PSY404 Midterm Solved Paper 1 2009

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Every student will work individually and has to write in the form of an analytical assignment. Give the answer according to question, no mark will be given for irrelevant material.

Don’t rely only on handouts, use other reference books also.

Mention the source (bibliography) which you are using for preparing your assignment. Basic concepts in the language and words which are mentioned or written in your source but the application of those concepts must be in your own words. Avoid long paragraph. Assignment should be in 12 font size and Times New Roman/Arial. Avoid extra material, write to the point. Compose your document in MS-Office 2003. Any file created in any other version will not be accepted and marked zero. Use black and blue font colors only. Make sure that you upload the solution before due date. No assignment will be accepted through e-mail after the due date. Cheating or copying of assignment is strictly prohibited; No credit will be given to copied assignment. Avoid plagiarism and give references at the end of assignment.

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Psychology is divided into many subfields like clinical psychology, abnormal psychology and developmental psychology, etc. Every field has its own significance and importance. You have chosen abnormal psychology as subject, so you have to answer following questions in your own words.

Elaborate the term Abnormal Psychology. (3)

A segment of psychology that deals with psychopathology and abnormal behavior. The term covers a broad range of disorders, from depression to obsession-compulsion to sexual deviation and many more. Counselors, clinical psychologists, and psychotherapists often work directly in this field.

How abnormal psychology is different from Clinical Psychology? (3)

The main differences between abnormal psychology and clinical psychology are:-

Clinical psychology includes the scientific study and application of psychology for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction. Abnormal psychology is devoted to the study of mental, emotional, and behavioral aberrations. It is the branch of psychology concerned with research into the classification, causation, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of psychological disorders or psychopathology. Its covers a broad spectrum of afflictions and includes neuroses, psychoses, personality disorders, psycho physiological disorders, organic mental syndromes, and mental retardation. Clinical psychology may also engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development and administration. Abnormal psychology studies the nature of psychopathology and its causes, and this knowledge is applied in clinical psychology to treat patients with psychological disorders. The field of abnormal psychology may be called psychopathology. Clinical psychology is regulated as mental health profession.

What are the general misconceptions people have regarding abnormality? Explain with examples from your daily life. (3)

Myths and Misunderstandings of Abnormality/Mental Illness/Psychological Disorders

Following are the misconceptions and misunderstandings about the Psychological Disorders

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A person who has been mentally ill can never be normal. Even if some mentally ill persons return to normal, most do not and people remain crazy People with Psychological problems are unpredictable. Mentally ill persons are dangerous and they could become aggressive at any time Mentally ill people are misfits.

All the five myths are related to abnormal behavior or mental illness are not based on any empirical evidence.

Describe how a researcher would use a case study research design and Correlational design to study the possible causes of abnormal behavior. (3+3)

Case Study:

Case study examines and describes in depth an individual’s current feeling, thoughts and behaviors. It investigates intensively one or more individuals, who display the behavior patterns. The case study method relies on a clinician’s observations of differences between one person and group with a disorder, people with other disorders and people with no psychological disorders. The clinician usually collects as much information as possible, to obtain a detailed description of the person. Historically, interviewing the person under study yielded a great deal of information on personal, medical, family background, education, health and work history, as well as the person’s own opinion about the nature and causes of the problems being studied. Case studies are important in the history of abnormal psychology. It was S. Freud and E. Kraepelin who used clinical case study. Freud’s case studies provided valuable descriptions of his theory of the development of mental disorders. Kraepelin’s observations of the case studies helped him to construct the first system for the classification of abnormal behavior. Wolpe’s book psychotherapy by reciprocal inhibition, is based on his treatment procedure called systematic desensitization, which he applied on some 200 cases, as our knowledge has increased, we rely less on case study method. The case study method is valuable in examining rare disorders. Say when a disorder occurs at a very low frequency, such as 1 case in 10,000, data on such large number of cases is next to impossible. So we depend on single case. Mental disorder called Multiple Personality, a rare type of disorder where within one person would reside two or more then two opposing personalities, a disorder which receives much attention on the media in films and TV is a target case for single case