggested that divorce is more likely<br />where, the couple married too young; they have low socio economic status; Where they came from different backgrounds; Where one partners parents were divorced.<br />In addition if either / both of them felt unable to express or achieve their needs within the relationship; Deception; Boredom; Moving house / location to one where they felt uncomfortable.<br /><br />Marital status is correlated with mental health:<br />Argyle & Henderson (1985) - Found that divorced or separated<br />people were the most likely to become ‘mentally ill’<br />Cochrane (1983) - Argues that divorced are most often<br />admitted to mental hospitals, with married people the least in each case (Although there are gender differences.)<br /><br />Bohannon (1970) - Stages in the divorce process<br />suggests six stages in the divorce process:<br />1. Emotional – Marriage collapses, there is conflict and antagonism;<br />2. Legal – Marriage contract is dissolved;<br />3. Economic – decisions are made over money and property;<br />4. Co-parental – custody of access to children is decided;<br />5. Community – Relationships with friends and family are adjusted.<br />6. Psychic – There is adjustment to single hood and autonomy is regained.<br /><br />Mavis Heatherington et al. (1993) - Identified the ‘crisis phase’ and the<br />‘adjustment phase’.<br />The crisis stage:<br />Can be made better or worse by the actions of the other parent and the behaviour of relatives.<br />M A Fine and colleagues found that it depended on the relationships the child had with each of its parents in the year before their divorce. If a boy was closer to his father, he will feel the loss more intensely.<br />The adjustment stage:<br />Children become accustomed to their new circumstances. May continue to blame one parent or the other and wish the two back together again. Anxieties reduce with the passage of time.<br /><br />Judith Wallerstein and Joan Kelly (1980) - Also claim that ‘an unhappy couple<br />may divorce for the good of the children’ and that ‘an unhappy marriage is also unhappy for the children.’<br />Michael Rutter (1979) - Showed conflict between parents<br />may lead to emotional disturbance in children.<br />Kaffman (1993) - Found that in Israeli Kibbutzim,<br />because of their collectivist, non materialistic and simple life style, the legal parenting and economic obstacles that usually exacerbate stress in divorce in more individualistic and materialistic cultures were relatively minor considerations.<br /><br /><br /><br />References of note:<br />Concepts to note:<br /><br />Define these terms:<br />· Adjustment Stage In Divorce<br />· Case Study<br />· Crisis Stage In Divorce<br />· Cross-Cultural Research<br />· Empty-Nest stage of parenting<br />· Psychometrics<br />· Retrospective Research<br />· Survey<br />· U Shaped Curve<br /><br /><br />What do they say or do?<br /><br />· Argyle and Henderson<br />· Bee<br />· Berk<br />· Bohannon<br />· Cochrane<br />· Hetherington<br />· Levine et al.<br />· Mead<br />· Terry et el.<br />· Valliant and ValliantTAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-9225150028136129262007-10-21T08:09:00.000-07:002007-10-21T08:11:36.481-07:00Early and Middle AdulthoodEarly and Middle Adulthood<br /><br />· Freud described personality as being almost fixed by about the age of five at the end of the phallic stage.<br />o The genital stage of personality development marked the beginning of adulthood after puberty.<br />· Few people accept this view now.<br />o Piaget claimed that adult cognitive maturity was reached when people reached formal Operational Cognitive Processing during the teenage years.<br /><br />We will now note the methodological problems encountered when studying ageing and describe and evaluate three of the major theoretical explanations’ for changes during early and middle adulthood<br /><br />Adulthood, ageing and methodological issues<br /><br />Other than Chronological Age (CA) there are other possibly more useful definitions of age. These include:<br />Biological Age – internal organs and tissues;<br />Psychological Age – changes in perceptions of oneself and others;<br />Social Age – which is our changing relationship to society e.g. promotion, retirement etc.<br /><br />Two research designs are used to study adulthood and ageing.<br />A “Longitudinal” design studies a group of people over a period of time to see the effects of aging and new experiences on psychological development, behaviour change and so on.<br />· Here participants do not need to be ‘matched’ with another group;<br />· Here participants can be lost through death, emigration, moving home and becoming generally untraceable, or not wanting to take part etc.;<br />A “Cross sectional” design takes several groups of people and studies them all at a particular time.<br />· Time changes and influences on our lives change with them. Each generation (Called a Cohort) will be different. A Cohort occupies a specific / unique historical niche.<br />· Cohort-sequential design, time sequential design and cross-sequential design are three other research designs that are particularly useful in studying age-related changes. Each allows comparisons to be made that help to identify particular effects such as the effect of age or of being in a particular cohort.<br /><br />Example of cohort = someone sharing the effects of the impact of advances in communication and information technology.<br /><br /><br />Theories about early and middle adulthood.<br />We will now examine three theories of development about this period of life.<br /><br />Erikson’s “Eight ages of man” – Erikson (1980)<br />· Developed over several decades;<br />· Developed from general psychiatric observations;<br />· Not derived from specific research methods from within a particular research design.<br /><br />· Essential difference to Freud’s approach is that Erikson saw personality as a development throughout life, rather than being fixed from childhood.<br />· He identified five stages that occurred during childhood, he saw three more as occurring after the age of about twenty.<br />· Each stage is characterised by a challenge to be faced e.g. adolescence is the challenge of which role we are to play throughout life, and reach an understanding of ones own identity.<br />· He also saw development due to social forces shaping ones personality rather than sexual ones. Hence his theory is known as a psychosexual one.<br />· Erikson’ theory is more flexible than Feud’s in that he saw greater possibility for change.<br /><br />Stages of development:<br />· Saw by Erikson as eight invariable stages;<br />· Rather like sensitive periods, in that certain aspects of personality development are best dealt with at particular stages in life.<br />· Each stage which is age related represents the individual with a specific psychosocial ‘crisis’ to be worked through. This means that the individual faces and must resolve a series of psychological conflicts relating to their interactions with others in increasingly wider social settings.<br /><br /><br />Erikson’s (1980) Psychosocial stages of personality development.<br /><br />Approximate age<br />Quality to be developed<br />Social Focus<br />Virtue<br />0 to 1 years<br />(Infancy)<br />Basic Trust Vs. Mistrust<br />Maternal Person<br />Hope<br />(An Optimistic trust that the world will meet ones needs)<br />2 to 3 years<br />(Early Childhood)<br />Autonomy Vs. Shame and doubt<br />Parental Persons<br />Will (The ability to exercise self-restraint and choice)<br />4 to 5 years<br />(Play Age)<br />Initiative Vs. Guilt<br />Basic Family<br />Purpose (A sense of goal-directedness)<br />6 to 12 years<br />(School Age)<br />Industry Vs. Inferiority<br />Neighbourhood, School<br />Competence<br />(Sense of confidence in ones own ability)<br />13 to 18 years<br />Identity Vs. Role Confusion<br />Peer Groups<br />Fidelity<br />(The Ability freely to pledge loyalty to others)<br />19 to 25 years<br />Intimacy Vs. Isolation<br />Friendships<br />Love<br />(Romantic & Erotic and including the ability to commit oneself to others and maintain the commitment through degrees of compromise and self denial)<br />26 to 40 years<br />Generativity Vs. Stagnation<br />The Household<br />Care<br />( A sense of certain things in life have meaning and importance leading to one to be productive in life)<br />41 years +<br />Ego integrity Vs. Despair<br />Humankind<br />Wisdom<br />(A Sense that life has been worthwhile, arrived at by integrating the outcomes of previous stages)<br />Evaluation or Erikson’s theory:<br /><br />Development as a lifelong process:<br />Erikson was very influential in establishing the lifespan approach to human development.<br />Theory emphasised how development is a lifelong process rather than something that largely terminates in adolescence (Freud).<br /><br />High face validity:<br />On the face of it, allows for shared experiences at common ages to shape and establish personality development. Therefore this appeals to Western and Capitalist etc countries.<br /><br />The importance of social influences:<br />Shows the importance of social influences in personality development.<br /><br />Difficulty of testing the theory:<br />There are some problems with the testing of a theory such as Erikson’s.<br />We would have to depend of extensive self report, clinical interviews and questionnaires with all associated problems.<br />In addition many of Erikson’s ideas are difficult to put into a testable form. These problems may mean that there is a lack of sound empirical evidence for the theory.<br /><br />Relevance to contemporary life styles:<br />Three adult life goals exist:<br />Intimacy;<br />Generativity;<br />Ego integrity.<br />These three may not be achieved at the same time.<br />Many people may occupy a historical niche at a time.<br /><br />Daniel Levinson’s “Seasons of a man’s life”<br />· Developed from survey research amongst a small number of largely white, middle class, professional males.<br />o Therefore, be cautious when considering generalizing findings.<br /><br />· Levinson (1978) saw relationships and work as central to the adult life structure, by which he means the alternating pattern of stability and change that many lives pass through.<br />o Levinson divided (Male) adult life into ‘seasons’, when different kinds of stability and change are occurring.<br />o Following changes associated with the transition into adulthood , the period from early 20s to about 40 is described as a ‘season’.<br />o Between 40 and 45 is the transition into late adulthood, the supposed ‘mid life crisis’.<br />o The final season occurs after the transition to late adulthood – after 65 approx.<br /><br /><br /><br />· Levinson claimed the period between 40 and 45 was often characterised by a ‘mid life crisis’ and this theme has been used in popular media to explain why men of this age may dress to appear younger than they are or use words that are used by younger people (Often to the embarrassment of the younger people concerned).<br />· “…It is not possible to get through middle adulthood without having at least a moderate crisis either in mid life or age 50 transition.” They even regard this crisis as desirable.<br /><br />N.B. Note the ages at which the transitions occur for the exam.<br /><br /><br />Evaluation: Levinson’s work:<br /><br />Lack of quantitative data:<br />Few data to support the ideas of Levinson because the information collected was in the form of clinical interview reports. Some would see this as a strength because of the richness of the qualitative data. Others regard this as a weakness.<br />Limited Sample Size:<br />Most interviews had not reached age 45, only 15 participants after age 45.<br />A Narrow Sample:<br />The original sample studied by Levinson was limited in age and occupational background as well as being all male.<br />Importance of the socio-cultural and historical setting when describing adult development:<br />This was largely ignored by earlier theorists.<br /><br /><br />Roger Gould’s “Evolution of Adult Consciousness.”<br />· Gould’s Psychiatric background led him to organise a cross-sectional survey of ‘524 white, middle class 16-50 year olds.<br />· Gould (1978) proposed a stage theory that reflects a concern with mental health. It follows a Freudian idea that adults must break away from the concerns of childhood and parental control, and then recover from a sense of separation anxiety.<br />· He claimed that holding, and eventually discarding, several false assumptions about our role influence our adulthood personality. One false assumption is the illusion that our parents will keep us absolutely safe.<br />· Holding false assumptions gives us a false sense of security. Rejecting them cause’s anxiety.<br /><br /><br />We should have evolved a realistic view of our own consciousness during adulthood, abandoning any false assumptions by the time we are in our fifties.<br />We should have realised that we are in charge of our own destiny and that other people are not responsible for us and our actions.<br /><br />Evaluation: Gould’s Theory:<br /><br />Restricted sample:<br />· Theory is based on taped patient interviews from only eight medical students.<br />· These were used as the basis for a questionnaire – validity concerns exist.<br />· 524 questionnaire respondents were white, middle class adults, which tells us little about other adult groups.<br />· Cannot be considered a universal theory of adult development.<br />Lack of reliability:<br />· No attempts more to assess the reliability of the questionnaire.<br />· Reliability is a fundamental requirement in psychological questionnaires as it demonstrates that a particular measure will measure something consistently. A lack of reliability means that such consistency can only be assumed.<br />Life after 60:<br />· Detail about life after 60 is sketchy; this is hardly surprising given the age range of Gould’s questionnaire respondents’ (Medical students and 16 to 50 year old respondents.)<br /><br /><br />Contributions<br /><br />· The three theories broadly agree that there are identifiable themes that occur in adulthood — including establishing one’s own identity, forming fulfilling relationships, finding intimacy, reproducing, and finding a meaning for life.<br /><br />· They agree that adulthood can be divided into phases or stages where particular influences or activities are occurring that are notably different from the influences and activities in other stages.<br /><br />· They also agree that adulthood is characterised by crises or challenges that have to be resolved for healthy personality development to continue. In this they reflect Freudian ideas from over half a century earlier.<br /><br />Criticisms<br /><br />· The methods that each theorist employed to gather the data from which the theories were developed were unsound and unlikely to yield scientifically acceptable, or testable explanations.<br /><br />· The emphasis on crisis and challenge ignored the fact that, for many people, adulthood is a time of pleasure and enjoyment, whilst others are simply too busy getting on with life to reflect on the crises and challenges others say they are facing.<br /><br />· Very small samples were used from which to generate such all-encompassing explanations for adulthood.<br /><br />· The theories can’t account for wide individual variation between adult<br />· experiences. One person’s daily routine is another person’s major challenge.<br /><br />· They can also be criticised for ethnocentricity (reflecting only one culture’s experiences) and androcentricity (concerned with only male experiences).<br /><br />· One further problem is that these theories have no ‘predictive validity’. They don’t state what happens if someone doesn’t deal with a challenge or is overcome by a crisis. Freud talked about adult neuroses, psychoses and personality disorders resulting from repression of traumatic experiences. These theories explain what is happening to form adult personality, and how important it is that challenges and crises must be resolved, but don’t indicate how we can know whether someone has resolved their supposed crises or not.<br /><br /><br />Evaluation: Stage Theories of adult development:<br /><br />· Research methods:<br />In each case there are some doubts about the soundness of the research on which the ideas are based, particularly with regard to the number and type of participants used and the methods of data collection.<br />· Emphasis on crisis:<br />Some critics think there is a rather negative overemphasis on crisis, particularly in midlife and that this could be because of the nature of the cohorts used.<br />· Generalizability:<br />We cannot be sure how well the three approaches apply to different individuals, societies and cohorts.<br />Possible variation within these is well worth further investigation. Future research needs to take into account the impact of sociocultural, socioeconomic and gender differences on the development and life experiences of adults.<br />· Other age-related changes:<br />We must also remember that the changes described in these theories go on against a background of many other age related changes (E.g. physiological and cognitive / intellectual) that individuals have to cope with at the same time.<br />· Life stages or life events?:<br />Some researchers think that there is little convincing evidence for stages in adult development and prefer instead to focus on specific life events that affect many adults and which could be considered critical.<br /><br />References of note:<br /><br /><br />Erikson (1980) - “Eight ages of man” Psychosocial<br />stages of personality development.<br /><br />Gould (1978) - Proposed a stage theory that reflects<br />a concern with mental health. It follows a Freudian idea that adults must break away from the concerns of childhood and parental control, and then recover from a sense of separation anxiety.<br /><br /><br />Levinson (1978) - Saw relationships and work as<br />central to the adult life structure, by which he means the alternating pattern of stability and change that many lives pass through.<br />Concepts to note:<br /><br />Define these terms:<br /><br />· Age:<br />o Chronological Age;<br />o Biological Age;<br />o Psychological Age;<br />o Social Age.<br />· Cross sectional Design<br />· Longitudinal Design<br />· Cohort<br />· Cohort –Sequential Design<br />· Cross-sequential design<br />· Time Sequential Design<br /><br />What do they say or do?<br /><br />· Erikson<br />· Gould<br />· LevinsonTAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-2819212704993517892007-06-18T12:47:00.000-07:002007-06-18T12:49:38.672-07:00syllabus's galore..Sylabusses can be obtained at:<br /><a href="http://www.a-levelpsychology.co.uk/">www.a-levelpsychology.co.uk</a><br /><a href="http://www.nec.ac.uk/courses">www.nec.ac.uk/courses</a><br /><a href="http://www.a-levelpsychology.co.uk/aqaa/spec2006.asp">www.a-levelpsychology.co.uk/aqaa/spec2006.asp</a><br /><br />and other places no doubt..TAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-76217283915073739662007-06-18T12:37:00.000-07:002007-06-18T12:38:13.019-07:00Personality developmentPersonality Development.<br /><br /><br />What is personality?<br />Personality develops from ‘temperament’ which is greatly influenced by those around them<br />If the way they are treated is reasonably consistent they will develop a stable set of behaviours, attitudes, interests and capabilities which are typical of them and which can be used to predict what their likely reaction to any particular circumstance will probably be.<br /><br />These characteristics have some coherence – we don’t just posses a list of characteristics, but they all combine somehow into a ‘personality’.<br />It is an individual difference, a means of distinguishing between people.<br /><br />Explanations of personality development.<br /><br />Ranges from entirely genetic to entirely social.<br />Two major and contrasting theories:<br />Psychodynamic theory;<br />Social learning theory.<br /><br />· Psychodynamic theory was one of the first and massively influential explanations and combined with genetic and biological forces with social experiences to explain how personality is acquired through childhood and how unsatisfactory childhood experiences can shape adult mental health.<br />· An extension of the theory has been a set of therapeutic procedures for those with adult neuroses – psychotherapy.<br /><br />· Social learning theory stresses the importance of social experiences and largely excludes any biological contribution. Essentially it states children learn by observing other peoples behaviour and copying some of it. In turn, this shapes their personality.<br /><br /><br />Freud’s Personality Theory:<br />Sigmund Freud was a Viennese doctor with a special interest in causation and treatment of neurotic disorders. He advances a psychoanalytical theory – modified over 40 years of analysis and writing.<br />Hailed as the person who destroyed the notion that man is a rational animal. (The third great blow to mans uniqueness..)<br />He identified three aspects of the self that shaped personality development:<br />1. The Id<br />Present from birth; <br />Embodies the pleasure principle;<br />Irrational and demands satisfaction immediately;<br />With the id in control the individual behaves impulsively;<br />During development, the individual seeks gratification from different organs in the body;<br />Erogenous zones vary with age, beginning with the oral stage.<br /><br />2. The Ego<br />Develops at age 2 years;<br />The executive of the personality;<br />This is the equivalent of our rational mind;<br />Uses the reality principle and seeks logical solutions to satisfying the child’s needs;<br />Acts as a censor and hides from conscious awareness the Id’s impulses;<br />Focuses on the anus as the erogenous zone during this anal stage of personality development<br />By the age of 3 to 5 years the erogenous zone has shifted to the genitals (The phallic stage) and the child now experiences ‘pre-genital’ sexual feelings towards the opposite sex parent and some jealousy of the same sex parent;<br />This creates anxieties since the child also loves the same sex parent.<br />3. The superego<br />A largely unconscious part of the self that acts as the moral part fo the self;<br />The origin or source of guilt;<br />Provides a sense of right and wrong;<br />AKA the morality principle, which influences the child’s behaviour and he or she resolves the dilemma by identifying with the same sex parent.<br />Unconsciously adopts the moral standards of their parents;<br />Monitors the Ego and influences it to substitute socially acceptable outlets for the Id’s immoral impulses (Sublimation);<br />By the end of this stage the personality is pretty well formed – ‘calm after the storm.’ And a ‘Latency period’ occurs. During the latency period identification with the same sex is consolidated.<br />Final Psychosexual period occurs at puberty when they enter the genital stage.<br /><br />Freud argued that early personality growth is a struggle between two further groups of instinctive urges which are called the libido. Libidos are life instincts (Eros) sexual urges, fulfilment, creativity etc. and death instincts (Thantos) which drive us to behave dangerously, to risk our own safety in seeking thrills and excitement. If some trauma, over indulgence or deprivation occurs during a specific stage of psychosexual development, some aspects of libido become fixated in the unconscious mind (Stuck and unable to move forward) and might have effects well into adulthood. E.g. someone who was weaned too early may well develop and ‘oral personality’ and take up seeking gratification through smoking.<br /><br />Freud concluded that girls never develop quite the same sense of justice as boys as they do not experience quite as strong a resolution of their genital conflicts.<br /><br />‘Females desire for a baby is an unconscious desire to make up for a lack of having a penis…’<br /><br />The Id and the Superego are inevitably in conflict. Conflicts cause anxiety, and in order to reduce anxiety the ego uses ‘Defence mechanisms.’<br /><br />These ego defences are unconscious and are a key dynamic of the personality.<br />In the long term, ego defences may cause abnormal personality development because they exert pressure through unconsciously motivated behaviour.<br /><br /><br />Handling conflict<br />Summing up:<br />The id irrationally demands satisfaction immediately;<br />The Ego seeks logical means for satisfying needs;<br />The superego mediates between these two when issues of right and wrong are resolved<br /><br />One way to solve this conflict is through dreams, (refer to ‘The interpretation of dreams’ 1900) which act as a safety valve to release the pressures that have occurred, especially during the day before the dream. Freud regarded dream analysis as a major tool for investigating the unconscious mind (“The royal road to the unconscious.”) He also claimed that the anxieties are too intense to be released through dreams when we unconsciously trigger an ego defence mechanism.<br /><br /><br />The notion of unconscious was another key element of Freud’s theory. He proposed there were three levels of the mind:<br />The conscious consists of those thoughts that are currently the focus of attention;<br />The preconscious consists of information and ideas that could be retrieved easily from memory and brought into consciousness.<br />The unconscious consists of information that is either very hard or almost impossible to bring into conscious awareness.<br /><br /><br />Stages in psychosexual development<br /><br />Consistency of the unconscious and conscious parts of the mind in terms of the id ego and superego varies, however, we may represent them in the following diagrams:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Freud did not intend the idea of personality structures to suggest real entities; “…he was not literally dividing the mind into three parts, but was describing the experience of being pulled in different directions by conflicting influences.” Jarvis (2000)<br /><br />Empirical evidence<br />Empirical evidence interpretations subjective.<br />Biased sample may have existed, most of his patients being Viennese women.<br />Freud (1909) case of little Hans documented the Oedipus conflict in a little boy (Little Hans) where he competed for his mother’s affection with his father and sister.<br />Myers and Brewin (1994) studied repressors and found that :<br />Repressors are low on anxiety and high on defensiveness;<br />Took much longer to recall childhood memories than other personality types.<br />Therefore suggesting there is a tendency for some personality types to repress memories rather than others.<br /><br />Evaluation:<br /><br />Contributions and Strengths:<br /><br />1. Freud made the first major attempt to identify the possible forces from within the human psyche that shape aspects of our behaviour.<br /><br />2. Accounts for rationality and irrationality. The introduction of the unconscious permits us to explain how someone can be both rational and irrational and accounts for many aspects of behaviour, such as the fact that people predict they will behave in one way and then do something quite differently.<br /><br />3. He produced an enormous body of work identifying the importance of early childhood experiences on later behaviour — a theme taken up later by many other researchers such as John Bowlby.<br /><br />4. Psychoanalytic theory is a coherent and comprehensive explanation of the acquisition of personality.<br /><br />5. Freud’s explanations have had a huge influence on the way that psychologists in the middle of the twentieth century saw childhood development and adult mental health.<br /><br />6. Psychoanalytic theory has practical applications in psychoanalytic therapy as applied to adults and children — for example, for eating disorders, and in other areas of child development such as explaining gender roles and aggression.<br /><br />7. Freud’s greatest and most lasting contribution is not what he did for psychology in particular as what he did for society in general. Freud has become a cultural phenomenon — a happening that has inspired and challenged many, many others. Whatever the scientific status of his theories, his cultural contribution has been very significant.<br /><br />8. The view that personality is somewhat flexible with some potential for change was different from the then popular view that people were born with their personality preformed.<br /><br />9. The concept of unconscious motivation<br /><br />Negative aspects include the following:<br /><br />1. Freud is accused of ‘having an answer for everything’ without providing any scientifically valid evidence to support them.<br /><br />2. It is impossible to find support for the existence of id and ego, libido or death instincts that Freud hypothesised — despite his claims to have made a scientific breakthrough.<br /><br />3. Freud’s methods such as the interpretation of dreams and the interpretation of slips of the tongue are not scientifically acceptable by the standards of science that we demand today.<br /><br />4. His patients were not representative of the people to whom he was generalising his findings. They were, by Freud’s own definition, neurotic. A large number were middle class, and often Jewish, women living in Vienna between the 1880s and 1920s.<br /><br />5. Freud’s claim that personality was just about formed by the age of five seems incredible. Our characteristic responses to stimuli continue to change well beyond that age.<br /><br />6. Freud also claimed that boys have a stronger moral sense (including conscience) than girls because of the increased pressure on them to identify through fear of castration.<br /><br />7. No evidence for castration anxiety, penis envy or Oedipus complex.<br /><br />8. Lack of evidence, testability, validity and Possible experimental bias<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Social Learning Theory:<br />· Behaviourists reject the unscientific nature of psychodynamic theory with its many references to ‘uncontrollable forces.’<br />· They don’t have much regard for the concept of ‘personality’ either.<br />Since ‘personality’ simply describes what people are likely to do, why do we need another term when typical or predictable behaviour covers it anyway?<br />Behaviour unlike unconscious forces is direct and observable and is open to scientific control and manipulation to discover causal relationships between independent and dependant variables.<br /><br />· With many animal experiments in the 1930’s Skinner proposed that all behaviour is the result of reinforcement. Albert Bandura believes that, whilst reinforcement was important, it was not the only factor in explaining how children acquire their characteristic social responses.<br /><br />· Children learn much through observing others who are successful in accomplishing a goal. If the other person is important to the child, such as a parent has a higher status, then it is so much the more likely that the persons behaviour will be modelled upon.<br /><br />· Learning theory is based on the principles of classical and operant conditioning.<br />o The development of personality is probably best explained in terms of the latter any behaviour that results in a rewarding consequence is more likely to be repeated in the future.<br />o Rewards reinforce the probability of that behaviour being repeated.<br />o Punishments decrease future probabilities.<br /><br />This can explain how any behaviour is acquired, including the behaviour we are interested in — the acquisition of personality characteristics.<br />For example, individuals might acquire the personality trait of friendliness because they are rewarded when displaying such behaviour (operant conditioning).<br /><br />· However, Albert Bandura felt that learning theory was not sufficient to explain all learning; it would simply take too long to learn everything through trial and error, reward and punishment. He formulated an extension of learning theory, which would incorporate the social context. He suggested that reinforcement or punishment could take place indirectly. If an individual sees someone else being rewarded, they are likely to imitate that behaviour. This is called ‘vicarious reinforcement’.<br /><br />· Bandura’s classic studies using the Bobo doll showed that children do acquire new behaviours by imitating the behaviour of others.<br />· Simply watching the behaviour of another may lead to the imitation of that behaviour. This is made more likely if the observer identifies with the model (e.g. they are the same gender or age), or if the model possesses desirable qualities (e.g. they are a TV personality), and if the model is rewarded or praised for their actions.<br />· This element of reward highlights the difference between learning and performance. A child may learn a new behaviour simply through observation.<br />· Behaviour will only be repeated if there is an expectation of a reward and if the child possesses appropriate skills.<br />· Subsequent repeating of the behaviour occurs only if the behaviour turns out to be rewarding for the child (direct reinforcement).<br /><br />· If the behaviour doesn’t produce rewards, then the behaviour will not be repeated. Thus social learning relies on observation, vicarious reinforcement and imitation, and, finally, is maintained through direct reinforcement.<br /><br />· Bandura (Bandura and Walters 1963) developed a theory of personality development based on the principles of social learning theory. According to this view, all aspects of personality are learned. A child may learn novel behaviours through direct or indirect reinforcement, or through punishment. Punishment reduces the probability that behaviour will be repeated. Subsequently, personality characteristics that are in the child’s repertoire may be strengthened or weakened depending on whether the child is indirectly rewarded or punished.<br /><br /><br />Demonstrating social modelling<br />· Bandura’s Bobo studies are given as evidence that specific behaviours are learned through observation and vicarious reinforcement, and also that general aggressiveness is learned in this way.<br /><br />· Bandura (1965) also demonstrated the difference between learning and performance. If children were offered rewards after the observation of a model, then they repeated the model’s behaviour even if they had originally seen the model punished. This shows that what is learned is (a) a behaviour and (b) the expectation of reward or punishment. The latter affects the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated.<br /><br />· Walters and Thomas (1963) demonstrated how someone will learn to reduce rather than produce behaviour. Here participants were paired with experimental confederates and told to give the learner a shock following each error that was made on a learning task. After each error, the participant was given the opportunity to select the level of shock to use for the next trial. Prior to the experiment all participants had been shown a film. Those participants who watched a violent scene were found to select higher shock intensities than those watched a non-violent movie scene. Bandura and Walters explained this in terms of ‘disinhibition’. The participants observed socially unacceptable behaviour in the film and this weakened the pro-social behaviour they had previously learned.<br /><br />Reciprocal determination and self-efficacy<br /><br />To explain personality development further, Bandura (1977) introduced two important concepts:<br />· Reciprocal determinism — Both learning theory social learning theory portray the individual as controlled by their environment. Things happen to the individual, which increase or decrease the likelihood of any future behaviour. However, Bandura recognized that learning is not merely passive — it is reciprocal.<br />As the individual acts, this changes the environment, thus affecting subsequent behaviour.<br /><br />· Individuals are also capable of reinforcing themselves. They are capable of making their own choices and this ultimately affects what they imitate.<br />· Self-efficacy — Bandura (1977) claimed that a person’s sense of their own effectiveness (or ‘efficacy’) influences what they ultimately achieve. If you believe that you cannot jump over a two-metre hurdle, this will affect the way you approach the task and thus what you achieve. Your sense of self efficacy is an important personality trait derived from direct and indirect experience.<br /><br /><br />Evaluation of Bandura’s theory:<br />Strengths:<br />· The theory is successful in explaining aspects of behaviour, although there are other aspects of behaviour that are not covered by the social learning approaches.<br />· Well supported by research evidence:<br />Bandura’s theory consists of testable propositions which means that the validity of the concepts can be demonstrated.<br />Numerous ways to apply theory to real life situations.<br /><br />Limitations:<br />· Methodological problems<br />Research generally conducted in contrived laboratory environments.<br />Behaviour may be the effects of demand characteristics.<br />· Lack of detail and cohesiveness as an account of personality development.<br />Sketchy on how we influence our environment and make choices<br />· As an explanation of the fairly coherent, usually consistent, patterns of behaviour that characterise personality the theory is not successful.<br />· Alternative perspectives abound:<br /> E.g. Biological perspectives – Eysenck’s (1963) in which he suggested three main types of personality dimensions:<br />Intropvert / Extrovert<br />Neurotic / stable<br />Normality / Pychoticism<br />· Thomas and Chess (1980) demonstrated that babies are born with certain characteristic patterns of emotional response or temperament which develop in childhood, and these traits tend to endure throughout life. Temperament interacts with life experience to produce adult personality.<br /><br />Situationalism:<br />Mischel (1968) argues that ‘personality’ is not a consistent set of predictable behaviours but a response that will vary widely according to different situations.<br /><br />Others claim that humans have several sub personalities. The exact nature and function of these sub personalities is yet to be revealed but rowan calls for a redical re-think of our current understanding of the concept of personality.<br /><br />Evaluation of Mischel’s theory<br />Whilst we may not be entirely consistent across every situation, and may act ‘out of character’ occasionally, that does not mean that there is not a basic set of behaviours that characterise us – and which we display on most occasions.<br /><br />To suggest that we only respond to situations doesn’t allow for individual responses that are at odds with the situational requirements. The anti conformist who refuses to do what everyone else does, the eccentric who doesn’t understand why everyone needs to behave in a similar manner, individualists who can afford not to care about what other people think or expect and simply do what they want to do, are all examples of people whose personalities transcend situational determinants. And we all sometimes do something just for the hell of it.<br /><br /><br />Mischel pointed out that the reason we may think that personality is consistent is because we tend to see people in similar situations, and offer excuses for occasional lapses. One advantage of Mischel’s theory, therefore, is that it can explain personality inconsistency.<br />A further reason why we think of personality as being consistent is because that is the way our minds are organized. The notion of consistency is a useful tool for organizing our perceptions about others and ourselves, and it allows us to be able to make predictions about subsequent behaviour. We all intuitively recognize the situational element whenever we say, ‘She is never late except when her children are ill’. However, Mischel suggests that this is a ‘personality paradox’, because we think that we and others have consistent personalities but this is not true.<br /><br />Behaviour specificity<br />Mischel used the term ‘behaviour specificity’ to describe how the choice of how to behave is determined by the specific situation in which a person finds themselves, It is determined by past experiences of reward and punishment. Certain behaviours are rewarded in certain situations but not in other situations, so that the probabilities are altered from situation to situation. Mischel’s theory is an example of the social learning approach because it suggests that we learn through selective reinforcement — we learn that certain behaviours are most appropriate or successful in certain situations. This leads us to behave in the same way in those situations, but not in the same way in other situations.<br />This is similar to the concept of ‘context-dependent learning’ (or retrieval): things that are learned in one situation are more easily remembered when the circumstances are the same.<br /><br />Mischel and Peake’s (1982) Carleton Study<br /><br /><br />Interactions between person variables and the situation:<br />Mischel (1973) introduced a second strand to his theory: “Person variables” These include the following:<br />Competencies: Skills, problem solving strategies, concepts about the world based on experiences.<br />Encoding strategies and personal constructs:<br />Attention strategies and individual schemas.<br />Expectancies:<br />Expectancies based on past experiences with similar situations.<br />Subjective values<br />Ones own personal values.<br />Self regulating systems and plans:<br />Using past experience to determine future goals and plans.<br /><br />Evaluation: Mischel’s Situationalist perspective<br />Limitations:<br />Social learning accounts deny free will.<br />People are actually more consistent.<br />Suggests that personality traits do influence behaviour.<br />Strengths:<br />Telling it like it is.<br />A combined approach:<br />Mischel and Shoda (1998) suggest its possible to combine situationalism and consistency. People are consistent in their situational differences i.e. you may be shy in a large group of strangers but not with your friends. You always behave in a particular way in particular situations thus you are consistent, but also exhibit behavioural specificity.<br />Consistency versus situationalism:<br />Buss (1989) propose that situational factors will be strong in situations which are novel, formal, brief and where there is little choice in how to behave.<br />In situations which are more informal, longer in duration and where one is more free to act according to personal inclination, then dispositional factors will outweigh situational factors.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />References of note:<br /><br />Jarvis (2000) - Freud did not intend the idea of personality<br />structures to suggest real entities; “…he was not literally dividing the mind into three parts, but was describing the experience of being pulled in different directions by conflicting influences.”<br /><br /><br />Freud (1909) - Case of little Hans and a documented<br />Oedipus conflict in a little boy (Little Hans) where he competed for his mother’s affection with his father and sister.<br /><br /> Myers and Brewin (1994) - Studied repressors and found that :<br />Repressors are low on anxiety and high on defensiveness;<br />Took much longer to recall childhood memories than other personality types.<br />Therefore suggesting there is a tendency for some personality types to repress memories rather than others.<br /><br />Bandura and Walters (1963) - Developed a theory of personality<br />development based on the principles of social learning theory. According to this view, all aspects of personality are learned. A child may learn novel behaviours through direct or indirect reinforcement, or through punishment. Punishment reduces the probability that a behaviour will be repeated. Subsequently, personality characteristics that are in the child’s repertoire may be strengthened or weakened depending on whether the child is indirectly rewarded or punished<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bandura (1965) - Demonstrated the difference between<br />learning and performance. If children were offered rewards after the observation of a model, then they repeated the model’s behaviour even if they had originally seen the model punished. This shows that what is learned is (a) a behaviour and (b) the expectation of reward or punishment. The latter affects the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated.<br /><br />Walters and Thomas (1963) - Demonstrated how someone will learn to<br />reduce rather than produce behaviour. Here participants were paired with experimental confederates and told to give the learner a shock following each error that was made on a learning task. After each error, the participant was given the opportunity to select the level of shock to use for the next trial. Prior to the experiment all participants had been shown a film. Those participants who watched a violent scene were found to select higher shock intensities than those watched a non-violent movie scene. Bandura and Walters explained this in terms of ‘disinhibition’. The participants observed socially unacceptable behaviour in the film and this weakened the pro-social behaviour they had previously learned.<br /><br />Eysenck’s (1963) - Biological perspectives –in which he<br />suggested three main types of personality dimensions: Intropvert / Extrovert; Neurotic / stable; Normality / Pychoticism.<br /><br />Thomas and Chess (1980) - Demonstrated that babies are born with<br />certain characteristic patterns of emotional response or temperament which develop in childhood, and these traits tend to endure throughout life. Temperament interacts with life experience to produce adult personality.<br />Mischel (1968) - Argues that ‘personality’ is not a consistent<br />set of predictable behaviours but a response that will vary widely according to different situations.<br /><br />Concepts to note:<br />Define these terms:<br />· personality<br />· psychoanalytical / psychodynamic theory<br />o ego<br />o superego<br />o id<br />o erogenous zones<br />o anal stage<br />o oral stage<br />o phallic stage<br />o genital stage<br />o morality principle<br />o pleasure principle<br />o reality principle<br />o defence mechanism<br />o libido<br />o Eros<br />o Thantos<br />o Sublimation<br /><br />· Empirical<br />· Situationalism<br />· Social Learning Theory<br />o Reinforcement<br />o Vicarious reinforcement<br />o Direct reinforcement<br />o Reciprocal determinism<br />o Self-efficacy<br />o behaviour specificity<br /><br /><br />What do they say or do?<br /><br />· Bandura<br />· Freud<br />· Mischel<br />· Myers and Brewin<br />· Skinner.TAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-15417565818598830202007-06-18T12:35:00.002-07:002007-06-18T12:37:09.740-07:00Gender Development (A2)Personality Development.<br /><br />In order to understand this topic fully you should have an understanding of behaviourist and social learning theory, psychodynamic theory, and a basic appreciation of evolutionary ideas.<br /><br />What is gender:<br /><br /><br />In society<br /><br />A set of culturally defined expectations that describe how males and females should think, act, and feel<br /><br />= Gender Role<br />There are beliefs about the behaviour and attitudes typical of and appropriate for males and females<br />= Gender Role Stereotyping<br />There are beliefs about differences between the sexes<br />= Gender / sex difference<br />Individuals are treated differently according to sex<br />= Sex typing / Gender typing<br /><br />Individuals…<br /><br />Are usually biologically of one sex or another<br />= Sexual Identity<br />Feel themselves to be either male or female<br />= Gender Identity<br />May understand and accept different roles for males and females<br />= Gender role identity<br />May behave in ways which are typical for a particular gender<br />= Gender Role Identity<br />Often have preferences about the gender of their sexual partners<br />= Sexual Orientation<br /><br />Sex is the biological differences between males and females.<br />Gender is the psychological differences between them.<br /><br />By the age of three, children have a good idea of their own and other peoples gender identities. Schemas of each child being gradually adapted over time to ensure understanding.<br /><br /><br />Gender Constancy<br />Jean Piaget states that children use appearance as the main feature in understanding objects properties. Since its appearance is so important to children it wouldn’t be at all surprising if they believed their gender could change whenever their appearance did.<br /><br />Sometime after their third birthday children grasp that their own sex won’t change, but its not until age 5 that they realise that other peoples wont either. This is the stage of gender stability. The realisation that gender remains constant, even when external features change e.g. hair length.<br /><br />Social Learning Theory:<br /><br />Direct re-inforcement can shape appropriate or inappropriate gender behaviour.<br />Parental praise acts as a powerful re-inforcer, encouraging similar behaviour in future.<br /><br />Direct reinforcement:<br /><br />Influence of parents: <br />Children learn gender appropriate and gender inappropriate behaviour through the application of reward and punishment.<br />Much direct reinforcement is unconscious.<br />Smith and Lloyd (1978) videotaped women playing with a 4 month old baby. The baby was dressed either as a boy or a girl and was introduced with an appropriate name. There were seven toys present. They found that each woman’s choice of toy varied with the perceived gender of the infant. Women also responded differently with gross motor activity from boys and girls. In other words women were reinforcing gender stereotypes, probably with very little conscious thought.<br />It is possible however, that the women displayed demand characteristics of the experiment – they only had one clue to guide their behaviour which was the apparent gender of the infant.<br />In real life parents behaviour will be affected by many other factors and thus people might behave in a les stereotyped fashion.<br /><br />Influence of peers:<br />Peers are also important in this process of direct gender behaviour reinforcement.<br />Lamb and Roopnarine (1979) observed a group of nursery schoolchildren that found the children generally reinforced peers for a gender appropriate play (By giving them more attention or imitating them) and were quick to criticise gender inappropriate play.<br /><br /><br /><br />Indirect and Vicarious reinforcement<br /><br />Social learning theorists stress the importance of observation as a means of social learning. The media contains countless such images. Thus if you are in some way rewarded for indirectly imitating behaviour of a set gender you may repeat this action, similarly should you be punished in some way you may refrain from this course of action in future.<br /><br />Even if children do not acquire gender roles totally in this way its difficult to believe that they do not gain some impressions by being exposed to these sorts of stereotypes in the media.<br /><br />Cultural attitudes are conveyed through stereotypes. Our society has many persistent gender stereotypes. E.g. a typical male is assertive, independent, and good at maths. A typical female is dependant, relatively passive and good at verbal tasks.<br /><br />· Williams (1985) Notel / Multitel experiment shows the impact and effects of media on gender roles.<br />o Natural experiment;<br />o Residents of a small Canadian town received TV for the first time;<br />o Town is called ‘Notel’ nearby town with TV being named ‘Multitel’<br />o Used both subject and control to asses the impact of TV on local behaviour.<br />o Observed for period of 2 years.<br />o Findings were that Notel gender stereotypes became more traditional with gender role attitudes;<br />o Williams suggested that US TV portrays men and women in traditional roles and this influenced the gender role attitudes of children;<br />o He felt that the effects of TV were stronger in developing countries where children have relatively less information to influence their attitudes, whereas children in the developed world would be less influenced by TV stereotypes.<br /><br /><br />Leary et al. (1982) found that children who watched TV frequently were more likely to hold stereotypical ideas about gender and more likely to conform to gender-role preferences of a culturally appropriate nature. N.B. Correlation does not mean Causation.<br /><br />Other studies have found gender stereotypes in children’s books. E.g. Crabb and Bielawski (1994) compared books from 1938 and 1989 in terms of how they represented the way men and women use equipment such as washing machines, lawn mowers and so on and found relatively little change<br /><br />Social Cognitive Theory:<br />Portrays the child as a passive part of the process of gender identity development.<br />Individual motivation, self regulation, and cognitive processes play a crucial role in gender identity development.<br /><br />Three influence sources are claimed to affect gender development. That is:<br />· Modelling; - They acquire knowledge of stereotypes<br /> by observing others.<br />· Enactive experience; - As soon as the child begins to develop gender<br />related behaviours then this is selectively reinforced. This explains why opposite sex behaviour is not imitated, despite frequent exposure. This leads to ‘outcome expectancies’ for the individual. These form the cognitive part of the theory.<br />· Direct tuition. - Parents reinforce gender behaviours through direct<br />tuition. i.e. this is or is not apt. Fathers are even more likely to encourage apt behaviour and discourage inapt. behaviours (Lee and Fagot 1997)<br /><br />Bussey and Bandura (1992) has a process of independent self evaluation of how children themselves feel when engaged in either gender apt. or cross gender play. <br />· By age 4 girls and boys showed opposite preferences for toys based on gender stereotypes. Bandura concluded that early in life there are sanctions against cross-gender behaviour and they start to regulate their own behaviour accordingly.<br />· N.B. In studies such as this we must take every effort to avoid the inclusion of demand characteristics within the experiment.<br /><br />Evaluation of Social Learning Theory:<br /><br />Social learning theory claims:<br />However:<br />Social factors do influence children’s knowledge and understanding<br />These are also influenced by biological differences such as hormone levels and maturational states<br />Parental gender-role behaviour will be socialised into their children<br />No link was found in one study between strength of gender behaviour between parents and their children. But different levels of enforcement of social rules.<br />The child is fairly passive absorber of external influences<br />Children are actively involved in their own socialisation, driven by emotional and motivational as well as cognitive states.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Strengths<br />Reducing gender-role stereotypes.<br />Explains cultural differences:<br />Whiting and Edwards (1988):<br />Examined 11 different cultures and concluded that “We are the company we keep.” However, the general principle is that any behaviour which increases an individual’s survival and reproduction is desirable and ‘adaptive’. Any gender behaviour that promotes survival is likely to be retained in an animal’s repertoire.<br />Limitations:<br />Alternative perspectives:<br />Research has demonstrated the importance of biological factors in gender role development, which means that social learning theory is not a sufficient explanation of gender-role development on its own.<br />Conflicting evidence:<br />Some evidence conflicts with the empirical data outlined above. E.g. Jacklin and Maccoby’s (1978) study found that boys and girls are not treated differently in terms of the kinds of gender reinforcements they receive.<br />Daglish (1977) found that parents who exhibited more gender-stereotypical behaviour did not necessarily have children who were equally gender-stereotyped, whereas social learning theory would predict such a link.<br />Artificial research:<br />Research is largely removed from natural situations (Katz 1987) and overlooks the fact that children may actually pay little attention to adult models of gender behaviour, especially when they are young.<br />Adevelopmental<br />This theory does not explain why children’s behaviour changes as they get older, yet there is much evidence to demonstrate that this is the case. As we will see when looking at cognitive-developmental theories.<br /><br /><br />Cognitive-developmental theories (e.g. Kohlberg’s Theory):<br />Childrens experience of gender begins with a label. This expands and eventually they are able to conserve gender in the same way that they learn how to conserve number<br /><br />Lawrence J. Kohlberg also offered a theory of how children learn about their own gender. This is a development of Piaget’s ideas and comprises the three stages shown below:<br /><br />Age<br />Stage of understanding of gender<br />Description<br />2-3 years<br />Gender Identity<br />Child recognises that she is a boy or a girl.<br />3-7 years<br />Gender Stability<br />Awareness that gender is fixed. The child accepts that males remain male and females remain female.<br />7-12 years<br />Gender Consistency<br />Children recognise that superficial changes in appearance or activities do not alter gender. Even when a girl wears jeans or plays football etc. a child’s gender remains constant.<br /><br /><br />These three stages can be observed in children both in the west and in other countries and may well be universal.<br /><br />Empirical support for Kohlberg’s theory.<br /><br />Slabley and Frey (1975) tested children from 2 years and found that they did not develop a sense of gender constancy until about seven years. This is required for a sense of gender appropriate behaviour. However, western research shows that younger children can acquire gender constancy about themselves sooner than they can about others.<br /><br />Shortly after gender constancy has developed rigid rules are applied as to what is regarded as their appropriate own behaviour as a member of their own sex.<br /><br />Evaluation of Kohlberg’s theory:<br /><br />Kohlberg’s Explanation:<br />Evaluation:<br />Offers a stage theory about a child’s understanding about sex and gender roles.<br />Changes may be more subtle and gradual than is explained by stage theory<br />Understanding about sex and gender roles develop parallel to the child’s cognitive development.<br />Slabey and Freey’s (1975) research findings support this claim.<br />Kohlberg sees gender roles being the result, not the cause, of acquiring ones gender identity.<br />Behaviourists see gender roles emerging as a result of reinforcement and identification with other members of ones own sex.<br />Kohlberg says the child is active in socialising itself.<br />Behaviourists claim that other people socialise the child.<br /><br />Disagreement exists between psychologists over ages and stages formation times.<br /><br />Bem (1989) showed photographs of real children, first nude with full sexual anatomy visible, and then dressed in gender inappropriate clothing, almost half of the 3 to 5 year olds knew that the child’s gender had not changed.<br /><br />Universal sequence of development appears to occur in this case. Munroe et al. (1984) observed the same sequence of identity, stability and constancy in children from many different cultures. This suggests that the sequence is biologically controlled because people in different cultures will have different social experiences.<br /><br />However, Martin and Little (1990) suggest that Kohlberg was wrong in suggesting that children do not begin collecting information about appropriate gender behaviour before they achieve constancy. They measured gender concepts, sex typed preferences and stereotyped knowledge in children from 3 to 5 years. Gender concept measures included ability to identify and discriminate sexes, understanding gender group membership, temporal stability of gender and gender consistency over situational changes.<br /><br />Gender Schema Theory:<br />A schema is an idea about what something is, what it is like, what it does, how it works, what it can be used for. Schemas (Or schemata) can be strategies that help us interpret information<br /><br />Gender schema theory proposes that as soon as the child has discovered his or her own sex (Basic gender identity), he or she will actively seek out information to help enrich an apt. gender schema.<br />This departs from Piaget’s and Kohlberg’s view that children must have gender constancy or consistency in order to develop gender typing.<br />N.B. Gender consistency and constancy is the same thing…<br /><br /><br /><br />Martin and Halverson’s (1983) alternative cognitive development approach differs from Kohlberg insofar as they suggested that children are motivated to begin to acquire knowledge about their gender at a much younger age.<br /><br />The term Schema refers to concept clusters that a child acquires in relation to the world around them. Gender schemas are theories about how men and women should behave which help children both to organise and to interpret their experience. It is the readiness to categorise gender information that drives the development of gender.<br /><br /><br />Empirical Evidence for gender schema theory.<br /><br />Support for the importance of in group schemas is related to how such schemas affect the processing of information. <br />Libden and Signorella (1993) showed young children pictures of adults engaged in stereotypical opposite-gender activity (Such as a male nurse).<br />They found that the children disregarded the information missed the point or forgot it completely, insisting that the nurse was a woman. <br />This supports the notion that children only notice information that is consistent with their existing stereotypes and underlines the importance of stereotypes in acquiring further knowledge. <br />This is again ‘confirmatory bias’.<br /><br />Evaluation of Gender Schema Theory:<br /><br />Theory:<br />Evaluation:<br />Gender socialisation begins with inflexible gender stereotypes.<br />This is true in the west. Other societies (For example the Arapesh, studied by Margaret Mead) may not have rigid gender stereotypes.<br />Schema Theory assumes that children need categorical rules to make sense of that world<br />This needs further cross cultural research to verify.<br />Children actively construct their own gender concepts<br />This is true where there are rigid stereotypes to adapt.<br />There is a relationship between awareness of ones own gender and behaving appropriately<br />There’s little actual evidence for any such relationship. Children’s state of awareness and what they do are often quite contradictory.<br />The progress of the acquisition of gender based<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Also:<br /><br />The persistence of stereotypes may be a problem in that people are more likely to remember information that is consistent with their schemas and to forget or distort gender inconsistent information.<br /><br />Research support such as Fagot (1985) shows that teachers tend to reinforce ‘feminine’ behaviours in both boys and girls, however, as both display both behaviours its suggested that boys gender schema overrides the reinforcement.<br /><br />Gender awareness and gender typed behaviour research fails to find anything but a weak connection between gender awareness and gender typed behaviour (Bee 1999).<br /><br />In terms of resolving contradictions, Stangor and Ruble (1989) suggest a way to resolve contradictions between the two types of theories. Gender schemas and gender consistency may represent different and complementary processes that occur during development. They suggest that gender schemas have two separate aspects:<br />The schema contains knowledge about gender appropriate differences in such areas as activities, behaviours and attire. Such knowledge is acquired early and facilitates memory about gender schema.<br />The schema encompasses the degree to which the knowledge is used to guide behaviour i.e. how motivated a child is to repeat certain behaviours.<br /><br />Biological theories:<br />Although the syllabus does not specify biological theories of gender development in order to assist in evaluating behaviourist and cognitive developmental theories you will find it useful to have some knowledge about this approach.<br /><br />Psychodynamic theory:<br />According to Freud and his pupil C G Jung, the child driven to identify with its same-sex parent in order to resolve Electra and Oedipal conflicts caused by its feelings of attraction towards the other parent. As a result of the identification process, it acquires its gender identity, and gender roles follow as the child matures. Same sex parents become role models.<br /><br />However, how do these complexes develop in single parent families?<br /><br />Evolutionary views:<br /><br />If gender-related behaviour promotes reproductive success and survival long enough to maximise it, then it may become naturally selected and stay as part of the human behavioural repertoire.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The influence of hormones:<br />Male hormones given to pregnant women (To prevent miscarriage) were found to cause female foetuses to develop some male sexual characteristics and subsequently behave in a more ‘Tomboyish’ manner.<br /><br />Beach (1974) found that female dogs that were exposed pre-natal to male hormones were subsequently likely to urinate in the manner of males.<br />Similarly, Young et al. (1964) found that female monkeys exposed to male hormones during the critical pre-natal period were more likely to engage in rough and tumble play in their early years. There is also some evidence of the same effects on human behaviour.<br />This treatment was stopped when it became apparent that the mothers gave birth to genetic females with male genitals. The girls received corrective surgery, but appeared to behave in a more tomboyish fashion when assessed later in childhood. - Money and Ehrhardt (1972)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Evaluation of Gender Schema Theory:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />References of note:<br /><br /><br />Smith and Lloyd (1978) - Videotaped women playing with a<br />4 month old baby. The baby was dressed either as a boy or a girl and was introduced with an appropriate name. There were seven toys present. They found that each woman’s choice of toy varied with the perceived gender of the infant. Women also responded differently with gross motor activity from boys and girls.<br /><br />Lamb and Roopnarine (1979) - Observed a group of nursery<br />schoolchildren that found the children generally reinforced peers for a gender appropriate play (By giving them more attention or imitating them) and were quick to criticise gender inappropriate play.<br />Williams (1985) - Notel / Multitel experiment shows<br />the impact and effects of media on gender roles.<br />Leary et al. (1982) - Found that children who watched TV<br />frequently were more likely to hold stereotypical ideas about gender and more likely to conform to gender-role preferences of a culturally appropriate nature.<br />N.B. Correlation does not mean Causation.<br />Crabb and Bielawski (1994) - Found gender stereotypes in<br />children’s books. E.g. compared books from 1938 and 1989 in terms of how they represented the way men and women use equipment such as washing machines, lawn mowers and so on and found relatively little change<br />Lee and Fagot (1997) - Example case of how parents<br />reinforce gender behaviours through direct tuition. i.e. this is or is not apt. Fathers are even more likely to encourage apt. behaviour and discourage inapt. behaviours.<br /><br />Bussey and Bandura (1992) - Has a process of independent self<br />evaluation of how children themselves feel when engaged in either gender apt. or cross gender play. By age 4 girls and boys showed opposite preferences for toys based on gender stereotypes. Bandura concluded that early in life there are sanctions against cross-gender behaviour and they start to regulate their own behaviour accordingly.<br />N.B. In studies such as this we must take every effort to avoid the inclusion of demand characteristics within the experiment.<br /><br />Whiting and Edwards (1988): - Examined 11 different cultures and<br />concluded that “We are the company we keep.” However, the general principle is that any behaviour which increases an individual’s survival and reproduction is desirable and ‘adaptive’. Any gender behaviour that promotes survival is likely to be retained in an animal’s repertoire.<br />Slabley and Frey (1975) - Tested children from 2 years and<br />found that they did not develop a sense of gender constancy until about seven years. This is required for a sense of gender appropriate behaviour. However, western research shows that younger children can acquire gender constancy about themselves sooner than they can about others.<br />Bem (1989) - Showed photographs of real<br />children, first nude with full sexual anatomy visible, and then dressed in gender inappropriate clothing, almost half of the 3 to 5 year olds knew that the child’s gender had not changed.<br /><br />Munroe et al. (1984) - Observed the same sequence of<br />identity, stability and constancy in children from many different cultures. This suggests that the sequence is biologically controlled because people in different cultures will have different social experiences.<br />Martin and Little (1990) - Suggest that Kohlberg was wrong in<br />suggesting that children do not begin collecting information about appropriate gender behaviour before they achieve constancy. They measured gender concepts, sex typed preferences and stereotyped knowledge in children from 3 to 5 years. Gender concept measures included ability to identify and discriminate sexes, understanding gender group membership, temporal stability of gender and gender consistency over situational changes.<br />Martin and Halverson’s (1983) - Alternative cognitive development<br />approach differs from Kohlberg insofar as they suggested that children are motivated to begin to acquire knowledge about their gender at a much younger age.<br />Libden and Signorella (1993) - Showed young children pictures of<br />adults engaged in stereotypical opposite-gender activity (Such as a male nurse). They found that the children disregarded the information missed the point or forgot it completely, insisting that the nurse was a woman. <br /><br />Fagot (1985) - Shows that teachers tend to reinforce<br />‘feminine’ behaviours in both boys and girls, however, as both display both behaviours its suggested that boys gender schema overrides the reinforcement.<br /><br /><br /><br />Stangor and Ruble (1989) - Suggest a way to resolve<br />contradictions between the two types of theories. Gender schemas and gender consistency may represent different and complementary processes that occur during development.<br />Beach (1974) - Found that female dogs that were<br />exposed pre-natal to male hormones were subsequently likely to urinate in the manner of males.<br /><br />Young et al. (1964) - Found that female monkeys exposed<br />to male hormones during the critical pre-natal period were more likely to engage in rough and tumble play in their early years. There is also some evidence of the same effects on human behaviour.<br /><br />Money and Ehrhardt (1972) - Practices cited in Young et al. (1964)<br />This treatment was stopped when it became apparent that the mothers gave birth to genetic females with male genitals. The girls received corrective surgery, but appeared to behave in a more tomboyish fashion when assessed later in childhood.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Concepts to note:<br /><br />Define these terms:<br /><br />· Basic Gender Identity;<br />· Cognitive-Developmental Theory;<br />· Counter-Stereotype;<br />· Electra and Oedipal conflicts;<br />· Gender Constancy;<br />· Gender Role;<br />· Gender Role Stereotype;<br />· Gender Schema Theory;<br />· Gender Stability;<br />· Gender Typing;<br />· Sex Typing;<br />· Vicarious Reinforcement;<br /><br />· Social cognitive theory:<br />o Modelling<br />o Enactive Experience<br />§ Outcome expectancies<br />o Direct tuition<br /><br /><br /><br />What do they say or do?<br /><br />· Bern<br />· Kohlberg<br />· Liben and Signorella<br />· Martin and Little<br />· Paiget<br />· Slabey and FreyTAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-91092175533216050292007-06-18T12:35:00.001-07:002007-06-18T12:35:51.445-07:00Adolescence and the formation of IdentityAdolescence and the Formation of Identity<br /><br />Adolescence is a transitional period between childhood and adulthood, although it isn’t possible to define either childhood or adulthood precisely.<br /><br />Childhood ends around puberty adulthood starts shortly afterwards.<br /><br />In the west during the last couple of centuries economic and social conditions have demanded that more young people should be educated to meet the needs of industry and commerce. As education extended into teenage years fewer than a hundred years ago in England, a gap was created between childhood and adulthood and the young people who filled it were described as ‘adolescents’. This appears to be a cultural creation amongst western societies.<br /><br />We will now study major explanations for psychological changes during adolescence and weather they inevitably culminate in conflict.<br /><br />Blos’ Psychoanalytic view<br /><br />Thirty years ago Blos’ reinterpreted Freud’s Views of the genital stage. He thought it was a time when young people started to reassert themselves and challenge parents in order to establish their own individuality. Since such challenges produce conflict the young person seeks the company of others in a similar position.<br /><br />Blos (1967) took up Freud’s ideas and suggested that adolescence was like a second period of ‘Individuation’, the first being when the infant becomes a self reliant toddler.<br />Adolescents become separated from parents, according to Blos, results in an emotional emptiness that is satisfied by group experiences.<br />The striving for independence may also lead to regression to more childlike behaviour, which Blos regarded as a healthy and necessary response. Regression may be to an infantile state in order to receive substitute parenting, or regression may take the form of hero worship that can act as a substitute parent. Blos also believed that rebellion was important as a means of ego defence in order to prevent adolescents becoming dependant on their parents again.<br />More recent research suggests that autonomy develops best when it is accompanied by continuing attachment to parents. Independence and connectedness leading to healthy development. Connectedness does not mean dependence but describes how independence can only occur when an individual continues to have a secure base, in the same way that infant exploration is related to a secure base and secure attachment. - Ainsworth et al. (1970)<br />Adolescents who are securely attached to their parents have greater self esteem better emotional adjustment, are les likely to engage in problem behaviours and are physically healthier. Cooper et al (1998)<br />Erikson’s account of Psychosocial development<br />Ericson (1968) claims that psychosexual factors are more influential for personality growth than sexual urges identified by Freud. He replaces Freud’s four stages of personality development during childhood and adolescence with eight stages, covering the whole of ones life.<br /><br />In order for our personalities to reach psychological and emotional maturity he claims we have to resolve certain crises or dilemmas in each of these stages. The extent to which each of these is resolved before passing to the next stage will determine the adults personality. With adolescence, children’s physical appearance and abilities change as does the way they think about the world. Their earlier ideas about their identity must change accordingly. The task of adolescence is to establish this sense of identity and overcome the role confusion about whom they are and where they are going.<br /><br />Erikson (1968) suggested that these conflicts were psychosocial rather than Freud’s psychosocial crises – resolving social rather than physical conflicts. During adolescence the crisis to be resolved is the conflict between identity and role confusion.<br /><br />If the crisis is resolved the outcome is a ‘Subjective sense of an invigorating sameness and continuity.’ This enables and individual to cope well with the demands of life and importantly to be able to form adult relationships. If the crisis is not resolved, the result is identity confusion, when an adolescent remains uncertain and usable to make commitments to life choices. Erikson identified four kinds of behaviour related to identity confusion:<br />Negative Identity:<br />Adopting an extreme identity, such as taking on the role of a delinquent or a drug abuser, provides some sense of control and independence from others.<br />Intimacy<br />The Adolescent avoids intimacy because of fear of losing their own fragile sense of identity. This may result in isolation or the formation of stereotyped relationships, such as the kind of pop star worship characteristic of some teenagers.<br />Time perspective:<br />The role-confused adolescent avoids making plans for the future because such plans mean thinking about the future and the complexities of being an adult, all of which provoke feelings of anxiety.<br />Industry<br />Adolescents find it difficult to get their level of ‘industry’ right. They either compulsively overwork or they find it hard to concentrate.<br /><br />During the stage of adolescence, role confusion is healthy. The adolescent considers different roles, what job do I want to do, what beliefs should I hold and so on. During this period of confusion the adolescent will experience a ‘psychological moratorium’ – A temporary suspension of activity. Role sampling occurs here till we find the ‘best fit’ for our lives.<br /><br />Support for Erikson’s theory:<br />Empirical support:<br />Some exists, most notably Marcia’s research. This was based on his own experience as a psychoanalyst working with adolescents and adults. He also based his developmental ideas on extensive interviews with Dakota Indians.<br /><br />Adolescence as crisis:<br />Smith and Crawford (1986) found that 60 percent of students in secondary school reported having suicidal thoughts. This is contradicted by other studies.<br /><br />Challenges to Erikson’s theory:<br />Andocentric:<br />This theory is written by a man from more of a male perspective and therefore is thought to be andocentric<br /><br />Euro centrism:<br />Identity development is important to individualistic societies but may be unimportant to collectivist groups that emphasise the importance of ‘we’ rather than ‘I’. Kroger (1996) suggests that identity and role choice only occur in industrialised societies where there are choices.<br /><br />Historical Bias:<br />Erikson’s conception that identity formation is related to role decisions may be dated. The notion of finding a ‘Job for life’ may be less true than 40 years ago.<br /><br />Adolescence is not a time of turmoil:<br />Erikson’s theory was based on life histories of abnormal individuals.<br /><br /><br />Evaluation of the Psychosocial Approach.<br />Coleman (1974) challenges the notion that identity is fluid during adolescence, claiming that instead the adolescents sense of present identity is fairly stable, whereas ideas about future identity are likely to be confused. The idea of identity as a unitary concept has also been questioned .<br />Archer (1982) found that most adolescents had different identity statuses for occupational choice, gender role and religious and political beliefs.<br />Marcia’s Theory:<br /><br />Marcia (1966) interviewed adolescents to establish the extent to which their feelings of identity were established. He suggested four stages:<br /><br /><br />Each of the stages begins with a ‘crisis’ ‘What should I be thinking, feeling, and doing about this or that issue?’ Having evaluated or re-evaluated their position, the individual then becomes committed to it. The below table summarises the main stages of identity formation during adolescence in terms of crisis and commitment.<br /><br /><br />Evaluation: Marcia’s approach:<br /><br />Meilman (1978) and Waterman (1982) tested for the existence of each of Marcia’s stages and found that there is not sufficient conclusive evidence since the estimates of the percentage of people placed in each stage varies more than could be expected by chance.<br /><br />Studies of other social influences (e.g. parenting styles) are unconvincing. Therefore they select cultural and social concerns at the time they were growing up.<br /><br />Oversimplification is another concern. The idea of a single identity may be an oversimplification. Archer (1982) used Marcia’s interview technique and found that only 5 % of those interviewed were classed in the same identity status for:<br />Occupational Choice;<br />Gender Role;<br />Religious values;<br />Political Ideology;<br />90% were in 2 or 3 different stages across all 4 areas.<br /><br /><br />Evaluation of the psychosocial approach:<br />· Received some support from empirical studies of Marcia and others;<br />o Possible empirical bias due to all being middle class male Americans, therefore do not generalise;<br />· Coleman (1974) challenges the notion that identity is fluid during adolescence - claims that adolescence is fairly stable, whereas ideas about future identity are likely to be confused;<br />· Idea of identity as a unitary concept has also been questioned.<br />o Archer (1982) found that most adolescents had different identity statuses for occupational choice, gender role and religious and political beliefs.<br /><br />Storm and Stress, or not?<br />Some adolescents it appears experience a difficult time during adolescence, less true in some cultures than in others and almost entirely true in western cultures.<br />Rutter (1976) reported that adolescent turmoil was rare:<br />· Isle of Wight study;<br />· 2000 participants<br />· 14-15 year olds and parents and teachers.<br />· Clinical depression rarely found<br />· 1 in 5 reported often feeling miserable and depressed, therefore leading psychologists participating to question whether this period in life is any different to any other.<br /><br /><br />Cross Cultural Evidence:<br />Culture = everything we have learned about growing up in our society.<br />All differences can be simplified into ‘norms’ and ‘values’ that are relative to a given culture.<br /><br />Many people argue that it is impossible to try and understand and interpret the psychology or practices of someone from a different cultural experience.<br />To do so you would require one of two approaches:<br />Researchers must suspend all their own cultures norm as and values and become ‘value free’ in order to make an unbiased, objective observation.<br />They must become integrated into a new culture and try to take on its norms and values, so as to understand it ‘from the inside.’<br /><br />Both of the above have been attempted it is very unlikely that they were very successful.<br />Broffenbrenner (1974) compared child-rearing patterns in the USSR and the USA and found that Russian adolescents showed more pro-social behaviour and less of the antisocial behaviour common in American adolescents. He argued that USSR adolescents had more opportunity to integrate into society than USA youths whom are segregated and discouraged from entering adulthood.<br /><br />Evaluation: Storm and Stress in adolescence.<br /><br />What causes storm and Stress?<br />Western culture<br />Does occur in any society however, it may be due to the way in which adults handle adolescence rather than as a consequence of the stage of transition itself.<br />Accuracy of cross cultural research:<br />We have to be cautious when considering cross cultural research;<br />Freeman (1983) argued that one such study had one woman admitting she had not been honest about her sexual experiences.<br /><br />Explaining Adolescent Turmoil:<br />Being no longer a child yet ‘officially’ not an adult can lead to anxiety, storm and stress.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Coleman’s Focal Theory of Adolescence:<br /><br />Coleman (1974) argues that by concentrating on one problem at a time they pass through adolescence without any major ‘storm and Stress’ – i.e. focal theory.<br /><br />Evaluation of Focal Theory:<br />Research support:<br />Coleman and Hendry (1990):<br />800 boys and girls<br />Aged 11 to 17 years<br />Questioned about topics that were anxiety provoking;<br />Self image;<br />Living alone;<br />Occupational choice<br />Peer sexual and parenting relationships.<br />Each issue had a different distribution curve, peaking in importance over a particular age<br />Practical Applications:<br />Coleman’s theory has clear practical applications related to dealing with adolescent stress. Can you actually focus on only a couple of issues at a time or do life factors make this impossible?<br />Alternative explanation<br />Eccles et al. (1993) suggested that the reason many adolescents experience stress is because of the mismatch between developing needs and opportunities afforded to them by their social environments.<br /><br /><br />Adolescent Relationships:<br /><br />Relationships with parents:<br />Autonomy, Identity and conflict.<br /><br />· Autonomy:<br />Apter (1990) studies 65 mother and daughter pairs in the US and UK and found that the most of the adolescent girls said that the person they felt closest to was their mother.<br />They might have minor quarrels, but these might be best understood as attempts to change the power balance of the parent-child relationship from a one-sided one of parental authority to a more equal adult relationship.<br />· Identity:<br />Waterman (1982) reviewed a number of studies that looked at the relationship between parenting styles and identity development.<br />Concluded that domineering parenting is associated with identity foreclosure, whereas moratorium and identity achievement are connected with a warmer, democratic style.<br /><br />· Conflict:<br />Santrock (2001) argues that adolescence results in conflict which is at its highest in early adolescence, but decreases with age.<br />Laurenson (1995) reported that most adolescent conflicts were with mothers followed by friends, romantic partners and fathers.<br />Relationships with parents are definitely affected by parenting style. Baumrind (1991) suggested that there are two key dimensions to parenting styles: responsiveness and demandingness.<br /><br /><br />Evaluation: Research into relationships with parents:<br /><br />Oversimpification of family relationships:<br />Adaptive parenting strategy may be the best approach. Where a parent responds to different situations with permissiveness, authoritativeness and authoritarianism as appropriate (Sandtrock2001)<br /><br />Two Way process:<br />Parents are socialised by their adolescent children.<br />Parents benefit from their relationships with adolescent offspring.<br />Montemayor et al (1993) found mid life stress in fathers was negatively correlated with quality of interaction between them and their adolescent children.<br /><br />Parental conflict<br /><br />Gender and cultural differences:<br />Frey and Rothlisberger (1996) argue that parental relationships have been found to be more important for boys than girls.<br />In India adolescents’ continue to have a closer more subordinate relationship with parents. (Larsen 1999)<br /><br /><br />Relationship with peers:<br />· Frey and Rothlisberger (1996) found that adolescents had twice as many relationships with peers than family.<br />· Piaget (1932) argued that parent-child relationships consist of unilateral control whereas peer relationships are more egalitarian. Children conform to parents rules and regulations because parents have authority and greater knowledge. Peers eveolve standards of behaviour that are mutually acceptable.<br /><br />· Autonomy:<br />· Blos (1967) offered an explanation for the importance of the peer group. HE suggested that peers provide a ‘way-station’ on the road to achieving separation and individuation because they help the adolescent to avoid feelings of loneliness without having to make any commitment<br />· Steinberg and Silverberg (1986) suggest that the security of peer acceptance provides adolescents with the necessary confidence to break away from parental dependence.<br />· Identity<br />Erikson (1968) suggested that peers are important for healthy identity development because they allow adolescents to explore ideologies, test their ability to form intimate relationships with others and help them to relinquish their psychological dependence on parents<br />Brown and Lohr (1987) assessed self esteem in students in US high school and found that those who did not have a clique did not have as high self esteem as those in popular cliques.<br /><br />· Conflict and peer conformity:<br />Berndt (1979) conducted a classic study of peer conformity with American adolescents. He asked them questions about the likelihood of conformity in particular situations. <br />From early to mid adolescence there is an increase in anti-social conformity but this then declines. Peer conformity probably declines in later adolescence because there is a growing focus on individual identity and individual romantic attachments, so interest in the peer group wanes.<br /><br /><br />Cultural Differences in Adolescent Behaviour<br /><br />I will now outline the main differences on the development of autonomy, identity and conflict:<br />· Autonomy:<br />o Jensen (1999) reviewed research on adolescence and concluded that some of the difficulties reported during adolescence might be related to a living in an individualistic society.<br />o This contracted with collectivist society uch as Japan, where dependence rather than independence is regarded as a central part of becoming an adult. (Doi 1973)<br /><br />· Identity:<br />o Individualistic versus collectivism<br />Dien (1983) argues that in china, contrasting to the US, the little me (Yourself) is sacrificed for the big me (Group identity)<br />o Urban Vs Rural<br />Chisholm and Hurrelmann (1995) argue that society becomes more pluralised and fragmented leading to the transition from child to adult becoming more delayed because the choices become greater and less clearly defined in more complex societies.<br />o Ethnic Minorities:<br />Phinney (1996) defined ethnicity as ‘enduring, basic aspect of the self that includes as sense of membership in the ethnic group and the attitudes and feelings related to that membership.<br />Berry (1997) proposed that there are four routes that can be taken by members of an ethnic minority:<br />1. Assimilation – Identifying with dominant culture and rejecting their origins.<br />2. Integration – Identifying with both dominant and ethnic cultures.<br />3. Separation – Focus exclusively on ethnic culture and reject dominant culture.<br />4. Marginality – remain on fringes of both cultures.<br />White and Burke (1987) found that integration is associated with better adjustment in adolescents.<br />· Conflict:<br />o Historical Change:<br />Shaffer (1993) claimed adolescence is an invention of the 20th century.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Evaluation: Cultural Differences:<br /><br />· The importance of Cross Cultural Research:<br />Cultural influence is not surprising since adolescents are being socialised into becoming members of their society.<br />· Problems with cross cultural research:<br />Local understandings may lead to globally being criticised for being biased in sampling etc on preconceived expectations.<br />· Minimising cultural differences:<br />Exposure to global media may result in lower differences culturally.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />References of note:<br /><br />Blos (1967) - Took up Freud’s ideas and suggested<br />that adolescence was like a second period of ‘Individuation’, the first being when the infant becomes a self reliant toddler.<br />Adolescents become separated from parents, according to Blos, results in an emotional emptiness that is satisfied by group experiences.<br /><br />Ainsworth et al. (1970) - More recent research suggests that<br />autonomy develops best when it is accompanied by continuing attachment to parents. Independence and connectedness leading to healthy development. Connectedness does not mean dependence but describes how independence can only occur when an individual continues to have a secure base, in the same way that infant exploration is related to a secure base and secure attachment.<br /><br />Cooper et al (1998) - Adolescents who are securely<br />attached to their parents have greater self esteem better emotional adjustment, are les likely to engage in problem behaviours and are physically healthier.<br /><br />Ericson (1968) - Claims that psychosexual factors are<br />more influential for personality growth than sexual urges identified by Freud. He replaces Freud’s four stages of personality development during childhood and adolescence with eight stages, covering the whole of ones life.<br />- suggested that these conflicts were<br />psychosocial rather than Freud’s psychosocial crises – resolving social rather than physical conflicts. During adolescence the crisis to be resolved is the conflict between identity and role confusion.<br />Smith and Crawford (1986) - Found that 60 percent of students in<br />secondary school reported having suicidal thoughts. This is contradicted by other studies.<br /><br />Kroger (1996) - Suggests that identity and role choice<br />only occur in industrialised societies where there are choices.<br /><br />Meilman (1978) and<br />Waterman (1982) - Tested for the existence of each of<br />Marcia’s stages and found that there is not sufficient conclusive evidence since the estimates of the percentage of people placed in each stage varies more than could be expected by chance.<br /><br />Archer (1982) - Used Marcia’s interview technique<br />and found that only 5 % of those interviewed were classed in the same identity status for Occupational Choice; Gender Role; Religious values; Political Ideology; 90% were in 2 or 3 different stages across all 4 areas.<br />Coleman (1974) - Challenges the notion that identity is<br />fluid during adolescence, claiming that instead the adolescents sense of present identity is fairly stable, whereas ideas about future identity are likely to be confused. The idea of identity as a unitary concept has also been questioned .<br />Archer (1982) - Found that most adolescents had<br />different identity statuses for occupational choice, gender role and religious and political beliefs.<br /><br />Rutter (1976) - Isle of Wight study. <br />Attempted to assess whether storm and stress occurred or not.<br /><br />Broffenbrenner (1974) - Compared child-rearing patterns in<br />the USSR and the USA and found that Russian adolescents showed more pro-social behaviour and less of the antisocial behaviour common in American adolescents. He argued that USSR adolescents had more opportunity to integrate into society than USA youths whom are segregated and discouraged from entering adulthood.<br /><br />Eccles et al. (1993) - Suggested that the reason many<br />adolescents experience stress is because of the mismatch between developing needs and opportunities afforded to them by their social environments.<br /><br />Coleman and Hendry (1990): - 800 boys and girls; Aged 11 to 17<br />years; Questioned about topics that were anxiety provoking; Self image; Living alone; Occupational choice; Peer sexual and parenting relationships. Each issue had a different distribution curve, peaking in importance over a particular age<br /><br />Apter (1990) - Studies 65 mother and daughter pairs<br />in the US and UK and found that the most of the adolescent girls said that the person they felt closest to was their mother.<br />They might have minor quarrels, but these might be best understood as attempts to change the power balance of the parent-child relationship from a one-sided one of parental authority to a more equal adult relationship<br />Waterman (1982) - Concerns adolescents ability to<br />identify with their parents. reviewed a number of studies that looked at the relationship between parenting styles and identity development. Concluded that domineering parenting is associated with identity foreclosure, whereas moratorium and identity achievement are connected with a more warm, democratic style.<br /><br />Santrock (2001) - Argues that adolescence results in<br />conflict which is at its highest in early adolescence, but decreases with age.<br /><br />Laurenson (1995) - reported that most adolescent<br />conflicts were with mothers followed by friends, romantic partners and fathers.<br /><br />Baumrind (1991) - Relationships with parents are<br />definitely affected by parenting style.<br />Baumrind suggested that there are two key dimensions to parenting styles: responsiveness and demandingness.<br /><br />Sandtrock (2001) - Oversimpification of family<br />relationships: Adaptive parenting strategy may be the best approach. <br />Where a parent responds to different situations with permissiveness,<br />authoritativeness and<br />authoritarianism as appropriate<br /><br />Montemayor et al (1993) - Found mid life stress in fathers was<br />negatively correlated with quality of interaction between them and their adolescent children.<br /><br />Frey and Rothlisberger (1996) - Argue that parental relationships<br />have been found to be more important for boys than girls.<br /><br />Larsen (1999) - In India adolescents continue to have<br />a closer more subordinate relationship with parents.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Frey and Rothlisberger (1996) - Found that adolescents had<br />twice as many relationships with peers than family.<br />Piaget (1932) - Argued that parent-child<br />relationships consist of unilateral control whereas peer relationships are more egalitarian. Children conform to parents rules and regulations because parents have authority and greater knowledge. Peers eveolve standards of behaviour that are mutually acceptable.<br />Blos (1967) - Offered an explanation for<br />the importance of the peer group. He suggested that peers provide a ‘way-station’ on the road to achieving separation and individuation because they help the adolescent to avoid feelings of loneliness without having to make any commitment<br />Steinberg and Silverberg (1986) - Suggest that the security of<br />peer acceptance provides adolescents with the necessary confidence to break away from parental dependence.<br />Erikson (1968) - Suggested that peers are<br />important for healthy identity development because they allow adolescents to explore ideologies, test their ability to form intimate relationships with others and help them to relinquish their psychological dependence on parents<br />Brown and Lohr (1987) - Assessed self esteem in<br />students in US high school and found that those who did not have a clique did not have as high self esteem as those in popular cliques.<br /><br />Berndt (1979) - Conducted a classic study of<br />peer conformity with American adolescents. He asked them questions about the likelihood of conformity in particular situations. <br />From early to mid adolescence there is an increase in anti-social conformity but this then declines. Peer conformity probably declines in later adolescence because there is a growing focus on individual identity and individual romantic attachments, so interest in the peer group wanes.<br /><br />Jensen (1999) - Reviewed research on<br />adolescence and concluded that some of the difficulties reported during adolescence might be related to a living in an individualistic society.<br />Doi (1973) - This contracted with<br />collectivist society such as Japan, where dependence rather than independence is regarded as a central part of becoming an adult.<br />Dien (1983) - Individualistic versus<br />collectivism. Argues that in china, contrasting to the US, the little me (Yourself) is sacrificed for the big me (Group identity)<br />Chisholm and Hurrelmann (1995) - Urban Vs Rural. Argue that<br />society becomes more pluralised and fragmented leading to the transition from child to adult becoming more delayed because the choices become greater and less clearly defined in more complex societies.<br />Phinney (1996) - Defined ethnicity as<br />‘enduring, basic aspect of the self that includes as sense of membership in the ethnic group and the attitudes and feelings related to that membership.<br /><br />Berry (1997) - Proposed that there are four<br />routes that can be taken by members of an ethnic minority:<br />Assimilation – Identifying with dominant culture and rejecting their origins.<br />Integration – Identifying with both dominant and ethnic cultures.<br />Separation – Focus exclusively on ethnic culture and reject dominant culture.<br />Marginality – remain on fringes of both cultures.<br /><br />White and Burke (1987) - Found that integration is<br />associated with better adjustment in adolescents<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Concepts to note:<br /><br />Define these terms:<br /><br />· adolescence<br />· focal theory of adolescence<br />· identity<br />· Role Confusion<br />· identity achievement<br />· identity diffusion<br />· identity foreclosure<br />· identity moratorium<br />· identity versus role confusion<br /><br />· Connectedness<br /><br /><br />What do they say or do?<br /><br />· Blos<br />· Bronfenbrenner<br />· Coleman<br />· Erikson<br />· Floyd and South<br />· Freeman<br />· Fulini and Eccles<br />· Marcia<br />· Mead<br />· Meilman<br />· Rutter<br />· WatermanTAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-40113561210933844222007-06-18T12:34:00.001-07:002007-06-18T12:34:55.177-07:00The Development of Thinking (A2)Topic 10: The Development of Thinking.<br /><br />Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development.<br />Ideas of Jean Piaget (1896 – 1980) have dominated thinking in developmental psychology for many years. Probably the best known psychologist after Sigmund Freud. Recently some alternative answers to his questions have been proposed.<br /><br />Piaget asked children questions observing them playing and noted the frequencies and circumstances of various interactions such as behaving selfishly or altruistically. Much of his research was conducted on his own three children born in 1925, 1927 and 1931.<br /><br />In IQ tests it was noticed that some errors were consistent across ages. These errors were predictable and could be described in terms of a stage theory.<br />In other words errors made at certain ages formed a sequence. Piaget suggested that children’s thought changes quantitively as they pass through stages.<br /><br />Two strands of Piaget’s theory therefore exist:<br /><br />An account of the causes of developmental changes (Adaptation.) We will begin by examining the causes.<br /><br />An account of what changes during development. The cognitive activities at each stage.<br /><br /><br />The causes of development and the stages of development he argued are biologically driven they occur as a consequence of the maturation of innate forces and structures. Piaget acknowledged the role of experience in cognitive development, intertwining nurture with nature.<br /><br />The Structure of Intellect<br /><br />All babies are born with similar biological equipment (Aka ‘Structures.’)<br />These structures are the senses, the brain, and reflexes.<br /><br />“…Intelligence is a particular instance of biological adaptation…”<br />Intelligence “…is the form of equilibrium towards which the successive adaptations and exchanges between the organism and his environment are directed.”<br />“‘Equilibrium’ is a term used in physics to denote a well balanced adjustment between at least two factors – in this case, between the persons cognitive structures and her or his environment.”<br />Human infants shortly after birth have approx fifty reflexes – a child’s way of dealing with stimuli.<br />Piaget argued that these reflexes formed the basis of schema (Mental representations) that a child would develop.<br />As a child grows their scheme expands.<br />Piaget called this process of taking on board more cognitive information “Assimilation.”<br />Once assimilated the knowledge has to be stored in the right place if we are to access it in future. This process is called “Accommodation.”<br />After assimilation and accommodation, his knowledge (And future behaviour) has changed.<br />Therefore assimilation and accommodation are the basis of learning!<br />New learning is an adaptation of previously acquired knowledge.<br />There must be a balance between assimilation and adaptation for accommodation to occur.<br />IF the child is being exposed to too much stimulation, that they can’t accommodate, it’s likely to become frustrated rather than educated.<br />When the child has assimilated, accommodated, and adapted its mental structures she or he is said to be in a state of “Cognitive equilibrium”<br /><br />If introduced to something new e.g. a horse instead of a dog, then, the child’s mental processing is then in a state of imbalance (Equilibration) and schemas are adapted<br /><br />Cognitive growth is a constant shift between states of equilibrium and equilibration.<br /><br />Assimilation _ Accommodation è Adaptation.<br /><br />An example of a schema would be a mental representation of the human face – there is evidence that infants are born with an innate ability to recognise faces (Fantz - 1961)<br /><br />Stages in development<br /><br />Piaget argued that a child’s cognitive abilities are acquired through a series of stages. When a child has achieved a stage of cognitive readiness it will be able to understand things, (e.g. numbers) and its schemas will undergo a major overhaul.<br /><br /><br />A new stage of development is reached when two things happen:<br />The child’s brain has matured to a point of ‘Readiness’.<br />Some new information or experiences that cannot be assimilated challenge the child’s thinking.<br /><br />Each stage is characterised by a coherent series of principles that operate at that time.<br /><br />In general studies support Piaget’s observations as to what children can do but greatly underestimate the age at which they could do them – as we will see below.<br /><br />1. Sensorimotor stage<br />Young infants have no idea of the permanence of objects once they are out of sight i.e. Object permanence. It will take at least eight months of interaction with the environment for the child to realise that the objects are still there.<br /><br />Tom Bower (1966) conducted experiments between ages 1 and four months to assess object permanence.<br /><br />This was a glorified peekaboo exercise using a screen…<br /><br />In another experiment babies were shown an object they might like to take, the lights turned off as they tried to reach for it. IR camera shows them continuing to reach for the object despite not being able to see it. These infants appeared to possess object permanence despite Piaget’s claims that they were too young to have it.<br /><br />Mundy-castle and Anglin sat four month olds in from of portholes for an object permanence experiment. They possessed this prior to eight months predicted by Piaget.<br /><br />2. Pre-operational Stage<br />· Here children are acquiring many new schemas. <br />· Each new experience expands mental structures, and as they develop language and communication skills the opportunities for further development expand greatly. <br />· The child asks questions and makes what sense it can of the answers. <br />· Despite this, some of Piaget’s descriptions of the cognitive skills of this age group appear rather negative. <br />· He appears to emphasise what children can’t do rather than what they can. The title ‘Pre-operational’ indicates that children in this stage can’t think in operational (Logical) ways.<br /><br />3. Preconceptual thought – (2-4 years of age.)<br />· Childs thinking is dominated by unrealistic ideas one of which is animism:<br />o Animism = the belief that inanimate objects are alive.<br />· Since he/she has emotions therefore everything else including inanimate objects must also have them.<br />· Preconceptual thinking also involves Egocentrism.<br />o Egocentrism is the child’s own inability to see things from another viewpoint other than their own.<br />o The ability to take others views into account is called Decentring – Piaget argued this occurs around 7 years of age.<br />· Intuitive thought is thought to be the second sub stage of the pre-operational stage. This occurs between the ages of four and seven years.<br />o Conservation is the ability to understand that the more physical characteristics of objects remain the same even though the appearance of them may change. E.g. rolling one of two identical balls flat.<br /><br />Piaget offered two reasons why children under about seven couldn’t conserve:<br /><br />They can only attend to one process. They can’t perform the mental operation required to answer the question “What would happen if we reversed the process we have just performed?” ‘Reversibility’ is a complex schema.<br /><br />The other reason is called Centration. This is the tendency to concentrate on only one aspect of a situation at a time, while ignoring all others that are necessary to solve the problem. The child concentrates on either the shape of the plasticine or the amount but not both.<br />Egocentrism + }<br />Irreversibility + } = Some limitations in pre-operational thought.<br />Centration }<br /><br /><br />Concrete operational stage<br /><br />One of Piaget’s most famous conservation tasks involves two identical tall thin jugs containing the same amount of liquid. The content of one of the jugs is emptied into a shorter, wider jug and the child is asked which jug has the most liquid. The pre-operational child will say the tall thin jug; they can’t imagine what liquid level in the first jug would be if the liquid was poured back into it Piaget claimed that mental reversibility would not appear until the child is around 8 years old.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Donaldson (1987) suggests that in the three mountains task children are unsure as to what to do where as in the policemen problem they can use all their knowledge to understand and interpret the questions asked.<br /><br />John Flavell (1985) showed 3 year olds some cards with a drawing of a cat on one side and a dog on the other. Holding the card vertically between the experimenter and the child, so that the child could see the dog he asked them what they could see. The three year olds had no difficulty in showing what they could decentre by saying that they could see the cat.<br /><br />Therefore at the very least Piaget was pessimistic about the ages at which these skills occur. He made similar pessimistic judgements about the age for conservation.<br /><br />McGarrigle and Donaldson (1974) devised a game to test conservation of number in which two identical rows of sweets were placed in front of the child. A glove puppet called ‘naughty teddy’ then spread the sweets in one of the rows while not moving the others. Of the 4 and 5 year olds tested, fifty said that the number of sweets remained the same and so showed that they could conserve number. However when adult researchers moved the sweets themselves only thirteen out of the eighty said they were the same number<br /><br />Moore and Frye (1986) found that these early results were to some extent explained by the children’s absorption in the game and ‘naughty teddy’ was a distraction. When running a modified version of the research they found that even quite young children observed the changes taking place.<br /><br />Concrete Operational Stage (Cont..)<br />Here intuition is replaced by use of logical rules.<br />Understanding is limited as it deals with the actual concrete world.<br />These children have difficulty in considering anything hypothetical or abstract.<br />Two such important abilities are associated with this stage are:<br />Serration:<br />Allows the child to arrange sets of items in order of dimensions e.g. dolls in order of height.<br />Transivity<br />This is the ability to recognise logical relationships in a series. E.g. who is taller than whom in relation to whom<br /><br />Piaget liked to asses children’s thinking by presenting them with a ‘conservation task’ – i.e. the logical rule that quantity does not change even when the way it is displayed is transformed..<br /><br />Pre-operational children fail at this task because they cannot conserve quantity, whereas the concrete operational child comprehends the rule and applies it to this concrete situation.<br /><br /><br />Formal Operational stage:<br />Concrete operational stage = children learning to manipulate objects mentally.<br /><br />Formal operational thinking does not require this direct experience. Basic mental arithmetic and hypothetical questions may now be answered.<br /><br />The most important shift that people make when moving from concrete to formal operations is in extending their reasoning abilities to objects and situations that they have not seen or experienced at first hand and that they cannot manipulate to see directly. Where the pre-schoolchild may dress up and pretend to be someone else the teenager may think about the different roles they might occupy in the future A major feature is the appearance of deductive logic rather than its forerunner inductive logic.<br /><br />However, psychologists argue that some people never reach this stage. About 70% of adults go through their lives without fully being able to make logical, reasoned predictions Further than this an individual may be able to do this on one topic but not another. There may be another stage beyond this in which philosophers and great thinkers can reason about society and community in ways that most people cant .<br /><br />Piaget and Inhelder (1956) demonstrated this with a beaker problem:<br />· Participants were given four beakers of colourless liquids<br />· They were asked to find what combination produced a yellow liquid.<br />· Younger children tried all sorts of random combinations and may or may not have found the answer.<br />· Older children took a systematic approach systematically excluding possibilities until they found the correct solution.<br />· They used abstract deductive reasoning forming a principle deriving a hypothesis and testing this to confirm the hypothesis.<br /><br />Dasen (1994) claims that one third of adults do not reach Formal Operational Stage<br /><br />Wason and Shapiro (1971) tested students using abstract reasoning tasks they found only 10% could work out the solution but this rose to 62% if the task was given in concrete form.<br /><br /><br />Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory:<br />Piaget underestimated the age at which children can do things as he failed to distinguish between Competence (What your capable of doing) and Performance (How you perform in a particular task.) He simply assumed that they lacked the cognitive structures needed to succeed on that task.<br />Timetable of development is too prescriptive. <br />But it is not only about age boundaries, but also about universal qualitative, biologically regulated cognitive changes that occur during development. This is supported by cross cultural research that has replicated Piaget’s findings<br />(E.g. Smith et al. 1998)<br />If you’re not biologically ready then practice should not improve performance.<br />Borke (1975) demonstrated that children as young as 3 or 4 years could overcome egocentrism with practice.<br />Piaget underplayed the role of language and social factors in cognitive development. Sinclair-de-zwart (1969) supports Piaget. However, in an earlier experiment she found children who were non-conservers differed in terms of the language they used from children who were non conservers. This suggests cognitive linguistic development comes together. Which comes first? Sinclair-de-zwart tried the apt verbal skills to the non conservers. However, 90% of these children were still unable to conserve. This supports Piaget’s view that cognitive maturity is a prerequisite for linguistic development.<br /><br />Despite its shortcomings, the strength of Piaget’s approach and theory should not be overlooked. Like all good theories it has generated research.<br /><br />Vygotsky’s Theory<br /><br /><br />Lev Semenovich Vygotsky (Russian: Лев Семёнович Выготский) (<a title="November 17" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_17">November 17</a> (<a title="November 5" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_5">November 5</a> <a title="Old Style and New Style dates" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">Old Style</a>), <a title="1896" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1896">1896</a> – <a title="June 11" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_11">June 11</a>, <a title="1934" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934">1934</a>) was a Soviet <a title="Developmental psychology" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developmental_psychology">developmental psychologist</a> and the founder of the <a title="Cultural-historical psychology" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural-historical_psychology">Cultural-historical psychology</a>.<br /><br /><a title="Lev Vygotsky" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Lev_Vygotsky.gif"></a><br /><a title="Enlarge" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Lev_Vygotsky.gif"></a><br />Lev Vygotsky<br /><br />Vygotsky believed that neither nature nor nurture alone could explain human cognitive development and that it must emerge from complex combinations of influences from both sources.<br /><br />A contemporary of Piaget though they never met.<br />His most influential work “Thought and language”<br />Published in 1934 in Russian, translated to English in 1964.<br />Died of TB.<br /><br />The influence of culture:<br />Russian upbringing emphasised social norms of co=operation and collective action;<br />Emphasised nurture over nature (The prevailing western thought at the time.)<br />He disagreed with Piaget’s idea that each child egocentrically struggles to make sense of their own world.<br />Disagrees with Piaget’s more biological role at the role of language development.<br />For the 1st two years babies development does reflect sensory motor skills.<br />Vygotsky rejects Piaget’s description of the passive child waiting until it is cognitively ready to acquire a skill such as object permanence ;<br />He sees aspects of cognitive development appearing as a result of babies making some active attempt to solve problems such as where things are, who has possession, and so on.<br />This is described as evidence of pre verbal thought<br />Babies can also use vocalisation to attract and communicate with adults;<br />This is called pre-intellectual speech.<br /><br />· As vocabulary and comprehension develop after the age of 2, both pre-thought and vocalisation come together and language begins to play an important part in shaping how the child perceives the world.<br />· For Paiget language is a system of labels for schemas that we already have. Words help us to define our thoughts and actions, but can only attach to our thoughts. <br /><br />· For Vygotsky, language actively shapes the thoughts. The process of trying to communicate with others leads to the child acquiring the word meanings that form the structure of the child’s consciousness. This is inner speech and it exists only as a result of social interaction.<br /><br />· Intellect consists of Elementary and Higher Mental Functions. <br />Elementary functions are innate capacities such as attention and sensation. <br />· Vygotsky’s view was that these will develop to a limited extent through experience but cultural influences are required to transform them into higher mental functions such as:<br />Decision making ;<br />and comprehension of language.<br /><br /><br />· Therefore without culture individuals would not progress further than the elementary functions.<br />· Therefore according to Vygotsky, cultural knowledge is the means by which cognitive development takes place.<br /><br />There are several examples of this:<br />Papua New Guinea Counting Systems;<br />· If higher mental functions are dependant of cultural influences, then we would expect to find different higher mental functions in different cultures.<br />o Grendler (1992) cited Papua New Guinea children being taught a counting system that begins on the thumb and progresses up the arm. In consequence they can count to 29 using this method therefore it is difficult to add and subtract. This therefore becomes a higher mental function in that culture.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />· Use of enculturation in animals is also an example:<br />o Rumbaugh (1991) taught Bonobo chimpanzees to use human language as well as to use number and quantity concepts by immersing the chimpanzees in a human learning environment. In the wild higher mental functions are not transformed, however, give the right learning environment (Culturally) they are able to develop some of these.<br /><br />· Availability of knowledge:<br />o Evidence also exists for the influence of culture from research on IQ.<br />o IQ’s in many different cultures have been steadily increased in recent decades.<br />o One explanation is improved diet but another is increased knowledge that surrounds children<br /><br />The zone of proximal development (ZPD)<br />· This is the area between what the child knows and what it is capable of knowing.<br />· Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976) used the term scaffolding to describe the support (Guidance) that an adult might offer a child to help it reach a solution.<br /><br />· Instruction “…wakens a whole series of functions that are in a stage of maturation lying in the zone of proximal development.” (Vygotsky 1987)<br /><br />· Zygovsky predicted that the greatest learning occurred at the edge of the ZPD.<br /><br />Refer to McNaughton and Leyland (1990)<br /><br /><br />Semiotic Meditation<br />The cognitive development process is mediated by semiotics (Language and other cultural symbols.) Semiotic mediation is a social process.<br /><br />The Social and Individual Planes.<br />Learning starts off as a shared, social activity. In time it becomes a sole responsibility of the learner.<br />Wertsch (1985) have shown how self regulation increases with age and experience.<br /><br />The Role of Language:<br />One of Vygotsky’s real interests was the relationship between language and thought. Refer to panel below:<br /><br /><br />· Language and thought are separate functions here in children below the age of two.<br />· Vocal activity and pre-intellectual language is a form of social interaction and emotional expression. At the same time children use pre-linguistic thought, mental activities such as problem solving which do not use verbal operations. This is a period of practical intelligence when mental functions are developing.<br />· After age 2 the child begins to us external symbols or signs such as language or other cultural tools to assist in problem-solving.<br />· A young child will often talk out loud when solving problems, a kind of egocentric speech. After the age of 7 this self talk becomes silent (inner speech) and differs in the form of social speech. Inner dialogues are used as a means of self regulation to control ones cognitive processes. Learning has moved to the individual plane but continues to be mediated by language.<br />· Language throughout life serves the dual purpose of being for social communication and thought.<br />Stages in the development of thinking:<br /><br />Vygotsky’s theory is not a stage theory as such, though he did propose stages in the development of language and thought. He also proposed stages in the process of concept formation derived from a research study (Vygotsky 1987)<br /><br />Children were given wooden blocks of varying height and shape. Each was labelled with a nonsense symbol. “ZAT” was used to label tall and square blocks. The child’s task was to identify what these labels meant. Vygotsky observed that the children went through three stages before achieving mature concepts.<br /><br />See table below:<br /><br />Evaluation:<br />· Very little empirical support exists for Vytgotksy’s theory.<br />o Focuses on the process of cognitive development rather than the outcome, and this is harder to test.<br />· Strengths and limitations:<br />o Limited negative criticism as the empirical studies for this theory have only slowly become available.<br />· The role of biological and individual factors:<br />o Overemphasises the importance of social influences and underemphasise the biological and individual factors in cognitive development.<br />o If social influences alone were necessary development then we would expect learning to be faster than it is.<br />· Individual versus social construction:<br />o Piaget suggests that knowledge was something that a child creates for themselves (Individualistic and western.) Vygotsky saw knowledge as a collaborative social process (Collectivist.)<br />o In short both are constructive approaches but one is individualistic versus the other which is collective.<br />· The role of egocentric speech:<br />o Piaget argued the causation here was from person to the social world. <br />o Egocentric speech occurs because the child is unable to share a perspective of another. <br />o In contrast Vygotsky suggests that development moves from the social to the developmental plane where learning is internalised.<br />o Egocentric speech is the transition between social context and inner speech.<br />· Development or learning? Which comes first?<br />o Piaget suggests that development precedes learning;<br />o Vygotsky suggested learning comes first and this promotes development.<br /><br />· Scope for assisted learning:<br />o Piaget argues you can only wait.<br />o Vygotsky argues that scope exists for assisted learning.<br /><br />· Individual differences in learning:<br />Both approaches reflect cultural differences but also individual differences<br /><br />· Glassman (1999) argues that it is wrong to see Piaget and Vygotsky as opposites, as they’re remarkably similar at their core. Piaget focused on the natural laws of intellectual development while Vygotsky concentrated on the impact of social processes and culture.<br />o An integration of both views might therefore be highly productive.<br /><br /><br />Practical Applications of these Theories to Education.<br /><br />Having some understanding of the ways in which children’s thinking occurs and develops should help us design an education system for 5 year olds and older children that takes account of their skills and abilities. In those parts of the world that have an education system, children’s knowledge and understanding increases dramatically compared with those in the countries that do not.<br /><br />The table below recaps on the main differences between the two schools of thought.<br /><br />Piaget’s discovery learning.<br />Piaget’s ideas have been applied to the classroom of primary and junior schools.<br />i.e. Infant school deliver for a pre-operational stage learning environment.<br />i.e. Junior schools reflect the concrete operational thinking of their pupils.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The social dimension and play remains the least explored aspect of Piaget’s work. Donaldson (1987) “Children’s minds” argues that schooling helps to create disembedded thinking or the ability to solve problems that involve hypothetical, abstract entities rather than concrete objects. This is due to the fact that disembedded thinking is not natural for the human mind no matter how much the child explores.<br /><br />Vygotsky: The Social Context<br />· Did not accept that teachers should wait for a child to be ready to learn and claimed that ‘…what a child can do with assistance today he/she can do by him/herself tomorrow.’<br />· Social context enables learning.<br />· “There are times when a child should be left alone there are also times when they require assistance (A scaffold)” – Wood et al. (1976)<br /><br /><br />Collaborative Learning:<br />Bennett and Dunne (1991) found that children who engaged in cooperative group work were less competitive, less concerned with status and more likely to show evidence of logical thinking than those who worked alone.<br /><br />Peer tutoring:<br />Peers can also be experts and peer tutoring was seen as an effective form of learning. Research has also found that peer tutoring may have the greatest benefit for the more expert peer. Cloward (1967)<br /><br />Evaluation of Vygotsky’s Approach:<br />Individual differences:<br />· There are individual differences in the effectiveness of these techniques. <br />· E.g. Blaye et al some children working at home did not outperform those working alone.<br />The role of experts:<br />· Relies on the role of experts to recognise the limits of ZPD and know when and how to respond. Skilful application of this approach may be an unrealistic goal.<br />The importance of social influences:<br />· It’s educationally more important to know what children can achieve with assistance than what they can achieve unaided. But this may stifle creativity and understanding.<br />A combined approach:<br />· One science programme has combined the Piagetian approach to setting situations that create cognitive conflict with the Vygotskian approach to collaborative learning to produce improved performance in experimental groups, in maths science and English – CASE, i.e. Cognitive acceleration through science education. (Adey and Shayer – 1993.)<br /><br /><br />References of note:<br /><br /><br />Fantz (1961) - An example of a schema would be a mental<br />representation of the human face – there is evidence<br />that infants are born with an innate ability to<br />recognise faces<br /><br />Tom Bower (1966) - Experiments into object permanence with babies<br /> and infants.<br /><br />Mundy-castle and Anglin - Sat four month olds in from of portholes for an<br />object permanence experiment. They possessed this<br />prior to eight months predicted by Piaget.<br /> <br />Martin Hughes (1975) - Hughes hiding from a policeman task<br /><br /><br />John Flavell (1985) - Showed 3 year olds some cards with a drawing of a<br />cat on one side and a dog on the other. Holding the card vertically between the experimenter and the child, so that the child could see the dog he asked them what they could see. The three year olds had no difficulty in showing what they could decentre by saying that they could see the cat.<br /><br /><br /><br />Donaldson (1987) - Suggests that in the three mountains task children<br />are unsure as to what to do where as in the policemen problem they can use all their knowledge to understand and interpret the questions asked.<br />McGarrigle and<br />Donaldson (1974) - Devised a game to test conservation of number in<br />which two identical rows of sweets were placed in front of the child. A glove puppet called ‘naughty teddy’ then spread the sweets in one of the rows while not moving the others. Of the 4 and 5 year olds tested, fifty said that the number of sweets remained the same and so showed that they could conserve number. However when adult researchers moved the sweets themselves only thirteen out of the eighty said they were the same number<br /><br />Moore and Frye (1986) - Found that these early results were to some extent<br />explained by the children’s absorption in the game<br />and ‘naughty teddy’ was a distraction. When<br />running a modified version of the research they<br />found that even quite young children observed the<br />changes taking place.<br />Piaget and Inhelder (1956) - Beaker problem proposed to assess the achievement<br />of the Formal Operational Stage.<br /><br />Dasen (1994) - Claims that one third of adults do not reach<br />Formal Operational Stage.<br />Wason and Shapiro (1971) - Tested students using abstract reasoning tasks they<br />found only 10% could work out the solution but this rose to 62% if the task was given in concrete form.<br /><br />Smith et al. (1998) - Cross cultural research that supports Piaget.<br /><br />Borke (1975) - Demonstrated that children as young as 3 or 4 years<br />could overcome egocentrism with practice.<br /><br />Sinclair-de-zwart (1969) - Supports Piaget. However, in an earlier experiment<br />she found children who were non-conservers<br />differed in terms of the language they used from<br />children who were non conservers. This suggests<br />cognitive linguistic development comes together. <br />Which comes first? Sinclair-de-zwart tried the apt verbal skills to the non conservers. However, 90% of these children were still unable to conserve. This supports Piaget’s view that cognitive maturity is a prerequisite for linguistic development.<br /><br />Vygotsky (1934) (1962) - “Thought and language” <br />Vygotsky’s’ most popular work<br /><br />Grendler (1992) - Example of higher mental functions being<br />dependant on different influences. Cited Papua New Guinea children being taught a counting system that begins on the thumb and progresses up the arm. In consequence they can count to 29 using this method therefore it is difficult to add and subtract. This therefore becomes a higher mental function in that culture.<br /><br />Rumbaugh (1991) - Taught Bonobo chimpanzees to use human<br />language as well as to use number and quantity concepts by immersing the chimpanzees in a human learning environment. In the wild higher mental functions are not transformed, however, give the right learning environment (Culturally) they are able to develop some of these.<br /><br />Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976) - Zone of proximal development research. Used the<br />term scaffolding to describe the support (Guidance<br />that an adult might offer a child to help it reach a<br />solution.<br />Vygotsky (1987) - Instruction “…wakens a whole series of functions<br />that are in a stage of maturation lying in the zone of proximal development.”<br />McNaughton and Leyland (1990) - The ZPD and Jigsaw Puzzles.<br /><br />Wertsch (1985) - Have shown how self regulation increases with age<br />and experience.<br />Vygotsky (1987) - Speech stage age and function for the development of<br />language and thought.<br />Glassman (1999) - Argues that it is wrong to see Piaget and Vygotsky<br />as opposites, as they’re remarkably similar at their<br />core. Piaget focused on the natural laws of<br />intellectual development while Vygotsky<br />concentrated on the impact of social processes and<br />culture.<br />Donaldson (1987)<br />“Children’s minds” - Argues that schooling helps to create<br />disembedded thinking or the ability to solve<br />problems that involve hypothetical, abstract entities<br />rather than concrete objects.<br /><br />Wood et al. (1976) - “There are times when a child should be left alone<br />there are also times when they require assistance (A scaffold)” <br /><br />Bennett and Dunne (1991) - Collaborative Learning. Found that children who<br />engaged in cooperative group work were less<br />competitive, less concerned with status and more<br />likely to show evidence of logical thinking than<br />those who worked alone.<br /><br />Cloward (1967) - Peer tutoring. Peers can also be experts and peer<br />tutoring was seen as an effective form of learning. Research has also found that peer tutoring may have the greatest benefit for the more expert peer.<br /><br />Adey and Shayer (1993.) - One science programme has combined the Piagetian<br />approach to setting situations that create cognitive conflict with the Vygotskian approach to collaborative learning to produce improved performance in experimental groups, in maths science and English (CASE, i.e. Cognitive acceleration through science education.)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Concepts to note:<br /><br />· Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development;<br />o Intelligence<br />o Equilibrium<br />o Schema<br />o Assimilation<br />o Accommodation.<br />o Equilibration<br /><br />Piaget’s stages of cognitive development:<br />Sensorimotor stage<br />Object permanence<br />Pre-operational stage (2-4 years)<br />Animism = the belief that inanimate objects are alive.<br />Egocentrism = the child’s own inability to see things from another viewpoint other than their own.<br />Decentring = The ability to take others views into account .<br />Piaget argued this occurs around 7 years of age.<br />§ Intuitive thought is thought to be the second sub stage of the pre-operational stage. This occurs between the ages of four and seven years.<br />Conservation = The ability to understand that the more physical characteristics of objects remain the same even though the appearance of them may change. E.g. rolling one of two identical balls flat.<br />§ Reversibility;<br />§ Centration.<br /><br />Concrete operational stage<br />Formal operational stage<br /><br />Vygotsky’s Theory.<br />· <a title="Cultural-historical psychology" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural-historical_psychology">Cultural-historical psychology</a>.<br />· Scaffolding is the term used by Wood, Bruner and Ross (1976) to describe the support (Guidance) that an adult might offer a child to help it reach a solution. I.e. the zone of proximal development.<br /><br />Disembedded thinking - The ability to solve problems that involve hypothetical,<br />abstract entities rather than concrete objects. Donaldson (1978)<br />Collaborative learning;<br />Peer tutoring.TAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-47844352916665530262007-06-18T12:33:00.001-07:002007-06-18T12:33:30.089-07:00The Development of Moral Understanding (A2)The Development of Moral Understanding.<br /><br />Moral Understanding is the state of awareness and appreciation that someone has for appropriate and desirable social behaviour.<br /><br />There are wide individual and group differences in the definition of desirable behaviour and the ways in which different values and norms are appreciated.<br /><br />Three aspects of the human condition apply to understanding how children’s sense of right and wrong develops as they do anything else.<br />What we think (Cognition);<br />What we feel (Affect or emotion);<br />What we do (Behaviour).<br /><br />Piaget’s Theory of Moral Understanding<br /><br />· Piaget’s theory (1932) of cognitive development can be generally applied to the development of moral reasoning.<br />· Just as children need contact with adults and their peers to practise existing cognitive schemas, they also need such experience to develop a sense of co-operation, of sharing and turn-taking.<br /><br />· For the first five years or so the child thinks egocentrically and isn’t capable of understanding the rules that govern moral reasoning or behaviour. For example, as adults we can forgive an older child’s bad behaviour which has disastrous consequences if the motives are honourable. A child below the age of five cannot decentre and so we cannot take motives into account.<br /><br />· For the next five years children can understand that rules governing moral behaviour do exist and are imposed and enforced by other people, principally mummy, daddy, and teachers. This is the stage of heteronomous morality (heteronomous meaning imposed by someone else) — sometimes called moral realism.<br /><br />· Only as it enters the stage of formal operational thought will the child begin to understand that rules aren’t fixed and that infringement doesn’t automatically elicit punishment. Behaviour can be negotiated. This is the stage of autonomous morality (autonomous meaning controlled from within). It is sometimes called ‘moral relativity’.<br /><br />· Piaget believed that equal status contact with peers was critical in enabling the child to understand the perspective of others to develop socially and morally. <br /><br />· Children must learn to handle conflicts on an individual basis and learn who’s turn it is to play. Because peers have equal status, they must work out a compromise between themselves in order to function as a group. <br /><br />· In doing this they gradually begin to see that rules are social contracts achieved in relation to context. It is critical that adults are not involved because they would only serve to re-inforce the child’s respect for authority and inflexible rules.<br /><br />Piaget’s Research Studies (1932)<br />· Based his theory on two lines of investigation.<br />· First he observed children between 3 and 12 playing games of marbles, asking them about the rules of the game. He found that the youngest children used no rules at all.<br />· By age 5 the children were using rules but these were seen as absolute law, fixed and unchangeable. Rules must be obeyed and failure to obey a rule automatically results in punishment (“Imminent Justice”) based on the idea that someone in authority instantly punishes wrongdoing. This he called the stage of “Hetronomous Morality” or “Moral Realitivism” because of their greater cognitive maturity. They now realised that the rules would be changed<br />· His second source of research involved pairs of moral stories.<br />· In each pair there was one story where the child had good intentions but accidentally caused considerable damage, whereas in the other story there was less damage, but the child’s intentions were less good (Child behaved without due care and attention.)<br />o “Which of the characters is the naughtier and which should be punished the most?”<br />o Piaget was interested in the reasons why children gave the answers rather than the answers themselves and whether it was the consequences of the intentions that formed the basis of the moral judgement.<br />§ Children in the stage of moral realism focused on the consequences of the action rather than the intent.<br />§ Older children were able to take intention into consideration when considering the morality of an action, thereby refraining from making judgements that are purely based on the outcome or consequences of an action.<br /><br />Evaluation of Piaget’s research on moral understanding.<br />Piaget’s methods lacked in scientific acceptability by today’s standards.<br />Piaget used the best methods he could at the time. Whenever new challenges and new refinements to Piaget’s ideas were presented he was always receptive to them.<br /><br />Support:<br />· Armsby (1971) manipulated moral stories so that there was either a small amount of deliberate damage or a large amount of accidental damage. Younger children did take intention into account, but had difficulty weighing up the relative importance of value and intention which ended up meaning they made up judgements in terms of outcome alone. The conclusion must be that younger children rely more on consequences than intentions when judging right and wrong, but that moral behaviour does not follow a simple formula.<br />· Cross Cultural support: An important feature of Piaget’s theory is his claim that moral stages are innate and universal. This would lead us to expect cross-cultural support for his stages. Linaza (1984) found the same sequence for development of Spanish children. However, we should note that researchers used the same research methods as Piaget. Not all cross cultural evidence is as supportive.<br />· The Peer participation hypothesis. Piaget also claimed that peer interaction would be important in the development of moral understanding, in the same way as he suggested that cognitive challenges lead to the accommodation of existing schemas. Moreover, he suggested that adult interaction would be less valuable. Kruger (1992) found support for the peer participation hypothesis. In this experiment, female participants (average age 8 years) were paired either with a friend of the same age or with their mother. Prior to the experiment, each girl was questioned to determine her stage of moral development. Then each pair was asked to reach an agreement about two moral stories. All individuals were again assessed on a moral reasoning task, and it was found that those girls working with peers showed a greater increase in moral maturity than those working with their mothers. Presumably, the more appropriate discussions between peers assisted moral understanding, even within this short space of time.<br /><br />· Moral rules and social-conventional rules — Are games of marbles an appropriate test of morality? Turiel (1983) suggested that people do use social- conventional rules as a way of making moral judgments and therefore it would be reasonable suggest a scheme of moral development based on the use and understanding of such rules. However, Turiel also pointed out that there are other social rules, such as those related to etiquette and games. Marbles would be an example of the latter and therefore not fully representative of moral behaviour.<br /><br />· Consequences and intentions — The ‘moral story’ evidence has also been criticized. It is possible that the reason the younger children made judgments on the basis of consequences rather than intentions was because the consequences were much easier to identify. When intentions are made clearer, even younger children appear to be able to make decisions based on them. For example, Chandler et al. (1973) found that when the format of these stories was changed from a verbal to a videotaped presentation, then 6-year-olds recognized the intentions of the actor just as well as older children did. Likewise, Feldman et al. (1976) found that young children were able to make judgments based on intention when the intentions of the characters in the stories were evaluated separately from the outcomes, whereas in Piaget’s original stories, the intent of the child was always confused with the consequences of the action.<br />· The complexity of moral reasoning — Overall, more recent research suggests that Piaget may have underestimated the complexity of moral reasoning. One reason for this is that children, today, are more advanced at an earlier age due to cultural changes such as those which have led to increased IQs.<br /><br />Kohlberg’s theory of Moral Understanding<br />Used 10 dilemma stories to gather responses from children. The idea was that a wide variety of children of both sexes should be tested and a refined explanation would emerge that would encompass any gender or cultural differences as well as differences related to age.<br /><br />On the basis of this evidence Kohlberg propose a six stage model of moral reasoning comprising three distinct levels, with each level having two stages.<br /><br />People generally progress through these levels in the same order. However, the stage of level each person reaches can vary greatly according to when they reach it or whether they reach it at all. It is quite likely that some people will be reasoning at the third level by the time they are 20 years old. Some 60 year olds may never have progressed beyond level 2.<br /><br />Further researchers into moral reasoning including some by Kohlberg himself have found little evidence of stage 6 among the general population. It may not be a general stage at all, but accessible only to certain great thinkers. There may even be special stages beyond stage 6.<br /><br />Piaget and Kohlberg’s theories stem from the cognitive developmental area within psychology and have common characteristics:<br />They suggest that moral development proceeds through a sequence of innately determined stages which follow an invariant sequence.<br />Development occurs as a consequence of maturation but also through disequilibrium. Inconsistencies that arise through experience challenge current thinking.<br />Each stage is defined by the kind of thought (Cognition) used to make moral judgements.<br />They focus more on how people think rather than what they think.<br />There is an underlying assumption that moral principles are linked to moral behaviour.<br /><br />Refer to table 18.7 below for stages of moral development (Kohlberg 1976)<br /><br /><br />Empirical Support for Kohlberg:<br />Empirical means derived from observation and research, rather than theoretical speculation. Walker et al (1987) has research that broadly supports Kohlberg’s general stages and Kohlberg’s own cross cultural research findings seem to apply his stages universally. <br /><br />Colby (1983) followed the original data sample of Kohlberg for a subsequent 26 years and found that by testing each sample every three years that:<br />children displayed stage 2 by age 10 but examples of stages 1 and 3 were also displayed.<br />By age 22 no one was stage 1 and stages 3 and 4 were predominant.<br />By age 36 very little evidence was apparent of stage 5 (Approx 5%)<br /><br />In other countries: Britain, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, USA and Yucatan he found the same pattern of development. Also development tended to be slower in non industrialised countries.<br /><br />Colby and Kohlberg (1987) reported longitudinal studies in turkey and Israel that produced similar results as Colby (1983)<br /><br />Evaluation:<br />Has extended and refined Piaget’s (1932) original research.<br /><br />Support:<br />Cross-Cultural Support:<br />Snarey et al. (1985)<br />Examined 44 different cross cultural studies in 26 countries, all found progression to stage 1 to 4 in same ages. <br />Stage 5 only occurring in urban areas.<br />Eckensberger (1983)<br />Reviewed 50 studies again lending support to the invariant progression of Kohlberg’s stages.<br />The importance of social interactions:<br />Hartshorne and May (1928) found that children who attended Sunday school were less likely to be honest.<br />Limitations:<br />How universal are universal Ethical Principles?<br />Stage 5 and 6 are rarely reached<br />Colby and Kohlberg (1987) found only 15% reached stage 5 and no evidence of stage 6. However, stage 6 represents the ideal state of moral development.<br />Gender Bias:<br />Kohlberg’s theory is Andocentric (Male centred view) and Alpha-biased (Suggests real difference between women and men).<br />Artificial Dilemmas:<br />The dilemmas like Piaget’s view are rather artificial views of morality understanding.<br />Cultural Bias:<br />In other cultures meeting family obligations and submitting to the authority of elders is regarded as reflecting the highest moral principles and yet would be scored at lower levels according to Kohlberg’s theory. Snarey et al (1985)<br /><br />Eisenberg’s Theory of Pro-Social Reasoning.<br /><br />Eisenberg claimed that cognitive development is too large a theme to be explained by a single theory or model.<br />Kohlberg’s theory being based on justice and fairness. She sees cognitive development comprising several elements apart from the notions of justice and fair play, including pro-social behaviour. We all help others at some cost to time and effort occasionally. Some people seem willing to help out others don’t as often.<br /><br />Eisenberg argues that the most important element for pro-social reasoning is turn taking and role taking.<br /><br />Eisenberg (1987) argues Empathy is a key feature of development of pro social moral reasoning. <br />Empathy differs from Sympathy;<br />Empathy is a person’s ability to experience the emotions of another;<br />Sympathy is an emotional affinity in which whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other, and its synonym is pity.<br /><br />One way to learn empathy is through taking on the roles of others and seeing the world through their eyes. Children’s games therefore often involve the taking on of roles that might be vital to their moral development.<br />As empathy grows, children become capable of experiencing compassion or “Sympathetic distress”<br />There is a distinction between the cognitive understanding of the other persons condition and a younger child’s more primitive empathetic distress displayed when they are with someone who is suffering.<br />Cognitive awareness leads the child to go to the assistance of others, whereas distress on its own does not.<br /><br />Type of Empathy<br />Age<br />Description<br />Global Empathy<br /><1 yr<br />Infant has not yet received vast range of emotions.<br />They therefore copy behaviour that they see e.g. smile when smiled at.<br />Egocentric Empathy<br />1-2 years<br />Ego-centric therefore they assume that everyone can be comforted the same way they can.. They behave in ways that they hope others would behave towards them.<br />Empathy for another<br />2-3 years<br />Children begin to experience a wide range of emotions and develop the language with which to describe them. Can show sympathy and understanding for a wider range of peoples feelings. Can be angry and frightened when they see someone else being hurt. They might be quiet and feel guilty when someone has punished them for doing something wrong.<br />Empathy for another’s life condition<br />7 / 8 years<br />Child can think of people belonging to large classes or categories such as unemployed, the poor, all those children without parents, the homeless, children spending xmas in hospital etc. and can have empathy with whole categories of people whose life condition makes them worse off than themselves.<br /><br /><br /><br />Eisenberg (1983) started a longitudinal study that has followed a group of children from age 4 through to adolescence (Eisenberg et al. 1987, 1991.) asking them questions about the stories. They have found continuing support for the ‘levels theory’ outlined below.<br /><br /><br />In Eisenberg et al. (1999) the follow up study found that those children who displayed spontaneous pro-social behaviour at age 5 continued to behave this way in early adulthood, showing that there are stable individual differences in pro-social behaviour that have their origins in early childhood.<br /><br /><br />Evaluation of Eisenberg’s Approach<br /><br />Primitive and Sympathetic distress:<br />The prediction that pro-social behaviour is motivated by ‘Sympathetic distress’ but not by the more primitive distress shown by younger children is supported by research.<br />Caplan and Hay (1989) found that children aged between 3 and 5 were often upset by another child’s distress, but rarely offered to help. Older children realistically think that it doesn’t have to be an adult that helps.<br />Empathy and Altruism:<br />Batson’s (1991) empathy-altruism hypothesis supports Eisenbergs view of pro-social behaviour, proposing that human altruism is motivated by experiencing the distress of another. However, Cialdini et al. (1982) have opposed this view, suggesting the negative state relief hypothesis, the view that we feel distressed when someone else is distressed and act in order to relieve our own distress.<br /><br /><br />Individual and Cultural Variations:<br />Gender Differences.<br />Carol Gilligan argued that Kohlberg’s Model is based on the assumption that morality is synonymous with concepts of fairness and justice. She argues that, while this may be (Partly) true for males, it applies much less to females. She suggests that females are more concerned with care and concern for others – the more nurturing role.<br /><br />The implication here is that a dominant theme that underlies us all or most females is moral sense. However, there must be wide individual differences between these two themes. Many males are nurturing and caring, while many females exhibit a strong sense of fairness and justice<br /><br />Gilligan created further evidence for gender differences in a later study (Gilligan and Attanucci – 1988) where both men and women were rated on moral dilemmas.<br />Here it was found that overall, men favoured a justice orientation and women favoured a care orientation, though most people displayed elements of both moralities.<br /><br />Gilligan et al. (1990) have explained why such gender differences may arise. They claim that women have a stronger sense of ‘interconnectedness’ relationships and intimacy. This interconnectedness arises during early development as a result of maternal attachment. <br />Boys become independent from their mothers at an earlier age and develop ‘separateness.’<br />This means that they have to coordinate the interactions of independent individuals earlier, leading them to become more concerned with issues of justice. <br />Girls however, because of their continued attachment to their mothers are not as keenly aware of the demands of independent others and are, hence, less concerned with fairness as an issue.<br /><br /><br />Evaluation:<br />Support:<br /><br />Eisenberg et al. (1987) found gender differences similar to Gilligan’s: girls between the ages of 10 and 12 tended to give more caring empathetic responses than boys of the same age. However, this may be because girls mature more quickly than boys, while boys catch up later in adolescence. It may also be a result of demand characteristics within the research (those features of an experiment which ‘invite’ particular behaviours from participants).<br />Eisenberg and Lennon (1983) found that, when researchers were known to be looking at empathetic behaviour, women portrayed themselves in line with their stereotypically nurturing and empathetic role. When the aim of the study was less apparent, gender differences disappeared.<br /><br />Garmon et al. (1996) — Gilligan and Attanucci’s findings have received some support from Garmon et al. They conducted a study testing 500 participants and found that females were more likely to refer to issues of care when judging moral dilemmas.<br /><br />Limitations:<br /><br />Limited evidence of gender variations — In general, however, research has found only small gender differences. In Walker’s (1984) Meta analysis of 108 studies, there were only 8 clear indications of sex differences, but even in those cases, the effects were confounded by other sociological and scoring factors and the differences themselves were very small — less than half a stage.<br />Unrepresentative samples — Sommers (2000) has attacked Gilligan’s initial interviews, pointing out that they involved only a small sample of urban US women who were deciding whether to have an abortion or not. Such a small and biased sample can hardly constitute a sound basis for a universal stage theory of moral development.<br />Gender similarities in moral reasoning — Garmon et al. and Gilligan and Attanucci found that there were large overlaps in the moral reasoning shown by men and women. Other research (e.g. Wark and Krebs 1996) has found that men and women, when reasoning about life dilemmas they have faced, use care- and justice-orientations equally.<br />Shaffer (2002) concludes that ‘its quite clear that the justice and care orientations are not sex-specific moralities as Gilligan had claimed. Nevertheless, Gilligan’s theory and the studies designed to test it have broadened our view of morality by illustrating that men and women often think about moral issues… in terms of their responsibilities for the welfare of other people. Kohlberg emphasised only one way… of thinking about right and wrong.’<br /><br /><br />Culture:<br />Inevitably, what is regarded as morally acceptable will vary between cultures and it is illogical to assume that there is a universal concern with justice and fairness or nurture and care. Moral concerns will vary with each culture.<br /><br />Individualist versus collectivist cultures:<br />Whiting and Whiting (1975) found that 100% of Kenyan children (Collectivist would behave altruistically compared with 8% of American (Individualist.)<br />Urban versus rural influences:<br />Hedge and Yousif (1992) found differences between rurqal and urban dwelling people in the UK.<br />Snarey and Keljo (1991) have found that post conventional understanding occurs mainly in more developed, industrialised societies and is much less usual in rural communities.<br /><br />Different kinds of morality:<br />Moral transgressions involve breaking social rules.<br />Shweder et al. (1987) interviewed children aged 5 to 13 and adults in India and the US, asking them their views on violations of certain rules. Indian children see interpersonal morals as a post conventional form of moral reasoning whereas Americans in general see justice as the highest level of moral development<br />Berry et al. (1992) reports that there are more similarities than differences when you look at serious moral issues.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />References of note:<br /><br />Armsby (1971) - Manipulated moral stories so that<br />there was either a small amount of deliberate damage or a large amount of accidental damage. Younger children did take intention into account, but had difficulty weighing up the relative importance of value and intention which ended up meaning they made up judgements in terms of outcome alone. The conclusion must be that younger children rely more on consequences than intentions when judging right and wrong, but that moral behaviour does not follow a simple formula<br /><br />Linaza (1984) - Cross Cultural support for Piaget’s theory. <br />An important feature of Piaget’s theory is his claim that moral stages are innate and universal. This would lead us to expect cross-cultural support for his stages. Here it was found that the same sequence for development of Spanish children. However, we should note that researchers used the same research methods as Piaget. Not all cross cultural evidence is as supportive.<br /><br />Kruger (1992) - Found support for the peer participation<br />hypothesis. In this experiment, female participants (average age 8 years) were paired either with a friend of the same age or with their mother. Prior to the experiment, each girl was questioned to determine her stage of moral development. Then each pair was asked to reach an agreement about two moral stories. All individuals were again assessed on a moral reasoning task, and it was found that those girls working with peers showed a greater increase in moral maturity than those working with their mothers. Presumably, the more appropriate discussions between peers assisted moral understanding, even within this short space of time.<br /><br />Turiel (1983) - Suggested that people do use social-<br />conventional rules as a way of making moral judgments and therefore it would be reasonable suggest a scheme of moral development based on the use and understanding of such rules.<br /><br />Chandler et al. (1973) - Found that when the format of these stories<br />was changed from a verbal to a videotaped presentation, then 6-year-olds recognized the intentions of the actor just as well as older children did.<br /><br />Feldman et al. (1976) - Found that young children were able to<br />make judgments based on intention when the intentions of the characters in the stories were evaluated separately from the outcomes, whereas in Piaget’s original stories, the intent of the child was always confused with the consequences of the action.<br />Walker et al (1987) - Has research that broadly supports<br />Kohlberg’s general stages and Kohlberg’s own cross cultural research findings seem to apply his stages universally. <br />Colby (1983) - Followed the original data sample of<br />Kohlberg for a subsequent 26 years and found that by testing each sample every three years that: children displayed stage 2 by age 10 but examples of stages 1 and 3 were also displayed.<br />By age 22 no one was stage 1 and stages 3 and 4 were predominant.<br />By age 36 very little evidence was apparent of stage 5 (Approx 5%)<br /><br />In other countries: Britain, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, USA and Yucatan he found the same pattern of development. Also development tended to be slower in non industrialised countries.<br /><br />Colby and Kohlberg (1987) - Reported longitudinal studies in turkey and<br />Israel that produced similar results as Colby (1983)<br /><br />Snarey et al. (1985) - Examined 44 different cross cultural studies<br />in 26 countries, all found progression to stage 1 to 4 in same ages. Stage 5 only occurring in urban areas.<br />Eckensberger (1983) - Reviewed 50 studies again lending support<br />to the invariant progression of Kohlberg’s stages.<br />Hartshorne and May (1928) Found that children who attended Sunday<br />school were less likely to be honest.<br /><br />Colby and Kohlberg (1987) - Found only 15% reached stage 5 and no<br />evidence of stage 6. However, stage 6 represents the ideal state of moral development.<br />Snarey et al (1985) - Argued Kohlbergs theory is not suitable<br />for non western cultures.<br /><br />Eisenberg (1983) - Started a longitudinal study that has<br />followed a group of children from age 4<br />through to adolescence (Eisenberg et al.<br />1987, 1991.) asking them questions about<br />the stories. <br /><br />Eisenberg et al. (1999) - The follow up study found that those<br />children who displayed spontaneous pro-<br />social behaviour at age 5 continued to<br />behave this way in early adulthood, showing<br />that there are stable individual differences in<br />pro-social behaviour that have their origins<br />in early childhood.<br />Caplan and Hay (1989) - Primitive and sympathetic distress as an<br />example of whether to evaluate Eisenbergs<br />theory in a positive light. They found that<br />children aged between 3 and 5 were often<br />upset by another child’s distress, but rarely<br />offered to help. Older children realistically<br />think that it doesn’t have to be an adult that<br />helps.<br />Batson’s (1991) - Empathy-altruism hypothesis. This supports<br />Eisenbergs view of pro-social behaviour,<br />proposing that human altruism is motivated<br />by experiencing the distress of another. <br />Cialdini et al. (1982) - Opposed the view, of suggesting the<br /> negative state relief hypothesis, the view<br />that we feel distressed when someone else is distressed and act in order to relieve our own distress.<br /><br />Gilligan and Attanucci (1988) - Where both men and women were rated on<br />moral dilemmas. Here it was found that<br />overall, men favoured a justice orientation<br />and women favoured a care orientation,<br />though most people displayed elements of<br />both moralities.<br /><br />Eisenberg et al. (1987) - Provides support for Gilligans stages of<br />moral development. found gender<br />differences similar to Gilligan’s: girls<br />between the ages of 10 and 12 tended to<br />give more caring empathetic responses than<br />boys of the same age. However, this may be<br />because girls mature more quickly than<br />boys, while boys catch up later in<br />adolescence. It may also be a result of<br />demand characteristics within the research<br />(those features of an experiment which<br />‘invite’ particular behaviours from<br />participants).<br /><br />Eisenberg and Lennon (1983) - Support for Gilligans stages of Moral<br /> Development. found that, when researchers were known to be looking at empathetic behaviour, women portrayed themselves in line with their stereotypically nurturing and empathetic role. When the aim of the study was less apparent, gender differences disappeared.<br /><br />Garmon et al. (1996) - Support for Gilligans stages of Moral<br />Development. Gilligan and Attanucci’s findings have received some support from Garmon et al. They conducted a study testing 500 participants and found that females were more likely to refer to issues of care when judging moral dilemmas.<br /><br /><br /><br />Whiting and Whiting (1975) - Individualist versus collectivist cultures.<br />Found that 100% of Kenyan children (Collectivist would behave altruistically compared with 8% of American (Individualist.)<br />Hedge and Yousif (1992) - Urban versus rural influences. Found<br />differences between rural and urban dwelling people in the UK. <br />Snarey and Keljo (1991) - Have found that post conventional<br />understanding occurs mainly in more developed, industrialised societies and is much less usual in rural communities.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Concepts to note:<br /><br />Imminent Justice.<br />Hetronomous morality<br />Moral Realitivism<br /><br />Empathy<br />Sympathy<br />Sympathetic DistressTAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-40906963269445909442007-06-18T12:31:00.000-07:002007-06-18T12:32:29.486-07:00The Development of Measured Intelligence (A2)The Development of Measured Intelligence<br /><br />Intelligence is the by product of cognition – especially those aspects concerned with memory, thinking and reasoning.<br /><br />There are difficulties in defining intelligence precisely.<br /><br />A popular approach follows Donald Hebb’s (1949) suggestion that:<br />“Intelligence A” was ones genetic potential for development, given a perfect environment. <br />“Intelligence B” was the hypothetical stage of development one actually reaches<br />Vernon (1955) proposed that “Intelligence C” was the little bit of intelligence B that IQ tests measured.<br /><br />Intelligence tests<br /><br />In turn of century France, Alfred Binet was asked by the government to design a test which would discriminate between children who had special learning needs and the rest. <br />It was to be a test of thinking and reasoning for 6-7 year olds. It was not an intelligence test that would claim to test the whole range of intellectual abilities across a wider group. It was a test of mental ability including verbal and non verbal items.<br />Binet and Simon (1905)<br /><br />These items were graded by difficulty and many items were graded by age norms i.e. which items could be successfully solved by children at specific ages. It could then be clear that a child of 6.5 years who could not solve the items that a 6 year old could needed remedial schooling.<br /><br />The idea of Intelligence Quotient<br /><br />Binets approach was very successful and later the notion of IQ was added by Terman (1916). This was a numerical value that could be used to compare children’s mental abilities<br />IQ is calculated by finding two factors:<br />The child’s actual age in years and months (Chronological age – or CA.)<br />The child’s mental age (MA), as established by the test.<br /><br />Easiest way for accuracy is to convert both figures into months.<br /><br />Factors that affect test performance:<br /><br />Nature the role of genetics<br />Assessed using research design, kinship studies, adoption studies and gene mapping;<br /><br />Twin studies:<br />· Provide an opportunity to conduct a natural experiment where either genetics or environment is constant or varied. Identical twins and non identical twins(Where the person is genetically same or different, are studied either reared together or apart (Environment the same or different.) Identical twins share the same genetic material (MZ. Non identical are similar (DZ.<br /><br />· Shields (1962) by advertising on TV managed to find 44 sets of twins (MZ) reared apart.<br />· He found that these individuals had quite similar IQ’s (Correlation of 0.77)<br />· Also M twins reared together (0.76) This suggested that environment had very little influence on the development of their IQ apparently supporting the fact that genetic factors are greater in importance. DZ twins reared together were significantly lower (0.51)<br /><br />· Kamin (1977) criticised shields for not noting that in reality the twins actually spent a significant amount of time together and therefore3 were not actually reared apart.<br />· Swedish Adoption / Twin Study of Aging (SATSA) Pederson et al (1992) followed DZ and MZ twins half of whom were separated before the age of one MZ correlated at 0.80 and DZ at 0.32.<br /><br />· Scar and Carter-Saltzman (1979) argue that on genetic and behavioural level a surprising number of MZ twins are not actually identical. Psychologists now recognise the extent to which individuals create their own micro-environment (Different friends, teachers and surrounding temperaments from birth.) Different temperaments cause different responses from people in the environment and in return these may have an influence on the development of IQ.<br /><br />Kinship studies:<br />· Show that the more closely individuals are related the more similar their IQ, suggesting a genetic component / influence. <br />· Bouchard and McGue (1981) conducted a meta-analysis of many other studies and calculated for relatives living together a correlation of 0.86 for MZ twins and 0.60 for DZ twins, 0.47 for siblings and 0.38 for parents and offspring.<br /><br />Adoption studies:<br />· The Texas Adoption Project – Horn (1983)<br />o Showed that adopted children’s IQ’s were more closely correlated with their biological rather than adopted mother (0.28 compared with 0.15) though differences were small.<br />o Years later a study showed the correlation strength had increased and that of the adopted family had decreased. Plomin et al (1988)<br />· Scarr and McCartney (1983) state that genetics make up preferences biologically and therefore twin and other siblings pick the experiences (Environments) that they prefer. Therefore genetically similar individuals tend towards selected similar environments. (A.k.a. Niche Picking)<br /><br />Trans-racial adoption studies<br />· Scar and Weinberg (1976) – American adopted black children in middle class white families were found to have average IQ of 106 at age 7 years. Similar children in low income black families had IQ’s of 97.<br /><br />Gene Mapping Studies:<br />· Plomin has claimed to have identified the first gene related to gene intelligence called IGF2R.<br />· Genes are polygenic – numerous – intelligence is determined by more than one gene. High intelligence will be determined by having a variety of high quality genes. A person with a lot of these plus genes will have a high IQ..IGF was present in 33% super bright’s and only 17% average groups<br /><br /><br />Nurture: Environmental and Cultural factors<br />The Rochester Longitudinal Study (Sameroff et al. 1993) is particularly worth mentioning as it found significant correlations between IQ and home factors.<br /><br /><br /><br />· Hart and Risley (1995) studied the importance of parental involvement in children’s upbringing, the quality of home factors having been identified by Caldwell and Bradley (1978)<br /><br />Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) was developed by Caldwell and Bradley (1978) to establish a checklist of items that can be used when gathering information about the quality of a child’s environment.<br /><br />Test Factors:<br />· Rosenthal and Jacobsen’s (1968) “Pygmalion in the classroom” had sixteen elementary school teachers randomly selecting a group of 72 children who were ‘potential bloomers’. When tested later this group gained higher IQ scores than the others. The explanation was that the teachers expected more from these children.<br /><br />Intelligence and Race<br />· Environmental argument where limitations may be placed on the potential growth of an individuals IQ via social norms such as Victorian England on “People of colour.”.<br /><br />· It’s probably impossible to design a IQ test without cultural bias. Williams (1972) developed the “Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity” (BITCH) to test Afro-American children. White children did less well on this test.<br /><br />Conclusion about intelligence.<br />· We began by noting Donald Hebb’s (1949) suggestion that Intelligence A was ones genetic potential for development given a perfect environment and Intelligence B was the hypothetical stage of development one actually reached.<br />· He agreed that each person has a genetic potential for achieving a certain level of intellectual capacity (Intelligence A), and that each person reaches a certain level of intellectual functioning (Intelligence B.) He then added the environmental influences were responsible for stretching the rubber band from genetic to actual achievement. Gottesman then argued that society should concentrate on stretching each person’s rubber band to its maximum.<br />References of note:<br /><br />Donald Hebb’s (1949) - Intelligence A and B type’s explanation.<br /><br />Vernon (1955) - Intelligence C type explanation.<br /><br /><br />Binet and Simon (1905) - In turn of century France, Alfred Binet was<br />asked by the government to design a test<br />which would discriminate between children<br />who had special learning needs and the rest. <br />It was to be a test of thinking and reasoning<br />for 6-7 year olds. It was not an intelligence test that would claim to test the whole range of intellectual abilities across a wider group. It was a test of mental ability including verbal and non verbal items.<br /><br />Terman (1916). - Added to Binets approach and the later<br />notion of IQ.<br /><br />Shields (1962) - Twin study. Advertising on TV managed to<br />find 44 sets of twins (MZ) reared apart. He found that these individuals had quite similar IQ’s (Correlation of 0.77) Also M twins reared together (0.76) This suggested that environment had very little influence on the development of their IQ apparently supporting the fact that genetic factors are greater in importance. DZ twins reared together were significantly lower (0.51)<br />Kamin (1977) - Twin Study. Criticised shields for not<br />noting that in reality the twins actually spent<br />a significant amount of time together and therefore3 were not actually reared apart. Swedish Adoption / Twin Study of Aging (SATSA) Pederson et al (1992) followed DZ and MZ twins half of whom were separated before the age of one MZ correlated at 0.80 and DZ at 0.32.<br /><br />Scar and Carter-Saltzman (1979) - Argue that on genetic and behavioural level<br />a surprising number of MZ twins are not<br />actually identical. Psychologists now<br />recognise the extent to which individuals<br />create their own micro-environment<br />(Different friends, teachers and surrounding<br />temperaments from birth)<br />Bouchard and McGue (1981) - Conducted a meta-analysis of many other<br />studies and calculated for relatives living<br />together a correlation of 0.86 for MZ twins<br />and 0.60 for DZ twins, 0.47 for siblings and 0.38 for parents and offspring.<br /><br />Horn (1983) - The Texas Adoption Project. Showed that<br />adopted children’s IQ’s were more closely<br />correlated with their biological rather than<br />adopted mother (0.28 compared with 0.15)<br />though differences were small.<br />Plomin et al (1988) - Years later a study showed the correlation<br /> strength had increased and that of the<br />adopted family had decreased.<br />Scarr and McCartney (1983) - State that genetics make up preferences<br />biologically and therefore twin and other<br />siblings pick the experiences<br />(Environments) that they prefer. Therefore<br />genetically similar individuals tend towards<br />selected similar environments. (A.k.a. Niche<br />Picking)<br /><br />Scar and Weinberg (1976) - Trans-racial adoption studies. American<br />adopted black children in middle class white<br />families were found to have average IQ of<br />106 at age 7 years. Similar children in low<br />income black families had IQ’s of 97.<br />Sameroff et al. (1993) - The Rochester Longitudinal Study is<br />particularly worth mentioning as it found<br />significant correlations between IQ and<br />home factors.<br />Hart and Risley (1995) - Studied the importance of parental<br />involvement in children’s upbringing.<br />Caldwell and Bradley (1978) - The quality of home factors in IQ.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Caldwell and Bradley (1978) - Home Observation for Measurement of The<br />Environment (HOME) was developed to establish a checklist of items that can be used when gathering information about the quality of a child’s environment.<br />Williams (1972) - It’s probably impossible to design a IQ test<br />without cultural bias. They developed the<br />“Black Intelligence Test of Cultural<br />Homogeneity” (BITCH) to test Afro-<br />American children. White children did less<br />well on this test.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Concepts to note:<br /><br />Intelligence defined.<br />Intelligence types A, B, and C defined.<br /><br /><br />CA (Chronological Age)<br />Cultural Bias<br />IQ (Intelligence Quota)<br />MA (Mental Age)<br />Project Headstart<br />Rochester Longitudinal Study<br /><br />The Texas Adoption Project<br /><br />What do they say or do?<br />Binnet<br />Caldwell and Bradley<br />Hart and Risley<br />Hebb<br />Rosenthal and Jacobson<br />WilliamsTAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-7036139734426404962007-06-18T12:30:00.001-07:002007-06-18T12:30:47.846-07:00PRosocial behaviour altruism and bystander bahaviour (A2)Pro-Social Behaviour:<br />Altruism and Bystander Behaviour<br /><br />Wispe (1972) : “Defined Pro-social Behaviour as any action that benefits another<br />regardless of the benefits or self-sacrifice of the actor.”<br /><br />Altruism defined: “…Voluntarily helping someone at a personal cost to oneself.<br />E.g. Time, Money, Effort. Giving assistance to someone else.”<br /><br /><br />Therefore altruism and helping are forms of pro-social behaviour.<br /><br />N.B. Altruism is the action of self in the interest of others (Selfless)<br />Egoism is acting in self interest.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Explainations of pro-social behaviour<br /><br />Natural selection<br /><br />Here altruism represents a contradiction. Natural selection is the process by which we pass on genes, therefore helping someone else to do this and survive represents a threat to our genes survival. This is known as the “Paradox of Altruism.”<br /><br /><br />Kin selection theory is highlighted in Darwin’s paradox which argues that by assisting relatives you facilitate your own genes being passed on as they share common genetic material. Therefore the closer the relationship the more you will put yourself out to assist. Refer to Hamilton (1963, 1964).<br /><br />Similarly you can define altruism as that which assists / increases the individuals chance of reproduction – reproductive fitness.<br /><br /><br />Stuart (1991) argues that in order to recognise kin animals use:<br />Spatial proximity – Family groups stay together;<br />Phenotype matching – Related individuals have certain<br />characteristics such as smell, appearance or behaviour in common.<br /><br />Evaluation of Kin Selection and Altruism.<br /><br />Research support:<br />Female ground squirrels mate with more than one male therefore litters contain full and half siblings Research shows altruistic behaviour here as half sisters defend against predators’ and territorial disputes more than their full siblings.<br />(Holmes and Sherman – 1982)<br />Major Histocompatibility Complex<br />Genetically similar mice have similar odours which it is thought leads to reciprocal altruism.<br />Importance on Kin Selection:<br />A number of reasons exist for including kin selection in altruism:<br />1. Resource allocation to your own offspring rather than another’s. i.e. Brood Parasitism.<br />2. Ease of recognition in time of threat.<br />3. Genetic diversity at time of choosing a mate.<br />Degree of relatedness:<br />Helping a distant relative has less benefit than helping a close relation.<br /><br />In addition to care for offspring and warning signals there is Eusocial Insects to consider as examples of this activity in which ants and termites etc contain workers that help raise their offspring and even sacrifice their lives to defend them despite being unable to reproduce themselves.<br /><br />Reciprocal Altruism:<br />Trivers (1971) è A Loan that may be repaid<br />Wilkinson (1984) found that unrelated vampire bats regurgitated food for one another on returning to the nesting site. This was universally reciprocated without conscious action.<br /><br />Tit for tat strategy might be employed for cheats of altruism.<br />Axelrod and Hamilton (1981) argued for rewarding cooperation and discouraging defection behaviour. Further argued in numerous examples in Dawkins (1976) ‘The selfish gene’<br /><br />Evaluation of Reciprocal Altruism:<br />Fitting the facts:<br />Manning and Dawkins (1998) state vampire bats a good example due to:<br />1. Bats remember cheating and therefore do not reciprocate to these individuals over prolonged periods.<br />2. They are able to offer food with differential benefit and cost should a familiar bat be starving.<br />3. Failing to obtain a feed can happen to any bats and therefore altruism acts as an insurance policy as being benefited by others in a time of need.<br />Delayed Reciprocal Altruism:<br />Time period between giving and receiving may be significant. N.B. Reciprocal Altruism cases being documented are rare. It’s more common to find examples of mutual co-operation between animals.<br /> E.g. Baboon coalitions – Packer (1977)<br /> Vampire Bat Feeding – Wilkinson (1984)<br /><br /><br />Other explanations of Apparent Altruism<br /><br />Mutualism (or return effects)<br />Some cooperative relationships may even involve individuals from differing species. E.g. cleaner fish survives by removing parasites from other species.<br /> Caraco and Wolf 1975 – lionesses share kills, though not necessarily equally.<br /> Grier and Burk 1992 – Honeyguide bird leads people in Africa to bee hives.<br /><br />Induced or manipulated altruism<br />Sometimes referred to as ‘manipulated’ or ‘social parasitism’ e.g. cuckoo manipulating cries of host birds chicks.(Moksnes and RǾskaft 1995)<br />Holldobler (1971) – larvae of the Atemelles beetle mimics the begging behaviour of ants in order to obtain food from passing workers.<br /><br />Evaluation of Alternative explanations of apparent altruism.<br /><br />Mutualism:<br />Honeyguide birds are used to find African honeybee hives by humans who in turn use human help for greater access to hives and smoke to reduce chances of bee stings.<br />Why does manipulated altruism work?<br />What looks like altruism on the part of the host animal is actually manipulation and deception on the part of the recipient.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Learning Theory<br /><br />Children learn pro-social behaviour from parents / adults at many opportunities.<br />Nancy Eisenburg (1989) – Children learn to be helpful by being given opportunities like taking care of pets and teaching younger siblings etc. Provided children do not feel that they are being coerced into ‘being good’ these opportunities encourage them to be altruistic.<br /><br />Batson’s Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis<br />Empathy è a close understanding that one person has for the feelings of another.<br />e.g. two people sharing a common traumatic experience<br /><br /><br />Commentary on empathy-altruism model:<br />Research support:<br />Initial studies by Batson show that people help for other reasons than reduction of personal distress. Fultz et al (1986) argues people show empathy to others to escape social disapproval.<br />Batson and Oleson (!991) contradict the assumption that human nature is fundamentally self serving.<br /><br />Alternative explanations:<br />The alternative of examining the long term commitment to altruistic behaviour found in many people may have alternative explanations e.g. demand characteristics that would account for participant behaviour in studies without involving the complexities of perspective taking and empathic concern.<br /><br /><br /><br />Evolution and altruism:<br />Kruger (2003) compared the influence of altruistic factors, egoistic factors, and reciprocity in order to predict participants’ intentions to perform risky rescue behaviour. Reciprocal altruism and kinship were the strongest predictors followed by empathic concern to a significantly less extent.<br /><br />Oneness:<br />Cialdini et al. (1997) believes that people help other people not out of empathic concern but because they feel more at one with them. This suggests that empathy is rooted in finding that part of oneself that is in another person and help it. The more we see of ourselves the more we would like to help therefore this eliminates any thought of altruism.<br /><br /><br /><br />The Negative-State Relief Model – Cialdini et al (1987)<br /><br />The Negative State.<br />States that when we experience a negative state (e.g. sadness) we are motivated to relieve our own state by helping others which we deem rewarding. <br />This being essentially egoistic.<br /><br />Negative state relief:<br />Enhancement of our own mood is the primary goal of any altruistic behaviour<br /><br />The Negative State Relief Model.<br /><br /><br />Commentary : Negative-State Relief Model<br />Isen and Levin (1972):<br />10 cents placed in a phone booth<br />Sheef of papers dropped as customers emerged from phone booth.<br />84% of those who had picked up the money helped with picking up the papers.<br />4% of those who did not get the money helped with the papers.<br /><br />Altruism or egoism?<br />Batson (1991) argues that we feel empathic concern when we have a close attachment to the person in need. Here we reduce stress by helping or leaving the scene.<br /><br />Methodological limitations:<br />Most experiments have been conducted in a laboratory setting in mainland USA and therefore have limited external and ecological validity.<br /><br />Bystander Behaviour<br /><br /><br />The influence of others (Bystander effects)<br />Latane and Darley (1970) first social psychologists to take an academic interest in this after the tragic murder of Kitty Genovese.<br /><br />They offer two theories:<br /><br />Diffusion of responsibility.<br />The more bystanders the less individual responsibility.<br />Pluralistic Ignorance.<br />If no one else acts the individuals do not see the situation as one requiring action.<br /><br /><br />Latane and Darleys Cognitive Model<br /><br />Bystander effects in the laboratory:<br />Several concerns regards lab studies.<br />Most studies are emergencies and require immediate responses. Most pro-social behaviour does not occur in emergencies. However, many psychologists have examined these situations in order to examine pro-social behaviour.<br /><br />In one series of experiments 52 students anonymously discussed the problems of college life conducted through intercom. Some participants were told that discussion would involve one other participant and the others were told that two or five would be involved<br />Early in each discussion one participant went on to state that they were epileptic and went on to have a seizure<br />85% of those who thought they were only people involved went to find help.<br />When someone else is present this fell to 65% and when 4 others 31%.<br />Also response times fell, refer to table below.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Bystander effects in the natural environment<br />Irving Piliavin et al (1969)<br />Conducted experiment on New York’s Subway system.<br />One student behaved as if they were disabled;<br />Found assistance on 90% of trials;<br />Students were made up with ugly birthmarks covering their face;<br />Assistance rates fell instantly to 61%;<br />Students wearing a jacket that smelled of alcohol and carrying a brown paper bag;<br />Assitance rates fell to 20%<br /><br />This supports “Wieners Theory” Bystanders see others as responsible for their own situation.<br /><br />Latane and Darley (1970) found that when a person dropped some books in a lift probability of receiving help decreased with the number of people present. <br />40% when one other passenger<br />15% when six others.<br /><br /><br />Characteristics of the person in need.<br /><br />Several studies state that men are more likely to help women in distress than women are men. Possibly the result of fears about personal safety.<br /><br />Conclusions: (Piliavin et al. 1981)<br />1. We are more likely to help people that are like us and that we<br /> perceive are in a situation that is not their own fault;<br />2. We are more likely to help those we perceive less able to help themselves;<br />3. We are more likely to help those to whom we are physically attracted;<br />4. We are less likely to help those to whom we are less attracted, particularly those physically disfigured (Unless disfigured ourselves);<br />5. We are less likely to help those responsible for their own plight.<br /><br />Characteristics of a potential helper:<br />Little clear cut evidence of helping personality.<br />However Bierhoff et al (1991) suggests the following:<br /><br /><br />Factors thought likely in influencing this are:<br />Situation clearly requires help;<br />Any danger being associated with giving help;<br />Intrinsic or extrinsic rewards resulting from it;<br />Potential helper is in a good mood (Isen - 1984) or has specialist knowledge (Clark and Word (1974)<br />Potential helper has consumed alcohol. (Steele and Southwick - 1985)<br />Characteristics of the situation<br />· Much research carried out into the characteristics of the situation that seem to affect helping behaviour.<br />· People in urban areas become familiar with emergency situations and therefore its argued in comparison to rural dwellers become more immune to others needs. Levine et al (1994)<br />· Diffusion of responsibility therefore partially may explain this.<br />· The Information Overload Hypothesis (Milgram 1970)<br />Info overflow and familiarity with emergency situations leads to urban residents restricting their attention to personally relevant events and so the needs of strangers go unnoticed.<br /><br />Explaining bystander effects:<br />Two extremes;<br />Bystander Apathy è Individual does not become involved at all<br />Bystander Intervention è witness becomes actively involved.<br /><br />Refer to Latane and Darley’s cognitive model for decision tree explanation. (Pg. 8)<br /><br />Evaluation of Latane and Darley Model<br />· Considerable experimental support for the cognitive process approach to explaining whether to help or not. But response speed is so high that this suggests its not a cognitive process at all.<br />· Bickman (1972) “The more ambiguous the situation the less likely help will be offered.”<br />· Nida (1981) the more ambiguous the situation the less you can help so you don’t help.<br />· Murayama et al. (1982) increasing personal responsibility increases helping response.<br /><br /><br />The Arousal: Cost Reward Model<br />Irving Piliavin et al (1981) conducted a series of experiments to investigate what he claimed were the cost / benefit analyses that people made before deciding whether to become involved. E.g. The Subway Samaritan Study.<br />Physiological arousal:<br />When we see someone in distress we become aroused. Greater the arousal the greater the desire to help. Gaertner and Dovidio (1977) found a strong positive between the speed at which participants respond to an emergency in a lab and their heart rate, the faster the heart rate the faster the response.<br />Labelling the arousal<br />Physiological arousal does not automatically produce emotions in itself, but does play a part in what specific emotion we feel.<br />Seeing someone in distress elicits both personal distress and empathic concern.<br />Cost Benefit analysis<br />· Costs include:<br />o Effort<br />o Time<br />o Loss of resources<br />o Risk of Harm<br />o Negative Emotional Response.<br />· Benefits of helping include:<br />o Social approval<br />o Self Esteem<br />o Positive emotional response.<br />· Cost of not helping:<br />o Disapproval<br />o Damage to self esteem<br />o Negative emotional response.<br /><br />Commentary / Evaluation of the arousal: Cost Reward Model.<br />Research Support:<br />Manstead et al. (1995)<br />o People are aroused by the distress of others; this is suggested to be a biologically inherited capacity.<br />Arousal increases likelihood of helping in an emergency, though less agreement exists regards whether people can reduce personal distress because of empathic concern.<br />Modification to arousal: Cost-benefit model<br />o In serious emergencies where lives may be lost and arousal is very high people may carry out assistance regardless of cost-benefit. i.e. they act impulsively.<br />An alternative explanation:<br />o Weiner (1986) proposed an attribution explanation, in which when we see a person in distress we seek the source of this distress. If this originates from uncontrollable causes we are likely to help. If it’s a result of their own actions we are less likely to help. Here according to this perspective determining the possible costs and rewards of helping is insufficient when deciding whether or not to help.<br /><br /><br />Cultural differences in pro-social behaviour<br />· Individualistic Vs Communal importance in cultures e.g. UK / USA Vs China. I.E. Rewards are shared equally regardless of anyone’s individual contribution or those who contribute the most deserve the most rewards. Equity rule vs. equality rule.<br /><br />Seeking and giving help<br />Role for liking and gender. Americans have been found to help more people that they like, however, this has no effect on Indian adults who simply feel communal responsibility for those in need regardless of any feelings for the victim.<br /><br />Differences within cultures<br />· Perhaps women are more likely to ask for help and more likely to receive it.<br />· Men on the other hand are encouraged to be self sufficient and more reluctant to seek help and less likely to offer it.<br />· Therefore those who are perceived as being more likely to seek help may elicit more pro-social behaviours from potential helpers.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />References of note:<br /><br />Wispe (1972) – defined pro-social behaviour.<br />Hamilton (1963, 1964) – Kin Selection theory.<br />Stuart (1991) – spatial proximity and phenotype matching to r recognise kin animals.<br />Holmes and Sherman (1982) – kin selection in explaining apparent altruism in<br />ground squirrels<br /><br />Trivers (1971) - Reciprocal altruism as a Loan that may be repaid<br />Wilkinson (1984) - Reciprocal altruism by vampire bats.<br /><br />Axelrod and Hamilton (1981) - Tit for tat strategy<br />Dawkins, R. (1976) - Tit for tat strategy<br />Manning and Dawkins (1998) - Vampire bats good example of reciprocal altruism.<br /><br />Caraco and Wolf (1975) - Lionesses share kills as explanation of apparent<br />Altruism.<br /><br />Grier and Burk (1992) - Honeyguide bird leads people in Africa to<br />bee hives. – e.g. of ‘mutualism’ in apparent altruism.<br />Holldobler (1971) – larvae of the Atemelles beetle mimics the begging<br />behaviour of ants in order to obtain food from passing workers.<br />Moksnes and RǾskaft (1995) - Cuckoo manipulating cries of host birds chicks.<br /><br />Packer (1977) - Baboon coalitions in delayed reciprocal altruism<br />Wilkinson (1984) - Vampire Bat Feeding in delayed reciprocal altruism<br /><br />Nancy Eisenburg (1989) – Children learn to be helpful by being given<br />opportunities like taking care of pets and teaching younger siblings etc. <br />Fultz et al (1986) - argues people show empathy to others to escape<br />social disapproval. – Commentary on empathy-altruism model<br /><br />Batson and Oleson (1991) - Contradict the assumption that human nature is<br />fundamentally self serving. – Commentary on empathy-altruism model<br />Kruger (2003) - Evolution and altruism<br />Cialdini et al. (1997) - Oneness and altruism<br />Isen and Levin (1972) - 10c in phone booth experiment with negative state<br />relief model. Empathy.<br />Batson (1991) - Negative state relief model, altruism or egoism.<br /><br />Latane and Darley - first social psychologists to take an academic interest in<br />bystander behaviour after the tragic murder of Kitty Genovese.<br /><br />Irving Piliavin et al (1969) - Support for wieners theory of self responsibility. <br />NY subway experiments.<br /><br />Latane and Darley (1970) - Bystander effects in the natural environment<br />(In Lift and books dropped) <br /><br />Piliavin et al. (1981) - Characteristics of the person in need.<br />Bierhoff et al (1991) - Characteristics of a helping personality.<br />Levine et al. (1994) - Argued that population density per sq mile predictor of<br /> helping personality.<br />Milgram (1970) - The Information Overload Hypothesis<br /><br />Bickman (1972) - “The more ambiguous the situation the less likely help will<br /> be offered.”<br />Nida (1981) - the more ambiguous the situation the less you can help so<br /> you don’t help.<br />Murayama et al. (1982) - increasing personal responsibility increases helping<br /> response.<br /><br />Irving Piliavin et al (1981) - The Arousal: Cost Reward Model<br /><br />Gaertner and Dovidio (1977) - Found a strong positive between the speed at which<br />participants respond to an emergency in a lab and their heart rate, the faster the heart rate the faster the response.<br />Weiner (1986) - Arousal: cost reward model. Attribution explanation, in<br /> which when we see a person in distress we seek the source<br /> of this distress<br /><br /><br />Manstead et al. (1995) - People are aroused by the<br /> distress of others; this is suggested to be a biologically<br /> inherited capacity.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Concepts to note:<br /><br />Altruism defined.<br />Egoism defined<br /><br />Kin selection Theory<br />Darwin’s Paradox<br />Brood Parasitism<br />Apparent Altruism<br />Reciprocal Altruism<br />Induced or manipulated altruism<br />Learning Theory<br /><br />Empathy defined<br />Batson’s Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis<br /><br />Culture<br />Diffusion of responsibility<br />The Information Overload Hypothesis - (Milgram 1970)<br /><br />Negative state relief model<br />Pro-social behaviour<br />Pluralistic ignorance<br /><br />Bystander Behaviour – Bystander Apathy and Bystander Intervention<br />Latane and Darley’s cognitive model for bystander effects<br />The Arousal: Cost Reward Model for bystander effects- Irving Piliavin et al (1981)<br /><br />Equity rule vs. equality rule - Cultural differences in pro-social behaviour.TAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-5815962148783849972007-06-18T12:26:00.000-07:002007-06-18T12:29:29.475-07:00book no 2..*** other book good for graphical use is Oxford revision guides, AS and A Level Psychology through diagrams<br />Grahame Hill<br />Amazon address is: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychology-through-diagrams-Oxford-Revision/dp/0199150702/ref=sr_1_1/202-2235329-6157415?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182194909&sr=1-1">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychology-through-diagrams-Oxford-Revision/dp/0199150702/ref=sr_1_1/202-2235329-6157415?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182194909&sr=1-1</a><br /><br />new and used from about £3TAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-89987002334543301712007-06-18T12:21:00.000-07:002007-06-18T12:26:24.548-07:00**** Just looked up the key graphics on the blog and theyre not comming up if you need them for any reason - chances are that obviously you will you can get them out of 'Cardwell, Clark, & Meldrum (3rd Edition) - harpercollinspublishers limited 2004.<br />Amazon.co.uk Website for order is - <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychology-level-Mike-Cardwell/dp/0007170432/ref=sr_1_3/202-2235329-6157415?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182194671&sr=8-3">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychology-level-Mike-Cardwell/dp/0007170432/ref=sr_1_3/202-2235329-6157415?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182194671&sr=8-3</a><br /><br /><br />new and used versions available from £0.19 when i checked..<br /><br />enjoy (again)TAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-69998071811778768222007-06-18T12:19:00.000-07:002007-06-18T12:20:17.379-07:00Media Influences on Pro-social and Anti-Social Behaviour.<br /><br />This considers the relationship between what we watch and how we behave.<br /><br />Media influences on behaviour.<br />For this you are required to understand the basic principles of Social Learning Theory.<br /><br />There are three terms to describe the processes that make up SLT, these being:<br />Observation;<br />Imitation;<br />Modelling<br /><br />Observation means to pay attention to someone. Not just to see but to attend to them, to learn from them when they do or say something. This is the first step in children’s learning to be helpful to others.<br /><br />Imitation means to copy what someone is doing. Not to necessarily do this perfectly If imitation benefits the child then the behaviour is likely to be replicated. Therefore parents praise their children attempts to be helpful will encourage the repetition of this behaviour.<br /><br />Modelling means to develop a mental presentation of the appropriate behaviour for the context in which the child is observing and imitating.<br /><br />Modelling is how social learning theorists regard the actual learning process. Children will be more likely to model beneficial behaviour. Therefore knowing when and how to be helpful at appropriate times enables a child to develop rewarding relationships and, on them, model pro-social behaviour.<br /><br />Media Influences on Pro-Social Behaviour<br />Children who watch TV behave more pro-socially than anti-socially but research into this area has been inconclusive. Correlation does not mean causation here.<br /><br />Summary of contributions that children’s television can make to children’s pro-social development:<br /><br />Can promote shared interest by doing things together in order to achieve a common end;<br />Can promote co-operation and caring by providing altruistic characters who are rewarded for their kindness.<br />Various well known charity appeals promote active involvement in helping others.<br />Can provide ideas for play and recreation as well as promoting health and fitness.<br /><br /><br /><br />Lovelace and Huston (1988) describe strategies used by researchers in children’s modelling of pro-social behaviour as looking for:<br />Pro-social only images;<br />Pro-social conflict resolution (Between scenes involving pro-social and anti-social alternative behaviour.)<br />Images of conflict without resolution but where personal solutions are suggested<br /><br />Explanations of media influences on pro-social behaviour<br />Exposure to pro-social messages:<br />An early content analysis of US broadcasting found that on average there were eleven altruistic acts and six sympathetic behaviours per hour of programming. (Liebert and Poulos – 1975)<br />Pro social acts frequently appear in the form of anti-social behaviour. One study shows 8-12 year olds favourite TV programmes being 42.2% acts of antisocial behaviour and; 44.2% pro social behaviour per hour (Greenberg et al 1980)<br /><br />Social Learning Theory – Bandura (1965)<br />Children learn by first observing behaviour then through imitation if reward for doing so exceeds punishment. Unlike antisocial behaviour pro-social acts are in line with established social norms. Therefore social reinforcement motivates repetition.<br /><br />Developmental trends in pro-social influence<br />Many skills associated with pro-social reasoning develop with age. Developmental trends in pro-social messages may therefore occur.<br />Pro-social behaviours have been shown to be contingent on pro social skills e.g. perspective taking, empathy and level of moral reasoning, that continue to develop from childhood into adolescence. (Eisenberg – 1990)<br />Young children are less able to recognise the emotional state of<br />others. (Hoffman – 1976) and especially when behaviour is more complex (Mares - 1996)<br /><br /><br />Commentary – explanations of media influences:<br />Exposure to pro-social messages;<br />e.g. sesame street – Hearold (1986) and Mares (1996)<br />Social Learning Theory:<br />Eisenberg (1983) – prolonged viewing could result in substantial and enduring increases in children’s pro-social behaviour. N.B. requires children to notice a particular act or message and remember it so that it may be recreated.<br />Developmental Trends:<br />Midlarsky and Hannah (1985) suggests that younger children are more egocentric motives in that they may imitate pro-social behaviours if they believe this will yield rewards or avoid punishment.<br /><br /><br />Research into media influences on pro-social behaviour<br />Lovelace and Huston (1983)<br />Three modelling strategies used by researchers for the transmission of pro-social messages:<br />1. Pro-social only;<br />2. pro-social conflict resolution;<br />3. Conflict without resolution.<br /><br />Pro-social only<br />Sprafkin et al. (1975) show pro social or courageous behaviour Children’s willingness to help can be increased by viewing a televised example of pro social behaviour.<br /><br />N.B. Limited generalization and Short lived effects. (Rushton and Owen 1975)<br /><br />Pro-social conflict resolution<br />Rarely do TV programmes display only pro social messages.<br />Paulson (1974) demonstrated Sesame Street as having pro social messages. Children here recognised co-operation on sight and demonstrated higher assessment scores on this area. But no evidence of pro-social behaviour occurred during play.<br /><br />N.B. Conflicting messages mean that anti-social behaviours are modelled alongside pro-social behaviours in such programmes and therefore may increase aggression etc. (Friedrich-Cofer et al 1979)<br /><br />Justifying aggression – Lovelace and Huston (1983) / Liss and Reinhardt (1979) observed that negative effects might occur if the pro-social behaviours were not shown in contracts to anti-social behaviour.<br /><br /><br />Conflict without resolution<br />Here unresolved conflicts are presented to children by the media Children are therefore encouraged to discuss how they would resolve the problem faced by the central character.<br /><br />Research support – Rockman (1980) ‘…children do understand and learn the programme content and are able to generate pro-social rather than anti-social solutions to the problems faced in the plot.’<br /><br />Meta Analyses of media on pro-social behaviour.<br />Meta analyses allow researchers to compare results across many different studies to establish an average ‘effect size’<br />Mares (1996) – conducted a meta analysis including four different categories of pro social behaviour over 39 studies. Main findings included:<br />Positive Interaction:<br />Included friendly/ non aggressive interactions, expressions of affection and conflict resolution.<br />Size effect moderate.<br />Altruism:<br />Sharing, donating, offering help and comforting.<br />Size effect moderate to large.<br />Where not explicitly modelled, but required generalization from one thing to another altruism lead to a much smaller size effect.<br />Self-control<br />Included the resistance to temptation, obedience to rules, ability to work independently and persistence at a task.<br />Moderate size effect when comparisons made with neutral content however, large effect when comparisons were made with anti-social content.<br />Anti-stereotyping:<br />Includes effects of counter stereotyping portrayals of of gender and ethnicity on attitudes and beliefs. Effect size was moderate, but much larger when exposure to counter stereotypical themes in context of a school classroom was accompanied by extra classroom activities designed to expand on the issues viewed.<br /><br />N.B. Hearold (1986) is explained by Comstock (1989) in that pro social messages are generally designed to have an influence on viewers, unlike anti-social ones. At age 6 pro-social messages appear to have a stronger effect on girls than boys.<br /><br />N.B. Mares (1996) results were not broken down by sex, but positive results found for girls, and greater effects on primary school than adolescents. Some contention whether generalization of anti-social behaviours is possible more readily than pro-social ones.<br /><br /><br /><br />Media Influences on Anti-social behaviour.<br /><br />Can be argued that TV has a role as a contributory factor in aggressive behaviour (Donnerstein 1982)<br /><br />Sensitivity seems to decline as they se more of the same group suffering.<br /><br />In America, children watch three to four hours TV a day from 3-4 years to puberty.<br /><br />Studies into the effects of exposure to television violence.<br /><br />Correlation Studies:<br />These are studies that look for a statistical relationship between two factors or variables.<br />Weight of evidence from correlation studies is fairly consistent.<br />Atkin et al (1979) - 45% violent responses to hypothetical push off a bike aged 9 – 13 years from those who watched violence on TV compared to 21% who did not.<br />Criticism here is that though correlation seems likely causation cannot be proven.<br />Also poses a chicken and egg dilemma – which comes first violence or TV preference?<br /><br />Controversy exists as to origin of aggression as Social Learning or Genetic / Biological basis.<br /><br />Eron et al (1972)<br />Sampled 800 male and female eight and nine year olds;<br />Established a baseline for each child so they not only observed each child but asked how aggressive the child was to others;<br />Discovered which TV programmes they watched;<br />Positive correlation found between amounts of violence watched each day and violent everyday behaviour.<br />Followed up half original sample 10 years later (Remainder unavailable);<br />Positive correlation still remained;<br />Correlations held for boys but not for girls.<br /><br /><br />Experimental Studies – E.g. Bandura (1963)<br /><br /><br />Bandura (Above) was criticised for the aggressive behaviour not being meaningful within the social context and stimulus not being TV programmes.<br /><br /><br />Liebert and Baron (1972):<br />Investigated young children’s willingness to hurt another child after viewing videotaped sections of aggressive and neutral real TV programmes.<br />Two age groups 5 to 6 and 8 to 9.<br />The untouchables Vs an athletics race<br />Children who viewed an aggressive TV programme demonstrated a greater willingness to hurt another child.<br /><br />Field Experiments:<br />These are conducted in the participants own natural environments e.g. ‘Subway Samaritan’ research.<br /><br />Parke et al. (1977)<br /><br /><br />Natural Experiments<br />Take advantage of fact TV introduced at different locations at different times.<br />Milavsky et al. (1982) High correlation between TV viewing and exposure to TV violence.<br /><br />Williams (1986) assessed impact of televised violence before and after introduction to a Canadian community on children.<br /><br />Longitudinal Studies:<br />These give a clearer picture of the effects of media on aggression over time.<br />Belson (1978) attempted to pin down which types of programme had the most impact.<br />Interviewed 1565 youths 13 to 17 years in London;<br />1959-71 boys interviewed about violence on TV exposure.<br />Possible to therefore assess individual impact for each boy of exposure and type of exposure categorised.<br />He found that those with high violence were more involved in serious violently behaviour.<br />He found that serious interpersonal violence was increased by long term exposure to the following:<br />1. Plays or films in which personal relationships are a major theme and which feature verbal or physical violence;<br />2. Programmes in which violence seems to be thrown in for its own sake or is not necessary for the plot;<br />3. Programmes featuring fictional violence of a realistic nature;<br />4. Programmes in which the violence is presented as being in a good cause;<br />5. violent westerns.<br /><br />N.B. It’s notable that no significant relationships between early viewing exposure and later aggression were obtained for girls.<br /><br />Conclusions:<br />On balance there appears a link between violence on TV and aggressive behaviour.<br />BUT, is it really a major / significant influence?<br />Also Studies citing evidence have flaws, so findings should be viewed with caution.<br /><br />Newson (1994) gives considerable evidence that watching video nasties influenced the killers of James Bulger. Victims of TV violence are thought of as almost sub human, and so no need to be pitied<br /><br />Brown and Pennell (1998) found violent offenders were more likely to prefer to watch violence and remember violent films long after other people. Therefore, it suggests that there are both viewing preferences and aggression elements and therefore its important to see the whole question of anti social behaviour in society in terms of much wider social issues.<br />Some possible explanations of media effects on anti-social behaviour.<br /><br />Cognitive Priming:<br /><br />Berkowitz (1984) suggests that viewing violent images triggers memories of other violent incidents and ‘sets us up’ to react aggressively. Referring here to cognitive systems.<br />Huesmann (1982) says that seeing lots of violent solutions to problems in the media can become part of the child’s script for problem solving. Referring here to linked ideas becoming a script by a learning process.<br /><br />It’s not a question of which of the above are correct as they probably both are to some degree.<br /><br />Observational Learning, Desensitisation and Justification.<br />Socialisation is the lifelong process by which we learn about the norms and values of our culture. If violence is used as a behavioural example in early years then its likely to be repeated as a seemingly apt behavioural response.<br /><br /><br />How Valid is the effects model of media violence?<br /><br />Hagell and Newburn (1994) found that young offenders watched less television and video than non offenders.<br /><br />Gauntlett (1998) maintained that people do not simply respond by copying everything they see. They can differentiate comedy / slapstick violence with that which is gratuitous.<br /><br />Buckingham (1996) noticed that children of seven years can make sensible interpretations of media images<br /><br />Problems with interpretation of studies of the effects of the media on people have led to contradictions.<br /><br />No considerable explanation of why the media would seek to have people imitate it is known or has ever been offered.<br />Many research studies lack the context that would make things understandable.<br /><br /><br />References of note:<br /><br />Lovelace and Huston (1988) - strategies for pro-social behaviour in children.<br /><br />Greenberg et al (1980) - Pro social acts appear as antisocial behaviour,<br />from TV 8-12 year olds.<br /><br />Bandura (1965) - Social Learning Theory<br /><br />Eisenberg (1990) - Developmental trends in pro-social influence.<br /><br />Hoffman (1976) - Young children are less able to recognise the<br />emotional state of others.<br />Mares (1996) - As Hoffman – 1976, especially when behaviour is<br />more complex<br /><br />Hearold (1986) and Mares (1996) - Exposure to pro-social messages as explanations of<br />media influences.<br />Eisenberg (1983) - Social Learning theory as explanations of media<br />influences.<br />Midlarsky and Hannah (1985) - Developmental trends as explanations of media<br />influences.<br /><br />Sprafkin et al. (1975) - show media influences on pro-social behaviour –<br />pro social or courageous behaviour only. Children’s willingness to help can be increased by viewing a televised example of pro social behaviour.<br />Paulson (1974) - show media influences on pro-social behaviour. <br />Pro Social Conflict resolution only.<br /><br />Mares (1996) – Conducted a meta analysis including four different<br />categories of pro social behaviour over 39 studies<br /><br />Paulson (1974) - Pro-social conflict resolution.<br />Friedrich-Cofer et al (1979) - Pro-social conflict resolution.<br /><br />Lovelace and Huston (1983) /<br />Liss and Reinhardt (1979) - Justifying aggression. Observed that negative<br />effects might occur if the pro-social behaviours<br />were not shown in contracts to anti-social<br />behaviour.<br />Rockman (1980) - Research support conflict without resolution. <br />Research into media influences<br />Donnerstein (1982) - Can be argued that TV has a role as a contributory<br />factor in aggressive behaviour<br /><br />Atkin et al (1979) - Correlational study in which 45% violent responses<br />to hypothetical push off a bike aged 9 – 13 years from those who watched violence on TV compared to 21% who did not.<br />Eron et al (1972) - Cross Correlational study of TV violence and<br />violent behaviour in 8-9 year olds and follow up 10 years later.<br />Bandura (1963) - Key research: Do children learn aggression?<br />The Bobo doll experiment.<br />Liebert and Baron (1972) - Investigated young children’s willingness to hurt<br />another child after viewing videotaped sections of aggressive and neutral real TV programmes.<br /><br />Parke et al (1977) - Study of aggression in American and Belgian<br />teenage boys following watching a film.<br /><br />Milavsky et al. (1982) - High correlation between TV viewing and exposure<br />to TV violence.<br /><br />Williams (1986) - Assessed impact of televised violence before and<br />after introduction to a Canadian community on children.<br /><br />Belson (1978) - Longitudinal study of the effects of TV media<br />on aggression attempting to pin down which types of programme had the most impact.<br /><br />Newson (1994) - Gives considerable evidence that watching video<br />nasties influenced the killers of James Bulger. Victims of TV violence are thought of as almost sub human, and so no need to be pitied<br /><br />Brown and Pennell (1998) - Found violent offenders were more likely to prefer<br />to watch violence and remember violent films long after other people. <br /><br />Berkowitz (1984) - Suggests that viewing violent images triggers<br />memories of other violent incidents and ‘sets us up’ to react aggressively. Referring here to cognitive systems.<br />Huesmann (1982) - Says that seeing lots of violent solutions to<br />problems in the media can become part of the child’s script for problem solving. Referring here to linked ideas becoming a script by a learning process.<br /><br />Hagell and Newburn (1994) - Found that young offenders watched less television<br />and video than non offenders.<br /><br />Gauntlett (1998) - Maintained that people do not simply respond by<br />copying everything they see. They can differentiate comedy / slapstick violence with that which is gratuitous.<br /><br />Buckingham (1996) - Noticed that children of seven years can make<br />sensible interpretations of media images<br /><br /><br />Huesmann and Moise (1996) - Does Media violence promote aggression – key<br />points in any debate summary.<br />Freedman (1996) - Does Media violence promote aggression – key<br />points in any debate summary.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Concepts to note:<br /><br /><br />Social Learning Theory: Bandura (1965)<br />Observation;<br />Imitation;<br />Modelling<br /><br />Explanations of media influences:<br />Exposure to pro-social messages;<br />Social learning theory;<br />Developmental trends in pro-social influence.<br /><br />Lovelace and Huston (1983)<br />Three modelling strategies used by researchers for the transmission of pro-social messages:<br />1. Pro-social only;<br />2. pro-social conflict resolution;<br />3. Conflict without resolution.TAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2528223742938944611.post-16781689150700626022007-06-18T12:09:00.000-07:002007-06-18T12:12:56.574-07:00hello there, im currently sitting an A Level Psychoplogy course, AQA syllabus, with the Natyional Extension College.<br /><br />Having experienced numerous computer glitches and also being an al round helpfull chap i thought it might be usefull to post them online with the idea that should anyone have any other stuff usefull to do the same. A pretty cursory glance around the UK net seeems that there aint much out there regards peoples notes so here be mine..<br /><br />Hope anyone who gets them appreciates them.<br /><br />Ill post the course syllabus as well so that all can be read at leaisure.<br /><br />enjoy..TAZMANIAN_DEVILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08205966769318163685noreply@blogger.com2