The Cognitive Model of Abnormality EVALUATION (Ao2) STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES

The Cognitive Model Cognitive explanations: –Plenty of evidence to show that thinking processes are biased/distorted.e.g. in Eating Disorder sufferers –Some evidence (but not all) shows that altering thought processes is an effective treatment –Less evidence to show that cognitive biases are the cause of abnormality e.g. Eating Disorders

The Cognitive Model Issues for evaluation: –Evidence –Direction of causality –Blaming the victim

The Cognitive Model Evidence –Plenty of research shows that people with psychological disorders have faulty or irrational thinking processes However…

The Cognitive Model Not much evidence for the view that faulty thinking precedes other psychological symptoms (cause or effect?) People who are clinically normal also think irrationally – so what’s the difference? All the cognitive model does is state the obvious e.g. depressed people think gloomy thoughts. No! Really?

The Cognitive Model Ethical issues: –By locating psychological problems in faulty thinking processes, the cognitive model sometimes blames the victim –E.g. a person might be depressed because their situation is genuinely dreadful – but the cognitive model implies that the problem is their perceptions

7 EVALUATION OF THE COGNITIVE APPROACH Strength 1: A major strength of the Cognitive Model is that it concentrates in current thought processes. It does not depend on the past history of the client, for example, recovering repressed memories from the Unconscious. This is an advantage because details about a person’s past are often unclear, irrelevant, misleading and misremembered. Strength 2: A second strength is that Cognitive Therapies, especially when used together with Behavioural Therapy, have a good success rate in helping clients. It is a popular and much-used approach. It also empowers the individual to take responsibility for his own thinking processes by monitoring, evaluating and altering self-defeating thought processes. Weakness 1: Like all other approaches, psychological and medical, the Cognitive Model rarely supplies the complete solution to abnormal behaviour by itself. There may be medical and environmental influences affecting a person’s behaviour. Focussing only on a person’s cognition may be too narrow an approach. Weakness 2: The Cognitive Model sometimes places the blame for any disorder unfairly on the individual – “It’s your disordered thinking, so you are at fault”. For example, a person suffering from depression may be living in awful circumstances where depression is a perfectly valid and rationale response to the situation. It will hardly be surprising if he perceives the world and his future as a negative and grim.

First criticism It fails to examine the origins of irrational thinking. BECAUSE… BECAUSE… It is difficult to identify whether abnormality is the cause by irrational thinking or the effect of irrational thoughts. Beck (1991) stated that although cognitive processes are involved in many psychological disorders, they may be the consequence rather then the cause of the problem.

A Second Criticism is that… It suggests that that the person is solely responsible. BECAUSE BECAUSE…It lays the blame for psychological problems firmly within the individual, rather than with the social environment. Ellis has little sympathy with people who are suffering with depression and considers it ‘indulgence’ of self defeating thoughts.

On the other hand, a strength of this approach is… There is research to support the cognitive explanation of abnormality. There is research to support the cognitive explanation of abnormality. BECAUSE… BECAUSE…findings have demonstrated that many people suffering from mental disorders do exhibit thought patterns associated with maladaptive functioning. For example… Gustafon (1992) found that maladaptive behaviours were displayed by many people with psychological disorders, eg: anxiety, depression and sexual disorders.

PLENARY PAPER PLANES INSTRUCTIONS 1)CLASS TO SPLIT INTO 2 GROUPS 2)TIMER IS SET AT 10 MINUTES 3)EACH PERSON TO MAKE A PAPER PLANE FROM THEIR NOTEBOOK PAPER OR RECYCLED PAPER 4)ON YOUR PLANE, YOU MUST WRITE ONE PIECE OF INFORMATION LEARNED TODAY 5)WHEN INSTRUCTED, GLIDE YOUR PLANE TO SOMEONE ON THE OPPOSITE GROUP 6)READ THE INFORMATION ON THE PLANE YOU HAVE RECEIVED AND WRITE SOMETHING DIFFERENT 7)REPEAT UNTIL INSTRUCTED TO STOP!