Section 1
Q1
One of the important changes in the
understanding of abnormal behavior is the appreciation of the fact that both
biological and anatomical factors have a role in mental disorders. It had
previously been taken that biological and anatomical factors had a very little
bearing on mental disorders. The growing use and popularity of drugs in the
treatment of mental disorders has been the main reason for the change in
perspective. The discovery of organic factors underlying general paresis (syphilis
of the brain) best illustrates this point. The development of a treatment for
paresis begun by initially identifying the condition as a distinct mental
disorder. Subsequent studies revealed that both general paresis and syphilis
were caused by a common bacterium. It was subsequently possible to treat
paresis patients using the blood of those suffering from malarial fever as the
syphilis causing bacterium could not survive the fever. It has also become
apparent from the use of drugs in the treatment of mental disorders that there
is no one size fits all cure for abnormal behavior.
Both changes, that both biological and
anatomical factors and that there is no single way of treating mental disorders,
are actually good. The new understanding is an incentive to continue research
geared towards finding better drugs for abnormal behavior.
Q3
Flooding proceeds from the assumption that people
acquire anxiety responses by way of classical conditioning. This is a form of
learning in which a neutral stimulus is paired repeatedly with an unconditioned
stimulus that naturally elicits an unconditioned behavior. Repeated pairings
changes the neutral stimulus to a conditioned stimulus eliciting a conditioned
response. Flooding, therefore, involves intense exposure of the patient to the
phobic stimulus for a long time with not graduated response and opportunity to
escape respectively. The rationale is that a patient can only sustain anxiety
response for a finite amount of time after which the response subsides and the
patient learns of a new association between the phobic stimulus and the relaxed
state.
Two advantages to the use of flooding is the
ability of generating quick results as well as its effectiveness in treating
simple phobias. On the other hand, flooding may sometimes increase as opposed
to reduce the fear. This problem is compounded by the greater incidence of
recovery by the patient.
Flooding is similar to systematic
desensitization to the extent that both treatment methods operate on the
assumption that classical conditioning is the cause of phobic responses. Unlike
flooding, however, the exposure to the feared stimulus in systematic
desensitization is gradual.
Q4
Several
factors explain why some victims may experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
while others will not. First, people exhibit different coping styles to trauma.
There are those who will try to cope through denial. These people are less
likely to adjust well to the situation. Suppressing the feelings makes it
impossible for the mind to process thereby creating a vicious cycle. Secondly,
some people are more capable of processing feelings than others. Individuals
with held-in emotions in the past are less likely to process the trauma in any
adequate way. Women are generally better
at processing trauma than their male counterparts. This is attributed to the
ease with which women are ready to share their experiences with others. A
difference in temperaments is also an explanation for this situation. Those who are able to adapt to change find it
easy to deal with major stress thereby avoiding PTSD.
Remembering
is an important component of trauma treatment. It is indeed the first step
towards any real treatment of a trauma victim. Recalling and talking about
upsetting events is a way towards the achievement of important therapeutic
goals such as understanding the relationship of past experiences to psychological
status at the present.
Section
2
Q1
My
view of psychology is that it is a Humanistic or Humanities discipline as well
as a science. It is only in the context of understanding the meaning of both
features that one can support this view. The procedure involves elucidating the
important features of each discipline.
A
key feature of the humanistic approach to issues is the rejection of
objectivity and instead views each individual as very different from each other.
Humanists ask subjective questions as opposed to objective questions that
scientists would prefer. They tend to understand human behavior from the
perspective of their subjects. Branches of psychology that follow this approach
can actually be classified as humanistic. An example is Abraham Maslow who came
up with the concept of the hierarchy of needs.
On
its part, science proceeds by instituting a set of systematic safeguards
against confirmation bias. This is the tendency to seek out evidence that
supports preconceived outcomes. This does not in any way mean that scientists
are totally immune from such biases. Rather, the scientific method is different
in that every effort is made to eliminate these biases. The idea of control
groups is a clear example of how science does this. Many studies in psychology
also use these scientific methodologies, thereby, rendering it a scientific
discipline.
Q2
As
a largely scientific discipline, psychological research is also empiricist in
nature just like many other sciences. To psychological researchers, statistics
comes in as a procedure through which they analyze and understand the results
of other research studies in their field. For instance, children who have lived
with abusive parents have been found to be more prone to violence that their
counterparts who have no experiencing of abusing upbringing. Investigators
conducting such studies must have used statistical techniques to determine
whether the two groups of children have any difference in measures of violence
as a variable.
Secondly,
statistics is important for psychological research due to its value in
describing the behavior of various groups of people. Thus, an interest of
research could be unemployment among various ethnic groups in a society. Psychological
researchers must use rely on statistics to make their descriptions of these
groups.
Lastly,
modern psychological research relies on important theories. Researchers in
psychology rely on statistics for the explanation of research studies. In this
way, statistics may also help by refuting the validity of existing theories. A
theory must stand the test of empirical evidence to continue in existence.
Emergence of new evidence contrary to a theory leads to the development of an
alternative theory.
Q6
No,
my mind is not equal to my brain. For the mind to be equal to the brain, both
must share certain features. These are representation, rationality,
consciousness and a general belief in the existence of what it is like to have
a mental state. The mind apparently possesses all these features while the
brain does not. My mind can represent while brain states are static. The mind
can imagine things that are not in existent. This ability not available for the
brain. For instance, my mind can imagine life in Pluto.
Rationality
refers to the ability to think. This is the ability to link thoughts through
rational relations. For instance, a student who finds himself far a way from
home and lacking a place to lodge with only $ 100 must make a decision on
whether to use that money to travel home or sleep in a crime prone motel
costing the same amount. It is a decision that must proceed from a set of
rational consequences.
Lastly,
my mind is conscious in a manner that my brain can not. The mind can be
conscious of sorrow, loss or even pleasure. The brain, just like other complex
devices such as the computer, is incapable of any awareness of its different
states.
Section
3
Q1
Suicide
should never be an option for clinically depressed persons. An option must only
be taken if doing so is out of a rational process. Even proponents of
right-to-die admit that rationality must be the guiding factor in their
campaigns to for assisted suicide. The controversy surrounding assisted suicide
has often centered on whether the terminally ill are depressed and, therefore,
not rational in their requests for suicide or that they are rational people
whose decisions should be respected. The state of research seems not to have
clarified this position.
The
opposition against suicide as an option for the clinically depressed can also
find a grounding in ethics. Both Kantian and utilitarian ethics would frown
against a situation where the clinically depressed are just allowed taking
their lives. These are sick people who should be accorded treatment and not
given a choice to take the easy way out.
One
determines whether a suicidal person is depressed by looking for the signs of depression
(Leenaars, 2004, p.25). For instance, a person known to be suicidal may exhibit
changes in mood towards feeling dejected. They may also exhibit aggressive
behaviors and promiscuous lifestyles. Anybody examining these signs must ensure
that they are exhibited by the subject in addition to being suicidal.
Q2
An
important explanation as to why the diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder
takes a relatively long time is the complexity of the condition itself. Bipolar
expresses itself in irregular patterns over the course of the patient’s
lifetime. This makes it difficult for
those affected including the care givers to diagnose the disease in time for
the commencement of treatment. Besides, it takes at least 10 years between the
first sign and eventual symptoms of the condition to begin.
The
diagnosis of bipolar is also made difficult by the fact that people with this
condition tend to experience more episodes of depression as opposed to mania or
hypomania. One should experience at least an episode of unusual mood elevation.
Diagnosis is also made difficult when the first episode is depression given
that this may be accompanied by symptoms of other disorders. Furthermore, the
classification of the condition as a mood disorder makes diagnosis difficult considering
that those living with the condition also experience other non-mood
symptoms.
As
regards treatment, that there is still little knowledge on the condition has
hampered success in offering long lasting solutions. This is compounded by the fact that people
with bipolar also experience other disorders and the drugs used for these other
conditions accelerates bipolar.
Q3
When
it comes to prevalence and changes in rates, the difficulty stems from a
general problem with suicide statistics. One of these problems is the
underreporting of suicide. Professionals in this area concur that official
statistics on suicide are understated in almost all countries. There are those
situations where deaths from suicide are misclassified as accidental. A typical
example would be a road traffic accident. In addition, the methods through
which different categories of people choose to commit suicide may lead to
underreporting. Research indicates that males are more likely to choose more
obvious methods making it easy to classify their deaths as the result of
suicide.
Secondly,
there are problems relating to the reliability of suicide statistics. Different
coroners are inconsistent in the processes through which they determine the
cause of death. Some coroners may be sensitive to the families or cultures and,
therefore, omit intention in the death register. The fact that there is no
single definition of suicide also exacerbates the problem of data reliability. Comparison
becomes difficult when data from different places refer to a different
understanding of suicide. These issues with statistics eventually inhibit the
ability to develop successful treatment strategies. Misleading statistics can
only lead to the wrong understanding of a problem.
Q4
The
controversy surrounding warning labels on anti-depressants indicating
suicidality as a side effect can only be understood in the general context in
which all anti-depressants are controversial. The controversy stems from
numerous directions.
For
one, there is a feeling of mistrust on the date that is currently used to study
the side effects of these drugs. Much of this data come from the pharmaceutical
companies. They are the ones who finance the studies on the effectiveness of
these drugs. A general public feeling is that pharmaceutical companies
understate the negative aspects of these drugs to enhance their sales. The ways in which mass media report the
problem also fuel the controversy. Mass media takes to take a confrontational
approach which dealing with the issue (Whitake, 2010, p. 56). An example is the
February 19, 2012 interview of Irving Kirsch by Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes. In
that interview, Kirsch noted that there are many instances in which anti-depressants
are no better than placebo.
Secondly,
there is a feeling that many of the doctors that are giving prescriptions may
not be qualified for such a responsibility. General practitioners are under
pressure from insurance companies not to refer their clients to specialists.
This breeds the fear that doctors may be making prescription mistakes.
Section
4
QA1
Under
operant conditioning, a given behavior both operates on and influences the environment
(Coon & Mitterer, 2010, pp.227-230). The likelihood of the behavior to be
repeated is determined by the consequences that follow its completion. Positive
consequences lead to a strengthening of the behavior while the weakening of the
behavior comes from negative consequences that follow the behavior. Unlike
respondent behavior, operant behavior need not be a response to some preceding
stimuli. A majority of these behaviors have their origin as emitted responses. For
example, a doctor that performs a unique movement when hungry and receives food
from the owner in response. This response by the dog’s owner strengthens the
behavior and the dog is more likely to perform that unique movement when
hungry.
Implicit
in operant conditioning is the ability to manipulate the environment. Losing a
loved one can be one of the most devastating experiences (Dillenburger &
Keenan, 2005, pp.98-99). Those in bereavement exhibit different behavioral
tendencies. For example, some people will adopt crying. Crying even if
exhibited by many people may not have the same meaning. Some people may cry as
a means of gaining social attention. This is definitely a positive
reinforcement. In addition, the bereaved may choose to participate in
activities that remind them of their departed as a way of feeling better.
QA2
A
familiar superstitious practice is the prediction of football matches. During
the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa, the psychic “Paul the Octopus” became
a very common feature in mass media coverage of those events. The creature was
credited with accurate predictions of matches involving the German national
team. The belief in Paul goes back to the matches in Euro 2008 where Paul
achieved a success rate of 80% in predicting all matches in which the German
national team was involved. Prior to the final in the 2010 Fifa World Cup, Paul
was also able to accurately predict all the six matches between Germany and
other teams. Germany had been the winner in all those occasions. It, therefore,
came as a shock to most German fans when Paul predicted that Spain would emerge
victorious against Germany. Spain indeed beat Germany in that match.
Operant
conditioning adequately explains these predictions as superstition. Paul would
be given food in two different colors representing the flags of Germany and the
opposing team respectively. Depending on which color it picked, that national
team would emerge as the winner. The behavior in this case is watching Paul
pick a certain color. The response was the outcome of the various matches. These
acted to reinforce, both positively and negatively, the view the belief in the
ability of Paul to predict matches.
QA3
Learned
helplessness and Response Contingent Positive Reinforcement are similar to the
extent that both are behavioral explanations to depression. Behavioral
explanations attribute depression to maladaptive learning (Blaney & Millon,
2009, pp.245). They mainly employ the principles of classical/operant
conditioning to explain depression.
Differences
in the two approaches stem from the specific principle (classical/operant
conditioning) that each employ. Whereas Learned Helplessness employs operant conditioning
to explain depression, Response Contingent Positive Reinforcement theory
largely utilizes classical conditioning for its explanations. In the case of
Learned Helplessness, individuals placed in punishing conditions without an
opportunity to escape will learn to be helpless even when subsequently given
the opportunity to escape. On its part, Response Contingent Positive
Reinforcement a failure to receive positive reinforcement pegged on the
performance of a behavioral response then the responses become extinguished.
Behavioral
explanations have registered notable success in the study of depression. For instance, there is some research evidence
in their support. Amidst this level of successes, behavioral approaches are
also the subject of many criticisms. For instance, the explanations are overly
simplistic. There are also some situations where these explanations totally
fail to offer a solution. Secondly, much of the research in this area was done
on animals raising the question as to whether the results can be extrapolated
to human beings.
QA4
Yes,
there are objections to the manner in which these learning theories can be
manipulated to the advantage of some privileged segments of the society at the
expense of vulnerable people. Advertising is one area in which this is very
prevalent. With increasing sophistication in advertising theory, there is move
towards using concepts from other disciplines such as psychology in generating
new strategies. This has enabled companies to influence people into buying
things that they do not actually need through advertising. An early experiment
by Professor Watson revealed that customers did not like salesmen. From this
knowledge, Watson was able to develop an advertising strategy that emphasized
on selling the personality rather than the product that was being sold. In
essence, customers would end up buying products they may not have been in need
of.
Politicians
are also prone to manipulating learning theories for their selfish gains. The
Milligram experiment demonstrated how people who are ordinarily good can learn
to be indifferent to the suffering of others. This is especially true when
people are made to understand that they are not responsible for their actions.
Ample evidence indicate that many of the people who executed orders in NAZI
Germany thought that other people higher
in the hierarchy were responsible for their actions.
QB1
Proper
attribution theory requires that an observer should not attribute the behavior
of the subject to disposition when there are circumstances in the situation
strong enough to explain the behavior. Many people in real life fail to follow
this rule of attribution and the situation has come to be known as the
fundamental attribution error. It happens when an observer ignore the role of
the situation under which the situation took place in proffering an
explanation. Instead, observers under the influence of fundamental attribution
error would conclude that the other person was predisposed to behave in the
observed manner.
The
Milgram experiment demonstrated how people who believe they are acting under
some authority are willing to defy their beliefs to do very bad things so long
they are obeying the authority. These results were very contrary to what many
people had expected. People asked on their thoughts regarding the likelihood of
the subjects to complete the experiment responded that only 3 percent were
likely to complete. This discrepancy between expectation and the actual outcome
of the experiment can only be explained by the fact that the non subject
respondents had ignored the particular situation of the subjects. They were
making their observations on what they thought to be the normal disposition of
all men. The same reasoning would explain the surprise registered on the faces
of people on learning that normal soldiers torture prisoners. People fail to
realize the particular condition, a highly hierarchical structure, in which
soldiers find themselves. I believe in the significance of fundamental
attribution error as it helps in rationalizing our observations. It is
unfortunate that most people often misapply the theory.
QB2
One
of my experiences with cognitive dissonance was during the 2008 Presidential
elections in the U.S. Although I am not yet eligible to vote, I had been
rooting for Hillary Clinton to clinch the Democratic ticket in the primaries. She
was the only woman contesting in those primaries. There were several other
candidates but Clinton seemed to be making progress at every turn of the
process. I was happy on every occasion that she won a state. But my hopes to
see a Hillary presidency were dashed when President Obama emerged the winner of
the primaries.
Here
was the reality that Obama, and not Clinton, would carry the Democratic ticket.
It created a conflict in me between my desire to see a Woman President and the
fact that the party had given the ticket to a man. Like in most cases of
cognitive dissonance, I had to find a way of adjusting my feelings to fit with
reality. The justification came in the consolation that The Democrats as a
party has always promoted certain core values that were dear to me. I concluded
that it did not matter whoever became the Democratic Presidential candidate so
long as they will champion those core values.
Another
incidence of cognitive dissonance came when I had to stop all my relations with
a friend I had always respected for a long time. It felt bad but I rationalized
that I would find another person to replace her place in due course. It was a
case of seeking cognitive balance.
QB3
Although
eyewitness is very popular with the courts, several factors may render such
evidence unreliable. For example, studies have shown that leading questions can
influence the way a person recollects an event. It is the basis upon which
evidence law prohibits leading questions in testimony. Jurors have also been
known to place a greater weight on witness confidence even if what the witness
testifies may not actually be true. This has serious implications for justice.
In addition, eye witnesses are also prone to emotions that have implications on
the way they recollect the event. Too much emotion can affect reduce the
accuracy of a witness.
Another
argument against eye witness testimony relates to source confusion. Research
indicates that witnesses who have had an opportunity to view photos of those in
an identification parade are more likely to pick any of the people in the
parade so long as they were in the photos. This becomes a serious issue for criminal
justice. Also worrying are new evidence of convictions being overturned on the
ground that they had been secured on the basis of false eye witness testimony.
QB4
Working
for money is best understood as a conditioning as opposed to a process of
cognitive mediation. This can only become apparent when one begins to know the
distinction between the two. Cognitive mediation operates on three major
premises. First, it operates on the understanding that behavior is affected by
cognitive activity. Secondly, it stipulates that one can monitor those
activities with a view to alteration. Lastly, cognitive mediation is predicated
on the fact that behavior change can be altered by altering cognition. Except
in a few cases, those who work for money rarely make work a form of behavior.
Cognitive mediation, therefore, the least suitable category for an activity
such as working for money.
On
its part, conditionings utilize rewards and punishment to shape behavior or the
doing of an activity. Classical and operant conditioning are different from
each other in the manner in which the person whose behavior is in question can
control the environment. In classical condition, the punishment or reward often
precedes the desired behavior. The
opposite is the case with respect to operant condition. The behavior comes
before the reward or punishment. From the exploits of the foregoing, it is
relatively more appropriate to classify working for money as a form of operant
conditioning.
References
Blaney,P.H.,&
Millon, T.(2009).Oxford Textbook of
Psychopathology, Second Edition. New York:
Oxford University Press.
Coon, D.,
& Mitterer, J.O. (2010).Introduction
to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior, Twelth
Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Dillenburger,K.,&Keenan,M.(2005).Bereavement:
A D.I.S.C Analysis. Behavior and Social Issues, 14, 92-112.
Leenaars,
A.A. (2004).Psychotherapy with Suicidal
People: A Person Centered Approach. Hoboken,
New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Whitaker,
R. (2010). Anatomy of an epidemic. New York: Crown Publishers.
0 comments:
Post a Comment