The Biological Paradigm
- The biological paradigm (medical model) suggests that alterations of biological processes result in abnormal behavior
- Biological processes may include:
- Heredity
- Imbalances of brain chemistry
- Disordered development of brain structures
Behavior Genetics
- Behavior genetics is the study of how individual differences in genetic makeup contribute to differences in behavior
- Genotype
is the total genetic makeup, composed of genes
- Phenotype
is the observable behavioral profile
The phenotype can change over time as a function of the interaction of genes and environment
Methods of Behavioral Genetics
- Behavioral genetics seeks to identify the extent to which an abnormal behavior is inherited
- Family method identifies persons who have a disorder (index cases/probands) and then examines whether various relatives of the index cases have a greater likelihood of developing the mental disorder
Parent/child & Brothers/sisters & nonidentical dizygotic twins share 50% of genes,
Grandparent/grandchild & uncle/aunt-nephew/niece & half siblings share 25% of genes
First cousins & great grandparent-great grandchild & great uncle/aunt share 12.5% of genes,
general population shares few genes
Twin method compares the incidence of a disorder between twins
Monozygotic (MZ) twins share 100% of genes
Dizygotic (DZ) twins share on average 50% of genes
Twin method identifies the disorder of interest in one of the twins and then determines the likelihood (concordance) of whether the other twin will also have the same disorder
Adoptees method determines whether a child born to a person with a disorder (but adopted out at birth and raised away from the biological parent) will develop the same disorder
Linkage analysis specifies particular gene(s) among related people with same disorder
Nerve Signaling
- Neurons signal information by releasing packets of chemical transmitters from the axon terminal
- Chemical molecules bind to receptors on the membrane of adjacent nerve cells
- Binding in turn changes the electrical activity of the adjacent cell and can trigger an action potential
- A reuptake process in the axon membrane takes up excess chemical for reuse
Brain Neurochemistry and Abnormal Behavior
- Abnormal behavior could result from:
- Too much or too little of a specific
neurotransmitter owing to changes in synthesis of the transmitter
- Too much of a specific neurotransmitter owing to changes in reuptake of the transmitter
- Too many or too few receptors on the postsynaptic neuron membrane
Biological Approaches to Treatment
- The biological approach argues that abnormal behavior reflects disorders biological mechanisms (usually in the brain)
- The approach to treatment is usually to alter the physiology of the brain
Drugs alter synaptic levels of neurotransmitters
Surgery to remove brain tissue
Induction of seizures to alter brain function (e.g., electroconvulsive shock therapy; ECT)
The Psychoanalytic Paradigm
- The core assumption of the psychoanalytic paradigm is that abnormal behavior reflects unconscious conflicts within the person
(all behavior reflects unconscious conflicts and thus is abnormal; conflicts inevitable if humans live in modern civilization)
- The psychoanalytic paradigm is derived from the theories of personality developed by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Freuds Model of the Mind
- Freud suggested that the mind is composed of three parts:
- Id is the raw energy that powers the mind
Id seeks gratification of basic urges for food, water, warmth, affection, and sex; Pleasure principle
Id processes are unconscious
Biological energy becomes psychic energy = libido
Primary process if gratification is via fantasy
Ego is a conscious part of the mind that deals with reality; Reality principle; Secondary process
Superego is the final part of the mind to emerge and is similar to the conscience
* Psychodynamics = interactions of id, ego, & superego in effort to gratify needs
Psychosexual Development
- Freud argued that personality develops in stages: in each stage the id derives pleasure from a distinct part of the body
Oral (Birth to 18 months): infant derives pleasure from eating and biting
Anal (18 months to 3 years): the focus of pleasure is the anus
Phallic (3 to 6 years): the genitals are the focus of pleasure;
(Oedipus and Electra complexes)
- Latent
(6 to 12 years): id impulses are dormant
- Genital
: heterosexual interests are dominant
* Fixation of libido occurs when conflicts between id desires and environment insofar as id is either undergratified or overgratified
* Fixation results in permanent personality characteristics and NEUROTIC ANXIETY (vs. objective or realistic anxiety)
Defense Mechanisms
- Anxiety results from blockade of id impulses or from fear of expression of an impulse
- Defense mechanisms reduce anxiety
- Repression
: impulses are made unconscious
- Denial
: troubling experiences are made unconscious
- Projection
: person attributes their own impulses onto others
- Displacement:
redirecting emotional responses
- Reaction formation
: converting emotion to opposite
- Regression:
retreating to earlier stage of behavior
- Rationalization
: inventing reason for behavior
- Sublimation:
converting sex or aggression to acceptable behavior
Essentials of Classic Psychoanalytic Therapy
- The goal of psychoanalysis is insight (understanding) of the basis for anxiety
- Techniques of psychoanalytic therapy:
- Free association: person says whatever comes to mind: the content is examined by the therapist for resistances (areas the person does not wish to talk about)
- Dream analysis: Unconscious impulses are expressed during dreams
- Transference: treat therapist like person from the past
- Interpretation of defense mechanisms
Other Forms of Psychoanalysis
- Group (rather than individual) therapy
- Ego analysis views the ego as capable of controlling id impulses and the external environment
- Brief therapy focuses on a few specific problems and involves few sessions; focus on the present (vs. psychosexual stages)
- Interpersonal therapy focuses on current personal problems; no free association or dream analysis
- Therapist uses empathic listening and makes suggestions for improvement
Humanistic/Existential
- Humanistic/existential paradigms focus on insight into the motivations/needs of the person
- Like psychoanalytic, emphasis on awareness of motivations and needs
- Unlike psychoanalytic, these paradigms place greater emphasis on the persons freedom of choice (free will) rather than on restraining human nature (id)
- Needs must be used or feel pain and suffering
The humanistic paradigm does not focus on how problems develop in a person but on treatment
Assumptions of Rogers Client-Centered Therapy
- Client-centered therapy argues that:
- People can only be understood from the vantage point of their own feelings (phenomenology)
- Healthy people are:
aware of their own behavior (like Freud)
innately good and effective versus Freuds asocial
purposive and self-directive versus Freuds passive result of id; similar to ego analysts
Therapy creates conditions under which person makes independent decisions without concern about evaluation by others
Self-actualization is an innate tendency to express innate needs and abilities
Client-Centered Therapy
- Client-centered therapy assumes that
The client takes the lead during therapy
The client takes responsibility for their own actions
The therapist is warm, attentive and receptive (unconditional positive regard)
The therapist fosters growth on the part of the client
empathy is crucial to therapy
empathy can be primary (restating clients thoughts and feelings) and secondary (interpretation of clients thoughts and feelings)
secondary empathy results in new phenomenology
what guides interpretation is unclear
Existential Therapy
- The existential view emphasizes personal growth (like humanism)
- The existential view notes that making choices results in anxiety (vs. humanisms lack of self-actualizing an innate need)
- Existentialism sees humans as innately anxious about the meaning of life (vs. innately good)
- Existential therapy encourages clients to confront their anxieties and to make important decisions about how to relate to others
Gestalt Therapy: Humanistic and Existential (Perls)
assumes people are innately good (humanism) but have problems if this virtue is denied (existential)
-I-language (take responsibility)
-Empty chair (speak to feelings, object, people, situations, etc.)
-Projection of feelings by imagination of object (to increase awareness)
-focus on nonverbal cues of emotions
Gestalt Therapy: Humanistic and Existential (Perls)
assumes people are innately good (humanism) but have problems if this virtue is denied (existential)
-I-language (take responsibility)
-Empty chair (speak to feelings, object, people, situations, etc.)
-Projection of feelings by imagination of emotional and neutral object (to increase awareness)
-focus on nonverbal cues of emotions such as tone of voice and physical behavior
Learning or Behavioral Paradigms
- Learning paradigms argue that abnormal behaviors are learned just as are normal behaviors are learned
- Classical conditioning
- Operant conditioning
- Modeling
Behaviorism focuses on the study of observable behavior so that, unlike psychoanalytic and humanistic/existential approaches, the paradigm is testable
Classical Conditioning
= Pavlovian conditioning
by temporal association with
unconditioned stimuli (US),
new behaviors are learned
-US ------> UR (unconditioned
response)
-pair US with neutral stimulus and
it becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS)
-CS will elicit a CR
(conditoned response)
which is similar to the US
-acquire emotional responses and
involuntary behaviors
Operant Conditioning
- Behaviors have consequences (law of effect or principle of reinforcement)
Positive reinforcement: behaviors followed by pleasant stimuli are strengthened
Negative reinforcement: behaviors that terminate a negative stimulus are strengthened
Discriminative stimuli provide information about the contingency of reinforcement
Behavior can be shaped using method of successive approximations
Reward a series of responses that approximate the final response
Modeling
- Learning can occur in the absence of reinforcers
- Modeling involves learning by watching and imitating the behaviors of others
- Models impart information to the observer
- Children learn about aggression watching aggressive models
* more likely to imitate a model if the person:
-is similar to the model
-observes the model being reinforced
-perceives the model as coping
Behavior Therapy
- Behavior therapy uses learning methods to change abnormal behavior, thoughts and feelings
Behavior therapists use classical and operant conditioning techniques as well as modeling
Counterconditioning (classical conditioning): learning a new response
- Systematic desensitization
: relaxation is paired with a stimulus that formerly induced anxiety
- Aversive conditioning
: an unpleasant event is paired with a stimulus to reduce its attractiveness
-- Operant conditioning: learning a new response and contingency
- Time-out (remove reinforcement for undesirable behavior)
- Token economy (reinforce desirable behavior)
- Behavior rehearsal (shaping and successive approximation)
-- Modeling (view models demonstrating desirable behavior)
-role playing with behavioral rehearsal
The Cognitive Paradigm
- Cognition involves the mental processes of perceiving, recognizing, judging and reasoning
- The cognitive paradigm focuses on how people structure and understand their experiences and how these experiences are related to past experiences stored in memory
- Accumulated knowledge provides an organization for adoption of new information
= schema or cognitive set
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
- Cognitive therapy assumes that thought patterns can cause a disturbance of emotion or behavior
- Cognitive restructuring involves changing thought patterns that lead to abnormality
Becks Cognitive Therapy assumes that depression represents a distorted pattern of thought in which a person misperceives their life experience; the goal of Becks therapy is to change these maladaptive thought patterns
Distorted cognitions include:
1-misattributions of why something happened
2-lack of control beliefs (e.g., helplessness, poor self-efficacy)
3-irrational assumptions & beliefs (e.g., catastrophizing):
-"I should be loved by everyone for everything I do"
-"Once something affects my life, it will affect it forever"
-"I should be terribly upset by dangerous situations