Abnormal Psychology Flashcard
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How do we determine what abnormal behavior is? (Possible Definitions)
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1. Statistical infrequency: rare, doesn't occur commonly ? alot of exceptional traits ; some pathologies are common (body image) 2. Violation of Norms: vary a great deal across cultures ; vary by diff. segments of society (norms change) 3. Personal Distress/ Distress to others: prob- not all pathologies are distressing (schizoid) 4. Dysfunction 5. Disability- impairment in life area (cannot be used to define mental disorder b/c not all disorders involve disability e.g. binging) 6. Unexpectedness: something outside what is expected reaction prob- subjective
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Mental Disorder
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• Occurs w/in the ind. • clinically sig. difficulties in thinking, feeling, behaving • dysfunction in processes that support mental functioning • NOT culturally specific reaction to an event (e.g. Death) • NOT primarily a result of social deviance or conflict w/ society
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Harmful Dysfunction: Jerome Wakefield
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• Dysfunction - A trait fails to optimally perform the specific function that it was evolutionarily designed to perform. • Harmful - A social judgment that a dysfunction is undesirable. • Abnormality is implied when a dysfunction is viewed as harmful by society. • CON: internal mechanisms 'cant be seen so cant be studied' ? somethings are not evolutionarily selected for (no fitness) but they develop anyways (music)
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4 Professionals That Treat Abnormal Behavior
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• Clinical Psychologists • Psychiatrists • Social Workers • Marriage and Family Therapists/ Counselors/Mental Health Workers
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Clinical Psychologists
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• Hold a Ph.D. or a Psy.D (not scientist). • 4 years of graduate school, 1-year clinical internship, 1-year post-doctoral placement (boulder model) • Expertise in diagnosis, treatment, TESTING
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Psychiatrists
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• Completed medical school • Completed a psychiatric residency • Expertise in diagnosis, treatment, and medical interventions. • The only mental health professional qualified to PERSCRIBE (but this is changing) • Psychoanalyst: psychologist/psychiatrist who undergo freudian theory training and therapy
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Social Workers ; Marriage and Family Therapists/ Counselors/Mental Health Workers
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? Social Workers • Have completed a M.S.W. with additional training and in psychiatric issues. • Expertise in treatment, often with a strong background in group and family therapy ? Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT) / Counselors/Mental Health Workers • Have a variety of different degrees - such as M.F.C.C., M.A., or B.A. • Exact qualifications vary across setting.
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Historical Perspectives
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1. Demonology and Superstition 2. Somatogenic perspective 3. The Dark ages 4. The Asylum Movement 5. Moral Treatment 6. The Mental Hygiene Movement
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Historical Perspectives: Demonology/Superstition ; Somatogenic perspective
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1. Demonology and Superstition: doctrine that evil can dwell in someone ; control them ? odd behavior treated w/ exorcism 2. The Somatogenic Perspective • Hippocrates was one of the first physicians and separated medicine from religion, magic, and superstition ? father of modern medicine • Bodily fluid imbalances cause mental disorders • Notable b/c: this is the first modern diagnostic system and first time chemistry influences mental state ? physicians rather than priests ? nature rather than supernatural causes • Phlegm= lazy • Melancholy (black bile)= depression
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Historical Perspectives: The Dark Ages ; The Asylum movement
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3. The Dark Ages • roman empire collapse and roman church becomes dominant power - return to belief in supernatural causes ? ppl roamed hill sides or cared for by monks 4. The Asylum Movement • leprosy was a huge problem so government built hospitals for the lepers (they isolated them so they couldn't spread disease) 13th and 14th century leprosy decreases & the hospitals are empty ? get turned into mental health hospitals • these hospitals are very inhumane and treatment went along w/ feudalism • St. Bethlaham called bedlam ("scene of wild uproar") ppl put on display • the French revolution was a really powerful event on human thought (INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS WERE NOT RECOGNIZED)
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Historical Perspectives: Moral Treatment & Mental Hygiene
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5. Moral treatment • Philip Pinal: movement for humanitraian treatment of people w/ mental illness in asylums (put in charge during revolution) • chnaged mindset: patients were sick ppl first- consistent w/ new egalitarian view of new french republic • thought ppl of lower class were still sub. to terror & straight jackets 6. The Mental Hygiene Movement • Dorothy dix ? humane treatment in smaller facilities Moral Treatment: patient had close contact w/ staff (gave them consitent attention) and led relatively normal (or as close to) lives ? both these movements (moral and mental hygiene) were failures (didn't have resources or training- small hospital = small staff so not enough ppl to give attention)
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Emil Kraepelin and the return of the Somatogenic Perspective
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• Kraepelin authored a psychiatry textbook and classification system. • His basic assumptions: ? All disorders are distinct (Even if you have multiple disorders, they do not overlap, they are independent of each other) ? All disorders have a unique biological cause (somatogenic perspective- hippocrates) ? Clinical diagnosis is based on careful observation • grouping diseases together based on classification of syndrome — common patterns of symptoms over time • His textbook was rewritten and turned into the DSM III
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Rise of the Psychogenic Perspective
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• Hysteria: loss of physical function w/out a real known cause • Hysteria emerges as a major mental health problem. • Anton Mesmer (Quack- he wasn't actually very scientific) uses a series of bizarre interventions, some of which are related to hypnotism, as a cure (and actually helped ppl which is why he is early hypnotist) • Jean-Martin Charcot conducts more scientific studies of hypnotism ? prominence in society helped legitimize hypnosis as treatment • What aspects of their work (hypnosis) led to idea that disorders are psychological in origin? Hypnosis is psychological intervention b/c you are talking in an altered mental state (trance)- his assistants hypnotized healthy women and tricked charcot and when they brought her out of it he realized it was psychological
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Thomas Kuhn: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
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• Thomas Kuhn was a philosopher and was interested in 'the philosophy of science' during a time when physics was going thru a shift from newton to quantum so he wrote about why the shift occurred and it has GREAT application to psychology • Paradigms guide all scientific inquiry and thought in a particular area • A paradigm is a guiding (or confining) set of assumptions (what you ask or what you think), theories, and methods (research tools) • All research and inquiry is guided by the dominant paradigm • Southpark clip vs. Zoloft commercial
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Fall of a Paradigm
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• When a paradigm fails to explain phenomena, a period of crisis occurs. • Eventually, the paradigm falls and is replaced by a new paradigm. • A new paradigm emerges and guides all thinking in the area. This paradigm will remain dominant until a new crisis occurs.
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Freud Psychodynamic Perspectives
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• Great man perspective: one man comes along and changes everything • Zeitgeist: no idea comes out of nowhere but has roots in previous • Frued was heavily influenced by Charles Darwin and evolution/instinct • Psychodynamic: A Hydraulic model, with life energy ("libido") flowing between different psychic structures (id, ego, superego) ? ID: pure instinctual drive that you are born w/ and is hedonistic in that its all about pleasure and desires (seeks immediate gratification = Pleasure Principle) • When it doesn't get what it wants it copes w/ primary process thinking (fantasy/daydream) • The concept of psychodynamics is the interplay and conflict between these structures.
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Three Structures of the Psyche
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1. ID: "Let's have fun!" (Wants) • Emerges early in development • Ruled by the pleasure principal (; basic urges) • id's energy seen as biological • Does not tolerate frustration • Engages in primary process thinking (you imagine / daydream to cope) • Freud though it was the center to psychology / most important 2. EGO: "Let's be practical!" (Reality) • Develops in second 6 months of life (1yr) • Reality focused- defines in terms of realities constraints • Mediates between impulses of the ID and demands of the situation (Reality Principle) • primarily concious 3. SUPER-EGO: "Let's do what's right!" (morality) • Last structure to develop (very end of childhood) • Essentially your conscious- knowing wrong from right • Continues to develop throughout childhood • Basically, functions as conscience • Freud believed you could not have childhood depression b/c you didn't have conscious as a child • If the structures do not agree it creates anxiety w/in the person but when the structures interact it is sub-conscious so we are not aware that (for example) the ID and Super Ego are not agreeing which creates an imbalance
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Stages of Psychosexual Development
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• The battle b/w structures manifests in different areas if the fight b/w them is not resolved • ORAL STAGE (birth to about 18 months) Fixation on the mouth. • ANAL STAGE (18 months to about 3 years) Fixation on passing and retention of feces- Anal retentive: hyper focused on detail • PHALLIC STAGE (3 years to about 5 or 6 years) Fixation on genital stimulation. Oedipus/Electra complexes. • LATENCY STAGE (between ages 6 to 12) - ID impulses do not play a major role in stimulating behavior. • GENITAL STAGE (12 through adulthood) - Heterosexual interests predominate.
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Conflict and Psychopathology: Freud
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• Freud believed that none of us are healthy b/c our structures are always in conflict so everyone can benefit from therapy • Conflicts occur between drives of the ID (libidinal energy) at each stage of development. • If a conflict is not resolved, the energy is "fixated." • Psychopathology can also result from an individual's anxiety regarding subconscious ID impulses (neurotic anxiety) • Instinct and underlying powerful drives dictate human behavior (subconscious level) • Freud used dream analysis, free association, transference, interpretation t to understand ppls ID by removing the need for superego and ego to work sub consciously (ex. While your sleeping your ID dreams without interruption from Super or Ego) • Ppl had issues w/ this though (fall of the paradigm) b/c it was very subjective and for it to be 'science' it has to be testable and falsifiable but you cant observe it (did not lend itself to science) • These practices also did not work
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Conflict and Psychopathology: Locke
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• John locke: Tableau Rosa- blank slate that nature writes • leads to the emergence of behaviorism • Behaviorism (if you cant see it, it can be science- only observable behavior) is a reaction against psychodynamic (human behavior is a reaction to the unobservable) theory
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The Adventures of Pavlov and his Dog: Initial
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• Classical Conditioning •
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The Adventures of Pavlov and his Dog: Result
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• extinction: when ucs is not reintroduced and beh. slowly disappears
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The Law of Effect: Edward Thorndike
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• Law of Effect: Behavior that is followed by consequences satisfying to the organism will be repeated. • Behavior that is followed by consequences that are unpleasant or noxious to the organism will be discontinued. • So... If I initiate a behavior, and the behavior gets me "good stuff", I'll do the behavior again. ? If I initiate a behavior, and the behavior gets me "bad stuff", you won't catch me doing that behavior again
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B.F. Skinner
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• Operant Conditioning • Principal of reinforcement: Stimuli evoke responses. If a response has the right sort of consequence, it will be repeated. (law of effect) • Stimulus ? Response ? Consequence • Note the focus on a stimulus as evocative of a response. • Positive Reinforcement: Desirable outcomes or rewards. ? Example: A positive grade following days of studying for one of Dr. Schwartz' midterms. • Negative Reinforcement: Deletion of a negative stimuli. ? Example: Aspirin relieving a headache. • Negative reinforcement is sometimes involved in escape conditioning. A behavior that allows an individual to escape from a negative situation will be learned. ? Example: Your pet running away when he/she knows he is in trouble. • Punishment: Addition of a negative stimuli. ? Example: A speeding ticket for driving fast. • Response Cost: you take away something good
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Active Learning
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• It is t me for y u to go to bed. • Bandera: BoBo the doll expirement (Modeling) shows that you do not come to the world as a blank slate but that behavior can be observed and learned (this is the fall of behaviorism)
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The Cognitive Paradigm: Schemas and Psychopathology
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• The cognitive paradigm is born after behaviorism • The cognitive paradigm is that you have higher order cognitive structures called schemas (sets of rules and expectations that guide how you actively organize the data as its input) • different from biological b/c of schemas
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Schemas and Psychopathology: Problems
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• This starts to get back into the realm of not being able to test things (you cant test or observe a schema) • It does not incorporate a relationship w/ emotions • The fall of the cognitive paradigm has to do less with the absence of emotion but the rise of technology (b/c it's a shift back into what you can see and test)
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Behavior Genetics: Methods
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•Correlational Method • Family Method - Compare members of a family. See if behavioral similarity is related to genetic similarity. ? collection of sample ppl= index cases / probands ?data not always easy to interpret • Adoption Studies - Find related individuals, who were given up for adoption and have never lived together, and see how similar they are in terms of diagnosis. (shared vs. Not shared/unique envio.) • Twin Method - MZ are genetically identical. DZ share about 50%. Compare the degree to MZ vs. DZ both have the same sorts of disorder. ? higher concordance for MZ than DZ means characteristic is heritable
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Behavior Genetics & The Neuron
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• behavior genetics: how much does the variance in a trait in the population due to genetics • biological paradigm is being maintained by forces that aren't biological in nature ? they call things a 'disease' so that we can de stigmatize and treat it • the biggest argument against the biological paradigm is reductionism: by looking at the parts you lose the sense of the whole (Reductionism: basic elements like neurons are organized into bigger structures and to reduce them takes away from what you are actually looking for) • Also hard to specify how genes and envio. reciprocally influence one another • genetic influence being manifested only under certain envio. conditions (poverty & IQ)
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Diathesis-Stress Models
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• Abnormal behavior is a product of an interaction between a diathesis and a stressor. "Diathesis" is a fancy word for "vulnerability." • The vulnerability and stressor must both be present in order for the individual to experience an abnormal outcome. • Exposure to stressors WITHOUT the vulnerability will not predict negative outcomes.
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Example of a Diathesis-Stress Model
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• Diathesis = Genetically transmitted vulnerability • Stressor = Negative life events • Individual will become depressed ONLY if he/she has both genetic risk factors AND is exposed to negative life events. • Negative life events WITHOUT genetic factors will not produce depression. • Genetic factors WITHOUT negative life events will not produce depression.
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Diathesis Models as Integrative
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• Diathesis and stressor can be caused by 2 different paradigms- integrative (someone may explain things in terms of genetic/bio paradigm & other person may take neural persepctive- both are right just diff. levels of description) • Example: Genetic vulnerability (biological paradigm) interacts with reinforcement history (behavioral paradigm) to produce pathology.
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Why should we care?
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• The evolution in modern diagnostic systems reflects the assumptions about abnormal disorder that are dominant at any one period in time. • If we understand how classification evolves, we will learn something critical about current perspectives on abnormal psychology.
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Introduction to the DSM
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• The Diagnostic Statistical Manual produced by the American Psychiatric Association is the most influential diagnostic system for abnormal behavior in North America. • Throughout most of the rest of the world, the ICD - 10 (International Categorization of Diseases), produced by the UN health agency (WHO) is more influential. • Why do we have two entirely different systems? Its all about power and influence—the APA makes A LOT of money on the DSM (which is also very well written and organized) while the ICD is distributed by the UN (and UN is not very efficient or well run)
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Evolution of the DSM
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• In the 1930s through 1950s, DSM I and DSM II are introduced in America. • What historical events might have fostered an interest in the classification of mental disorders at this time? • DSM I and II were organized according to Freudian Psychoanalytic theory (so theyre basically useless b/c the Freudian theory wasn't grounded in science?) • Divided into two larger categories: Neuroses (anxiety produced by the battle b/w the id, ego, and super ego create disruption in daily living) and Psychoses (the same anxiety gets so great you loose touch w/ reality)
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The Neo-Kraepelinian Approach to Classification
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• The 80's psychology wants to be taken seriously as a science and the American psychiatry association were influenced by kraeplin (who was influenced by Hippocrates) • DSM I and DSM II were not very reliable, and hence, were not particularly influential. • DSM III, written in the 1980s, is a return to ideas first introduced by Emil Kraepelin ( syndromes: symptoms clustered together- biological nature of mental illness). DSM IV was a modest update. • In fact, DSM III/IV were essentially modified versions of Kraepelin's textbook. • Neo-kraplinean see disorder as a disease vs. Freudian which would say you were born with it already in you
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Some Assumptions of the Neo-Kraepelinian Paradigm
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• Diagnoses should be based on careful clinical observation - not theory. • Each disorder is a unique diagnostic entity (e.g., Depression and Schizophrenia are unique disease-like states). they have their own cause, course, and outcome • Individuals with the same disorder, should have similar symptoms. ? All of these were 'baked into' the DSM III
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The Basis for Classification in the DSM III/IV
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• Diagnostic categories derived primarily based on observation. Symptoms that co-occur together and identify a coherent problem are viewed a disorder. • Etiology (a fancy word for "cause") is specifically NOT a criteria. • 2 major innovation of DSM III: 1. specific diagnostic criteria 2. Characteristics of each diagnosis are described much more extensively
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DSM III/IV: The Multi-Axial System
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• Axis I: Acute mental illness. Basically all diagnoses with the exception of personality disorders and mental retardation. • Axis II: Chronic, long-standing psychopathology, resulting from personality functioning difficulties. Personality disorders and mental retardation are coded on this axis. • The axis are an agreement b/w neo and Freudian
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The DSM 5
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• They changed to the numerical #5 b/c it is easier to use on the internet • The DSM will no longer be the "misfit" among diagnostic systems. • Other medical problems are not diagnosed on multiple axes, so the complex system in the DSM III/IV is replaced by a single axis.
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The Move Toward Etiological Classification
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• Other medical diagnoses are specifically based on etiology! Diagnoses with similar symptoms (like a cold and the flu) are distinct because there is the presumption of independent etiologies. • Just like in other branches of medicine, the DSM 5 is a move toward diagnosis based on etiology and comorbidity (presence of second disorder).
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The Move Toward Etiological Classification: The Implication
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• Disorders that were in the same category in the DSM III/IV because they looked similar (had similar symptoms) may be moved into different categories in the DSM 5 if they are presumed to have different etiologies. • DSM 5 is another step toward the "diseasification" of mental disorder. ? DSM 5 is the 'medical model' • It is an attempt to frame the classification of abnormal behavior firmly within the medical model. • Mental disorders are to be viewed like any other problem that doctors treat.
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The Move Toward Etiological Classification: An Example
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• In DSM IV, any disorder that involves fear/anxiety was labeled as an "Anxiety Disorder." • In DSM 5, fear-based disorders (like Phobia) are in a different category than Obsessive Compulsive Disorder because of presumed differences in neurochemistry. • PTSD has also been moved to a different category because it has a unique cause (trauma exposure).
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Politics & Why do we bother to classify?
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? Politics • ICD 10 is becoming more influential, and many of these changes increase compatibility. ? Why do we bother to classify? • Facilitates communication • Simplifies science • Simplifies clinical work • Humans think categorically! This is how we process information efficiently.
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Some Dangers associated with Classification
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• Stigma • Alters client's own perception of his/her situation • Loss of information
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Reliability
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• To what extent is something measured without error? (consistently) • We usually assume that a categorization system is reliable if the same label is given to a particular phenomenon each time the phenomenon occurs. • Inter-rater reliability: Agreement between observers or raters that a phenomenon has occurred. • Assess reliability by multiple raters • test-retest: give it twice to see if it consistent
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Validity
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• Validity is the degree to which a category is an accurate reflection of reality. • Do the predictions and theoretical premises associated with a particular category turn out to be accurate? • Us prescribes 400% of ritilin • Have we measured what we say we have measured? • context validity: measure adequately samples the domain of interest • criterion validity: measure of how well one variable or set of variables predicts an outcome based on information from other variables • construct validity: appropriateness of inferences made on the basis of observations or measurements (often test scores), specifically whether a test measures the intended construct.
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What is the Relation between Reliability and Validity?
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• Is it possible for a diagnostic category to be reliable but not valid? • Height is a reliable measure but it can be invalid • Validity requires reliability? but reliability does not imply validity • Measure something w/out error • Is it possible for a diagnostic category to be valid but not reliable? • Any criminal fits into personality disorder
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Dimensions vs. Categories
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• A categorical conceptualization is all-or-none. You either have a disorder or you do not. • A dimensional model assumes that a problem is distributed along a continuum with people having more or less of the relevant symptoms. • Is DSM IV categorical or dimensional? ? It is easier assessment drives categorization ? Reality is not categorical ? Korro- serious fear of retracting appendages & loss of life force ? Korro is reshaped by the cultural lense
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The Clinical Interview
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• Often the first step in information gathering. • Can be influenced by the clinician's theoretical orientation. • Can be structured or unstructured. • Structured Interview: ? A lot of training ? Questions in a specific set order ? Interview is more than what is asked ? Interview is more than data ? It also involves the behavior observed from the patient ? Write down anything that happen- info helped inform diagnosis
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Psychological Testing
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• Testing understanding data • Standardized procedures that are used to assess an individual's attributes, abilities, or level of functioning in some domain of interest. • Testing may involve questionnaires, structured activities, or perceptual tasks. • Testing a structured series of tests ? Ink, plot, IQ test, Meyers-briggs
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Normative Group
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• A representative group of individuals that can be used for comparative statements. • Test scores or observations are quantified relative to the normative group. ? How you did towards the normative example • First MMPI started in the 1950's • MMPI 2- Univ. of Minnesota required to fill out data
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Objective Tests
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• Structured questionnaires or inventories. • MMPI- 500 T/F Questions • Wether they answer T/F is their answer & their answer is not up to our interpretation = objective • Questions tap different classes of symptoms of personality attributes. A profile of an individual's scores on each type of attribute can then be produced. • Standardization of scores
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Scales of the MMPI: Validity Scalesterm-56
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• 500 T/F questions ? load on different scales • L = Lie scale ? extent to which you approach the test honestly • F = False scale ? extent to which you approach the test honestly • K = defensiveness scale
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Projective Tests
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• Projective tests involve ambiguous stimuli that an individual is asked to interpret. • Projective hypothesis: Because the stimulus is not structured, an individual's responses will be based on subconscious processes. ? Rorschach (best known) & TAT ? Not the best measure of personality disorder
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Behavioral Assessment
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• Structured observations or behavior problem checklists that give insight into relations between environment and behaviors. • Observations are expensive/ cant get into the situation • Overcome by using and informant embedded into the situation
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Intelligence Tests
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• Include a series of tasks that are designed to assess a variety of domains of cognitive functioning. • Most widely used are the Weschler and Stanford-Binet. • IQ is a score derived from intelligence tests. • A # determines you are mainstream or job performance • White people do a better on their IQ tests than other ethnicities • Culturally- related ppl embedded in the culture are bound to do better on the test • IQ is a better predictor of your earning over your parents • Parents economic sources are not a predictor of your success over your IQ • IQ tests are made to be legal • IQ tests are racially biased • Should we throw out the IQ test? ? Designed to assess European American culture ? 70% of kids do not speak English (unified board school system) IQ tests only measure only what psychologists consider intelligence
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Neuropsychological Tests
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• Structured tasks that assess basic cognitive skills, including memory, sensory processing, eye-hand coordination, reasoning and abstract thought. (Tactile performance test- time or memory & speech sounds perception test) • Example: Halstead-Reitan • Neurobiological testing (more physician based: mmri- usually give a picture of brain structure) vs neuropsychological (more about cognition- disfunctions in the brain that affect the way we think, feel, & behave) • They are often used in conjunction with one another
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The Ethical Conundrum
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• Psychopathology is an undesirable outcome. • Ethical consideration preclude researchers from inducing negative outcomes in research subjects. • As a result, it is difficult to study psychopathology with experimental designs • You cannot directly manipulate the outcome of interest which makes pathology hard to study
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Some features of "good" science (5)
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1. Testable hypotheses 2. Clear and precise hypotheses. 3. Replicable results: reliability 4. Informed by past research: you cant ignore the results of past research 5. Driven by theory: you have to have a theoretical model to guide your data
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Utility of the Case Study Approach
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• Most familiar type of study • Describing a new or rare phenomena or some new method of treatment • rich description • can disprove but not prove hypothesis • Disconfirming aspects of phenomenon that are thought to be universal. • Facilitating development of hypotheses
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The Public Health Model and Epidemiological Approaches
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• A focus on associations between health problems and risk factors in the population as a whole. • Risk factors are conditions that, if present, make a particular negative outcome more likely. • its really expensive tho
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Some Important Statistics in Epidemiological Research
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• epidemiology: study of distribution of disorders in a population - focuses on 3 features of a disorder: •Prevalence: Proportion of population that has the disorder at any given point in time. • Incidence: The number of new cases that appear within a certain period. • Lifetime Prevalence: Proportion of population who will encounter a certain condition at any point during their life.
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Correlations
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• A measure of the statistical association between two phenomena. • Correlations range from -1.0 to 1.0. Higher correlations mean stronger associations. • Positive correlations: More of one phenomenon means more of the other. • Negative correlations: More of one phenomenon means less of the other.
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Limitations of Correlational Approaches
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• Difficult to sort out causal relations. What causes what? • Third variable explanations are possible: confounds • directionality problem: correlation does not imply causation
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Dr. Schwartz runs an experiment
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1. 100 children are recruited from a local elementary school. 2. The social skills of the children are assessed. 3. 50 children are then randomly assigned to a social skills group and 50 children are assigned to a group that receives no intervention. 4. The social skills group participates in a three-week training. The control group does nothing. 5. The social skills of both groups are assessed again
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Features of an Experiment
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• Experimental hypothesis. The research question to be answered. • Independent variable. The aspect of the experiment that is manipulated by the investigator. • Dependent variable. What the experimenter is trying to change. ? Experimental effect is he change in the DV cause by experiment
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Control and Experimental Groups
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• Experimental group: Receives the experimental manipulation. • Control group: participates in the experiment but doesn't receive the experimental manipulation. • We include a control to help demonstrate that changes in the dependent variable reflect the experimental manipulation.
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Random Assignment to the Rescue!
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• Confounds: Anything that causes the experimental effect BESIDES the experimental manipulation. • Random assignment. Assignment to control or experimental group is random. ? Gives you confidence that any differences between groups should be due only to the experimental manipulation.
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Double-Blind Experiments
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• Experimenter is kept blind to participant's condition (experimental or control). • Participant does not know what condition her or she is in. • Helps prevent experimenter-induced effects • experiments give you a high control but its hard to generalize/ ppl aren't in situations that are natural
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Internal and External Validity
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• validity: the ability to measure what you intend to measure • Internal validity: Are any chances that I've observed due to my experimental manipulation? In other words, is the experimental effect due to the independent variable rather than some extraneous factor? (must include at least one control group to have internal V.) • External validity: Will my results generalize to other situations? Does what I do in the lab have significance for the real world?
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Analogue Designs
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• Because I can not ethically induce psychopathology, I create some equivalent in the lab. • Animal models are a common example of an analogue design. • High in internal validity, but low in external validity.
