ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY

Introduction and Methods of Research

What is Abnormal Psychology?
• The sub-field of psychology that deals with
the description, causes, and treatment of
abnormal behavior, including psychological
disorders.
• Medical model vs. Biopsychosocial model
(interactionist model)
• Clinical Psychologist vs. Psychiatrist
 Criteria for Determining
Abnormality
• unusual (e.g., hearing voices, feelings of panic in
specific non fear-producing settings, etc.)
• socially unacceptable, violation of norms
• personal distress
• disability or dysfunction (e.g., maladaptive, self-
defeating behaviors)
• unexpectedness
• faulty perception or interpretation of reality
History of Abnormal Behavior
• Early Demonology--the doctrine that an evil
being, such as the devil may dwell within a person
and control his/her mind (e.g., tx as exorcism)
• Somatogenesis--disturbances of the physical body
effecting the thoughts and actions (e.g.,
Hippocrates’ “Ill Humor”, 5th century B.C.)
• Dark Ages and Demonology--started with the
death of Galen (A.D.130-200); persecution of
witches (15th century, Pope Innocent VIII “Malleus
Maleficarum” )
 History continued,
• Development of Asylums--use of
leprosariums during the late Middle ages
(e.g., Bethlehem/London and its deplorable
conditions)
• Moral Treatment-- Philippe Pinel (1745-
1826) and La Bicetre/Paris.
• Community Mental Health Movement--
Deinstitutionalization and phenothiazines
Contemporary Perspectives on
Abnormal Behavior

C u r r e n t P a r a d ig m s i n

B i o l o g Pi c s a y l c h o Sl o o g c i c i o a c l u l
 Biological
Paradigm/Perspective
• terminology reflects the influence of
medical model (e.g., mental health,
symptoms, syndrome, patient, prognosis,
treatment, relapse, remission, etc.)
• major advance over demonology in that it
inspired the idea that abnormal behavior
should be treated by trained professionals
rather than punished
 Psychological
Paradigm/Perspective
• Psychoanalytical/Psychodynamic (e.g., Freud,
Adler, Jung, Mahler, etc.)
• Humanistic and Existential (e.g., Carl Rogers’
“Client Centered Therapy”, Perls’ “Gestalt
Therapy”)
• Learning--Behaviorism (e.g., Pavlov’s Classical
Conditioning, Skinner’s Operant Conditioning,
Modeling)
• Cognitive (e.g., Beck’s “Cognitive Therapy”,
Ellis’s “Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy”)
 Sociocultural
Paradigm/Perspective
• Consideration of the broader social context,
including the social ills of society such as
poverty, social decay, racial, gender, age
discrimination, and lack of economical
opportunities
• stigmatization
INTEGRATIVE PARADIGM:
Biopsychosocial
• Patterns of abnormal behavior is too
complex to use a single paradigm
• interaction of multiple causes
• diathesis-stress model--focuses on the
interaction between a predisposition toward
disease--the diathesis--an environmental, or
life, disturbances--the stress
 RESEARCH METHODS IN
ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
• A scientific approach requires first that
propositions and ideas be stated in a clear
and precise way.
• Descriptions should be clear, unbiased, and
based on careful observations.
• Inference, a conclusion that is drawn from
data, allow one to jump from particular to
general, suggesting a model for a theory.
 Scientific Method
• Formulating the research • Testing through careful
question using observations and
observations, theories of experiments
events, etc. • Drawing conclusions
• Framing the question as a through statistical
hypothesis methods to determine the
likelihood that differences
between groups are
significant, not related to
chance flunctions
 ETHICS IN RESEARCH
• Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)
• informed consent
• debriefing
• confidentiality
 Methods
• Case study--a good way examining the
behavior of a single individual in great
detail and of generating hypotheses that can
later be evaluated by controlled research
• Naturalistic Observation--unobtrusive
observations in subjects’ natural setting
• Epidemiological study--frequency and a
distribution of a disorder in a population
(e.g., prevalence, incidence, and risk
factors)
 Methods continued,
• Correlational studies--establishes whether
there is a relationship between or among
two or more variables used in
epidemiological research as well as in other
studies that use smaller samples
(correlation coefficient, positive
correlation, negative correlation,
problems of causality) PLEASE
REMEMBER THAT CORRELATION
DOES NOT MEAN CAUSATION!!!
 Methods continued,
• Experimental studies--demonstrates causal
relationships by first manipulating the causal factor
and then measuring its effects under controlled
conditions that minimize the risk of other factors
explaining these effects (independent variable,
dependent variable, control group, experimental
group, placebo effect, blind/double blind
procedure)
• Kinship studies--attempts to disentangle the roles
of heredity and environment in determining
behavior (twin studies, concordance rate,
adoptee studies)