Psych 155b
Theory & Method
Dr. Kimberley Clow
SSC 6421
kclow2@uwo.ca
http://instruct.uwo.ca/psychology/155b/
Outline
What are Theory & Method?
 Different Theories

 Biological,
Psychodynamic, Behavioural,
Cognitive, Humanistic, Gestalt, Family
Systems
 Methods & Treatments
 Criticisms

Conclusions
What are Theory and Method?

Theories are sets of logical propositions that
 Define
events
 Describe relationships
 Explain phenomena
 Allow us to make predictions regarding future events
 Guide research

Methods are how we measure and/or assess
phenomena
 self-report
scales, interviews, exams
Overview of Theories


Biological
Psychodynamic


Behavioural


Rogers
Gestalt


Ellis
Humanistic


Watson, Bandura
Cognitive


Freud
Perls
Family Systems
Biological Approach
Biochemical Theories
Assessment & Treatment

Old Techniques


Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
Psychosurgery


Psychopharmacology

Drug Therapy


Brain Imaging



Lobotomy
Ritalin for ADHD
Lithium for Bipolar Disorder
Prozac for Depression
Equinil for Anxiety and Panic Disorder
Reinstate normal biological
functioning
Criticisms

Downplays environmental, social, and
cultural influences
 Biology


Schizophrenia may cause excess of dopamine as
easily as excess of dopamine causing schizophrenia
Ignores disorders that seem to have a
strong social cause


and environment affect each other
Phobias, Eating Disorders
Removes patient’s involvement and
responsibility in treatment
Psychodynamic Approach

Behavior is determined by
 Unconscious motivations
Biological and instinctual
drives
 Conflict within the mind

ID
 EGO
 SUPER-EGO

Sigmund Freud
Anxiety & Defence Mechanisms

Anxiety
 Realistic
anxiety
 Moralistic anxiety
 Neurotic anxiety

Defense Mechanisms
 We
distort reality to protect the ego against
the painful and threatening impulses arising
from the id
Assessment & Treatment

Assessment Techniques
 Free Association
 Dream Analysis
 Interpretation
 Analysis
of Resistance
 Analysis of Transference

Treatment
 Therapist
needs to interpret
symptoms
 Patient needs to resolve
childhood conflict
Criticisms

Pessimistic view
 Patient

Empirical shortcomings
 Never



cannot understand own symptoms
studied children or conducted studies
Obsessed with assumed differences between
men and women
Cannot be used with most mentally ill patients
Does not seem to help above and beyond
placebo controls
Behavioural Approach

Classical Conditioning
 Learning
by associating two stimuli
together
 Learning occurs when you recognize
that one event predicts another
 When stimuli are consistently paired
together, we learn to respond to both
stimuli the same way
John B. Watson


Dog learns that the leash means he is
going outside
Child learns to fear nurses because they
usually give her needles
Learning Fears


UCS (loud noise)  UCR (fear)
CS (rat)  CR (fear
Treatments
Systematic Desensitization
Aversive Conditioning

Antabuse
 Drug
makes you sick
whenever you drink
alcohol
 Aversive Conditioning
treatment for
Alcoholism
Another Behavioural Theory

Operant Conditioning


Learning by associating our own
behavior with its consequences
Our behaviour is shaped by our
reinforcement history

Law of Effect



We repeat the actions we’re
rewarded for (reinforced)
We stop the actions we’re punished
for
If our behaviour gets us what we
want, that behaviour will continue
Reinforcement
Punishment
Positive
Give Candy
Give Shock
Negative
Take away Shock
Take away Candy
Treatments

Behaviour Modification Therapy
 Using
positive reinforcement to
change behaviour


Ignore the behaviours you don’t want
and positively reinforce the behaviours
you do want
Token Economies
 Desired
behaviours are positively
reinforced with tokens

Tokens are later exchanged for a
tangible reward
Yet Another Behavioural Theory

Social Learning Theory
 Modelling


Learning by watching and imitating others
Observational learning



Albert Bandura

Acquire new behaviours
May elicit particular behaviours by cuing
them
Inappropriate behaviours are reproduced
after seeing them
If model is punished for inappropriate
behaviour, the behaviour is not imitated
Treatment

People learn through
modelling, so model the
good behaviours you want
them to learn
 Role-play
 Behaviour
Monkey see, Monkey do
rehearsal
 Assertion training
Criticisms

Overemphasises external influences on
behaviour
 What
about biological influences?
Premises arise from animal research
 Mechanistic perspective

 People

like machines
Automatic beings
 Underplays
our capacity to think or control
things ourselves
Cognitive Approach

Emotions stem from our
interpretations of events, not
from the events themselves
 We

Albert Ellis
create our problems
Need to modify our
interpretations
 If
we don’t interpret things in a
way that makes us feel bad, we
won’t feel bad
Rational Emotive Therapy

Irrational beliefs
 Everyone I meet should like me
 I should be perfect at everything I do
 Because something once affected my
life, it will
always affect it
 It is unbearable and horrible when things are not the
way I want them to be
 I must perform important tasks competently and
perfectly
 If I don’t get what I want, it’s terrible
 I must have love or approval from all the significant
people in my life
A-B-C Theory of Personality
Goals of Therapy

Challenges irrational beliefs
 Detect
“shoulds”
 “I musts”
 “awfulizing”
 “self-downing”

 Debate

to logically & empirically question beliefs-to argue
self out of them
 Discriminate

the irrational-self-defeating from rational-selfhelping beliefs
Treatment

Common Techniques
 Disputing
irrational beliefs
 Doing cognitive homework
 Changing one’s language
 Using humor
 Role-playing
 Shame-attacking exercises
 Desensitization
 Skills training

Assertiveness training
Criticisms

Mechanistic perspective
 Human


behaviour is more than thoughts and beliefs
Do irrational cognitions cause disturbances or
do disturbances cause irrational cognitions
Therapist is seen as teacher and authority figure
 Attacks
irrational beliefs
 Perhaps demoralizing

Not designed for severely mental ill populations
Humanistic Approach

Person-Centered Therapy
 Focus


on the person, not the condition
Striving for self-actualization
People must realize their own inner potential
 Characteristics


Carl Rogers

of therapist
Congruence
Unconditional Positive Regard
Accurate Empathic Understanding
 Client
discovers and learns on their
own due to the safe, warm environment
created by the therapist
Assessment and Treatment

Communicating one-on-one
 Introspection
 Self-disclosure
 Reflected

feelings
Techniques
 Listening
 Accepting
 Respecting
 Understanding
 Responding
Criticisms

Fuzzy, ambiguous, undefined,
unstructured approach
 Intuition
and empathy rather than objective
 Understanding rather than control
 Individual cannot generalize to others

Can only be used on a restricted
population
well-educated, “normal” people
suffering adjustment difficulties
 Intelligent,
Gestalt Approach

Promotes direct experience
 Don’t
talk, live it
 Look at how person is behaving right
now

Assist clients to find self-awareness
 Insight
 Self-acceptance
Fritz Perls
 Responsibility

for choices
Clients must learn for themselves
Live in the Now

Nothing exists except the “now”
 Many
focus on past mistakes or plan for the
future  problems

Unfinished business
 Unexpressed
feelings from the past linger in
the background and interfere with effective
contact

Cause preoccupation, compulsive behavior,
wariness, oppressive energy and self-defeating
behavior
Layers of Neurosis

Phony Layer


Phobic Layer


We give up our power
Implosive Layer


Fears keep us from seeing ourselves
Impasse Layer


Stereotypical and inauthentic
We fully experience our deadness
Explosive Layer

We let go of phony roles
Resistance to Contact

Defences that prevent us from
experiencing the present
 Introjection
 Deflection
 Projection
 Confluence
Control of environment
 Physical blocks to energy

Assessment and Treatment

Gestalt Techniques
 I-Language
 Empty
Chair
 Projection of Feelings
 Reversal
 Attending to Nonverbal Cues
 Use of Metaphor
 Dream Work
 Staying with the Feeling
Criticisms
Negative tone
 Fuzzy, ambiguous, undefined,
unstructured approach

 Not
objective
 Individual cannot generalize to others

Therapist is seen as teacher and authority
figure
 Attacks
our defences
 Perhaps demoralizing
Family Systems


All family members are
intertwined and affect
one another
Abnormal behaviour in
an individual is
symptomatic of
unhealthy family
dynamics and poor
communication
Assessment and Treatment

Treat family as the suffering unit
 Sessions
with entire family
 Session with each member individually
Reframing the problem
 Altering interaction patterns
 Enhance communication and negotiation
within the family unit

Criticisms
The definition of family may be culture
bound
 Basic tenets and applications are difficult
to study and quantify
 Too easy to accuse parents for children’s
problems

 May
truly have a biological cause
 Adds more stress to the family
Conclusions

Different types of therapy
 Use
different approaches, goals, and tools
 Have different strengths and weaknesses
 May be better suited for different people or
different problems

The theoretical approach of the therapist
may affect what is revealed during therapy