Conceptual Framework: Psychology, Ch. 8 Psychological Disorders,
p. 195
Key Findings
To develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must:
(a) have a deep
foundation of factual knowledge,
(b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a
conceptual framework, and
(c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval
and application.
A key finding in the learning and transfer literature is that organizing information
into a conceptual framework allows for greater “transfer”; that is, it allows the
student to apply what was learned in new situations and to learn related
information more quickly” (Bransford, 2002).
John Bransford, a gifted education researcher who edited the well-received How People
Learn, one day asked a simple question: In a given academic discipline, what separates
novices from experts? Bransford eventually discovered six characteristics, one of which
is relevant to our discussion: “[Experts’] knowledge is not simply a list of facts and
formulas that are relevant to their domain; instead their knowledge is organized around
core concepts or ‘big ideas’ that guide their thinking about their domains.
Whether you are a waiter or a brain scientist, if you want to get the particulars correct,
in a hierarchical fashion, don’t start with the details. Start with the key ideas and, in a
hierarchical fashion, form the details around these larger notions.
Discovering the Conceptual Framework
As we get an overview of chapter 8 on psychological disorders, we find, looking at
the headings, that one major area of psychological disorders is anxiety disorders.
We further discover that five anxiety disorders are presented in this section of the
chapter:
Psychological Disorders (p. 195-)
Anxiety Disorders (p.201-)
 Generalized anxiety disorders (p. 201)
 Panic disorders (p.202-)
 Phobic disorders (p.203-)
 Obsessive-compulsive disorders (p.204-)
 Post-traumatic disorders (p.205-)
This information makes up part of the conceptual framework for the chapter. We are
going to use this conceptual framework as the framework for practicing comparing
and contrasting not only the five disorders, but also how the writer compares
normal feelings with the five disorders. Example, Comparing “normal anxiety”with
an “anxiety disorder.”
We saw in the last section how the writer compared “normal anxiety” and “anxiety
disorder” using the stage as a metaphor and a Venn Diagram for how the brain
learns using comparing and contrasting and how a Venn Diagram helps discover
commonalities between new information and prior knowledge and between related
concepts.
Mind Map
Here is a Mind Map Illustrating the Conceptual Framework for Psychological
Disorders (Anxiety Disorders).
Assignments
1. The writer in chapter 8 compares and contrasts normal anxiety behaviors
with anxiety disorders.For each of the five anxiety disorders use The Stage
metaphor (draw) to illustrate
a. new information and prior knowledge (often in the examples)
b. how learning occurs using the stage metaphor for comparing and
contrasting. Here are the five disorders:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Normal Anxiety and Anxiety Disorder (p.201-)
Normal Panic and Panic Disorder (p.202-)
Normal Fears and Phobic Disorders (p.203-)
Normal Checking Behavior and Obsessive Disorders (p.204-)
Normal Recovery Process and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (p.205-)
Below are The Stage Metaphor and a Venn Diagram for Anxiety Disorders to use as
an example: